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3. Interviews
In this research, the researcher conducted interviews twice, in the preliminary study and at the end of the research. After distributing the
questionnaires, the researcher thought that she needed to convince the students ‟
problems deeply by interviewing a few of the students. Through interview, the researcher could explore the students‟ opinion clearly. The form of the interviews
were open-ended questions. Even though, the researcher also adjusted some additional questions which developed during the interviews. Therefore, Wallace
1998, p. 146 states that interviews are more flexible to know someone ‟s opinion.
In the preliminary study, the researcher interviewed the teacher and three students based on the teacher‟s suggestion. The first student was the student who
had high-ability in writing, the second was the student who had moderate-ability in writing, and the third was the student who had low-ability in writing. The
researcher interviewed the teacher to know deeply about the students‟ condition, especially in writing the text, what their difficulties in writing a text in English
were, and the roots of th e students‟ problems in writing a recount text. Besides,
the researcher‟s interview questions for the students were about their difficulties in writing a recount text deeply.
At the end of this research, the researcher interviewed three students who got the highest score, moderate score and the lowest score of the last two diaries.
Those students could explain the more things which had not been explained in the questionnaires. The researcher asked how the weekly diary assignment could help
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them to improve their writing abilities in writing a recount text, whether they liked this assignment or not and the reasons why they liked it or did not like it.
4. Observation Checklist
As stated by Wallace 1998, p. 146, observation checklist is one of some forms of observation in the learning process. During the implementation of
weekly diary assignment, the researcher conducted 8 meetings in the class. The English teacher attended the class as the observer. The researcher gave two
observation checklists in every meeting. An observation checklist was aimed at observing the researcher and another was aimed at observing the students.
This is the sample of the observation checklist:
Table 3.3 The Sample of observation checklist for observing students
No Statements
Yes No
1 The teacher checks the students‟ readiness
2 The teacher explains the materials clearly
3 The teacher give clear instruction to the
students for each activity 4
The teacher masters the materials 5
The teacher explains about weekly diary assignment and the purpose clearly
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Table 3.4 The Sample of Observation Checklist for Observing the Researcher
The results of observation checklists could help the researcher to know what went well and what did not go well. The teacher did not write her opinion in
the observation sheets. She would rather tell the researcher for the things that needed to improve briefly at the end of the class.
5. Students’ Diaries