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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW
Theories that are relevant to answer the problems are covered in this part. This part also discusses the conflicting theories concerning the problems. The
discussion will be divided into three main points covering the nature of writing, the nature of grammar, and the implementation of technology in education,
especially web-based learning.
A. Writing Skill
As a language, English is perceived as a communication means among human beings. Therefore, English as a second language in Indonesia is taught
both as an object of study and as a system of communication Weigle 2002.Among the four English skills taught at schools, which are listening,
speaking, reading, and writing, writing is still considered as a difficult subject to learn. This is due to the nature of second language learners and the numerous
aspects of writing that should be considered Brown 2004. The writing aspects are taught at schools to develop students‟ writing skill.
1. The Nature of Writing
As a means of communication, writing is used to share ideas, knowledge, and messages. Therefore, writing is crucial in second language learning. Second
language writing is considered to be more difficult than first language writing since it involves transferring message in a different language. It means that there
are two significant aspects in second language writing. The first one deals with how message is conveyed, while the second one is on how to write in a different
language. Richards and Renandya 2002 suggest that the difficulty deals with both in generating and organizing ideas and in translating the ideas into readable
texts. It involves more than just telling message; in fact it emphasizes on transforming information into texts in a different language Myles 2002. In order
to be successful in writing, students need to acquire proficiency in writing strategies, techniques, and skills. All of these relate to the development of writing
performance in written production. In the written production, Brown 2004 proposes four types of writing
performance that relates to the writing skills in creating successful writing. The first one is imitative. It deals with the basic tasks of writing letters, words,
punctuation, and very short sentences. In this category, the skills focus on the ability to spell correctly. This is the level at which the students try to master the
writing mechanics. The context and the meaning or the message of the writing are still considered as secondary concern. The next category is intensive or controlled.
In this category, the students are able to create appropriate vocabulary in a certain context. Students also learn about collocation and idioms. Grammatical features
are able to be mastered only at sentence level. The focus is still on the form, but meaning and context are more developed than in imitative level. In the next
category, which is responsive, students learn how to connect sentences into a paragraph and develop the paragraph into paragraphs. In this category, students
have understood the concepts of genres and they are able to write brief narratives, responses, descriptions, short reports, lab reports, summaries, and interpretations
of graphs or charts. Context and meaning are now more addresses than forms or grammar. The last category is extensive. In this category, students are able to
process writing for all purposes, such as essays, papers, research project report, and thesis. Focus on grammatical forms is limited only for the proofreading and
editing. Those four writing performance types suggest the inner significant aspects
in the writing development stages. These inner aspects include vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, writing techniques and so on. In developing writing skill,
Brown 2004 proposes micro and macro skills of writing. Micro skills deal with the basic knowledge of writing, covering the inner elements of writing, such as
mechanics and grammatical rules. The skills include the ability to 1 create graphemes and orthographic English patters. Second, 2 create writing at a well-
organized rate of speed to adjust the objective, 3 create an acceptable words‟ core and use appropriate patterns of word order, 4 apply acceptable grammatical
systems, rules, and patterns, 5 show a certain meaning in diverse grammatical forms, and 6 apply cohesive devices in written discourse. Meanwhile, macro
skills deal with the ability to 1 apply the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse it, 2 undertake the communicative functions of written texts
based on the form and purpose appropriately, 3 express the relations among the events in the story of the writing, in which usually the relations are called as main
idea, supporting idea, generalization, and exemplification, 4 differentiate between word for word or literal meaning and inferred or implied meanings when
writing, 5 express particular references correctly, and 6 improve and apply a series of writing strategies, such as prewriting devices, drafts, paraphrases,
synonyms, and feedback.All of these skills are needed to be acquired by the students so that they will be able to produce successful writing.
2. Significant Aspectsin Writing
