THE EFFECT OF GUIDING QUESTIONS TECHNIQUE ON STUDENTS` ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT.

THE EFFECT OF GUIDING QUESTIONS TECHNIQUE ON STUDENTS’
ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

A Thesis
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

By:

WIDYA PUTRI AMELIA
Register Number 2113121071

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2015

ABSTRACT
Amelia, Widya Putri. NIM: 2113121071. The Effect of Guiding Questions
Technique on Students’ Achievement in Writing Descriptive Text. A Thesis.
Faculty of Languages and Arts (FBS), Unimed (State University of Medan).

2015.
This study deals with the effect of Guiding Questions Technique on Students’
Achievement in Writing Descriptive Text. The objective of the study is to find out
whether the students’ achievement in writing descriptive text taught by guiding
questions technique is higher than that taught by using word webbing technique..
This study was conducted by using experimental design. The population of the study
was the students of grade VIII of SMPN 35 Medan in the academic year 2015/2016,
where there were 6 classes of VIII and there were two classes were selected as the
sample by applying random sampling. The sample was divided into two groups. The
Experimental group (VIII 1) was taught by applying Guiding Questions Technique,
while the control group (VIII 2) was taught by applying Word Webbing Technique.
The data of the study were obtained from the students’ score of writing test. To
determine the reliability of the test, the writer used Pearson Product Moment formula.
Based on the calculation, the coefficient of reliability of the test was 0.85. It showed
that the test was reliable and the reliability was very high. There were two data used
in this study. They were pre-test and post-test. After analyzing the data, the result of
the study showed that t-observed (3.698) was higher than t-table (2.712) (t-observed
˃ t-table) at the level of significance of α = 0.05 and at the degree of freedom (df) =
38. The result of this study showed that students’ achievement taught by using
Guiding Questions Technique is higher than that taught by using Word Webbing

Technique or in other words the hypothesis is accepted.
Keywords: Guiding Questions Technique, Descriptive Text

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................
LIST OF APPENDICES..................................................................

Page
i
ii
iv
vi
vii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of Stud....................................................
B. The Problem of the Study................................................. .
C. The Objective of the Study................................................
D. The Scope of the Study......................................................
E. The Significance of the Study............................................

1
3
3
4
4

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Framework..........................................................
B. Students’ Achievement in Writing Descriptive Text............
C. Writing Descriptive Text.......................................................
D. Process of Writing Descriptive Text ....................................
E. Assesment of Writing Descriptive Text................................
F. Guiding Questions Techniqu e...............................................

G. Teaching Writing Descriptive Text through Guiding
Questions Technique ............................................................
1. Describe a personality....................................................
2. Describe a place.............................................................
3. Describe an object..........................................................
H. Advantages of Using Guiding Questions Technique ...........
I. Word Webbing Technique.....................................................
J. The steps of Word Webbing Technique................................
K. The advantages and disadvantages of using Word Webbing
Technique..............................................................................
L. Relevant Studies....................................................................
M. Conceptual Framework..........................................................
N. Hypothesis.............................................................................

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5
7
9

10
11
13
14
15
15
16
16
17
18
19
20
22

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Design....................................................................
B. Population and Sample..........................................................
C. The Instrument for Collecting Data.......................................
D. The Procedure of Data Collection.........................................
1. Pre – test ........................................................................

2. Teaching Presentation (Treatment).................................
3. Post – test .......................................................................
E. Scoring the Test......................................................................
F. The Validity and Reliability of the Test................................
1. The Validity....................................................................
2. The Reliability.................................................................
G. Technique for Analyzing Data...............................................
H. Statistical Hypothesis............................................................

23
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24
24
24
24
29
29
29
29
30

30
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CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
A. Data Analysis ........................................................................
1. Anlyzing the Data Using T- Test...................................
2. Testing the Reliability of the Test .................................
3. Testing Hypothesis.........................................................
B. The Discussion .....................................................................

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33
33
34
34

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion ........................................................................
B. Suggestions .........................................................................

36
36

REFERENCES...................................................................................
APPENDICES....................................................................................

38
40

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LIST OF TABLES

Page
Table 1.1

Students’ Score of Writing Competence Test ............

2

Table 2.1

Descriptive Text .......................................................

9

Table 3.1

Experiment Research Design .....................................

23

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Page
Appendix A. Scoring Criteria of Writing ........................................

40

Appendix B. Lesson Plan for Experimental Group ........................ ..

42

Appendix C. Lesson Plan for Control Group ............................... ..

50

Appendix D. The Total Score of Pre-test and Post-test of
Experimental Group................................................... ..

58

Appendix E. The Total Score of Pre-test and Post-test of

Appendix F.

Control Group............................................................ ..

59

The Reliability of the Test ........................................ ..

60

Appendix G. Calculation of Pre-test and Post-test of
Experimental Group.................................................. ..

62

Appendix H. Calculation of Pre-test and Post-test of

Appendix I.

Control Group............................................................ ..

63

Critical Value of t ........................................................

66

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. The Background of Study
Writing is one of the four language skills which include listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. It is an activity to combine words to form meaningful
messages that the writer wants to express. According to Hyland (2002:88) writing
is generative in which writers can explore and discover ideas as they write. Thus,
by writing students can express their knowledge, ideas, messages and feelings into
the form of letters and convey their messages to readers.
Students have to understand some genres of text by various purposes of
communication and should be matched with students’ level of education. Based
on the standard competency in the syllabus of the second grade of Junior High
School (Sekolah Menengah Pertama: SMP) called Educational Unit Oriented
Curriculum (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan: KTSP), students are expected
to be able to write simple paragraphs in descriptive, recount, procedure, report and
narrative.
Descriptive text is a type of text that has functions to describe particular
person, place, or thing. Wyrick (2011:323) states that the writer of description
creates a word-picture of people, places, objects, and emotions, using a careful
selection of details to make an impression on the reader. Students who are going
to write this type of text should be able to express what they see, hear, and feel
vividly.

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Based on the researcher’s observation in SMP Negeri 35 Medan, the process
of writing descriptive text was still a serious problem for the students. It was not
easy for the students to write well in writing descriptive text. Many students got
difficulties to develop their writing because of some factors such as lacking of
vocabularies; motivation; and cannot arrange a good paragraph by using
grammatical components. It makes the students uninterested in writing descriptive
text. Considering the condition above, it is realized that it needs a technique that
can motivate students’ process of writing descriptive text. All the time, the
English teacher applies word webbing technique to teach writing descriptive text.
But, the writer found that the students got low score in writing descriptive text.
Many students did not have the passing grade. The phenomenon is seen in the
table.
Table 1.1
Students’ Scores of Writing Descriptive Text Competence Tests in Two
Semesters
Semester
KKM
Score
Students
Percentage
1st Semester
< 70
28 Students
70%
2014/ 2015
≥ 70
12 Students
30%
70
2nd Semester
< 70
23 Students
57.5%
2014/ 2015
≥ 70
17 Students
42.5%
Source evidence: Students’ accumulated scores of Grade VIII1 students
Negeri 35 Medan academic year 2014/2015

Mean
51.7
53.3
at SMP

Based on the description above, we found that the word webbing technique
that teacher applied in teaching writing descriptive text is not effective. Because,
word webbing technique focuses only on the word by word not a sentence. It
makes the students difficult to arrange a good paragraph and good grammatical
components. It doesn’t help students to create a story coherently. This situation

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made the students’ motivation in writing descriptive text decrease. Sharon
(2003:39) said that the learning of language depends not so much on the number
of years it is studied but on the motivation of the students, the type of teachers,
method of teaching adopted, and instructional material designed.
From the problems mentioned above, the researcher chooses to conduct this
study by using Guiding Questions Technique. By using guiding questions
technique the researcher believes that all of the students in the class will be more
active in teaching and learning process. It can also increase their motivation and
achievement in writing. From the explanation above, the writer is interested in
conducting a study under the title “The effect of guiding questions technique on
students’ achievement in writing descriptive text.”

B. The Problem of the Study
Based on the background given, the problem is formulated as follows:
“Is students’ achievement in writing descriptive text taught by guiding questions
technique higher than that taught by using word webbing technique?”

C. The Objective of the Study
The main objective of the study is to find out whether the students’
achievement in writing descriptive text taught by guiding questions technique is
higher than that taught by using word webbing technique.

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D. The Scope of the Study
The scope of this study focuses on the use of guiding questions technique on
students’ achievement in writing descriptive text which can be used in
encouraging the students to learn writing descriptive text more effectively. She
limits her study only to analyze the use of guiding questions in writing descriptive
text.

E. The Significance of the Study
The finding of the study expects to have both theoretical and practical
importance in writing as a process and product especially the framework of
writing.
1. Theoretically, the findings of the study are useful to enrich knowledge on
the theories of language learning. The findings will enhance previous
theories on the second language learning.
2. Practically, the findings of the study are useful and relevant to:
a. English teachers; as the information in teaching English to enrich their
knowledge in writing descriptive text by using guiding questions
technique.
b. The students can improve their knowledge in writing descriptive text.
c. The readers knowing one of good technique in writing that guiding
questions technique is an interesting technique.

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
Based on the result of the data analysis, it was concluded that using Guiding
Questions Technique significantly affect the students’ ability in writing
descriptive text (t-calculated > t-table, p= 0.05). The using Guiding Questions
Technique made the students write descriptive text grammatically and coherently
than by using Word Webbing Technique. The calculation of t-test is 3.698 >2.712
with df 38 and the level of significance 0.05.
From the result of the data, it can be seen that the highest score of
experimental group was 90 and the lowest score was 67 in post-test. Meanwhile,
the highest score of control group was 79 and the lowest score was 62 in post-test.
The students’ score in experimental group was higher than the students’ score in
control group. It means that the alternative hypothesis is acceptable.

B. Suggestion
Related to the conclusion, some suggestions are pointed to English teacher,
students, as well as other researchers who are interested in this technique. The
suggestions are:
a. It is suggested to the English teacher, it is better to apply Guiding Questions
Technique because this technique helps the students in understanding the
descriptive text much better.

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b. For the students, it is suggested to use Guiding Questions Technique because
this technique can overcome their problems in descriptive writing, such as
lacking of vocabularies and cannot arrange a good paragraph by using
grammatical components.
c. It is necessary to another researcher to conduct a further research, in order to
validate the result of this study.

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