comments of their sentences provided the students with information to revise and make their sentences better. It reflected how the application of feedback supported
the students‟ sentence writing improvement. Also, the aspect of peer and teacher comments showed collaboration among the students and between the students and
the teacher in making the students‟ sentences better, which implied the application of interaction. In fact, the peer and teacher comments also suggested that the
students were exposed in a situation in which they could receive comprehensible input, seen from they used the corrections and comments they got as one of the
sources to revise and improve their sentences. Here, the applications of feedback, interaction, and language exposure were somewhat related to make the students‟
sentence writing skill improved. In brief, the principles of authentic task, opportunities for language exposure, attention to learning, feedback, and
interaction improved the students‟ achievement of sentence writing.
c. Passage Writing Skill
Another main objective of the Sentence Writing course is that the students are able to write simple passages. Based on the results of the open-ended
questionnaire, the students could improve their passage writing ability by taking the Sentence Writing class. The students‟ responses also revealed some aspects of
the web-based class that supported the achievement. They are grammar material, grammar practice, sentence writing exercise, passage writing exercise, selected
topics, peer and teacher comments, and teacher‟s correction. The first three aspects revealed here, i.e. grammar material, grammar practice, and sentence
writing exercise, were in fact the same as the aspects that supported the sentence writing improvement. The notion of passage is indeed closely related to sentence.
Like any other written works, a good passage must be constructed by grammatically acceptable sentences Raimes 1983. From here, we can infer
students‟ sentence writing ability determines his or her passage writing. Thus, as the aspects of grammar material, grammar practice, and sentence writing exercise
contributed to the improvement of the students‟ sentence writing skill, these aspects also supported the improvement of the students‟ passage writing skill,
especially in making the students‟ passages consisted of correct sentences. To avoid repetitions, this part will only focus the discussion on the aspects of
Sentence Writing class that specifically addressed the passage writing improvement. The first aspect supporting the passage writing skill improvement is
the passage writing exercise.
Yes, because we write passage every week. We can improve our skill and be better soon.
Yes. The web provides the features such as sentence and passage writing. These features can give me exercises to improve my writing skill.
The responses above stated how the students‟ writing skills, especially passage writing, enhanced because of the passage writing exercise provided in the website.
The interview results also supported this.
There is an improvement with my passage, so my writing becomes more organized
and I’m more careful in choosing words and grammar. LN42 In the web-based Sentence Writing class, the students had to write one passage
every two weeks. The students did not only just write sentences but also organize them into one piece of written work discussing a certain topic. By practicing
writing passages regularly, the students‟ ability in passage writing improved. As stated by the interviewee above, the improvement the student gained regarding
passage writing was especially related to the organization of ideas, diction, and grammar in her writing.
The second aspect that enhanced the students‟ passage writing skill is the selected topics.
As for passage writing, the topics are interesting and I can always improve it each time I write a new passage.
Another aspect is writing a passage makes me creative because with the chosen topics I can share what I have been thinking, my opinion, my story,
etc.
Regarding the passage writing exercise, there were five topics based on which the students had to write their passages. The topics were “my short biography”, “my
unforgettable experience”, “college life”, “my idol”, and “my future job”. From the responses above, the students found that the topics selected for their passage
writing assignment were interesting and suitable for them, which enabled them to write on, express their ideas about them easily.
Thirdly, peer and teacher comments also contributed in making the students‟ passage writing better.
Meanwhile, some comments from my classmates or lecturer are really support my improvement about writing skill in this course.
Yes. Because if I have a mistake I now it because my classmates and my teacher give comments and tell the right sentence or passage or word.
ELT Gallery improves my writing skills. The assessment part, especially from friend, makes me aware of my weaknesses in writing. I really pay
attention if there is any suggestion related to my writing because it is the basic to have better writing skills.
The responses above signified the importance of the peer and teacher comments in identifying the students‟ mistakes in their passages. By knowing the weaknesses,
they could thus improve their writing. Some students also emphasized the sig
nificance of the teacher‟s corrections:
What helps me the most is the passages. I learn how to write in a good structure so it will be easily understood. I also try to find some new
vocabulary. And because the passages are scored by the teacher for real.
Yes. By reading the comments and getting the scores of the passages, I can learn in which part I usually made mistakes so that I can improve it in the
later passages in order to make them better.
The corrections and scores from the teacher were considered more precise and accurate in spotting the students‟ weaknesses and thus enabled them to improve
their writing in the later passages. The aspects above also implied how the application of CALL principles
led to enhancement in the students‟ passage writing achievement, especially the principles of authentic task, atmosphere, feedback, interaction, and language
input. The aspects of passage writing exercise indicated how the students were involved in an authentic task. One of the essential ideas of authentic tasks is that
the tasks require the students to use the target language to accomplish something Chapelle 1999; Ellis 2008. Within the passage writing exercise, the students
were required to write a 250-word passage according to a certain topic. Here, they could express their ideas about the topic by making sentences and organizing the
sentences into a simple passage in English. The students‟ passage writing skill improved as they were engaged with the actual passage writing process.
Next, the aspect of the selected topics suggested the students worked in an atmosphere with an ideal stress level. Experiencing an ideal level of anxiety in the
language learning environment is essential to support students‟ comfort, confidence, and motivation before they are engaged and willing to express their
ideas Egbert, Chao, and Hanson-Smith 1999. In Sentence Writing class, the topics selected for the passage writing exercise were the ones interesting, familiar,
and matched with the students‟ level. As the students felt comfortable writing on the topics, they could write more and better.
Further, the aspects of peer and teacher comments and teacher‟s correction provided the students with feedback. Sufficient amount of feedback is needed to
cater the formulation of ideas Egbert, Chao, Hanson-Smith 1999 and revise linguistic errors Ellis 2008. In the web-based Sentence Writing class, the teacher
and classmates‟ corrections and comments of their passages provided the students with information to revise and make their passages better. Also, the aspect of peer
and teacher comments and teacher‟s corrections showed a collaboration among the students and between the students and the teacher in making the students‟
passage better, which implied the application of interaction. Moreover, the peer and teacher comments and teacher‟s corrections also suggested that they were
exposed to a situation that enabled them to receive comprehensible input, seen from they used the corrections and comments they got to revise and improve their
passages. Here, the applications of feedback, and interaction were also somewhat related to make the students‟ passage writing skill improved. In short, the
principles of authentic task, atmosphere, feedback, and interaction enhanced the students‟ achievement of passage writing.
From the discussion above, we can conclude that the application of the CALL principles in the web-
based Sentence Writing class enhanced the students‟ achievements regarding better grammar understanding, improved sentence writing
skill, and improved passage writing ability. The statistical t-test result showed a
significant difference between the mean score of the first passage writing assignment and the mean score of the final passage writing assignment; in that,
the mean score of the final passage writing assignment was significantly higher than the mean score of the first passage writing assignment. It statistically
validated the enhancement effect within the students‟ achievement as the result of the application of the CALL principles in the web-based Sentence Writing class.
In relation to the third research problem, the principles of opportunities for language exposure and attention to learning process enhanced the students‟
achievement of better grammar understanding through grammar material, clear examples, teacher‟s grammar explanation in the class, and sufficient number of
grammar exercises. Next, the principles of authentic task, opportunities for language exposure, attention to learning, feedback, and interaction improved the
students‟ achievement of sentence writing by the means of sentence writing exercise, grammar material, grammar exercises, and peer and teacher comments.
Lastly, the applications of authentic task, atmosphere, feedback, and interaction enhanced the stud
ents‟ achievement of passage writing through passage writing exercise, the appropriate selected topics, peer and teacher comments, and
teacher‟s correction. These research findings also confirmed that the eight CALL principles overlap and influence one another and that the application leads to
optimal language learning Egbert, Chao, Hanson-Smith 1999, as seen in the enhancement within the students‟ learning achievement. Indeed, in the web-based
Sentence Writing context, the applications of authentic task, attention to learning, atmosphere, feedback, interaction, and opportunities for language exposure were
related and support each other in enhancing the students‟ learning achievements in terms of grammar knowledge, sentence writing ability, and passage writing skill.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This last chapter of the study presents the conclusion, which consists of two sections: conclusions and suggestions. The first section summarizes the
research findings of the study. Further, the second section of the chapter imparts several relevant suggestions.
A. Conclusions
With the advanced development of computer and Internet technologies, web-based learning, as one implementation of CALL, has been seen as a new
alternative way in catering the needs of L2 writing learning. Previous studies on web-based writing instructions have claimed the outperformance of web-based
writing class over traditional classroom. Specific descriptive investigation on the implementation of web-based writing class, i.e. how computer and web-based
technologies should best be used to facilitate learning, however, is not yet fully developed. This indicated that a framework for teaching and learning using such
technologies needs to be explored further. Egbert, Chao, and Hanson-Smith 1999 derive the eight principles of optimal CALL as in line with the conditions
for optimal second language learning environment theories. As one application of CALL, a web-based writing class should ensure the implementation of the
computer and Internet technologies be directed to meet the eight principles for optimizing the students‟ learning in writing.
The implementation of a web-based Sentence Writing class for Writing 1 course at Sanata Dharma University engaged the students with learning via online
