Writing Skill Theoretical Description

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the related theories and literature that underline this research. There are two parts discussed in this chapter namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. In the theoretical description, the researcher discusses writing skill, report texts, theory of perception, and peer feedback. In the theoretical framework, the researcher discusses the main theories that will be implemented to solve the research problems.

2.1 Theoretical Description

In this part, the researcher discusses four theories namely writing skill, report texts, perception, and peer feedback.

2.1.1 Writing Skill

Writing skill is one of the required skills to be mastered by the EFL students. The skills are divided into two parts namely productive and receptive skills. Written and spoken languages refer to productive skills Harmer, 1991. Speaking and writing are categorized as the productive skills as the students have to make products in learning those skills. Both of the skills are the use of language symbols in expressing 12 feelings and needs Hughey et al., 1983. It means that, when writing texts, the students express their feeling and needs by using written language. Brown 2007 presents the characteristics of written language based on permanence, processing time, distance, orthography, complexity, vocabulary, and formality. Permanence characteristic means that written text can be used or read again and again. The characteristic of processing time indicates that readers can adjust their own rates. Distance characteristic means that written text can be sent across physical and temporal distance. Meanwhile, orthography means that written language just needs graphemes and punctuation. The characteristic of complexity means that written language has long sentences and clauses. Further, the vocabulary characteristic indicates that written language utilizes a greater variety of lexical items than spoken language. Last, the formality characteristic shows that written language demands the researcher to write well-structured and correct sentences. The characteristics of written language proposed by Brown 2007 show that writing skill is not an easy skill to be mastered. It needs a long time to master it especially for the eleventh grade students. Writing texts require many things to be concerned. The students have to pay attention on the sentence structures and grammatical pattern of their writings, the ideas presenting, punctuation, and graphemes. However, unlike speaking skill, once the students make an error in their writings, they cannot directly restate and correct it. Therefore, the students have to pay attention on their writing process before submitting their writings. 13 Writing texts usually occurs in a process. Bello 1997 divides the writing process as pre-writing activities, drafting, revising, and editing. In pre-writing activities, the students generate their ideas on a particular topic. The activities are in form of brainstorming the ideas, making a list or timeline, or simply reflecting their own experiences. In drafting process, they compose their first draft. They concentrate on writing down their ideas without worrying about the spelling or grammar. In revising process, they try to revise their drafts after getting the comments or feedback from their peers or teacher. Finally, they edit their writings to check and correct any errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling Langan, 2011. In addition, Tiedt 1989 also proposes a model of writing process. There are three stages in the model of writing process proposed by Tiedt. They are data collecting, data processing and data publishing. Data collecting stage discusses methods used in collecting data in research. There are eight methods of collecting data proposed by Tiedt namely experiencing, exploring, observing, questioning, brainstorming, experimenting, listing, and recording. The next stage is data processing. This stage discusses methods used in processing data in research. Categorizing, comparing, evaluating, imagining, connecting, and synthesizing are the methods used in processing data. The last stage is data publishing. This stage discusses methods used in publishing data in research. Discussing, composing, forming, communicating, reviewing, integrating, and transforming are the methods used in publishing data. The process of writing proposed by Tiedt 1989 is more 14 complicated. There are many activities to do in each stage. Yet, it is useful to know each stage in detail in order to produce good writings. Further, Harmer 2002 simply suggests considering writing as a wheel process. Planning, drafting and editing are parts of the wheel process. They start their writing process by planning what topic they are going to write. Then, they continue to make drafts of their writings. After making the drafts, they ask their peers or teacher to check their writings and edit it based on the feedback given. Therefore, the students are able to make a complete final version of their own writings. The theories of writing process proposed by Bello 1997, Tiedt 1989 and Harmer 2002 can be applied in teaching senior high school students, especially the eleventh grade students of SMAN 11 Yogyakarta. All theories have the similarities in explaining the process of writing. The similarities are the students have to explore the topic and collect the data needed before starting to write their drafts, they have to do peer feedback or teacher feedback after making their drafts, then they have to edit their drafts based on the feedback given before publishing their writings. But in the steps of selecting a topic, it would be better if the teacher gives the topic first to the students. Therefore, the students will not have to need a lot of time to think about the topic. They can start writing after having the topic and the teacher should help them during the process of writing. The process of writing can help students to produce good writings. But the role of teacher is also important in helping the students to produce good writings. In SMAN 11 Yogyakarta, the role of teacher in teaching writing skill is important as he 15 or she has to teach the EFL students. The EFL students, particularly the eleventh grade students of SMAN 11 Yogyakarta, do not use English as their first language. They may find some difficulties in writing English texts and will ask their teacher how to solve the difficulties they find. Therefore, the role of teacher in teaching writing skill, especially in EFL classes, is important. Then, the researcher will continue the discussion with the topic of teaching writing skill in EFL classes. Teaching writing skill in EFL classes is not an easy task to do for the teachers. Writing is a method of expressing ideas about any subject content; it appears in classrooms everywhere and, therefore must be the concern of every teacher Tiedt, 1989. Expressing ideas in written form, using a foreign language, is difficult for the students to do. They have to think about what they have to write and also to write using the correct grammar. Hyland 2003 states teachers have to think about the appropriate approach and method in teaching language. Therefore, the teachers have to discover the best method in teaching writing skill so that the students can express their ideas clearly in writing by using English. Tiedt 1989 also states that an effective writing program is student-centered. The focus of teaching writing skill lies on the students as they will have to express their thought about the subject content individually. The students have to participate actively in selecting the topic, making their writings, editing their writings, and also in finishing their writings. But for the eleventh grade students, the teacher should help them during the process of writing and give the topic of writing to the students. 16 Therefore, the process of writing will run smoothly and the students can write report texts correctly. Raimes 1983 presents three advantages of learning writing in EFL classes. First, writing reinforces grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that have been taught in class. Second, when the students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learned, and to take risks. Third, when the students write, they become very involved in the new language. As in EFL classes, it will be more challenging to the students to learn writing skill as they will write texts in a foreign language. Furthermore, the students are also required to learn and master writing skill based on Indonesian School-Based Curriculum namely Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP. KTSP applies in every level of school in Indonesia. Every school may construct their own syllabus but the construction of the curriculum will be guided by the government Muchlis, 2007. In KTSP, there are various genres of text and functional text designed as the materials for the students. Level of the difficulties in writing texts is different from one grade to others. Elementary students learn how to spell and write some words in English. Junior high school students learn how to write short texts, for example procedure and descriptive text. Then, senior high school students learn how to write longer texts, for example narrative and report texts. Based on the previous explanations, the researcher concludes that writing skill is an important skill to be learnt by the EFL students although it is difficult to be mastered as it is dealing with the complexity of the target language. The students are 17 required to learn and master writing skill based on the curriculum, Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP. Moreover, the advantages of learning writing in EFL classes proposed by Raimes 1983 also show that the EFL students really need to learn writing skill. Writing skill reinforces and challenges the students to learn how to write texts in English, a foreign language for them. Although Tiedt 1989 argues that the effective writing program is student-centered, where the students become the focus of teaching, the researcher believes that teachers still have important roles in teaching writing skill. Teachers can help the students during the process of writing, especially in choosing the topic, and also help the students to deal with the complexity of the target language such as grammatical rules and sentence structure in writing texts.

2.1.2 Report Texts