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126 Secondly, e-mail can improve class situation in which the students’ participation
classroom activities during the teaching and learning process improved.
1. E-mail can Improve Students’ Writing Skill
The research findings showed that e-mail can improve students’ writing skill including the aspects of writing namely; the use of punctuation
and capital letter, vocabulary, grammar, supporting details, and organizing writing. The improvement can be seen in the chart 4.1 and 4.2.
The proofs of this action research are as follows. a. The students’ punctuation and capital letter improved. The mean of the
punctuation and capital letter score increased from 43.25 in the pre-test to 76.75 in the post-test of cycle 2.
b. The students’ vocabulary improved. The mean score of vocabulary increased from 48.75 in the pre-test to 72.00 in the post-test of cycle 2.
c. The students’ grammar improved. The mean score of grammar increased from 31.75 in the pre-test to 62.00 in the post-test of cycle 2.
d. The students’ supporting details improved. The mean score of supporting details increased from 57.25 in the pre-test to 79.25 in the post-test of
cycle 2. e. The students’ organizing writing improved. The mean score of organizing
writing increased from 47.50 in the pre-test to 81.75 in the post-test of Cycle 2.
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127 The students’ writing skill improved because by e-mail provides the
opportunity for students to improve their knowledge of the use of punctuation, capital letter, and mechanical writing. E-mail cannot be separated from
computer because e-mail is one of program provided in internet soft ware application. When they type the assignment or message on the computer
before sending it via e-mail, they can check and proofread the use of punctuation, capital letter, and mechanical writing correctly. They can also
check the synonym, antonym, and even the meaning of the words electronically. It means that they save their valuable time in writing text. Gil
Lavitov 2008: 1 said that by writing text on the e-mail, the students could utilize the E-mail Grammar Correction Software which helps on checking,
correcting, and constructing their English sentences so they become accurate, clean, and fluent. He also said that by using e-mail grammar checker, the
students can easily find several advantages namely: 1 automatically identify sentences construction problems that may have been missed during a manual
proofreading; 2 Assisting students assimilating English grammar rules; 3 Improving students’ self confidence with their writing.
Dudeney and Hockly 2007: 62 stated that one the advantages of using e-mail for teaching writing is e-mail allows the students and teacher to
communicate outside the classroom. E-mail provides the opportunity for students and teachers to communicate outside the classroom, for example
sending, receiving, marking, and returning the students’ written assignments. When the students access to computers outside the class, they can write a text
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128 freely without engaged the limited time. It means that students are accustomed
to expressing thoughts, feeling, and ideas better in written form. Moreover, Lee 1998: 3 underlines that by using e-mail; it enables
the teacher to monitor the process of the students writings to save class time for the teachers assignments and comments. E-mail offers students
opportunities for much more valuable communicative interaction in the target language. Occasionally, some students who do not like to express themselves
in a group tend to do better with writing. Since students usually generate more content electronically than with hand writing methods, some students who are
shy tend to express their opinions through e-mail freely without fear. This can give students self-confidence and improve their writing skill.
In addition, Subekti 2010: 1 says that by using e-mail, teacher will be able to electronically monitor individual or group writing process from
early phase to the final one. E-mail can also save class time for some assignments.
Teachers can
send assignments
and announcements
electronically to the students. For example, if a teacher has to remind the students of a certain assignment due or a particular procedure, the teacher can
send one message to entire class members. This can save valuable class time. Moreover, with the return receipt capabilities of e-mail the teacher is able to
know whether each individual student has opened and read the message. This is an important feature to help monitor the progress of the student or the
group.
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129 Having strong underlying education theories, it is understandable that
e-mail can improve students’ writing skill. By utilizing e-mail, the students were active to do their assignments in writing text.
2. E-mail can Improve Class Situation
