Research Method RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the discussion of the methodology of the research. The discussion consists of research method, research setting, participants, instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.

A. Research Method

The research was conducted with an intention to find out to what extent the use of picture series in enhancing student‘s writing skill in narrative texts. Therefore, the researcher conducted a Classroom Action Research CAR as the method of the research. Burns 1999 states that the major focus of action research is on concrete and practical issues of immediate concern to particular social groups or communities. As stated by Nunan 1992 and McKernan 1996, cited by Burns 1999, the action research is conducted in naturally occurring settings, primarily using methods common to qualitative research. It is intended to lead to improvement in the practice of some professional activity, like in language teaching Ellis, 2012. The researcher has conducted the observation of the classroom activity and the learning process during her teaching internship program. The researcher taught English in XE class. There were twenty two students in 20132014 academic year. There was an issue found that the students need an instructional 23 media that would enhance their writing skill. Therefore, the researcher needed to provide a strategy to combine the instructional media and a teaching approach that stimulate the students to practice more in writing and enhance their writing skill. In conducting the research, the researcher referred to Kemmis and McTaggart‘s model 1988, cited by Burns 2010. The classroom action research based on Kemmis and McTaggart‘s model consists of four stages. They are planning, action, observation and reflection. The researcher used this model because it allowed the researcher to act and observe in a time. It meant that the researcher could observe the result of the action during the research occurred. In the first stage of the research, the researcher found the problem faced by the student through the preliminary study. The picture series were offered as the solution to solve the problem. The researcher offered the picture series after studying the advantages of picture series which might help the students construct the ideas in producing narrative texts. As stated before by the researcher, the action and observation stage were conducted at the same time. From the researcher‘s point of view, conducting these steps at the same time would be more effective and efficient. While the researcher implemented the action in the classroom activity, the researcher might also observe the result of the action towards the students. Then, the researcher made some field notes based on what she observed during the implementation of the action. The last step was reflecting the action. In this step, the researcher made a reflection to find what went well or not during the action. The reflection would be 24 used to prepare the researcher for the next cycle. It would also show the use of picture series in enhancing students‘ skill in writing a narrative text. The criteria of success were determined by the result of data from instruments like the questionnaires, field notes, interview transcript and observation checklist. If those instruments showed students‘ positive attitude toward the use of picture series, it meant that the use of picture series had contributed to the improvement of students‘ writing and motivation. The scores which were obtained during the research were taken as the supporting evidence to strengthen the positive contribution of the picture series.

B. Research Setting