The Contribution of Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs to Improve the Paragraph Writing Skills
53
Table 4.3: Students’ Scores in the Observation
Student Score on Each Element
Total Score
Notes TS
SS Co
Or GS
1 3
3 4
3 3
16 Failed
2 2
1 1
1 1
6 Failed
3 2
1 2
2 2
9 Failed
4 4
4 3
3 4
18 Failed
5 3
4 2
2 2
13 Failed
6 3
3 4
3 3
16 Failed
7 4
3 4
2 2
15 Failed
8 2
1 2
2 1
8 Failed
9 1
1 1
1 1
5 Failed
10 3
1 1
2 1
8 Failed
11 2
1 1
1 1
6 Failed
12 2
2 3
2 2
11 Failed
13 4
3 1
1 1
10 Failed
14 3
2 1
3 1
10 Failed
15 2
2 1
1 1
7 Failed
The students who wrote recount or descriptive text could not develop the
topic sentences. They still expressed the ideas which were not related to the topic sentence. If they added relevant information to the paragraphs, they did not pay
attention to the rule that new information came after the old one. As a result, the ideas were not organized well. Since they could not manage the elaboration of
topic sentence and ideas organization, the paragraphs were not connected and the generic structure was violated.
Mostly, the students found difficulty in developing the topic sentence. This evidence can be seen in Appendix 2. In the texts, the readers could not find the
topic sentence of each paragraph. Only in the first paragraph written by the first student, the researcher could identify the topic sentence. The paragraphs written
by both students did not contain topic sentences because they failed to control the
54 paragraph by adding supporting information. Thus, it was found that some
sentences were not related to the topic sentence and did not support the topic sentence.
All of the students tended to brainstorm all ideas in the paragraphs. For example, in the text written by the first student, the second paragraph contained a
lot of ideas which were not related. She expressed all ideas about her experience with her friend, her opinion about her friend, and her feeling towards her friend.
Hence, the topic sentence could not be identified. Besides failing to add supporting information, almost all of the students
could not organize the ideas in the paragraph. They did not present new information after the old information. The example of unorganized ideas could be
seen in the second student’ writing when she mentioned her friend’ favorite food and hobbies. After mentioning his favorite food, the student had to mention his
hobbies because they were connected. Unfortunately, she mentioned her opinion of becoming his friend before mentioning of his hobbies. The existence of this
misplaced ideas distracted the connection between ideas. Thus, the information was not connected and organized.
Owing to abundant ideas brainstormed in each paragraph, the generic structure was violated. The students did not pay attention to the topic sentence
which limited the information that could be presented in the paragraphs. This affected the generic structure because the ideas put in the paragraphs could alter
the generic structure. For example, in the second student’s text, the generic structure of the paragraph had to be the orientation. Since the ideas focused on
55 telling the activities he had, the generic structure of the paragraph changed into
the event. Moreover, he brainstormed all ideas he had in one paragraph only. After observing the class, the researcher distributed the first questionnaire
on April 23
rd
, 2012. The result of the questionnaire was summarized in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4: The Result of the First Questionnaire Aspects
Statements Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Agree Strongly
Agree
Cognitive 1. I know the generic structure of a
text -
40 60
- 2.
I am able to analyze the generic structure of a text
- 47
47 6
3. I analyze the generic structure of a
text based on the position of the paragraphs i.e. par. 1 is the general
information, par. 2 is description -
47 47
6 4.
I am able to analyze the information of a text based on the category i.e.
physical appearance, function -
60 40
- 5.
Analyzing the generic structure of a text helps me to write a text easily
- 47
53 -
6. I am able to write a text
independently based on the correct generic structure
- 73
27 -
7. In writing a text, I organize the
information based on the generic structure
- 73
23 -
Affective 1. I involve actively in analyzing the
generic structure of a text -
67 33
- 2.
I am critical to analyze the generic structure of a text
- 80
20 -
3. I am critical to analyze the
information contained in each paragraphi.e. physical appearance,
function, setting, and characters -
80 14
6 4.
When I analyze the generic structure of a text, I pay attention to
the information in each paragraph instead of the position of the
paragraphs -
20 80
- 5.
When writing a text, I pay attention to the generic structure
- 47
53 -
56 The questionnaire was distributed to all fifteen students in the class. It aimed to
see the students’ problem of organizing their ideas in writing the texts. From Table 4.4 , it could be seen that some students knew the generic
structure in of a text, but they still failed to put the ideas based on the generic structure. For example, many students misplaced the event in the orientation
where the characters were introduced. As a result, the text became unorganized. According to 73 of the students or almost all of the students, this problem
happened because they did not present the information based on the generic structure. They only brainstormed all ideas they had in their minds. To solve their
problem, they needed to acquire the knowledge of the information contained in each generic structure before they wrote the texts.
It is necessary for the students to know the generic structure of a text as it is one of the important elements which help them to organize their texts. When the
students analyzed the generic structure, they also learned about the other elements of good text indirectly, such as the topic sentence, the supporting sentence,
coherence, and ideas organization. However, reflecting from the result of their writings, none of the students was able to produce a well-organized text. The
reason was many students did not pay attention to generic structure of the texts when they wrote. Only 53 of the students critically wrote the texts based on the
generic structure. The students had difficulty in following the generic structure to write
because they could not identify the generic structure of a text. Only 6 of the students strongly agreed that they were able to analyze the structure and 47 of
57 them agreed that they could analyze it. Although they were able to analyze the
structure, they also failed to imitate the pattern of organization in writing. To help them write, they often asked the teacher about the organization of the text.
All XA students in SMA Santo Mikael could not identify the generic strcuture of the text because they employed the wrong strategies. The factors
which caused the failure were their strategies to analyze the generic structure. Based on the result of the first questionnaire, 47 of the students still depended
on the position of the paragraph to identify the generic structure. They used their automatized concept that the first paragraph was the orientation of the paragraph,
the second paragraph was the event, and the last paragraph was the reorientation. Hence, they could not identify that each generic structure was consisted of certain
information which was not suitable to be presented in other generic structures. Besides depending on the position of the paragraph, almost all of the
students did not employ effective reading strategy before they wrote their own texts. Eighty percent of the students had already paid attention to the information
instead of the position of the paragraphs to analyze the generic structure. However, they only scanned the text to see the information without trying to relate
the information with the generic structure. According to 60 of the students, they did not try to categorize the information they found in each paragraph to support
the pattern identification such as the settings, characters or physical appearance. Consequently, they did not know the categories of information which could be
included in each generic structure. Hence, the students who wrote descriptive text
58 only thought that the general information consisted of the general description. The
problem of categorizing information was experienced by 60 of the students. The researcher also found many misplaced ideas in the students’
descriptive text. All students who wrote the descriptions about their best friends presented the information of their friends’ personalities and physical appearance
in the general information because they thought that those descriptions were general. If the students were able to categorize the information, they could
develop the frame of a text containing the information presented in each generic structure. Thus, it would be easier to control the pattern of organization.
The students also needed to be critical in analyzing the information. The result of the first questionnaire showed that 80 of the students still read the text
quickly to see the information. They did not read the whole paragraph and categorize the information to find the correct generic structure. When they
analyzed the information, they would look at some parts and tried to guess the generic structure. For example, when they found the information about the
characters in a paragraph, they would directly think that it was the orientation and the analysis on that paragraph ended. As a result, they did not analyze other ideas.
In order to support the analysis of the whole paragraph, the researcher provided arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. Through this activity, the students would
analyze all ideas presented in the paragraph to see the connection between the ideas.
From the result of the questionnaire, 47 of the students still found difficulty to write independently. Many students failed to use the generic structure
59 to write their own texts if the teacher did not assist them. According to the
students, analyzing the generic structure of a text did not help them to organize their texts. This problem appeared because the students employed the wrong
strategies. If the students were given a chance to analyze the generic structure, they failed to pay attention to the information. Even though they analyzed the
generic structure by paying attention to the information, they still could not relate the information to the generic structure.
The difficulties in analyzing the generic structure made the students become dependent to the teacher and their friends. Before the implementation,
67 of the students did not participate actively in analyzing the generic structure of a text. The students tended to look at their friends’ works or listen to the
teacher’s explanation. Even 73 of the students stated that they could not write their text independently. Thus, the implementation of arranging jumbled
paragraphs activity was expected to help the XA students identify the generic structure. To see the real factors which caused the problems, the researcher
analyzed their answers to the open-ended questions. The students had various ways to analyze the generic structure of a text.
Ninety percent of them analyzed the generic structure by reading the information contained in the paragraphs. Otherwise, 10 of the students identified the text
genre to analyze the generic structure. If they could identify the genre of the text they were reading, they could guess the generic structure of each paragraph.
The students still found difficulties to analyze the generic structure independently. Fifty seven percent of the students’ responses stated that their lack
60 of vocabulary became the obstacle in analyzing the generic structure. This
problem was the most common problem which appeared in every second language learning process. This problem appeared because they did not have dictionary and
the library only provided five dictionaries. As a result, they could not understand the information. Hence, they depended on the teacher’s explanation. In order to
solve this problem, the researcher provided some list of new words for them. Another problem which caused the students to fail in analyzing the generic
structure independently was because they read the text quickly. The students’ answers to the open ended questions showed that 43 of the students did not read
the whole paragraph to identify the generic structure. They only read partial ideas in each paragraph. They would end the analysis when they found one or two ideas
which could help them to identify the generic structure. As a result, they often misplaced the ideas because they did not know the other ideas which could be
presented in each generic structure. The teaching and learning activities in the class still did not encourage the
students to be independent to overcome their problem. Fifty seven percent of the students asked the teacher when they found difficulties related to the vocabulary
or the generic structure. While from 43 of the responses, the researcher could see that some students would open the school books in the library to find the
information about the generic structure. The vocabulary as the most common problem in second language learning
also appeared in writing activity. Fifty three percent of the responses stated that the vocabulary became the obstacle in writing a text. When they found difficulty
61 with the vocabulary, 53 of the students usually consulted the dictionary. Since
the number of the dictionaries could not cover all students, 47 of the students asked the teacher. They also asked the teachers about other difficulties, such as the
verb and the generic structure. Besides the vocabulary, the students also found difficulty in using the
pattern of organization to write. This situation was proven by the 47 of the responses showing that they often misplaced the ideas. In order to solve their
problem of using the pattern of organization to write, they could analyze it independently through arranging the jumbled paragraphs.
As the solution to the problem, the researcher implemented arranging jumbled paragraphs activity in the class. By doing this activity, the students were
encouraged to analyze how ideas were connected and organized in the paragraphs. To help the students understand the ideas in each paragraph, the researcher
provided a list of new vocabularies for each student. Since the students could analyze the connection and organization of ideas in the paragraphs, the percentage
of students who could organize ideas improved. Before arranging jumbled paragraphs activity was implemented in the
class, none of the students successfully organized their ideas. Since they found difficulty in analyzing the generic structure, they could not follow the generic
structure to produce well-organized text. They could improve their paragraph writing skills when they were given the chance to analyze the organization
through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. However, when they did this activity for the first time in the class, there were only 30 of the students who
62 could develop the good paragraphs. Table 4.5 showed the improvement of
students’ paragraph writing skills.
Table 4.5: The Improvement of the Students’ Paragraph Writing Skills Student
Baseline Writing Scores in
the First Cycle Writing Scores in
the Second Cycle
1 16
18 24
2 6
20 23
3 9
18 -
4 18
21 25
5 13
22 24
6 16
21 25
7 15
21 24
8 8
19 22
9 5
19 25
10 8
17 23
11 6
18 25
12 11
14 23
13 10
16 24
14 10
14 24
15 7
19 23
Percentage of students who could
organize the ideas well
30 100
When arranging jumbled paragraphs activity was implemented in the first
cycle, the students learned to see the connection and the organization of the ideas. Hence, they improved their scores on writing organization. Reflecting from the
students’ paragraph writing skills improvement in the first cycle, the researcher implemented the same activity in the class again. In the second implementation,
the percentage of students who could organize the texts increased significantly. One hundred percent or all students successfully created the well-ordered and
meaningful texts. The im summarized in Figure 4.
Figure 4.1: T
From the improv be seen that the implem
effective to help the stu the students understood
their text organization. A To develop a wel
topic sentence. Stating a paragraph because it req
sentence. The improvem Table 4.6.
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
I
T h
e P
er ce
n ta
g e
o f
S tu
d en
ts improvement of the students’ paragraph writing
4.1.
: The Improvement of Students’ Paragraph Writing
ovement of the students’ writing organization sco lementation of arranging jumbled paragraphs ac
students understand the pattern of organization of and used it to write their texts, they would pay a
. As a result, their paragraph writing skills improve ell-organized paragraph, the students had to pres
g a clear topic sentence helped the students devel required them to express ideas which supported
ement of the students’ text organization was pr
Before the Implementation
First Cycle Second Cycle
The Students Scores 63
ng skills was
ing Skill
scores, it can activity was
of a text. If y attention to
oved. resent a clear
velop a good ted the topic
presented in
64
BI : Before Implementation
FC : First Cycle
SC : Second Cycle
Table 4.6: The Improvement of Text Organization
Student Number
Topic Sentence
Supporting Sentence
Coherence
Organization
Generic Structure
BI FC SC BI FC SC BI FC SC BI
FC SC BI FC SC
1
3 5
5 3
5 4
4 4
5 3
3 5
3 1
5
2
2 4
5 1
5 4
1 5
5 1
5 4
1 1
5
3
2 5
- 1
4 -
2 4
- 2
3 -
2 2
-
4
4 5
5 4
5 5
3 5
5 3
5 5
4 1
5
5
3 4
5 4
5 5
2 4
4 2
5 5
2 4
5
6
3 5
5 3
5 5
4 5
5 3
5 5
3 1
5
7
4 5
5 3
5 5
4 5
5 2
5 5
2 1
4
8
2 5
5 1
3 4
2 4
4 2
4 4
1 3
5
9
1 5
5 1
5 5
1 4
5 1
4 5
1 1
5
10
3 5
5 1
5 5
1 3
4 2
3 4
1 1
5
11
2 5
5 1
5 5
1 4
5 1
3 5
1 1
5
12
2 3
5 2
3 4
3 4
4 2
3 5
2 1
5
13
4 4
5 3
3 5
1 4
4 1
3 5
1 2
5
14
3 2
5 2
2 5
1 3
5 3
2 4
1 5
5
15
2 4
5 2
5 5
1 5
3 1
4 5
1 1
5 Percentage
of the students
who succeeded
to maintain
the aspect
Score 4-5 20 86 10013 73 10020 87 93 0 53 100 7 13 100
Percentage of the
students who could
maintain the aspect
adequately Score 3
33 7 0 27 20 0 13 13 7 27 40 0 13 7 0
Percentage of the
students who could
not maintain
the aspect
Score 1-2 47 7 0 60 7 0 67 0 0 73 7 0 80 80 0
65 In Table 4.6, it could be seen that the percentage of the students who could
maintain the existence of topic sentence in each paragraph increased. When the researcher checked the students’ writings before implementing the activity, only
20 of the students were able to state the topic sentence clearly in each paragraph, while 33 of the students were able to state the topic sentence, but it
was still unclear. The researcher had to read the paragraph for several times to find the topic sentence.
When the students arranged the jumbled paragraphs for the first time, the percentage of the students who could state the topic sentence clearly increased
into 86. It means that almost all of them were successful to state the topic sentence in their texts because they made use of the knowledge acquired from the
activity to write. Therefore, when the researcher implemented the same activity in the second cycle, all of them could state the topic sentence in each paragraph.
The students could develop the topic sentence into a good paragraph if they added relevant ideas which supported the topic sentence. Therefore, the
students had to focus on the topic sentence to control the ideas which could be put in the paragraph and exclude the irrelevant ideas. Unfortunately, many XA
students in SMA Santo Mikael failed to control the ideas. From the writing results, it can be seen that 60 of the students still put many irrelevant ideas to
the topic sentence. As a result, the topic sentence could not be identified. Otherwise, there were 27 of the students who were able to present topic
sentence. However, these students were unable to control the ideas. Some ideas in
66 the paragraph were irrelevant to the topic sentence. Thus, the topic sentence was
almost unidentified. After the researcher engaged the students to analyze the text independently
through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, 73 of them were able to develop the topic sentence. This shows that by identifying the generic structure and
analyzing the information independently, the students also learned how control the ideas to develop a topic sentence. To invite the students to have more practice on
controlling the ideas, the researcher implemented the same activity for the second time. In the second implementation, all students could develop a topic sentence
into a good paragraph. In expressing the ideas in the paragraph, the students also needed to
structure the ideas well. Even though they were able to present relevant ideas, if they could not organize them well, the readers still could not follow the ideas
smoothly. Based on the students’ writings taken before the implementation, none of the students could organize the ideas in each paragraph. All XA students in
SMA Santo Mikael had difficulty to organize the ideas because they tended to write every idea they had in their minds without paying attention to the
organization. When the students wrote their own texts after learning through arranging
jumbled paragraphs activity, 53 of the students could present new information after the old information to avoid misplaced ideas in the paragraph. However, in
40 of the students’ writings, the researcher still found some misplaced ideas which distracted the connection between ideas in the paragraph. Therefore, the
67 researcher encouraged the students to learn more by implementing the same
activity in the class again. The result was satisfying because 100 of the students were able to maintain the organization of the ideas in each paragraph.
After the students could connect the ideas in each paragraph, they had to manage the connection between paragraphs. In order to connect the paragraphs,
the students had to follow the generic structure because it provided the pattern of information. By following the pattern, the students could also express the main
idea. For example, they expressed the main idea about the settings and characters in the first paragraph as the orientation. Unfortunately, only 20 of the students
were able to manage the coherence well. The researcher still found that in 13 of the students’ works, the paragraphs were not connected smoothly. The paragraphs
were connected but not easy to follow. Moreover, 67 of the students could not connect the paragraphs. Even though they paid attention to the generic structure,
they were still unable to connect the paragraphs because they did not structure the ideas based on the pattern provided by the generic structure.
The researcher tried to solve the problem of managing the coherence by encouraging the students to see the way to connect paragraph through arranging
jumbled paragraphs activity. In the first cycle, this activity could help 87 of the students connect the paragraphs of news items. Therefore, the researcher
encouraged the students to improve their ability to organize their recount text through the same activity. When the students learned recount text through
arranging jumbled paragraphs activity again, 93 of the students could produce coherent-recount texts.
68 As mentioned before, the students found difficulty to manage the
coherence because they did not follow the generic structure to write. Before implementing the activity, only 7 of the students could follow the generic
structure. Eighty percent of the students used to brainstorm all ideas they had. As a result, they did not present the ideas based on the generic structure. Even though
the ideas were relevant to the topic sentence, the ideas were not suitable for the generic structure. For example, even though the topic sentence was about the
settings of an event, the students could not present the activity he had in the settings because it was the orientation. The student had to present the activity in
the event. When the students wrote their own texts after arranging the jumbled
paragraphs, the percentage of the students who obeyed the generic structure only increased into 13. There were still 80 of the students who could not organize
the texts based on the correct generic structure. These students followed the generic structure and placed the ideas based on the generic structure. However,
they still put ideas which were not relevant to the generic structure. For example, when the students wrote news item, they presented the statement from the expert
in the source. Unfortunately, they still focused on telling the way the thief escaped. As a result, they changed the generic structure into background event.
Since almost all of the students did not improve their skill to write based on the correct generic structure, the researcher implemented the same activity in
the second cycle. It was aimed at helping the students identify the generic structure of recount text independently. From the writing results, it can be seen
that arranging jumbled generic structure. There
generic structure to write The improvemen
which showed the impro
Figure 4
to the second cycle. Th which defined the good
paragraphs activity im effectively. The result o
showed that the activity
20 40
60 80
100
T h
e P
er ce
n ta
g e
o f
S tu
d en
ts ed paragraphs activity helped the students to id
erefore, all of the students were successful to rite their recount texts.
ent of the text organization was summarized in F rovement from the activity before the implementa
e 4.2: The Improvement of Text Organization
The improvement included the improvement of a d text. This figure also summarized how arrangin
improved the XA students’ paragraph writ t of the second questionnaire presented in Table
ty helped them improve their paragraph writing sk The Improvement of Each Aspect
the success achieved before implementation the success achieved in the first cycle
the success achieved in the second cycle
69 identify the
o follow the
n Figure 4.2, ntation
f all aspects ging jumbled
riting skills ble 4.7. also
skills.
70
Table 4.7: The Result of the Second Questionnaire Aspects
Statements Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Agree Strongly
Agree
Cognitive 1. I understand the generic structure of a text
through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity
- -
93 7
2. Arranging jumbled paragraphs activity helps
me to analyze the generic structure of a text -
7 86
7 3.
When arranging jumbled paragraphs, I analyze the generic structure of a text based
on the information contained in each paragraph
- 7
86 7
4. Through arranging jumbled paragraphs
activity, I understand that each paragraph of a text contains certain information i.e.
source, setting, event -
15 70
15 5.
Arranging jumbled paragraphs activity helps me more to write a text independently
- 7
78 15
6. I write a text by organizing the information
based on the generic structure -
7 86
7 7.
Through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, I am more able to apply my
knowledge about the generic structure of a text to write independently
- 7
93 -
8. Arranging jumbled paragraphs activity helps
me more to write a text based on the correct generic structure
- -
100 -
Affective 1. In arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, I
involve more actively in analyzing the generic structure of a text
- 15
85 -
2. In arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, I
pay more attention to the information contained in each paragraph
- 15
78 7
3. Through arranging jumbled paragraphs
activity, I am more critical to analyze the generic structure of a text
- 23
70 7
4. Through arranging jumbled paragraphs
activity, I am more critical to analyze the information contained in each paragraph
- 7
86 7
5. After arranging jumbled paragraphs activity,
I pay more attention to the generic structure to write a text
- 7
86 7
71 In order to ensure that arranging jumbled paragraphs activity was effective
to improve their paragraph writing skills, the researcher distributed the second questionnaire.The questionnaire was distributed on May 7
th
, 2012 directly after the lesson. The purpose was to direct the students’ attention to the lesson
conducted by the researcher. Thus, the students would not think about the lessons they had before the implementation.
Implementing arranging jumbled paragraphs activity in the class was a new learning activity which enganged XA students to learn actively and
independently. Before the implementation, the students never had the chance to practice to analyze the generic structure. Therefore, they often failed to identify
the generic structure. This situation was described by two of the students who were interviewed. They said that the teacher explained the generic structure to
them. Student 2: “Kita tidak pernah diberi kesempatan menganalisa generic structure.
Cuma diterangkan guru.” We never had chance to analyze generic structure. The teacher only explains it to us.
Based on the opinion of all XA students in SMA Santo Mikael, it was
more effective to know the organization of a text when they were given the chance to analyze it independently. Ninety three percent of the students stated that
arranging jumbled paragraphs activity facilitated them to understand the generic structure of a text. Moreover, 7 of them strongly believed that they understand
the generic structure through doing this activity.
72 From the improvement of their texts organization, it can be seen that
arranging jumbled paragraphs activity helped the students to improve their paragraph writing skills. By doing this activity, 86 of the students were helped
to analyze the generic structure of a text. Seven percent of the students even strongly agreed with the same statement that they could analyze the generic
structure through arranging jumbled paragraphs. When the researcher interviewed four of the students, all of them also stated that this activity encouraged them to
analyze the generic structure independently. According to the students, this activity also created an interesting and exciting learning activity. Hence, the
students were enthusiastic to identify the generic structure and analyze the text organization.
Student 11: “Kalo belajar tergantung sama gurunya. Kalo Miss Siwi ngajarnya
asyik. Jadi lebih mendalami, terus ga bosen.” The success of learning depends on the teacher. Miss Siwi taught attractively, so I
could understand more and I was not bored.
From all of the situations mentioned above, it can be summarized that by doing arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, the students’ learning style changed.
Before the implementation, they used to depend on the teacher explanation to learn about the organization of a good text. After the researcher implemented the
activity in the class, they learned about the generic structure independently. In order to understand the generic structure, 85 of the students actively involved to
analyze it. The result of the interview also shows that this activity increased their
73 participation in learning. All students who were interviewed stated that they were
more active to analyze the generic structure. Arranging jumbled paragraphs activity also changed the students’
strategies to analyze the generic structure. The students used to analyze the generic structure based on the position of the paragraph. When they arranged the
jumbled paragraphs to learn about the organization, 86 of the students agreed that they could identify the generic structure by analyzing the information
contained in each paragraph critically. Even 7 of the students strongly agreed with this statement.
Analyzing the information to restructure the jumbled paragraphs into a good text increased the students’ critical thinking. When the students analyzed the
generic structure through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, they became more critical to see the information. Thus, they found no difficulty to connect one
idea to another idea. Eighty six percent of the students agreed that they were more critical, while 7 of the students strongly agreed.
Since the students paid attention to the information to arrange the jumbled paragraphs, they became more critical to read. By applying this effective reading,
they would not read partial ideas in the paragraphs. Based on the result of the second questionnaire, 78 of the students stated that they paid more attention to
the information contained in each paragraph. Therefore, they never used their automatized concept to identify the generic structure of a text based on the
position of the paragraphs. Seven percent of the students also strongly agreed with this method.
74 Being critical to see the information confirms that the students learned to
be critical to analyze the generic structure as well. In order to restructure the paragraphs, they needed to pay attention to generic structure. If they were not
careful to see the generic structure, they would misplace the paragraph. According to 70 of the students, they critically analyzed the generic structure, while 7 of
the students strongly agreed that they were also more critical. Since the students analyzed the information to identify the generic
structure, they knew that each generic structure contained certain categories of information. For example, orientation contains the information about the
characters and the setting. The result of the second questionnaire showed that 70 of the students agreed and 15 of them strongly agreed that this activity enabled
them to understand every category of information in the generic structure. Therefore, all students were able to present the information based on the correct
generic structure. Students’ confidence to write their own texts increased because arranging
jumbled paragraph activity enabled the students to understand the text organization.The result of the questionnaire showed that 78 of the students
could use the knowledge acquired from this activity to help them write independently. Even 15 of the students strongly agreed that they could write
easily without being dependent on their friends or teacher. The success of all XA students in improving their paragraph writing skills
was achieved through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. Ninety three percent of the students thought that they were able to apply their knowledge to write after
75 they analyzed the text independently. All students who were interviewed
confirmed that arranging jumbled paragraphs activity helped them to write a good paragraph. Through reading the real text, they could see the real example of how
the ideas were connected and organized.
Student 11: “…diberi contoh, baru disuruh nulis.” …we were given the example, then we wrote.
The students’ scores on writing organization show their improvement in producing well-organized texts. Before the implementation, they used to write
without paying attention to the generic structure. As a result, the texts were not organized and the readers could not follow the ideas. Since they learned about the
pattern of organization through arranging jumbled paragraphs, 100 of the students thought that they were able to write their own texts based on the correct
generic structure. The students successfully produced well-organized texts because they
were able to arrange information based on the generic structure. To produce a good text, these students paid attention to the generic structure as the guideline to
present the information. After learning from arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, 86 of the students stated that they organized the text by arranging the
information based on the generic structure. Seven percent of the students also experienced the same improvement. They strongly agreed that they never
brainstormed their ideas.
76 It is necessary for the students to know how ideas were organized and
connected in the paragraphs. When they knew the pattern of organization, they would use the same pattern to write. To produce well-organized text, they had to
be critical to relate the information contained in each paragraph with the pattern of organization. In order to obtain deeper information about the students’ opinions
towards arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, the researcher provided two open- ended questions. These questions aimed to see how the activity improved
students’ paragraph writing skill effectively. According to 78 of the students, arranging jumbled paragraphs activity
was effective to increase their critical thinking in analyzing the generic structure. The other students felt that arranging jumbled paragraphs activity improved their
ability to write. By understanding the generic structure, they could sequence the ideas. Fifteen percent of them felt that it helped them to sequence information
based on the correct generic structure, while 7 of them felt that it helped them to sequence the ideas in each paragraph.
According to 77 of the students, they could organize the ideas successfully after they arranged jumbled paragraphs. They could learn how to
connect and structure the ideas. Twenty three percent of the students learned to connect paragraph to another paragraph through arranging jumbled paragraphs
activity. By analyzing the generic structure, they could learn to maintain the coherence of a text.
77