32 level of proficiency, competence, ability, needs, and interest. The third is about
the teacher. Teachers can choose the media based on their preferences. 2.
The instructional technique In this case, the teacher has to consider the learning technique used in the
classroom interaction. It is because different techniques or methods used will use different media.
3. The situational factors
The teacher has to consider the logistic and situational factors. For example, the time, and the cost needed in preparing the media.
4. Students’ involvement
It is important that the media can improve the students’ involvement
in the teaching and learning process. One of the characteristics of good classroom interaction is enough students’ involvement in the use of media.
As summary, media make the teaching and learning process more effective and there are various media can be used to teach the students. One of the
visual media can be used in the teaching and learning process is pictures. In this research, the researcher focused on the use of picture series as media in teaching
writing.
i. Picture Series as Visual Media in Teaching Writing
As stated before there are many types of media can be used in teaching writing. Media plays some important roles in the teaching and learning process.
33 Media also available in many kinds of forms that can be used to support the
teaching and learning process. One type of media that is commonly used is visual media. Smaldino et al.
2005: 82-83 state the roles of visual media in instructional processes. 1.
Providing a concrete reference for ideas. Words do not usually look or sound like what it is supposed to be but visuals are iconic that can help people to
represent what it is. Visuals are also easier to be remembered than words and they also can motivate the learners by getting and holding their attention, and
generating their emotional response. 2.
Simplifying information which is difficult to understand. There are some information or things that are difficult and complicated to explain with words.
By using visual media, the information that are difficult to explain with words can be described clearly, for example is the use of diagram.
3. Functioning as a redundant channel. A visual can give a different
representation when supporting spoken or verbal language. It helps the listeners or readers comprehend visually what they miss verbally.
Pictures as one of the visual media also can be an effective teaching aid in teaching writing. There are some functions of pictures as the teaching aid in
teaching writing. Wright 1989: 2 states that pictures contribute to increase the students’ interest and motivation, make the students have sense of the context of
language, and pictures can be a specific reference point or a stimulus. Harmer 2007: 178 says that ‘Pictures can be in the form of photographs or illustrations
34 typically in a textbo
ok’ and ‘facilitate learning’. He also says that colourful pictures and illustrations are often entertaining to look at. Pictures as
‘ornamentation’ appeal to students and engage them. From the theory, it can be concluded that pictures have many benefits for teaching writing by improving the
students’ motivation and helping them to generate their ideas. Pictures as visual media can be gotten from many sources, such as
newspapers, magazines, and the internet.However, teachers have to be careful and choose the appropriate pictures that are feasible for the students and the learning
objective. Wright 1989: 3 mentions some criteria to select pictures to be used as the teaching aid. The first is it is easy to prepare. Teachers should choose the one
that is easy to prepare and not complicated as it is used as the teaching aid to help the students to learn writing. The second is easy to organize. Teaching aids that
are easy to organize will not need much time to be prepared so they will not disturb the teaching and learning process. The third is interesting. Interesting
pictures and activities will attract the students’ attention and improve their
motivation in learning. The fourth is meaningful and authentic. Meaningful and authentic pictures will help the students to understand the story of the pictures.
The last is sufficient in the amount of language. Based on those criteria, teachers should choose the appropriate pictures to use as the teaching aid. The use of
theappropriatepictures will make the teaching and learning process more effective. In this research, the researcher focused on the use of picture series as the
teaching aid in teaching writing. Yunus 1981:49 states, “A picture series is a
35 number of related composite picture linked to form a series of sequences. Hence,
its main function is to tell a story or sequence of events .” Based on the definition,
picture series enable to help the students to write a narrative text based on some factors. They will provide the students with a sequence of pictures that has a
function to tell a sequence of events. The detail of each event in the pictures helps the students generate and develop their ideas. They will also give guidance on the
organization of the text by showing the sequence of events which helps the students write a well-organized writing. They also can attra
ct the students’ attention to be more motivated in writing by providing colourful and interesting
pictures. They can also give guidance for the students in term of vocabulary that is possibly used in the story by looking at the pictures and help them guess the
meanings of some words. In summary, picture series will be effectively help teachers to teach
writing because they can help the students to generate their ideas by looking at each picture. They also can
improve the students’ motivation in learning.
B. Reviews of Related Studies
In the teaching and learning process of writing, there are various teaching aids that can be applied by the teacher. One of them is picture series. They
provide the students with a sequence of pictures that can help them to generate, develop, and organize their ideas. There are some similar researchs that had been
conducted before. The result of the research is described as follows.
