Based on the examples of the student’s writing above, it could be seen that the students’ writing ability was improved. There were still some
mistakes, but they were not as many as in the cycle 1.
C. Research Findings
The implementation of a mind mapping technique was already conducted at 8 A of SMPN 4 Sleman. It consisted of five meetings. The first cycle was
conducted on April 28
th
, May 14
th
, and May 18
th
2016 and the second cycle was done on May 19
th
and May 21
st
2016. The research findings were discussed in this part. There were two types of
data obtained in the research. They were qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained through observation interview and documentation
during the research. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were obtained from the students’ scores on the pre-test and post-test. By analyzing the data obtained, the
researcher found the final results of the research. Before the implementation of the action, there were some problems in
English teaching and learning process, especially in writing skill. The students still did not master the writing aspects such as grammar, vocabulary, mechanics,
and organization so it was difficult for them to write a good written text. Then, in the writing process, the students had difficulty in gathering and organizing the
idea. As a consequence, the writing process was disturbed since the students were unable to develop sentences and paragraphs. Furthermore, most of the students
were not motivated since they showed no enthusiasm in learning activity. In
addition, they did not focus to the teacher’s explanation by frequently making random noises and having conversations without paying full atention to the
teacher. It distracted either the teacher’s or other students’ concentration in teaching and learning process.
During the implementation, at the beginning, the researcher gave the students overview about the topic that was going to be discussed which was a
recount text. The generic structure and all the aspects consisted in the language features such as the action verb, the adverb of time and the connectors in a recount
text were explained to build students’ background knowledge. After thoroughly explaining all those materials, the researcher found out that the students started to
cope with the aspects of a recount text. By possessing the basic knowledge of a recount text the students would not be confused when they started to produce a
recount text. In giving practices, the researcher provided two tasks that had to be done in
pairs and in groups. In term of students’ understanding, the task which was done in pairs was proven that it increased the students comprehension, but in the case
of time effectivity, it took too much time for students to finish the tasks. Similarly, in the case of the task which was done in groups, there were some groups that
could not finish it within allocated time. As a result, the tasks had to be proceeded in the next meeting. The contribution of the members of the groups was also
unequal. Most female students tended to work more than the males. The introductions of the new words related to a recount text was effective to
enrich the students’ vocabularies. The researcher introduced the news words in the
form of sentences and paragraphs so the students were able to know the meaning of certain words and the use of those words in a sentence or paragraph. In aspect
of mechanics, there were relatively no problems in terms of punctuation. Most students could place certain marks at the appropriate places. However, some
students still misspelled some words in their writing, but it did not interfere the comprehension of the text.
The implementation of a mind mapping technique had an important role to motivate students in getting involved in learning English and in gathering more
ideas in writing a text. The students were more enthusiastic when the researcher started to explain the mind mapping technique. Since the students had not been
familiar with the technique, it succeeded to attract the students’ attention to the lesson. Moreover, consisting of colorful images, the mind mapping technique
made the students more motivated to know how to make and use it in writing a recount text. Besides, after being introduced to and using the mind mapping
technique, the students had more relevant ideas to be written down. The range of the ideas also completed the overall parts of the topics.
However, the mind mapping technique seemed to be not so attractive for those who were reluctant to draw pictures. One of the students said that the
technique was quite difficult since she thought that she had to be more creative. After having been reassured by the researcher that she could draw as creatively as
she could as long as it helped her gather ideas, she started to enjoy the mind mapping technique.
Then, one of the problems in the teaching and learning process was that students did not focus on the materials explained by the teacher. To overcome this
problem, the researcher always used media like Power Point to deliver the materials to keep their eyes focus on the materials. The students found it
interesting and easy to comprehend the materials that were being discussed. It could also maintain students enthusiasm in answering the questions presented on
the slide. Besides, the media could save the time since the researcher could not have to write all the materials on the whiteboards.
In addition to the findings above, the summary of the changes of each cycle in relation to the implementation of the action is presented in the following table.
Table 8: The Comparison in the Pre-condition, Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 No.
Pre-condition Cycle 1
Cycle 2
1. The students had
problems in
writing aspects
vocabulary, grammar,
mechanics, and
organization. The
students were
given sufficient
explanations and
practices related
to those writing aspects.
At the end of the cycle, the students still had
difficulty in terms of grammar
and vocabulary.
The students
were provided
more thorough
explanation and practices related to
grammar and
vocabulary. Then, they were
also given
informational feedback which focused on the
aspects which
the students were lack of. It
helped the students to understand
those aspects better.
2. The students had The
students were The students had been
continued
a lack of idea to write a text.
given the example of the
mind maps
including how
to brainstorm the idea and
how to draw a mind map in relation to
writing a recount text. It helped the students to
explore their idea and to
arrange the
paragraph. able to generate their
ideas and to draw the mind
maps. Their
writing results showed significant
improvement.
3. The students had
low motivation in learning English.
The students
were given
interesting activity
which was
writing using
mind mapping
technique. Subsequently,
they were asked to develop
their ideas freely and openly. It increased the
students’ motivation to get involved in the
teaching and learning process.
The students
were given
interesting activity
which was
writing using
mind mapping technique. The
motivation of
the students grew higher
when the students were drawing
their mind
maps.
4. The students did
not focus to the lesson.
The mind
mapping technique
was implemented and the
researcher presented
the materials through Power Point in the
classroom. It succeeded The
students were
interested with the mind mapping
and the
materials presented
through the
Power Point. They were more
attracted to the teaching continued
continued
to attract
students attention to the lesson.
and learning process.
After the implementation of mind mapping technique, there were some positive changes on the students’ attitudes towards English teaching and learning
process and their writing skills. In terms of the students’ writing production, there were also decent
improvements from the pre-condition, cycle 1 and cycle 2. The detailed improvements of the students’ writing production can be seen in the following
table.
Table 9: The Students’ Improvements of Writing Production in the Pre- condition, Cycle 1 and Cycle 2
Aspects Pre-condition
Cycle 1 Cycle 2
Grammar The
errors in
grammar and word orders
were so
frequent. The
reader had to rely on
his own
interpretation. The
errors of
grammar and word order
were fairly
frequent. The errors were predominately
by omitting
the subjects or verbs and
using inappropriate tenses.
There were still some
errors of
grammar but it did not interfere the
comprehension.
Vocabulary The
vocabulary was so limited and
the errors hindered the expression of
ideas. The
use of
inappropriate terms was
occasionally conducted, but it did
not impair
the expression of ideas.
The use
of vocabulary
was mostly related to
the context.
Mechanics The
errors in
spelling and
in The
errors in
punctuation There
were no
noticeable lapses
continued
continued
punctuation were
so frequent.
It sometimes led to
obscurity. relatively did not
happen. Yet, there were some errors in
spelling which,
however, did
not interfere
the comprehension.
of spelling.
Fluency There was little
sense of ease of communication.
The structure and vocabulary
were sometimes misused
and inappropriate. The texts were quite
patchy with some slight inappropriate
structure and
vocabulary items. The
choices of
structures and
vocabulary were
more appropriate.
Organization There were little
attempts at
connectivity although the reader
could deduce some organization.
The paragraphs were more organized. The
connection could be clearer
but communication was
not impaired. The
paragraphs were
well- organized and the
expressions of
ideas were well- linked.
In addition, the result of the tests pre-test and post-test showed that there were significant improvements in writing aspects such as grammar, vocabulary,
mechanics, fluency and organizations. To avoid any bias in scoring the tests, the researcher asked the collaborator to assess the students’ tests. Subsequenlty, the
researcher compared the scores from the researcher and the collaborator. The students’ mean scores of each aspect in both tests can be seen in the following
table. continued
Table 10: The Mean Scores of Each Aspect in the Pre-test and the Post-test
Aspects Pre-test
Post-test Gained Score
Grammar 2,72
3,92 1,20
Vocabulary 3,05
4,28 1,23
Mechanics 3,12
4,05 0,93
Fluency 3,33
4,57 1,24
Organzations 3,53
4,47 0,94
The table above shows the mean of students’ scores on each aspect. From the pre-test to post-test, the scores of each aspect were relatively improved. There
were five aspects to be scored in both tests that were grammar, vocabulary, mechanics, fluency and organizations. The descriptions were elaborated as
follows. In grammar aspect, the students’ mean score in the pre-test was 2,72 and it
increased to 3,92 in the post-test. The gained score of grammar aspect was 1,20. Then, the improvements also occured in the vocabulary and mechanics aspects. In
the vocabulary aspect, the students’ mean score in the pre-test was 3,05 and it improved to 4,28 in the post-test. The gained score obtained from the pre-test to
post-test was 1,23. Subsequently, in terms of mechanics, the students’ mean score in the pre-test was 3,12 and it increased to 4,05 in the post-test. The gained score
of the mechanics aspect was 0,93. The fluency and organization aspects had some positive changes as well.
The table above also shows that the students had a decent improvement in
fluency. The students’ mean score in the pre-test was 3,33 and it improved to 4,57 in the post-test. The gained score of the fluency aspect was 1,24 and it was the
highest gained score among other aspects. Also, the table depicted that there was also positive progress among the students in organization. The students’ mean
score in the pre-test was 3,53 and it increased to 4,47 in the post-test. The gained score of the organization aspect was 0,94. In addition, the following chart shows
the comparison of the students’ mean score in each aspect in pre-test and post-test.
Figure XIX: The students’ improvements in all aspects in the pre-test and the post-test
The chart above shows that there were positive improvements in all writing
aspects from pre-test to post test. There was an interesting finding related to the
improvements of writing aspects in this research. In the scores presented in the chart, the most improved aspect was fluency which the gained score is 1,24. So it
can be said that the improvements in accuracy also had an essential impact on the
fluency aspect. In addition, the following chart shows the students’ total scores in the pre-test and post-test.
0,00 1,00
2,00 3,00
4,00 5,00
PRE-TEST POST-TEST GRAM M AR
VOCABULARY M ECHANICS
FLUENCY ORGANIZATION
Figure XX: The students’ total score in the pre-test and the post-test
The total score was obtained from the mean scores in each aspect which were already calculated by the researcher and the collaborator. Then, the mean
scores were calculated to find the students’ total score in each test. As presented in the chart above, the total score of the pre-test was 15,75 and it was increased to
21,28 in the post-test. Based on the data presented above, the researcher and the collaborator
concluded that the students’ writing ability was improved using the mind mapping technique. The students also showed positive attitudes during the teaching and
learning process in which they looked enthusiastic and actively participated in the teaching and learning process. Besides, their writing scores showed a considerable
improvement.
D. Discussion
