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CHAPTER III METHODS OF INVESTIGATION
This chapter presents procedures and research steps to solve the research problems. It is divided into five subsections: design of the study, subject of the study,
action research process, method of collecting data, and method of a data analysis.
3.1 Design of the Study
The writer conducted Praktek Pengalaman Lapangan PPL Teaching Practice in SMP N 13 Semarang for three months. The writer was assigned by the English
teacher of SMP N 13 to teach class 8A, 8B, and 8C. During three months teaching, the writer found that the students got low scores in writing. The writer then discussed
this problem with the English teacher. The teacher said that the students were not enthusiastic in writing the text. They always got low score when the teacher gave
them a task to write. The writer then did an informal interview to some students in class 8A. The
writer asked why they were not enthusiastic in writing. Some of students answered that they are bored in joining writing class, some students answered that they had
difficulties in developing their idea, some students could not arrange their sentences well and some students were confused about grammar in writing certain text. Based
on those problems, the writer decided to do an action research.
The type of research which was applied in this study was action research. According to Harmer 2003: 344, action research is the name given to a series of
procedures teachers can engage in, either because they wish to improve aspects of their teaching, or they wish to evaluate the success andor appropriateness of certain
activities and procedures. Actually, a classroom action research is conducted in cycle. Every cycle has
four phases; they are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting Hopkin 1985:50.The cycle of action research could be seen in the figure below:
Figure 3.1The model of action research by Hopkin 1985:50
In this action research, the writer conducted two cycles; cycle 1 and cycle 2. Therefore, before conducting the research, the writer conducted a pre-test. It shows
students’ prior knowledge about report text. In this first step, students were asked to make a report text by developing the given key words.
Reflect Observe
Act
Reflect Observe
Act
Rev is
ed P
la n
3.2 Subject of the Study
