Cycle I, the researcher and the collaborator decided to control the time of making mind mapping and writing descriptive texts. They would divide the
time for doing those two activities to make the time more efficient. Those planning would be applied in the meetings in Cycle II.
Dealing with other hindrances, many students found difficulties in using the simple present tense. They often made many mistakes when trying
to write sentences including positive, negative and interrogative patterns. Although the English teacher had taught about it, they were still not able to
make correct sentences. In addition, their knowledge about spelling, punctuations and capitalizations were still low, So many students made
many mistakes in their writing. It can be seen in the field note below. In the last task, the researcher asked the students to make a short paragraph
about a mind map they had made. When the researcher walked around and checked students’ work, he surprised that many students could not use the
simple present tense on their writing. For example, when they wanted to make a negative sentence pattern, they could not know where “Not” should
be put. In addition, they could not use capitalization correctly. For example they did not know when they should write a capital letter in a sentence.
Their spelling of English words also became problems. They sometimes made mistakes on writing a word such as “Flor”. It should be “Floor” and so
on. Then, they sometimes did not put a capital letter in correct orders such as in the middle of a sentence. As a result, they made many mistakes on
their writing.
FN. 06, April 21
st
2014 ___________________________________________________________
Based on the problems revealed above, the researcher and the collaborator decided to solve those matters through teaching and giving
explanations about them in each meeting of Cycle II. After consulting with
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the English teacher, the researcher also got some suggestions about what materials should be included in conducting Cycle II. He also suggested
varying the tasks based on students’ need to avoid students’ boredom.
2. Cycle II
From the reflection of Cycle I, the researcher found some problems which should be improved more in Cycle II. This part described the process
of Cycle II. There were two meetings. It was held on Monday 12
th
and 19
th
May. It described the planning, the action and observation and the teaching and learning process during the research. It can be seen in the descriptions
below.
a. Planning
In the planning stage, the researcher prepared two lesson plans in two meetings which were rooted in the course grid. Based on the discussion with
the collaborator, it was determined that Cycle II would focus on some problems found in Cycle I. The researcher decided to implement some
activities and some new actions with the hope that the teaching and learning process would be more enjoyable and the students’ ability in
writing descriptive texts would significantly improve. The action plans of Cycle II revealed the following points.
The students thought that mind mapping was a new way for them to learn English. They took much time to draw the mind mapping rather than
to write the text of descriptive itself. Therefore, the researcher and the
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collaborator determined to control the time of drawing mind mapping. So, the students could also focus on their writing. In addition, to make the
students enjoy and to have more fun in the process of learning English, the researcher varied the topic in each meeting and asked them to make a mind
mapping based on their own creativity without hesitate. Based on the post test done in the end of the third meeting, the
researcher found that many students had difficulties in using the simple present tense. Therefore, the researcher prepared materials which included
the explanations and the tasks to improve their ability in using this tense. It would obviously help students in writing descriptive texts. Furthermore, the
researcher also prepared some tasks in order to check understanding about the auxiliary including To be and HasHave. It can be seen in the following
interview below. ET :
Untuk Cycle II-nya, gimana Mas Harsul ada yang sudah di persiapkan? What have you prepared for cycle II?
R : Oh ini pak saya dengan Mbak Evi sudah menyiapkan materi
untuk dua pertemuan di Cycle II tentang Simple Present Tense karena seperti hasil test di Cycle I kemarin itu, mereka memang masih sangat
kurang pengetahuan untuk menysun kalimat yang baik dan benar. Yes, sir. Evi and I have prepared materials for the next two meeting in Cycle II. It is
about the simple present tense because based on the result of the test; they still lack ability to make a good and correct sentence.
ET :
Oh iya bagus itu Mas. Memang anak-anak kurang dalam hal itu dan jangan lupa Mas yang kemarin-kemarin yang sudah diajarkan kalo
bisa sering di ulang-ulang. Anak-anak gampang lupa kalo sudah di ajarkan gitu.That’s good, it’s true that the students are obviously lacking of those
matters and do not forget that what you have taught earlier, you should repeat again and again because they are kind of forgetful.
Continued
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Continued R :
Iya Pak, kita juga sudah menyiapkan untuk task-task untuk mengingat pelajaran kemarin yang sudah di ajarakan terutama tentang To
be sama HasHave biar bisa diterapkan dalam membuat kalimat nanti. Yes sir, we also have prepared some tasks for them to remember what they
have learned earlier especially in terms of To be and HasHave in order to be applied in making sentences later.
Interview Transcript 14 _____________________________________________________________
In the first meeting, the researcher and the collaborator had prepared explanations of the simple present tense in positive and negative patterns.
After that, the researcher also added the explanations about interrogative patterns in the second meeting. He also would drill the students with some
tasks related to the simple present tense to check their understanding. As explained in the reflection of Cycle I, many students also lack
knowledge in terms of punctuations. Therefore, the researcher would pay more attention to check students’ work and to correct them together. He also
gave a brief explanation how to use correct punctuations during writing activities.
Then, the researcher also planned to recall the students’ knowledge of descriptive texts along with the generic structure and mind mapping. He
also prepared some kinds of task such as matching sentences, completing texts, writing paragraphs, and writing a text based on a mind map.
During conducting the teaching and learning process in the class, the researcher prepared an observation checklist. It aimed to get the data and
information from the teaching and learning process. He also designed some
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questions for the English teacher, the collaborator and the students. The questions dealt with their comments on the teaching and learning process
and also their expectation in the next meeting. The researcher also prepared handouts for the students.
b. Action and Observation
In implementing the actions in Cycle II, the researcher worked collaboratively with the English teacher and the collaborator. During the
