Conceptual Framework LITERATURE REVIEW

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C. Data Collecting Instruments

In collecting the data, the researcher used several instruments. There were the observation sheets, the interview guidelines, and the tests. The instruments used in this research are as follows:

1. Observation sheets

Observation sheets were used during the teaching and learning process to observe the students. They contain the data related to the students’ behaviors and motivation. In this stage, there was an observation weather the students enjoyed the process by using picture-cued activities or not.

2. Interview guidelines

It contains some question related to the data which the researcher wants to get. This instrument was used when researcher conducted the interview with both the teacher and the students. It also covered any information related to English teaching and learning at SMP N 1 Dlingo. So, from the interview the researcher got the information weather the picture-cued activities could improve the students’ writing ability or not.

3. Tests

The last instrument that was used was the tests. There were the pretest and posttest. Both of the tests showed the students’ writing performance. The researcher held pretest and posttest to see whether there was improvement on the students’ writing or not. 21

D. Data Analysis

The data in this research consists of and quantitative data. The quantitative data were presented in the score of students’ tests. The qualitative data were the description of the process during the action, interview transcripts, observation, and students’ writing. The researcher analyzed the qualitative data through three steps: reducing, displaying, and verifying the data. After they were collected, the researcher took the data that were really appropriate to what the researcher needs. The next step was displaying them. After that, the researcher concluded what they meant. The researcher also analyzed the quantitative data to know the tendency of the students’ writing scores. She identified the progress of the development of the students’ writing skill due to the actions. Furthermore, the instruments that were analyzed qualitatively were the result of pretest and posttest. In this case, there were three ways in analyzing the quantitative data. They were mean value, standard deviation, and T-test. Mean value is the average of the students’ scores. It was calculated by adding up all scores and dividing them by the number of the students in the classroom. It was called empirical mean, because it was gained by involving overall scores in the classroom. It should be above the ideal mean to define that the group of participants has a good achievement. Ideal mean was to measure the standard group achievement. It was calculated by adding up the highest score and the lowest scores, and then dividing it by two. If the students’ 22 mean score was higher than the ideal mean. It means that the students have a good achievement. Standard deviation aims to identify whether a distribution is heterogeneous or homogeneous. It was used to measure the variability. If it was lower than ideal standard deviation, it means that the class was homogeneous and their achievement was equivalent. The last is T-test. It is to compare two means. Those means will be taken from the pretest and posttest. T-test was used to see whether the improvement was significant or not. The results of the test were compared in each cycle to see the improvements. The researcher employed SPSS 17,0 to analyze the quantitative data.

E. Procedure of The Research

Before doing some stages in classroom action research, the researcher did reconnaissance step to know about the problem that the researcher and the students faced in writing class. The researcher did an observation when the teacher taught writing to her students and observed their writing. After having found the problems, the researcher did some stages based on the classroom action research. Kemmis and Mc Taggart 1998 in Burns 2010:07 have developed a simple model of cyclical nature of the typical action research process Figure 1. Each cycle has four steps: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting.