Applying mind mapping strategy to improve students writing ability in descriptive text: a classroom action research at the second grade of SMP Al-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten

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STUDENTS WRITING ABILITY IN DESCRIPTIVE TEXT (Classroom Action Research at The Second Grade of SMP Al-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten). Skripsi of English Education at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

Keyword:Writing Ability, Descriptive text, Mind Mapping Strategy

This study is aimed to find how Mind Mapping strategy can improve students’ writing ability of descriptive text at the second grade of SMP Al-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten in academic year 2014/2015. The subjects of this study were 22 students. Classroom Action Research was used as a method in this study which isadopted from Kurt Lewins’ design.The study was conducted in two cycles and three meeting in each cycle. The data collection techniques used in this study includes some points; interview, observation, test, and documentation. The interview is addressed to the students and English teacher, the observation was done by the real teacher (observer) in observing class situation, students’ attitude, and teachers’(writer) performance, the test was done by the students thrice, and documentation is some photos which were taken during the implementation by the observer. The result of interview shows that both teacher and student were interested in using mind mapping as a strategy of writing descriptive text. In addition, the result of observation indicates that the class condition during teaching learning process was also quite good. The students become highly motivated and creative in learning writing descriptive text. Besides, the quantitative data was getting from pre-test and post-test. It is used to know the students improvement in writing descriptive text. The result shows that there was improvement of the students’achievement in writing descriptive paragraph. Most of students gradually gained good scores at the end of each cycle. The score of

Minimum Mastery Criterion-Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal (KKM) of English

lesson was 70 (seventy). Students mean score in preliminary study was 57.04, mean score in post-test 1 was 65.90, and mean score in post-test 2 was 73.40. In

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STUDENTS WRITING ABILITY IN DESCRIPTIVE TEXT (Classroom Action Research at The Second Grade of SMP Al-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten), Skripsi, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

Kata kunci:Kemampuan menulis, Teks Deskriptif, StrategiMind Mapping

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimanastrategy Mind Mapping dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam menulis deskriptif pada siswa kelas dua SMP AL-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten tahun ajaran 2014/2015. Subjek penelitian ini terdiri dari 22 siswa. Penelitian Tindakan Kelas merupakan metode yang yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yang diadopsi dari desain Kurt Lewin. Penelitian ini meliputi dua siklus yang terdiri dari tiga pertemuan dalam setiap siklus.Tehnik pengumpulan data yang digunakan meliputi: wawancara, observasi, tes, dan dokumentasi. Interview ditujukan kepada siswa dan guru

bahasa Inggris, observasi dilakukan oleh guru asli (observer) dalam

mengobservasi situasi kelas, perilaku siswa, dan aktivitas guru (penulis), tes dilakukan oleh siswa sebanyak tiga kali, dan dokumentasi berupa foto yang diambil selama implementasi. Hasil dari wawancara menunjukkan bahwa guru dan murid tertarik dalam menggunakan mind mapping sebagai strategi dalam pembelajaran menulis teks deskriptif.Selain itu, hasil dari observasi menunjukkan bahwa kondisi kelas selama proses belajar mengajar cukup bagus. Para siswa menjadi lebih termotifasi dan kreatif dalam menulis teks deskriptif. Selain itu, data kuantitatif diperoleh dari pre-tes dan post-test. Inidigunakan untuk mengetahui peningkatan siswa pada menulis teks deskriptif.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa adanya peningkatan pada kemampuan menulis siswa dalam teks deskriptif. Hamper semua siswa mendapatkan nilai yang lebih baik pada setiap akhir cycle. Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal (KKM)pada pelajaran bahasa inggris adalah 70. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa nilai rata-rata siswa pada tes awal yaitu 57.07, rata-rata nilai pada pos-test 1 adalah 65.90, dan rata-rata nilai pada post-test 2 adalah 73.40. Hal ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa strategy mind mapping dapat meningkatkan kemampuan menulis siswa dalam deskriptif text.

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All praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, who Has given mercy and blessing to the writer in finishing this skripsi. Peace and salutation be upon the prophet Muhammad SAW, his family, his companion, and his adherence.

On this opportunity, the writer would like to express her greatest honor and love to her beloved family (Kodaryono and Sumartini as her parents and her sister Hikmah Darni Hidayah) for their support, motivation, understanding, and prayer.

The writer also would like to address her greatest thankfulness and gratitude to her advisors, Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. and Ismalianing Eviyuliwati,

M.Hum. for the guidance and valuable advice during the writer did thisskripsi.

The writer’s sincere gratitude also goes to:

1. All lecturers, especially for English Education Department lecturers who have taught her new knowledge and have given gorgeous experiences in study. 2. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. and Zaharil Anasy, the head and the secretary of the

English Education Department.

3. Dra. Nurlena, M.A, Ph.D, the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training.

4. Helmi Permana, S.Pd., the Principal of SMP Al-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten for giving permission to the writer to do observation and research.

5. Deden Syaifullah, S.Pd., the English teacher of second grade at SMP Al-Mizan.

6. All of the teachers and the second year students at SMP Al-Mizan Pandeglang-Banten.

7. All of her friends in English Education Department, especially for C Class in academic year 2009 and her partners.

8. To any other persons who are named cannot be mentioned one by one for their contribution to the writer during finishing herskripsi.

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Jakarta, November, 20th2014

ix

COVER... i

APPROVAL... ii

ENDORSEMENT SHEET... iii

SURAT PERNYATAAN KARYA SENDIRI...iv

ABSTRACT...v

ABSTRAK... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... vii

TABLE OF CONTENT... ix

LIST OF PICTURE ... xii

LIST OF TABLES ... xiii

LIST OF FIGURE... xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES...xv

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ...1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. The Identification of the Problem ...3

C. The Limitation of the Problem ...3

D. The Problem Formulation ...4

E. The Objective of the Study ...4

F. The Significance of the Study ...4

CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...5

A. Writing ...5

1. The Concept of Writing ...5

x

3. Kinds of Descriptive Text... 11

4. Schematic Structure of Descriptive Text... 12

C. Mind Mapping... 13

1. The Concept of Mind Mapping... 13

2. The Purpose of Mind Mapping... 16

3. The Procedure of Mind Mapping... 16

4. The Advantages and disadvantages of Mind Mapping... 17

D. Previous Study... 19

E. Hypotheses ... 21

CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY... 22

A. Place and Time of the Study... 22

B. Research Approach and Design... 22

C. The Subject of the Study... 26

D. TheWriters’ Role... 26

E. The Stage of Action Intervention... 26

F. The Data and Source of Data... 26

G. The Instrument of Collecting Data... 28

H. The Technique of Collecting Data... 29

I. Data Analysis and Data Interpretation ... 31

J. Criteria of Action Success...32

CHAPTER IV : RESEARCH FINDING AND INTERPRETATION..33

A. The Data Description...33

1. Finding of Preliminary Study...33

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1) Planning ...36

2) Acting ...36

3) Observing ...37

4) Reflecting ...39

b. Cycle 2...40

1) Planning ...40

2) Acting ...40

3) Observing ...40

4) Reflecting ...43

c. Finding of the Action ...43

1) Post-interview...43

2) Post-test ...45

B. The Data Interpretation...45

1. Data of Interview ...46

2. Data of Observation...46

3. Data of Test ...46

4. Data of Documentation...47

CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION... 48

A. Conclusion ... 48

B. Suggestion ... 48

BIBLIOGRAPHY... 50

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Table 4.1Students’ Writing Score ofPre-test and Post-test 1... 37 Table 4.2Students’ Writing Score of Pre-test, Post-test, and Post-test2... 41

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Appendix 2 : Diagram of Students’Improvement

Appendix 3 : Observational Sheet

Appendix 4 : Interview Guideline

Appendix 5 : Lesson Planning

Appendix 6 :Students’Writing Sample of Descriptive Text

Appendix 7 : Students’Mind Mapping

Appendix 8 : Picture of Implementation of CAR

Appendix 9 : Surat Keterangan Telah Melakukan Penelitian

Appendix 10 : Pengesahan Proposal Skripsi Appendix 11 : Surat Bimbingan Skripsi

1

This chapter provides about the background of the study, the identification of the problem, the limitation of the problem, the problem formulation, the objective of the study, and the significance of the study.

A.

The Background of the Study

English has important role in communication in the world. It becomes an international language today. As stated by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers that English is widely studied as foreign language since five hundred

years ago until nowadays1. Some country used English as a second language but

in Indonesia, English is taught in schools as a foreign language. Consequently, it is a compulsory subject which is tested in national exam in Indonesia.

Learning English means learning four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening and reading are receptive skills while speaking and writing are productive skill. As productive skill, writing takes essential role in daily life. The ability to question, analyze, evaluate, and make decision are our thinking skills that will improve when we learn to write well. The more we

improve our thinking skill the more we can improve the quality of our life. The

ability to write well will help us to maintain relationship with friends or other people because we will learn to deliver negative news in a soften ways and reduce the impact2.

Through writing, the teacher teaches some aspects to his/her students. Ann Raimes finds that through writing, the students are helped in learning. First of all, the students are accustomed to use grammatical structures, idioms, and vocabulary that the teacher taught. Second, the students have a chance to develop

1

Jack C Richards and Theodore S. Rodger, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, (Edinburgh: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 1.

2

Betty Mattix Dietsch, Reasoning Writing Well, fourth ed, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006), p. 5.

their ideas in writing. Next, students have to find new vocabulary to express the idea that automatically will increase their vocabulary list3.

Writing makes the students easy in memorizing the lesson. Besides, it contributes the unique way in learning, when people take notes during lectures or as they read, writing enables people to keep new information in memory4. The students can elaborate their creative ideas about the lesson or knowledge with their own way through writing. Thus, writing takes important role in teaching and learning process which helps the students enrich their knowledge.

In education world, students of second grade are dealing with some kinds of texts, such as descriptive text, recount text, narrative text, and also procedural text. It means that they are not only demanded to have ability in comprehending the text and the structure when they are reading but also writing those texts.

One of those kinds of texts is descriptive text. It is the text describing about a person or something as resemble as the real. This statement is supported by John Langan opinion that when people describe something or someone it means that s/he gives the reader a picture as vivid as a real through “word picture”5. Knowing that descriptive lets the students use their imagination freely in describing something or person, it should become easier for them to study the text.

However, based on writers’ observation, some students cannot create

text well yet, especially in descriptive text. It is because they have lack of idea to write or they have some ideas but did not know how to deliver it in English. Consequently, almost all the students got stuck in their writing or they write anything related to the topic without knowing the generic structure of the text. Therefore, many students need much time to write. In addition, they have low achievement in writing subject. Moreover, Teacher often uses conventional

3

Ann Raimes, Techniques in Teaching Writing, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), p.3.

4

Rise B. Axelord and Charles R. Cooper, Guide to Writing, (New York:St. martin’s

Press, 1985), p. 2.

5

John Langan, Englih Skill With Readings, fiftth ed, (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002), p. 243.

method in teaching learning writing; therefore the students get bored in the class. Thus, it is teacher’s obligationto choose a suitable and interesting strategy to help the student’s difficulties in generating idea when they are writing.

Hence, the appropriate technique must be selected by the teacher to help the students overcoming difficulties in writing, especially writing descriptive text. For this case, the writer is suggested mind mapping strategy for the teacher in teaching writing subject. Tony Buzan investigates that mind mapping can help the student to represent the imaginative idea of the students. Moreover, the teacher can make the class become fun and passionate. It is because in mind mapping is introduced the visual learning to the brain ability. Color, picture, and arched branch combination more stimulate the brain than traditional note which is used a color and linear. It will help the student recall the information of mind map6.

Therefore, every student does not feel bored in understanding the material. In brief, Mind mapping is a strategy that the writers argue in teaching writing descriptive text to improve students’ability for this study.

B.

The Identification of the Problem

According to background of this study as stated above, here are the problem identification:

1. Students find difficulties in gathering and organizing their ideas unity.

2. Students get low achievement in writing skill.

3. The use of students’ learning strategyis inappropriate.

C.

The Limitation of the Study

To avoid misunderstanding in interpreting the problem, it is necessary to make the limitation of the study. This study is focused on teaching and learning process of writing descriptive text by using mind mapping as a strategy to improve students’ achievement.

6

Tony Buzan, Buku Pintar Mind Map, terj.Susi Purwoko (Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2013), p. 9.

D.

The Problems Formulation

According to the research background above, the writer formulate the question for this research as stated below:

1. Can mind mapping improve students’ writing achievement of descriptive

text?

2. How does mind mapping give positive effect for teaching and learning

process of writing descriptive text?

E.

The Objective of the Study

To find the empirical evident how mind mapping strategy improves students’ ability in writingis the fundamental aim of this research.

F.

The Significance of the Study

The result of this study is expected to become a good inspiration for the writer in teaching writing. For the teacher, it may help them to stimulate their student’s motivation in writing in order they have better achievement. For students, after knowing this strategy, the writer expected that the students will have many ideas in writing by using mind mapping strategy. For Further reading, this skripsimay become a useful and good reference for those who want to stand for the same topic.

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This chapter explores about general concept of writing, understanding of descriptive text, theories of mind mapping strategy, previous studies, and hypotheses of the study.

A. Writing

Writing activity is a connector between the writer and the reader. The writer should have any evidence that can convince the reader and bring the reader feeling to the real situation that the writer have figured it out. Writing is an act ego that people have to admit it. Some people express their love, sadness and scary in the written text. Their writing is flow down as water. They do not need to think what should they write about their feeling. However, for some people it is a hard activity to make readable text that can express their feeling to the reader because there are many aspect that the writer should to concider about.

Based on Ratna cited by Sa’diyah in Handini thatAmong four language skills taught in schools, writing is the most difficult skill to learn. It needs specialized skills that include the ability to express the writer’s opinions or thoughts clearly and efficiently. These abilities can be achieved only if a learner understand some techniques of writing such as how to obtain ideas about what s/he will write on, how to express them in a sequence of sentences, how to organize them chronologically and coherently, and how to review and then to revise the composition until the writing is well-built1.

1. The Concept of Writing

Writing is a complex process in expressing the idea through written text which need some elements to be commanded. However, it is like other skill such

1

Frida Dian Handini,Improving The Students’ Achievement InWriting Procedure Text By ApplyingMind Mapping Technique,TRANSFORM Journal Of English Language Teaching And Learning of FBS UNIMED, vol.2, no3. (2013), p. 2.

as swimming, drawing, dancing, etc., which can be learned by everyone. This

statement is pointed out by Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper that “writing

is a complex process and as such, contains element of mistery and surprise. But we know and believe that writing is a skill that anyone can learn to manage”2.

Writing is a media of communication between the writer and the reader where the reader does not need to give feedback directly to the writer. Besides, writing allows us to communicate in both distant place and time3. One of the important things in writing is knows the reader. It will help us to communicate clearly and effectively if we know about background knowledge and level the reader. This statement as stated by Oshima and Hogue that it is important to know

who the audience-the people who will read what we have written4.

Indeed, producing a readable text to the reader is not an easy job. People sometime sitting for several hours to make sure that his/her passage are easily to be read by his/her reader. S/he should concider about a number of things; avoid of an ambiguity meaning about something, careful in choosing the vocabulary, grammatical pattern, and select the appropriate subject matter which is needed by the reader.

In conclude, writing is a hard work for someone who do not do it frequently. However, it is like other skill that can be learned by everyone.

2.

Purposes of Writing

Everything happend has a purpose, so do in writing. There are four common purposes of writing according to Clouse, they are: to inform, to persuade, to express, and to entertain. Here are the explanations:

a. To inform,the purpose of the writer isdevelop the reader’s knowledge,make

a record, or provide help. For example, a magazine article about cholestrol which inform about how this sustance affects the body, the goverment

2

Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper,op.cit.,p. 3.

3

Henry Rogers,Writing Systems, A Linguistic Approach,(Victoria: Blackwell Publishing Ltd), p. 1.

4

Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Writing academic English, Third Edition, (New York: Longman, 1999), p. 2.

proceedings is recorded become permanent history, and manual book of using DVD can help the owner use the thing properly.

b. To persuade,it is designed to ask the reader to think or act a certain way. For

example, a newspaper campus which convince the student to vote a certain student government candidate.

c. To relate experience, some people reveal their feeling about the interesting, horror, or wonderful experience through writing. For instanse, you interviewed for a job, afterward you e-mail your friend about the the experience and your feeling in that situation.

d. To entertain, humorous writing or newspaper, short storiest,, and novelare

types of writing with the purpose to entertain people. In this type, the language which is used by the writer is must not be heavy and easy to be read because the writer would lose the important pleasure of the reader if s/he writes without creative writing in humor5.

Identifying the purpose early can help the writer to organize strategies of his/her writing. The writer not only will get the ideas more easy but also s/he can select an exact word which is match with the audience.

3. Types of Writing

There are twelve genres of writing based on Gerot and Wignell’s

opinion6, they are:

a. Spoof: to retell and event with a humorous twist

b. Recount: to retell event for the purpose of informing.

c. Report: to describe the way things are with references to arrange of natural,

made and social phenomena in our environment.

d. Exposition: to argue for or against a social issue.

5

Barbara Fine Clouse,A Troubleshooting Guide Strategies & Process forWriting, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), p. 7.

6

Linda Gerot and Wignell, Peter,Making Sense of Functional Grammar, (Sydney: Gerd Stabler, 1994), citied from Siti Aisyah Ginting, and Ridho Sari C. Sitanggang,Improving Students’ Achievement In Writing Descriptive Paragraph Through Semantic Mapping Technique,(Journal Of Applied Linguistics of FBS UNIMED, vol. 1, no 1., 2012), p. 3.

e. News items: to inform readers, listeners or viewers about event of the day with are considered news worthy or important.

f. Anecdote: to share with others and account of an unusual or amusing

incident.

g. Narrative: to tell a story that something goes wrong.

h. Procedure: to tell someone do something and how to do it. Besides, procedure

is also to describe how something is accomplishing through a sequence of action or steps.

i. Description: to describe a particular person, place, or thing.

j. Explanation: to explain process involved in the formation or working of

natural or social cultural phenomena.

k. Discussion: to present points of view about an issue at lead from two sides.

l. Review: to critique an art work or event for a public audience.

Besides, Frans Sayogie mentions that there are four types of writing, they are: Expository writing, Descriptive writing, Argumentative writing, and Narrative writing7.They are as follows:

a. Expository writing

Expository writing is a kind of writing that aims to clarify, to explain, to teach, or to evaluate an issue. The author tries to give information or sign to the reader by developing idea with giving an example, process, cause and result, classification, definitions, analyses, compare, and contrary.

b. Descriptive writing

Starting form etymology the word ‘description’ is derived from word: describe, meanings a hint or to write about. Thus, the word description means something that is being traced or drawn. It is refers to aim of description to describe a particular person, place or thing. In other word descriptive text also defined as a kind of writing that is used to describe about a person, object, appearance, scenery, or phenomenon. In this text, the author tries to make readers

7

Frans Sayogie, Penerjemahan Bahasa Inggris Ke Dalam Bahasa Indonesia, (Bogor: Lembaga Penelitian UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2008), p. 103.

as like they see, feel, and experience what the story tell. Description could briefly explain and evolve about process, compare, definitions, and other strategies. Meanwhile, the generic structure of description is identification and description. c. Argumentative writing

Argumentative writing is a kind of writing that aims to prove the truth or untruth of a statement or situations. The writer tries to show the empirical data by giving a logical appeal, pathetic or affective appeals, such as authority, empirical data, logical appeals, and values or attitude.

d. Narrative writing

Narrative original from “to narrate” means to tell. This is the kind of writing that means to tell a story. It can be used to introduce or illustrate a complicated subject wich writer often uses narration to provide a detailed, personal account of “what happened”. Narrative is about a chronological story (true or just a fictional). It deals with problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind, which in turn finds a resolution.

From some texts mentioned above, the texts which are learned by the students at VIII grade are: descriptive text, recount text, and narrative text.

B. Descriptive Text

1. The Definition of Descriptive Text

Descriptive is an activity to describe something in detail interestingly. It is a verbal picture of a person, place, and object. When people describe something or someone through essay writing, he/she tries to perform as real as possible that can attract the reader’s sense8. While according to Qofiah that sensory language include five senses; sight, smell, taste, and touch. People will describe through sense of sight for the first time about the object that she/he seen9.

8

Donald Pharr, Writing Today: Context and Option for the Real World, (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2005), p. 20.

9

Neneng Qofiah,Developing Students Writing Skill of Descriptive Text by Using Mind Mapping Strategy, (Skripsi, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training,Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta, 2012), p.11.

In describing of something, the writer try to present the entire thing that you feel through the eyes, ear, nose, tounge, and skin. This statement is supported by Betty opinion that“description is a recording of a concrete details that you see, hear, smell, taste or touch. To provide depth and understanding, authors often

include an impression of an experience and its significance”10. Visual people can

automatically describe thing or someone when they are reading.This means that, as the writer, you should perform the detail of the thing specifically about the object that you write. In order your audience can figure it out your word as real as possible, you should observe the detail that appeal to your audience sense (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch). This statement is stated by John Langan11.

2. The Purposes of Descriptive Text

When we do something, it must have a purpose included in that activity. According to Barbara Fine Clouse, descriptive text has some purposes for the reader, such as; to entertain, to express feeling, to inform to someone, to relate experience, etc. The detail of each is stated below:

a. To entertain, an amusing description of a teenager’s bedroom

b. To express feelings, a description of your favorite outdoor retreat so your reader understands why you enjoy it so much.

c. To relate experience, a description of your childhood home to convey a sense

of the poverty you grew up in.

d. To inform (for a reader unfamiliar with the subject and to create a fresh appreciation for the familiar), a description of a newborn calf for a reader who has never seen one and a description of an apple to help the reader rediscover the joys of this simple fruit.

e. To persuade (to convince the reader that some music videos degrade women),

a description of a degrading music video12.

10

Betty Mattix Dietsch,op.cit.,p. 140.

11

Langan,op.cit.,p. 243.

12

Barbara Fine Clouse, The Students’ Writer, (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002), p. 143.

In brief, descriptive text helps the reader describing something clearly. It may inform the reader about something new to the reader in detail picture through written form, hence the reader get the real picture of the object as vivid as the real.

3. Kinds of Descriptive Text

Based on Joolys opinion, descriptive paragraph consist of five components; description of a thing, description of a person, and description of a place, description of process, and description of event. The detail of each is stated below13:

a. Description of a Thing (Object)

The important thing in describing a thing is pay attention about its size,

shape, and color of the object14. The reader can easily describe the thing as vivid

as a real if the writer can present component stated above in his wriitng.

b. Description of a Person

Description of people through biography and autobiographies is more complex because the whole characteristic about the person can’t found in entire book. But actually there are some word and phrases that can paint of the person as detail. Those involve:

1) Height : quite tall, rather short, average height.

2) Build : quite slim, thin average build, well build, rather heavy and fat.

3) Face : small eyes, large eyes, round eyes, narrow eyes, brown eyes,

blue eyes, black eyes.

4) Lips : thick lips, thin lips, red lips, and sensual lips.

5) Mouth : small, round, thin, and large.

6) Nose : flat nose, pointed nose, small button nose, and pug nose.

7) Skin : dark complexion, fair complexion, black, white, and a scar.

8) Age : 17 years old, 18 years old.

9) Hair : thick hair, curly hair, wavy hair, straight hair.

13

Jooly in Siti Aisyah Ginting,loc. cit.. 14

10) Race : oriental, American, black, European.

c. Description of a Place

The easier way to describe of place is through picture but if it is impossible, words can represent the picture in detail and attractively. People should consider about the size and shape if the place is room or home. If the place is about includes many building, so it can focus on describing the location with the various buildings, etc.

d. Description of Process

The important thing in describing of process is knowing and understanding how something occured and done. Indeed, the writer have to know about the sequence of the event that s/he write.

e. Description of Event

Memorizing all interesting and unforgetable moment are the points that you should consider about in describing of event. Amount of people, situation related the event, embarrassing moment etc., are the example of things that you should to write in describing of event.

4. Schematic Structure of Descriptive Text

According to Djuhari, descriptive text has two schematic structures, they are:

a) Identification

It is the general description of thing/object, people, animal, or place that will be described. Thus, explanation about the when, where, what, or who of the subject are delivered in the first paragraph.

b) Description

This part provides the details information about the characteristic of subject, for example the characteristic of personality, attitude, physic, specific feature, quality, and so on15.

15

Otong Setiawan Djuhari, Gendre Dilengkapi 700 Soal Uji Pemahaman, (Bandung: Yrama Widya, 2007), p. 12.

In other word, descriptive text consist of two generic structures, they are identification and description. Identification is defined as phenomenon to be described. While description describes parts, qualities, characteristics, etc.

In addition, there are some language features in descriptive text, they are:

- Focus on specific participants (My English teacher, Andini's cat, My favorite

place)

- Use of Simple Present Tense (My mum is really cool, She has long black

hair)

- Use of descriptive adjectives (strong legs, white fangs)

- Use of detailed Noun Phrase to give information about the subject. (a very beautiful scenery, a sweet young lady, very thick fur)

- Use of action verbs 'Material Process' (It eats grass, It runs fast)

- Use of adverbials to give additional information about behavior (fast, at tree

house)

- Use of Figurative language (John is as white as chalk)16.

C. Mind Mapping Strategy

The famous figure about mind mapping strategy is Tony Buzan. According to him, through mind map, people can write with stress free. Besides, it can arrange complex and detail plan about the entire thing that people want to write17. Mind mapping can help poor writer in organizing their ideas effectively before they write, especially for visual learner because they can color the line and give the pictures there.

1. The Concept of Mind Mapping

According to Michael Michalko in Tony Buzan, mind map is an alternative of entire brain of linear thought18. Using mind map, people can

16

M Mursyid PW,Learning Descriptive Text, (Karangdadap: SMPN 1), p. 4.

17

Sandra McKey,Loc.cit.p.14.

18

scribble down the idea and topic, then develop it and associate those with his/her interest way. Mind Mapping is an effective way for the learner before starting of learning. The combination of colour, movement, drawing, contrast, and organization decision help the mind in encoded the information. It also can be employed as a method to take notes, to study before an exam, to brainstorm, or make connections between ideas19. According to Buzan, mind map is a way of taking note that is not boring and it is a new way of studying that is quick and works20.

Here are some rules in making mind mapping as follows21;

a) A Mind Map is commenced in the center of a page within a multi-colored image or symbol.

b) Main themes are attached to the central image on six lines using capital letters.

c) Lines are connected to lines

d) Words are printed

e) Words are printed on lines f) Single keywords per line

g) Use the color throughout the mind map

h) Images throughout mind map

i) Uses codes and symbols throughout

To sum up, mind map is made up of words, colors, lines, and pictures which are easy to construct that explore the ideas in interesting way with some branches and organized as same as spider. In addition, it helps the students think creatively. The color, line, code, and picture used in mind mapping can stimulate the students’ brain in gaining the ideas when they are writing.

19

Eric Jensen,Brain-Based Learning, (San Dieego: The Brain Store, 2000), p. 84.

20

Tony Buzan,Mind Maps for Kids, (London: Thorsons, 2003), p. 4.

21

Tony Buzan, Super Creativity, (Los Angeles: Audio Renaissance Tapes, Inc., 1988), p. 10-11.

22

2. The Purpose of Mind Mapping

Mind map has some purposes. It helps the students to: a. Make a plan

b. Communicate c. More creative d. Time economic e. Solve the problem

f. Concentrate the focus

g. Arrange and explain the ideas h. Become well memorizing

i. Learn rapidly and efficient

Besides, Michael Michalko in Buzan states that mind map will: 1. Activates whole brain

2. Solves the brain problem

3. Make us possible to focus in main explanation

4. Help us shows the connection of separated information. 5. Shows the clear picture wholly and specifically.

6. Possible us to classified the concept and to compare it.

In summary, mind map helps the students in many aspects which make them easier in the learning process. Therefore, students will think creatively in visualizing of the ideas in their writing.

3. The Procedure of Mind Mapping

Generally, making a mind map includes some steps; first, put main idea in the center of graphic. Second, link the important phrase and concept to the main ideas on branches and continue with the other branches. Next, images and color

can be used in organizing the map23. According to Novac and Gowen, quoted in

23

Jones etal. in Joko Suprianto, The Effect of Mind Mapping Strategy on the Students’Writing Ability,JP3, Volume 1, No. 13, (Agustus, 2013), p. 186

Schwartz in Aisyah, the instructional procedures of using mapping technique are as following24:

a. The target word is identified and placed in the center of the graphic organizer.

b. The related word to which the target word given belongs is identified and linked from the target word.

c. The students are asked to look for the related word with the word given.

d. The students make the list of their new words in the arrow given.

e. The new words to which the target word given belongs is identified and

linked from the center.

There are some points the writer should consider in doing mind map, they are25:

a. Write down all ideas as soon as they come to you on a piece of paper,

b. Take down on a centre of page about the topic,

c. Decide main idea related to what you have been written before,

d. Make line for each of your main idea,

e. List sub-points under each main idea related to it,

f. Check your mind map and try to eliminate the point that you will not explain

it,

g. Arrange the main idea and develop them in your writing.

4. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Mind Mapping

There are some benefit of using mind mapping in someway, as defined by Windura in Joko Suprianto the advantage of using this strategy is enabling students to visualize the ideas which make them easy in exploring what they

think. Moreover, it also activates the students’ right brain because mind map

consists of some pictorial information26. Besides, Tony Buzan explains the

advantages of mind mapping as follows:

a. They automatically utilize all the creative thinking skills.

24

25

Mark Anderson, Kathy Anderson,Text Type in English 1, (South Yara: MacMillan, 1997), p.148

26_{Loc. Cit.}

b. They generate ever-increasing mental energy as the student moves towards his or her goal.

c. They allow the students to view a great many elements all at once, thus

increasing the probability of creative association and integration.

d. They enable the brain to hunt out ideas which normally lie in obscurity on the

periphery of his or her thinking

e. They increase the probability of gaining new insights.

f. They reinforce and butter the incubation process, increasing the ability of the

generation of new ideas.

g. They encourage playfulness and humor, thus increasing the probability of the

students straying far from the norm and producing a truly creative idea27. In addition, Buzan states in the other book that there are several advantages over the linear form of note taking as follows28:

a. The centre or main idea is more clearly defined.

b. The relative importance of each idea is clearly indicated. More important ideas will be nearer the centre and less important ideas will be near the edge. c. The links between the key concepts will be immediately recognizable because

of their proximity and connection.

d. As a result above, recall and review will be both more effective and more rapid.

e. The nature of the structure allows for the easy addition of new information without messy scratching out or squeezing in, etc.

f. Each map made will look and be different from each other map. This will aid

recall.

g. In the more creative areas of note making such as essay preparations etc, the open-ended nature of the map will enable the brain to make new connections far more readily.

However, mind map has several disadvantages, they are: it operates against the way in which the brain works. Each time an idea is thought of it is put

27

Tony Buzan, Barry Buzan, The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential, (London: BBC Worldwide limited, 1993), p.164

28

on the list and forgotten while a new idea is searched for29. In addition, it cannot be digitally stored other than as a scanned document and map size is limited30.

D. Previous Study

There are many researches done related to this study with the same theme or problem. In this sub-chapter, researcher discuss three related study briefly, they are:

First of all, the study is conducted by student’s of UIN Syarif

Hidayatullah Jakarta by the title “Using Mind Mapping in Teaching Descriptive

Writing (An Experimental Study at the First Grade of Private Junior High School Riyadlul Jannah Bogor)” written by Arif Prayogo31. The objectives of the study are to know the use of Mind Mapping strategy in teaching descriptive writing. Experimental study is the design of this study which is use two classes in conducting the research by using equivalent control group design. It is one class uses as control class and the other one as treatment class. The techniques used to collect the data are: observation, questionnaire, documentation, and test. Afterward, to know the difference of both control class and treatment class, the researcher use t-test to gather the data. In this study researcher found that mind mapping is adequate success in teaching writing descriptive text. It can be seen from the research result that t-score higher than t-table (to>tt= 2,01<5,1> 2.68).

From the research above, the writer finds some differences and similarities thing with the writer study. The differences are on research design and place and subject of the study. While the similarities are the strategy of teaching writing (mind map), descriptive text as the material, and the technique of collecting data such as; observation, interview, and test.

29_Ibid.,

p. 93 30

T. K. Tee, Buzan Mind Mapping: An EfficientTechnique for Note-Taking, (World Academy of Science, Engineering and TechnologyInternational Journal of Social, Management, Economics and Business Engineering Vol:8 No:1, 2014), p. 29

31

Arif Prayogo, Using Mind Mapping Strategy in Teaching Descriptive Writing, An Experimental Study at the First Grade of Private Junior High School Riyadlul Jannah Bogor, (Skripsi, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic

The next related research is under the title The Use of Mind Mapping Strategy In The Teaching Of Writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia. This research is written by Riswanto and Pebri Pradika Putra, students of State Institute

of Islamic Studies (IAIN), Bengkulu, Indonesia32. The main object of the study is

to find out whether the strategy of mind mapping effective in improving the students writing achievement. The first year of SMAN Bengkulu was the subject of the study with 234 student’s population and 66 students as the sample. Two classes use in this study which consist of 33 students in each. Experimental study with non-equivalent study is the design of this research. The data were collected from written test. In obtaining the data, researcher use t-test as the formula. The result of the study shows that there was a significant difference on students writing achievement which is taught by mind mapping strategy. It can be seen through the result of quantitative formula that t obtained > t table (2.7 > 2.0). It means that Mind Mapping strategy improved students writing achievement.

The research above has some similarities and difference with writer’s study. The similarity is Mind Mapping as the strategy which chosen in teaching writing subject. Whether the difference are the design of the research, the sample of the study, the place of the study, the material chosen by the writer is descriptive text, the technique in collecting the data are observation, documentation, interview, and test.

The last related study is Developing Students Writing Descriptive Text

By Using Mind Mapping Strategy (A Classroom Action Research at the Seventh Grade Class VII.A SMP Al-Fajar Kedaung, Tangerang) written by Neneng

Qofiah, student of State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah

Jakarta33.The aim of the study is to find out whether the strategy of mind mapping

can improve students writing ability in descriptive text. The method used by the researcher is Classroom Action Research adopted from Kurt Lewin which is use two cycles in her study. The sample of the study is the seventh grade student class VIIA Junior High School. Questionnaire, interview, and test are the instrument in

32

Riswanto and Pebri Pradika Putra,The Use of Mind Mapping Strategy In The Teaching Of Writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia,(State Institute of Islamic Studies, Bengkulu, 2012).

33

collecting the data. To measure students writing, the researcher used analytical rubric formula adopted from Weigle. From this research, the researcher find out that student writing ability is can be improved by applying Ming Mapping as the strategy of teaching writing subject. The numeric data result shows that in the pre-test before the implementation, students with 55,2 score improved in the first cycle with 63,6 and afterward in the second cycle it improve become 69,9. In other word the using Mind Mapping can improve students writing ability.

According to research above, it has some similarities and difference with the writer’s research. The similarities are it has same strategy in improving students writing ability through Mind Mapping, descriptive text is the material chosen and the design of the research. The differences are the technique of data collection, the sample of the study, and the place of the study.

E. Hypotheses

According to Iskandar, action hypotheses is a diagnostic hypotheses to identify or to diagnose some problems faced when the action is ongoing process or practical hypotheses to identify some problems and to solve them34. Thus, based on the problem formulation, the writer formulates two hypotheses below:

1. Using mind mapping strategy can improve students writing achievement of descriptive text.

2. Using mind mapping strategy makes teaching and learning process more interesting and effective.

34

Iskandar,Penelitian Tindakan Kelas, (Ciputat: REFERENSI (GP Press Group), 2012), p. 46.

22

This chapter presents place and time of the study, subject of the study, research design and methodology, the data and source of data, instrument, the technique of collecting data, data analysis and data interpretation, and criteria of action success.

A.

Place and Time of the Study

This research was conducted at SMP Tahfidz Al-Mizan which is located at Cikole, Pandeglang, Banten. The research was carried out for three months, it started from August 22nd up to October 4th 2014.

Table 3.1

Schedule of Classroom Action Research

Activities Meeting Date Theme

Preliminary Study August, 22th 2014 My House

Cycle 1 1 September, 2nd 2014 My House

2 September, 6th 2014 My House

3 September, 9th 2014 My Idol

Post-test 1 4 September, 22th 2014 My House

Cycle 2 1 September, 23rd 2014 Place

2 September, 27th 2014 Place

3 September 30th 2014 My Favorite Thing

Post-test 2 4 October, 4th 2014 My Favorite Thing

B.

Research Approach and Design

This study considered action research as the method because some reasons. First, considering Elliot’s opinion, the CAR has possibilities in

improving the quality of the situation1. Indeed, the purpose of the researcher is help the students to improve their ability in writing descriptive text. Then, the learning objective is reached. Second, Classroom Action Research is a method which should be done continously in the class to know the improvement of the

implementation in every cycle. It is in line with Arikunto’s statement in Iskandar

that “Classroom Action Research is an analysis of learning activities through an action which is performed and happened in the class simultaneously2. In other word, Classroom Action Research is defined as an activity which is done by the teacher collaborated with other people; the aim is to increase learning process quality in class3.

Besides, the other some possible reasons in using Classroom Action Research as a method in this research are:

1. To know more about the learners problem in teaching and learning process.

2. To learn more about how far the teacher make an improvement in his/her teaching.

3. To decide an appropriate strategy and media for a certain material4.

In brief, Classroom Action Research is a research which is done rationally, systematic, and reflective empiric which is done by the teacher or lecturer collaborated with the researcher to emend and to improve learning situation.

1

Arifin, Bagaimana Menyiasati PTK Anda Agar Sukses?, Penelitian Tindakan Kelas, Metode dan Paradigma Baru, (Bandung: PT. Remaja Rosdakarya, 2011), p. 97.

2

Iskandar, op. cit., p.21.

3_Ibid.

4

The method used in this study basically influenced by Kurt Lewin’s design5. This design presents four elements to do, include: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Here is the figure of CAR process:

CYCLE 1

CYCLE 2

Figure 3.1

Kurt Lewin’s Action Research Design

5

Rido Kurnianto, et.al.,Penelitian Tindakan Kelas, (Jakarta: APIS, 2009), p. 20.

PLANNING ACTING

OBSERVING REFLECTING

PLANNING ACTING

The implementation of Clasroom Action Research (CAR) based on the Kurt Lewin’s design, in each cycle as follows:

CYCLE 1

CYCLE 2

Figure 3.2

The Phases of Classroom Action Research Modified by the writer Planning

After doing several things to get scaffolding of the class, such as interviewing the teacher, observing the class, and giving the pre-test, here the writer and the teacher prepare the lesson plan, observational guidelines, and the post-test. This phase may take a week within two cycle.

Acting

The writer applies the lesson plan that has been made; that is teaching descriptive text using mind map strategy. It is includes three meetings for each cycle.

Observing

While the process of

teaching-learning is taking place, the

collaborator observes the writer’s

performance, the class situation, and students’ responses. At the end of cycle 1, the students are given a post test 1 with the purpose to know whether or not the students’ make any progress toward improvement. It is conduct with the same time with action phase.

Reflecting

After getting the result of post-test 1, the writer and the teacher discuss about the implementation of the action. Next, they make some modification to revise the founded obstacles that may occur in the first cycle.

Planning

The writer and the teacher are together making a new lesson plan which some emendation in pattern drill strategy, and also prepare the observational guidelines and post-test.

Acting

The teacher implements the new lesson plan; where students need to be emphasized on using mind mapping strategy in writing descriptive text.

Reflecting

The writer and the teacher discuss about

the result in implementing the

emendation action. If the target of CAR has already achieved, the cycle will be stopped. But if it is not, the cycle will continue to the next one.

Observing

The teacher observes the writer’s

performance, the class situation, and the student’s response. At the end of cycle two, the students were given the post-test 2. Then, the writer calculates the score and sees if there is some improvement from the previous test.

C.

The Subject of the Study

The subject of this research is the student at the eighth grade at SMP Tahfidz Al-Mizan, in academic year 2014/2015. There are two classes of this grade at this school. To decide the subject of this study, the writer use pre-test which is conducted in all those classes before the action, afterward she choose the class which has the lowest score among others.

D.

The Writer’s Role

Classroom Action Research is a research where the researcher needs a collaborator in implementing the action of the study. Therefore the writer’s role in this study is as an interviewer and a designer of lesson plan and tests (pre- and post-test). Whereas, during action stage is conducted, the writer stands as a teacher in teaching writing descriptive text through mind mapping, and the real teacher acts as the observer.

E.

The Stage of Action Intervention

Based on the design of Classroom Action Research explained above, it contains of four cycle: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Hence, the researcher started her study with the first cycle which is includes those four elements. Yet, the expected data has no improvement; researcher does the next cycle with the same stage: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. After the data improved as expected, the research is stopped.

F.

The Data and Source of Data

According to Iskandar6, there are two kinds of data which is needed to

be collected in the Classroom Action Research, they are: a) quantitative data, which is about the improvement of students evaluation, b) qualitative data, it is about classroom situation or student’s habit in the class during the action. Here are the explanation of each data:

6

1. Quantitative Data

a. Written Test, the test is conducted twice-before and after the action or called as pre-test and post-test. The purpose of pre-test is to know the

students’ basic ability about writing descriptive text before

implementation. While post-test is used to know the students’

improvement in writing descriptive text; post-test is conducted at the end of each cycle.

2. Qualitative Data

a. Interviews, before and after implemention of Classroom Action Research

the researcher interview the teacher and the students about the strategy used in teaching writing descriptive text, the students’ habit during the

teaching and learning process, and both teachers’ and students’ response

about the implementation.

b. Observation, the data from this phase is about

some checklists of teacher’s teaching strategy while the implementation,

students’ habit in the class, and evaluation used in the class during teaching and learning process. This observation did by the researcher as the teacher and the real teacher act as a collaborator.

c. Documentation, photograph, students’ writing, and all of the relevant data about the implementation are needed to be collected in documentation.

3. Source of Data

The data is derived from some informants, they are: the teacher and the students. Data from the teacher is the data from inteview, where the researcher tried to find out the information about the strategy often use by the teacher in teaching writing of descriptive text. The data which were collected from the students are data from interview and test score. The data from interview was aimed to know their difficulties in writing skill. Next, the data from the test was

aimed to know the improvement of students’ ability in writing skill. Besides, the

of the action in the classroom. Next, the documentation is the data which were obtained from the researcher herself.

G.

The Instrument of Collecting Data

This study used three instruments in collecting the data, they are; interview guideline, observational sheet, and test score. Here is the explanation about those three instruments:

1. Interview guideline

Interview guideline used in this research is not only to complete the data but also to complete the information needed by researcher. The interview was conducted to the English teacher and the students of eight grade at SMP Tahfidz Al-Mizan. The interview which is addressed for the English teacher is about English learning process in the class, the most difficult skill for the students, the activities in English learning process, media used in teaching writing, the problem faced in teaching writing, the strategy used in teaching writing, students’ participation in teaching writing, and mind mapping strategy. Also, the interview which is addressed for the student is about whether the students like to writing, the most difficult skill, the teaching and learning process of writing, and the problem faced in writing.

2. Observational sheet

The observational sheet is used to get the data observation in the classroom. Moreover, it is to monitor and to analyze teachers’ and students’ performance during the implementation. See in the appendix 3 (three) to know some checklists in this stage. In making some checklist in the observation sheet, the writer developed from Kunandars’ suggestion7.

3. Test Score

Written test about descriptive text by using mind mapping was done before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the implementation of CAR. It is used to

know the students’ improvement from pre-test up to post-test2.

7

Kunandar, Langkah Mudah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas Sebagai Pengembangan Profesi Guru, (Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 2003), p. 235.

H.

The Technique of Collecting Data

1. Interview

In this phase, the researcher asked the teacher and the students related to the field twice, those are before and after the implementation of CAR. The

interview is aimed to know about students’ participation and method used by the

teacher in teaching writing especially descriptive text. The interview is not only addressed to English teacher but also to the students. The purpose is to match the data from the teacher and the data from the students. The script of both interview see in appendix 4.

2. Observation

In observation stage, the teacher acts and student behavior related to the problem are the observed object. In this case, the true teacher acts as an observer, his job is to observe about the participation and behavior of the students during the implementation. This stage was done in every cycle.

3. Test

The writer conducted pre-test and post-test in her study. The result of pre-test is to know the basic competence of the students before the action. Then, the result of post-test will be implemented after CAR. It is to know the significant differences of the result after the implementation of CAR. For further reading of pre-test and post-test you can find it in appendix. However here are the procedure

of scoring the written test did by the researcher which is adopted from Weigles’

model8:

8

Sara Cushing Weigle, Assessing Writing, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p.116.

Table 3.2

Scoring in Writing Skill

Components of writing

Scores Indicators

Content 4 Relevant to the topic and easy to understand

3 Rather relevant to the topic and easy to understand

2 Relevant to the topic but not quite easy to

understand

1 Quite relevant to the topic but is not quite easy to understand

Organization 4 Most of the sentences are related to the main idea

3 Some sentences are related to the main idea

2 Few sentences are related to the main idea

1 The sentences are unrelated to the main idea

Vocabulary & Mechanic

4 A few errors in choice of words, spelling, and

punctuation

3 Some errors in choice of words, spelling, and

punctuation

2 Occasional errors in choice of words, spelling, and

punctuation

1 Frequent errors in choice of words, spelling, and

punctuation

Grammar 4 A few grammatical accuracy

3 Some grammatical inaccuracy

2 Numerous grammatical inaccuracy

4. Documentation

Documentation consists of some photos of teaching and learning process which was taken during the implementation in the class by observer. Those are to make sure that the writer really did the research by herself.

I.

Data Analysis and Data Interpretation

The qualitative data from observation, interview, and documentation were collected to measure credibility of the data which is called triangulation data, while the data were obtained from different technique from similar sources. Next, the quantitative data from written test is the data which is measured with the numeric data.

To get the mean of students’ writing score within one cycle, the researcher uses the formula9:

Mx=

Mx : Mean

X : Individual score

N : Number of students

The next step is count the class percentage which passes the minimum

mastery criteria-Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum (KKM) 70 use the formula:

P= X 100%

P : The class percentage

F : Total percentage score

N : Number of students

9

Anas Sudjono, Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan, (Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 2008), p. 31.

Then, the writer identifies the improvement score on students’ descriptive paragraph from pre-test up to pos-test score in cycle 1 and cycle 2. The writer uses the formula10:

P= X 100%

P : percentage of students’ improvement

y : pre-test result

y1 : post-test 1

P= X 100%

P : percentage of students’ improvement

y : pre-test result

y2 : post-test 2

J.

Criteria of Action Succes

To know whether the action is succes, both the researcher and the teacher discussed about the action success criteria. Finally, we decided that the criterion of action success in this research is 75%. In other words, if the class’ percentages who pass KKM (70) is 75%, it means that the criteria of action success is reached. Thus, if the number of persentage has been reached, the researcher does not need to do the next cycle.

10

David E. Melizer, The Relationship Between Mathematic Preparation and Conceptual Learning Gains in Physics: A Possible Hidden Variable in Diagnostic Pretest Scores, (Lowa: Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2008), p.3.

33

This chapter presents research finding and interpretation. Research finding discuss about finding of preliminary study includes pre-interview, observation, and pre-test. Besides, the writer describes about two cycle did in implementation and presents students’ score in pre-test, post-test 1, and post-test 2. In interpretation, the writer explains about data of interview, data of observation, data of test, and data of documentation.

A.

The Data Description

1. Finding of Preliminary Study a. Pre-Interview Result

The interview was conducted on August, 22th 2014 before giving the pre-test. It was addressed for students and English teacher of second grade SMP Al-Mizan. First interview was addressed for the teacher. The writer asked some questions about the most difficult skill in teaching English, teaching writing

technique, student’s difficulties faced in writing learning process, and the use of media in teaching writing.

According to teacher’s answer, the most difficult skill learned by the students is writing. The students were often stuck in their writing because they found the difficulties in finding the ideas when they were writing. The teacher used this strategy in teaching writing: firstly, he decided the topic that should be written by the students, afterward, he gave some vocabularies related to the topic; next, he got the students to write the text. In that explanation shows that the teacher did not explain about kind of the text, generic structure of the text, and the tenses that should be used in their writing. One of students’ difficulties in writing subject is gaining the main ideas. They have lack of ideas about what they should write. Some of them spend the time to manage the sentence and to decide the ideas. The other problem is word misused. They often generalize the word. The

teacher said that he did not use any media in teaching writing subject. Reference book is the one of the media that he used to help his students. Through some examples given in the book, he expected that his students understood about what they should write.

The second interview was addressed for students of class VIII-A

Tahfidz Al-Mizan Pandeglang. It was conducted on August, 22th 2014. The

questions asked by the writer was about whether the students love to writing subject or not and its reason, the most difficult skill in English subject, the

teachers’ teaching in writing subject, and the difficulties faced by the student in writing subject. Based on the students’ opinion, they did not like to write because they often stuck in the middle of her writing. For the second question, the students stated that writing is the most difficult skill after listening skill in English subject. Next, the students recognized that the teacher instruction in the class ran monotonously. What the students know are they should write about the topic which is given by the teacher and looking for the vocabularies needed in their dictionary. Last, when the writer asked about the difficulties in writing subject, they said that they were confused in making a good sentence and good structurally paragraph. Moreover, they often stuck on their writing because they have no idea about what should they write next.

b. Pre-Observation Result

This observation was conducted on August, 23th 2014. It was held at VIII-A Tahfidz Al-Mizan Pandeglang in academic year 2014/2015. The class consists of 22 of students. This observation was aimed to know teaching and learning process on writing skill in the class before CAR. The first thing that the teacher did in writing class was deciding the topic that should be written by the students. Second, the teacher gave some vocabularies related to the topic which should be developed by the students. Next, the students were asked to do their task until the time for the lesson finished. From those phenomena, the writer found that before giving the task for the students, the teacher did not explain about the schemata of the text. It means that the students have no background

knowledge about the type, the definition, the function, the generic structure, and the characteristics of the text which was assigned to them. The students have no much motivation in writing the text, it can be seen from their attitude in the class. Mostly, the students seem sleepy. Finally, until the time finished for the lesson, almost of them did not finish the task yet.

c. Pre-test Result

In this step, the students are assigned to write a descriptive text with the

theme given from the writer-“My House”. It was conducted on August, 26th 2014

at 10.45-11.30AM. To get the mean of students’ writing score, the writer calculated with the formula below:

Mx =

=

=57.04

Next, to get the percentage of students who passed the Minimum

Mastery Criteria-KKM (Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum), the writer used:

P = X 100%

=

X 100%

=22.72%

The results of pre-test shows that mean of students’ writing score was

50.04, and there were only five or 22.72% students who passed KKM while the other 15 students were below the criterion.

2. The Implementation of CAR

a. Cycle 1 1) Planning

The writer prepared some activities to conduct implementation for the first cycle in this phase. The writer and the teacher work collaboratively in designing lesson plan for the implementation. First, the writer and the teacher designed three lesson plans for three meetings. Second, the writer prepared the material and the media needed. The material is taken from English text book and internet. Therefore, the writer and the teacher decided that descriptive text was the chosen text which should be taught to the students. The media needed in implementation were carton, board marker, color paper, and color pen. Next, the writer made examples of mind mapping models and a descriptive text by using a cartoon. The other preparation was making observation sheet which is include guideline observation and unstructured observation. Those were done to know the

teacher and students’ activities in the class during the implementation. Besides, the writer also prepared post-test 1 to know students’ improvement score from pre-test to pest-test 1.

2) Acting

The acting phase in the first cycle was done on September, 2nd, 6th, and 9th 2014. The action did by the writer was based on the lesson plan designed before. It was include three meeting. In the first meeting, the writer started the lesson by giving the example of descriptive text to the students. Afterward, they were asked to identify the topic discussed in the text. Next, the writer began to explain about descriptive text and its generic structures. After that, the writer conveyed about mind mapping strategy in writing subject and the advantages of using that technique. Next, the students were presented the text related to the mind mapping given by the writer. The writer read loudly the text and asked the students to repeat after it. Next, before closing the class, the writer asked the students about definition and generic structures of descriptive text. For the next meeting, the writer grouping the students and ask them to make a descriptive text

through mind mapping. It purposed to review and to evaluate their understanding about the lesson before. For the next meeting, the writer have the students to create descriptive text individually with different topic with the meeting before.

The next meeting is post-test1 which is conducted on September, 13th 2014.

3) Observing

In observation phase the writer is helped by the collaborator. The collaborator checked the whole activities in the class based on the observation

sheet which includes teachers’ performance, class situation, and students’

response. Related to the teachers’ performance, she was less attractive in controlling the class and less communicative with the students in the first meeting. It proved by the students who chat with their friend and slept in the class. Therefore, teaching and learning process in the class was less conducive. For the next meeting, the teacher started to take control of the class and became communicative.

In addition, there were some students who lack of attention and participation during teaching and learning process. It was happened because most of English lessons’ schedule in that class was placed in the afternoon, thus, it distracts their concentration. Therefore, the teacher gave a brainstorming before starting the lesson to help them concentrate in teaching and learning process for the next meeting. After the third meeting, the writer did post-test 1 in the next meeting. It was done to know the improvement of students writing in the first cycle. Based on the result of post-test1, the data showed that the mean score of the

class was 65.90, there were 11 or 50% students who passed the KKM (70).

Table 4.1

Students’ Writing Score of Pre-test and Post-test 1

STUDENTS’

NUMBER

PRE-TEST POST-TEST 1

1 55 65

2 60 75*

*The students who passed KKM

To calculate students’ mean score in the post-test 1, the writer used the formula below:

Mx ₌

=

=

65.90

From the calculation above, it shows that the students’ mean score in the post-test 1 is 65.90. It means that there are some improvements from pre-test to post-test 1. The improvement is 8.86 (65.90-57.04).

4 60 70*

5 70* 70*

6 50 65

7 35 50

8 60 70*

9 60 55

10 50 65

11 70* 70*

12 55 60

13 40 65

14 65 75*

15 50 60

16 70* 70*

17 45 50

18 65 70*

19 70* 80*

20 55 75*

21 55 60

22 70* 75*

Next, to know the percentage of students’ improvement from pre-test to post-test 1, the writer used:

P = x 100%

=

x100%

= 15.51%

Based on the calculation above, it shows that the percentage of

students’ writing scores’ improvement from pre-test to post-test 1 is 15.51%. To analyze the percentage of students who passed the Minimum Mastery Criteria, below is the formula:

P = x 100%

=

x 100%

= 50%

The result of that calculation shows that 50% of the class passed the

Minimum Mastery Criteria. There were eleven students who passed the KKM

while the half of class did not. It means that the cycle in CAR is still needed to be continuing because it could not reach 75% yet as CAR criterions’ target.

4) Reflecting

Based on the post-test 1 result, the percentage of students’ score who passed the KKM is still 50%. It needs 25% more to reach the CAR target (75%). Thus, the writer needed to modify the lesson plan for the next cycle in order students have better score than before. According to the teacher observation, there were some points that should be considered for the next cycle: first, the

explanation of grammar used, mechanic, and vocabularies choices. Some students

ignore capital letter and punctuation usage on their writing. For that problem, the teacher suggested more explanation and example interestingly in order they more

understood the explanation. Second, the writer needed to give some punishment and reward in the action because the students were less paid attention to the writer. Some of them were still sleepy and chat with their friend in the class. Hence, the writer made some preparation of the games and reward for the students in the next cycle.

b. Cycle 2 1) Planning

After analyzing the result from cycle 1, students’ writing score did not

reach the target. Therefore, the writer with the collaborator designed new lesson plan for the next three meetings based on the reflection in the cycle 1. Both of them agreed that the lack is on its media. Hence, flash card and handout were used as the new media used in cycle 2. In the cycle 2, so does the material. In addition, post-test 2 was prepared in this phase.

2) Acting

The action in this cycle was conducted on September, 23rd, 27th, and 30th 2014. The action was based on the lesson plan designed before. In the first meeting, the teacher divided the class into 4 groups. Next, every group should to arrange the jumble paragraph into a good passage. Afterward, they should decide the generic structure of the passage. Next, the teacher got the students to make mind map of the text. Second meeting, the students were explained about how to make a good sentence includes the use of punctuation and capital letter. For the next meeting, the teacher moves to explain about a good descriptive paragraph with its generic structure and the use of mind mapping. The last is post-test 2

which was conducted on October, 4th 2014.

3) Observing

In the cycle 2, the observation during the implementation was still needed. It was used to evaluate the improvement of students’ attitude toward descriptive text through mind mapping strategy and teachers activities in the class.

The result of observation in the cycle 2 shows that students were more active and motivated during the class. It could be seen from their creativity in making mind mapping and their participation in asking and answering the question of the teacher. Related to the teachers’ performance, she made some improvement in controlling the class. It proved by there were no students who slept and made a noise in the class. Their attention was focused on the explanation of the teacher.

After the third action in cycle 2 was done, the writer did post-test 2 to know the students’ score after those implementations. Based on the post-test 2, the

mean score of the class is 73.40, there were 19 students who passed the KKM (75)

and only 3 students did not.

Table 4.2

Students’ Writing Score of Pre-test, Post-test 1, and Post-test 2

STUDENTS’

NUMBER

PRE-TEST POS-TEST 1 POST-TEST 2

1 55 65 70*

2 60 75* 75*

3 45 55 70*

4 60 70* 75*

5 70* 70* 85*

6 50 65 70*

7 35 50 60

8 60 70* 70*

9 60 55 70*

10 50 65 75*

11 70* 70* 75*

12 55 60 70*

13 40 65 75*

14 65 75* 75*

15 50 60 75*

16 70* 70* 80*

17 45 50 65

18 65 70* 75*

19 70* 80* 80*

21 55 60 65

22 70* 75* 80*

Mx₌ 57.04 65.90 73.40

*The students who passed KKM

To calculate students’ mean score in the post-test 1, the writer used the formula below:

Mx ₌

=

=

73.40

From that calculation shows that the mean score of the class in the post-test 2 is 73.40. It indicated that there are some improvements from post-post-test 1 score (65.90) to post-test 2 score (73.40).

The next is calculated percentage of students’ improvement. It used this formula:

P = x 100%

=

x100%

= 28.68%

Next, to analyze the students’ percentage who passed Minimum

Mastery Criteria, it is calculated as following:

P = x 100%

=

x 100%

From the calculation above shows that the students’ percentage who passed KKM is 86.36%. It indicated that there are 19 numbers of students who

passed the KKM and only three students who did not. In the post-test 2, the class

percentage makes improvement 14.5% (28.68%-15.51%).

4) Reflection

After finishing the action and did post-test 2 in this cycle, the writer felt

satisfied because students’ score was improved from post-test 1. The result of the observation shows that the students were more enthusiastic in learning writing. There were no students who slept and chat in the class anymore. In addition, they could write descriptive text easily through mind mapping because they could improve the idea through the line and color in their mind map. It shows from the result of their writing which has many branches and color, also from their ability in developing the idea into paragraph are better than before. Based on the post-test 2 result that 86.36% of class passed the KKM, thus, the writer and the teacher decided to stop the action. It was because the criterion of action success is 75% and its percentage is above the criterion. It means that the research is done in cycle 2.

c. Finding of the Action

By the end of the implementation, the writer asked some questions to the real teacher about the use of mind mapping strategy in teaching writing subject, especially descriptive text. Next, she did the evaluation of her implementation in post observation. In the post-test, she calculated the students’ score and compared with the score in pre-test in order to know the improvement of the action.

1) Post Interview

There were seven questions asked to the real teacher related to the use of mind mapping strategy in teaching writing of descriptive text. The real teacher is asked about teaching and learning process in the class during the

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APPENDIX 8