CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 The Characteristics of Junior High School Students
Junior High School students have special characteristics that make them different from younger and older students. As teachers, it is essential for us to
understand their characteristics, so that we will be able to design the appropriate and adequate programs to fit the particular requirements of individuals in this age
group. The range age of Junior High School students varied between 11 to 14 years old. They are in the process of changing from children to adolescent. They
usually less motivated and they present outright problems. It widely accepted that one of the key issues in teenagers is the search for
individual identity. It makes them like challenges, peer approval and being forced among classmates and friends. According to Amstrong 1983:30, certain
psychological and physiological characteristics in the 11 to 14 years old growth requires a set of educational conditions in the school. In addition, Callahan and
Clark 1997:7 states that adolescence, is a periode of change, of new experiences, of learning new roles, of uncertainty, and instability undoubtly one of the most
trying times in life. Harmer 2001:39 argues that teenagers, if they were engaged, had a great capacity to learn, a great potential for creativity, and a passionate
commitment to things which interested them. As education always walks side by side with psychology, it is better to
connect those psychological aspects of the students with their ways of learning a language. It is essential that the students are led to do what is to be learnt.
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Students do not learn what was in a lecture or in a book. They learn only what the teacher or a book causes them to do. Therefore, they learn what they do.
Based on the explanation above, it means that students in Junior High School level liked to be encouraged to respond to texts and sit with their own
thought expectation rather than just by answering questions or doing abstract learning activities. It is important that teachers give students tasks which they are
able to do. Moreover, it is essential that teachers teach the students using interesting media or sources.
2.2 Writing in the Foreign Language Classroom
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