20 Furthermore, Raimes 1983 states that the pictures contribute a shared
experience for students in the class that links to a variety of language activities. One of the language activities in this research is writing. In addition to the writing
skills, Hyland 2002 claims that visuals can represent the world ideational meaning, attitudes and relationships interpersonal meanings, and combine these
into coherent texts textual meaning. Walvoord 1985 notes that writing is a beneficial tool for discovering and thinking. Raimes 1983 states that writing
helps the students learn the grammatical structures, idiom and vocabulary. There are several theories related to the research question number one.
Moreover, in the second research problem, the researcher is going to find the stude
nts‟ difficulties in writing recount for the students in class 8A of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1 Yogyakarta. The researcher synthetizes several specific theories
about students‟ difficulties of writing to answer the second research problem. MacArthur, Graham and Fitzgerald 2013 state that the people might have plenty
of problems in writing if they do not have adequate content knowledge. The students should have the sufficient knowledge before they write. In addition,
students should prepare their knowledge from their own experience as the writing idea, then they should also have all of the four types of knowledge in writing such
as topical, audience, genres, and language Byrnes,1996. Hyland 2002 also states that the process of writing is rich combination of cognition elements include
the writer‟s experiences and background.
21
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher explains the research method, the research setting, the research participants, and also the instruments and data gathering, the
data analysis techniques and also the research procedure from the research conducted in this thesis. The first part of this chapter discusses the classroom
action research CAR as the research method. The second part of this chapter is the research setting which discusses the specific setting of the research. Next, the
third part of this chapter explains all of the research participants. The forth part of this chapter discusses several instruments and data gathering. In connection with
instruments and data gathering, the next part of this chapter discusses the data analysis techniques and the last part of this chapter is the research procedures
which summarize the overall process of the research.
3.1 Research Method
In this research, the researcher conducts the classroom action research method. Classroom action research is conducted from the problems found in the
classroom. The problems are both from the internal factor and also from the external factor in the learning and teaching process. From those problems, the
teacher as the one who has the autonomy of the class will determine the best medicine for curing the problems which similar to the diseases. Therefore the
teacher should find the best way to solve the problem. From the illustration above,
22 the teacher would conduct the classroom action research to repair the previous
situation which consisted of several problems. Action research is a simple form of the self-reflective enquiry undertaken
by participants in the social situations in order to improve the rationality by the participants to enhance the rationality and justice of their own practices Carr
Kemmis, 2002. In particular, the researcher intends to discuss the problem about education. Therefore, Carr Kemmis 2002 note that in the education field, the
action research has been conducted in the school-based curriculum development, professional development, the school improvement programmers, and the systems
planning and the policy development. Mills 2011 notes that the action research is dealing with any systematic inquiries conducted by the teacher researchers, the
principals, or the other stakeholders in the teaching and learning environment. Moreover, the action research aims to gather the information about how their
particular schools operate, how they teach, and how well their students learn. Lewin in Carr and Kemmis 2002 states three characteristics of modern
action research are: its participatory character, its democratic impulse, and its simultaneous contribution to social science and social change. Wallace 2002
also states that the essential function of the action research is to facilitate the „reflective cycle‟ and in this way support an effective method for improving the
professional action. Besides, according to Carr and Kemmis 2002, the action research also has two significant aims: to improve and to involve. The action
research aims to improve three areas: firstly, the improvement of a practice; secondly, the improvement of the understanding of the practice by its
23 practitioners; and thirdly, the improvement of the situation in which the practice
takes place. According to Mills 2011, one of the goals of the action research is to
generate the participants‟ opportunities in order to improve the lives of children and to learn about the craft of teaching. Mills 2011 adds that all of the action
researchers, regardless of their specific school of thought or theoretical position, are committed to a critical examination of classroom teaching principles and the
effects teachers‟ actions have on the children in their concern. In connection with this goal, the teachers have to be the professional problem solvers, who are
committed to enhance both their own practice and student outcomes, provides a powerful reason to practice the action research Mills, 2011.
Since the action research is a simple form of the self-reflective enquiry, there are several models of the classroom action research which could be applied
to achieve the changes inside the class. This research is also identically with the use of the cycle-based research. In addition, Gall, Gall, and Borg 2007 state that
the action research is more likely to be ongoing and typically cyclical in nature. As cited in McNiff Whitehead 2009, the Kemmis‟s model of the action
research process shows a self-reflective spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting and re-planning as the basis for understanding how to take the action to
improve an educational situation. Moreover, Gall, Gall, and Borg 2007 state that the action research emphasizes the reflection part as an important part of the
research cycle.
