UTILIZING STUDENT BLOGS TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILL (An Action Research at 8th Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri in the Academic Year of 2010 2011)
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UTILIZING STUDENT BLOGS TO IMPROVE
WRITING SKILL
(An Action Research at 8
thGrade of SMP Negeri 1
Wonogiri in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
THESIS
By:
NISA AULIA AZAM K2207037
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
2011
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UTILIZING STUDENT BLOGS TO IMPROVE
WRITING SKILL
(An Action Research at 8
thGrade of SMP Negeri 1
Wonogiri in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
By:
NISA AULIA AZAM K2207037
Thesis
Submitted to Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University as a Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for Obtaining the
Undergraduate Degree of Education in English
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
2011
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ABSTRACT
Nisa Aulia Azam. K2207037. UTILIZING STUDENT BLOGS TO IMPROVE
WRITING SKILL (AN ACTION RESEARCH AT 8th GRADE OF SMP
NEGERI 1 WONOGIRI IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2010/2011), Thesis.
Surakarta: Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Sebelas Maret University, April. 2011.
This research aims at investigating whether and to what extent the use of student blogs improve students' writing skill and to analyze what happens when student blog is applied.
The method used in this paper is a collaborative action research. This research has been implemented within two sequenced cycles at the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri in the first semester of the academic year 2010/2011. The research data were collected through questionnaire, observation, interview, diary, photographs and tests. In order to have a clear understanding, the data were analyzed through constant comparative method and descriptive statistic.
The results of this research showed that students’ ability in producing recount text had improved along with the changes of classroom situation which became more motivating. The improvement in students’ writing skills includes: 1) the students had fewer misspelled words in their writings; 2) the students used the words in appropriate context; 3) they produced grammatically correct sentences related to recount text; 4) the students also could write the text chronologically; and 5) they are able to develop the text into interesting one. The final result of the tests showed that their scores were improving in the mean score; from 74.45 (pre-test) to 82.18 (test in Cycle 1) and 84.50 (post-(pre-test). It was above the minimum standard of the school (Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimuml/KKM), which is 78.00. Related to the improvement in the classroom situation, the research findings showed that 1) the students could work effectively to finish the task; 2) the students had greater interest on the lesson; 3) they paid full attention during the class; 4) the students could utilized their own laptop in the lesson; and 5) there was no more student who did not like to share the writing.
Considering the inspiring result of this study, it is suggested that other teachers be able to make use of this improvement in utilizing and developing other media. It is also hoped that the teachers conduct the Action Research in their classroom to solve the teaching-learning problems.
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ABSTRAK
Nisa Aulia Azam. K2207037. UTILIZING STUDENT BLOGS TO IMPROVE
WRITING SKILL (AN ACTION RESEARCH AT 8th GRADE OF SMP
NEGERI 1 WONOGIRI IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2010/2011),
Skripsi. Surakarta: Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Sebelas Maret, April. 2011.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menginvestigasi apakah dan sejauh mana penggunaan student blog dapat meningkatkan kemampuan menulis (writing skill) siswa serta untuk menganalisis apa yang terjadi selama student blog diterapkan.
Metode yang digunakan pada penelitian ini adalah collaborative action research. Penelitian ini telah dilaksanakan dalam 2 siklus terhadap siswa kelas delapan SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri pada semester satu, tahun pelajaran 2010/2011. Data penelitian dikumpulkan melalui kuesioner, pengamatan, wawancara, buku harian, foto, dan tes. Untuk mempeoleh pemahaman yang jelas, data tersebut dianalisis melalui constant comparative method dan descriptive statistic.
Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpuklan bahwa kemampuan siswa dalam menulis teks recount telah meningkat seiring dengan perubahan situasi kelas yang menjadi lebih motivatif. Peningkatan kemampuan menulis siswa meliputi: 1) siswa lebih sedikit melakukan kesalahan dalam mengeja; 2) siswa menggunakan kata pada konteks yang tepat; 3) mereka menulis kalimat dengan tata bahasa yang benar sesuai dengan ketentuan teks recount; 4) siswa juga dapat menulis teks secara kronologis; dan 5) siswa dapat mengembangkan teksnya menjadi lebih menarik. Hasil akhir tes para siswa menunjukkan peningkatan pada nilai rata-rata kelas; dari 74,54 (pre-tes) menjadi 82,18 (tes pada Siklus 1) dan 84,50 (post-tes). Nilai tersebut sudah melampaui batas minimum sekolah (Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum/KKM), yaitu 78,00. Sehubungan dengan peningkatan situasi kelas, hasil temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa 1) siswa dapat bekerja secara efektif untuk menyelesaikan tugasnya; 2) siswa menjadi lebih tertarik dengan pelajaran; 3) mereka memberikan perhatian penuh selama kelas berlangsung; 4) siswa dapat memanfaatkan laptop pribadi mereka selama pelajaran; dan 5) tidak ada lagi siswa yang tidak suka menunjukkan hasil pekerjaannya kepada orang lain (menjadi lebih percaya diri).
Mengingat hasil yang baik dari penelitian ini, sangat disarankan bagi guru lain supaya dapat memanfaatkan peningkatan yang telah tercatat untuk memanfaatkan serta mengembangkan media baru lainnya. Selain itu, juga diharapkan agar para guru turut menerapkan Action Research di dalam kelas mereka sebagai upaya menyelesaikan masalah-masalah yang berkenaan dengan kegiatan belajar-mengajar.
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MOTTO
not hing you can see, you can’t do
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DEDICATION
to my beloved parents and
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah for having this page to give final touch on this research. It was a great deal to have this study finished. I would like to acknowledge my first gratitude to Dra. Dewi Rochsantiningsih, M.Ed., Ph.D., my first consultant, for the inspirations and invaluable experiences. There are so many things waiting to touch after meetings with her. This work is not a final ending, but a start of new beginning.
This paper will not be able to be bounded without patience of my second consultant, Drs. Muh. Asrori, M.Pd., for reading these pages and gave many invaluable suggestions to make it better and worthy to read. I have learnt and got a lot of interesting things that lead me to be more knowledgeable and confidence. My gratitude goes to The Dean on FKIP UNS, Prof. Dr. Furqon Hidayatullah, M.Pd., as without his approval and permission this study will never exist. My sincere gratitudes are also extended to The Head of Language and Literary Department, Drs. Suparno, M.Pd., and The Head of English Department, Drs. Martono, M.A., for any debt in my study during these semesters. I also gratefully thank to all of my lectures for all of the knowledge shared; that will always grow bigger and long lasting.
My special gratitude is for my parents who never stop loving me with their prayers and never give up to remind me for dinner. Abi, Ummi, this writing makes laugh and cry completely blended.
To my brother, thank you for every movie you had copied. That was joyful moments, chatting in front of the moving pictures and hope it will be repeated again soon.
To my closest, every time you spent listening to me murmuring around was enlightening. Finally, words will never enough to replace all what I have got.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Page TITLE
THE APPROVAL OF THE CONSULTANTS THE APPROVAL OF THE EXAMINERS ABSTRACT
MOTTO DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLE LIST OF PICTURE LIST OF APPENDIX
ii iii iv v vii viii ix x xiii xiv xv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1
A. Background of the Study B. Problem Statements
C. The Objectives of the Study D. The Benefits of the Study
1 7 8 8
CHAPTER II REVIEW ON RELATED LITERATURE 9
A. Writing
1. The Nature of Writing 2. Writing Skills
3. Writing in the Classroom 4. Writing Recount Text 5. Assessing Writing B. Blog
1. What Blog is 2. Types of Blog
3. Blog in the Classroom
9 9 10 12 14 15 18 18 20 21
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a. Blog as teaching-learning media b. Teaching writing using blogc. Advantages and disadvantages of blog C. Related Research
D. Student Blog in Improving Writing Skills E. Action Hypothesis
21 22 23 24 25 25
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 26
A. Context of the Research
1. The Setting of the Research 2. The Subject of the Research B. The Method of the Research
1. Action Research
2. The Procedure of Action Research C. Technique of Collecting the Data D. Technique of Analyzing the Data
26 26 27 27 27 28 31 32 CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 34
A. Situation Prior to the Research B. Research Implementation
1. Procedure of the Research 2. Cycle 1
a. Planning the action b. Implementing the action c. Observing the implementation
d. Reflecting the result of the observation 3. Cycle 2
a. Revising the plan b. Implementing the action c. Observing the implementation
d. Reflecting the result of the observation C. Findings
1. The improvement of the students’ writing skill
34 37 37 38 38 38 42 47 50 50 50 51 53 55 56
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2. The improvement of the classroom situation 3. The improvement of the students’ attitude D. Discussion1. Student blog is able to improve students’ writing skill 2. Student blog is able to improve situation in the writing class
58 58 59 59 60 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTIONS 61
A. Conclusion B. Implication C. Suggestion
61 62 63
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LIST OF TABLE
Page Table 2.1. The Scoring Rubric of ESL Composition Profile
Table 2.2. The Scoring
Table 2.3. The Use of Blog in the Classroom Table 3.1. Schedule of the Research
Table 3.2. The Classroom procedure of the Research Table 4.1. Situation Before the Research
Table 4.2. The Research Procedure
Table 4.3. The Improvement of the Students’ Learning and Achievement in the End of Cycle 1
Table 4.4. The Improvement of the Students’ Learning and Achievement in the End of Cycle 2
Table 4.5. Summary of the Research Findings
Table 4.6. The Improvement of the Students’ Achievement Table 4.7. The Sample of Students’ Achievement
16 17 21 27 30 36 37 48
54
55 56 57
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LIST OF PICTURE
Page Figure 2.1. Screenshot of a Blog Page
Figure 2.2. Screenshot of a Blog Posting Form
Figure 3.1. The Individual Aspect in Action Research Figure 4.1. Chart of Number of Students Passing the Test Figure 4.2. Chart of Students’ Interest on Writing
19 19 30 56 57
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LIST OF APPENDIX
Page Research Journal
The Summary of the Research List of Activities
Teacher Syllabus Lesson Plans Pre-Questionnaires Post-Questionnaires
Students’ Worksheets A (Writing Task) Students’ Worksheets B (Pre-Test) Students’ Worksheets C (Post-Test 1) Students’ Worksheets D (Post-Test 2) Students’ Blog Posts
The Result of Pre-Questionnaire The Result of Post-Questionnaire The Result of Pre-Test
The Result of Post-Test 1 The Result of Post-Test 2 The Result of the Tests
Sample Students’ Achievement Research Diaries Interview Notes Observation Form Photographs Legalizations 67 70 71 75 87 99 101 103 105 107 109 111 114 115 117 119 121 123 124 125 135 137 139 141
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
The recent national standard of education in Indonesia is decided on the Government Regulation No. 19/2005. It has the purpose of ensuring the development of education in Indonesia by stating the minimum standard for every level of education. The content is about the standard of content, process, graduated competence, teacher, and materials for education, cost, and evaluation. This curriculum has a function as a basis of planning, action, and controlling the education to reach a good quality of education.
It is stated in the curriculum that the students are supposed to master English for communication. The purposes of English learning in Junior High School level are 1) to develop communicative competence either written or spoken in the functional level; 2) to raise learners’ awareness about the importance of English in the global society; and 3) to develop students’ understanding about the relationship between language and culture. In short, the students should master both spoken and written discourse of English in order to communicate and to use the language actively in the social environment.
The curriculum in Indonesia is adapted from the genre-based approach. This approach focuses on the text as the main resources in language learning. The goal is “to enable students to develop the knowledge and skill to deal with spoken and written texts in social contexts” (Nugroho and Hafrizon, 2009: 4). This approach is developed based on three basic assumptions: language learning is a social activity; learning occurs more effectively if teachers are explicit about what is expected of students; and the process of learning language is a series of scaffold developmental steps which address different aspects of language. The genre-based approach relies on the principle that learning is conducted through collaboration of the students-teacher and among students.
In line with the curriculum and genre-based approach, being able to communicate is integrated as being able to create discourses in a certain level of
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literacy. The literacy level, in the term of Junior High School students, is the functional level. It means that the students should be able to communicate in spoken or written discourse to have the daily activities done, for instance reading newspapers, manuals, or instructions. In addition, there are two skills which naturally belong to the literacy skill; one of those is writing. It is one of the skills to be mastered by the students in learning English other than listening, speaking, and reading. In some schools, most of the English classes are dominated by writing activities. Nevertheless, students rarely implement their skills in the real life situation and cannot communicate well using their text.
Written language is not the only way of communication using a language. To communicate, people also produce the spoken form of a language. In comparison, writing is not merely about transcribing the spoken language into the written form. Writing is considered as a complex skill since “people need to be able to form letters and words, and join these together to make words, sentences, or a series of sentences that link together to communicate a message” (Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams, 2010: 26). Palmer in Matthews, Spratt, and Dangerfield (1989: 71) says “ writing is a special skill that does not spring naturally from an ability to speak a language“ since errors are commonly found in students writing not only in English (L2), but also in their first language (L1).
The standard of curriculum is applied to every school in Indonesia, including RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Berbasis Internasional) which is expected to be internationally standardized. Faridi (2009: 3) states:
Menurut buku panduan yang dikeluarkan oleh Diknas Propinsi jawa Tengah th.2007/2008, pengertian sekolah bertaraf internasional adalah suatu sekolah yang telah memenuhi Standar Nasional Pendidikan pada tiap aspeknya, meliputi: kompetensi lulusan, isi, prosess, pendidik, dan tenaga kependidikan, sarana dan prasarana, pembiayaan, pengelolaan, penilaian dan telah menyelenggarakan serta menghasilkan lulusan dengan ciri keinternasionalan.
In other words, that type of school should adapt and/or adopt an education standard in the country or abroad which has a high quality and has been approved internationally. SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri is one of the RSBI schools that applies higher standard of the students, especially in English lesson. The passing
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grade for English lesson in this school is stated at 78.00. Although the students belong to RSBI school, their writing skills aren't good enough and need to be improved. They have a good interest in English but not in writing.
The main problem faced by the students in writing a text is the difficulty of sharing ideas in the written form. The indicators of this problem are clearly indicated in their works. The students rarely consult to dictionary and mostly use their own interpretation about the spelling in writing, so that they write the words incorrectly. They also tend to use the literal translation of word and use it improperly within a sentence. Furthermore, the students are not aware of the use of some grammatical aspects (tense, article, preposition, pronoun, phrasal verb, etc.) . They frequently make mistakes in writing grammatically correct sentences. Once they make it, some details are forgotten, for example the articles. It is also found that the students write the sentence in wrong word order and carelessly punctuate the text that may lead to misinterpretation. Besides, their writing texts are sometimes incoherent. The ideas of the story are not well developed and the use of conjunction are ambiguous in some cases.
In addition, the classroom situation shows that the students did not directly do the task given. They keep on maintaining their activity which has no relation with the lesson. Some of them are indicated not too interested in the lesson. It seems that they get bored when they have to wait and see the model of the lesson. As a consequence, they prefer having a talk with the next friends to paying full attention to the teacher.
In SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri, the students are allowed to bring personal laptop with them. The students who bring their own laptop will operate it during the lesson. It may help them in learning, but it may also bring disadvantages when uncontrolled. The students access the internet and forget about the lesson they sit in. It distracts their focuses, hence they work slowly. Another indicator of the problem faced by the students is that they do not have enough self-confidence in their writing. They prefer not to show and not to share their writing to others.
The problems found are related to the material and teaching techniques, school facilities, and the students’ attitudes during the lesson. From the material
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and the technique point of view, the current sources of material are not communicative and it has a higher level than the students’ general ability. The teacher does not distribute the textbook because of this reason. Furthermore, the facilities served in the school are not used effectively. The teacher only uses the whiteboard during the lesson instead of the LCD projector that is available in the classroom and the students do not access the internet under any task of English lesson.
The most causes are coming from the students themselves. They rarely practice their writing skill to communicate broadly. It is true that the students like to access internet which is basically a very rich resources to learn English; however, they do not use it to practice whether they are not motivated to utilize it or really not interested in it. Besides, most of them easily lose their focuses during the lesson. They are still in the range of children who have short time of interest. They could not be forced to stay in a topic for any longer than they want. Another cause of the problem in students’ writing is the literal translation. They translate their mother tongue in writing which may lead to misunderstanding in communication.
It is mentioned in the syllabus that the standard competence of writing skill for the eighth grade student is “expressing meaning in short written functional text and essay in descriptive, recount and exposition to communicate with the closest environment and/or in academic context to build good character”. This standard is then broken down into two basic competences:
1. Expressing the information in short written functional text accurately, systematically, and acceptably to communicate with the closest environment and/or in academic context to build good character.
2. Expressing meaning in short essay in descriptive, recount and exposition accurately, systematically, and acceptably to communicate with the closest environment and/or in academic context to build good character.
Nevertheless, the students in SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri could not reach the standard of competence which is drawn from the curriculum and the syllabus. They need some improvements in their writing skills as indicated by the average
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score (74.45) that lies under the school minimum target (78.00) and the teaching-learning process.
The situation and condition that distract the learning process in reaching the target can be solved by optimizing the facilities in the school and the use of internet in the classroom. Since 1990s, there is a new term TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning) that focuses on the utilization of internet use and communication technology. There are many reasons to bring internet and technology into classroom, some of them are:
- Internet access is becoming increasingly available to learners
- Young learners are growing up with technologies, and it is a natural and integrated part of their lives—it is a way of bringing the outside world into the classroom.
- English as an international language, is being used in technologically mediated context.
- Technology, especially the Internet, presents new opportunities for authentic tasks and materials, as well as access to a wealth of ready-made ELT materials.
- The Internet offers excellent opportunities for collaboration and communication among learners who are geographically dispersed.
- Technology is offered with published materials such as coursebook and resource books for teachers.
- Learners increasingly expect language schools to integrate technology into teaching.
- Technology offers new ways for practicing language and assessing performance.
- Technology can not only be used in the classroom, but also at home and even public area.
- Using a range of ICT tools can give learners exposure to and practice in all of the four main language skills – speaking, listening, writing, and reading.
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The internet huge range of materials and methods of communication can allow the students to discover language for themselves in a more immediate way than by reading a textbook. Teeler (2000: 82) states ”the internet has advantages of providing up-to-date, authentic material in English, and opportunities for real communication with native and non-native speakers”. In the term of writing, the students can grab many advantages of using internet as a learning resource. One of the activities that can help the students in improving their writing skill is writing on blogs, since it can be done anytime and it is publicly available on the internet. Campbell (2004) says:
Because of the relative quickness and ease of publishing this type of software affords, the number of users has grown tremendously since then, and we can now observe blogs being used for personal, educational, journalistic, and commercial purposes.
Blogs also provide a 'real-world' tool for learners with which to practice their written English, for example when it is used as a means for contacting learners from other parts of the world in an international exchange (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 90).
Blog is an online journal which is usually used to share one's thoughts, ideas, photos, or videos. It was first sprung from the idea of compiling a list of interesting websites on the internet in 1999. In her article, Blood (2000) shares her note about blog as follows:
The original weblogs were link-driven sites. Each was a mixture in unique proportions of links, commentary, and personal thoughts and essays. Weblogs could only be created by people who already knew how to make a website. A weblog editor had either taught herself to code HTML for fun, or, after working all day creating commercial websites, spent several off-work hours every day surfing the web and posting to her site. These were web enthusiasts.
The later weblogs more focus on a sort of short-form journal that are usually more about “something noticed on the way to work, notes about the weekend, a quick reflection on some subject or another“ than about someone’s thoughts (Blood, 2000). Furthermore, the rapid development of ICT has allowed the owner of
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weblog to maintain it with a basic knowledge of HTML code. There are also various services on web that provide free blogging.
The owners of blogs can continuously update it easily anytime they want. They do not need any special knowledge of HTML or FTP (File Transfer Protocol), thus “anyone who can type, copy, or paste can create and maintain a weblog” (Campbell, 2003). For blogs are accessible and widely used nowadays, the students may have been familiar with it, although they never have it before. In the classroom, blog can be utilized to teach writing. Students can post their assignments on it and write any other things they want. Moreover, the applications on the blog allow students to customise its appearance and it will motivate them to write on it. Campbell (2003) states:
However, with a very basic knowledge of HTML, users can extend their ability to customize the layout of their blog and even add pictures to enhance its attractiveness. Similar to an open journal, the accumulation of writings and other content creates both a record of learning and a resource for others. Furthermore, a weblog is interactive, in the sense that readers can respond to any given entry with a comment and even threaded discussions can take place depending on the software chosen.
Based on the considerations above, the title of this research is
UTILIZING STUDENT BLOGS TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILL (An Action Research at 8th Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri in the Academic Year of 2010/2011. This research focuses on how to implement student blogs in
teaching writing. It also involves the teaching learning processes that happen in the classroom.
B. Problem Statement
In order to make this study more specific, the problems are stated as follows:
1. Can and to what extent the use of student blogs improve students’ writing skill?
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C. The Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study are stated as follows:
1. To identify whether and to what extent the use of student blogs improve students' writing skill.
2. To analyze what happens when student blog is applied to teach writing.
D. The Benefits of the Study
After finishing this study, it is hoped that the result can give benefits as follows:
1. For the students: It is hoped that the result of the study can improve students' writing skill and motivate them to write more in online blog to build a broader community.
2. For the teacher: The teacher can improve their teaching techniques by the elaborations of the use of student blog and the other two types. 3. For theoretical application: It is hoped that the result of the study can give
additional information of language teaching activity, especially in teaching writing skill.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The review of related literature is aimed to provide the basic theories of the research. There are five subheadings consisting of review on writing, review on blog, review on related research, rationale, and hypothesis. There are two main points of view in writing: writing as a process and a final product. It is mentioned here the stages that are commonly done in the process of writing to produce the writing itself. This chapter also presents the review of literature about blogs as the main media used in this research. Blog and its features will be explained more in the following section and continued by the review of related researches on the use of blogs in education, especially teaching-learning English. Finally, it is closed by the rationale and the practical hypothesis of the research.
A. Writing
1. The Nature of Writing
Literacy skills include being able to read and write different sorts of texts for different purposes (Cameron, 2005: 124). Literacy, in the sense of social, provides people with opportunities to share meaning across space and time, while in the sense of cognitive, requires that specific skills and knowledge about how the written language operates in proceeding text. Fomkin (1990: 342) states “writing is one of the basic tools of civilization”. It was first the pictograms, then turns into alphabet after centuries. There are three writing systems used in the world: word writing, syllable writing, and alphabetic system. In the word writing system, every symbol or character represents a word or morpheme (as in China); each symbol in the syllable writing system represents a syllable (as in Japan); and each symbol in the alphabetic writing system represents (for the most part) one phoneme (as in English).
Supporting to Fromkin, Bram (1995: 25) states that the purpose of writing is communication. Messages are sent through written form between the writer and the reader. Nevertheless, a written text uses language in a most
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decontextualized form, produced in isolation from its intended audience and without resource to share context (Arndt in Wallace, 1998: 97). It can be concluded that in writing, someone needs some specific skills to make sure that the other person can get the message of the written text shared.
2. Writing Skills
Writing is one of the English skills. It is usually compared with speaking, reading, and listening. Writing is usually seen as a product, but it is actually also a process. According to Hudelson in Richard (1995: 130), writing is “a language process in which an individual creates meaning by using symbol to construct a written text”. The writer’s language background, personal experience, and cultural framework, as well as by the purpose for writing and the audience for the piece will influence the text that individual constructs. Supporting to Richard, Harris (1993: 10) defines writing as “a process that occurs over period of time, particularly if we take into account the sometimes extended periods of thinking that precede creating an initial draft”. In the beginning process of writing, initial draft is created; it is influenced by the writer’s background knowledge and his culture.
Seen as a process, writing is not a simple thing to do. It is done step by step as proposed by Hedge (1998: 9) that “good writers create a text trough certain processes which lead to successful piece of written work, these are an overall planning, drafting, reviewing, revising, and editing”. In addition, Brown (1994: 321) states “the process approach to writing instruction is an attempt to take advantage of the nature of the written code to give students a chance to think as they write”. It implies that writing is not instantly produced since writers need a couple of time to be able to produce a complete text. Drawn from the Writing Tutorials on Microsoft© Student 2008 DVD®, the four steps of good writing are:
a. Prewriting: choosing the topic and gathering information;
b. Writing: write three parts of structure (beginning, middle, and ending); c. Revising: checking the trait of ideas, organization, voice, word choice,
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d. Editing: checking the use of punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar (mechanics).
In other words, writing process is periods of thinking that precede creating an initial draft due to conveying one’s meaning using symbol influenced by one’s language background, personal experience, and cultural framework. It is done through the process of prewriting, drafting, writing, revising, and editing.
From the point of view that writing is a product, writers should master certain skills due to creating a good writing. Hedge (1998: 8) points out some skills that writers need, these are: (a) getting the grammar right; (b) having a range of vocabulary; (c) punctuating meaningfully; (d) using the conventions of layout correctly, e.g. in letter; (e) spelling accurately; (f) using a range of sentence structure; (g) linking ideas and information across sentences to develop the topic; (h) developing and organizing the content clearly and convincingly.
Nunan mentions some other writing skills that it includes the control of content, format, sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling, letter formation, cohesiveness and coherence of paragraphs and texts (1998: 6). He states:
Writing involves mastering of the mechanics of letter formation and obeying conventions of spelling and punctuation; using grammatical system to convey one’s intended meaning; organizing content at the level of the paragraph and the complete text to reflect given/new information and topic/comment structures; polishing and revising one’s initial efforts; selecting an appropriate style for one’s audience (1998: 7).
Burns and Broman (1975: 232) note the mechanics in writing as follows:
a. capital letters (first word of a sentence, proper names, titles of books, days of the week)
b. period (end of a declarative sentence, abbreviations) c. question mark (end of a question sentence)
d. apostrophe (contractions)
e. exclamation point (end of an exclamatory sentence) f. sequence of sentences
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Supporting to the previous theories, Brown (1994: 327; 2004: 220) mentions some microskills for writing as follows:
a. Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English. b. Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
c. Produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order patterns.
d. Use acceptable grammatical systems (e.g. tense, agreement, and pluralisation), patterns and rules.
e. Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms. f. Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that writing is a process of producing a piece of written text to convey meanings. In doing so, the writer has to master the skills of producing letters in correct spelling, having a range of vocabulary, using correct grammatical system—including the use of a range of sentence structure, maintaining cohesiveness and coherence of paragraphs and text, and developing and organizing the content clearly and convincingly.
3. Writing in the Classroom
Harris points out that writing has to be planned in order to achieve both well sequenced ideas and selection of the words that will lead to effective communication and the writers should “find ways of motivating themselves to continue creating a text” (1993: 4). Writers need certain conditions that will encourage them to produce a piece of writing. They should make such a mind map about what they are going to write and crate an initial draft. These conditions will be occupied when the writing activity is interesting and the product of writing should be taken into account. Additionally, Brown (2004: 220) suggests the following categories of classroom writing performance:
a. Imitative
Students are asked to write English letters, words, or even sentences in order to learn the convention of the orthographic code. The primary focus is
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on the form and accuracy. Dictation is one of the activities belonging to this stage.
b. Intensive (controlled)
The common form of controlled writing is usually related to the grammatical aspect. Not only the grammatical correctness, but also the appropriateness of vocabulary within a context, collocation, and idioms. Meaning and context determine the correctness and appropriateness. The activity that belongs to this category is guided writing.
c. Responsive
The responsive writing requires learners to perform at a limited discourse level, connecting sentences into paragraph and creating a logically connected sequence of two or three paragraphs. Genres of writing include brief narratives and descriptions, short reports, lab reports, summaries, brief responses to reading, and interpretation of charts or graphs.
d. Extensive
It can be done in the form of short writing essays, a term paper, and research reports. This is the most complex writing performance since the writer focuses on achieving illustrate ideas, organizing and developing ideas logically, using details to support or illustrate ideas, and demonstrating syntactic and lexical variety.
Along with the microskills of writing, Brown (1994: 330-332) proposes the principles of designing writing techniques as follows:
a. Incorporate practices of "good writing" b. Balance process and product
c. Account for cultural/ literacy backgrounds d. Connect reading and writing
e. Provide as much authentic writing as possible
f. Frame the techniques in terms of prewriting, drafting, and revising stage In conclusion, writing activities in the classroom should be able to provide plenty of practices for students and able to encourage their interest and motivation in order to achieve the communicative purpose of writing.
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4. Writing Recount Text
There are some types of text used in teaching-learning language in genre-based approach. In brief, those are descriptive, narrative, recount, report, procedure, discussion, analytical exposition, and hortatory exposition. Nugroho and Hafrizon (2009: 7) mention that monologue texts introduced in secondary junior high school are procedure text, descriptive text, report text, recount text, and narrative text.
Taken from the syllabus for the eighth grade of Junior High School students, two text types that should be mastered by the students in the first semester are descriptive and recount text. It is mentioned that the students should be able “to express meaning in short essay in descriptive, recount and exposition accurately, systematically, and acceptably to communicate with the closest environment and/or in academic context to build good character” (Teacher syllabus, 2010).
The focus of this research is on teaching writing recount text. Recount text is used to retell past events chronologically for the purpose of informing or entertaining. Every text type has its own characteristics, including recount text. One single text commonly consists of three main parts: beginning, middle, and ending as Harsyaf, Nurmaini, and Izmi (2009: 13) say:
Journals, diaries, biographies, personal letter all share a familiar beginning, middle and end structure. Each of them begins with a brief introduction usually providing some background information to the writing (orientation stage). This is followed by a writing about recounting of different event, one after the other (recount stages).
This means that the generic structure of recount text consists of orientation, sequence of events, and reorientation. In the orientation, the reader is introduced to the setting and participants of the text. It is continued by the events happening which are arranged chronologically or based on time order and ended by the participant’s reflection called reorientation.
Furthermore, Isaacson (2003) in the journal issued by Pennsylvania University (2006) mentions some critical details of personal narrative (recount) as follows:
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a. The story tells what happened to the author. b. It focuses on one interesting event.c. It tells everything in the order that it happened.
d. The author uses details that help the reader “see” the action. e. The author tells why he/she remembers it or what was learned.
Texts not only differ in its purpose and generic structure, but also the language used. Some text types are dominated by present tense sentences and some other are written in past tense form. Recount text is dominated by past tense sentences to retell or inform the past events. Besides, the use of sequential conjunction is easily indicated. It also focuses on human participant, either individual or group, and uses a lot of action verbs. Below is an example of recount text:
My mother got me ready for school then I had to wait for her to brush my hair and place every strand in just the perfect position. I had to show her my shoes that I had cleaned the night before and my school bag had to be neatly put on my shoulder before I could get near the door. Only after my mother was totally satisfied would I be allowed to rush out of the front door.
I would leave home at 8 am on the dot and make my way down the lane. After a walk of about 700 metres I would be able to see the tall steeple of the school.
The playground would be full in the summer and the noise would make me want to rush into the yard and get into a good game of football before the bell went.
(Adopted from http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/sats/recounts.htm)
5. Assessing Writing
There are variety of testing writing since it has many kinds of tasks that is engaged. Madsen (1983: 101) proposes three distinct stages of writing instruction: pre-writing, guided writing, and free writing. Limited response is one of techniques for evaluating pre-writing. It focuses on the vocabulary and grammar. In further stage of instruction, guided writing having an objective to check student ability to handle controlled or directed writing tasks. Some activities that belongs to this level are dictation, text manipulation, and expanding an outline of an article. Free writing enables student to develop a text from a
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certain topic. It is generally used to evaluate the effectiveness of the total composition including sentence-level accuracy, large rhetorical matters, as well as effectiveness in conveying ideas to the intended audience.
Madsen (1983: 119-122) and Reid (1993: 235) mention two types of grading the score of writing test: holistic and analytic. Holistic scoring evaluates the whole text as a unity in consideration of the reader’s impression, while analytic scoring evaluates the various components of a piece of writing separately. In order to have a clear grading of students’ writing skill, the rubric of scoring is adopted from the ESL Composition Profile. The conversion of the score are listed in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1. The Scoring Rubric of ESL Composition Profile
Score Criteria Description
Cont
en
t
30 – 27
26 – 22
21 – 17
16 – 13
Excellent to Very Good
Good to Average
Fair to Poor
Very Poor
Knowledgeable, substantive development of thesis, relevant to assigned topic.
Sure knowledge of subject, adequate range, limited development of thesis, mostly relevant to topic but lacks detail
Limited knowledge of subject, little substance, inadequate development of topic
Doesn’t show knowledge of subject, non-substantive, not pertinent, or not enough to evaluate
Or
ga
n
iza
tion
20 – 18
17 – 14
13 – 10
9 – 7
Excellent to Very Good
Good to Average
Fair to Poor
Very Poor
Fluent expression, ideas clearly stated/supported, succinct, well-organized, logical sequencing cohesive
Somewhat choppy, loosely organized but main ideas stand put, limited support, logical but incomplete sequencing
Non-fluent, ideas confused or disconnected, lacks logical sequencing and development
Does not communicate, no organization, or nor enough to evaluate
Vo
ca
bu
la
ry
20 – 18
17 – 14
13 – 10
9 – 7
Excellent to Very Good
Good to Average
Fair to Poor
Very Poor
Sophisticated range, effective word/idiom choice and usage, word form mastery, appropriate register,
Adequate range, occasional errors of word/idiom form, choice, usage, but meaning not obscured
Limited range, frequent of word/idiom form, choice, usage, meaning confused or obscured
Essentially translation, little knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, word form, or not enough to evaluate
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Langu
ag
e
Use
25 – 22
21 – 18
17 – 11
10 – 5
Excellent to Very Good
Good to Average
Fair to Poor
Very Poor
Effective and complex constructions, few errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions
Effective but simple constructions, minor problems in complex constructions, several errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions, but meaning seldom obscured
Major problems in simple/complex constructions, frequent errors of negation, agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions and/or fragments, run-ons, deletions, meaning confused or obscured
Virtually no mastery of sentence constructions rules, dominated by errors, doesn’t communicate, or not enough to evaluate
Mec h anic s 5 4 3 2
Excellent to Very Good
Good to Average
Fair to Poor
Very Poor
Demonstrates mastery of conventions, few errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing
Occasional errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, but meaning not obscured
Frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, poor hand writing, meaning confused or obscured
No mastery of conventions, dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, hand writing illegible, or not enough to evaluate
In order to simplify the scoring for junior high school level, the conversion of each aspects evaluated is as follows:
Table 2.2. The Scoring Rubric
Aspect Description Maximum
Score Content The relation of content and its details 30 Organisation The cohesive and logical sequencing of text 20 Vocabulary The precision of vocabulary used 20 Language use The use of appropriate tense, agreement, and word order 25
Mechanics Spelling and Punctuation 5
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B. Blog 1. What Blog is
There are some social softwares that allow people to build a community in the internet range. Some of them are blogs, wikis, and podcasts. The basic features that distinguish those three social softwares are: a) blog is more like a diary, b) wiki is like a website which consists of a number of collaborative web pages, and c) podcast is more related to the audio and/or video file broadcasted and accessed via internet. Dudeney and Hockly (2007: 86) state “a blog, short term of weblog, is essentially a web page with regular diary or journal entries”.
Supporting to Dudeney and Hockly, Johnson (2004) defines blogs as “electronic journals that allow the users to keep records of their writing on a website”. In addition, Campbell (2003) states ”an individual can continuously update the blog with his or her own words, ideas, and thoughts through software that enables one to easily do so”. In other words, blog is an online journal that enables the user to write his or her own words, ideas, and thoughts trough softwares and update it as a web page.
Blog has some features that are used to maintain it as the user want: a. Access Control
The users of blogs can maintain a private online space for collecting and sharing any stuff they want or a group blog with multiple authors as an excellent communication tool for small teams, families and other groups. They can also set the comment moderations to allow any intended readers to give comments of the posts (blog entries).
b. Appearance
The appearance of blogs is editable using simple moderation buttons on it. Blog templates, font colour and size, and other page elements are easy to edit without having to learn the HTML code.
c. Supporting Features
On the writing page of blogs, it is completed with formatting toolbar and one-click buttons for uploading or adding photos, videos, and links to the blog post.
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Figure 2.1. Screenshot of a Blog Page(35)
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2. Types of Blog
Blogs used in education are known as edublogs. The topics covered in edublogs are related to education, from musings on educational policy and developments to learner compositions (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 87). There are three types of blog which are used in language teaching: tutor blog, student blog, and class blog (Campbell, 2003; Dudeney and Hockly, 2007).
a. Tutor blog
Tutor blog is a blog set up and maintained by a teacher. Some possible uses of tutor blog are:
1) Providing daily reading practice as the teacher posts texts in order to make the students get familiar with English texts.
2) Providing materials that will encourage students to explore the English websites.
3) Online verbal exchange trough commenting on posts (blog entries). 4) Giving information about the class syllabus or assignments.
5) Serving a resource of links for self-study. b. Student blog
Student blog is set up and maintained by individual or small collaborative group of learners. It can be used to:
1) Post students thoughts after reading class.
2) Encourage students to use search engine and net surfing in English. 3) Encourage students in writing class by its connections to internet. 4) Post journal for writing practices.
c. Class blog
Class blog is set up and maintained by an entire class as a result of collaborative effort. Learners all post to the same blog. It can be used for: 1) Publishing bulletin board.
2) Class work, e.g. creating online resources for friends.
3) Creating a virtual space for international classroom in language exchange 4) Reading and writing classes.
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Dudeney and Hockly (2007: 90) suggest some other ways of using blogs with learner as listed in the following table.
Table 2.3. The Use of Blog in the Classroom
Tutor blog Student blog Class blog
• Set homework.
• Provide a summary of class work.
• Provide links to extra reading/listening material.
• Question and answer (e.g. about grammar, material work.)
• Exam/Study tips.
• Personal and family information (including photos).
• Extra writing practices on class topics.
• Regular comments on current affairs.
• Research and present information on a topic (e.g. an English-speaking country).
• A photoblog on learner's country, last holiday, town.
• Reactions to a film, article, class topic, current affairs.
• Things learners like/don't like doing in class.
• A class project on any topic.
This research focuses on the use of student blog in writing class. Students have authority to own and manage their blogs in order to complete the writing tasks. They could also share experiences, thoughts, or anything they interested in. Meanwhile, teacher blog is used only as a complementary tool to publish materials so that the students can access it whenever they want.
3. Blog in the Classroom
The use of blogs in the classroom will be discussed in this section. Blogs are commonly found in form of short articles, journals, or personal diaries. Thus, blogs can be utilized to teach language, especially writing skill. Like the other media, blogs also have some strengths that promote the learning and weaknesses to overcome.
a. Blog as Teaching-Learning Media
Teaching is not merely about transferring knowledge. Teachers need to consider about the most suitable way of engaging students to be actively participate in the process. A good combination of method or technique and media to impart learning materials will support the effective teaching-learning activity.
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Therefore, media have a significant role in order to accomplish the objective of teaching and learning. In teaching writing, supporting to Brown (1994), Appel suggests the use of authentic materials in writing classroom as follows:
“For communicative language teaching writing had to be authentic, which meant it was supposed to be used in the classroom in the same way as in outside life—hence the emphasis on information processing, such as note-taking or filling in forms.” (Appel, 1995: 96)
Teachers can use blogs to upload learning materials, including the later issues, and let the students to share their opinions in form of short articles or comments. Although it belongs to written media, it allows two-way communication between the writer and the reader. Warschauer (2010) states “blogs thus represent a particularly effective tool to combine the publishing and discussion of student writing in a single medium”. In addition, Cranmer in Matthews, Spratt, and Dangerfield (1989: 94) says that learning writing without reading examples of written communications which provide a model or guide is not easy. The students need to have a plenty of models to differentiate and write certain text types.
b. Teaching Writing Using Blog
Blogs can be set up to teach writing skill in more communicative way. It has been utilized in many writing courses. Johnson (2004) says in his article:
Blogs have been successfully implemented into journalism, political science, and various junior high to university English writing courses for native English speakers. However, the use of blogs in teaching EFL appears to still be in its infancy but has much potential, especially in teaching written communication skills.
The students are supposed to master the ability of writing in order to have the things done. They have to be able to communicate in written form and send the message to the intended readers. Practicing writing in the classroom, the students may work collaboratively within groups to make a project and use the blog to publish it. In this term, teachers had the role to guide them and it will give them more chance to explore their creativity.
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In order to give better understanding about the use of blogs, there is suggestion of a complete classroom activity to use blog in the writing class (see appendix List of Activities). It is stated as follows:
a. Teacher posts some blog links for the resources.
b. Teacher asks students to access the teacher blog form their personal computer. Students work individually.
c. Students read the task on teacher blog and follow the link.
d. Students then write their personal comment on teacher blog and the teacher does too.
e. Students then write a learning journal about what they have read in previous activity and post the works on their own blogs.
f. After posting the task, students have to visit other friends’ blog pages to post some comments.
g. During the lesson, teacher may follow the students’ activities online or as the facilitator in the classroom.
c. Advantages and Disadvantages of Blog
There are some advantages of utilizing blogs to teach writing in the classroom:
1) It promotes learning materials for students and helps teachers reflect their teaching.
2) Blog posting can be used for evaluations; the criteria will probably include: accuracy, fluency, coherence, and relevance.
3) All of the contents are viewable in chronological order and well-organized. It allows the teacher and students to find information easily.
4) Students can learn more from the comments to their posts and get direct feedback from the teacher online.
Despite blogs' beneficial role in helping the students to produce written work, there are some disadvantages about blogs as follows:
1) Some features on blog page are not that simple to use, it may distract the focus of the learning process.
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2) There is no specific notification when the content of the blog is edited, it may cause some problems in evaluating the contents.
3) Once the students come online, they may open other webpages which is not related to the target of learning.
C. Related Research
Blogs have become a new trend of learning tool in recent years. Campbell (2003), in his article about the use of blogs in classes, has mentioned three types of blog which are commonly used in education. Those are tutor blog, student blog, and class blog. In addition, Godwin-Jones (2003) states that blogs have come as a web of second generation which allows the writer manipulate or personalized its content and appearance. He suggested some ways of utilizing blog for learners, such as uploading and linking files, writing for broader readers, having discussion forums, and it can be used as an electronic portfolio.
Johnson (2004) has reported his study on the Internet TESL Journal; it is about utilizing class and student blogs in a writing course. In his study, Johnson implements the use of blog for his writing course. The focus of his study is to share the procedures of utilizing blog in the classroom. The study was conducted in a graduate level scientific writing course taught in the spring of 2003. Johnson uses two types of blog in his course, class blog and student blog. He creates a class blog for general application related to learning materials, while the student blogs are used to post or submit assignments privately. In his study, each student's URL address is shared only between that student and the teacher. The result of the study shows that utilizing blog in classroom can effectively maximize students’ access to class materials and exposure to teacher feedback (Johnson, 2004).
The use of blogs in the classroom is motivating for the learners (Brooks, Nichols and Priebe, 2004). It can enhance effective instructional approaches that emphasize writing for meaningful social purposes, mastery of relevant genres, and development of students’ academic language proficiency (Warschauer, 2010). Blogs also encourage the learners about ownership and responsibility since it is publicly available to read (Lowe and Williams, 2004; Mynard, 2007).
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Additionally, Blog is an alternative way of communicating among teacher and students and encourage the students to become autonomous learners, thus it can be prompted as a reflecting tools of the learning process (Mynard, 2007).
D. Student Blog in Improving Writing Skills
The current curriculum in primary high school requires that the students should be able to use the English at the functional level. It means that they can communicate in both spoken and written form to solve daily activities. Nevertheless, their skills, especially writing, are not improved yet since they rarely practice it in real communication. Regarding to the way of communication nowadays, students will be asked more to use technology. In the classroom, students can now access the internet easily. They don't have to set a certain time to go to the internet cafe. This facility provided by school, actually, can promote the learning process through the use of ICT since it will motivate the students.
An alternative use of ICT is utilizing blogs to teach writing. Blogs serve the real situation for writing class and provide more space for practices. When students are asked to publish their writing since the first instruction, it is hoped that they will be motivated to do best. Besides, blogs are completed with the features which consist of formatting and editing toolbar. Those features may help students in editing their works. In addition, teacher can give comments on students' blog as a direct feedback, therefore students know about their skill. Outside the class, students are also allowed to write the other personal intensions to their blog. When the students enjoy the learning, it will promote the learning process to gain success.
E. Action Hypothesis
Based on the theories and rationale above, the hypothesis is formulated as follows: student blogs can improve the students' writing skill.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research in this paper was conducted by adopting the principles of Action Research to investigate the problem, find out the solution, and note the changes of condition which are related to the students’ writing skill and classroom situation. This third chapter presents the methodology of the research starting from the beginning until the end of it. It contains the context of the research, method of the research, technique of collecting and analysing the data. The more detail explanation will be presented in the following sections.
A. Context of the Research 1. The Setting of the Research
The research was carried out in SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri. It is located on Jln. Kepodang V Wonogiri 57611. This school has become a school of RSBI since three years ago. Not all of the students in this school belong to RSBI class. Some of them are students of acceleration class. This school already uses the curriculum of Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) as the basic teaching and learning processes. According to the the Government Regulation No. 19/2005, KTSP is operational curriculum which is created by and carried out in each level of education. It means that the school creates its own curriculum including the plan, purpose, content, learning material, and the procedures as a guide in order to achieve certain target of education.
The research was conducted in the first semester in the second grade students of academic year 2010/2011. It was on August 2010 until January 2011. The time setting includes the preparation stage up to the reporting stage as stated in the following table.
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Table 3.1. Schedule of the Research
No. Activity Month
I II III IV V VI
1 Planning
2 Acting and Observing (Cycle 1) 4 Reflecting
5 Replanning
6 Acting and Observing (Cycle 2) 8 Reflecting
9 Data Analysis and Reporting
2. The Subject of the Research
The subject of this research was the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri in the academic year of 2010/2011. It was the 8G class of RSBI. The students in this class, who like to call themselves “Thei Golden”, had a better learning ability than the other classes as stated by the teacher, “They can understand the lesson easily and it is not so difficult to control them.” Having an ideal number of students, 20, this class consists of 5 male and 15 female students with an average writing skill in grade of eight.
B. The Method of the Research 1. Action Research
Action research is a process in which participants examine their own educational practice systematically and carefully, using the techniques of research (Ferrance, 2000: 1). Supporting to Ferrance, Wallace (1998: 4) states action research is basically a way of reflecting on teaching which is done by systematically collecting data on everyday practice and analyzing it in order to come to some decisions about what the future practice should be.
Classroom action research begins with a question or questions about classroom experiences, issues, or challenges. It is a reflective process which helps teachers to explore and examine aspects of teaching and learning and to take action to change and improve.
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Based on the considerations above, the study in this paper was conducted under the scope of action research in order to give practical use of blog in the classroom and improve the teacher's teaching technique in using new media.
2. The Procedure of Action Research
Burns (1999: 35) points out some phases in action research: exploring, identifying, planning, collecting data, analysis/reflecting, hypothesising/speculating, intervening, observing, reporting, writing, and presenting.
a. Exploring
It is the starting point for undertaking some initial action, such as documenting the general observation of situation in order to bring the understanding about the problem. It may involve doing some reading of recent articles or books to obtain ideas for research.
b. Identifying
This phase involves the recording or documenting observations which relate to the research area. It helps to clarify the nature of the situation and suggest to further action.
c. Planning
This involves developing a viable plan of action for gathering data, and considering and selecting a range of appropriate research methods.
d. Collecting data
During this period, the procedures selected for collecting data are developed and put into action.
e. Analysing/reflecting
This phase is considered as a combination of both analysis and reflection since the close analysis of data is often the stimulus for reflection.
f. Hypothesising/speculating
In this phase, hypothesis is drawn out based on the data that have been collected to this point, on the analysis and on the reflections that have arisen from the analysis.
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g. InterveningIntervening involves changing classroom approaches or practices in response to the hypotheses one has made.
h. Observing
In observing the outcomes of the intervention and reflecting on its effectiveness, a new set of teaching strategies and activities and recycling back into a period of further data collection are involved.
i. Reporting
It involves articulating the activities, data collection and results that have come out of the research process within the research group.
j. Writing
In this phase, the research questions, the strategies developed, the process of the research, and the analyses and results observed are drawn together by writing up an account in a report or article.
k. Presenting
This phase aims at ensuring that the research is presented to a wider audience.
The procedure of an action research is done continuously through cycles. Each cycle is initialized by planning the action after investigating the problems in the classroom. After finishing the action and the observation, it comes to the reflecting stage when all of the data are analyzed. This reflection is important to find out the unsolved problem during the research and its final result. In order to simplify the phases mentioned previously, action research is usually done in a cycle. The cycle of research steps can be visually seen as follows:
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The classroom procedure of this research was conducted within two cycles as listed in the table below.
Table 3.2. The Classroom Procedure of the Research
Cycle Procedures
I
Planning
Teacher prepares everything related to the action that will be implemented in the classroom, including lesson plan and instruments for observation.
Acting Teacher implements the teaching and learning activities of
writing on blogs as stated in the lesson plan. Observing
Teacher collaboratively observes all of the activities happening in the teaching and learning process and collects the data needed.
Reflecting
Teacher analyses the teaching and learning process and makes a judgment to revise the activities in order to improve the lack in cycle I. The results will determine whether it will be continued in the next cycle or not.
II
Replanning Teacher makes new lesson plan which contains the corrective
planning.
Acting Teacher implements the teaching and learning activities of
writing on blogs as stated in the lesson plan. Observing
Teacher collaboratively observing all of the activities happening in the teaching and learning process and collects the data needed.
Reflecting
Teacher analyses the teaching and learning process and makes a judgment to revise the activities in order to improve the lack in cycle II. The results will determine whether it will be continued in the next cycle or not.
Figure 1: The Individual Aspect in Action Research (Kemmis and McTaggart in Burns, 1999: 33)
1 Cycle
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A. Technique of Collecting the Data
The data in this study were collected using two types of instrument; non-test and non-test. However, both types of instrument used must be valid and reliable as proposed by Wallace (1998: 36) that validity means testing what are supposed to be tested. In addition, Weir says that the concern of reliability is how far the results can be produced consistently (1998: 22). In short, the instrument used should be able to measure what to be measured and to get the constant data for different subjects or different times.
Some techniques of collecting the data are stated as follows: 1. Document
Document includes student portfolios of written work, student records and profiles, lesson plans, classroom materials, and previous tests or examination papers. It can be used to analyse to what extent the changes that have been implemented are working (Burns, 1999: 140).
2. Questionnaires
Questionnaires are used to collect the data related to students feeling toward the teaching and learning process in the terms of pre-research and post-research. The questionnaire type that will be used is the one consisting closed questions since it is easy to fill in and it provides more reliable scoring of the responses (Wallace, 1998: 135).
3. Interview
The interview has been done in order to get the deeper data of responses taken from questionnaires. In this research, the students will be asked some open questions for further information; it is a type of semi-structured interview (Wallace, 1998: 147).
4. Observation
Observation is a conscious notice of the classroom actions and occurrences which are particularly relevant to the issues being investigated. It enables researcher to document and reflect the classroom interactions that actually occur (Burns, 1999: 80).
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5. Notes and diariesField notes are used to record the processes of learning and can be used to record the observation during the learning process in classroom (Burns, 1999: 85). Diaries or journals are personal documents which are an alternative to field notes. They contain more subjective and personal reflections and interpretations than the relatively formalised recordings of note (Burns, 1999: 89).
6. Test
The test instrument is used to collect the data of students' writing skill. It has been done in terms of pre-test and post test. The tests have been done in the form of individual written test (formative assessment). It means that the test was done after one topic discussion.
B. Technique of Analyzing the Data
Data analysis is the point where statements or assertions about what the research shows are produced (Burns, 1999: 153). It involves describing and explaining the data. The quantifiable data are analyzed by comparing their mean taken from the pre-test and post-test. The formulas used in analyzing the data are:
n X
X = ∑
n Y
Y = ∑
in which:
X= mean score of pre-test
Y= mean score of post-test n = number of students
X = pre-test score Y = post-test score
Some of the data which are not quantifiable, such as opinions, attitudes, or checklists, may be summarized in table form and can be analyzed without the use of statistics or technical assistance. The method used in analysing is constant comparative method as proposed by Glaser and Strauss. The stages are comparing incidents applicable to each category, integrating categories and their phenomena, delimit theory, and write theory (Glaser and Strauss in Hopkins, 1993: 149).
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Figure 4.2. Chart of Students’ Interest on Writing
Moreover, the use of laptop and computer could finally be controlled and directed to focus on learning process. The informal setting of class helped the students in consulting their works and they were not afraid of sharing it to the others. They even enjoyed the activity of reading their friend comments on posts.
3. The improvement of the students’ attitude
The students’ attitudes were also changing during the research. They had positive perspectives as they greeted in a great enthusiasm anytime they met. They could also enjoy the class and showed disappointment when the lesson was ended as one students said, “Yaah Miss, berarti besok udah nggak ngajar di sini lagi?” Coming to the end of the research, more students shared their opinions and understanding to their friends and proposed topics for the writing.
Reported on the Post Questionnaire result, the students would like to have another writing class that utilized blog (60%). Although it was not continued, they wanted to write more on blog (70%) and even most of them were going to create new personal blog account (80%). One student said that she wanted to write story (narrative text) in English instead of Indonesian (Post-Interview Note). Furthermore, the students could draw some advantages of using blogs as follows (Post-Interview Note):
“Bisa lebih mengeluarkan aspirasi, melepas penat belajar, memanfaatkan internet dengan sisi positif, lebih tau tentang blog.” (Ningtyas)
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“Manfaatnya banyak banget, contohnya bias belajar sambil bermain, bias cari hal-hal yang baru dalam belajar bahasa inggris baik soal maupun short story, dan bias mengeluarkan aspirasi kita untuk dibagikan kepada orang lain.” (Rosiana)
D. Discussion
This section presents the discussion of the research findings focusing on students’ writing skill and classroom situation. In more detail, each of the findings is presented as follows.
1. Student blog is able to improve students’ writing skill
The implementation of student blog as teaching-learning media had improved the students’ skill of writing. The focuses of the research involve five aspects of writing skill: content of the text, organization of the idea, vocabulary mastery, language use, and mechanics. The findings show that those aspects had a higher final achievement after the research.
The improvement of ideas writing is shown in the finding that some texts contained social messages and some others were combined with imaginative ideas. It was also organized nicely so that the topics were developed into interesting texts and could communicate the messages well. This result is supported by Bram (1995: 25) who states that the purpose of writing is communication. Furthermore, Warschauer (2010) says:
Blogs, wikis, automated essay scoring, and open source netbooks are four important tools that can assist writing instruction. …thoughtful use of these tools can enhance effective instructional approaches that emphasize writing for meaningful social purpose, mastery of relevant genres, and development of students’ academic language proficiency.
The students got improvement in their vocabulary mastery and the language used. Through the commenting session they shared opinions, while in the other task they re-read their own writing. They implicitly learn from mistakes which were mostly related to the vocabulary and grammar. It gives them chance
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control of grammar used as Bloch (2007) notes in his article that blogging does not really take effect in grammatical control.
The students had become careful in writing, especially related to punctuation and the spelling of word. Hedge (1998: 8) says that writers need to punctuate meaningfully, so that the readers get the intended messages. In addition, Warschauer (2010) states that blog is one of important tools which can assist writing instruction and lead to meaningful writing, mastery of relevant genres, and development of students’ academic language proficiency.
2. Student blog is able to improve situation in the writing class
Blog features allow students to post and read the entries easily after working under instruction. They had discussion in drafting stage; meanwhile publishing work online enables students to make contributions to the class, promotes peer learning, and encourages quality in work (Johnston, 2002). Besides, the students accessed the blogs not only in but also outside the class. It shows that they had a greater interest on blog they wrote. Supporting to this, Barriors (2003) claims in his article that blogs are able to habituate writing.
The students were also engaged to write on blog whether in group or individually. Supporting to this, Bloch (2007) states, “Having students blog in class is a pedagogy that can be useful in the development of their writing ability while making them contributors and not just consumers of information on the World Wide Web”. In addition, the case of “not allowing others to read” had already moved and the students could share their comments frankly. It is supported by Godwin-Jones (2010) that personal blogs are common among students and the process writing seems to be a feasible solution to heightening the writing abilities and confidence of students (Ho, 2006).
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTIONS
The implementation of blogs as teaching-learning media brings some effects as mentioned in the previous chapter, especially in relation with writing skill. The last chapter presents about the conclusion, implementation, and the suggestions of the action research conducted in the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri in the academic year of 2010/2011.
A. CONCLUSION
The final discussion in the previous chapter can be drawn into two conclusions. Firstly, the use of student blog to teach writing can improve students’ writing skill. It is taken into account that the students had positive progress in writing sub skills as mentioned in the research findings. The improvements on developing, arranging, and connecting of ideas of text had allowed the students to write interesting stories and it was easy to follow. The better word choice and correct grammar were also performed in their writing although some students still made a few mistake in spelling and punctuation.
Supporting to the statement, the students had higher mean score in the final post-test (post-test 2), which was 84.50. This score was above the school passing grade which was settled at 78.00. The mean score had gradually improved since the first post-test. The students got 82.18 in post-test 1 and 74.45 in the pre-test.
The second conclusion is that the implementation of blog in writing class improves the situation during the teaching-learning process. Referring to the research findings, the class was conducted in friendly situation and the students were allowed to set their selves in a comfortable condition while finishing the task. They also had a great enthusiasm toward the lesson, paid full attention to the
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blog, the students had an access to publish their works and to share comments among them. This activity had encouraged them to write better.
Finally, student blog can effectively be used as the main media in writing. Having a range of advantages that allows blog facilitates the learning process, the student blog has improved the students’ writing skill and the classroom situation in the the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Wonogiri.
B. IMPLICATION
The implementation of certain media effects the teaching-learning process. Through the use of media, the materials will be more interesting or even boring depends on its appropriateness to the skill being taught. In addition, the application of certain media should be completed with the appropriate teaching methods to achieve the goal. In this research, the implementation of student blog as the main media was combined with discussion and PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) method.
The appropriate media could encourage and motivate the students to be actively involved in the lesson. When the students use the media individually, they will enjoy it and actively learn. Moreover, the positive effects of it can motivate the students to use the media the class. In implementing student blog, the students could access student blog and teacher blog anytime they wanted and write or read anything on it. This will allow them to learn unconsciously by putting the materials on the blog page.
The use of blog was not only restricted to write recount text, but also can be utilized to write other text types and held discussion forums. The highly varied material would engage the students to be more active. Besides, blogs can be used in many ways as a communication tool. In conclusion, it can be implied that student blog can be used as an alternative media in language-teaching process especially for teaching writing.
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C. SUGGESTIONS
Based on the conclusion and implication above, there would be some suggestions dealing with the teaching of writing.
1. For teachers
The writing class commonly seems not so interesting for the students. Therefore, the teachers should provide attractive media and appropriate teaching method. The teacher could use student blog in collaborative learning other than the previous method mentioned, so that they could also develop various material of teaching writing.
2. For students
The students should be accustomed to the writing habit themselves. It is not necessary to write a long story to practice, but writing sentences in routine. They can use blog practice the writing outside the class and find wider environment to share opinions and thoughts.
3. For institutions
The institution should encourage and support the English teacher to improve the quality of their teaching. It can be done through providing facilities that enables access to new materials and media of teaching and learning.