18 the students to make a successful learning and teaching process. The teachers and
the students should work together and support each other. The synergy between the teacher and the students is highly needed. Then, the synergy could be realized
by helping students feel as though they are part of a learning community, ensuring as much as possible that students are appropriately challenged, and establishing
classroom conditions Barkley, 2010. There are several concrete actions a teacher could take to successfully
engage his or her students. Barkley 2010 states that the students become more engaged when they feel that they value the members in a learning community.
Then the students could work at their optimal level of challenge, neither bored or overwhelmed. The situation of making the individual‟s climax experience would
produce a weave of connected insights, skills, values, and dispositions that is developed over time Brophy, 2004. In addition, the engaged student does the
task assigned with enthusiasm and diligence Schlechty, 2001. Moreover, Brophy 2004 defines
motivation in the classroom as “the level of enthusiasm and the degree to which students invest at
tention and effort in learning”. Barkley 2010 notes that when students want to learn, they do several habits such as pay
attention in class, take notes during a lecture, study when they get home, and monitor their own progress and ask questions when they don‟t understand.
2.2. Theoretical Framework
In this thesis, the researcher would answer two research questions based on several related theories described in the theoretical description part. The first
research question is about the implementation of the use of picture to improve the
19 students‟ engagement for writing recount in the class 8A of SMP Pangudi Luhur 1
Yogyakarta. Additionally, in answering this research question, the researcher synthetizes the theory of pictures, the theory of students‟ engagement, and the
theory of writing recount. First, the researcher employs the theory of pictures from Boggs 1956
who states that pictures have long been used as an aid in language teaching. Thereafter, Kreidler 1968 also states that the pictures as the visual aids could
help the teacher add variety, clarity, and, especially, reality to the classroom situation. Raimes 1983 states that pictures bring the outside world into the
classroom in a vividly concrete way. Kreidler 1968 also declares that the pictures of several scenes which help to explain the cultural setting of the new
language can stimulate the interest of the students, as well as the help to make the classroom be a more cheerful place for their work.
In addition, the use of picture as a stimulus creates the students‟ engagement. Caine in Schreck 2011 notes that engagement exists between
feeling and contact. According to Schreck 2011 engagement is a necessary part of the complexity of learning, and there are many concrete actions a teacher can
take to successfully engage his or her students. The engaged student does the task assigned with enthusiasm and diligence Schlechty, 2001. Barkley 2010 also
notes that when students want to learn, they do several habits such as pay attention in class, take notes during a lecture, study when they get home, and
monitor their own progress and ask questions when they don‟t understand.
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.
