The Problem in Writing Teaching Writing in Senior High School

2.2.4 The Problem in Writing

Writing is not easy. An experienced writer will often labor over a single paragraph for more than an hour-not counting the thought and research that went on before the actual writing Raymond, 1980:7. Therefore, many problems are faced by teachers and students. In the teaching-learning process, not only the students have problem in it, but the teacher also face some problems. As stated by Gebhard 2006:223-226, t he first problem is “the less proficient writer” problem. Less proficient writers jump the process of writing by skip the prewriting strategies to generate ideas. Students might take much time to write down their ideas. Teacher also needs to give full attentions to them, to show them how to plan a piece of writing through prewriting activities. The suggestion for this problem is the teacher should teach less proficient writers the writing process. The second problem is “I cannot write English”. Students usually give up toward writing and believe that they cannot write. The solution is teachers should apply the writing process to the students. Teacher can lead students through prewriting, drafting and revising activities. By doing this, students can see that writing is indeed a process of development that takes time and effort. In the prewriting, the students can develop their ideas before writing down the complete text. The last problem is “teacher response” problem. Writing teacher often spend many hours reading and marking students‟ papers. The suggestion for this problem is teachers can work with students on developing their written work through student-to-student converences.

2.2.5 Teaching Writing in Senior High School

It goes without saying that senior high school students are prepared to university or college so that they are expected to reach informational level. Therefore, they will be ordered to produce knowledge using their own language. There are six English texts types taught in senior high school such as narrative, descriptive, recount, procedure, news item, etc. In this case, the students should be able to write English text using their own words. One of the goals in teaching learning English at senior high school is to improve communication skill in English both spoken and written language. Teacher and students should cooperate in teaching learning activity in order to reach the goals. In teaching learning process, teachers have to pay more attention to the students‟ progress and the students should practice regularly to improve their ability, especially in writing ability. In the classroom, a teacher as a facilitator in teaching learning process must be able to deliver materials in an appropriate way. A teacher should understand students‟ background knowledge and characteristics before teaching learning started, especially teaching writing. It will be a difficult thing for teachers in teaching writing if their students do not have any knowledge about it. Besides, all elements in writing must be mastered before teaching writing started.

2.3 General Concept of Descriptive Text