Figure 6: The students’ end product of cycle two
Unlike the previous cycle, the students could give feedback to their friends’ writing in Cycle 2 although the researcher still helped them in revising
their friends’ works. By giving feedback to their friends’ works, they could also improve their knowledge in grammatical rules, mechanics and also vocabulary.
By revising their friends’, writing they were expected to learn from their friends’ mistakes and errors. The feedback was also given by the researcher. Likewise in
Cycle I, she gave feedback to students orally and written. The oral feedback was
given directly to students during the drafting stage of composing a text. By giving feedback to them, the researcher could improve their work including in the
sentence structure, vocabulary, mechanics, content and also text organization. They then, became aware of their mistakes.
Employing project-based learning in the classroom could improve the students’ creativity and cooperative skill. Through project-based learning,
students were motivated in learning writing since the activities in the teaching- learning process were enjoyable and fun for them.
The implementation of the actions and also the use of project-based learning in Cycle 2 gave significant improvements compared to the previous
cycle. In brief, PBL has been successful to make the students into better performances of teaching and learning process in writing skills. Besides, the
motivation and students’ involvement and participation during the teaching- learning process also improved.
d. Findings of Cycle 2
In Cycle 2, the researcher and the collaborators employed some improved actions with the expectation that the teaching-learning process of writing could be
more interesting. The change results of the actions during the teaching-learning process in Cycle I and Cycle 2 can be seen below.
Table 9: The Change Results of the Improvement of the Actions during the Teaching-Learning Processes in Cycle I and Cycle 2
NO. Problems
Action in Cycle I Action in Cycle 2
1.
•
The classroom
activities lacked variation
and seemed
monotonous.
•
The students had low motivation in
learning English.
•
The students still found it difficult
in developing
their ideas. By
applying project-
based learning in the teaching-learning
process, the
students could actively involve in
the teaching-learning
process. They seemed interested and enjoyed
the learning process. The students could build their
writing habits through conducting the project.
However,
the project
development spent more time
than the
time planned.
There were
some students in the group
that did
not contribute in developing
the project and just bothered other members.
Project-based learning
was effective. The students
were given
chances to have the experience
of real
writing activity
in project-based
learning. The students could work
cooperatively. In
grouping, the students that tended to be trouble
maker were separated. They could finish the
project
on time.
Employing project-based learning in the classroom
could improve
the students’ creativity and
cooperative skill. Their writing
skills were
successfully improved.
2.
The students had difficulties
in choosing
appropriate words when producing a
narrative text. The researcher provided
activities and tasks that enable the students to
enhance their vocabulary. The students’ vocabulary
was
improved than
before the
implementation of the actions.
The number
of vocabulary exercises was
increased since the result of cycle 1 test indicated
that their vocabulary was just slightly improved.
Their
vocabulary mastery was improved
from the previous cycle. They could deliver their
ideas better.
3. •
The students had had a problem
with sentence
structure. The
feedback was
beneficial for them to improve their awareness
of grammatical rules and sentence structure and
also help them to notice and learn from others’
mistakes.
The students were able to revise their friends works
although the researcher’s help was still needed. By
doing this, the students were more aware to their
common mistakes.
It facilitated them to have
better understanding
continued
continued NO.
Problems Action in Cycle I
Action in Cycle 2
3. •
The students had had a problem
with sentence
structure. •
The students
often made
frequent errors in punctuation,
capital letters,
and spelling. However, the feedback
given to the students were not optimal because
the
time-management was not appropriate
.
of sentence
structure especially past tense. It
helped them to learn the language meanings and
constructions.
4. The teacher rarely
used media. The media was used to
attract students’ attention in learning process. On
the other hand, the media used were not varied.
The researcher were only used it in the beginning
of the lesson. In this cycle, the use of
media was varied. The students became more
interested in learning. In addition,
their motivation to learn was
increased.
C. Discussions
The research aimed at describing how the use of project-based learning could improve the writing skills of grade VIII students of SMPN 11 Magelang.
There are five aspects of writing that were evaluated. They are content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics.
One of the main problems with the students’ writing skill was students’ attitude toward writing since the activities in the classroom was monotonous.
Before the implementation of project-based learning, the students had low motivation in learning English, especially writing. Fried-Booth 2002 say that
PBL is potentially motivating, empowering and challenging to language learners; it usually results in building learners’ confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy as
well as improving students’ language skills, content learning, and cognitive abilities.
Moreover, Heines in Fragoulis 2009 states that project-based learning can improve language
skills. As students get involve
in purposeful communication to complete authentic activities, they have opportunity to use
language in relative natural context and participate in meaningful activities which require authentic language.
The implementation of project-based learning as a teaching method and the additional actions such as providing grammar exercises, providing vocabulary
exercises, providing feedback and making use of media were successful in improving students’ writing skills of the class VIII C students of SMPN 11
Magelang. It could be seen from the improvement of five aspects of writing including content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. As a
result, the students could produce better writing than before. The researcher started the research in February 2015 and ended it in April
2015. She implemented two cycles in this research. There were some successful and unsuccessful during the implementation of project-based learning in the
classroom. The explanation of these two cycles is presented below:
1. The Design of Actions in Cycle I
a. The successful actions 1 The implementation of project-based learning in the classroom
could improve the students to write confidently.
