Planning for the action Actions and Observation

E. Data Collection Technique

The data of this research were acquired through classroom observations, interviews, and documentations, and a pre-test and a post-test. The techniques to collect data were used to support the data in all stages of the research. Those techniques are presented as follows.

1. Observation

The researcher used this technique to describe the subjects‟ activities in the classroom in a particular time. The purpose is to get information needed in the next action plan in this research. Burns 2010:57 states that observing and describing have a key role to play in action research. Action research observation is different from the routine kind of looking that teachers do every day. During the reconnaissance step, the researcher did a class observation to get the information related to the English teaching and learning process. The researcher gathered information about how the teacher taught, how the students participated in the teaching and learning process, and also about the problems that occured. Moreover, the results of the observation are written in the form of fieldnotes. The notes also used to record the teaching and learning process related to the obstacles and weaknesses that faced in the research. It is used to note all activities which did by the students during the teaching and learning process.

2. Interview

Interview describes as formal and informal discussions in which the researcher aimed at establishing some information or evaluated an outcome. As stated by Burns 2010:74, interviews are a classic way in research to conduct a conversation that explores the focus area. This technique was used to get information from the students and the teacher about the teaching and learning process. The qualitative data were gained by carrying out interviews with the English teacher and students of class VII F. The researcher interviewed the English teacher to decide what kind of activity to apply in solving the problems, that is to improve the students‟ writing ability. Besides, the researcher also interviewed the students to collect their problems during the teaching and learning of writing and ask their opinion after the action which implemented.

3. Pretest and Posttest

The researcher wanted to get information about the students‟ writing score by conducting the writing pretest and posttest. The pretest was a test which was conducted before the actions. It gave information about the students‟ writing scores before the actions. Meanwhile, the posttest was a test which was conducted to measure their writing scores after the actions. Then the score of both tests were compared. Both the tests measured how the actions affect their writing skill. The data of the research were qualitative and supported by quantitative data. The qualitative data were collected by conducting observations and interviews. The data from observations were transformed into field notes. Meanwhile, the recorded data from interviews were transformed into transcripts.