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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of background of the study, identification of the problems, limitation of the problem, formulation of the problem, objectives of the
study, and significant of the study.
A. Background of The Study
Teaching and learning are educational activities. There are
interactions between teacher and learners in the classroom. All of learning processes in the classroom depend on teaching process itself, because
teaching and learning cannot be separated. Teaching is a process of transferring knowledge for someone while learning is processes of the
conscious study usually done by the students in the aim at getting knowledge and information. By learning, the learners can understand and
comprehend what they learn. In Indonesia, English is considered as the first foreign language
which is taught in every educational level and it has become one of the subjects tested in the National Examination UN. In Elementary School
English is one of the local content subjects, while in Junior High School and Senior High School English acts as a compulsory subject, and in University
as a complementary subject. Learning English cannot be separated from four skills that high
school learners should master. The four skills that are taught in Senior High School are reading, writing, speaking and listening as stated in KTSP 2006
for teaching English in a high school: “Bahasa Inggris merupakan alat untuk berkomunikasi secara
lisan dan tulis. Berkomunikasi adalah memahami dan mengungkapkan
informasi, pikiran,
perasaan, dan
mengembangkan ilmu pengetahuan, teknologi, dan budaya. Kemampuan berkomunikasi dalam pengertian yang utuh adalah
kemampuan berwacana, yakni kemampuan memahami danatau menghasilkan teks lisan danatau tulis yang direalisasikan
dalam empat keterampilan berbahasa, yaitu mendengarkan, berbicara, membaca dan menulis
”.
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In Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP above, writing is one of the skills in English that must be mastered by the students. As one of
four language skills writing is considered as the most difficult skill. J. B Heaton stated that, writing is complex and sometimes difficult to teach,
requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical devices but also of conceptual and judgmental elements.
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According to Harmer, the reason for teaching writing to students of English language include reinforcement, language development, learning
style and most importantly writing as a skill in its own right.
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In this case, writing is a process to share the idea into paragraph, and to build the
language development. Writing is also a process of thinking which encourages the
students’ English ability
. In writing, students do not only learn how to write something in a paper, but also they learn different genres of
writing such as descriptive, expository, recount, procedural and narrative writing based on the prescribed syllabus of the Ministry of Education
Based on the observation at SMAN 2 Kabupaten Tangerang, there were some difficulties faced by students at the tenth grades in writing
activities. During the learning activities the students just passive while the teacher was explaining about descriptive writing. There is no existing of
students, so it means that the teacher become teacher’s centered in the classroom.The problems appread when the teacher asked the students to
write descriptive paragraph. The students have difficulties to organize the idea and share idea into paragraph whereas during the lesson the teacher had
explained it. Furthermore, most of classes of SMAN 2 Kabupaten Tangerang are
big. They can consist of 30 up to 45 students. Consequently, it is hard for
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Standar Isi Untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, Jakarta: Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional Jakarta: BSNP, 2006, p. 129.
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J. B Heaton, Writing English Language Tests, New York: Longman, 1988, p. 135.
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Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, 2004, p. 79.
the teacher to manage such big classes. It is difficult for the teacher to make contact with the students, particularly students at the back rows. It is also
difficult for the students to ask for and receive individual attention. Consequently, students do not get involved in the teaching and learning
process. They only sit and listen even some of them might have their own business like cheating, having fun with friends, ignoring the lesson or even
sleeping. They do it because they are bored. The most appropriate way to manage a big class is to arrange the
students into groups. Harmer stated that group works or pair works play an important role in a big class. They can maximize students’ participation.
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In groups, students tend to participate more equally and they are also more able
to experiment and use the language than they are in whole class arrangement.
Small group learning provides English learners with rich discourse environment and multiple opportunities for face to face interaction.
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Cooperative learning essentially involves students learning from each other in group. Slavin stated that, cooperative learning is a method that design to
help students in learning academic content within small group.
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The students work in a group to solve the problems and will help to enhance
students’ ability in English language. Therefore, the writer come into the initiative that cooperative learning can be a good technique to teach
descriptive writing and to improve students in writing skill. Based on the principles of cooperative learning as explained by
Diane Larsen in her book, the teacher usually assigns students to the groups so that the groups are mixed- males and females in different ethnic groups,
different proficiency level.
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Therefore, the writer assumes that in
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Ibid., p. 128-129.
5
Lynne T. Diaz-Rico, Strategies for teaching English learners 2
nd
edition, pearson Education, 2008, p.365.
6
Robert E Slavin, Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research and Practice 2nd, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995, p.2.
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Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marti Anderson, Teaching Principles in Language Teaching 3
rd
edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 189.
cooperative learning, students can discuss and argue with each other in learning descriptive writing. They can share their knowledge while one of
them lack of vocabulary and to organize the idea. In conclusion, cooperative learning gives many benefits for students
in learning including descriptive writing. The students can interact and share their ideas with their group and work together to solve a problem. Besides,
the students can complete a task or accomplish a common goal. The im
portant aspect for this technique is avoiding the students’ boredom and ignoring the lesson or even sleeping. One of the techniques in cooperative
learning is Think Pair Share TPS strategy. Think pair share is an effective way to change the discourse pattern
in a classroom. It challenges the assumption that all recitations or discussions need to be held in whole group setting, and it has built in
procedures for giving students more time to think and to respond and to help each other.
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Students have the opportunity to share their ideas and share their mistakes into their group. For that reasons, the writer brings think pair
share strategy to involve students in learning descriptive writing. Based on the reasons mentioned above, the writer hopes this
tech nique can improve the students’ ability in learning descriptive writing.
So, the writer takes the title
“The Influence of Cooperative Learning Think Pair Share in teaching descriptive writing
” An Experimental Study at Tenth Grade Students of SMAN 2 Kabupaten Tangerang.
B. Identification of Problem
Based on the background of the study above, the writer identifies some problems:
1. Teacher is centered in the classroom 2. The students commonly passive in the class
3. There is no attention of students during the teaching and learning 4. The classes are so big.
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Richard I. Arends, Learning to Teach, New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2007, p. 354.
