Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique

27 the students’ condition and teacher’s method in teaching writing. This observation helped researcher to know students’ characteristics, problem experienced by students, and the teacher’s teaching method. This observation checklist was used when the researcher observed the class at the beginning of the research as the first step of implementing experiencing techniques. This checklist provided some elements to be analyzed. They were the physical setting, the participants, the activities and the interactions Merriam, 2009, p. 120. 2 Field Notes Field notes refer to the notes researchers take in the field. In educational research, the notes focus on the educational setting. The notes are about the reflection of the problem experienced by the students in the class. The researcher followed field notes strategy suggested by Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen 2010, p. 527. The field notes used in this research contained the setting, participants, activities, events, purposes, and time of observation. The contents of field notes had to be highly descriptive Merriam, 2009, p. 130. From the field notes, the researcher was able to identify the source of the problem experienced by students in analyzing the texts organization and writing texts based on the correct organization. Field notes were used together with observation checklist when the researcher observed the class. They were used together because field notes enabled the researcher to record the teaching and learning steps, students’ questions, and teacher’s answers to the questions which could not be found in the 28 observation checklist. Hopkins suggests any researchers to use field notes because they provide ongoing record and keep memory of the observation 2008, p. 105. Both field notes and observation checklist implemented the experiencing technique because the researcher needed to gather data from the experience in observing the class. The data would be used to see how the teaching and learning activity were administered. From the teaching and learning activity, the researcher analyzed the root cause of the problem and the solution to it. 3 Students’ Writing Assignment In the observation data before the implemetation, the researcher analyzed students’ writings before implementing the action planned. Their writings were obtained from writing exercise given by the English teacher on April 18 th , 2012. Each of them had to write a descriptive text. The researcher collected the data for the baseline from assessing the organization of their descriptive texts. As criterion of success, the researcher defined 20 as the score of good paragraph. The same criterion was also used to score the students’ writings in the implementation. Table 3.1 : The Scoring Criteria of Students’ Writings No Aspects Scores Characteristics 1 Topic sentence 5 Very good Each paragraph contains a very clear topic sentence. Analysis is not required because the readers can find the topic sentence easily. 4 Good Each paragraph contains a clear topic sentence. However, it needs little attempt to analyze the paragraph to find the topic sentence 29 No Aspects Scores Characteristics 3 Fair Each paragraph contains a topic sentence, but it is not well-developed. It needs further analysis to find the topic sentence. 2 Poor Some paragraphs do not contain topic sentences. In those paragraphs, analysis is not supported because the topic sentences are not elaborated well. 1 Very Poor All paragraphs do not contain topic sentence. Many sentences in each paragraph are not organized and connected, so they do not support the existence of a topic sentence. 2 Supporting sentence 5 Very good All sentences in the paragraphs support the development of the topic sentences. 4 Good Almost all sentences in the paragraphs support the development of the topic sentences. 3 Fair Several sentences in the paragraphs do not support the development of the topic sentence. They are not relevant to the topic sentences. 2 Poor Many sentences in the paragraphs are not relevant to the topic sentences. Thus, the topic sentences are not elaborated well. 1 Very poor Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are not relevant to the topic sentences. Thus, all topic sentences are not elaborated. 3 Coherence 5 Very good The paragraphs are perfectly-connected and very easy to follow 4 Good The paragraphs are connected well and easy to follow 3 Fair The paragraphs are slightly connected and rather difficult to understand 2 Poor The paragraphs are hardly connected and difficult to follow 1 Very poor The paragraphs are not connected and difficult to follow 4 Organization 5 Very good All sentences in the paragraphs are well- ordered. They are maintained to show perfect connection between sentences, so the ideas are sequenced well. 4 Good Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Connection between sentences is a little bit distracted because the new information does not support the old one. 30 No Aspects Scores Characteristics 3 Fair Many sentences in the paragraphs are well- ordered. Connection distraction is often found because the sentences are not organized by presenting new information after the old one. 2 Poor Several sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Many sentences are not controlled because the rule of presenting new information after old information is violated. 1 Very Poor Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are not organized. The readers cannot follow the ideas because the old information is not supported by the relevant new information. 5 Generic Structure 5 Very good The text shows correct generic structure clearly. There is no misplaced idea 4 Good The text shows correct generic structure but it is a little bit unclear. Almost all ideas are placed correctly based on the generic structure 3 Fair The text shows correct generic structure but it is unclear. Several misplaced ideas are found, but it does not affect the essence of structure 2 Poor The text shows incorrect generic structure in several paragraphs. Some misplaced ideas are found and almost alter the generic structure 1 Very Poor The text shows incorrect generic structure in all paragraphs. All ideas in the paragraph are misplaced and alter the generic structure 4 Questionnaire The researcher distributed a questionnaire to know students’ ability and difficulty in analyzing and composing text based on their opinion. By distributing the questionnaire, the researcher could identify the problem, explore the cause of the problem, and determine the solution to it. The questionnaire was distributed on April 23 rd , 2012. 31 The questionnaire consisted of twelve items which had to be responded by the students. In order to give the students chance to give further opinion about their paragraph writing skill and their difficulties in organizing ideas, the researcher provided five open-ended questions. 3.4.2 The Research Instruments during the Implementation The instruments used during the implementation were questionnaire, students’ writing assignment, field notes, observation checklist, and semi- structured interview. 1 Questionnaire Questionnaire is a research instrument which consists of series of questions to gather information from the participants. Questionnaire is commonly used in Classroom Action Research because the questions are easy to structure and the process to obtain broad and rich information from students is easy and quick Hopkins, 2008, p. 118. In this research, questionnaire was used to ask the students as participants about the improvement of their paragraph writing skill related to the organization and the effectiveness of arranging jumbled paragraph activity in improving their paragraph writing skill. The questionnaire supported root cause and problem solving strategy analysis. The questionnaire was distributed after the action was carried out. The questionnaire was given to 15 students of XA in SMA Santo Mikael in the academic year 20112012. The questionnaire helped the researcher to find the improvement of students’ skill to organize their paragraphs. The researcher 32 provided scaled items, so the students gave response based on their agreement or disagreement. The rating scales or Likert scales were used because they provided a range of responses to a given statement based on the students’ level of agreement Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2000, p. 253. There were thirteen items that had to be responded by the students. The researcher also provided two open-ended questions. The open-ended questions were given to know students’ opinions about the implementation of arranging jumbled paragraph activity. Questionnaire implemented the enquiring technique because it asked questions to gather data. 2 Semi-structured Interview The researcher interviewed four students from the classroom to obtain deeper information about the problem. Conducting interview supported the information obtained in the questionnaire. The interview helped the researcher to know students’ opinions about the activity and whether they thought that arranging jumbled paragraphs helped them improve their paragraph writing skill or not. Semi-structured interview was chosen because the interviewer was allowed to modify the sequence of questions, change the wording, and add follow-up questions Merriam, 2009, p. 268. The researcher interviewed four students from XA students. Those students were the sample of the population. They were selected purposively. The researcher selected two students whose writings were poor and two students whose writings were fair. The purposive sampling was used because the 33 participants were believed to be information-rich cases Wiersma, 1995, p. 298. In the interview, the researcher asked nine open-ended questions. 3 Students’ Writing Assignments The first assignment which was given after arranging jumbled paragraphs in the first cycle aimed to see the improvement made by the students in organizing the paragraphs. The writing assignment was given on Monday 30th, 2012. In the second cycle, the researcher gave writing assignment on Monday 7th, 2012. The purpose of the second assignment was to confirm that arranging jumbled paragraph activity was effective to improve students’ paragraph writing skill. To take the scores, the researcher used the scoring criteria described in Table 3.1 4 Observation Checklist There were two observers who helped the researcher to fill the observation checklist. The observation checklist was used to gain feedback on the teaching and learning activity conducted by the researcher and to reflect on the lesson that day. The observers were a research partner and a nonreciprocal observer. The research partner and the researcher observed one another’s teaching, but the researcher did not observe the nonreciprocal observer’s teaching because she worked with her own project Wallace, 2010, p. 106. 5 Field Notes The two observers also helped the researcher to record the field notes in the teaching and learning activity. The field notes helped the researcher to see the 34 process of implementing the action in the class. The researcher could improve the process of the implementation by monitoring the class through the field notes.

3.5 Data Analysis Technique

Data analysis involves reviewing the data and attempting to synthesize and make sense out of what is observed Ary, Jacobs Sorensen, 2010, p. 530. First, the researcher analyzed the data from observation checklist and field notes. The researcher summarized the data in the form of description. The data showed the physical setting, the participants, the activities, the pattern interactions, and the conversation. Thus, the researcher was able to see whether the method was successful or not. The researcher and observer used the recent format of observation. Field notes and observation checklist usually begin with the time and place of the observation. The researcher may list the participants present and how many students are present. The researcher needed to check students’ writings for the preliminary study. When checking students’ writings, the researcher really focused on the information found in each paragraph and checked whether they put the information based on the generic structure or not. The researcher found that almost all students violated the generic structure rule. In order to analyze the the data, the researcher took the writing scores. The score helped the researcher to see the problem experienced by students and the improvement made by the students. The scores showed the result of students’ writing. The researcher constructed scoring criteria to provide analysis. 35 After checking students’ writings in preliminary study, the researcher implemented the use of arranging jumbled paragraphs activity in the class. At the end of the activity, the students had to do the writing exercise. The scoring criteria enabled the researcher to assess students’ writings. The assessment helped researcher to see whether the students made improvement in their writing skills after arranging jumbled paragraphs or not. The researcher would see the improvement by comparing the students’ scores in the exercise given in the first cycle and the preliminary study. As a confirmation that the students’ paragraph writing skill improved, the researcher scored students’ writings in the second cycle. In order to see students’ opinion about arranging jumbled paragraphs and improvement in paragraph writing skills, the researcher distributed questionnaire and interviewed the students. Data from questionnaire was analyzed using open coding to convert questionnaire data into meaningful categories to facilitate analysis. Coding was used to organize the data obtained from the questionnaire. The researcher sorted the data based on the category. The patterns of category separated every item from other items Bodgan and Bikken, 2003, p. 161. Bodgan and Bikken suggest several categories in coding; setting, situation, perspectives, and participants’ way of thinking about something 2003, p. 162- 166. Setting includes the description of activity according to the students, situation defines students’ role, perspectives share the general point of view of the students towards something, and participants’ way of thinking about something provides students’ opinions about the activity. 36 As what McDonough and McDonough suggest 2003, p. 109, the researcher developed the coding by counting the currents and percentage of how many students agreed and disagreed with the statement of each item. Then the researcher could interpret the data. In order to have further analysis, the researcher summarized students’ answers to the open-ended questions to provide data analysis in the form of description. The researcher interviewed four students to obtain information which supported the analysis of students’ opinion about their paragraph writing skills improvement. The researcher would summarize students’ answers to the questions and presented the conclusion of the answers. The conclusion showed whether the students’ thought that arranging jumbled paragraphs helped them improve their paragraph writing skill or not.

3.6 Research Procedure

When the researcher conducted the research, the researcher used seven steps. 1. Observing class XA of SMA Santo Mikael The researcher observed the students while they were studying writing. In this observation, the researcher used the observation checklist and field notes. The researcher could see the teacher’s method to deliver the material to the students. The researcher observed the class on April 18 th , 2012. To know the students’ difficulty in analyzing text organization and producing well-organized text, the researcher distributed the first questionnaire on April 23 rd , 2012.