Approaches to Teaching Writing in EFL Classes

1. The writing result which is typed in Microsoft Word automatically can be edited by Style Writer after installing the program of Style Writer in the computer 2. Style Writer pops up over the Word window therefore the students can edit with either program 3. This program has statistic measurement of the passage consisting of the bog index graphs a readability and style measure, graphs of word choice, sentence variety and short choice. 4. The text screen which is shown in this program displays the issues Style Writer has found in a variety color such as Style in the the dark red color, English usage in the bold black color, spelling and questionable in the red color, etc. 5. Style Writer can summarize the result of writing in a Style Categories Button that tells the writer the faults in the writing. B. Relevant Study There are some researchers who have conducted the similar research, having the same issue in concerning using computerized teaching learning, or investigating the use of technologies in language teaching. Such as a research which is conducted by Figueredo and Varnhagen in 2006 conducted a study on the use of computer in teaching writing. By using computers, students can correct mistakes with the aid of spelling and grammar checkers. Therefore, the two researchers concluded that the use of spelling checkers was useful for weaker students who have poor writing skills 12 Then another research comes from Hartley,Sotto, and Pennebaker in 2003 found out there were significant differences between the average letter length, the number of paragraphs written, and the number of sentences used by students who utilized computers and those who did not. There were also 12 Figueredo L. Varnhagen C. K., Spelling and Grammar Checkers: Are They Intrusive?, 2006, British Journal of Educational Technology, 37, pp. 721-732. major differences in terms of readability, or typographic and grammatical errors. Besides using computer software, other software applications such as speech recognition, speech feedback, word prediction, and other varieties of software may help students with learning disabilities to participate in well- developed classroom writing programs. 13 Also, the research which was conducted by Rowley and Meyer in 2003, the Computer Tutor for Writers CTW software was tested and evaluated on 471 students. The study results revealed that with the use of CTW, there was an improvement in the students’ ability to follow a complete writing process, and they learned more than their peers did through conventional writing instruction 14 An investigation of the effects of CALL on 60 English as a Foreign Language EFL learner grammar competency was carried out by Mehgan in 2012. The results of his study obtained through a post-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group. For that reason, CALL appeared to be useful in improving EFL students’ English grammar. 15 Based on some researches above, the writer can learn that there are many advantages learning writing assisted by CALL. The major of the researches show the improvement of student’s writing ability. The writer’s research in this proposal uses one of various kinds of CALL to increase students’ writing ability in a simple, complete, practical and contemporary way. The software called Style Writer fourth edition. 13 Hartley J., Sotto E., Pennebaker J., Speaking Versus typing: A Case-Study of the effects of using voice recognition software on academic correspondence, British Journal of Educational Technology, 34 1, pp. 141-151. 14 Rowley K. Meyer N., the effect of a computer tutor for writers on student writing achievement, Journal of Educational Computing Research, 29 2, 169-187. 15 Mehgan K., Computer-Assisted Language Learning: A Panacea for Grammar Development, Advances in English Linguistics AEL, 1 2, 25-29.