SD 7.78 The Improvement of Students’ Writing Scores

series, they knew how to organize the text well because it provided the sequence of pictures. The next problem was the low vocabulary mastery. They got more new words through picture series with the rubrics. When they had pictures and rubric consisting of vocabulary, they could use the vocabulary provided to make a sentence based on the pictures. When they did not know some words to explain the pictures, they tried to find them by using their dictionary. Therefore, picture series enriched their vocabulary. The next problem was related to the mechanics which are punctuation and capitalization. Previously, they were not aware of how to use the appropriate punctuation and capitalization. By doing the tasks in the action of the cycle 1 and cycle 2, they could use the punctuation and capitalization better. When they knew how to use those well, their sentence structure was better too. Overall, the process of improving their writing skills using picture series could be administered well. 2. The improvements of the students’ skills in five aspects of writing and their motivation contributed to the effective teaching and learning process of writing. Before the actions were conducted, the students were less motivated in the teaching and learning process. It could be seen from their participation in class. When the teacher asked them to write down their answers in front of the class, there were few students who wanted to do it. Furthermore, when the teacher explained the materials taught, some of the students talked to their friends and did another activity like doing their homework. After the implementation of the actions, they were more enthusiastic to get involved in teaching and learning process. They became active and paid attention during the lesson. In addition, the students were autonomous in learning without depending on their friend’s works in doing the tasks. In conclusion, the use of picture series motivated the students in the teaching and learning process of writing. 3. The improvements of the students’ writing skills are also supported by the improvement of their writing scores. From the scoring rubric, the researcher found that the ideal mean score was 62.5 and the ideal standard deviation was 12.5. In addition, their scores in writing were getting better over time. The mean score of the pre – test was 48.36; Cycle 1 was 67.70. Meanwhile, the students got 77.50 in Cycle 2. Besides, in the pre – test, the standard deviation was 13.56. It means that their achievement was heterogeneous because the standard deviation was higher than the ideal one. Furthermore, in Cycle 1, the standard deviation was 9.49. It was lower than the ideal standard deviation. It means that their achievement was homogeneous. In Cycle 2, the standard deviation was 7.78. It was lower than the ideal standard deviation. It means that their achievement was homogeneous as well as the students’ mean score that was higher than the ideal mean score in this cycle. Finally, it could be said that the use of picture series could improve the students’ writing skills. Overall, it could be concluded that the use of picture series could improve students’ writing skills. Through the activities in it, students were able to generate and develop their ideas through a series of pictures given. They also could compose an explanation text with the correct sentences, because the rubrics that contain of vocabulary helped them in using appropriate words. Besides, in this research, the researcher found that the picture series could make students enjoying the learning process. They did not get bored because they were given a series of picture that could stimulate their enjoyment.

B. Implications

Based on the results of the research, it was found that the students’ writing skills improved. The implications of the actions are described as follows. 1. The use of picture series improved the students’ skills of writing explanation texts in five aspects of writing, i.e content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. It implies that the teacher needs to use picture series in teaching writing since there were improvements of students’ writing scores in each aspect.. 2. The use of picture series also improved the students’ motivation in the English teaching and learning process of writing. They became more active and enthusiastic during the lesson. It implies that the teacher needs to use picture series in teaching and learning process of writing. This does not mean that the teacher has to use picture series in every meeting but sometimes the teacher can use this as media in teaching writing. It also implies that the teacher must be creative to design the activities with various media because it can attract students’ attention in learning writing. 3. The use of picture series created the situation that more enjoyable than before. It was proved by the students who are enthusiastic to do the tasks