TEACHING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT WRITING THROUGH COOPERATIVE LEARNING BY USING ROUNDTABLE TECHNIQUE AT THE FIRST YEAR OF SMA XAVERIUS PRINGSEWU

iii

TEACHING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT WRITING THROUGH COOPERATIVE LEARNING BY USING ROUNDTABLE TECHNIQUE AT THE FIRST YEAR

OF SMA XAVERIUS PRINGSEWU By

Ganis Suhesti

Writing is the most complex skill for the students at the first year of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu. This is true since in writing, the students have to consider many writing aspects, such as content, organization, language use, vocabulary and mechanics; content is referring to the substance of writing, organization is

concerning with the logical organization of the content, language use is focusing on the use of correct grammatical, vocabulary is dealing with the selection of words in the content and mechanics is referring to the use of graphic conventions of the language. The students mostly complain that they do not know how to express their ideas into words and they also have difficulty in how to compose sentences. As a result, the students have no motivation to write, and it makes writing becomes boring and hard activity for them. Meanwhile, roundtable technique is one of cooperative learning model in where the students work in groups and sit around the table. The most convenient aspect is that students can cooperate through some procedures such as writing, editing, and rewriting that can help them overcome their writing difficulties.

Dealing with the problems, this research aims to see whether roundtable technique can be applied to increase in descriptive text at the first year of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu. This research was a quantitative research and the design was one-group pretest-posttest. It was conducted in five meetings in Class X.3 of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu from September 30th_{up to October 14}th 2011. The instruments used to collect the data here were writing pretest and posttest. In the pretest, they were asked to write descriptive text of one member of their family. And, in the posttest, they had to write a descriptive text of their favorite actors or actress. In order to obtain a valid score, inter-rater and intra-rater reliability was used in this research.

The result of the tests shows that there is an increase from the mean of pretest to posttest after being taught through roundtable technique. The

score increases from 63.55 to 72.77. The use of this technique also increases five aspects of writing; content increases from 3.69 up to 4.13, organization 2.86 up to 3.52, language use 2.91 up to 3.22, vocabulary 3.05 up to 3.38, and mechanics 3.36 up to 3.91. The result of the hypothesis testing through SPSS Version 15 shows that t-ratio (14.110) is much higher than the t table (2.021) with the

iii descriptive text.

(A Script)

By

GANIS SUHESTI

LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY BANDAR LAMPUNG

By

GANIS SUHESTI

A Script

Submitted in a Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for S-1 Degree

In

The Language and Arts Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty

LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY BANDAR LAMPUNG

FIRST YEAR OF SMA XAVERIUS PRINGSEWU :Ganis Suhesti

: 0713042030

Study Program : S1 English Education Department : Language and Art

Faculty : Teacher Training and Education APPROVED BY: Advisory Committee

Advisor I Advisor II

Prof. Dr. Patuan Raja, M.Pd. Dra. Rosita Simbolon, M.A.

NIP 19620804 198905 1 001 NIP 19480920 197503 2 001

The Chairperson of

Language and Arts Education Department

Drs. Imam Rejana, M.Si. NIP 19480421 197803 1 004

1. Examination Committee

Chairperson : Prof. Dr. Patuan Raja, M.Pd.

Examiner : Drs. Basturi Hasan, M.Pd.

Secretary : Drs. Rosita Simbolon, M.A.

2. The Dean of Teacher Training and Education Faculty

Dr. H. Bujang Rahman, M.Si. NIP 19600315 198503 1 003

TECHNIQUE AT THE FIRST YEAR OF

SMA XAVERIUS PRINGSEWU

(A Script)

By

GANIS SUHESTI

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF LAMPUNG

BANDAR LAMPUNG

2012

TECHNIQUE AT THE FIRST YEAR OF

SMA XAVERIUS PRINGSEWU

By

GANIS SUHESTI

A Script

Submitted in a Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirement for S-1 Degree

in

The Language and Arts Department of

Teacher Training and Education Faculty

k

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF LAMPUNG

BANDAR LAMPUNG

2012

I. INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents background of the problem, formulation of the problem, objective of the research, uses of the research, scope of the research, and definition of terms clarified like the following.

A. Background of the Problem

Most schools in Indonesia apply School− Based Curriculum (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan / KTSP) as the guidance of teaching learning activities to achieve the main goals of national education. Based on the goals of learning English stated in the curriculum, students are expected to be able to master and use the language skills for any relevant needs and situations they would encounter in real life. Those language skills that have to be taught by teachers and mastered by senior high school students are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Basically, people will agree that all the four skills are difficult. However, writing is learnt after the other three skills because writing skill is considered as the most complicated skill to master. This statement is also supported by Heaton (1991: 135) who states that writing skill is difficult, requiring mastery not only of grammatical devices (dealing with devices used to create writing based on the correct grammar; the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in language ) and rhetorical or cohesive devices (relating to the devices used to manipulate the language to effect

the same relationship), but also of conceptual and judgmental elements. He mentions that there are five general components or main areas of writing; they are: (1)language use: the ability to write correct and appropriate sentences; (2)

mechanical skill: the ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar to the written language e.g. punctuation, spelling; (3)treatment of content: the ability to think creatively and develops thoughts, excluding all irrelevant information; (4) stylistic skill: the ability to manipulate sentences and paragraphs, and use language effectively; (5)judgment skills: the ability to write in an appropriate manner for a particular purpose with a particular audience in mind, together with an ability to select, organize and order relevant information.

Here, there are several reasons why writing is considered as a difficult and complex skill. First, a writer does not have a direct contact with his or her reader so he or she cannot show what he or she means. Furthermore, there is a little opportunity for the readers to ask the writer directly if they do not understand the writing. This is in

not have a contact with the readers. In other words, the writer has to be careful in deciding what to write, otherwise, the reader will have difficulty in following the write

take account of some elements such as content, organization, language use,

vocabulary, and mechanic Jacobs (1981: 90). The next reason is that for creating a well-organized writing, someone must be able to use his rational thinking.

Rational thinking or commonly called as logic has predominant role in attempting to write well Levin (1982: 1). Logic guides a writer how to be consistent in his/her thinking and writing. It can also teach him or her how to see the implications in statements and how to test the relevance of arguments and evidence to a central

idea. In other words, logic enables the writer to be consistent and help him/her to identify the relevance in his/her writing. As we know, relevance and consistency are the significant characteristic for all good writing.

Meanwhile, viewing the language teaching based on School Based Curriculum Syllabus of senior high school, especially for first grade students, writing is one of the language skills presented in the teaching learning process of English. One of the writing forms that should be mastered by them is descriptive text. It is a text aims to describe a particular person/thing. Its text organization/generic structure is identification and description (Sudarwati and Grace, 2007:135). Therefore, the students are expected to be able to understand and create a descriptive text

coherently based on the social function, language use, and generic structure of the text.

In fact, there are many students who still could not express their idea in written form since they found writing is difficult to learn. Even though they have been given the topic to write, it did not automatically help students to start writing. In addition, Harsyaf, Nurmaini, and Izmi (2009: 1) mention that most L2 learners might agree when we say that writing is the most difficult skill for them to master. Furthermore, study conducted by previous researcher, Ervina (2010: 2) also found that although the students have learnt descriptive text, they still have difficulties in writing descriptive text; those because of their limited vocabulary, their

difficulties in writing the content, and their poor organization of the text. Besides, the teachers often teach them writing descriptive text without using appropriate technique.

that has been done from 31st_{January to 5}th_{April 2011; it was also found out that} most of X-class students still have problem in creating a descriptive text according to the generic structure. They did not consider its generic structure; they made a descriptive text only in one paragraph while as we know that its generic structure is identification (1st_{paragraph) and description (2}nd_{, 3}rd_{paragraph and so on). The} writer also really saw that they had problem in composing a good descriptive text with correct grammar and vocabulary. It was also added by the situation happened during the teaching and learning process; the students were so passive. They hardly raised their hands and gave questions, comments, opinions, or answered questions about materials being taught.

On the other hand, after having discussion, the English teacher of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu, said that there were many students of the first year who could not create a descriptive text in good order; they could not compose descriptive text based on the generic structure. He also saw that they made many problems in the vocabulary and the structure used in their descriptive writing test.

Perhaps, that phenomenon happened because the teachers did not master suitable techniques for teaching writing. Therefore, it is English teachers tasks to look for appropriate techniques to be applied in teaching writing so that the students are interested in writing. The most important thing is that teacher should make the students active and should create fun and interesting activities in the teaching writing process.

To solve the writing problems, the writer conducted cooperative learning in her research. Cooperative learning refers to the instructional use of small groups so

supported by (Blanton, 1992; Savona and Donato, 1991) in Reid (1993: 156) who states that collaboration and small group can be especially successful in ESL writing classes. Writing is usually easier, better and more successful when talking, drafting, revising, reading, and editing. While according to Lie (2004: 28) the philosophy that underlies cooperative learning model in education world ishomo homini sociusphilosophy. It means that a human being is a social creature who cannot live alone; he needs to work together with others.

Meanwhile, in order to activate the students during the teaching writing process, the writer conducted roundtable technique. Roundtable technique itself is one of the models of cooperative learning in which students sit in teams of three or more, each student starts a piece of paper, writes one answer and passes it to their

friends in groups to continue writing on the paper; as quoted by Valenti, Latourelle, and Maitland (2011:1).

In line with roundtable technique, Lee (2009:127) who has applied this technique reports that 75% of the students were interested in this technique and they still want to use this technique when they learn writing. Besides, for the students, this technique also can make the lesson easy to be understood. Furthermore, during the teaching learning process they were very active and it has made fun and active writing class. Furthermore, Nurhasanah (2009: i) in her research has stated that studying through roundtable technique resul increase in writing speech text score. It can be seen at the last cycle that shows that 83% of the students are successful in improving their score. It means that this technique has successfully activated students to write and it could increase their writing ability.

And, Hasanah

descriptive writing. This increase can be seen from the learning process and product. In the learning process, they seemed more focus, more confident, more excited, more enthusiastic, and more active. Meanwhile, in the learning product,

average score increased from Cycle 1 to Cycle 2.

Roundtable technique is suitable if it is applied for writing class since it allows all students in each group to write on a paper then pass the paper to their friends and continue writing on the paper.

per who set the process of teaching and learning in exact time. Therefore, the researcher applied this technique in order to increase

writing. The researcher conducted her research in the first year of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu because the first year students who had studied English using

descriptive text when they were in junior high school still find difficulties in writing a descriptive text. Besides she wants to overcome the problems met by the students and English teacher in this school as she has stated at the background above.

B. Formulation of Problem

In reference to the background of the problem above, the writer formulates the problem in the following question:

lity in descriptive text writing according to five components of writing at the first year of SMA Xaverius

C. Objective of the Research

The objective of the research is to see whether roundtable technique can increase descriptive text writing according to five components of writing at the first year of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu?

D. Uses of the Research

It is expected that the research can have the following uses:

1. Theoretically, the result of this research is expected to support the previous study and to use as a reference for further research.

2. Practically, the result of the research can be used for English teacher as information to choose appropriate technique in teaching writing.

E. Scope of the Research

This quantitative research was conducted at SMA Xaverius Pringsewu. The population of this research was the first year of this school and the sample was class X.3. She chose the first year students with assumption that they have learnt and have enough knowledge about descriptive text at the junior high school. The variables of this research were roundtable technique as the independent variable and descriptive text writing as the dependent variable. In her research, she would find

descriptive text. So, she focused on the using of roundtable technique in teaching and learning process. She conducted this technique in three times.

Meanwhile, the writing tests were the instruments

ability. These tests were writing pretest and writing posttest. In all tests, the researcher asked the students to write a descriptive text based on the instructions and directions stated on the writing test sheets. Then, their writing on the pretest

and posttest was scored by considering on content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics.

F. Definition of Terms

In order to make readers easy in understanding the content of this writing, the writer defines the terms that are used in her writing. Those terms are explained as follows:

1. Teachingis showing or helping someone learn how to do something providing with knowledge, causing to know or to understand (Harmer, 2004: 7).

2. Writingis an ability to communicate in a way which gives the readers full satisfaction. So, in order to create a good writing, it has to display a

completely logical organizational structure, relevant arguments, and no errors of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar (Hughes, 1989: 87).

3. Descriptive textis a text aims to describe something in order to explain it to someone or describing something in order to persuade an audience to see and believe as you do (Corder, 1979: 158).

4. Cooperative learning

together as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a

5. Roundtableis two-step cooperative learning structures. In step one, the teacher asks a question with many possible answers and in step two the students respond in turn to make a list of possible answers for the questions (Jacob and Stone, 2011: 1).

II. FRAME OF THEORIES

This chapter contains explanation of related theories used in this research; notion of writing, teaching of writing,various activities in writing,aspects of writing, text, descriptive text, teaching descriptive text writing, cooperative learning, models of cooperative learning, roundtable, procedures of teaching descriptive text writing through roundtable technique, advantages and disadvantages of roundtable technique, theoretical assumptions, and hypothesis.

A. Notion of Writing

Writing as one of the important skills in learning English has various definitions. As it is cited in Mardasari (2008:6), Chin defines writing as a way of

communicating information, ideas, and feelings to other people by sharing the thoughts, ideas, and feelings in written symbols. It means that when we write, we compose or create meaning with words. In writing, a writer has to consider the way to convey his/her ideas with the purpose that the readers could easily grasp them. It is significant because between the readers and the writers there is no space to discuss. In order to make the readers reach the writer’s ideas; they need to create a good writing. Writing is good when it achieves its purpose for the readers. No matter how attractive the writing, but, when it is out of context, it is considered ineffective Hairston (1986:5).

Moreover, Hoffman (1990:1) says that writing is a way of thinking. It means that while you get things down in writing, it helps you examine experiences, sort through information, and analyze ideas in order to understand and make better sense of the world. He also says that writing is an act of communication. Writing takes a greater importance when you begin to see it as a way to make yourself heard, to persuade people to see something you way, to argue for ideas you believe in, and to change things.

Concerning about writing, Gould (1989:30) in his book states that that writing is an effort to create a dialogue with readers, and it involves exploring our relationship to our readers in much the same way that we explore our relationship to people we talk to. Writing is not private; it is always a form of social dialogue, a way of talking to someone. From the explanation above the researchersummarizes that writing is an act of putting words into paper or other media as one way to communicate to others.

B. Teaching of Writing

Teaching is showing or helping someone learn how to do something providing with knowledge, causing to know or to understand (Harmer, 2004: 7). It means that when we teach our students, we have to help them to understand what materials being taught or help them to do what they have to do.

In relation with teaching writing, Lado (1959: 125) states that simply the goal of teaching a foreign language is the ability to use it, to understand the speech and of its native, and target culture in terms of their meaning as well as their great ideas

in achievement. It can be said that the goal of teaching writing is to make students able to write or use language in written form.

While according to Raimes (1938:3) reasons of teaching writing are important. First, writing reinforces the grammatical, structures, idioms, and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students. Second, when our students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, to risks. Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with new language; the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand, and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning.

And as we know that in writing evaluation, there are some elements should be considered such as structure, organization, language use, vocabulary, and also mechanics. Thus, teaching writing means teacher has to help them in

understanding the components of writing, select relevant materials to his students and guide them in writing based on those aspects of writing.

Writing has some stages should be considered by teacher as the way to teach writing. Below are the stages of the writing process stated by Adelstein and Pival (1998):

1. Pre-writing

Pre-writing is the process of getting your ideas in preparation for writing. Prewriting activities help you find a good topic, narrow topics that are too broad, and look at purpose. You should finish the prewriting activities with at least a sentence and a list. Or you may have something as formal as a three-part thesis sentence and a fully developed outline. During this stage you

basically choose your topic (limited subject) and state our precise opinion about it. Some people usually make an outline for starting this stage. For example, you choose the topic of describing member of family. Here, you are going to describe your mother. Then, you make the outline in order to make you easy in developing your ideas. Below is the example of an outline:

My Beloved Mother 1st _paragraph

Introduce her name. Mention her old.

Tell about her job or her activities. ……….

2nd _paragraph

Describeher physical appearance (her eyes, her hair, her skin color, and the like). 3rd _paragraph

Tell about her hobby. 4th _paragraph Tell about her traits. 5th _paragraph

Conclude what you think about her and why she becomes your beloved mother. 2. Writing

Writing is the process of supporting your topic and your opinion. The supports can be in the form of examples, statistics, and statements by authorities. In this stage you set on the paper your opinions into words, sentences, paragraphs, and so on and also by giving supporting statement from other resources. After you have made the outline, now is your time to start writing; you have to develop each statement of each paragraph in the outline. This is the example of writing result of the outline above:

My Beloved Mother

I have a mother. Her name is Susanti. She is 45 years old. She is a teacher of one of elementary school in my village.

My mother is a beautiful woman. She has beautiful brown and bright eyes. She has long and straight hair. Her hair color is black. She is thin body and average tall. She also has long leg. My mother has some hobbies. One of them is making a traditional food such as “lambang sari”, “bakwan”, and also “bubur sum-sum”. I like all of these foods. When I am in home, she makes it for me and it is so delicious. Besides, she also likes making “kristik” handicraft.

My mother is a kind person. She is so kind to everyone. She loves so much with her family. She is also so patient person when she faces problems. Besides, she is so care and wise.

She is my mother who I love very much. She becomes my beloved mother because of her good traits. One day, I really want to be a mother like my beloved mother. I love her so much and she will be my eternal beloved mother.

3. Re-writing

Re-writing is the process of editing your writing. This can be done in phases. You should focus on obvious things during the first phase; spelling, grammar errors, etc. During the second phase you should read your writing out loud and edit the awkward and senseless sentences. This is the example of the writing result that has been edited:

My Beloved Mother

I have a mother whose name is Susanti. She is actually a teacher of one of the elementary school in my village and her age is 45 years old. She is quite busy because she is a teacher of one of elementary school in my village.

My mother is a beautiful woman I have. She naturally has brown and bright eyes and she has long, straight, and black hair. She also has slim body and she hasfairly tall because she has long legs. She is so elegant with her blue dress.

My mother has some hobbies such as making a traditional food like “lambang sari”, “bakwan”, and also “bubur sum-sum”. I like all of these foods. When I am in home, she makes it for me and it is so delicious. Besides, she also likes making “kristik” handicraft. The result is so amazing. Sometimes, I ask her to teach me how to create it. But, I can not create it as beautiful as my mother’s.

My mother is a kind person. She is so kind to everyone. She loves her family so much. She is also so patient person when she faces problems. Besides, she is so care and wise to everyone. That is why she is loved by every people around her.

She is my mother who I love very much. She becomes my beloved mother because of her good traits. One day, I really want to be a mother like my beloved mother. I love her so much and she will be my beloved and my irreplaceable mother forever.

C. Various Activities in Writing

Harsyaf, Nurmaini,and Izmi (2009:16-18) suggests some writing activities that teachers can use in introducing or guiding the students to various written text types. They are:

1. Controlled writing

The main importance of writing at this level is that it helps students to “learn”. Writing new words and structure helps students to remember them and as writing is done more slowly and carefully than speaking, written practice helps to focus students’ attention on what they are learning. In doing so, the activities can be an integrated skill activity. The following are examples of controlled writing activities:

a. Gap filling

b. Reordering words

c. Substitution

d. Correct the fact

Listen to the teacher, and then write out the complete sentence! Paper……….wood. It……….the Chinese in …………

Write the sentences correctly! They are about a description of a nurse’s working day.

We / six o’ clock/ and / tea/ drink/ get up/at

Then/ the patients/ wake/ go/ and the wards/ we/ round Sometimes/ medicine/ injections/ them/ we/ or /give

Write a correct sentence like this about yourself! Joe enjoys playing football and reading adventure stories.

Rewrite the sentences so that they match the pictures!

At the office, the staffs are talking to the guest. The guest is sitting on the chair while listening to the woman’s explaining about a form. The man brings her a cup of tea.

2. Guided writing

As soon as the students have mastered basic skills of sentence writing,students need to progress beyond very controlled writing to freer paragraphwriting. However, students will make this transition more easily and learn moreif we can guide their writing. There are two main ways of doing this (Doff, 1988, p. 153). Here are examples of guided writing:

a. By giving a short text as a model

Students read a short text, and perhaps study particular features of it (e.g. theway sentences are joined, the use of verb tenses, the use of the passive). Theythen write a paragraph which is similar, but involves some

changes.Examples of texts that could be used: Students read a paragraph about astudent’s day, and then write about their own day; students read a description of acar, then write descriptions of other cars; students read a description of a town,then write descriptions of their hometown or other cities that they might havevisited or they can write descriptions of persons (see page 25).

b. By doing oral preparation for the writing

Another way of guiding paragraph writing is to do oral preparation before andwith the whole class; the students make suggestion, and the teacher builds upan outline or a list of key expressions on the board. The students then use thisas a basis for their writing. This approach has several advantages: It is flexible: it can be done in different way according to the interests andability of the class.Ideas about what to write come from the students themselves; this

makethe activity much more interesting and involves the class more.It does not require specially-prepared texts or other material.

c. Free writing

Students here are considered to be able to use the pattern they havedeveloped to write a particular text type. Teachers can guide them to usevarious

techniques of brainstorming to help them to write. This is its example:

In this research, the researcher used guided writing as writing activity when she did the treatment (roundtable technique). She gave an example of descriptive text of a person as a model to the students, then she and students discuss the purpose, the generic structure, and the language use of the text by following the

instructions of roundtable technique.

D. Aspects of Writing

A writer will be said successfully in writing if their writing contains some aspects writing. According to Jacobs (1981: 90) there are five aspects of writing:

1. Content refers to the substance of writing, the experience of the main idea

(unity), i.e., groups of related statements that a writer presents as unit in developing a subject. Content paragraph do the work of conveying ideas rather than fulfilling special function of transition, restatement, and emphasis.

2. Organization refers to the logical organization of the content (coherence). It

contains sentences that are logically arranged and flow smoothly. Logical arrangement refers to the order of the sentences and ideas.

Write a descriptive text! Describe anything you want to describe. Do not worry about spelling, grammar, or even the right words! Just write down your thoughts about a topic without stopping for the time you’ve allowed yourself!

3. Vocabulary refers to the selection of words that are suitable to the content. It begins with assumption that the writer want to express the ideas as clearly and directly as he can. As a general rule, clarity should be his prime

objective. Choosing words that express his meaning is precisely rather than skew it or blur it.

4. Language Use refers to the use of the correct grammatical form of syntactic

pattern on separating, combining, and grouping ideas in words, phrases, clauses, and sentences to bring out logical relationships in paragraph writing.

5. Mechanics refers to the use of graphic conventional of the language, i.e., the

steps or arranging letters, words, sentences, paragraphs by using knowledge of structure and some others related to one another.

Meanwhile, Harris (1974:68) states that there are five general components of writing needed to be appropriately viewed; namely:

1. Content: the substance of the writing, denoting the thought that is written

about in the passage.

2. Form: the organization of the content or ideas, whether the passage has fulfilled the criteria of unity and coherence, or not.

3. Grammar: the employment of grammatical forms and syntactic patterns.

The principles of grammar that are of importance are those that concern words and those that concern word relationships.

4. Style: the choice of structures and lexical items to give a particular tone or

5. Mechanics: the use of the graphic conventions of the language. In composition, it is the general term for matters of spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, abbreviation, and the like.

In this research, the writer applied those aspects of writing stated by Jacob in evaluating the students writing score because it provides a well defined standard and interpretive framework for evaluating a compositions’ students’

communication effectiveness which is suggested to be used in evaluating students’ writing (Jacobs, 1981:90).

E. Text

Text is a semantic unit that is realized in the form of words, clauses, and sentences. A text is sometimes envisaged to be some kind of super-sentence, a grammatical unit that is larger than a sentence but it is related to a sentence in the same way that sentence is related to clause. Derewianka (1992:17) said that text is any meaningful stretch of language - oral or written. Not all texts are the same. They will have differences in its purpose, its generic structure, and also its language use. One factor, which accounts for differences in texts, is the purpose for which the text is being used. Texts are structured in different ways to achieve their purposes. Take for example; the purpose of descriptive text is to describe a particular person, thing, or place. The structure of the text is:

1. Identification : identify the topic

2. Description : provide details of the topic such as parts, quantities, qualities, characteristics, etc.

F. Descriptive Text

Descriptive text is a text that is used to describe a particular thing, person, or place. It talks about specific thing, person, or place by mentioning its

characteristics, parts, quantities, or qualities. Anything being described is explained as clearly as possible to make the readers or listeners able to see or imagine the subject in their minds clearly as the writer sees in his/her. For example, if you want to make a descriptive text about your mother you have to write her physical features, such as how is her hair, nose, lips, checks, body, etc. her personality, and other descriptions.

Nainggolan (2010:24) define descriptive text as a text which talks about or describes on a particular person, place, or thing. So, the function of this text is to give readers description about a particular person, place, animal, or things. According to Decker (1989:249) in its forms description is either objective or impressionistic (subjective). Objective description is purely factual, uncolored by any feelings of the author; it is the type used for scientific papers and most business reports. But impressionistic description, as the term implies, at least tinges the purely factual with authors’ personal impression; instead of describing how something is, objectively, he describe about how it seems subjectively. In this case, the definition of description can be concluded as description of how something is or how it seems, or how it looks like. We can describe person, place, animal, things, moments, theories and also facts.

It is supported by Langan (2008:179) who states that when you describe someone or something, you give your reader a picture in words. To make word pictures as vivid and real as possible, you must observe and record specific details that appeal

to your reader’s sense (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch). More than any other type of essay, a descriptive paper needs sharp and colorful details. It means that what a writer write in his description paper or text must contain of details information about what he describes so that the reader can see, feel, hear, smell, and touch what he describe in his writing. By having the details information about what he describes, the reader can imagine your description as vivid and real as possible.

In relation with descriptive text, Corder (1979:158) says that you will probably use description to serve some other purposes, such as describing something in order to explain it to someone or describing something in order to persuade an audience to see and believe as you do. In addition, Smalley and Ruetten (1986:25) also states that descriptive text relates to the description of something in order to make the readers see, feel or hear what the writer sees, feels, or hears. A

description can be objective or suggestive. Objective description deals with fact of technicalities, you give no judgment or emotional reaction. Your purpose is mainly to describe fact, while suggestive description involves the impressions and feelings that the writer has about what he/she is describing. Besides that,

descriptive paragraph can be divided into description of place, animal and person.

Moreover, Sudarwati, and Grace (2007: 135) confirm that the social function or the purpose of descriptive text is to describe a particular person/thing. The text organization or generic structure of descriptive text is:

1. identification: identify phenomenon to be described. This is the part of the text where the writer mentions the name of the person or thing she/he describes,the profession and carrer;

2. description: provide details of the topic such as parts, qualities, characteristics, and the like. In this part of the text, the writer describes the appereance, personality, behaviour, habit and soon about the things being described. So, by reading this description, the readers will likely see, hear, touch, and sense what the writers sees, hears, touches and

senses.

Besides generic structure, descriptive text also has language features: 1. Use of adjectives and compound adjectives

For example: Anna is light-skinned, She looks attractive and beautiful; 2. Use of linking verbs

For example: She always appears young, She is kind; 3. Use of attributive has and have

For example: She has long hair; 4. Focus on specific participants.

For example: describing Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; 5. Use of simple present tense.

For example: She goes to school by car. The following is an example of descriptive text:

Rupert Alexander Grint Identification

Rupert Alexander Grint was born in Hertfordshire, England, 24 August,1988. His nickname is Rupert.He is the oldest son of Nigel Grintand Jo Parsons.

Description

Rupert has brightred hair.His height is 180 cm. He is an active and humorous person.He is also very humble. However, he is the shyest of the three Harry Potter co-stars. Rupert is arachnophobia. It meansthat he is afraid of spiders.

Description

He likesall kinds of music, but his favorite is classic rock and roll.His favorite school subject is Chemistry.

(Adapted from Interlanguage: English for Senior High School Students X) G. Teaching Descriptive Text Writing

Teaching a language means helping someone to learn how to use and understand the language being learnt. The goal of teaching a foreign language stated by Lado (1959:125) is the ability to use it and to be able to understand the speech and its native target culture in terms of their meanings as well as their great ideas in

achievement. In this case, an English teacher has to teach his students how to use and understand English itself in the form of oral or written.

In relation to teaching descriptive text writing, a teacher should help his students in describing what they want to describe in the form of descriptive text. They have to describe it in a piece of paper as clear as possible and of course they also have to consider the aspects of writing to make readers see or feel what they describe. And the teacher has to explain its purpose, generic structure, and language features.

When we teach descriptive text writing, we focus on three important things. First is how to express and develop students’ ideas into descriptive text. By

understanding the purpose, the generic structure, and language use of the text, the students will be helped to explore and develop their ideas in the form of

descriptive text. The second is aspects of writing such as content, grammar, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. The last and the important one is that the teacher should think interesting activities that can help students to express their ideas in written form; in this case we focus on descriptive text. Interesting activities can be done by asking them to make groups to make them active, enjoy, and also to motivate them during the teaching learning process.

H. Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning has been defined as “small groups of learners working together as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal” (Artz and Newman,1990,p.448) in Peterson and Miller. In this case, the students work together in a team or a group to do such kind of task given by their

teacher. In these groups, all member of the group can share their ideas in order to finish their tasks.

While Slavin (2008:4) states that cooperative learning refers to any kinds of teaching methods in which the students work together in small groups for helping each others in learning a certain lesson material. In cooperative class, the students are hoped can help, discuss, and argue in order to sharpen knowledge they have achieved at that time and close discrepancy in understanding in their own. This kind of learning is very important because one who is categorized to a low student will be helped by others. So that they will get more knowledge through this learning.

In addition, Kagan and Olsen in Kessler (1992:1) states that cooperative learning (CL) is a body of literature and research that has examined the effects of

cooperation in education. It offers ways to organize group work to enhance learning and increase academic achievement. It can be said that cooperative learning has big effects in education and it also provides many ways to organize group work in order to create high quality learning and to increase students academic achievement; in this case, the writer focus on the students’ achievement in descriptive text writing.

In summary, cooperative learning (CL) is any kinds of teaching methods in which the students work together in small groups for helping each others in learning a lesson material. In this case, the students follow some activities of the technique being applied in the classroom. During teaching learning process by using CL, the students will interact with other students to share their knowledge and

understanding about the material and they also help others who lack of the material being learned. The interactions will help the students to strengthen their knowledge and understanding about the material and it will make the students to active in using or practicing the language in both oral and written form.

I. Models of Cooperative Learning

According to Arends (1997: 119), there are several variations of cooperative learning model, those are:

1. Students Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD)

In STAD, students are divided into four or five member learning teams. Each student has representatives of both sexes, various racial or ethnics groups, and high, average, and low achievers. Team members use work sheets or other study devices to master the academic materials and then help each other learn the materials through tutoring, quizzing one another, and/or carrying on team discussion. Individually, students take weekly or biweekly quizzes on the academic materials. These quizzes are scored, and each individual is given an improvement score.

Furthermore, (Slavin, 1986) in (Wang, 2009:116) also states clearly that:

STAD is a prevailing and simple technique in cooperative learning. It consists of five major components: class presentations, teams, quizzes, individual improvement scores, and team recognition. (a) Class Presentations. In STAD material is introduced in direct instruction or discussion way, but involves audio – visual presentations. Students must pay attention carefully during the class presentation, and then students can do the quizzes well afterward to gain good scores for their teams. (b) Teams. Teams consist of four or five students working in heterogeneous teams according to academic performance. The team meets to study

worksheets, discuss problems together, compare answers, and correct misconceptions. The major function of the team is to promote its members to do best on their work. (c) Quizzes. Students take individual quizzes during the quizzes that are not allowed to help each other. This makes sure that every student is responsible for knowing the material. (d) Individual improvement scores. Students quiz scores are compared to their past average. The students earn points for their teams based on how much their scores could exceed their previous quizzes. When students make progress on their quizzes, the whole group’s performance will be improved. (e) Team Recognition. If students’ average scores exceed a certain criterion, teams can learn certificates or other rewards.

2. Jigsaw

While in Jigsaw, students are assigned to five-or six-member heterogeneous study teams. Academic materials are presented to the students in the text form, and each student has the responsibility to learn a portion of the material. Members from different teams with the same topic (sometimes called the expert group) meet to study and help each other learn their topic. Then, students return to their home team and teach other members what they have learned.

Moreover, Aronson (2000:1) declares that:

The jigsaw classroomis very simple to use. If you're a teacher, just follow these steps:

a. Divide students into 5- or 6-person jigsaw groups. The groups should be diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, race, and ability.

b. Appoint one student from each group as the leader. Initially, this person should be the most mature student in the group.

c. Divide the day's lesson into 5-6 segments. For example, if you want history students to learn about Eleanor Roosevelt, you might divide a short biography of her into stand-alone segments on: (1) Her childhood, (2) Her family life with Franklin and their children, (3) Her life after Franklin contracted polio, (4) Her work in the White House as First Lady, and (5) Her life and work after Franklin's death.

d. Assign each student to learn one segment, making sure students have direct access only to their own segment.

e. Give students time to read over their segment at least twice and become familiar with it. There is no need for them to memorize it.

f. Form temporary "expert groups" by having one student from each jigsaw group join other students assigned to the same segment. Give students in these expert groups time to discuss the main points of their segment and to rehearse the presentations they will make to their jigsaw group.

g. Bring the students back into their jigsaw groups.

h. Ask each student to present her or his segment to the group. Encourage others in the group to ask questions for clarification.

i. Float from group to group, observing the process. If any group is having trouble (e.g., a member is dominating or disruptive), make an appropriate intervention. Eventually, it's best for the group leader to handle this task. Leaders can be trained by whispering an instruction on how to intervene, until the leader gets the hang of it.

j. At the end of the session, give a quiz on the material so that students quickly come to realize that these sessions are not just fun and games but really count.

3. Group Investigation (GI)

Teachers who use the GI approach usually divide their classes into five- or six-member heterogeneous group. Groups may form around friendships or

III. RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter discusses about research design, population and sample, data collecting technique, research procedures, instrument of the research, scoring criteria, data treatment, data analysis, and hypothesis testing.

A. Research Design

This research was quantitative research and the writer used one-group pretest-posttest design. Even though the internal validity of this design is questionable and many other factors which could affect the students’ improvement (Hatch and Farhady, 1982:20), it is easy and useful way of getting preliminary information. In this research, before the first teaching, pretest carried out and after three times teachings using the treatment (roundtable technique), a posttest was conducted. This was done to find out whether roundtable technique can increase students’ writing ability. This research design can be presented as follows:

T1 X T2

Where:

T1: pre-test: it is a test aims to see the students’ ability (in this research, the researcher focus on writing ability) before they aregiven such kind of treatment (roundtable technique).

T2 : post-test: it is a test to see the students’ ability of a certain skill (writing ability) after they have given treatment (roundtable technique).

X : treatment:in this research, the teacher treats the students by applying roundtable technique in teaching descriptive text writing.

(Hatch and Farhady, 1982:20)

B. Population and Sample

Population of this research was SMA Xaverius Pringsewu that has six classes of the first year. Each class has the same opportunity to be chosen as the sample. The sample was only one class and it has been selected by using simple probability

sampling. The writer wrote these six classes on a small paper, one class for one

piece of small paper. Then, the writer took only one paper randomly to choose the sample.

C. Data Collecting Technique

In order to collect the data, there were two tests would be tested to the students:

1. Pretest

The writer administrated this test in 90 minutes. The purpose of this test is to know how far the students ability in mastering descriptive text writing before the treatment. In this test, the students were distributed writing pretest sheet which has been stated by clear instructions and directions. The students were asked to create descriptive text of one member of their families (it can be father, mother, brother, sister, grandfather, etc.)

2. Posttest

This test was also being done in 90 minutes. This was done in order to see the students’ improvement in descriptive text writing after two times treatments (roundtable technique). This test was similar with the writing pretest. One that

makes them different was that in the posttest, the students were asked to compose a descriptive text of their favorite actors or actress.

D. Research Procedures

The procedures were being done in this research are:

1. Determining Population and Sample

The population of this research was the first year of SMA Xaverius Pringsewu in the 2011/2012 learning year that consists of 6 classes, and one class was taken as the sample. The sample was selected using simple probability sampling.

2. Selecting Writing Materials

In selecting the writing materials, the writer saw the newest syllabus of the first year of SMA based on KTSP (School Based Curriculum) and the students’ handbook. The topics of the writing were describing a person.

3. Conducting Pretest

The researcher conducted pretest before treatment of roundtable technique. This test took at least 90 minutes. The pretest was conducted to investigate the students’ present writing ability before treatment. The topic chosen were describing a person; member of families (father, mother, brother, sister, etc.). After they have finished writing, they submitted their writing and the teacher judged their writing based on the five components of writing; content, vocabulary, organization, language use, and mechanics.

4. Giving Treatment ( Roundtable Technique)

The treatments of roundtable technique were conducted in the class for three meetings in which 2 x 45 minutes were distributed for each meeting;she did

the treatments in three meetings by assuming that she will get the target she wants, that was increasing their descriptive text writing ability through this technique in three meetings. The researcher herself conducted the class. The activities of roundtable technique done by the researcher during the

treatments can be seen in Appendix 2−4.

5. Conducting Posttest

The posttest aimed to know the progress of students’ writing ability after being given treatment. This test was administered in 90 minutes. This test was similar with the pretest, one that differ them is the topic; the topic is

describing favorite actors or actress.

6. Analyzing the Data

First, the data, in the form of score gained from pretest and posttest was tabulated and calculated its inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability. Then, she calculated minimal score, maximal score, and mean of the pretest and the posttest and its standard deviation. After that, the hypothesis was tested using Repeated Measures T-Test and the result tells us whether roundtable technique can increase students’ writing ability in writing descriptive text.

7. Making Conclusion

The last step was making conclusion based on result of the tested hypothesis. E. Instrument of the Research

Since students’ writing ability has been evaluated, writing test was the instrument of this research. Heaton (1991: 137) suggests that writing can be a useful testing tool since it provides the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability

to organize language material, using their own words and ideas, and to

communicate. In this research, the students were asked to write a descriptive text of a person. There were two writing tests in this research; the writing pretest and the writing posttest. The tests were accompanied by: detail instructions and directions including time allocation.

In fulfilling the criteria of good test, reliability and validity of the test should be considered.

1. Validity

A test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what is intended to measure. There are some types of validity; content validity, constructs validity, and face validity (Hughes, 1989:22). The validity of the test of this research related to:

a. Face Validity

According to Heaton (1988: 160), a test refers to have face validity if the test item looks right to other testers, teachers, moderators, and testees. It is therefore, often useful for showing a test to colleagues or friends. Only if the test is examined by other people can some of the absurdities and ambiguities then be discovered. Moreover, the students’ motivation is maintained if a test has good validity. If, in the other hand, the test appears to have little of relevance in the eyes of the students, it will clearly lack face validity. Possibly as a direct result, they will not put maximum effort into performing the task set in the test. However, most designers of communicative tests regard face validity as the most important of all types of test validity. Therefore, in order to get face validity of the writing tests, the tests that contains of the instructions and the directions has

beenexamined by the researcher’s advisors and English teachers until the test looks right and understandable.

b. Construct Validity

A test, part of test, or a testing technique is said to have construct validity it can be demonstrated that it measures just the ability which it is supposed to measure (Hughes, 1989:26). Furthermore, Heaton (1988: 161) states that if a test has construct validity, it is capable of measuring certain specific characteristics in accordance with a theory of language behavior and learning. This type of validity assumes the existence of certain learning theories or constructs underlying the acquisition of abilities and skills. In this research, the researcher measured the students’ ability in descriptive text by using writing tests. In those tests, they are asked to create a descriptive text of person. Those tests have construct validity since based on writing theory, writing tests of describing person is adequate measure of writing skill.

c. Content Validity

While the content validity means that the test may be said to have content validity if the test reflect such an analysis of mastery of a specific skills or the content of a particular course of study (Harris, 1969:19). It is also supported by Heaton (1988: 160) who mentions that content validity depends on a careful analysis of the language being tested and the particular course objectives. This test should be so constructed as to contain a representative sample of the course, the relationship between the test items and the course objectives always being apparent. In this way, the

test should achieve content validity and reflect the component skills and areas which the test writer wishes to include in the assessment. In her research, the researcher tried to have content validity of her test by

constructing the tests which reflect five components of writing; content 30 per cent, organization 20 per cent, language use 20 per cent, vocabulary 25 per cent and mechanics 5 percent. These total of percentages taken form the ESL composition profiles.

2. Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency of the measure. A test is said to be reliable if its scores remain relatively stable from one administration to another (Hatch and Farhady, 1982:144). It means that a test is valid if it has stable score from one test to another test. To ensure the reliability of the pre-test and post-test

score and to avoid subjectivity of the writer, inter-rater reliability would be

evaluated. It was evaluated by two or more judges or raters. In this research, the first rater was the writer herself and the second rater was her classmate, Deri Herdawan. Both of them discussed and put in mind of the writing criteria

in order to obtain the reliable result of the test. She also evaluated intra-rater

reliability. In this case, the same rater (the writer) evaluated it by repeating the assessment of the students’ writing again 4–6 days later. She evaluated it twice in the range time two days. Therefore, there were two final scores of each student; but, the researcher took only the score in inter-rater reliability. After getting the students’ final score and calculating the score, the writer used rank-orders correlation to see whether the tests (pre- and post-test) are reliable or

not. Both of inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability result of those tests

were calculated by rank-orders correlation whose formula is:

ρ= 1 – ₍ .∑ ₎

Where: ρ : coefficient of rank correlation N : Number of students

D : the different of rank correlation 1-6 : Constant number

(Hatch and Farhady, 1982:143)

In this case, to interpret the reliability of the tests, the coefficient of rank correlation was considered through the standard criteria bellows:

0.00 – 0.20 isvery low; if the result of the reliability is about 0.00 to 0.20, it is categorized to very low reliability;

0.20 – 0.40 islow; if the result of the reliability is about 0.20 to 0.40, it is categorized to low reliability;

0.40 – 0.70 ismedium; if the result of the reliability is about 0.40 to 0.70, it is categorized to medium reliability;

0.70 – 0.90 ishigh; if the result of the reliability is about 0.70 to 0.90, it is categorized to high reliability;

0.90 – 1.00 isvery high; if the result of the reliability is about 0.90 to 1.00, it is categorized to very high reliability;

(Sudijono, 2007:193) After calculating the data (see Appendix12-15), the result of the two reliabilities can be seen in the following tables:

Table 3.1 Inter-rater Reliability

Reliability Pretest Posttest Criteria

0.99 0.99 Very High Reliability

Table 3.2 Intra-rater Reliability

Reliability Pretest Posttest Criteria

In Table 1, the criterion of reliability of the pretest and posttest is very high reliability. It means that both of the raters were consistent in scoring the students’ writing. While in Table 2, the criterion of reliability of the pretest and posttest is very high reliability. It means that the rater were consistent in scoring the students’ writing even though it was done in different time.

F. Scoring Criteria

This research was aimed at finding out whether roundtable technique could improve students’ writing ability. Basically, there are five aspects or criteria of writing will be evaluated by the researcher; Content, Organization,Language Use,

Vocabulary, and Mechanics.

Furthermore, the ESL composition was used because it provides a well defined standard and interpretive framework for evaluating a composition of students’ communication effectiveness which is suggested to be used in evaluating students’ writing (Jacobs, 1981:90).

Here are the ESL composition profiles devised from (Jacobs: 1981) in Reid (1993:236-237):

1. Content aspect is clarified as the following:

5 This range of score belongs to the students who are ‘excellent to very good’. It can be seen from the writing result of the students who can express their ideas clearly, which is, by providing concrete and specific details to clarify the general ideas the students are presenting. Obviously, the successful writing has enough details to make the reader see the writer’s picture, feel his feelings, think his thoughts, and understand his ideas.

4 The students who get this score can be classified into ‘good to average’ students. It can be seen from students’ who are good enough in developing the topic. Besides, it is found that the students’ writing is already unified. However, the students’ writing still needs more clarity to avoid confusion of the reader’s understanding. 3 This range of score belongs to ‘fair to poor’ students who show little substance in

their writing. Actually, they do not clearly state their meaning since they mostly write in general. As a result, the reader of their composition may feel confused about what the writing is about because there is unclear restriction of the topic. The students need to provide concrete and specific details for it to be clear.

2 Students who get score within this range are considered ‘very poor’. The students only write simple information which sometimes does not clarify the meaning of the topic, and even does not relate to the topic they intend to develop. They obviously show very poor knowledge of writing descriptive text.

2. Organization aspect uses the following scoring system:

5 In this aspect, students who are fluent in organizing their ideas in the order belong to ‘excellent to very good’ students. Since the focus of this teaching learning is in writing descriptive, hopefully the students are able to write based on the generic structure. It is found that the students’ writing exhibits coherence; means that the ideas flow smoothly.

4 The students who belong to ‘good to average’ group are good enough in organizing their composition. It is also found that the students’ main ideas stand out. They are good in sequencing the events happened in their writing.

3 If the students’ ideas are still confusing and disconnected, they belong to ‘fair to poor’ students. They need to follow the order of the events to make their writing be more logical.

2 The students who get score in this range are considered ‘very poor’ since they have only a little knowledge of how to organize their writing chronologically. Their ideas jumble from one event to another which results in reader’s confusion. In other words, the students’ writing has no organization needed in narrative structure which is characterized by sequencing the events.

3. Vocabulary aspect uses the following systems:

5 The students get score in this range when they use the words effectively and appropriately. They also exhibit the choice of words by using synonymy, connotation, or idioms in expressing the ideas. The students who get this range of score belong to ‘excellent to very good’.

4 The students who belong to ‘good to average’ have adequate range of vocabulary. Occasional errors of words/idiom form, choice, and usage are still found in the students’ writing result.

3 The students who get this score belong to ‘fair to poor’ students. They have problems in using appropriate words to express their ideas. Sometimes they misunderstand the words because they think that these words sound alike if they are spoken.

2 The students who belong to ‘very poor’ are essentially translate the words. It happens since they have little knowledge of English vocabulary.

4. Language Use scoring system is as follows:

5 The students are classified into ’excellent to very good’ students when they can write effective sentence, in simple and complex constructions. The students use appropriate tenses and beautify their composition by variation of sentences, for example, the using of passive form, inversion, and complex sentence.

4 The students who get this range of score are considered to be ‘good to average’

group. It is found that the students can write effective sentences, even mostly are still in form of simple constructions. Meanwhile, they also use appropriate tenses in their writing.

3 ‘Fair to poor’ students still make problems in simple or complex constructions. Their errors are mostly in using tenses, for instance, the students still use present tense in writing descriptive text.

2 The students who belong to ‘very poor’ obviously show no mastery of sentence construction rules. The students need extra practice to write sentence

grammatically.

5. Mechanics aspect uses scoring system as the following:

5 The students who get 5 in mechanics belong to ‘excellent to very good’. The students show mastery of conventions which can be seen from their appropriate and correct use of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing. 4 The students’ ability in mechanics is considered to be ‘good to average’ if they

can write correct spelling and punctuation well. Errors are found occasionally and considered to be their lack of concentration in writing.

3 The students who get score 3 belong to ‘fair to poor’ students. Errors of spelling, punctuation and capitalization are still found frequently in the students’ writing. These students are still lack in the mastery of conventions. Most of them still think that mechanics aspect is not really important in writing.

2 The students who get 2 belong to ‘very poor’. Their composition is dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing. The students need to pay serious attention in mechanics since this aspect is also very important in writing.

The explanation above can be simplified as the following table of specification: Table 3.3 Table of Specification

No Aspect

ofWriting Definition Percentage

1. Content Referring to the substance of writing, the experience

of the main idea (unity).

20% 2. Organization Referring to the generic structure of descriptive text,

ideas clearly stated and supported, having logical sequencing, cohesive, and coherence.

20 %

3. Language Use Viewing the use of correct grammatical and

syntactic pattern refers to the language features of descriptive text.

20 %

4 Vocabulary Considering several criteria such as the errors of

words formation, improper word choice, and idiom usage.

20%

5 Mechanic Referring to the errors of spelling, punctuation,

capitalization, and paragraphing. 20%

In order to make easy in scoring the students’ writing, the researcher edited the ESL composition profiles above; she gave the same weight score for all aspects. She decided the highest score is 5 and the lowest score is 2). The possible score are gained by students based on the criteria above will rank from 0-100. Take for example, if a student gets scores for content: 5, organization: 3, language use: 4, vocabulary: 3 and mechanics: 3, the total or the final score will be 72; it is resulted from the computation of all aspects score (5+3+4+3+3) x 4.

G. Data Treatment

Before the writer analyzed the data, it was necessary that the writer had to find out whether the data was random or not or whether the data had normal distribution or not. There were two kinds of the data treatment in this research:

1. Random Test

Random Test is used to ensure whether the data is random or not. One of the assumption should be fulfilled in using T-Test is the data should be taken from random sample in a population. In this research, H0 was accepted if sign > α, and the researcher used the level significant 0.05.

2. Normality Test

This test was used to measure whether the data is normally distributed or not. The hypothesis is accepted if sign > α. In this case, the research uses the level of significance of 0.05.

3. Homogeneity Test

This test is used to know whether the data are homogeneous or not. The hypothesis is accepted if sign > α. In this case, the research uses the level of significance of 0.05.

H. Data Analysis

In analyzing the data gained, the writer analyzed the students’ score using these steps. The first step was scoring the pretest and the posttest. The second was tabulating the students’ score of the pretest and the posttest using rating scale. And the last step was drawing conclusion by comparing the means of pretest and posttest score to see the value of significance by using Repeated Measures T-Test of SPSS version 15.

I. Hypothesis Testing

In order to test the hypothesis, the writer compared the pre-test and post-test score by using Repeated Measure T-test of SPSS since the data comes from the same sample. This test is also known as paired T-test or dependent sample T-test (Setiyadi, 2006:170).

With t-table 0.05 (see Appendix 18), the hypothesis that has been mentioned is

accepted with the following criteria:

1. If t-value > t-table, the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted and the null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected. It means that roundtable technique can increase students’ ability in writing descriptive text.

2. If t-value < t-table, the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is rejected and the null hypothesis (Ho) is accepted. It means that roundtable technique can not increase students’ ability in writing descriptive text.

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The statistical formula used to calculate the reliability is:

( )

( . )

( )

( . )

( )

.

( )

.

0.001

Where: : coefficient of rank correlation N : number of students

D : the different of rank correlation 1-6 : constant number

68

Miller, Courtney K. and Peterson, Reece L.Creating a Positive Climate; Cooperative Learning.The Safe & Responsive Schools Project:

http://www.indiana.edu/~safeschl/cooperativelearning.pdf.Accessed on Thursday, May 19, 2011, 10:02:51 AM.

Nainggolan, Flora. 2010.Modul 14; Pendalaman Materi Bahasa Inggris SMA. Universitas Lampung: Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan.

Nurhasanah, Siti. 2009.Upaya Meningkatkan Kemampuan Menulis Naskah/Teks Pidato dengan Teknik Roundtable Siswa Kelas IX F Semester II SMP N 01 Padang Ratu Tahun Pelajaran 2008/2009. STKIP Muhammadiyah

Pringsewu Lampung: Unpublished Script.

Raimes, Ann. 1983.Techniques in Teaching Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reid, Joy M. 1993.Teaching ESL Writing.United States of America: Prentice Hall Regents.

Setiyadi, Bambang Ag. 2006.Metode Penelitian untuk Penngajaran Bahasa Asing Pendekatan Kuantitatif dan Kualitatif. Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu. Slavin, Robert E. 2008.Cooperative Learning; Teori, Riset dan Praktik.

Bandung: Nusa Media.

Smalley, Regina.l & Ruetten, Mary.K.1986.Refining Composition Skill;Rhetoric and Grammar for ESL Students, 2nd_{Edition. New Orlean University:} Macmillan Publishing Company.

Sudarwati, Th.M., and Grace, Eudia. 2007.Look Ahead 1; An English Course for Senior High School Student Year X. Jakarta:Erlangga.

Sudijono, Drs. Anas. 2007.Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan. Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo Persada.

Sze, Sharon Lee Fui. 2009.Teknik Roundrobin dan Roundtable Dalam Proses Penulisan Karangan Bagi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Cina Tahun Empat. Buku Koleksi Kertas Kerja Seminar Penyelidikan IPGM KBL Tahun 2009, ms.121-134:

http://www.ipbl.edu.my/BM/penyelidikan/seminarpapers/2009/13%20Sha ron%20Lee.pdf. Accessed on Thursday, November 11, 2010, 2:46:37 AM. Valenti, J., Latourelle, S., and Maitland, L. 2011.Cooperative Learning;

Descriptions of Some Commonly Used Techniques. The NYS Biology-Chemistry Mentor Network:

http://opas.ous.edu/Committees/Resources/Research_papers/15Commonly UsedTechniques.pdf.Accessed on Thursday, May 19, 2011, 8:42:03 AM.

Wang, Dr. Tzu-Pu. 2009.

69

http://www.hraljournal.com/Page/13%20Tzu-Pu%20Wang.pdf.Accessed on Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 7:30:48 AM.

Zingaro, Daniel. 2008.Group Investigation: Theory and Practice.

http://www.danielzingaro.com/gi.pdf. Accessed on Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 7:38:47 AM.

97

The statistical formula used to calculate the reliability is:

( ) ( . ) ( ) ( . ) ( ) . ( ) . 0.001

Where: : coefficient of rank correlation

N : number of students

D : the different of rank correlation

1-6 : constant number