The Process of Teaching W riting Descriptive Text to the Seventh graders of SM P N 20 Surakarta.

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C. The Process of Teaching W riting Descriptive Text to the Seventh graders of SM P N 20 Surakarta.

The t eaching of English in SM P N 20 is em phasized m ost ly on reading and w rit ing skills. The t eaching of w rit ing in t he school is concerned w it h t he exam inat ion from t he governm ent . The source books provided by t he school som et im e w ere not suit able w it h t he m at erials needed. M ost of t he m at erials w ere about t ext s for t eaching reading. The w rit er had t o look for anot her source book. SM P N 20 used English in focus-t he source book from t he local governm ent and form at – w orksheet as an exercise book. The first act done by t he w rit er w hen t he w rit er t aught w rit ing is focused on descript ive t ext . First ly, t he w rit er int roduced w hat descript ive t ext w as by giving t he m eaning and descript ive t ext of my class. Thus st udent s knew w hat t hey w ould learn about . This is an exam ple of descript ive t ext w rit t en by t he w r it er. M Y CLASS I am in seven junior high school, Surakart a. M y class is in VII B. The class is very clean. I like t his class very m uch because I feel com fort if I am in t his class. It is nice place t o st udy. M y class is locat ed in t he second floor of school building. It is near t he com put er room but it is far from t eacher room . There are m any plant s in front of m y class such as: grass, som e lit t le colorful flow ers, and som e kinds of leaf. There is also a w ood bench in t he left side of m y class. M y class has 41 chairs and 21 t ables. There is also a book case in t he right side of t eacher’s desk. All of t heir colors are brow n because t hey are from w ood. M y class has t w o w hit eboard. There are 3 broom s and dust er in back part of m y class. xxix The w rit er point ed som e st udent s t o read each paragraph. Then t he w rit er asked w het her t here w ere any difficult w ords or not and got t he st udent s t o find difficult w ords in dict ionary. By using dict ionary t hey w ould know t he m eaning of unfamiliar w ords. The w rit er also discussed it t oget her in class. In evaluat ing t he st udent ’s com prehension of t he t ext t here w ere also several quest ions about m y class. Thus t o m ake st udent s m ore underst and about descript ive paragraph, t he w rit er explained about t he social funct ion, t he generic st ruct ure and t he lexico gram m at ical feat ures of descript ive t ext . The w rit er gave it just at glance and not t oo det ail. They are t oo young t o underst and and learn descript ive t ext specifically. Before giving st udent s not es about it , t he w rit er alw ays asked t he m eaning of each it em . The w rit er gave st udent s as follow s: 1. The Social Funct ion By giving it , st udent s w ould know t he funct ion of a descript ive t ext . 2. The Generic St ruct ure The funct ion of giving generic st ruct ure t o st udent s is t o m ake t hem know and underst and how t o w rit e a descript ive paragraph. For exam ple t he w rit er explained xxx t o t hem t hat t he first paragraph of m y class called ident ificat ion and t he second t o fourt h paragraph called descript ion. 3. Lexico Gram m at ical Feat ures In m aking st udent s clear about t he feat ures of descript ive t ext , t he w rit er explained t hem about lexico gram m at ical of descript ion. Also, st udent s are able t o differ it w it h ot her t ext genres. For exam ple, t he w rit er gave sim ple explanat ion, like sim ple present t ense, using of causat ive has or have, noun phrase. As t he pract ice, t he w rit er asked st udent s t o describe t heir ow n class t oget her. It w as done t o check t he st udent ’s abilit y in creat ing a descript ion. The st ep done here w as t he w rit er gave som e clues about quest ions by asking w here t hey st udy, w hat t hings in t he class, et c. A descript ion t ells about person, place or t hings. In anot her m eet ing, t he w rit er got st udent s t o describe a person. The w rit er asked one of t hem – t he noisiest st udent t o be t he sam ple of descript ion. As t he previous experience w hen t he w rit er asked t hem t o describe t heir class t oget her and t hey w ere noisy, t hus t he w rit er point ed t hem one by one t o speak a sent ence about t heir friend. The st udent s had pract iced describing t heir ow n class and t heir classm at e orally. Then it w as t he t urn t o exam ine t heir capabilit y describing place – my house in w rit t en expression. The w rit er used guided w rit ing m et hod by giving several quest ions in order t o help st udent s arranging t he paragraph. xxxi This is an exam ple of guided w riting act ivit y The st udent s did not need t o w rit e dow n t he quest ion. They just answ ered it and m ade it int o a descript ive paragraph about t heir ow n house. The w rit er needed four m eet ings t o t each descript ive t ext . It w as about eight hours. As t he final result m ost of st udent s w ere able t o m ake a descript ive paragraph w ell. As be seen from t he dat a of t heir m ark w hen t hey were m aking t he descript ion of t heir ow n house. The dat a show ed t hat 21 st udent s of 28 st udent s got score upper 6.

D. The Problems and The Solutions of Teaching W riting Descriptive Text for 7