Continued Like simple present tense, it is important to use in writing descriptive text.
ET : Dulu si saya sudah pernah ajarkan mas tetang hal-hal tadi termasuk
Simple Present itu juga. Tapi kalo di tanya lagi ya juga pada lupa.In the past, I have taught about those things including Simple Present as well. However,
they always forget when they were asked about that. Interview
transcript2
From the interview, it can be concluded that there were some problems with the students’ ability in terms of writing descriptive texts. They are still not able to
distinguish nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Then, they lack abilities in using grammar including the use of auxiliary such as To be. They also cannot find and
develop any topic by themselves. After doing the observation and the interview, the researcher identified and
described some problems related to writing ability of the students. There was discussion with the collaborator and the English teacher as well. There were
several problems found during the teaching and learning process. The further description can be seen on this check list table;
Table 2. The Field Problem in the Teaching and Learning Process of Writing at VII E Class of SMP N 2 GAMPING
FIELD PROBLEM Code
1 Teacher -He lacks variation in teaching technique
-He tends to focus on teaching reading too much T
T
Continued
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Continued 2 Learning
material -Materials are not interesting sometimes
LM 3 Students
motivation -They have low motivation to write
S 4 Students
interaction -They often talk with other friends during the
lesson S
5 Students discipline
-They are often late -They often did not do the given tasks
-They often ask permission to go outside S
S S
6 Students writing habit
-They often copy friend’s work -They often feel sleepy and bored of explanation
-They have high anxiety especially in answering S
S S
S
7 Students writing skill
-They have difficulties in finding main ideas -They have difficulties in using text organization
-They have difficulties in using correct grammar -They lack vocabularies
S S
S S
T: Teacher S: Students LM: Learning Materials
2. Problem Selection Based on Urgency Level.
After those problems has been found in the field, in order to improve students’ skill, the researcher focused on improving students’ ability in writing
descriptive texts through using mind mapping. The researcher decided to weight the field problems based on urgency level as following table;
Table 3. The Most Urgent Problems in the Teaching and Learning Process of Writing at VII E Class of SMP N 2 GAMPING
FIELD PROBLEM Code
1 Teacher -He lacks variation in teaching technique
-He tends to focus on teaching reading too much T
T Continued
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Continued 2 Learning
material -Materials are not interesting sometimes
LM 3 Students
motivation -They have low motivation to write
S 4 Students
interaction -They often talk with other friends during the
lesson S
5 Students discipline
-They are often late -They often did not do the given tasks
S S
6 Students writing habit
-They often copy friend’s work -They often feel sleepy and bored of explanation
S S
7 Students writing skill
-They have difficulties in finding main ideas -They have difficulties in using text
organization -They have difficulties in using correct grammar
-They lack vocabularies S
S S
S
T: Teacher S: Students LM: Learning Materials
3. Problems Selection Based on Feasibility Level
After weighing problems based on the urgency level, then the researcher identified and selected those problems into feasibility level in which the
researcher determined to solve the problems occurred in the class. Then the researcher decided the problems like the following table;
Table4. The Most Feasible Problems in the Teaching and Learning Process of Writing at VII E Class of SMP N 2 GAMPING
FIELD PROBLEM Code
1 Teacher - He lacks variation in teaching technique
T 2 Learning
material -Materials are not interesting sometimes
LM 3 Students
motivation -They have low motivation to write
S 4 Students
discipline -They often did not do the given tasks
S Continued
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Continued 5 Students
writing habit -They often feel sleepy and bored of explanation S
6 Students writing skill
-They have difficulties in finding main ideas -They have difficulties in using text
organization -They have difficulties in using correct grammar
-They lack vocabularies S
S S
S
T: Teacher S: Students LM: Learning Materials
4. Determining the Actions to Solve the Problems
After having discussion with the English teacher, the researcher determined some actions expected to be the solution to the problems. There were five actions
planned in this research to improve students’ ability in writing descriptive texts through mind mapping. The actions would be used to improve students’ abilities
in writing descriptive texts. Through pictures, colors and other interesting ways in using mind mapping, those devices would make students learn easier in writing
descriptive texts. The treatment will be explained below.
Table 5. The Relationship between Field Problems and Actions
No. Problems Actions
1. -The teacher lacks variation in teaching
technique. -Materials are not interesting sometimes.
-The students have low motivation to write. •
Using picture and colors, lines with branches to
attract student’s attention and motivation in writing
descriptive texts.
2. -The students have difficulties in finding
main ideas. -The Students have difficulties in using text
organization. -The students have difficulties in using
correct grammar. -The students lack vocabularies.
• Using mind mapping to
teach key topics and to generate ideas.
• Using mind mapping to
organize students’ writing in correct grammatical
ways.
• Using mind mapping to
teach key vocabulary. Continued
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Continued 3.
-The students often did not do the given tasks.
-The students often feel sleepy and bored of explanation.
• Using colors and pictures
made by themselves and guided by the teacher
would make them focus on learning writing
descriptive text.
B. The Process of Research
1. Cycle I
This part described the process of the research in the two cycles. The first cycle was in three meetings. It was held on Tuesday 18
th
March, Monday 14
th
and 21
st
April 2014. It described the planning, the action and observation and the teaching and learning process during the research. It can
be seen in the explanation below.
a. Planning
In the planning stage, the researcher prepared three lesson plans for three meetings which were rooted in the course grid. In the first meeting, he
planned to explain descriptive texts; the social purpose, generic structures and language features. He would also explain the steps in writing; planning,
drafting, editing and final version. Then, he would introduce and explain the mind mapping technique as the main purpose in this research. He would
also explain what mind mapping is and how to use mind mapping in writing descriptive texts.
In the next meetings, the researcher planned to always recall the students’ knowledge on descriptive texts and mind mapping. He also
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