C. Subject of the Research
The target of this study was the students of SMP N 3 Depok in grade VIII in class B in the academic year of 20142015. They were students in the first
semester of their study. This research also involved the headmaster, the collaborator, the English teacher and the class teacher of class VIII B in SMP N 3
Depok, Sleman, Yogyakarta. The collaborators and I worked together in this study. I implemented the action while the English teacher and the collaborator
observed and noted the students’ reaction and condition in the classroom.
D. The Data and Data Collection
1. Types of Data
The data collected in both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative data collected through interview, observation and documentation while
the quantitative data was the results of the students’ writing tests.
2. Data Collection Techniques
The data of the research were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained through observation, interview, and documentation of the
teaching and learning process of writing in the classroom including the techniques used by the teacher, the learning media, and the classroom writing activities. This
data were collected from some techniques. Those techniques were described as follows:
a. Observation
Observations were conducted to know important information related to the teaching and learning process, the students’ writing skills, the students’
involvement during the lesson, the students’ understanding of the given materials, the methods and techniques used by the teacher, and the media used to support the
teaching. The results of the observations were in the form of field notes. It was used to record activities and situations during the research.
b. Interviews
This technique was used to get information related to the English teaching and learning process from the students and the teacher. The teacher
and the students were interviewed in order to collect complete data of the problems. From the interviews, I gained information about the techniques,
activities, the materials, the facilities and the media in the teaching and learning process, the students’ perceptions and difficulties in writing and learning English.
Besides, the interviews also revealed the students’ opinion about the actions, the improvement of their writing skills, their difficulties during the actions, the
collaborator’s opinion about the actions, the condition of the class, and the students’ involvement during the lesson.
c. Documentations
The documentations were photographs of the teaching and learning process. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were gained by conducting pre-test, progress test
and post-test to measure the improvement of students’ writing skills.
3. Data Collection Instruments
I acted as the teacher when implemented the actions while the collaborator and the English teacher played a role as the observer. The data were collected by
using observation checklist, interview guidelines, and a writing scoring rubric.
a. Observation sheet
The observation sheet was used to observe the students. It contained the data related to the students’ behaviors during the implementation of the actions.
b. Interview Guidelines
The interview guidelines that contain some questions related to the data were examined. It was used when interviewing the teacher and the students. The
answers of the questions were in the form of interview transcripts. At the end, the information in the interview transcripts was used to make conclusions
whether the mind mapping technique could improve the students’ writing skills or not.
c. Writing Scoring Rubric
Rubric of the students’ writing performance was used to examine the students’ writing skills in the pre-test and post-test. It was aimed at measuring the
improvement of the students’ writing skills. The rubric contains five important elements namely content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics.
4. The Data Analysis Technique
The data were in the form of field notes, interview transcripts, and students’ writing scores. To analyze the data, the qualitative and quantitative descriptive
analysis was used. The qualitative data were analyzed using stages suggested by Burns 1999 i.e., assembling the data, coding the data, comparing the data,
building interpretation and reporting the outcomes. The quantitative data obtained from writing performances were analyzed by
using quantitative descriptive analysis. The quantitative data were presented in the form of tables and mean scores.
E.
Steps of the Research Study
According to Kemmis and Mc Taggart in Burns 2010, action research involves four broad phases in a cycle of research, i.e.:
1. Reconnaissance
In this stage, important information was discovered related to the students’ writing skills before the implementation of the actions. After observed and
interviewed the teacher, the students, and I identified the problems and obstacles found in teaching and learning writing. Some problems were eliminated to obtain
the most feasible problems to solve.
2. Planning
This phase is about the identification of the problem and also plan development of action. After conducting observations and interviews in
reconnaissance stage, some strategic plans were made to choose feasible actions
to overcome the existing problems. In planning the actions, I worked together with the English teacher. The action plan was using mind mapping as teaching
technique and it was aimed at improving the students’ writing skills.
3. Action and Observation
In this stage, the action plans in the planning stage were implemented. I began to solve the problems in the field. The actions were implemented in two
cycles. There were three meeting in each cycle. The effects of the action and the context actions are observed and documented systematically. After that, the data
gained in the implementation of the actions were analyzed.
4. Reflection
Kategori