C.
The Subject of the Study
The subject of this research is the student at the eighth grade at SMP Tahfidz Al-Mizan, in academic year 20142015. There are two classes of this
grade at this school. To decide the subject of this study, the writer use pre-test which is conducted in all those classes before the action, afterward she choose the
class which has the lowest score among others.
D.
The Writer’s Role
Classroom Action Research is a research where the researcher needs a collaborator in implementing the action of the study
. Therefore the writer’s role in this study is as an interviewer and a designer of lesson plan and tests pre- and
post-test. Whereas, during action stage is conducted, the writer stands as a teacher in teaching writing descriptive text through mind mapping, and the real
teacher acts as the observer.
E.
The Stage of Action Intervention
Based on the design of Classroom Action Research explained above, it contains of four cycle: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Hence, the
researcher started her study with the first cycle which is includes those four elements. Yet, the expected data has no improvement; researcher does the next
cycle with the same stage: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. After the data improved as expected, the research is stopped.
F.
The Data and Source of Data
According to Iskandar
6
, there are two kinds of data which is needed to be collected in the Classroom Action Research, they are: a quantitative data,
which is about the improvement of students evaluation, b qualitative data, it is about classroom
situation or student’s habit in the class during the action. Here are the explanation of each data:
6
Iskandar, Opcit., 64.
1. Quantitative Data
a. Written Test, the test is conducted twice-before and after the action or
called as pre-test and post-test. The purpose of pre-test is to know the students
’ basic ability about writing descriptive text before implementation. While post-
test is used to know the students’ improvement in writing descriptive text; post-test is conducted at the end
of each cycle. 2.
Qualitative Data a.
Interviews, before and after implemention of Classroom Action Research the researcher interview the teacher and the students about the strategy
used in teaching writing descriptive text, the students ’ habit during the
teaching and learning process , and both teachers’ and students’ response
about the implementation. b.
Observation, the
data from
this phase
is about
some checklists of teacher’s teaching strategy while the implementation,
students ’ habit in the class, and evaluation used in the class during
teaching and learning process. This observation did by the researcher as the teacher and the real teacher act as a collaborator.
c. Documentation,
photograph , students’ writing, and
all of the relevant data about the implementation are needed to be collected in
documentation.
3. Source of Data
The data is derived from some informants, they are: the teacher and the students. Data from the teacher is the data from inteview, where the researcher
tried to find out the information about the strategy often use by the teacher in teaching writing of descriptive text. The data which were collected from the
students are data from interview and test score. The data from interview was aimed to know their difficulties in writing skill. Next, the data from the test was
aimed to know the improvement of students ’ ability in writing skill. Besides, the
teacher also collaborated with the researcher in collecting the data of observation
of the action in the classroom. Next, the documentation is the data which were obtained from the researcher herself.
G.
The Instrument of Collecting Data
This study used three instruments in collecting the data, they are; interview guideline, observational sheet, and test score. Here is the explanation
about those three instruments:
1. Interview guideline
Interview guideline used in this research is not only to complete the data but also to complete the information needed by researcher. The interview was
conducted to the English teacher and the students of eight grade at SMP Tahfidz Al-Mizan. The interview which is addressed for the English teacher is about
English learning process in the class, the most difficult skill for the students, the activities in English learning process, media used in teaching writing, the problem
faced in teaching writing, the strategy used in teaching writing, students ’
participation in teaching writing, and mind mapping strategy. Also, the interview which is addressed for the student is about whether the students like to writing,
the most difficult skill, the teaching and learning process of writing, and the problem faced in writing.
2. Observational sheet
The observational sheet is used to get the data observation in the classroom. Moreover, it is to monitor and to analyze
teachers’ and students’ performance during the implementation. See in the appendix 3 three to know
some checklists in this stage. In making some checklist in the observation sheet, the writer developed from Kunandars
’ suggestion
7
.
3. Test Score
Written test about descriptive text by using mind mapping was done before pre-test and after post-test the implementation of CAR. It is used to
know the students
’ improvement from pre-test up to post-test2.
7
Kunandar, Langkah Mudah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas Sebagai Pengembangan Profesi Guru, Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 2003, p. 235.
H.
The Technique of Collecting Data
1. Interview
In this phase, the researcher asked the teacher and the students related to the field twice, those are before and after the implementation of CAR. The
interview is aimed to know about students’ participation and method used by the
teacher in teaching writing especially descriptive text. The interview is not only addressed to English teacher but also to the students. The purpose is to match the
data from the teacher and the data from the students. The script of both interview see in appendix 4.
2. Observation
In observation stage, the teacher acts and student behavior related to the problem are the observed object. In this case, the true teacher acts as an observer,
his job is to observe about the participation and behavior of the students during the implementation. This stage was done in every cycle.
3. Test
The writer conducted pre-test and post-test in her study. The result of pre-test is to know the basic competence of the students before the action. Then,
the result of post-test will be implemented after CAR. It is to know the significant differences of the result after the implementation of CAR. For further reading of
pre-test and post-test you can find it in appendix. However here are the procedure of scoring the written test did by the researcher which is adopted from Weigle
s’ model
8
:
8
Sara Cushing Weigle, Assessing Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, p.116.
Table 3.2 Scoring in Writing Skill
Components of writing
Scores Indicators
Content 4
Relevant to the topic and easy to understand 3
Rather relevant to the topic and easy to understand 2
Relevant to the topic but not quite easy to understand
1 Quite relevant to the topic but is not quite easy to
understand Organization
4 Most of the sentences are related to the main idea
3 Some sentences are related to the main idea
2 Few sentences are related to the main idea
1 The sentences are unrelated to the main idea
Vocabulary Mechanic
4 A few errors in choice of words, spelling, and
punctuation 3
Some errors in choice of words, spelling, and punctuation
2 Occasional errors in choice of words, spelling, and
punctuation 1
Frequent errors in choice of words, spelling, and punctuation
Grammar 4
A few grammatical accuracy 3
Some grammatical inaccuracy 2
Numerous grammatical inaccuracy 1
Frequent grammatical inaccuracy
4. Documentation
Documentation consists of some photos of teaching and learning process which was taken during the implementation in the class by observer.
Those are to make sure that the writer really did the research by herself.
I.
Data Analysis and Data Interpretation
The qualitative data from observation, interview, and documentation were collected to measure credibility of the data which is called triangulation data,
while the data were obtained from different technique from similar sources. Next, the quantitative data from written test is the data which is measured with the
numeric data. To get the mean of students’ writing score within one cycle, the
researcher uses the formula
9
: Mx=
Mx : Mean
X : Individual score
N : Number of students
The next step is count the class percentage which passes the minimum mastery criteria-Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum KKM 70 use the formula:
P= X 100
P : The class percentage
F : Total percentage score
N : Number of students
9
Anas Sudjono, Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan, Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 2008, p. 31.
Then, the writer identifies the improvement score on students’ descriptive paragraph from pre-test up to pos-test score in cycle 1 and cycle 2. The
writer uses the formula
10
:
P= X 100
P : percentage of students’ improvement
y : pre-test result
y1 : post-test 1
P= X 100
P : percentage of students’ improvement
y : pre-test result
y2 : post-test 2
J.
Criteria of Action Succes
To know whether the action is succes, both the researcher and the teacher discussed about the action success criteria. Finally, we decided that the
criterion of action success in this research is 75. In other words, if the class ’
percentages who pass KKM 70 is 75, it means that the criteria of action success is reached. Thus, if the number of persentage has been reached, the
researcher does not need to do the next cycle.
10
David E. Melizer, The Relationship Between Mathematic Preparation and Conceptual Learning Gains in Physics: A Possible Hidden Variable in Diagnostic Pretest Scores, Lowa:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2008, p.3.
33
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter presents research finding and interpretation. Research finding discuss about finding of preliminary study includes pre-interview,
observation, and pre-test. Besides, the writer describes about two cycle did in implementation and presents students
’ score in pre-test, post-test 1, and post-test 2. In interpretation, the writer explains about data of interview, data of
observation, data of test, and data of documentation.
A.
The Data Description
1. Finding of Preliminary Study
a. Pre-Interview Result
The interview was conducted on August, 22
th
2014 before giving the pre-test. It was addressed for students and English teacher of second grade SMP
Al-Mizan. First interview was addressed for the teacher. The writer asked some questions about the most difficult skill in teaching English, teaching writing
technique, student’s difficulties faced in writing learning process, and the use of media in teaching writing.
According to teacher ’s answer, the most difficult skill learned by the
students is writing. The students were often stuck in their writing because they found the difficulties in finding the ideas when they were writing. The teacher
used this strategy in teaching writing: firstly, he decided the topic that should be written by the students, afterward, he gave some vocabularies related to the topic;
next, he got the students to write the text. In that explanation shows that the teacher did not explain about kind of the text, generic structure of the text, and the
tenses that should be used in their writing. One of students’ difficulties in writing
subject is gaining the main ideas. They have lack of ideas about what they should write. Some of them spend the time to manage the sentence and to decide the
ideas. The other problem is word misused. They often generalize the word. The
teacher said that he did not use any media in teaching writing subject. Reference book is the one of the media that he used to help his students. Through some
examples given in the book, he expected that his students understood about what they should write.
The second interview was addressed for students of class VIII-A Tahfidz Al-Mizan Pandeglang. It was conducted on August, 22
th
2014. The questions asked by the writer was about whether the students love to writing
subject or not and its reason, the most difficult skill in English subject, the teachers’ teaching in writing subject, and the difficulties faced by the student in
writing subject. Based on the students’ opinion, they did not like to write because
they often stuck in the middle of her writing. For the second question, the students stated that writing is the most difficult skill after listening skill in English subject.
Next, the students recognized that the teacher instruction in the class ran monotonously. What the students know are they should write about the topic
which is given by the teacher and looking for the vocabularies needed in their dictionary. Last, when the writer asked about the difficulties in writing subject,
they said that they were confused in making a good sentence and good structurally paragraph. Moreover, they often stuck on their writing because they have no idea
about what should they write next.
b. Pre-Observation Result
This observation was conducted on August, 23
th
2014. It was held at VIII-A Tahfidz Al-Mizan Pandeglang in academic year 20142015. The class
consists of 22 of students. This observation was aimed to know teaching and learning process on writing skill in the class before CAR. The first thing that the
teacher did in writing class was deciding the topic that should be written by the students. Second, the teacher gave some vocabularies related to the topic which
should be developed by the students. Next, the students were asked to do their task until the time for the lesson finished. From those phenomena, the writer
found that before giving the task for the students, the teacher did not explain about the schemata of the text. It means that the students have no background
knowledge about the type, the definition, the function, the generic structure, and the characteristics of the text which was assigned to them. The students have no
much motivation in writing the text, it can be seen from their attitude in the class. Mostly, the students seem sleepy. Finally, until the time finished for the lesson,
almost of them did not finish the task yet.
c. Pre-test Result
In this step, the students are assigned to write a descriptive text with the theme given from the writer-
“My House”. It was conducted on August, 26
th
2014 at 10.45-11.30AM. To get the mean of students
’ writing score, the writer calculated with the formula below:
M x
=
= =57.04
Next, to get the percentage of students who passed the Minimum Mastery Criteria-KKM Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimum, the writer used:
P =
X 100 =
X 100 =22.72
The results of pre-test shows that mean of students ’ writing score was
50.04, and there were only five or 22.72 students who passed KKM while the other 15 students were below the criterion.
2. The Implementation of CAR
a. Cycle 1
1 Planning
The writer prepared some activities to conduct implementation for the first cycle in this phase. The writer and the teacher work collaboratively in
designing lesson plan for the implementation. First, the writer and the teacher designed three lesson plans for three meetings. Second, the writer prepared the
material and the media needed. The material is taken from English text book and internet. Therefore, the writer and the teacher decided that descriptive text was the
chosen text which should be taught to the students. The media needed in implementation were carton, board marker, color paper, and color pen. Next, the
writer made examples of mind mapping models and a descriptive text by using a cartoon. The other preparation was making observation sheet which is include
guideline observation and unstructured observation. Those were done to know the teacher and students’ activities in the class during the implementation. Besides,
the writer also prepared post-test 1 to know students’ improvement score from
pre-test to pest-test 1.
2 Acting
The acting phase in the first cycle was done on September, 2
nd
, 6
th
, and 9
th
2014. The action did by the writer was based on the lesson plan designed before. It was include three meeting. In the first meeting, the writer started the
lesson by giving the example of descriptive text to the students. Afterward, they were asked to identify the topic discussed in the text. Next, the writer began to
explain about descriptive text and its generic structures. After that, the writer conveyed about mind mapping strategy in writing subject and the advantages of
using that technique. Next, the students were presented the text related to the mind mapping given by the writer. The writer read loudly the text and asked the
students to repeat after it. Next, before closing the class, the writer asked the students about definition and generic structures of descriptive text. For the next
meeting, the writer grouping the students and ask them to make a descriptive text
through mind mapping. It purposed to review and to evaluate their understanding about the lesson before. For the next meeting, the writer have the students to
create descriptive text individually with different topic with the meeting before. The next meeting is post-test1 which is conducted on September, 13
th
2014.
3 Observing
In observation phase the writer is helped by the collaborator. The collaborator checked the whole activities in the class based on the observation
sheet which includes teachers’ performance, class situation, and students’
response. Related to the teachers’ performance, she was less attractive in
controlling the class and less communicative with the students in the first meeting. It proved by the students who chat with their friend and slept in the class.
Therefore, teaching and learning process in the class was less conducive. For the next meeting, the teacher started to take control of the class and became
communicative. In addition, there were some students who lack of attention and
participation during teaching and learning process. It was happened because most of
English lessons’ schedule in that class was placed in the afternoon, thus, it distracts their concentration. Therefore, the teacher gave a brainstorming before
starting the lesson to help them concentrate in teaching and learning process for the next meeting. After the third meeting, the writer did post-test 1 in the next
meeting. It was done to know the improvement of students writing in the first cycle. Based on the result of post-test1, the data showed that the mean score of the
class was 65.90, there were 11 or 50 students who passed the KKM 70.
Table 4.1 Students’ Writing Score of Pre-test and Post-test 1
STUDENTS ’
NUMBER PRE-TEST
POST-TEST 1 1
55 65
2
60 75
3
45 55
