USING PICTURE SERIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY (A Classroom Action Research at the Third Grade Students of MTS NW I Kembang Kerang in the Academic Year of 2010 2011)

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USING PICTURE SERIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY

(A Classroom Action Research at the Third Grade Students of MTS NW I Kembang

Kerang in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)

THESIS

Submitted to Graduate School Sebelas Maret University

as a partial fulfillment for Getting Graduated Degree in English Education

BY

MUHAMMAD ZAINI

S890809114

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

GRADUATE SCHOOL

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY

2011

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v ABSTRACT

Muhammad Zaini, S890809114. 2011. Using Picture Series to improve the Students’ Writing Ability: A Classroom Action Research at the Third Grade students

of MTs NW I Kembang Kerang in the Academic Year of 2010/2011. The first

consultant: Prof. Dr. M. Sri Samiati T, the second consultant: Drs. H. Tarjana, MA. Thesis, Graduate School of English Department of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta.

The research is aimed at: (1) finding whether or not picture series can improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts; and (2) finding the strengths and the weaknesses of picture series used as media to improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts.

This research was a classroom action research. The research was conducted from January 2011 to May 2011 at MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang, East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. The subjects of the research are thirty two students of Class IX A. Based on the problem statement, the research was conducted in two cycles that consisted of planning the action, implementing the action, observing and monitoring the action, evaluating and reflecting. Picture series (PS) are a set of parallel picture showing similar scene or story that offers guidance on vocabulary, structure, and organization. Its function is to tell steps or a sequence of events based on what the students see in the picture.

There are at least five main activities involved in implementing picture series, they are: Sticking picture series on whiteboard and asking the students to describe the picture, asking the students to write based on the picture, discussing the result of all groups, making some correction to the students’ mistakes, and discussing the students’ difficulties. The data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively. To collect the quantitative data the researcher used students’ pre-test and post-test. To collect the qualitative data the researcher conducted the direct observation at the classroom, interviews, and questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and t-test of non independent variables are used to analyze quantitative data. Constant Comparative Method designed by Strauss and Glasser is used to analyze qualitative data.

The research findings are described in line with the problem statements as follows: (1) Pictures series can improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts. It was indicated by the score of each indicator of Post-test is higher than the score of each indicator of Pre-test. The scores between the Pre-test and the scores of the Post-test were analyzed by using t-test of non independent variables. It can be concluded that there was a significant difference between the result of the Pre-test and the result of the Post-test, because to(35.53227093) is higher than tt(1.960); (2) The

strengths of using picture series used as media to improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts are: (1) it could be helpful for the students in generating their ideas; (2) it could stimulate the students to participate in writing class and the activities in the writing class were students-centered and make them pay attention and take part in the teaching-learning. The researcher also realized that there were still some weaknesses of picture series as follows: (1) it needed much time to carry out teaching writing using picture series; and (2) it was not easy to find pictures for suitable topics. However, picture series media is one of the appropriate instructional media to improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts.

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PRONOUNCEMENT

This is to certify that I myself write this thesis entitled “USING PICTURE SERIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY” (A Classroom Action Research at the Third Graders of MTS NW I Kembang Kerang in the Academic Year of 2010/2011). It is not plagiarism or made by others. Anything related to other’s work is written in quotation, the source of which is listed on the bibliography.

If then this pronouncement proves incorrect, I am ready to accept any academic punishment, including the withdrawal or cancellation of my academic degree.

Surakarta, June 2011

Muhammad Zaini

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MOTTO

Never put off till tomorrow

what we can do today

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Praise be to Allah SWT the Almighty for the blessing, health, and inspiration in leading his thesis to completion. The writer realizes that the accomplishment of this thesis can not be reached without any help from others. The writer wishes to give his sincerest gratitude to:

1. The Director of the Graduate School and Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd the Head of English Education Program Sebelas Maret University who have given him opportunity and permission to conduct the research.

2. Prof. Dr. M. Sri Samiati T. and Drs. H. Tarjana, MA who have patiently and willingly deposited their guidance and valuable advice. Without their guidance and help, the writer can not complete this thesis.

3. His lecturers in Graduate School of English Education Department who have given science and knowledge in various subjects during his study in the university.

4. His parents, who always pray for him and give support to study.

5. His beloved wife, Suaebatul Aslamiah, S.Pd and his children, Rizqia and Alsa who always give supports and encourage him.

6. The teachers, the staffs, and the students of MTs NW I Kembang Kerang who have helped him to conduct the research. Special thanks are also addressed to the collaborator, Shabrin, SS. for his helps given during collecting the data in the research.

7. All of his classmates and friends for their support who can not be mentioned one by one for their help.

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The writer realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect, that is why he always expects criticism and suggestion from the readers in order that it will get improvement.

Surakarta, June 2011

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE……….. APPROVAL PAGE..……….. LEGITIMATION PAGE……… PRONOUNCEMENT……… ABSTRACT………. MOTTO………. DEDICATION……….. ACKNOWLEDGMENT……….. TABLE OF CONTENTS………. LIST OF TABLES……… LIST OF FIGURES………. LIST OF APPENDICES……….

i ii iii iv v vi vii viii x xiii xiv xv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study………

B. Problem Statement………

C. Objectives of the Study………. D. Benefits of the Study………

1 4 4 5

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESIS

A. Review of Related Literature………..………..

1. The Nature of Meaning………

a. The Meaning of Writing……….

b. Types of Writing………..

2. The Teaching of Writing………

3. Approaches to Teaching Writing……….. 4. The Curricular Objectives of Teaching Writing Skill at

SMP/MTs………

5. Assessing Writing………..

6. The Use of Picture Series in Teaching Writing………….

B. Review of Related Research………

6 6 6 9 14 21 23 24 26 30

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C. Rationale……….

D. Hypothesis……….

31 32 CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Setting of the Study……….. B. Subject of the Study………. C. Research Method………. D. Research Procedure……… E. Data Collection Technique………

F. Data Analysis Technique……….

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. Introduction……… 1. Preliminary Reflection………. 2. Fact Finding……….. B. Cycle I……….. 1. Planning……… a. Interviewing the Collaborator……… b. Interviewing the Students………. c. Sharing Idea with the Collaborator……….. d. Pre-test……… e. Designing Treatment……… 2. Implementation of the Action……….. a. First Meeting……… b. Second Meeting……… c. Third Meeting………. 3. Observation of the Action……… a. The Teaching –Learning Process………. b. Students’ Learning Process………. 4. Reflecting……….. a. The Strengths……….. b. The Weaknesses………

5. Why it happened ……… 6. How should it be………

33 34 34 37 44 47 51 51 54 56 56 56 56 57 57 58 58 59 62 63 64 65 66 71 71 72 73 74

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v CHAPTER V

C. Cycle II……….. 1. Planning………. 2. Implementation of the Action……….. 3. Observation of the Action……… 4. Reflecting……….

a. The Strengths………

b. The Weaknesses………..

5. Post-test………. 6. Evaluating and Reflecting………. 7. Discussion……….. a. Picture Series to Improve the Students’ Ability ………

b. The Strengths of Picture Series Used as Media……… c. The Weaknesses of Picture Series Used as Media……

CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion………..

B. Implication……….

C. Suggestion……….

75 75 78 83 89 90 91 92 96 97 97 102 104 106 107 107 BIBLIOGRAPHY……….. APPENDICES……… 111 114

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LIST OF TABLES

No Table Name of Tables Page

1 1 Time Schedule of the Research 33

2 2 Scoring Rubric Scale of Writing Elements 47

3 3 The Pre-test Average Score of Writing Elements 53

4 4 Rank of English Skill Difficulties 54

5 5 Average Score of Cycle I from the First Corrector 68 6 6 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle I from the

First Corrector

68 7 7 Average Score of Cycle I from the Second

Corrector

69 8 8 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle I from the

Second Corrector

69 9 9 Average Score of Cycle I from Two Correctors 70 10 10 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle I from Two

Correctors

70 11 11 The Students’ Problems and their Solution of

Cycle I

75 12 12 Average Score of Cycle II from the First Corrector 86 13 13 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle II from the

First Corrector

87 14 14 Average Score of Cycle II from the Second

Corrector

87 15 15 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle II from Second

Corrector 88

16 16 Average Score of Cycle II from Two Correctors 88 17 17 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle II from Two Correctors 89 18 18 Average Score of the Post-test from the First

Corrector

93 19 19 Score of Writing Elements of the Post-test from

the First Corrector

93 20 20 Average Score of the Post-test from the Second

Corrector

94 21 21 Score of Writing Elements of Cycle II from Second

Corrector

94 22 22 Average Score of the Post-test from Two

Correctors

95 23 23 Score of Writing Elements of the Post-test from

Two Correctors

95 24 24 Students’ Writing Achievement in Each Aspects of

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LIST OF FIGURES

No Figure Name of Figure Page

1 1 Steps of how to fry eggs 29

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LIST OF APPENDICES

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.` 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Lesson Plan 1……… Lesson Plan 2……… Lesson Plan 3……… Construct of Writing………. Blue Print of Writing Test……….……… Pre-test Item………. Post-test Item………. Scoring Rubric of Writing Elements………. Pre-test’s Score………. Score of Cycle I………. Score of Cycle II……….. Post-test’s Score ……….. Improvement from Pre-test to Post-test………... Computation of t-test of non independent……… Questionnaire……… Interview……… Observation Aspects of Cycle I and Cycle II……… Field Note………... 114 119 126 131 132 133 134 135 137 142 147 152 157 158 167 171 181 185

commit to user CHAPTER I

1. INTRODUCTION A. Background of Study

English as the first foreign language in Indonesia is taught starting from the elementary school level up to university level. The general objective of teaching English in Indonesia, based on the school based curriculum (KTSP), is to develop students’ communicative competence of the four language skills or aspects of teaching and learning; reading, speaking, listening, and writing. Richard (1992: 189) states that the teaching of language skills (reading speaking, listening, and writing) are related to each other, when a lesson involves activities that relate listening and speaking, reading and writing, it means that listening activity is related to spoken or oral language, and reading is related to written language.

The purpose of learning English language in Junior High School is to achieve the functional level. In this, the students can develop their competences in oral or written to resolve daily problems. They are conscious of the importance and essential of English in the global era. They can develop their comprehension about language and culture (Depdiknas, 2006: 278).

The basic competence of writing which should be mastered by the students in junior high school is expressing meaning by using vocabularies, grammar and the steps of rhetorical development accurately in the forms of narrative, report, descriptive, recount, and procedure. These should be supported by competences namely linguistics competence, sociocultural competence, strategic competence, and text former competence (Depdiknas, 2006: 278). Writing is one part of four

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skills that have to be mastered by the students. They should be able to express their ideas through their activities in the written form such as: They are able to generate sentences into logical order, they are able to write supporting sentences related to main idea, they are able to manipulate the words into understandable and acceptable pattern of sentences, they are able to choose appropriate diction, and they are able to arrange a procedure text which was punctuated, well-spelled, and well-capitalized. Ideally their scores for writing should be at least 60. The real condition found by the researcher in Class IX A students of MTs

NW I Kembang Kerang, Lombok Timur, based on the result of the students’

pre-test score 51.906, is that students of Class IX A had problem in writing, it was indicated by: they were lack in vocabulary, the got difficulties in how to start to write, they did not organize their writing well, the students were not able to make grammatically correct sentences, and they are not able to arrange sentences which was well-punctuated, well-spelled, and well-capitalized. In classroom, the students did not enjoy the lesson, they were not active and neither creative, they kept silent when they were asked to do the tasks in front of class, and they were sleepy in class.

It was clear that one of the students’ difficulties is in understanding and writing procedure texts. Therefore the writer interviewed some of the students dealing with procedure. Some answered that they knew the procedure but some did not. The following, is a student’s answer when the writer asked his reasons why he got difficulties in writing a procedure text.

One of the students said (Appendix 16 d):

Terus terang pak, saya itu ndak suka nulis pak, dan kesulitan saya ketika nulis adalah cara memulai nulis pak, kosa kata saya cuma

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sedikit dan cara merangkai kata-kata saya juga bingung grammar saya juga payah pak.

Meanwhile, another student Mhydn gave the following argument (Appendix 16 e): “Dalam menulis saya mengalami kesulitan menemukan ide, menemukan kosa kata, cara mrangkainya, serta grammarnya”.

There are two main causes from both teachers and students. The causes from the teacher’s side are as follows: the teachers still used traditional techniques in which he only demanded the students’ writing product. He only gave fewer portion of writing even though writing is a complex skill. The teachers made the students write a text where they had to follow written language rules. He seldom taught writing by using various techniques. The techniques used were monotonous. He did not consider that writing was a complex skill and it needed time to revise the contents, grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. The causes from the students’ side are as follows: students did not care about the lesson. If they had homework, they did not do it at all, and they often came late to school. At home they never studied their lesson to improve their ability. Even, they gave more attention to look for grass for their cattle, took away passengers (ngojek), and watched television a lot. Most of them did not want to study hard because they considered that they would not continue their study.

Among the four language skills, writing is considered the most difficult, and it needs an effective and interesting approach to solve it. There are many ways to improve the students’ writing ability. Using pictures is one of the solutions to overcome the problems. Gerngross (1992: 3) states that the uses of pictures make communication in the foreign language class more lively, natural and stimulating. He recommended that pictures can be used to offer ideas to train language skill.

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The use of pictures can generate the productive skills namely speaking and writing skills.

Furthermore, Wright (2004:129) identifies some benefits of using pictures in teaching, those are: pictures can motivate students to speak or to write. Pictures in the picture series can create a context within which students with the information use it in controlled practiced work. Pictures showing objects, actions, events and relationship can cue answers to questions, substitutions, and sentence completion. They can sponsor, stimulate, and possibly guide spoken and written description, narration or dialogue, and they can offer information for free speaking and writing, especially in recalling the vocabulary so that the students can express their ideas or opinions in sentences or paragraphs easily.

Since picture series are considered to be able to help students to get experience and stimulate students in recalling vocabularies to express their ideas or opinions to write sentences and paragraphs even an essay, the writer proposes to use picture series media in teaching writing, especially writing procedure texts.

B. Problem Statement

Referring to the background of the study, the problem statements are: 1. Can picture series improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts? 2. What are the strengths and the weaknesses of picture series used as a media

to improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts? C. Objectives of the Study

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1. To know whether picture series can improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts.

2. To know the strengths and weaknesses of picture series when they are used as media to improve the students’ ability in writing procedure texts.

D. Benefits of the Study

Hopefully, the results of the study can give some benefits: 1. To the researcher himself

The researcher can create and enhance the teaching media and use the result of the study in the teaching-learning activities.

2. To the students

The students are interested to study hard in English subject especially in teaching of writing and have some different interesting experiences in the teaching- learning activities.

3. To the teachers

Teachers can select the most appropriate media to improve their students’ skill, especially writing ability.

4. To other researchers

The other researchers can develop the research based on the results and use them as one of the references to study about writing skill.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESIS

A. Review of Related Literature 1. The Nature of Writing a. The Meaning of Writing

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Writing is a process that occurs over period of time, particularly if we take into account the some times extended periods of thinking that precede creating an initial draft. Even “in the more immediately focused stage of constructing a text (actually writing the words down) writer pause, think, write, pause, think, revise and so on” (Harris, 1993: 10)

While Byrne (1997: 1) states that:

Writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols: making marks on a flat surface of some kind. But writing is clearly much more than the production of graphic symbols, just a speech is more than the production of sounds. The symbol have to be arranged, according to certain conventions, to form word, and words have to be arranged to form sentences, although again we can be said to be “writing” if are merely making list of words, as in inventories of items such as shopping list. Writing activity starts from producing a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain ways. Writing can be stated as the forming/constructing a text that minimally includes some areas of knowledge are including grammatical and mechanical sentences, organizational structures, letter formations, contents, and vocabulary inventories of items for expressing the writer’s ideas .

Heaton (1975: 127) also states “that in writing the writers manipulate words in grammatically correct sentences and link those sentences to form a piece of writing which successfully communicates the writers’ thoughts and ideas on a certain topic”. In short, the writers try to express their ideas in written using grammatically correct sentences for communication purposes.

Canale and Swain in Mukminatien (1991: 134) state that “writing minimally includes four areas of knowledge: grammatical competence, discourse, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence”. In this case, it can be

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mentioned that writing product if it has at least four requirements. Those are: grammatical competence, discourse, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence.

Bell and Burnaby in Nunan (1998: 36) state that:

Writing is a complex cognitive activity in which the writer is demanded to demonstrate control of variables simultaneously at the sentence level-include control of content, spelling, and letter formation and the beyond of the sentence –Structure and integrated information into cohesive and coherent paragraph and text.

On the other hand a writer communicates his/her ideas by considering a known or unknown reader who will get their meaning in the form of correct written text. Therefore, a writer needs to know how to express the message in written words so that can be clearly understood in communication.

Writing is an activity that supports students to analyze and synthesize their discrete knowledge about language items into a text that is acceptable in an English writing convention by using the appropriate sentence structure. Hence to be able to write students must write. (Brown, K & Hood, S. (1989).

Writing is transforming thoughts into language. It means that we need to think about the content of our writing first and then arrange the ideas using appropriate language (e.g. grammar and vocabulary). Consequently teachers must learn about organizational skills in writing.

Writing is not just about accuracy. It is also about having a message and communicating it successfully to other people. To do this, teachers need to have enough ideas, organize them well and express them in an appropriate style.

Brown (2004: 220) states that micro skills are related to imitative and intensive types of writing task whereas macro skills are related to responsive and extensive writing. The descriptions are as follows:

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a) Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English. b) Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose. c) Produce an acceptable core or words and use appropriate word

order.

d) Use acceptable grammatical system (e.g. tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, and rules.

e) Express a particular meaning in different grammatical form. f) Use cohesive devices in written discourse.

2) Macro skills:

a) Use the rhetorical forms and convention of written discourse.

b) Appropriately accomplish the communicative function of written texts according to form and purpose.

c) Convey links and connections between events, and communicate such relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification.

d) Distinguish between literal and implied meaning when writing. e) Correctly convey culturally specific references in the context of the

written text.

f) Develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience’s interpretation, using pre-writing device, writing with fluency in the first draft, using paraphrase and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing.

At the micro skills, students practice specific written forms at the level of words or sentences (grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics). On the other hand, at the macro skills, students emphasize on content and organization. In the latter, they express themselves using their own words, state a purpose for writing, and specify an audience. While Hillocks in O’Malley (1996: 136) states there are at least four types of knowledge in writing, there are:

1) Knowledge of content. In expressing it, the students conduct a memory search and call on prior knowledge and experience.

2) Procedural knowledge to organize the content, to group ideas, and to sequence the ideas in ways that match the purposes of the writing. 3) Knowledge of conventions of writing. The students must know the

discourse structures, syntactic form, and conventions of writing.

4) Procedural knowledge to apply the three other types of knowledge in composing written product. This is the basis for composition. The students not only master the grammars but also master the procedures

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that combine three types of knowledge just indicated in composing written piece that responds to the original purposes.

Based on the elaboration above, besides focusing on micro and macro skills, the writer should require the range of knowledge to produce a good written text.

b. Types of Writing

Writing can be classified into several types. Many attempts have been made to classify writing. Harris (1993: 16) States that “the most long-established is the four folds division of classical rhetoric exposition, argument, description and narration”, it means that the pieces of writing are classified in relation to the writer’s intention to form a writing and readership.

Texts can be grouped based on the purpose of arranging them. They are intended to entertain, inform, instruct, persuade, explain, argue, and so on. They are broadly synonymous with “texts type” forms of writing such things as posters, brochures, pamphlets, letters, recipes, set of instructions, list labels, stories, reports, poems, essays, play scripts, and so on. Writers set a task they need to know some types of texts related to the teaching learning at junior high school (SMP/MTs), those are: descriptive, report, narrative, recount, and procedure. They will be further discussed with a focus on procedure texts.

1) Descriptive

Descriptive writing is the writing which is designed to describe persons, places or things, moments, and theories clearly, powerfully and detailed images in the mind to help the reader create the mental picture of what is being written about ( Everett : I, at http: //Gostc laudstate. Edu / acadwrite/descriptive. Html

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accessed: August, 28, 2010). Descriptive writing is a kind of writing which describes anything in written by creating the mental picture to readers. Its structures are: identification and description, while the language features are as follows:

a) Focuses on specific participant. b) Uses simple present tense.

c) Uses detailed noun phrases to inform subject.

d) Uses adjectives for describing, numbering, classifying, etc. e) Uses relating, thinking (feeling), and action verbs.

f) Uses figurative language.

2) Report

Anderson and Anderson (1999: 86) state that “an information report is a piece of text that presents information about a subject. An information report usually contains facts about the subject, a description and information on its behavior and qualities parts”. Report text is a text to describe the way things are, with reference to range of natural, man-made and social phenomena in our environment. It tells what the phenomenon under discussion is. The generic structures of it are: general classification, and description. While its language features are:

a) Focuses on generic participant. b) Uses simple present tense. c) Uses specific language.

commit to user 3) Recount

Anderson and Anderson (1999: 16) state that “recount is a piece of text that retells past events, usually in order in which they happened”. The purpose of a recount is to give the audience a description of what occurred and when it occurred. Recount tells the readers in the past, it begin by telling the readers involved, what happened, where the event took place, and when it happened. The generic structures of it are: orientation, series of events, and reorientation. While its language features are:

a) Focuses on the participant b) Uses past tense

c) Uses conjunctions and time connectives. d) Uses adverbs and adverb phrases. 4) Narrative

Anderson and Anderson (1999: 9) state that “A narrative text type is a piece of text which tells a story and, in doing so, entertains or informs the reader or listener, it is related to recount text type”. The word derives from the Latin verb

narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or

"skilled".[1] Ultimately its origin is found in the Proto-Indo-European root gnō-, "to know".[2]

(File: //localhost/C:/Users/MTS%20NW%20O1/Documents/Narrative%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free%20encyclopedia.mht accessed: September, 24th 2010).

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A narrative is a made up story that is created in a constructive format (as a work of speech, literature, pictures, song, motion pictures, television, video games, theatre, musical theatre, or dance) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. The generic structures of it are: orientation, complication, and solution. While the language features are as follows:

a) Focuses on specific participant b) Uses past tense

c) Uses time connectives and conjunctions d) Uses saying verbs

5) Procedure

Anderson and Anderson (1999: 50) state that “A procedure is a text that shows a process in order. Its social function is to describe how something is completely done through a sequence of series”. Procedure text is used to describe how something is accomplished through a sequence of actions or steps. Its generic structure is as follows: an introductory statement that gives the aim or goal, a list of materials that will be needed for completing the procedure, a sequence of steps in order it needs to be done, and the use of action verbs. A procedural text is used to tell someone how to do or make something. “The type of text comes in many forms, such as instruction manuals and recipes”(Mukarto, et al. 2007: 36). They add that the text consists of three parts;

Title/goal : It states the goal to be achieved

List of Materials : It lists the materials needed. It often gives details on the size, color, numbers, shapes, quantity, etc.

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Lists of equipments : It lists the equipments needed. It also often gives detail on the size, color, numbers, shapes, quantity, etc.

Steps/Method/ Procedure: It describes steps in logical order to achieve the goal. The steps are often marked with number (1,2,3…), letter (a,b,c…), or bullet marks. Sometimes the steps include caution(s) or warning(s). There are also drawings or pictures to make the steps clear.

Procedure text is designed to describe how something is accomplished through a sequence of actions or steps. It is also more about process than things but explain how people perform different process in a sequence of steps. The generic structures of procedure text are: goals, materials, and steps. The language features of this text are as follows: focus on generalized human agents, use of simple present tense, use of mainly temporal conjunctive relations, and use of mainly material (action) clauses.

Based on the theories above, the writer inferred that writing is a complex cognitive activity in which the writer is demanded to express their ideas, experiences, knowledge, and feelings which covers content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics to form a piece of writing which successfully communicates the writers’ thoughts and ideas on a certain topic. Writing involves several sub-skills. Writing accurately involves spelling correctly, forming letters correctly, writing legibly, punctuating correctly, using correct layouts, choosing the right vocabulary, using grammar correctly, joining sentences correctly in procedure texts which are used to tell someone how to do or make something.

commit to user 2. The Teaching of Writing

The purpose of writing in principle is the expression of ideas, the conveying of a message to the reader: so the ideas them selves should arguably be seen as the most important aspect of writing on the other hand, “the writer needs also to pay some attention to formal aspects: neat hand writing. Correct spelling and punctuation as well as acceptable grammar careful selection of vocabulary”. Ur (1996: 163).

The teaching of writing skill has been given to the students from the early stages in Indonesia. It is officially started in the first year of junior high school, presently it has been introduced to students at the elementary school. Yet the students still have a lot of difficulties in expressing ideas through a written language. That is why, during the teaching learning process, a teacher should give more help, practices and chances to the students to explore and express their ideas. Formally, teaching writing courses are focused on grammar or on elaborate discussion of the theory of writing only. This condition makes the students get sleepy and bored during the course.

Byrne (1984: 4) states that there are three factors which influence writing process, there are: (1) Psychological problem: in this case, a teacher expected to be able to write his own, without the possibility of interaction of benefits of feedback, in itself makes the act of writing difficult. (2) Linguistic problem: a teacher has keep the channel of communication open through his own efforts and to ensure, both through his choice of sentences structure and by the way his sentences are linked together and sequenced, that the text he writes or produces can be interpreted on its own. (3) Cognitive problem: a teacher has to master the written form of the language and to learn certain structures which are less used in speech, or may be not used at all, but which are important for effective communication in writing. A teacher has to learn how to organize his idea even though in such a way that they can be understood by a reader who is not present and perhaps by a reader who is not known to us. In short, it can be concluded that writing is a

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task which is often imposed on the teacher, perhaps by circumstances. This not only has psychological effect: it may also change a problem in term of content what to say.

To overcome those problems mentioned above, the English teachers need to be aware that writing should be taught in various ways and manners so that the students are interested in studying it. The teacher should also phase the writing task from the simplest stage to the more complex one, so that students are not frustrated with writing.

The 2004 Competency Based English Curriculum of Junior High School (SMP), the program of teaching and learning English as a language aims to develop students’ skill in listening, reading, speaking and writing. The students are expected to achieve competencies in understanding oral written texts and to be able to express their thoughts and ideas whether in oral written form, especially in the forms of narrative, report, recount, descriptive, and procedure. Writing is one of the four important skills that should be mastered by SMP students to express their ideas, feelings, and thoughts in written.

Rivers in Mukminatien (1999: 130) states that:

Writing in language classrooms can be classified into types: (1) Writing down or notation that means imitating copying in writing activities, students are asked to copy words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs. (2) Writing in the language or writing practice, the writing activity can be in the form of writing simple dialogues, uncomplicated translation, dictation, and clone procedure. (3) Translation that refers to transferring passages or sentences from the target language and (4) Expressive writing is the expression of original ideas in the new (target) language.

It refers to the conveying of information or the expression of original ideas in a consecutive way in the new language. Expressive writing or composition may be for practical purposes or it may be more creative. The examples of composition

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for practical purposes are writing instruction, reports, resume, concrete description, or essential correspondence connected with everyday affairs the ultimate goal in creative expression is to encourage some one to be more active in developing his diction mastery and improving his grammar ability.

Huges (1996: 91) mentions five aspects of writing, they are: (1) grammar, that is an element of writing which deals with a set of rules to have a writer construct sentences that makes sense and acceptable in English. (2) Vocabulary, it deals with a list of words and their meaning. (3) Mechanics that is the convention in writing, which is related to punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. (4) Fluency, which refers to the ease and the style of the composition. And (5) form (organization) is the logical sequence and cohesion, or the flow of ideas being put into written language, to make unified contribution o the whole paragraph. The explanation of those aspects as follows:

a) Grammar

According to Fairbain and Winch (1996: 108) state that grammar is an element of writing which deals with a set of rules to help a writer to construct sentences that make sense and applicable in English. When a paragraph or composition is written, grammar must be applied correctly in order to make the writing sensible and understandable. While, Heaton (1991: 135) stating that grammatical skill is the ability to write correct and appropriate sentences. Thus, it can be said that if someone wants to produce an effective paragraph or composition, he or she has to know the grammar well. Consequently, if a writer

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wants to make a good writing, he or she should follow a very basic rules and convention of grammar to construct sentences.

b) Mechanical

Heaton (1991: 135) states that mechanical skill is the ability to use those conventions peculiar to the written language correctly. Also, Heaton (1991: 135) uses the term mechanical skill for punctuation and spelling. In line with Fairbain and Winch (1996: 81) say that punctuation is a variety of devices that a writer uses in order to help readers understand the meaning of peace of writing. Furthermore, Kanar (1998: 461-461) states the marks and rules of punctuations as follows:

1) End Punctuation Mark (. ? !)

As a good writer, one must be able to choose the most appropriate punctuation mark to end the sentence. The period, question mark, and exclamation point are marks of punctuation that are used most of the time. Kanar (1998: 461) states three ways to end a sentence. They are as follows:

(a) Place a period at the end of a sentence that either makes a statement or issues a command.

(b) Place a question mark at the end of a sentence that ask a direct question, but place a period at the end of a statement that indirectly ask a question. (c) Place an exclamation point at the end of a statement to indicate surprise or

intense feeling. 2) The colon (:)

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Place a colon at the end of a statement if what follows is list, quotation, explanation, or word needing special emphasis.

3) The Dash (-)

Place a dash before and after words that interrupt the flow of thought or before words that create a dramatic effect.

4) The Hyphen

If two or more words that describe a noun function as a unit, connect them with a hyphen.

5) The Semicolon (;)

(a) Place the semicolon between two sentences that are closely related. (b) Place a semicolon before a conjunctive adverb that joins two

independent clauses.

(c) Use a semicolon to separate items a series if the items already contain commas.

6) The Comma (,)

The comma, or the pause, gives reader or listeners a chance to think about what is being said and relation of one idea to another

(a) Commas separate items in a series.

(b) Commas separate two adjectives that modified the same word if the adjective are coordinate and belong to the same class

(c) A comma follows introductory words, phrases, and clauses. (d) Commas come before and after interrupting words, phrases, and

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(e) A comma comes before a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses.

(f) Commas set off certain ordinary material. 7) The Apostrophe (‘)

The apostrophe (‘) have two functions: to show possession and to indicate omitted letters of number.

c) Vocabulary

Vocabulary deals with a list of words with meaning (Hornby, 1995: 1331). The writing will be understandable if the students have a goof store of words and are able to use words appropriately. Readers cannot understand about the content of writing because the ideas informed would be seen through the words used.

d) Developing Ideas

Amaudet and Barret (1990: 1- 47) state that “main ideas as topic sentences and supporting sentences as supporting topic sentences”. In this, the topic sentence is supported by sub topic sentence. Davis (1983: 126) defines “topic sentence as a sentence that contains the central idea to be discussed in a single paragraph”. Such a sentence not only announces to the reader the topic of the sentence but also makes a definitive statement about that topic.

e) Form (Organization)

Kanar (1998: 16) states that “organization in writing means presenting the material in order that makes sense that is, a logical order”.

commit to user 1) Unity

Bram (1995: 20) states that “a paragraph is said to be in good unity if it is unified by mutually supported sentences that express one main idea of the topic sentence only”. It means that Each of the supporting sentences should serve to back up, clarity, explain, or prove the point in the topic sentence. In other words, each sentence in a paragraph should relate and develop that idea in controlling idea.

2). Coherence

Davis (1999: 126-127) states that “coherence is achieved by using words or phrases that link the sentences together to make them coherent or stick together, so that there is no break in the pattern of thought”. In arranging words to be sentences or phrases, the sentences or phrases must relate to each other, so the readers can catch an idea of the written.

3. Approaches to Teaching Writing

Attempts to teach writing, there are several approaches to hold it. Byrne (1988: 21) states that:

Since the time when students were merely given a topic of some kind and asked to produce a ‘composition’ without further help have usually focused on some particular problematical aspect of the writing situation. Some key approaches are: focus on accuracy, focus on fluency, focus on text, and focus on purpose.

a. Focus on accuracy

Mistakes show up in written work (especially since this is usually subject to rigorous correction) and naturally come to be regarded as a major problem. It was assumed that students made mistakes because they were allowed to write what students wanted, and accuracy oriented approaches have therefore stressed

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the importance of control in order to eliminate them from written work. Students are taught how to write and combine various sentence types and manipulation exercises. Gradually the amount of control is reduced and the students are asked to exercise meaningful choice. At a still later stage, they may be given a good deal of guidance with language and content, but allowed some opportunities for self-expression.

This controlled-to-free approach was very much a product of the audio-lingual period, with its emphasis on step-by-step learning and formal correctness. Many such schemes were carefully thought out and, although no longer fashionable, they produced many useful ideas on how to guide writing.

b. Focus on fluency

In contrast, this approach encourages students to write as much as possible and as quickly as possible without worrying about making mistakes. The important thing is to get one’s ideas down on paper. In this way students feel that they are actually writing, not merely doing ‘exercises’ of some kind; they write what they want to write and consequently writing is an enjoyable experience. Although this approach does not solve some of the problems which students have when they come to write in a foreign language, it draws attention to certain points we need to keep in mind. Many students write badly because they do not write enough and for the same reason they feel inhibited when they pick up a pen. Most of us write less well if we are obliged to write about something. A fluency-approach, perhaps channeled into something like keeping a diary, can be a useful antidote.

commit to user c. Focus on text

This approach stresses the importance of the paragraph as the basic unit of written expression and is therefore mainly concerned to teach students how construct and organize paragraphs. It uses a variety of techniques, singly and in combination, such as:

- Forming paragraphs from jumbled sentences. - Writing parallel paragraphs.

- Developing paragraphs from topic sentences (with or without cues).

Once again this approach identifies and tries to overcome one of the central problems in writing: getting students to express themselves effectively at a level beyond the sentence.

d. Focus on purpose

In real life, as we have seen, we normally have a reason for writing and we write to or for somebody. These are factors which have often been neglected in teaching and practicing writing. Yet it is easy to devise situations which allow students to write purposefully for example, they can write to one another in the classroom or use writing in role-play situations.

Although, like fluency writing, this approach does not solve specific problems which students have when handling the written language, it does motivate them to write and shows how writing is a form of communication.

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The purpose of teaching English for junior high school student is to develop communicative competence in spoken and written form to achieve the literacy level which can be realized through for language skills listening, speaking, reading and writing for the junior high school graduates they are expected to reach at the functional level, in this case, they are expected to e able to communicate or participate in the creation of text in spoken and written in their daily life in short, at junior high level, learners are expected to learn daily expressions, especially fixed expressions and idioms that are needed in daily lives to accompany their action when playing at school yards, when attending classes, when interacting with their friends etc.

“The SMP students are expected to be able to create many kinds of functional text and monolog in the form procedure, descriptive, recount, narrative, and report” (Depdikbud, 2006: 278). The text created should consists of grammatical sentences, acceptable expressions, and culturally acceptable in the English culture. The standard competence is different for each class level in this study, the writer focuses on the eighth grade student of SMP. In this case, the standard competence for the eighth grade students of SMP is students are able to express many kinds of meanings in the grammatical sentences and acceptable expression in the written text especially in the form of narrative, descriptive, and recount (Depdiknas, 2006: 287). It means that English texts which created by the students must be acceptable texts, grammatically correct and well arranged. They are also expected not to ignore grammatical patterns and the way how the text is organized. As a result, the product of the student writing will consist of grammatical sentences and acceptable expressions.

commit to user 5. Assessing Writing

Assessing is an integral aspect of the teaching-learning process. It happens everyday in the classroom as a teacher continually makes judgment about the performance of their student (Burn and Joyce, 1999: 102). Assessment plays an important role in determining each student’s learning time.

According to Brown (2004: 4), “Assessment is an on going process that includes a much wider aspect-whereas test is a subset of assessment which measures a person’s ability”. In addition, “Assessment is needed by administrators, teacher staff developers, students, and parents to determine the appropriate instructional activities as well as monitor the students’ progress” (O’Malley, 1996: 3). It is also essential to ensure that students meet their needs. In other words, when students think about and reflect on their learning, they become more active participants in the teaching and learning process. “Assessment is an integral part of the teaching learning exile” (Brown, 2001: 420).

In relation to the teaching writing, O’ Malley and Pierce (1996:135) state that:

Writing assessment meets at least three purposes. First, writing assessment is used for identification a program. Placement is ESL a bilingual program. Moreover, students are typically reclassified as English when they are prepared for grade level instruction. Second, writing assessment can be used to monitor student progress and determine if changes in instruction are required to meet student needs. The on going assessment of student writing enables review of student growth over time and a determination of the success of instructional approaches. The third purpose of writing assessment is accountability. Writing assessment is often conducted as part of district or statewide accountability assessment programs for all students, in some advances for high school graduation.

As stated in the previous discussion, a writer requires four types of knowledge in writing.

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These four types of knowledge used in writing have at least two implications for writing assessment. First, writing assessment should evaluate more aspects of writing then just mechanics and grammar. Second, writing assessment should capture some of the processes and complexity involved in writing so that teacher can know in which aspects of the writing process of student are having difficulty (O’Malley, 1996: 137).

In other words, writing assessment should not only look at linguistic aspects but also look at the context in which the writing process occurs. “Writing assessment is not an easy task, when assessing students’ writing ability, the objective and criterions must be clear” (Brown, 2004: 218). It means that the teacher gives a writing task after considering the objectives and the criteria to achieve the writing purposes. In scoring the students’ work, there are five elements to score. There are organization, content, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics.

6. The Use of Picture Series in Teaching Writing

Raimes (1983: 36) states that picture series (PS) are a set of parallel picture showing similar scene or story that offer guidance on vocabulary, structure, and organization. Its function is to tell steps or a sequence of events based on what the students see in the picture.

Picture sequence is a series of photographs dealing with one subject. It may tell a story, present an event, describe a scene, reveal a person, or show how to do something. A common use for a picture sequence is depicting a person during an interview. The most successful picture sequences create several visual

images that contain emphasis and action.

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mht). A picture sequence is a group of closely related photographs that provide

the reader with only a few miscellaneous impressions of an event.

Main function of visual materials including picture in the language lesson, is to help create situation which interest the students. Wright (1992: 16) states that “pictures make a particularly powerful contribution to both the contents and the process of language learning”. She also suggests that pictures can often be used to promote productive skill like speaking and writing.

In order to use pictures effectively and efficiently, as well as achievement at the instructional objective in language learning, teachers should be selective and creative in determining the pictures they used in the activities they planned. A teacher needs to consider that the size of the pictures should give adequate visibility for which they are intended to use, whether for a large group, small group, individual or for the whole class. Wright (1992: 17) adds that “picture can be used to assist in stimulating the students’ inspiration”. The pictures have to be interesting in order to hold the students attention and raise curiosity in their mind.

There are many types of pictures proposed by Wright (1992: 201) one of them is picture series (picture sequence). Picture Series (PS) is a group of pictures order or arranged following an event. In this case, the picture series are used to describe how something is accomplished through a sequence of actions or steps in writing procedure text. Raimes (1983: 28) states that pictures are valuable resources as it provides: (1) a shared experience in the classroom (2) a need for common language forms to use in the classroom (3) a variety of tasks (4) a focus of interests for students. Gerngross and Puchta (1992: 21) state the preparation in using picture story/series in classroom:

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One copy of a cut-up picture story/picture series for each group of students. The size of the groups depends on the number of picture in story/series; for example, if there are six pictures in story/series, you will need four copies for twenty-three students. In three groups each students get one picture, in the fourth group each student gets two.

Furthermore, Gerngross and Puchta (1992: 21) also propose steps in using picture series in teaching procedure texts. The steps were as follows:

a. Write some key words of the steps on the board. Ask your students to develop steps form the words. Have them the steps to the class.

b. Hand out the pictures. Make sure that the learners are aware of the fact that they must not show their pictures to the others. Each student describes his/her picture and then they decide in what order to arrange them. When they have negotiated the order they put the pictures in a line, face down. c. The groups usually do not finish at the same time. When the first group

has finished, the teacher goes from group to group and they quietly tell the steps. This gives the group a chance to rehearse retelling. When all the groups have finished, the first group tell the steps, and only then are the pictures turned over. A discussion may follow if a group has developed a different order.

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This is an example of picture series which might be used in the research;

Figure 1. Steps of how to fry eggs.

eggs/salt/veg.oil prepare/frying pan break/eggs

Mix/eggs pour/eggs add/salt

(Source: Taken from English on Sky 3, 2007: 18)

Furthermore, Raimes (1983: 36) states some advantages of using picture series are:

1) The students gain an overall sense of the story and theme and can see not only its progression but also its subtleties, drama or humor.

2) As students look through the sequence, each picture helps to clarify the meaning of the others.

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3) The vocabulary needed to tell the whole story or describe the whole theme can be discussed, so there will be less hesitation when the students do the telling or describing.

4) Seeing how the story or theme ends, students can shape their oral work more effectively, can build up to a strong climax or conclusion and can judge how many words are needed (which is important in language examinations in which picture composition plays a part).

5) Class time is saved by putting up pictures in advance.

B. Review on Related Research

There are some previous researches related to the use of pictures in the teaching and learning process. Japarudin (2006) conducted a study on applying picture series at SMP. The pictures he used were drawings which showed sequential events, the events showed in the pictures were complete from the first to the last event. This was for teaching writing recount paragraphs. The students here worked in groups of four before they wrote individually. He scored the students’ writing recount by using scoring scale, which consisted of three aspects; content, language use, and spelling. Based on the results of that research, he found that the teaching using picture was able to improve the students’ ability in writing recount.

Second, Lailawati (2009) conducted a study on applying incomplete picture series technique at MTs/SMP. Based on the results of her research, she found that incomplete picture series teaching was successful in improving the

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students’ speaking ability as well as increasing their involvement in the teaching and learning activities.

C. Rationale

The basic competence of writing which should be mastered by the students in junior high school is expressing meaning by using vocabularies, grammar and the steps of rhetorical development accurately in the forms of narrative, report, descriptive, recount, and procedure. These should be supported by competences namely linguistics competence, socio cultural competence, strategic competence, and text former competence. However, the problem is that the students of Class IX A are not able to write in English well.

The problem is indicated by they lack of vocabulary, they got difficulties in how to start to write, they got difficulties to choose appropriate dictions, they did not organize their writing well, they sometime lost their ideas and got stuck, and the students were not able to make grammatically correct sentences.

The difficulties come from techniques and media were used in the teaching-learning process. The teachers still used traditional techniques in which he only demanded the students’ writing product. He only gave fewer portion of writing even though writing is a complex skill. The teachers made the students write a text where they had to follow written language rules. He seldom taught writing by using various techniques. The techniques used were monotonous.

In teaching learning process, it is very important for the teacher to use a appropriate media to arouse the students’ interest and it make the students easier to understand and to write procedure texts. Picture Series (PS) is able to make

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communication in the foreign language class more lively, naturally, and stimulating. It also helps the students to offer ideas to train language skill. Besides, the vocabulary needed to write the steps or to describe the theme can be discussed, so there will be less hesitation when the students tell, describe, and write procedure texts.

Using picture series in teaching procedure texts can help the students to understand the texts easily. To understand a procedure text, the students must know about the generic structure of procedure texts that consist of: goal, material, and steps.

Using picture series, the students can create a context within which students with the information use it in controlled practiced work. It shows objects, actions, events and relationship can cue answers to questions, substitutions, and sentence completion. It also can improve the students ability in writing procedure texts, where the procedure texts is sequence of steps and picture series is a sequence of events or steps too.

D. Action Hypothesis

Based on the problem and the rationale of the study, the hypothesis is formulated as follows: Picture series can improve students’ ability in writing procedure texts.

commit to user CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Setting of the Study

The setting of the study was at MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang, located at

Kembang Kerang village, Aikmel district, East Lombok regency. MTs NW 1

Kembang Kerang was built in 1987. MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang

geographically, is located in a strategic place. It is not difficult to get to the school by any means of transportation because it is near the regency street. MTs

NW 1 Kembang Kerang is one of the private Islamic high schools which got A in

accreditation from Ministry Office of National Education, Institution of National Accreditation (BAN) of West Nusa Tenggara Province.

In conducting this research, the researcher was assisted by collaborator. The research was conducted from January 2011 up to June 201, the schedule is as follows:

Table 1

No Activities

Jan 2011

Feb 2011

Mar 2011

Apr 2011

Mei 2011

June 2011

1 Preliminary ü

2 Writing proposal ü ü ü

3 Conducting research _{ü ü}

4 Writing Report ü ü ü ü

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Because of the limited time and finance, the research was conducted to the students of Class IX A MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang. Class IX A consists of 32 students and all of them are boys. Most students (90%) are from Kembang

Kerang village and 10% are from out of the village. Those who come from out

of the village, usually stay in an Islamic boarding house which is near the school. The students come from different social and economics background. Most of them came from poor and low social status families.

According to the previous teacher, most students did the task when the teacher asked them although the result of their task was still far from the teachers’ expectation. It can be seen from the result of the pre-test given. Based on the students’ test achievement, this class is categorized into low achievers among the other classes. In this case the researcher chooses Class IX A due to the fact that the problem faced by this class was writing problem. They got many difficulties in writing such as generating ideas, arranging sentences, organizing sentences, having lack of vocabulary, and making coherence. That is why the researcher takes a classroom action research in order to solve the problems.

C. Research Method

This research belongs to classroom action research. Action research is known by many other names, including participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning, and contextural action research, but all are variations on a theme. Put simply, action research is “learning by doing” - a group of people identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if it is not satisfied, try again. While this

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is the essence of the approach, there are other key attributes of action research that differentiate it from common problem-solving activities engaged in everyday.

Classroom Action Research (CAR) is a from of Self-Reflective Enquiry under taken by participants is social situation in order to improve the rational and justice of (a) their own social or educational practices (b) their understanding of these practices, and (c) the situation in which the practices are carried out. (Kemmis in Hopkin, 1993:44).

In this case, Classroom Action Research includes some aspects to do in order to get the findings accurately.

Also Mills (2003: 5) states that “Classroom Action Research (CAR) is any systematic inquiry conducted by teachers, researchers, principles, school counselors, or stake holders in teaching/learning environment to gather information about how their particular school operate, how they teach, and how well the student learn” It encourages teachers to be reflective on their practices in order to improve their own teaching and learning activities for the sake of themselves and their students.

Considering the notion of CAR, the use of CAR is, therefore, inevitable due to its appropriateness with the fundamental features of this study which starts from focusing on solving problems in the classroom setting. An important feature of action research is that is offers opportunities for collaborative work. Thus, this research is conducted collaboratively in which that the researcher cooperates with a fellow English teacher who also teaches at the same school with the writer.

Koshy (2007: 27) states “Action Research is a cyclical process, it covers some steps: planning implementing, observing, and reflecting”. This is also in

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line with Kemmis in Hopkin (1993: 48) states that” there are some steps that must be involved which can be described as a spiral of steps. Each step has four stages: plan-act-observe-reflect”. Action Research is efforts to overcome education problems and to improve the education quality done by the teachers and others related to their reflections upon the effect of those actions.

It can be concluded that an action research in this study means the systematic study of attempts to improve the teaching and learning process in order that the English learners’ achievement are satisfactory.

The research procedure summarized as figured in (figure. 2) the figure of the Classroom Action Research procedure is adapted from Kemmis and Taggart in Hopkin (1993: 48).

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Adapted from Kemmis and Taggart in Hopkin (1993: 48)

D. Research Procedure

Joko Nurkamto, (2009) states the procedures of the Classroom Action Research (CAR) can be illustrated are as follows;

PR FF PS GP A1 O1 R1 RP … Where PR : Preliminary Reflection

FF : Fact Finding

PS : Problem Statement GP : General Planning

A1 : Action 1 O1 : Observation 1 R1 : Reflection RP : Revised plan … : A2,O2, P2

The description of each step of the procedure can be seen on the following explanation:

commit to user 1. Preliminary Reflection

This research was started by making an observation. This was done in January 2011. During the observation, the researcher found that students faced problems in writing. There were some indications which showed their poor ability in writing for instance: the students did not organize their writing well, their ideas were not coherence, they did not use tense in the right context, they had lack of vocabulary, diction and their understanding of mechanics was low.

2. Fact Finding Analysis

Based on the preliminary research, the researcher found that the students’ writing ability was still far from what is expected. From the result of the students’ writing, the average score was 53,51. There were only 12,50% or 4 students who got scores more than 60, and 87,50 % or 28 students were failed. They got scores below the passing grade (the minimum adequacy criteria is 60). Most of them could not pass the passing grade It means that the students’ writing ability in English lesson for the ninth grade was low.

3. Problem Statement

Based on the identification and the analysis of the problem the researcher formulates the problem to solve. The formulation of the problem is accompanied by the causes. In this study, the researcher formulated that the problem was the students’ difficulties in writing. There were two causes of the students’ problems in writing. First, teachers still used traditional approach in which they only demanded the students’ writing product, they only gave fewer portion for writing,

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whereas writing is a complex activity. Second, students could not organize their ideas well, use right grammar, chose appropriate vocabulary, and use punctuation correctly.

4. General Planning

Based in the fact finding analysis above, the researcher applied media picture series to solve the problems’ in teaching writing. There were some steps that the researcher did; Building Knowledge of the Field (BKOF), Modeling of the Text (MOT), Join Construction on the Text (JKOT), and Independent Construction of the Text (ICOT). These steps can lead the students to write through some stages in the writing process including pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing. Each stage must be followed by the students in order that they can create a good written text. By doing so, it is hoped that it could solve the students’ problems. The stages facilitated the students with interesting teaching strategy and media in order to facilitate them to write. Furthermore, in the phase the researcher prepares the material and media, sets the criteria of success and prepares the research instrument.

a. Preparing the lesson plan

Preparing the lesson plan is very important in order to make the teaching learning process run well. It covers standard competency, basic competency, indicators, learning objectives, instructional media and strategy, teaching and learning materials, teaching and learning activities, source of learning and the assessment. It also contains the procedure of presenting the lesson in each meeting

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in order to solve the problems faced by the students. In this case, the researcher and co-researcher teach English especially writing based on the lesson plan by using picture series media, this research focuses on creating procedure text through picture series media. A cycle encompasses three meetings. Each meeting includes pre-writing activity, writing activity, revising activity, and editing activity.

b. Having a co- researcher/collaborator

Since it is very important to have collaboration and cooperation in the research, the researcher asked one of the English teachers in the school as a collaborator. In clarifying the duty and function of the teacher, the researcher uses the term collaborator. The collaborator involved in every step in using the media in the teaching-learning process.

c. Preparing the teaching media

The media that the researcher prepared in teaching writing was picture series. These picture series is expected to facilitate the students in learning English, emphasizing on students’ writing, this is due to the writer believed that students’ writing skill needs improvement. It is considered that in preparing the picture series, the researcher carefully selected them considering the students’ interest and vocabulary level.

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Setting the criteria is needed to know whether the implementation of the action is successful or not. There are some criteria in measuring the success of using picture series. First, the students’ attitudes toward the use of picture series, the students enjoy and are interested to learn English, especially in learning writing in the classroom. Second, the students are actively involved during the teaching and learning process. Third, the students are able to arrange short simple story based on the picture series that they have seen. More than 70% of the students should gain the Minimum Adequacy Criteria score (Kriteria Ketentuan

Minimal/KKM) of English subject in the school determined by the material, the

school facilities, and intake of the students. The KKM for English is 60.

Latief (2003: 110) says that the criteria of the teaching media or strategy are considered successful if:

1) Students feel happy in using strategy or media in the teaching-learning process 2) Teachers feel that the strategy was easy and practical to be used in the

teaching- learning process.

3) The students are more active and creative in the teaching-learning process

4) The students are happy to be able to develop on cooperative studying with their friends in the teaching- learning process.

5) The students have high intention to study using the strategy. e. Acting

The researcher implemented the steps that have been prepared. The steps were that are done:

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In this stage, teacher gave some questions related to thee topic that will be given. This step engaged the students to come into the topic so that the students know what the learnt.

2) Building Knowledge of Field

In this stage, teacher engaged the students to the topic given. Teacher introduced the topic given to the students. This involves idea, situation, vocabulary that will be used in the teaching-learning process.

3) Modeling

In this stage, teacher gave explanation about the topic given, gave example of a procedure text, and explained the generic structure and the language feature of a procedure text. And then, gave picture series dealing with procedure texts.

4) Joint Construction Text

In this stage, teacher asked the students to write procedure text based on picture series given in group

5) Independent Construction of the Text

In this stage, teacher asked the students to write procedure text based on picture series given individually. The students were expected to be able to write procedure text by themselves.

5. Observing the action

Observing the action is monitoring the effect of the action. The observation may be carried out while the researcher takes the action. It was done simultaneously. The observation was not only on the teaching learning process but

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FIELD NOTE 2

Day and Date : Wednesday, 22nd of February 2011

Time : 8.20. a.m- 9.40 a.m

School : MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang

Object : IX A

Researcher : Muhammad Zaini (The writer)

Collaborator : Shabrin, SS

Method : Observation

On the second day of the observation, the weather was bright when the teaching learning activity began. In this second meeting the students’ behavior was still the same as before. They were very noise, they talked each other with their friend. But, as soon as the teacher and collaborator entered the class, all of the students were silent. They gave a good respond when the teacher greeted them.

Teaching learning activity began. The teacher tried to greet them and explain the lesson well. The teacher explained the lesson steps by namely Joint Construction of Text and Independent Construction of Text. It was good that the teacher gave questions to the students and pointed the students to answer randomly. Here, in Joint Construction of Text the teacher asked the students to do the exercise given in pairs. Then the teacher asked the students to check their answer together. In Independent Construction of Text the teacher asked the students to do exercise individually.

It was good that the teacher used a picture series during teaching learning process, Joint Construction of Text and Independent Construction of Text. And the pictures were different for each stage. The teacher tried to use it as optimal as possible.

The students’ respond was still lack. Most of students just kept silent when the teacher gave them some questions. However, when the teacher explained the students they looked serious to follow the teaching learning process. It seemed that they tried to understand the lesson. When the students were asked

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And the rest of the students did not do the exercise given seriously. The teaching learning activity ran well.

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FIELD NOTE 3

Day and Date : Wednesday, 23rd of February 2011

Time : 07.00 a.m-08.20 a.m

School : MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang

Object : IX A

Researcher : Muhammad Zaini (The writer)

Collaborator : Shabrin, SS

Method : Observation

On the third day of the observation, the condition and situation of class was not quiet. However, when the teacher greeted them, they responded well and they become quite. It looked that they were ready to follow the lesson. The weather is bright. It seemed that they enjoyed to study.

Teacher gave the students some questions to know whether the students memorized the lesson had been given before. The students listened what the teacher said. When the teacher explained the lesson dealing with recount text the students listened seriously and enthusiastically. They tried to understand the lesson. However, some of the students still talked each other with their friend.

Teacher tried to explained generic structure and language feature to the students clearly. When the teacher explained the procedure text, the teacher used pictures series as instructional media. The students seemed interested in joining the class.

When the teacher gave the students exercises dealing with procedure text, some of students tried to do the exercises seriously. On the other hand, most of the students did not do the task seriously. The teacher tried to engage them to do the exercises enthusiastically. The students’ respond were good. Finally the students did the exercises seriously.

The students looked enthusiastically joining the class until time was over. It means that the teaching learning process ran well, although the students, sometimes, still made a little conversation with their friends. The teaching learning activity ran well.

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Day and Date : Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Time : 07.00 a.m-08.20 a.m

School : MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang

Object : IX A

Researcher : Muhammad Zaini (The writer)

Collaborator : Shabrin, SS

Method : Observation

On the fourth day of the observation, the class was rather noise. It happened because hey just have a rest. However, they become quite after the teacher entered the class. The class was clean but unfortunately the students forgot to clean the blackboard.

As usual the teacher began the teaching learning by greeting the students. The students responded well. The last meeting was the stages of Building Knowledge of Field and Modeling of Text and in this time were Joint Construction of Text and Independent Construction of Text. The teacher managed the class well. He managed the class well. The first he asked the students to do exercise in pairs. And the result of the exercises was checked together. It was good, so the students knew their mistakes. Then, he asked the students to do the exercise individually. All of the exercises were to construct a procedure text based on a picture series given. The pictures were different for each stage.

The students did the exercises given seriously. They tried to do exercises well. Some students still made a little conversation with their friends. They were quite when the teacher remind them to keep silent. The time was over. The teaching learning activity ran well.

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FIELD NOTE 5

Day and Date : Tuesday, 8th of March 2011

Time : 08.20 a.m-09.40 a.m

School : MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang

Object : IX A

Researcher : Muhammad Zaini (The writer)

Collaborator : Shabrin, SS.

Method : Observation

On the fifth day of the observation, the students looked enthusiastically when the teacher entered their class and greeted them as usual. The students gave good response when the teacher gave them some questions to encourage them entering the new topic. They tried to answer correctly, however, some of students still kept silent. And some of them just whispered.

The teacher explained the lesson, and he tried to make his students understand. To make the students interested in his lesson, the teacher toke real object. The things were made as interesting as possible. Then, teacher gave the students exercises. Here, the teacher divided the students in pairs. And then the teacher asked the students do the exercises individually. It looked that the teacher wanted to use the time as optimal as possible. And she tried to manage the class as well as possible as, too.

The students did the exercises seriously and enthusiastically. It looked that they wanted to do the exercises that make a little conversation during teaching learning process learning quiet. They listened what the teacher explained. The students looked seriously joining the class until the time was over. It looked that teaching learning process ran well.

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Day and Date : Tuesday, 9th of March 2011

Time : 07.00 a.m-08.20 a.m

School : MTs NW 1 Kembang Kerang

Object : IX A

Researcher : Muhammad Zaini (The writer)

Collaborator : Shabrin, SS.

Method : Observation

On the sixth day of the observation, the day was bright. It was nice to study. It was time to continue the lesson. The class has changed. The students were quite when the teacher entered the class. They responded the teacher’s greeting well. The teacher gave them questions to remind them they studied before.

Teacher gave the students exercise to make a procedure text based on picture series given in pairs in the stage of Joint Construction of Text. And he asked the students to construct a procedure text based on the picture series given which different pictures than before individually in the stage of independent Construction of Text. These steps was suitable with the lesson plan which made by the teacher. Finally the teaching- learning activity ran well.

The students responded well. The students did the task seriously and enthusiastically. They still made a little conversation but they talked their lesson. The teaching-learning process ran well.