Improvement of students’ writing ability

1. Improvement of students’ writing ability

The implementation of inquiry based learning can improve students’ writing ability. Inquiry based learning deals with the process of finding/discovering the concept of knowledge by students themselves. It is stated by Nur and Wikandari (in Nurhadi, 2003) that to know is a process not a product. Sund and Trowbridge (1993: 65) also stated that inquiry based learning builds the self-concept of the students. Each of us has a self- concept. If our self-concept is good we will open to new experiences, take chances and explore, and do more creative thing. Part of the task of becoming a better person is to build our self-

people manifest their potential. Inquiry teaching provides opportunities for greater involvement, by giving students more chances to gain insight and better develop their concepts. They also said that inquiry based learning keep students’ retention longer and more deeply. In this case, inquiry give more chance for students to involve deeply in writing, starting from finding the concept of descriptive text, by using hypothesis, collecting data, making conclusion, and the last is applying the conclusion in the real writing. In every step of inquiry needs students’ deep involvement for the teacher’s role in inquiry is facilitator and motivator only.

The writing is process of transforming ideas to the other, as stated by Grabe and Kaplan (1998: 17) that writing requires composing skills which transform information or transform the language itself. To make good transforming information to the others, the students should be able to fulfill the elements of writing including organization, content, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics, and vocabulary as stated by Nunan (1998:373) that successful writing involves:

1) Mastering the mechanics of letter formation.

2) Mastering and obeying conventions of spelling.

3) Using the grammatical system to convey one’s intended meaning.

4) Organizing content at the level of the paragraph and the complete text to reflect given/new information and topic/comment structures.

5) Polishing and revising one’s initial effort.

6) Selecting an appropriate style for one’s audiences.

To achieve the purpose above, inquiry based learning can be implemented in writing. The inquiry steps can be combined with the process of writing. The students start by finding the concept of text and its elements by making To achieve the purpose above, inquiry based learning can be implemented in writing. The inquiry steps can be combined with the process of writing. The students start by finding the concept of text and its elements by making

There are some indicators which show students’ writing improvement from preliminary up to the third cycle, they are: a)

The students were used to making outline as basic of writing. It helped them to develop their ideas.

b) The students tried to use appropriate language, punctuation and correct

spelling. c)

The students tried to minimize the grammatical mistakes by checking and sharing with their friends and teacher.

d) The students’ writing score improved from pre-test at preliminary

observation up to third cycle which can be seen in the following table. Table 9: Comparison of post-test score from preliminary observation, cycle 1,

cycle 2, and cycle 3

NO Level Preliminary

1. Highest score

2. Average score

3. Lowest score 44 49 53 60.50 3. Lowest score 44 49 53 60.50

No Explanation

Passing

Grade

Number of Students

Preliminary observation

Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3

1. Score above passing grade

2. Score below passing grade

From the table above, there were 26 or 78.78% students could pass the passing grade while the rest 7 or 21.21% still could not pass the passing grade. It means that the implementation of inquiry based learning can improve students writing ability.