Teaching Writing by Internet Materials

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g. Teaching Writing by Internet Materials

Teaching writing by internet materials is one method used to increase language use and acquisition of foreign language Kasanga, 1996: 76. For example, it was found that interaction in language helps learners to gain input in language learning process. Specifically, it increases a synchronous communication of English as a foreign language and forces them to use language in real communication situations. In other words, the internet motivates learners to use English in their daily lives and provides functional communicative experiences. Teaching by internet materials needs certain procedures to do in the classroom learning process. 1 Deciding the Limitation of the Sites Since there are so many sites found in internet, the teacher needs to decide what kind of sites will be the source of the materials used to teach writing. The determined sites should have a close relationship with certain parts of writing argumentative essay discussed in learning and teaching process. In this stage, the students are free to choose any related sites to support their knowledge about the discussed parts of argumentative genre and more over to improve their creativity. Then, to make the students more motivated, the topics for writing should also be current and not out of date. As the topic would be about the most current issues, the sites chosen will mostly be on-line newspaper and magazine such as Tempo, Gatra, Kompas and Republika. Some TV perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id commit to user 30 programs that have websites like Liputan 6 of SCTV, Apa Kabar Indonesia of TV One, Seputar Indonesia of RCTI and Morning News of Metro TV will also be used to be the source of teaching materials. They are selected because they always update the issues and are nation wide. 2 Learning Process The learning processes are divided into three major discussions dealing with the parts of argumentative essay: introductory paragraph, body paragraph, and concluding paragraph. Each discussion takes two or three sessions. In the beginning of the class, teacher provides the class with access to internet and opens the selected sites related to the parts of argumentative essay. Together with the students, the teacher discusses important aspects in writing each part of the essay while showing various sites dealing with the topic of discussion. Then, the teacher asks the students to work in groups of three or four to discuss the matters and practice writing the intended paragraph, either introductory, body, or concluding one. The teacher controls and manages the discussion by going around and checking all students’ understanding and work. The last step is that teacher asks each student to write a certain part of an argumentative essay about a certain current issue. They may browse internet to find out the most current topics from the determined sites. Their writing should be supported by reasonable opinions they share during the analysis. perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id commit to user 31

2. Internet Materials