Using jumbled paragraphs to improve paragraph writing skills of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael Warak Sleman.

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vi ABSTRACT

Tyas, Agnes Siwi Purwaning, 2012. Using Jumbled Paragraphs to Improve Paragraph Writing Skills of XA Students in SMA Santo Mikael Warak Sleman. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Writing skill is one of the English skills which should be acquired by the students. The indicator of writing success is the text organization is well-managed. In reality, the students often find that maintaining writing organization is difficult. XA students of SMA Santo Mikael often made mistakes in developing the topic sentences into paragraphs and maintaining the connection between paragraphs. Owing to the situation, the students had to be given the chance to analyze the pattern of organization independently through arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. After the implementation, the students used the knowledge to write their texts.

This research aimed to answer this question: How does arranging jumbled paragraphs help XA students of SMA Santo Mikael write good paragraphs? The participants of this research were 15 XA students of SMA Santo Mikael in academic year 2011/2012. All of them tended to brainstorm all ideas they had in their writings without considering the organization. Thus, they needed to improve their paragraph writing skills. In line with the problem, this research aimed to know how arranging jumbled paragraphs activity overcame the writing problem experienced by the students.

In order to improve the students’ ability in writing paragraphs, the researcher conducted Classroom Action Research by implementing the arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. The researcher collected the students’ writings and scored the organization before and after the implementation. From the scores, the researcher could analyze the improvement. Besides analyzing the scores, the researcher also distributed questionnaires and interviewed some students. The purpose was to know students’ opinions toward the implementation of arranging jumbled paragraphs activity to improve their paragraph writing skill.

According to the data gathered, employing arranging jumbled paragraphs activity before writing helped the students to produce well-organized texts. Within two cycles of implementation, all students developed well-managed-coherent texts. They obtained scores equal or above 20, which determined the success. They were able to state the topic sentence and develop it by adding suitable supporting sentences. The organization of the supporting sentences was also well-managed. This demonstrated that the students made use of the knowledge acquired from arranging jumbled paragraphs activity to write.

Keywords: paragraph writing skill, arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, pattern of organization, generic structure

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vii ABSTRAK

Tyas, Agnes Siwi Purwaning, 2012. Using Jumbled Paragraphs to Improve Paragraph Writing Skills of XA Students in SMA Santo Mikael Warak Sleman. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Keterampilan menulis adalah salah satu dari keterampilan berbahasa Inggris yang harus dikuasai oleh siswa. Indikator dari keberhasilan dalam menulis adalah organisasi teks yang tersusun dengan baik. Pada kenyataannya, siswa mengalami kesulitan dalam mengatur organisasi tulisan. Siswa SMA Santo Mikael kelas XA sering membuat kesalahan dalam mengembangkan kalimat topik menjadi sebuah paragraf maupun dalam mengatur hubungan antar paragraf. Oleh karena itu, siswa perlu diberi kesempatan untuk menganalisa pola organisasi secara mandiri melalui aktifitas menyusun paragraf. Setelah implementasinya, siswa dapat menggunakan pengetahuan mereka untuk menulis teks.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjawab sebuah pertanyaan: Bagaimana aktifitas menyusun paragraf membantu siswa kelas XA SMA Santo Mikael menulis paragraf yang baik? Partisipan penelitian ini adalah 15 siswa kelas XA SMA Santo Mikael tahun akademik 2011/2012. Mereka sering mengungkapkan semua ide dalam tulisannya tanpa memperhatikan organisasinya. Maka dari itu, mereka perlu meningkatkan keterampilan mereka dalam menulis paragraf. Sejalan dengan masalah ini, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana aktifitas menyusun paragraf menyelesaikan masalah yang dialami siswa dalam menulis.

Untuk menyelesaikan meningkatkan keterampilan siswa dalam menulis paragraf, peneliti melaksanakan Classroom Action Research dengan mengimplementasikan aktifitas menyusun paragraf. Peneliti mengumpulkan tulisan-tulisan siswa dan menilai organisasi tulisan baik sebelum dan setelah implementasi. Dari nilai-nilai tersebut, peneliti dapat menganalisa peningkatan organisasi tulisannya. Selain menganalisa nilai, peneliti juga membagikan kuesioner dan mewawancari beberapa siswa. Hal ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pendapat siswa mengenai implementasi aktifitas menyusun paragraf untuk meningkatkan keterampilan mereka dalam menulis paragraf.

Berdasarkan data yang dikumpulkan, aktifitas menyusun paragraf yang dilakukan sebelum menulis membantu siswa untuk menulis teks agar tersusun dengan baik. Dalam dua siklus implementasi, semus siswa mampu menulis teks yang tersusun dengan baik serta koheren. Mereka mendapatkan nilai di atas 20 yang merupakan standar keberhasilan dalam meyusun organisasi teks. Mereka mampu mengungkapkan kalimat topik dan mengembangkannya dengan menambahkan kalimat-kalimat pendukung. Organisasi kalimat-kalimat pendukung juga tersusun dengan baik. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa siswa mampu menggunakan pengetahuan dari kegiatan menyusun paragraf untuk menulis. Keywords: keterampilan menulis paragraf, aktifitas menyusun paragraf, pola organisasi, generic structure

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USING JUMBLED PARAGRAPHS TO IMPROVE PARAGRAPH WRITING

SKILLS OF XA STUDENTS IN SMA SANTO MIKAEL WARAK SLEMAN

A

SARJANA PENDIDIKAN

THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas

Student Number: 081214033

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

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i

USING JUMBLED PARAGRAPHS TO IMPROVE PARAGRAPH WRITING

SKILLS OF XA STUDENTS IN SMA SANTO MIKAEL WARAK SLEMAN

A

SARJANA PENDIDIKAN

THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas

Student Number: 081214033

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

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STATE

I honestly declare that th or parts of the work of o references, as a scientific

TEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

t this thesis, which I have written, does not contain f other people, except those cited in the quotatio ific paper should.

Yogyakarta, October 15th, 2012

The Writer

Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas 081214033

tain the work tions and the

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LEMB PUBLIKASI KARY

Yang bertanda tangan di

Nama

Nomor mahasisw

Demi pengembangan ilm Universitas Sanata Dharm

USING JUMBLED PA SKILLS OF XA STUD

beserta perangkat yang d kepada Perpustakaan mengalihkan dalam ben data, mendistribusikan s media lain untuk kepe maupun memberikan roy sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini

Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 15 Oktobe

Yang menyatakan

Agnes Siwi Purwaning T

BAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN YA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKAD

di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata

: Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas iswa : 081214033

ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Per arma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

PARAGRAPHS TO IMPROVE PARAGRAPH W UDENTS IN SMA SANTO MIKAEL WARAK S

g diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya m Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk m entuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk p n secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Int pentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan n

ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

ber 2012 g Tyas ADEMIS ta Dharma: Perpustakaan WRITING SLEMAN memberikan menyimpan, pangakalan Internet atau in dari saya n nama saya

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vi ABSTRACT

Keywords: paragraph writing skill, arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, pattern of organization, generic structure

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vii ABSTRAK

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viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my Almighty God because of His grace and wondrous blessing He had given to me all the time and during the process to finish this thesis. His love gave me power, optimism, and strength to achieve this wonderful dream.

In this opportunity, I would like to thank Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., as my sponsor, for giving me support to conduct the research, guiding me patiently to finish my thesis, and giving me suggestions to improve it. I also thank Drs. Emanuel Sunarto, M.Hum. for spending his time to check my thesis, give me support, advice, and suggestions. I also give my gratitude to my academic counselor, Dr. Retno Muljani, M.Pd., for her support and advice, so that I could finish my study. I am also thankful to all of my lecturers’ valuable lessons shared with me during my study in this university.

I am very much grateful to my mother, my inspiration, Ibu Yuliana Sri Rohani, who has been struggling to help me achieve my dream. This is the answer to her prayer and present for her never-ending love. I also give my gratitude to my grandmother, Pakdhe Wid, Budhe Wid, Pakdhe Hardjomono, Budhe Hardjomono,

Bulik Janti, and all of my family who always pray for me, give support and motivation. Their encouragement gave me strength to always feel optimistic and confident to finish my thesis. I am also very much grateful to my father, Bapak

Paulus Pujiarto. I believe that even though he is not here with me in this world, he always supports me from heaven.

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I thank my family in Samya Eka Sadhana who always supports me and reminds me to pray for my success. I also thank my friends in OMK Santo Aloysius Gonzaga, especially to Mbak Hanny, Mbak Wied, and Miss Vero, who made me feel optimistic that I could finish my thesis as soon as possible.

I am grateful to Tia Xenia and Didi, who always accompanied me during conducting the research and working on this thesis. I also thank my best friends; Gisa, Rei, Desya, Coro, Pita, Delis, Bella, Nican and all of my friends in PBI for their support and motivation. Lastly, I thank those who helped me directly and indirectly.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... v

ABSTRACT ... vi

ABSTRAK ... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x

LIST OF TABLES ... xiii

LIST OF FIGURES ... xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Background ... 1

1.2 Research Problem ... 5

1.3 Problem Limitation ... 5

1.4 Research Objectives ... 6

1.5 Research Benefits ... 6

1.6 Definition of Terms ... 6

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Theoretical Description ... 9

2.1.1 Jumbled Paragraphs... 9

2.1.1.1 Definition of Jumbled Paragraphs ... 9

2.1.1.2 The Intergration between Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs and Effective Reading ... 9

2.1.1.3 The Aspects of Text Analyzed through Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs ... 10

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2.1.2.1 The Characteristics of a Good Paragraph ... 12

2.1.2.2 Paragraph Writing Skill ... i

2.1.3 Types of Writing Process ... 14

2.1.4 Writing Cycle ... 15

2.1.5 The Intergration between Reading and Writing ... 16

2.2 Theoretical Framework ... 17

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Method ... 21

3.2 Research Setting ... 25

3.3 Research Participants ... 25

3.4 Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ... 25

3.4.1 Research Instruments before the Implementation ... 26

3.4.2 Research Instruments during the Implementation ... 31

3.5 Data Analysis Technique ... 34

3.6 Research Procedure ... 36

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH RESULT AND DISCUSSION 4.1 The Description of the Implementation of Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs Activity in the First Cycle ... 38

4.1.1 Planning ... 39

4.1.2 Act and Observe ... 39

4.1.3 Reflect ... 44

4.2 The Description of the Implementation of Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs Activity in the Second Cycle ... 47

4.2.1 Planning ... 47

4.2.2 Act and Observe ... 48

4.2.3 Reflect ... 50

4.3 The Contribution of Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs to Improve the Paragraph Writing Skills ... 51

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xii

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion ... 77 5.2 Recommendation ... 78

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xiii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 The Scoring Criteria of Students’ Writing ... 28

Table 4.1 Students’ Scores in the First Cycle ... 44

Table 4.2 Students’ Scores in the Second Cycle ... 50

Table 4.3 Students’ Scores in the Observation ... 53

Table 4.4 The Result of the First Questionnaire ... 55

Table 4.5 The Improvement of the Students’ Paragraph Writing Skills ... 62

Table 4.6 The Improvement of Text Organization ... 64

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xiv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 The Action Research Spiral (Burns, 1991, p. 33) ... 23 Figure 4.1 The Improvement of Students’ Paragraph Writing Skill ... 63 Figure 4.2 The Improvement of Text Organization ... 69

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1 Letters of Permission ... 83

Appendix 2 Samples of the Students’ Writings in the Observation ... 85

Appendix 3 Samples of the Students’ Writings in the First Cycle ... 88

Appendix 4 Samples of the Students’ Writings in the Second Cycle ... 91

Appendix 5 The Research Instruments ... 94

Appendix 6 The Samples of the First Questionnaire ... 103

Appendix 7 The Samples of the Second Questionnaire... 108

Appendix 8 The Sample of the Observation Checklist in Cycle One ... 113

Appendix 9 The Sample of the Observation Checklist in Cycle Two ... 115

Appendix 10 The Field Notes in Cycle One ... 117

Appendix 11 The Field Notes in Cycle One ... 123

Appendix 12 The Interview Guide ... 128

Appendix 13 Raw Questionnaire Data ... 130

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1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researcher would like to present the research background, research problem, problem limitation, research benefits, research objectives, and the definition of terms.

1.1Research Background

The educational system in Indonesia applies student-centered learning approach now. Department of Education of Sleman implements this approach in every school in the regency because it focuses on the learning needs of the students. One school that is being supervised is SMA Santo Mikael. Under the supervision, the teachers are using student-centered learning to encourage students to be independent to achieve the learning goal. One learning goal that the students are trying to achieve is being able to use English in written and spoken forms.

Teachers believe that student-centered learning guarantees students’ success because it stimulates the students to be the center of learning or to dominate the class by being the active learning participants. As the focus, student-centered learning supports students to explore the material instead of only receiving the information from the teachers. Thus, the teachers should be the learning facilitators. They facilitate the learning activity by letting the students find the useful information for their learning process. An example of student-centered learning given is the situation when a biology teacher was teaching about

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mammals. She did not explain all the time. She gave students the opportunity to share their understanding of mammals. Then the class was divided into several groups and each group was given a set of cards with animal picture on each card. In the main activity, the students classified the animals in the cards which belong to mammals. In this student-centered learning, students experienced the learning activity to enrich their knowledge independently. The teacher functioned as facilitator of learning process.

Student-centered learning which was implemented in SMA Santo Mikael encouraged the students to perform better in written cycle activity. Students of SMA Santo Mikael found difficulty in learning essay texts. Compared to reading skill, students’ writing skills needed improvement. In reading activity, they were able to identify the generic structure of recount text successfully. The teacher gave them a recount text consisting of four paragraphs. The students could identify that the first parapraph was the orientation, the second and the third paragraphs were the events, and the last paragraph was the reorientation. It ccould be inferred that the students mastered the structural recognition.

However, mastering the structural recognition is not enough. Written cycle activity does not end with reading. The main goal is that the students have the ability to produce their own texts. This ability is called productive skill. Productive skill refers to the skill to produce language in spoken or written form. When it came to writing activity, the XA students of SMA Santo Mikael could not organize text based on the generic structure. When they wrote their recount texts, many of them mixed all information in one paragraph. In the paragraph, the

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students introduced the characters involved and told the readers about the event or series of event which happened in the story. It was obvious that the text were not well-organized in terms of the generic structure.

Based on the correct generic structure, the characters must be introduced in the first paragraph, while the event is put in the following paragraph. The lack of structuring skill showed that students could not build the structuring concept in their mind. They did not have any idea about the information which had to be put in each generic structure.

In writing activity, students should pay attention to the rhetorical forms. Rhetorical forms can be defined as the patterns which structure a text. Rhetorical forms help the students to organize the information based on the patterns. Affar, Arens, and Byrnes states that the students acquire rhetorical forms mastery through reading (1991, p. 58). Thus, reading helps students master rhetorical forms of a text or commonly known as the generic structure.

Based on the research done by Kintsch and Yarbrough in 1985, “The use of one well-organized paragraphs and one whose paragraphs were reordered resulted in different reading performance” (as cited in Affar et al., 1991, p. 59). Students were not successful to mention the important points in the article when the rhetorical forms were destroyed. On the other hand, their answers were correct when they were given a text in good rhetorical forms. The same case occured in reading performance of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael. Students were expected to identify the generic structure of each paragraph. They probably did not pay attention to the information of each paragraph. What they did was only

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automatizing concept that the first paragraph was the orientation, the second paragraph was the event, and the last paragraph was the reorientation.

In order to improve their paragraph writing skills, the students should be encouraged to arrange jumbled paragraph. When the students arrange the jumbled paragraphs into a good text, they pay attention to the information given in each paragraph in order to arrange the paragraphs based on the chronological order. This method is called employing top-down factors (Affars et al., 1991, p. 40). By employing this method, the students will organize the paragraphs according to the information. The paragraph which introduces the characters becomes the first paragraph, followed by the paragraph which tells the events of the story, and the end of the story will be put in the last paragraph. The students will build the structuring concept in their mind that each generic structure has its own information and they have to be put based on the chronological order.

Since arranging jumbled paragraphs activity focuses on the information of each paragraph, this activity employs content-oriented method. Content-oriented method aims to assist the students in reading text efficiently to produce their own texts. This helps the students to generate, develop, and organize their ideas (Hyland, 2003, p. 16). This method encourages the students to read the paragraphs to find the content before they can reorder them into meaningful text. By reading the content, the students are able to identify what content can be presented in the paragraphs. This method reduces students’ difficulties in generating and organizing their text (Hyland, 2003, p. 15).

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When the students write a text after the implementation, they are expected to use the knowledge obtained from arranging the jumbled paragraphs activity. This research aims to know how arranging jumbled paragraphs can be used to help students of XA in SMA Santo Mikael improve their paragraph writing skills.

1.2Research Problem

The research which is done in class XA of SMA Santo Mikael tries to answer the question:

How does arranging jumbled paragraphs help XA students of SMA Santo Mikael write good paragraphs?

1.3Problem Limitation

The research focuses on the improvement in paragraph writing skill of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael. The researcher focuses on the improvement in organizing the information. The research is limited to the method used to improve paragraph writing skill of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael, academic year 2011/2012. The students experienced problem in writing good paragraphs. They could not organize information based on the generic structure. The researcher used the arranging jumbled paragraphs activity as a solution to improve paragraph writing skill of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael. The participants of this

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research are 15 students of XA in SMA Santo Mikael Warak, Sleman, academic year 2011/2012.

1.4Research Objectives

The research aims to know how arranging jumbled paragraphs overcomes the problem experienced by XA students in SMA Santo Mikael, academic year 2011/2012, in writing good paragraphs. The problem experienced by them was related to information organization.

1.5Research Benefits

The research is expected to give people benefits. The result of the research will be useful for the XA students of SMA Santo Mikael academic year 2011/2012, and the English teachers.

1. The XA students of SMA Santo Mikael

The students are expected to improve their paragraph writing skills. They will be able to organize their texts based on the generic structure.The skill is obtained from arranging jumbled paragraphs.

2. The English teachers of SMA Santo Mikael

This research will help English teachers of SMA Santo Mikael implement student-centered learning in teaching essay texts. Teachers will be able to use jumbled paragraphs in the learning activity. Teachers will also encourage students

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to be independent in learning by arranging the jumbled paragraphs in groups to learn about information organization. From this activity, the students will be independent to identify the information which can be put in every paragraph.

1.6Definition of Terms

In order to avoid misunderstanding, some terms in this research should be defined. The researcher will define the terms of jumbled paragraphs, paragraph writing skill, and the XA students of SMA Santo Mikael.

1. Jumbled paragraphs

Kintsch and Yarbrough define jumbled paragraphs as paragraphs which are reordered (as cited in Affar et al., 1991, p. 59). The well-structured text is reordered to create the jumbled paragraphs. Before the readers can read the text, they must arrange the paragraphs into a good text. The readers need to pay attention to the information to connect one paragraph to another paragraph. This activity is in line with the rule that a good text consists of smoothly-connected ideas (Bram, 1995, p. 21). The researcher used the arranging jumbled paragraphs activity because it was a suitable method to help XA students in SMA Santo Mikael develop awareness of information organization.

2. Paragraph writing skill

Paragraph writing skill is an important skill in learning English because writing skill is highly valued in education (Weigle, 2002, p. 17). Thus, accuracy in writing is important. The accuracy in writing includes patterns of information organization accuracy (Brown, 2001, p. 335). The XA students in SMA Santo

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Mikael needed to improve their paragraph writing skill related to organizing information. The researcher would help the students to develop their awareness of information organization, so that they were able to structure the paragraphs based on the patterns of organization.

3. The XA students of SMA Santo Mikael

SMA Santo Mikael is located in Warak, Sleman. One of the classes in SMA Santo Mikael is XA. There were 15 students in XA in academic year 2011/2012. All of the students found difficulties in organizing information when they wrote a text. Therefore, arranging jumbled paragraphs activity is expected to help the students develop paragraph writing skill related to the information organization.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher presented the theoretical description and theoretical framework of this research.

2.1Theoretical Description

This section will discuss jumbled paragraphs, paragraph writing skill, types of writing process, writing cycle, and the integration between reading and writing.

2.1.1 Jumbled Paragraphs

In this part, the researcher will describe the jumbled paragraphs. Therefore, this part presents the definition of jumbled paragraphs and the use of arranging jumbled paragraphs in reading.

2.1.1.1 Definition of Jumbled Paragraphs

Kintsch and Yarbrough define jumbled paragraphs as a text whose paragraphs are reordered (as cited in Affar et al., 1991, p. 59). The jumbled paragraphs are created from a well-structured text. The text is reordered, so the readers must arrange the paragraphs into a good text before they read it.

2.1.1.2 The Relation between Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs and Effective Reading

Effective reading helps the students to construct the propositional meaning, which is how ideas or information are expressed and related to each

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other (Wallace, 2003, p.11). Thus, effective reading should be employed before students write the texts to acquire the knowledge of information organization. This idea is strengthened by Krashen’s research related to paragraph writing skill in 1999. Krashen concludes that writing skill can be acquired if it is supported by extensive reading which lets the students build the concept of ideas organization pattern (as cited in Hyland, 2003, p. 17).

In order to understand how information and ideas are connected or organized in a text, the students must be encouraged to identify the information which can be put in each paragraph. Arranging jumbled paragraph activity develops the students’ awareness in information organization. They will identify the information in each paragraph and try to connect a paragraph to another paragraph by seeing the information relation.

2.1.1.3 The Aspects of Text Analyzed through Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs In line with effective reading, students should employ top-down processing. Top-down processing requires the students to begin with analyzing the idea that constructs the text (Walvoord, 1985, p. 4). In order to support the analysis, the teacher can use arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. By arranging the jumbled paragraphs, the students can analyze the elements that construct a good text.

1) Text structure

In order to be effective in producing written texts, the students should employ their reading comprehension related to text structure in writing. A research by Dickson, Simmons, and Kameenui (1995) states that if students are

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aware of and strategically use the text organization, they will build better reading comprehension to use in writing a text (as cited in Armbruster & Osborn, 2002, p. 96). This idea is supported by Nunan who suggests that written text analysis should include organization analysis (2003, p. 94).

2) Genre

Every genre of text has its own text organization, for example narrative text consists of orientation, complication, and resolution, while recount text consists of orientation, series of events, and reorientation. If the students know the genre of the text they are reading, they know what structure to expect and it will help them to construct the position of ideas (Armbruster & Osborn, 2002, p. 96). The students can identify the text genre by seeing the purpose or the topic of the text.

3) Main idea

If students are able to identify the main idea of every paragraph, every sentence in the paragraph will be easily clicked into place (Langan, 1986, p. 319). Even when the paragraphs are reordered, students will be able to rearrange them to create a well-organized text if they can identify the main idea of every paragraph. By knowing the main idea, students are able to connect one paragraph to the another paragraph.

2.1.2 Paragraph Writing Skill

This part discusses the paragraph writing skill. The researcher presents the characteristics of a good paragraph and paragraph writing skills.

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2.1.2.1 The Characteristics of a Good Paragraph

According to Brown, written texts are supposed to meet certain standards (2001, p. 335). The standards are used to define a paragraph as a good one. The researcher will mention the characteristics of a good paragraph.

1) Topic sentence

Topic sentence contains the relevant information about one main or central idea. The topic sentence guides the writer to select information, to add relevant information, but to exclude the irrelevant information (Bram, 1995, p. 13). According to Chaplen, a good paragraph must contain topic sentence called controlling idea which is completely developed (1970, p. 1). The controlling idea also restricts the idea by limiting the information that can be included in the paragraph. Thus, students will not brainstorm all ideas in a paragraph. They will break down all ideas they have and put the ideas into the paragraph by segmenting the ideas. They will decide which idea can be put in the paragraph.

2) Unity of supporting sentences

All sentences in a paragraph should focus on the topic sentence. Those sentences support the topic sentence to create a good paragraph. The supporting sentences develop the paragraph because they function to clarify the problem (Bram, 1995, p. 20). The unity of supporting sentences is controlled by a principle that an old information comes before the new information (Raimes, 1983, p. 57) 3) Coherence

In order to create a good paragraph, the students must be able to connect the paragraph with another paragraph. Therefore, they should pay attention to the

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information connection or called coherence. A good text maintains the coherence because every coherent paragraph contains smoothly-connected ideas (Bram, 1995, p. 21). Based on the theory proposed by Hoey, Martin, and Rochery in 1987, the text coherence can be maintained by paying attention to the generic structure of a text. The generic structure can support the text coherence by providing the pattern which is appropriate to its communicative purpose (as cited in Lee, 2002, p.34).

2.1.2.2 Paragraph Writing Skill

The dominant model for many years saw writing as a textual product. A text is categorized as a good one if it maintains the coherent arrangement of elements structured according to a system of rules (Hyland, 2002, p. 6). Therefore, people believe that writing is a matter of product. The final product is supposed to meet certain prescribed pattern of organization. In order to meet the requirements of writing, students should possess some aspects that are included in paragraph writing skills.

1) Analyzing and imitating pattern of organization

Raimes proposes the idea that paragraph writing skill includes the students’ ability to copy paragraphs, analyze the form of model paragraphs, and imitate model passages (1983, p. 8).Before the students write their own texts, they should analyze the elements of the text and identify the organization to gain the knowledge of the elements which construct a text and the organization pattern. The knowledge will be employed in the writing stage to structure and connect the ideas in the text.

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2) Developing a topic sentence

The students must be able to state the topic sentence, including the main idea and elaborate it by adding supporting details (Raimes, 1983, p. 116). If the students are able to develop the topic sentence, they can maintain the organization and the connection of the ideas in each paragraph. Wallace comes up with the idea that paragraph writing skill includes the ability to develop topic and frame (2010, p. 91). The topic refers to the content of what to write and frame helps the writer to structure or organize the content. If students are able to develop the topic and use the frame, it will result in creating good paragraphs.

3) Organizing idea

When the students write, they will present their ideas through their writings. In order to organize the ideas, the students must be able to put the sentences together and connect the sentences (Raimes, 1983, p. 115). If they can organize the ideas, the texts will be organized as well.

2.1.3 Types of Writing Process

There are various types of writing process that can be applied in the classroom. The teacher can choose the writing process to suit the purpose of writing. According to Hyland, there are four types of writing process (2002, p. 3). - Familiarization

The purpose of this writing process is to help the students familiarize themselves with the grammar and vocabulary through writing. Therefore, the grammar or vocabulary will be related to particular genre or topic.

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- Controlled writing

The purpose of this writing process is to encourage the students use the fixed patterns in writing. The teacher will introduce the pattern of a text to the students. Then, the students copy the pattern in writing their own texts. However, the students may not change the pattern introduced by the teacher. - Guided writing

The purpose of this writing process is to let the students imitate the model of a text. In this process, the students are encouraged to be independent. Before writing, the students should analyze a text to gain useful knowledge for writing, such as the generic structure and the language features.

- Free writing

The purpose of this writing process is to let the students develop their writing patterns and use their own patterns in writing essays.

2.1.4 Writing Cycle

Writing is a matter of process. The students can learn how to write through curriculum cycle proposed by Callaghan and Rothery in 1988 (as cited in Knapp and Watkins, 2005, pp. 78-81). The purpose of designing the curriculum is to give direction in learning to write. The curriculum is divided into three stages. They are modeling, joint negotiation of text, and independent construction of text.

Modeling the text involves the students to identify some aspects in writing such as the grammatical features, and generic structure of the text. This is the stage when the students analyze those aspects through reading the text. Singer and

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Donlan state that this is a crucial stage in writing because in this reading stage the students will read to gain information and apply their knowledge to write (1980, p. 196). Most students fail to write because they cannot learn from the reading material. As a result, they cannot apply the knowledge in writing the text. In order to reduce failure in writing, the students should be independent to examine the elements of the text and identify the text organization.

In the process of joint negotiation of the text, the teacher will demonstrate the correct organization of a text. The teacher may invite the students to share their understanding of the text organization. This process enables the teacher and the students to develop a text together. Developing a text can be in the form of reconstruction of a text.

The last stage requires the students to apply the knowledge acquired from the previous stages to write a text independently. Tiedt suggests the teacher to serve the role as a facilitator by letting the students become involved in writing as the real writer (1989, p. 69). The teacher should give the students opportunity to decide the ideas to write. Before writing, the teacher may define the expectations, such as the topic, the length of the text, and the use of correct grammar and generic structure.

2.1.5 The Integration between Reading and Writing

Reading and writing should be integrated by working on both skills simultaneously (Nunan, 2003, p. 71). Since there is a connection between reading and writing, writing cannot be learned in isolation. Before the students write, they

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need to gain knowledge about information organization from reading activity. If the students understand how the elements of coherence work in texts, they are more likely to use them appropriately to develop coherence in writing (Lee, 2002, p. 35).

Hyland (2002) says that the students not only need help in learning how to write, but also in understanding how texts are shaped (14). Thus, reading should precede writing process because it guides the students to analyze the structure of a text. Based on the writing curriculum, reading activity is put in the first stage. This modeling stage helps the students to identify how sentences and paragraphs are structured to create meaningful text. Reading task which can be applied to support identification is jumbled paragraphs (Hyland, 2002, p. 114). Hyland believes that by arranging jumbled paragraphs, the students will reconstruct the text using their knowledge.

2.2Theoretical Framework

Since there is a connection between reading and writing, writing cannot be learned in isolation. Before the students write, they need to gain knowledge about information organization from reading activity. This avoids the problem of organizing the information experienced by XA students in SMA Santo Mikael. Usually, the problem in organizing information appears because students tend to focus on word recognition. In reading, students must first recognize words, phrases, and sentences. Goodman criticizes this strategy because he believes that

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even though students are able to read the words, but they might have no comprehension of what they read (as cited in Nunan, 2003, p.71).

Naturally, students should be encouraged to explore features of written English rather than to learn about the language through reading (Wallace, 2003, p. 57). In other words, reading should facilitate the students to use their language to gain knowledge in reading, not to learn the language elements, such as words, phrases, and grammars through reading. When the students read the text, they can analyze the organization of the text and use the knowledge to write their own texts. Thus, effective reading was employed in this research. The researcher employed arranging jumbled paragraphs as one form effective reading activity to improve their paragraph writing skills.

This research employed top-down processing to support organization analysis. Reading activity which employed top-down processing would help XA students develop paragraph writing skill in terms of organization. In order to develop their information organization in writing, the first thing that was necessary to understand was the generic structure. The generic structure mastery enabled the students to organize information in each paragraph and connect a paragraph to another paragraph to create meaningful and well-ordered text. Therefore, the researcher implemented arranging jumbled paragraphs activity because the activity required the students to analyze and identify the generic structure.

The process of identifying the information organization was expected to build the students’ concept of coherence. According to Lee, if students understand

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how the elements of coherence work in texts, they are more likely to use them appropriately to develop coherence in writing (2002, p. 35). Therefore, the researcher implemented the arranging jumbled paragraphs activity to encourage the students identify how the sentences and paragraphs were connected to keep the text coherent.

Besides learning how to maintain the coherence of the text, identifying the generic structure enabled the students to put the appropriate ideas in each paragraph based on the generic structure. This avoided the existence of irrelevant information in the paragraph because each generic structure contained certain information. As a result, the students would not misplace the ideas because they would not brainstorm all ideas in the paragraphs. Owing to the ideas limitation, the students needed to develop the topic sentence to control the organization. They would only put ideas which supported the topic sentence to develop the paragraph. Since the students needed to analyze the organization of a text, the teaching and learning activity was designed based on the writing curriculum. First, the teacher familiarized the students with a model of text. The students were expected to reorder a text. When they arranged the jumbled paragraphs of a text, they needed to analyze the organization of the text deeply. Thus, they would increase their awareness in using the pattern of organization to write a text. Since the students had to be independent in analyzing and imitating the model of text, the researcher employed guided writing process.

The next stage, joint construction of text, was done by discussing the correct order of the text. The students practiced how to construct a text by

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reconstructing a text which was reordered. In this stage, the researcher and the students could discuss the organization of a text. From the reconstructed text, the researcher might demonstrate how to organize a text.

In the last stage, the students were asked to write their own texts independently. The students would use their knowledge acquired from the previous stages. In order to assess their writing organization, the researcher used analytic scoring. Analytic scoring enabled the researcher to assess each aspect of paragraph writing skill (Hughes, 1989, p. 91).

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21 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter will discuss the methodology used in the research. The discussion involves research method, research setting and participants, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique and research procedure.

3.1Research Method

The researcher conducted the research to examine the use of arranging jumbled paragraphs to help students improve their paragraph writing skill. The students found difficulty in organizing their paragraphs. They put many ideas in one paragraph. In order to improve their paragraph writing skill, Classroom Action Research or CAR was conducted.

The researcher used Classroom Action Research because it is usually employed to improve students’ performance in a local area or school. Kemmis (1988), as cited by Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (1996, p.63), states that:

Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social (including education) situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of (a) their own social educational practices, (b) their understanding of these practices, and (c) the situations in which the practices are carried out.

CAR enabled the researcher to identify the problem and determine the solution to a problem in the school. Thus, this method was suitable for this research.

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The purpose of Classroom Action Research is to improve students’ performance through the application of the scientific method. The results of Classroom Action Research are discovery of better strategies, media, techniques, or assessment systems to help the students learn. Ebbutt (1985) expects that those discoveries will improve educational practice in school (as cited in Hopkins, 2008, p. 48). Considering the purpose of Classroom Action Research, in this research, the researcher tried to improve the paragraph writing skills of XA students of SMA Mikael in the academic year 2011/2012.

From the observation, the researcher found that the students needed to improve their paragraph writing skills. They usually had difficulty in organizing their paragraph based on the generic structure. When they wrote their recount texts, many students mixed all information in one paragraph. In the paragraph, the students introduced the characters involved and told the readers about the event or series of events which happened in the story. They did not put the information using the generic structure. In recount texts, the characters must be introduced in the first paragraph which is called orientation and followed by the events in the next paragraph.

Besides having difficulty in writing texts based on the correct organization, the students also found difficulty in analyzing the generic structure. Their lack of independence and carefulness in analyzing the organization resulted in failure. As a result, they depended on the teacher for explanation and assistance. In order to improve the students’ learning performance, the researcher used arranging jumbled paragraphs activity.

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Carr and Kemmis (1986), as cited in McNiff and Whitehead (2003, p. 46), design map of steps of Classroom Action Research in the form of ‘Kemmis’ action research spiral’ or The Kemmis diagram. This diagram becomes the basis to design the steps involved in Classroom Action Research. Kemmis and McTaggart add that the steps described in the spiral are developing a plan of critically informed action to improve what is happening, acting to implement the plan, observing the effects of the critically informed action, and reflecting on the effects as the basis for further planning (Burns, 1991, p. 32). Those steps are applied in one cycle.

Figure 3.1 The Action Research Spiral (Burns, 1991, p. 33)

Based on the Action Research Spiral in Figure 3.1, the researcher developed planned steps to conduct the research to improve paragraph writing skills of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael Sleman, academic year 2011/2012.

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These planned steps were adapted from Elliot’s plan in conducting research (Elliot, 1998, p. 70)

Step 1 : The researcher developed the general idea about the problem by identifying the problem which occured in the class. The researcher identified the root of the problem through observation and planned an action to improve the students’ ability in writing paragraphs.

Step 2 : The researcher carried out the action planned to help the students reach their writing goals. During this process, the researcher collected the data in the form students’ writings, questionnaire, observation checklist, and field notes. Step 3 : The researcher reflected the implementation of the planned action in the class. The researcher needed to analyze whether it helped the students or not by paying attention to the changes in students’ writing scores. If it worked well, the researcher would use the same method in the next cycle.

Step 4 : The researcher planned the next implementation of the same technique in the class to confirm that the technique was the best solution to the problem. The researcher could revise the plan if needed.

Step 5 : The researcher implemented the planned action. This was used to see the evidence of development made by the students through their writings.

Steps 6 : The researcher collected the data. The data would be used to obtain the evidence that the method was the effective solution to the problem. To give the evidence of the effectiveness of arranging jumbled paragraphs activity, the researcher would distribute questionnaire and interviewed the students.

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Step 7 : The researcher analyzed the results of students’ writings, questionnaire, and interview. From students’ scores in the writing exercises, the researcher could reflect whether the students made improvement or not. The researcher was also able to identify the improvement from the result of the questionnaire and interview.

3.2Research Setting

This research was conducted in SMA Santo Mikael in class XA in the 2011/2012 academic year. The research was conducted on April 18th, 2012 to May 30th, 2012.

3.3Research Participants

The participants of this research were 15 students of XA in SMA Santo Mikael in 2011/2012 academic year. There were seven girls and eight boys in the class. The range of age was from 14 to 17 years old. The students came from various provinces in Indonesia and their level of knowledge of English differed.

3.4 Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique

The researcher collected data using various instruments in order to obtain data from many sources. Mills (2003), as cited in Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen (2010, p. 525), suggests three data gathering techniques called three E’s: experiencing, enquiring, and examining. Before the researcher carried out an

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action in the classroom, experiencing and enquiring techniques were applied to collect data.

Experiencing technique was a technique of gathering data through the researcher’s own experience. The suitable instruments for the technique were observation checklist and field notes. If the researcher planned to collect data by asking questions in the form of questionnaire or interview, the enquiring technique was useful. In this research, the researcher used both techniques to gather data which supported problem analysis.

The last technique to gather the data was examining. The examination was in the form of writing assignment. The researcher gave writing exercises to see the evidence of the problem. The students would be given the writing exercise twice. For preliminary study, the researcher could analyze students’ writings obtained from writing exercise given by the English teacher.

3.4.1 The Research Instruments before the Implementation

The researcher used observation checklist, field notes, and students’ writing assignment before the implementation, and questionnaire.

1) Observation Checklist

When the researcher did an observation in the class, the researcher used the observation checklist to help the researcher analyze the problem. This contained a list of questions used by the researcher to observe the class.

Observation checklist gave a structure and framework for the researcher when observing the class, because the researcher focused on the information which must be collected by looking at the list of questions. The questions included

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the students’ condition and teacher’s method in teaching writing. This observation helped researcher to know students’ characteristics, problem experienced by students, and the teacher’s teaching method.

This observation checklist was used when the researcher observed the class at the beginning of the research as the first step of implementing experiencing techniques. This checklist provided some elements to be analyzed. They were the physical setting, the participants, the activities and the interactions (Merriam, 2009, p. 120).

2) Field Notes

Field notes refer to the notes researchers take in the field. In educational research, the notes focus on the educational setting. The notes are about the reflection of the problem experienced by the students in the class. The researcher followed field notes strategy suggested by Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen (2010, p. 527). The field notes used in this research contained the setting, participants, activities, events, purposes, and time of observation. The contents of field notes had to be highly descriptive (Merriam, 2009, p. 130). From the field notes, the researcher was able to identify the source of the problem experienced by students in analyzing the texts organization and writing texts based on the correct organization.

Field notes were used together with observation checklist when the researcher observed the class. They were used together because field notes enabled the researcher to record the teaching and learning steps, students’ questions, and teacher’s answers to the questions which could not be found in the

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observation checklist. Hopkins suggests any researchers to use field notes because they provide ongoing record and keep memory of the observation (2008, p. 105).

Both field notes and observation checklist implemented the experiencing technique because the researcher needed to gather data from the experience in observing the class. The data would be used to see how the teaching and learning activity were administered. From the teaching and learning activity, the researcher analyzed the root cause of the problem and the solution to it.

3) Students’ Writing Assignment

In the observation data before the implemetation, the researcher analyzed students’ writings before implementing the action planned. Their writings were obtained from writing exercise given by the English teacher on April 18th, 2012. Each of them had to write a descriptive text. The researcher collected the data for the baseline from assessing the organization of their descriptive texts. As criterion of success, the researcher defined 20 as the score of good paragraph. The same criterion was also used to score the students’ writings in the implementation.

Table 3.1 : The Scoring Criteria of Students’ Writings

No Aspects Scores Characteristics

1 Topic sentence

5 Very good

Each paragraph contains a very clear topic sentence. Analysis is not required because the readers can find the topic sentence easily.

4 Good

Each paragraph contains a clear topic sentence. However, it needs little attempt to analyze the paragraph to find the topic sentence

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No Aspects Scores Characteristics

3 Fair

Each paragraph contains a topic sentence, but it is not well-developed. It needs further analysis to find the topic sentence.

2 Poor

Some paragraphs do not contain topic sentences. In those paragraphs, analysis is not supported because the topic sentences are not elaborated well.

1 Very Poor

All paragraphs do not contain topic

sentence. Many sentences in each paragraph are not organized and connected, so they do not support the existence of a topic

sentence. 2 Supporting

sentence 5 Very good

All sentences in the paragraphs support the development of the topic sentences. 4 Good

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs support the development of the topic sentences.

3 Fair

Several sentences in the paragraphs do not support the development of the topic sentence. They are not relevant to the topic sentences.

2 Poor

Many sentences in the paragraphs are not relevant to the topic sentences. Thus, the topic sentences are not elaborated well. 1 Very poor

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are not relevant to the topic sentences. Thus, all topic sentences are not elaborated.

3 Coherence

5 Very good The paragraphs are perfectly-connected and very easy to follow

4 Good The paragraphs are connected well and easy to follow

3 Fair The paragraphs are slightly connected and rather difficult to understand

2 Poor The paragraphs are hardly connected and difficult to follow

1 Very poor The paragraphs are not connected and difficult to follow

4 Organization

5 Very good

All sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. They are maintained to show perfect connection between sentences, so the ideas are sequenced well.

4 Good

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Connection between sentences is a little bit distracted because the new information does not support the old one.

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No Aspects Scores Characteristics

3 Fair

Many sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Connection distraction is often found because the sentences are not organized by presenting new information after the old one.

2 Poor

Several sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Many sentences are not controlled because the rule of presenting new information after old information is violated.

1 Very Poor

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are not organized. The readers cannot follow the ideas because the old information is not supported by the relevant new information. 5 Generic

Structure 5 Very good

The text shows correct generic structure clearly.

There is no misplaced idea 4 Good

The text shows correct generic structure but it is a little bit unclear. Almost all ideas are placed correctly based on the generic structure

3 Fair

The text shows correct generic structure but it is unclear. Several misplaced ideas are found, but it does not affect the essence of structure

2 Poor

The text shows incorrect generic structure in several paragraphs. Some misplaced ideas are found and almost alter the generic structure

1 Very Poor

The text shows incorrect generic structure in all paragraphs. All ideas in the paragraph are misplaced and alter the generic structure

4) Questionnaire

The researcher distributed a questionnaire to know students’ ability and difficulty in analyzing and composing text based on their opinion. By distributing the questionnaire, the researcher could identify the problem, explore the cause of the problem, and determine the solution to it. The questionnaire was distributed on April 23rd, 2012.

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The questionnaire consisted of twelve items which had to be responded by the students. In order to give the students chance to give further opinion about their paragraph writing skill and their difficulties in organizing ideas, the researcher provided five open-ended questions.

3.4.2 The Research Instruments during the Implementation

The instruments used during the implementation were questionnaire, students’ writing assignment, field notes, observation checklist, and semi-structured interview.

1) Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a research instrument which consists of series of questions to gather information from the participants. Questionnaire is commonly used in Classroom Action Research because the questions are easy to structure and the process to obtain broad and rich information from students is easy and quick (Hopkins, 2008, p. 118).

In this research, questionnaire was used to ask the students as participants about the improvement of their paragraph writing skill related to the organization and the effectiveness of arranging jumbled paragraph activity in improving their paragraph writing skill. The questionnaire supported root cause and problem solving strategy analysis.

The questionnaire was distributed after the action was carried out. The questionnaire was given to 15 students of XA in SMA Santo Mikael in the academic year 2011/2012. The questionnaire helped the researcher to find the improvement of students’ skill to organize their paragraphs. The researcher

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provided scaled items, so the students gave response based on their agreement or disagreement. The rating scales or Likert scales were used because they provided a range of responses to a given statement based on the students’ level of agreement (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2000, p. 253).

There were thirteen items that had to be responded by the students. The researcher also provided two open-ended questions. The open-ended questions were given to know students’ opinions about the implementation of arranging jumbled paragraph activity. Questionnaire implemented the enquiring technique because it asked questions to gather data.

2) Semi-structured Interview

The researcher interviewed four students from the classroom to obtain deeper information about the problem. Conducting interview supported the information obtained in the questionnaire. The interview helped the researcher to know students’ opinions about the activity and whether they thought that arranging jumbled paragraphs helped them improve their paragraph writing skill or not. Semi-structured interview was chosen because the interviewer was allowed to modify the sequence of questions, change the wording, and add follow-up questions (Merriam, 2009, p. 268).

The researcher interviewed four students from XA students. Those students were the sample of the population. They were selected purposively. The researcher selected two students whose writings were poor and two students whose writings were fair. The purposive sampling was used because the

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participants were believed to be information-rich cases (Wiersma, 1995, p. 298). In the interview, the researcher asked nine open-ended questions.

3) Students’ Writing Assignments

The first assignment which was given after arranging jumbled paragraphs in the first cycle aimed to see the improvement made by the students in organizing the paragraphs. The writing assignment was given on Monday 30th, 2012. In the second cycle, the researcher gave writing assignment on Monday 7th, 2012. The purpose of the second assignment was to confirm that arranging jumbled paragraph activity was effective to improve students’ paragraph writing skill. To take the scores, the researcher used the scoring criteria described in Table 3.1

4) Observation Checklist

There were two observers who helped the researcher to fill the observation checklist. The observation checklist was used to gain feedback on the teaching and learning activity conducted by the researcher and to reflect on the lesson that day. The observers were a research partner and a nonreciprocal observer. The research partner and the researcher observed one another’s teaching, but the researcher did not observe the nonreciprocal observer’s teaching because she worked with her own project (Wallace, 2010, p. 106).

5) Field Notes

The two observers also helped the researcher to record the field notes in the teaching and learning activity. The field notes helped the researcher to see the

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process of implementing the action in the class. The researcher could improve the process of the implementation by monitoring the class through the field notes.

3.5Data Analysis Technique

Data analysis involves reviewing the data and attempting to synthesize and make sense out of what is observed (Ary, Jacobs & Sorensen, 2010, p. 530). First, the researcher analyzed the data from observation checklist and field notes. The researcher summarized the data in the form of description. The data showed the physical setting, the participants, the activities, the pattern interactions, and the conversation. Thus, the researcher was able to see whether the method was successful or not. The researcher and observer used the recent format of observation. Field notes and observation checklist usually begin with the time and place of the observation. The researcher may list the participants present and how many students are present.

The researcher needed to check students’ writings for the preliminary study. When checking students’ writings, the researcher really focused on the information found in each paragraph and checked whether they put the information based on the generic structure or not. The researcher found that almost all students violated the generic structure rule.

In order to analyze the the data, the researcher took the writing scores. The score helped the researcher to see the problem experienced by students and the improvement made by the students. The scores showed the result of students’ writing. The researcher constructed scoring criteria to provide analysis.

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After checking students’ writings in preliminary study, the researcher implemented the use of arranging jumbled paragraphs activity in the class. At the end of the activity, the students had to do the writing exercise. The scoring criteria enabled the researcher to assess students’ writings. The assessment helped researcher to see whether the students made improvement in their writing skills after arranging jumbled paragraphs or not. The researcher would see the improvement by comparing the students’ scores in the exercise given in the first cycle and the preliminary study. As a confirmation that the students’ paragraph writing skill improved, the researcher scored students’ writings in the second cycle.

In order to see students’ opinion about arranging jumbled paragraphs and improvement in paragraph writing skills, the researcher distributed questionnaire and interviewed the students. Data from questionnaire was analyzed using open coding to convert questionnaire data into meaningful categories to facilitate analysis. Coding was used to organize the data obtained from the questionnaire. The researcher sorted the data based on the category. The patterns of category separated every item from other items (Bodgan and Bikken, 2003, p. 161). Bodgan and Bikken suggest several categories in coding; setting, situation, perspectives, and participants’ way of thinking about something (2003, p. 162-166). Setting includes the description of activity according to the students, situation defines students’ role, perspectives share the general point of view of the students towards something, and participants’ way of thinking about something provides students’ opinions about the activity.

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As what McDonough and McDonough suggest (2003, p. 109), the researcher developed the coding by counting the currents and percentage of how many students agreed and disagreed with the statement of each item. Then the researcher could interpret the data. In order to have further analysis, the researcher summarized students’ answers to the open-ended questions to provide data analysis in the form of description.

The researcher interviewed four students to obtain information which supported the analysis of students’ opinion about their paragraph writing skills improvement. The researcher would summarize students’ answers to the questions and presented the conclusion of the answers. The conclusion showed whether the students’ thought that arranging jumbled paragraphs helped them improve their paragraph writing skill or not.

3.6Research Procedure

When the researcher conducted the research, the researcher used seven steps.

1. Observing class XA of SMA Santo Mikael

The researcher observed the students while they were studying writing. In this observation, the researcher used the observation checklist and field notes. The researcher could see the teacher’s method to deliver the material to the students. The researcher observed the class on April 18th, 2012. To know the students’ difficulty in analyzing text organization and producing well-organized text, the researcher distributed the first questionnaire on April 23rd, 2012.

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2. Planning the research

After observing and analyzing the observation, the researcher developed research plan. The purpose was to take action based on the problem finding. From the problem analysis, researcher could formulate the solution of the problem. The research plan was in the form of planned activities.

3. Preparing the instruments

After asking permission, the researcher prepared all instruments which would be used in the research.

4. Collecting the data

The researcher gave writing exercise on April 30th, 2012 and May 7th, 2012. The researcher was given chance to teach the class and give writing assignment on those days. On the last day, the questionnaire was distributed. Two days later, on May 9th, 2012, the researcher interviewed four students from XA and they were chosen randomly. Besides distributing questionnaire and interviewing the students, the researcher took score of three assignments to collect the data.

5. Analyzing the data

The next step taken after collecting the data was analyzing the data to obtain the research result.

6. Reporting the research result

After obtaining the research result, the researcher wrote a report about the research result.

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38 CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the research results and discussions to present the outcome of the implementation of arranging jumbled paragraphs activities. The implementation of the planned action was divided into two cycles. The cycles were conducted on April 30th, 2012 and May 7th, 2012. In order to conclude the improvement of the students’ paragraph writing skill, the researcher analyzed data in the form of questionnaire, interview, and students’ writings.

This discussion is divided into two parts. The first thing to discuss is the description of the implementation of arranging jumbled paragraphs activity. In this part, the researcher describes the implementation in the first and the second cycles. Then, the researcher presents the contribution of the activity. To describe the contribution, the researcher provides the students’ writing results in the observation, the first cycle, and the second cycle.

4.1 The Description of the Implementation of Arranging Jumbled Paragraphs Activity in the First Cycle

The result of the observation on April 18th, 2012 confirmed that the students found difficulty in organizing their texts. In order to help the students improve their paragraph writing skills, the researcher made interventions in the teaching and learning process.

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No Aspects Scores Characteristics

2 Poor

The text shows incorrect generic structure in several paragraphs. Some misplaced ideas are found and almost alter the generic structure

1 Very Poor

The text shows incorrect generic structure in all paragraphs. All ideas in the paragraph are misplaced and alter the generic structure

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LESSON PLAN

School : SMA Santo Mikael

Subjects : English

Aspect : Writing

Class/Semester : XA / 2 Academic Year : 2011/2012 Time Allocation : 80 minutes

Competence Standard : To xpress meaning in short functional text and simple essay in the forms of recount, narrative, and procedure in daily life context

Basic Competence : To express meaning and rhetorical steps in simple essay accurately, fluently, and acceptable in daily life in the form of recount

I. Indicators

1. Use correct generic generic structure in writing recount text

2. Develop topic sentence in writing recount text by adding relevant information

3. Organize ideas and information in writing recount text II. Learning Goal

1. Students are able to produce well-ordered recount text using correct generic structure

2. Students are able to produce well-ordered recount by developing topic sentence

III.Learning Materials

The arranging jumbled paragraph activity: Write the number on the provided space

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' % #

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Reviewing Recount Text Function of Recount Text

To tell the reader what happened To retell past event

Generic Structure of Recount Text Orientation

Shows information about ‘who’, ‘where’, and ‘when’ Event

Shows the event happened in the story. Events is sequenced in chronological order.

Reorientation

Shows the summary of the events and the end of the story. It may contain the remark or comment from the writer.

Example:

That was amazing! That was embarrassing! What an amazing experience! What an embarrassing experience! I was happy.

It was interesting. It was unforgettable Language Feature of Recount Text

Use past tense

‘ate’, ‘slept’, ‘studied’, ‘sang’, etc Use time connection

‘then’, ‘after that’, ‘finally’, etc

………

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Write your own recount text: Write a recount text telling your experience in joining School Competition last semester.

IV.Learning Method 1. Discussion 2. Individual work V. Characters

1. Discipline 2. Politeness 3. Confidence 4. Independence VI.Learning Activities

No Activities Time

Allocation 1 Pre-Activities

1. Greeting the students and asking their conditions 2. Reviewing the previous materials

3. Asking the students about the generic structure of recount text

2 Main Activities

1. Asking the students to arrange the jumbled paragraphs

2. Discussing the correct arrangement of the text generic structure of the text

3. Discussing the generic structure of the text

4. Discussing the information contained in each paragraph of the text

5. Asking the students to write recount text

60’

3 Post-Activity

1. Summarizing the materials learned that day

2. Asking the students whether they still have any difficulties or not

3. Closing the meeting

5’

VII. Source

Priyana, J., Machfutra, E.D., Muhammad, A. Z. (2008). Interlanguage: English for senior high school. Jakarta: Pusat Perbukuan Departemen Pendidikan Nasional.

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VIII.Assessment

No Aspects Scores Characteristics

1 Topic sentence

5 Very good

Each paragraph contains a very clear topic sentence. Analysis is not required because the readers can find the topic sentence easily.

4 Good

Each paragraph contains a clear topic sentence. However, it needs little attempt to analyze the paragraph to find the topic sentence

3 Fair

Each paragraph contains a topic sentence, but it is not well-developed. It needs further analysis to find the topic sentence.

2 Poor

Some paragraphs do not contain topic sentences. In those paragraphs, analysis is not supported because the topic sentences are not elaborated well.

1 Very Poor

All paragraphs do not contain topic

sentence. Many sentences in each paragraph are not organized and connected, so they do not support the existence of a topic

sentence. 2 Supporting

sentence 5 Very good

All sentences in the paragraphs support the development of the topic sentences.

4 Good

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs support the development of the topic sentences.

3 Fair

Several sentences in the paragraphs do not support the development of the topic sentence. They are not relevant to the topic sentences.

2 Poor

Many sentences in the paragraphs are not relevant to the topic sentences. Thus, the topic sentences are not elaborated well.

1 Very poor

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are not relevant to the topic sentences. Thus, all topic sentences are not elaborated.

3 Coherence

5 Very good The paragraphs are perfectly-connected and very easy to follow

4 Good The paragraphs are connected well and easy to follow

3 Fair The paragraphs are slightly connected and rather difficult to understand

2 Poor The paragraphs are hardly connected and difficult to follow

(6)

No Aspects Scores Characteristics

1 Very poor The paragraphs are not connected and difficult to follow

4 Organization

5 Very good

All sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. They are maintained to show perfect connection between sentences, so the ideas are sequenced well.

4 Good

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Connection between sentences is a little bit distracted because the new information does not support the old one.

3 Fair

Many sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Connection distraction is often found because the sentences are not organized by presenting new information after the old one.

2 Poor

Several sentences in the paragraphs are well-ordered. Many sentences are not controlled because the rule of presenting new information after old information is violated.

1 Very Poor

Almost all sentences in the paragraphs are not organized. The readers cannot follow the ideas because the old information is not supported by the relevant new information. 5 Generic

Structure 5 Very good

The text shows correct generic structure clearly.

There is no misplaced idea

4 Good

The text shows correct generic structure but it is a little bit unclear. Almost all ideas are placed correctly based on the generic structure

3 Fair

The text shows correct generic structure but it is unclear. Several misplaced ideas are found, but it does not affect the essence of structure

2 Poor

The text shows incorrect generic structure in several paragraphs. Some misplaced ideas are found and almost alter the generic structure

1 Very Poor

The text shows incorrect generic structure in all paragraphs. All ideas in the paragraph are misplaced and alter the generic structure

Using jumbled paragraphs to improve paragraph writing skills of XA students in SMA Santo Mikael Warak Sleman.

USING JUMBLED PARAGRAPHS TO IMPROVE PARAGRAPH WRITING

SKILLS OF XA STUDENTS IN SMA SANTO MIKAEL WARAK SLEMAN

A

SARJANA PENDIDIKAN

THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

By

Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas

Student Number: 081214033

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

i

USING JUMBLED PARAGRAPHS TO IMPROVE PARAGRAPH WRITING

SKILLS OF XA STUDENTS IN SMA SANTO MIKAEL WARAK SLEMAN

A

SARJANA PENDIDIKAN

THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

By

Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas

Student Number: 081214033

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

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