The effect of using dictation-composition (dicto-comp) in teaching narrative writing on the students' writing achievement - Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya Repository
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
l.l Backgroundofthe Study
In this millenniumera,the needsfor writing skill becomeapparentin the
society.The ability to write will continueto be a decisivefactor not only in
collegebut alsoin thejob field everyyear.writing job-applicationletteris the
real examplefor the applicantsto exposeand promotetheir abilities that they
alreadyhad in the written mode.l,ater,writing businessletter,memos,reponsar
work, and proposalwill also demandthe skill of writing. Axelrod and cooper
(1988:3)statethat "The united statesis now an informationsociety,one in which
the ability to organizeand synthesizeinformationand to write intelligentlyand
etfectivelyis evenmoreimportantthan it was in the past."This conditionabove
alsohappensin lndonesia,manycompaniesandbanksrequirethe employersto be
able to communicateactively both for spokenand written. Not only on the job
field but alsoin college,studentswho write and leamwell will earnbettergades.
This point is also stressedby Weigle (20025). Accordingto her "writing and
critical thinkingare seenas closelylinked, and expertisein writing is seenas an
indicationthat studentshavemasteredthe cognitiveskills requiredfor university
works."
Therefore,teacherssometimesusethe students'writingsasthe basisof an
evaluationfor their students.The real exampleof the abovefact is the makingof a
thesis.Throughthesisteacherscan evaluatetheir students'writing ability because
in thesisthe studentsmustorganizeand synthesize
the theorywith the factsthat
arefacedduringthe research
Accordingto D'Angelo(1980:4)states
conducted.
that "writing would still be valuablein educationbecauseit facilitatesthought."
Writing helps the studentsthink more critical. When studentswrite, students
composemeaningsby putting togetherfacts and ideas in their compositions.
Besides,writing also contributesto students' personaldevelopment.As the
studentsareaskedto write their personalexperienceindirectly,they learnhow to
record,clarifr, andorganizetheir experience.Thusthe studentscometo a better
understanding
of themselves.So, it is clear that the importanceof writing has
spreadover manyareasin this life. Hence,it would be betterto preparethe EFL
(EnglishasForeignLanguage)
studentsto be ableto masterthe writing skill at the
earlystageofuriting classso thattheycan startanddevelopthe habitofthinking
on papertoo.
Wnting is a skill that everybodycan leam with practiceover and over
again.In lineswith this, Langgan(2001:10)statesthat "writing is a skill like
driving, typing,or cookingand like any skill, it can be leamed."Many students
belief that writing is a naturalgift asa resultthey nevermakea truly honesteffort
to learn to write. Shortly, it makessensethat the more the studentspractice
writing,the bettertheywill write.
Unfortunately,there are some difficulties that afe faced by many EFL
studentsin writing class, which are faced also by the students of English
Departmentof WidyaMandalaSurabayaCatholicUniversity.First, the students
usuallyhavea troublein gettingstartedto write. Whenthey facea blank sheetof
paper, they have difficulty in generating their idea based
on the topic given.
second, the studentsalso have difficulties in encounteringappropriatevocabulary
especially the word choice in their writings. Third, the studentsget
confused in
ananging their ideascoherently in the new language.The three
difficulties above
need serious aoncern when they occur during the writing processbecause
their
existence will make the result of the students' writings become
unreadable.
Gebhard,(1996:221)statesthat "the usual things associatedwith writing
are rvord
choice, the use of appropriate grammar (such as subject verb agreemenr,
rense,
and article use), syntax (word order), mechanics(e.g. punctuation, spelling,
and
handwriting), and organization of ideas into coherent and cohesive form.,, Latel
according to weigle Q002:35) "because of the constraints of limited secondlanguageknowledge, writing in a second languagemay be hamperedbecause
of
the need to focus on languagerather than content." In line with weigle; silvia,
(1993:668) "in a review ofdifferences betweenfirst and second-languagewriting,
found that writing in a second language tends to be more constrained, more
difficult, and less effective than writing in a first language: second-language
writers plan less, and write less fluently and accurately than first-language
writers." As a result, for many students, writing is more an obstacle than an
opportunity. Becausewriting seemsdifficult and threatening,many of the students
write reluctantly. consequently, some studentsare less motivated when they are
.loining the writing class.
Next, to overcomethe difficulties during the writing processespeciallythe
difficulties in generating ideas based on the topic given, encountering the
appropnatevocabularyin writing and arrangingthe idea coherently
in the new
Ianguagethe rwiter is going to conductan experimenton writing narrative
compositionusingDictation-composition
(dicto-comp).
The writer deliberately
choosesdicto-compbecauseit is one kind of techniquefor teaching
guided
writing. Guidedwriting itself is a suggested
techniquefor teachingrwiting
to the
EFL studentsat the earrystage.Baskof, (rg7r) states"for EFL students
rvrth
limitedlanguage
skill; onewayto startrwitingin theearlystageis throughguided
writing."
Next,according
to Riley(1972)"dicto-compcanbe usedto helpstudents
developcontinuityandfluencyin speakingand writing.,'In line with Riley, some
researches
suggestthat dicto-compmay improvestudents'fluency and senseof
discourse
coherence
(Buckingham&peck, 1976;Kleinmann&Selekman.i9g0;
Nation, 1991).In other words, by maintainingthis technique,the students,
difficulties in organizingthoughtor idea in composingwriting task are more or
lesssolved.Thedicto-compalsocanbe somehelp for teachers
to motivatetheir
studentsto enjoywriting in writing class.
In this experimentalstudy, the writer will compare dicto-comp ro
brainstormingastechniquesfor teachingnarrativewriting. The underlyingreason
for this comparisonis that writing teacheras techniquein writing composition
mostly usesbrainstorming.Finally, in applyingthis technique(the dicto-comp)
for teachingwriting, the writer limits only to narrationbecausethe stressof
writing in writing A class- the subjectthat is goingto be usedin this study- in
this department
is writing narrativecomposition.
1.2 Statementof the problem
Basedon the above background,the centrarquestionto be answered
rn
this
study is: ls there a significant difference between students, narrative .arnting
achievement who are taught using dicto-comp and those who
are taught usrng
brainstorming?
1.3 Objective of the Studv
Basedon the statementof the problem above,the objectiveof the
studvis
to find rvhether there is significant difference between students,
narrative writins
achievementsthat are taught using dicto-comp and those who are
taught usrng
brainstormins.
1.4Significance
ofthe Study
Theresultsofthis studyareexpected
to give somevaluablecontributions
for the studentsofEnglish Departmentsothat they no longerarefearfulor hateful
to write. Montalvan(1999)statesthat "one of the very bestwaysto usedictation
ts the dicto-comp;an effectiveexercisecanbe usedevenat begrnninglevels."
The
writer seesthat this techniquemoreor lesscan coverthe difficulriesfaced
by the
studentsduringthe writing class.Moreover,basedon the theoryof dicto-comp,
the studentsleam how to exprainthe ideaofthe passagein their own words,but
they do it in controlledsituation.practically,dicto-compnot only requiresthe
studentsto write, but also to summarize,to organize,to memorize,and to use
vocabulary or phrasesbased on the information read by the teacher. Shortty,
through dicto-compthe studentsleam how to communicatetheir idea by using
English in particular context through writing. Finally, this study is also dedicated
fbr the teachersin this departmentin teaching writing so that both the teachersand
the studentsenjoy the writing class.
1.5 Scopesand Limitations
The studyis limited to the follorving points:
.
The populationof this study are the secondsemesterstudentsof
the academicyear 2002/ 2003 of English Departmentwho are
taking Writing A. Then,the samplesof this studyare two classes
of WritingA (ClassB andCiassB). Ther.witerchooses
WritingA
because
it is the beginningrwiting classlevel in this department
and dicto-comp itself is suitable for the beginner.Montalvan
(1999)statesthat"Oneofthe verybestwaysto usedictationis the
dicto-comp,an effectiveexercisecan be usedeven at beginning
levels.
Theexperimentonly dealswith nanativervritingbecause
the stress
of the students'takingwriting A is writing narrativewriting.
The writing being experimentedis the students'posttestwritings
thatconsistofat least150words.
The materialin this study is in the form of narrative
experimental
andcontrolgroups.
for
1.6 Theoretical Frameworks
The ma.Jortheory that is going to be usedto supportthe applicationof
dicto-compin this study is the theoryof learningpsychologyand the natureof
schemata.
In addition,the writer alsoincludes,the natureof writing abilitv,the
natureof narrativewriting, the natureof dictation,the natureof dicto-comp.the
natureof brainstorming,
andfwo previousstudies.
1.7The ResearchHypotheses
Null Hypothesis(llo): Thereis no significantdiff'erencein the
students' writing achievement taught by using dictation
composition(dicto-comp)and those who are taught using
brainstorming.
AlternativeHypothesis
(H1):Thereis a significantdifference
in the students'rwiting achievement
taughtby usingdictation
composition(dicto-comp)and those rvho are taught using
brainstormins.
1.8Assumptions
At the heartof the study,the followingtwo assumptions
areformulated:
The two raters assigned to score the students' compositions are
assumedto be doing their best and following the guidelines given.
The dicto-comp that is used during the experimental will indirectly
encouragethe students to write the composition. Therefore, it is
assumedthat the subjectsare also quite motivated to do the dictocomp during the treatments.
1.9Definitionof Key Terms
ln this study the writer sees that there are some essential terms to be
defined in order to avoid misunderstandingin interpreting this study. They are:
W'riting:White (1986: 12) regardswriting as an act of sharing
new ideas and old ideaswith a new perspectivewith the human
communlfy. The relation of a part idea to the rvhole is
communicatively with the reader.
Narrative writing: Warriner (1977 527) statesthat narrative
rmting is a kind of discourse,which answersthe questions
whathappen,whenthat is andwherethat is.
TJteDicto-Comp:Accordingto Richards(2002),dicto-compis
a techniquefor practicingcompositionin languageclasses.A
passageis readto a class,and then the studentsmust write out
what they understand
and rememberfrom the passage,
keeping
as closelyto the originalas possiblebut usingtheir orvnwords
where necessary.
Achievement:Page & Thomas(1979 l0) use this term to
describeperformancein the subjectsofthe given curriculum.
In this study, achievementis relatedto the subjects'writing
performance
only.
llrainstorming: According to Langgan (2000) brainstorming is
a process of generating a lot of information about certain
subjectwithin a short time.
1.10Organizationof the Study
This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter one deals with the
introductionofthe studythat includesbackground
ofthe study,statement
ofthe
problem, the objective of the study, significanceof the study, scopesand
lirnitations of the study, theoretical framework, hypothesis,assumptions,
definition of key terms, and,organizationof the study. Chaptertwo deals with
previousstudyand reviewof relatedliterature.The methodologyofthe studyis
describedin chapterthree.Thedataanalysisandfindingsarediscussed
in depthin
chapterfour. Finally,a summaryof what hasbeendiscussed
in previouschapters
is presentedin chapterfive which also includessome suggestions
to be paid
attentionby the readers.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
l.l Backgroundofthe Study
In this millenniumera,the needsfor writing skill becomeapparentin the
society.The ability to write will continueto be a decisivefactor not only in
collegebut alsoin thejob field everyyear.writing job-applicationletteris the
real examplefor the applicantsto exposeand promotetheir abilities that they
alreadyhad in the written mode.l,ater,writing businessletter,memos,reponsar
work, and proposalwill also demandthe skill of writing. Axelrod and cooper
(1988:3)statethat "The united statesis now an informationsociety,one in which
the ability to organizeand synthesizeinformationand to write intelligentlyand
etfectivelyis evenmoreimportantthan it was in the past."This conditionabove
alsohappensin lndonesia,manycompaniesandbanksrequirethe employersto be
able to communicateactively both for spokenand written. Not only on the job
field but alsoin college,studentswho write and leamwell will earnbettergades.
This point is also stressedby Weigle (20025). Accordingto her "writing and
critical thinkingare seenas closelylinked, and expertisein writing is seenas an
indicationthat studentshavemasteredthe cognitiveskills requiredfor university
works."
Therefore,teacherssometimesusethe students'writingsasthe basisof an
evaluationfor their students.The real exampleof the abovefact is the makingof a
thesis.Throughthesisteacherscan evaluatetheir students'writing ability because
in thesisthe studentsmustorganizeand synthesize
the theorywith the factsthat
arefacedduringthe research
Accordingto D'Angelo(1980:4)states
conducted.
that "writing would still be valuablein educationbecauseit facilitatesthought."
Writing helps the studentsthink more critical. When studentswrite, students
composemeaningsby putting togetherfacts and ideas in their compositions.
Besides,writing also contributesto students' personaldevelopment.As the
studentsareaskedto write their personalexperienceindirectly,they learnhow to
record,clarifr, andorganizetheir experience.Thusthe studentscometo a better
understanding
of themselves.So, it is clear that the importanceof writing has
spreadover manyareasin this life. Hence,it would be betterto preparethe EFL
(EnglishasForeignLanguage)
studentsto be ableto masterthe writing skill at the
earlystageofuriting classso thattheycan startanddevelopthe habitofthinking
on papertoo.
Wnting is a skill that everybodycan leam with practiceover and over
again.In lineswith this, Langgan(2001:10)statesthat "writing is a skill like
driving, typing,or cookingand like any skill, it can be leamed."Many students
belief that writing is a naturalgift asa resultthey nevermakea truly honesteffort
to learn to write. Shortly, it makessensethat the more the studentspractice
writing,the bettertheywill write.
Unfortunately,there are some difficulties that afe faced by many EFL
studentsin writing class, which are faced also by the students of English
Departmentof WidyaMandalaSurabayaCatholicUniversity.First, the students
usuallyhavea troublein gettingstartedto write. Whenthey facea blank sheetof
paper, they have difficulty in generating their idea based
on the topic given.
second, the studentsalso have difficulties in encounteringappropriatevocabulary
especially the word choice in their writings. Third, the studentsget
confused in
ananging their ideascoherently in the new language.The three
difficulties above
need serious aoncern when they occur during the writing processbecause
their
existence will make the result of the students' writings become
unreadable.
Gebhard,(1996:221)statesthat "the usual things associatedwith writing
are rvord
choice, the use of appropriate grammar (such as subject verb agreemenr,
rense,
and article use), syntax (word order), mechanics(e.g. punctuation, spelling,
and
handwriting), and organization of ideas into coherent and cohesive form.,, Latel
according to weigle Q002:35) "because of the constraints of limited secondlanguageknowledge, writing in a second languagemay be hamperedbecause
of
the need to focus on languagerather than content." In line with weigle; silvia,
(1993:668) "in a review ofdifferences betweenfirst and second-languagewriting,
found that writing in a second language tends to be more constrained, more
difficult, and less effective than writing in a first language: second-language
writers plan less, and write less fluently and accurately than first-language
writers." As a result, for many students, writing is more an obstacle than an
opportunity. Becausewriting seemsdifficult and threatening,many of the students
write reluctantly. consequently, some studentsare less motivated when they are
.loining the writing class.
Next, to overcomethe difficulties during the writing processespeciallythe
difficulties in generating ideas based on the topic given, encountering the
appropnatevocabularyin writing and arrangingthe idea coherently
in the new
Ianguagethe rwiter is going to conductan experimenton writing narrative
compositionusingDictation-composition
(dicto-comp).
The writer deliberately
choosesdicto-compbecauseit is one kind of techniquefor teaching
guided
writing. Guidedwriting itself is a suggested
techniquefor teachingrwiting
to the
EFL studentsat the earrystage.Baskof, (rg7r) states"for EFL students
rvrth
limitedlanguage
skill; onewayto startrwitingin theearlystageis throughguided
writing."
Next,according
to Riley(1972)"dicto-compcanbe usedto helpstudents
developcontinuityandfluencyin speakingand writing.,'In line with Riley, some
researches
suggestthat dicto-compmay improvestudents'fluency and senseof
discourse
coherence
(Buckingham&peck, 1976;Kleinmann&Selekman.i9g0;
Nation, 1991).In other words, by maintainingthis technique,the students,
difficulties in organizingthoughtor idea in composingwriting task are more or
lesssolved.Thedicto-compalsocanbe somehelp for teachers
to motivatetheir
studentsto enjoywriting in writing class.
In this experimentalstudy, the writer will compare dicto-comp ro
brainstormingastechniquesfor teachingnarrativewriting. The underlyingreason
for this comparisonis that writing teacheras techniquein writing composition
mostly usesbrainstorming.Finally, in applyingthis technique(the dicto-comp)
for teachingwriting, the writer limits only to narrationbecausethe stressof
writing in writing A class- the subjectthat is goingto be usedin this study- in
this department
is writing narrativecomposition.
1.2 Statementof the problem
Basedon the above background,the centrarquestionto be answered
rn
this
study is: ls there a significant difference between students, narrative .arnting
achievement who are taught using dicto-comp and those who
are taught usrng
brainstorming?
1.3 Objective of the Studv
Basedon the statementof the problem above,the objectiveof the
studvis
to find rvhether there is significant difference between students,
narrative writins
achievementsthat are taught using dicto-comp and those who are
taught usrng
brainstormins.
1.4Significance
ofthe Study
Theresultsofthis studyareexpected
to give somevaluablecontributions
for the studentsofEnglish Departmentsothat they no longerarefearfulor hateful
to write. Montalvan(1999)statesthat "one of the very bestwaysto usedictation
ts the dicto-comp;an effectiveexercisecanbe usedevenat begrnninglevels."
The
writer seesthat this techniquemoreor lesscan coverthe difficulriesfaced
by the
studentsduringthe writing class.Moreover,basedon the theoryof dicto-comp,
the studentsleam how to exprainthe ideaofthe passagein their own words,but
they do it in controlledsituation.practically,dicto-compnot only requiresthe
studentsto write, but also to summarize,to organize,to memorize,and to use
vocabulary or phrasesbased on the information read by the teacher. Shortty,
through dicto-compthe studentsleam how to communicatetheir idea by using
English in particular context through writing. Finally, this study is also dedicated
fbr the teachersin this departmentin teaching writing so that both the teachersand
the studentsenjoy the writing class.
1.5 Scopesand Limitations
The studyis limited to the follorving points:
.
The populationof this study are the secondsemesterstudentsof
the academicyear 2002/ 2003 of English Departmentwho are
taking Writing A. Then,the samplesof this studyare two classes
of WritingA (ClassB andCiassB). Ther.witerchooses
WritingA
because
it is the beginningrwiting classlevel in this department
and dicto-comp itself is suitable for the beginner.Montalvan
(1999)statesthat"Oneofthe verybestwaysto usedictationis the
dicto-comp,an effectiveexercisecan be usedeven at beginning
levels.
Theexperimentonly dealswith nanativervritingbecause
the stress
of the students'takingwriting A is writing narrativewriting.
The writing being experimentedis the students'posttestwritings
thatconsistofat least150words.
The materialin this study is in the form of narrative
experimental
andcontrolgroups.
for
1.6 Theoretical Frameworks
The ma.Jortheory that is going to be usedto supportthe applicationof
dicto-compin this study is the theoryof learningpsychologyand the natureof
schemata.
In addition,the writer alsoincludes,the natureof writing abilitv,the
natureof narrativewriting, the natureof dictation,the natureof dicto-comp.the
natureof brainstorming,
andfwo previousstudies.
1.7The ResearchHypotheses
Null Hypothesis(llo): Thereis no significantdiff'erencein the
students' writing achievement taught by using dictation
composition(dicto-comp)and those who are taught using
brainstorming.
AlternativeHypothesis
(H1):Thereis a significantdifference
in the students'rwiting achievement
taughtby usingdictation
composition(dicto-comp)and those rvho are taught using
brainstormins.
1.8Assumptions
At the heartof the study,the followingtwo assumptions
areformulated:
The two raters assigned to score the students' compositions are
assumedto be doing their best and following the guidelines given.
The dicto-comp that is used during the experimental will indirectly
encouragethe students to write the composition. Therefore, it is
assumedthat the subjectsare also quite motivated to do the dictocomp during the treatments.
1.9Definitionof Key Terms
ln this study the writer sees that there are some essential terms to be
defined in order to avoid misunderstandingin interpreting this study. They are:
W'riting:White (1986: 12) regardswriting as an act of sharing
new ideas and old ideaswith a new perspectivewith the human
communlfy. The relation of a part idea to the rvhole is
communicatively with the reader.
Narrative writing: Warriner (1977 527) statesthat narrative
rmting is a kind of discourse,which answersthe questions
whathappen,whenthat is andwherethat is.
TJteDicto-Comp:Accordingto Richards(2002),dicto-compis
a techniquefor practicingcompositionin languageclasses.A
passageis readto a class,and then the studentsmust write out
what they understand
and rememberfrom the passage,
keeping
as closelyto the originalas possiblebut usingtheir orvnwords
where necessary.
Achievement:Page & Thomas(1979 l0) use this term to
describeperformancein the subjectsofthe given curriculum.
In this study, achievementis relatedto the subjects'writing
performance
only.
llrainstorming: According to Langgan (2000) brainstorming is
a process of generating a lot of information about certain
subjectwithin a short time.
1.10Organizationof the Study
This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter one deals with the
introductionofthe studythat includesbackground
ofthe study,statement
ofthe
problem, the objective of the study, significanceof the study, scopesand
lirnitations of the study, theoretical framework, hypothesis,assumptions,
definition of key terms, and,organizationof the study. Chaptertwo deals with
previousstudyand reviewof relatedliterature.The methodologyofthe studyis
describedin chapterthree.Thedataanalysisandfindingsarediscussed
in depthin
chapterfour. Finally,a summaryof what hasbeendiscussed
in previouschapters
is presentedin chapterfive which also includessome suggestions
to be paid
attentionby the readers.