View of THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING TEAM PAIR SOLO STRATEGY IN TEACHING WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT FOR THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS IN SMPN 2 PETERONGAN

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SELL Journal Vol. 2(1) February 2017

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING TEAM PAIR SOLO STRATEGY IN
TEACHING WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT FOR THE SECOND GRADE
STUDENTS IN SMPN 2 PETERONGAN
Santi Purwanti
bagonksanti@yahoo.co.id
IMI Jombang
Ima Chusnul Chotimah
imachus.stkipjb@gmail.com
STKIP PGRI JOMBANG
Abstract: The purpose of conducting this research was to investigate the
effectiveness of using Team Pair Solo Strategy in teaching writing descriptive text
for the second-grade students in SMPN 2 Peterongan. Team Pair Solo Strategy is
kind of cooperative learning strategy where the students do a task in group, in pair,
and individually. The subjects of this research were 8-A and 8-B which consist of 32
students. Pre-test and post-test were given to both of experimental and control
class. For the treatments, the students of experimental class were taught by using
Team Pair Solo Strategy. In contrast, the students of control class were taught by

Conventional Strategy. Post-test was given after giving the treatments. The result
showed that F value was 4.955 than F table was 3.99. It was clearly shown that F value
was higher than the F table (4.955>3.99). It means that Ha was accepted. Based on the
proven hypotheses, the researcher can conclude that the using of Team Pair Solo
Strategy in teaching writing descriptive text for the second-grade students in SMPN
2 Peterongan was proven effective.
Keywords: Teaching Writing, Team Pair Solo Strategy
Writing is a result of someone idea in a written form, of which its readers can
read and understand well (Thommy, 2008). It means that students can compose
grammatically correct sentence through focusing on certain topic which is
understood well by the readers. So, it is better for teacher to use or apply interesting
learning strategy which can motivate students in writing. One of appropriate
strategy is “Team Pair Solo”. Team Pair Solo Strategy is designed to help students
accomplish challenging learning tasks that at first, they may not be able to achieve
on their own (Oermann & Heinrich, 2006). Dealing with that statement, it is
important for the teacher to stimulate students’ mind to share their idea
autonomously because Team Pair Solo Strategy involves students to do the task in
group first before they do by themselves. In group, students will be easy to share
and get idea from their friends; they will develop the idea to be good writing. More
to the point, the researcher chose SMPN 2 Peterongan as the setting of this research

because this school has ever won some English competitions; Storytelling contest
and speech contest. Besides, the numbers of students are also interested in English

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through joining English program held by the school. This fact is related to what the
researcher will be investigated. The purpose of this research is to know the students
taught by Team Pair Solo Strategy had better writing achievement than students
taught by Conventional Strategy.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
Writing is a personal act in which writers take ideas or prompts and
transform them into “self-initiated” topics (O’malley, 1996, p.136). Also, writing is a
result of someone idea in a written form, of which its readers can read and
understand well (Thommy, 2008). It means that writers have their own creativity
for developing an idea to be an understandable writing which is easy to be read; that
creativity is influenced by writer’s background knowledge itself. To write well, it is

very important for students to integrate the purpose into their own unique
approach to writing.
Dealing with that statement, junior high school students are students who
are mature enough for composing sentence even simple paragraph because they
have unvarnished imagination. In contrast, they are hard to start writing because of
some reasons. Students are not confident in writing paragraph. Others, they do not
practice it every day even it is done without any evaluation from the teacher. Also,
the time allocation of writing subject is very partial. Thus, the students are writing
paragraph for compiling the task only. It is supported by Harmer who stated when
helping students to become better writers; teachers have a number of crucial tasks
to perform (Harmer, 2004). Therefore, a teacher needs to motivate students through
applying interesting media even teaching strategy.
Team Pair Solo Strategy is strategy where students do problems first as a
team, then with a partner, and finally on their own (Kagan, 1994). It is designed to
motivate students to tackle and succeed at problems which initially are beyond their
ability. So the student has received the necessary support prior to the individual
performance. It shows that Team Pair Solo strategy help students to compose their
own task well through considering other students’ suggestion and help. Team Pair
Solo involves some steps namely: first, the students are put into teams where each
student is given their own task even problem, and then they work together and help

each other to solve the task. At this stage, the students learn to interact and help
member classmates. Besides, the students also help each other because what may
be one student’s weakness is another student’s strength. Second, each student needs
to find a partner and they help each other to figure out the task. Third, each student
should finish the task individually.
Besides, the genre of the text given is descriptive text. Descriptive text is kind
of text with a purpose to give information. The context of this text is the description
of particular thing, animal, person, or others. (Mala, 2013, p.1). In this study,
students are focused in making a descriptive text of person including family, close

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friend even famous tourism place around them. The students will be easier by
analyzing appearance, behavior, features, personality, and occupation.
Moreover, type of writing assessment was needed in this study, here the
researcher used analytic scoring rubric which was collaborated with the teacher’s

recommendation that is more proper with the students at SMPN 2 Peterongan. The
rubric involves some indicators namely grammar, spelling, diction and paragraph
development. Then, it should be scored based on the assessment criteria.
RESEARCH METHOD
The research method used is quantitative research with the design “QuasiExperimental Design” especially Non-equivalent control group which relates to nonrandomized subject because it was impossible for the researcher to take any new
class; the researcher decided the subject of the research based on the teacher’s
recommendation that were 8-A and 8-B. Flipping coin was done for determining
which would be experimental and control class. 8-A was experimental class which
taught by using Team Pair Solo Strategy, while 8-B was control class.
Here, the researcher had two variables namely Team Pair Solo strategy was
independent variable, while the students’ writing achievement was dependent
variable. Furthermore, there was only an instrument used by the researcher named
test. There were two kind of tests, they were pre-test and post-test. Before giving
the test, the researcher needed to know the test is valid and reliable through doing
validity and reliability test. Others, the researcher also conducted similar pre-test
for both of those classes. After giving pre-test, the treatments were given for about
three times, then the researcher gave post-test which would be analyzed to test the
hypothesis.
In analyzing the data, the researcher used ANCOVA. It has been supported by
C.R. Kothari “The ANCOVA technique requires one to assume that there is some sort

of relationship between the dependent variable and the uncontrolled variable. We
also assume that this form of relationship is the same in the various treatment
groups (Kothari, 2004, p. 272).” It is suitable with the research design where the
groups/classes were chosen randomly from the population. Also, the researcher
apply ANCOVA by using SPSS 16 which provides these following steps
1. Analyzing the ANOVA (Analysis of Variance)
Click on Analyze Select Compare MeansOne-way ANOVAClick on your
dependent (continuous) variableClick your independent variableClick
OK
2. Analyzing the Correlation
Click on Analyzeselect CorrelateBivariate. After that, move the variables
of interest into the Variables box. Select the first group of variables, followed
by the second groupClick on Paste.

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3. Adjusting the result of the first and the second steps
Click on Analyzeselect General Linear ModelClick on the Model
buttonClick on Full Factorial in the Specify Model sectionClick on
ContinueClick on the Options button. In the top section labeled Estimated
Marginal Means, click on your independent variable (group). Finally, Click on
Continue and then OK (Jullie Pallant, 2010)
4. Testing the Hypothesis
Here, the researcher tested the hypothesis by comparing the F value with the
F table, if the F value is higher than F value, it means that alternative hypothesis is
accepted while null hypothesis is rejected.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
After calculating the data, the researcher compared the data with the theory.
In this research, the students were given more exercises to do writing. They do not
apply the writing processes as like inventing, drafting, revising and editing because
it is difficult for them; they just need to write something by their own way.
In experimental group, the researcher introduced and explained the material
about descriptive text clearly. Then, the students were given some examples of
descriptive text. The researcher and students analyzed the components of text
together. After that, the researcher gave task to the students for composing
descriptive text about the famous place around them. They were divided into group

which consist 4 members. In contrast, different treatment given to control group;
the researcher and students analyzed the components of text based on the example
together. Then, the students were not asked to make a group. The researcher asked
students for composing descriptive text about famous place around them
individually.
Furthermore, the data were obtained from students’ writing achievement.
The pre-test and post-test given were computed to test the hypothesis. Following is
the chart shows the mean score of students in pre-test and post-test.

Chart 1. The Presentation of Students’ Average Score

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The Presentation of Students' Score
80
60

40

Mean Score of Pre-test

20
0

Mean Score of Post-test
VIII-A VIII-B

The chart above shows that the mean score of pre-test in experimental group
was higher than control group: 57.88>55.09. While, the mean score of post-test in
experimental group was higher than control group, that were 71.38>62.16. On the
other hand, the researcher could not say that the strategy was applied in
experimental group was effective because the pre-test score both of experimental
and control group were exactly different. Therefore, the researcher needed to test
the hypothesis through using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).
After computing the data by using Analysis of Covariance, the researcher
found the F value was 4.955. It can be presented through this following table:

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Table 1.1 Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent
Variable:
Achievement

Source
Corrected
Model
Intercept
Pretest

Type III Sum
of Squares Df
6637.337a 2

1369.049 1
5277.571 1

Mean
Square

F
20.93
3318.668
4
1369.049 8.636
33.29
5277.571
1

Teaching_meth
785.470 1
785.470 4.955
od
Error
9670.148 61 158.527
Total
301597.000 64
Corrected Total 16307.484 63
a. R Squared = .407 (Adjusted R Squared =
.388)
b. Computed using alpha = .05

Sig.

Partial Noncent.
Eta Paramete Observed
Squared
r
Powerb

.000

.407

41.869

1.000

.005

.124

8.636

.824

.000

.353

33.291

1.000

.030

.075

4.955

.591

According to the table above, the researcher found that the F value was
greater than F table; 4.955>3.99. In final consideration, the researcher concluded
that the independent variable named Team Pair Solo Strategy influenced the
dependent variable that was students’ writing achievement. It means that Ho was
rejected while Ha was accepted because there was significant difference which the
students taught by Team Pair Solo Strategy had better writing achievement than
students taught by Conventional Strategy.
CONCLUSION
The researcher found any significant difference between the experimental
and control group. It can be proven from the F Value which was higher than F table
that was 4.955>3.99. It means that Ha was accepted while Ho was rejected. Thus, it
can be concluded that students taught by Team Pair Solo Strategy had better writing
achievement than students taught by Conventional Strategy. In final consideration,
the researcher stated that the use of Team Pair Solo Strategy in teaching writing
descriptive text for the second-grade students in SMPN 2 Peterongan was effective.

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REFERENCES
Kagan, S. (2001). Kagan Structures for Emotional Intelligence. Available at
http://kaganOnline.com/online_magazine/ASK14/htm. [retrieved on
20/10/2014]
Mala, Nurmala. (2013). Available at www.surviverenglish.blogspot.co.id/2013
/04/descriptive-text_12.html?m=1 [retrieved at 18th March 2015]
O’malley, J. Michael & Pierce, Lorraine Valdez. (1996). Authentic Assessment for
English Language Learners. Addison. Wesley Publishing Company Inc
Oermann, Marilyn H & Heinrich. (2006). Annual Review of Nursing Education Volume
4: Innovations in Curriculum, Teaching, and Student and Faculty
Development. New York: Kase Printing Practice). San Francisco State
University. Longman
Pallant, Julie. (2010) A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS (4 th edition).
Australia. Allen &Unwin Book Publishers
Thommy, Ahmad. (2008). Writing Genres in English. Surakarta. PT Eka Pustaka
Utama

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