APPLYING JIGSAW II ACTIVITY IN COOPERATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING TO IMPROVE THE ABILITY OF THE GRADE VIII C STUDENTS OF SMPN 1 PUGER JEMBER IN A WRITING NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH IN THE 2009/2010 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

This research was intended to improve the writing ability of the grade VIII C students of SMPN 1 Puger Jember in the 2009 / 2010 academic year. This research was started by conducting preliminary study through interview and classroom observation. From the results of preliminary study, it was known that, the students’ writing achievement was unsatisfactory, especially grade VIII C class. It was so because (1) the students had difficulty to start their writing, (2) to write the correct sentence structure in writing, (3) to organize their ideas in writing (4) and had low motivation in writing classes. To overcome those problems, the researcher offered three techniques that related to the problems. Finally, both the researcher and English teacher agreed to apply Jigsaw II activity because this technique was more appropriate and suitable to overcome the students’ problems in writ ing. This research was carried out in two cycles. Each cycle covered the stages of classroom action research that include planning the action, implementation of the action, observation and evaluation, and reflection of the action. The first cycle was conducted in four meetings including the writing test 1 and three meetings including the writing test 2 for the second cycle. The research data were collected through the writing test, observation checklist and field notes. The results of students’ writ ing achievement in the first cycle showed that the percentage of the students who got score 70 or more was 40%. In addition, the results of observation revealed that only 55–70% of 40 students participated actively during teaching and learning process (TLP). The rest of students (30–45% of 40 students) participated passively during TLP. This happened because the students could not build positive interdependence and they had difficulty to write the correct sentence structure in writing and to apply the simple past tense consistently. Besides, they had difficulty to organize their narrative writing. Based on those results, it could be concluded that the action given in the first cycle was not successful yet. Therefore, the action was continued to the second cycle by revising the lesson plans in the first cycle by considering on the strength and weaknesses of the students during the implementation of the action of first cycle and by considering the weaknesses and errors that the students made in the writing test. In second cycle, the teacher explained the construction of simple past sentence and the way to organize the ideas in writing narrative paragraph. Moreover, to encourage the students to work cooperatively in doing the task given the teacher assigned specific roles of checker and writer in the group. The high achievers were assigned to be the groups’ checker. Meanwhile, the middle and low achievers were assigned to be the groups’ writer. This assignment of specific roles intended to promote the students accountability and responsibility. The results of the students’ writing achievement in the second cycle showed that 75.67% of students got score 70 or more. It improved from 40% in first cycle to 75.67% in second cycle. Besides, there was also an improvement on the percentage of the students’ active participation in the teaching and learning process of writing by applying Jigsaw II activity. It improved from 55% -70% in first cycle to 85 % in second cycle. It means that both the students’ writ ing test and the students’ act ive participation in the TLP of writing by applying Jigsaw II activity improved in the second cycle and fulfilled the success criteria of this research. Thus, the action research was ended. Based on the results of the research above, it could be concluded that the application of Jigsaw II activity in the teaching and learning of writing could improve the students’ writ ing abilit y in two cycles. Then, it is suggested to the English teacher and the students to apply the Jigsaw II activity as an alternative technique in writing. It is due to the fact that this type of activity not only could improve the students writing ability in writing but also encouraged the students actively in writing activity.