IMPROVING THE GRADE VIII-B STUDENTS’ WRITING ACHIEVEMENT AND ACTIVE PARTICIPATION BY USING NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER (NHT) TECHNIQUE AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 6 WULUHAN

Abstract

This research was a classroom action research. It was intended to improve the grade VIII-B students’ writing achievement and active participation in teaching learning process. It was conducted at SMP Muhammadiyah 6 Wuluhan which was chosen by purposive method with the following considerations: (1) the researcher found the case at this school, (2) it gave benefits for the students and the teachers at this school because this research gave an input to improve the students’ writing achievement and the students’ active participation in the teaching learning process, (3) the school provided the data and the facilities needed for this research, and (4) the researcher had known the situation and the condition of the teaching learning process and the characteristics of the grade VIII students in each class. The subjects of the research were the grade VIII-B students under the consideration that they were low achievers and could not perform well in learning English. In addition, the data of the research were taken from the writing test and observation as primary data and the interview and documentation as supporting data. The problem of the research were: (1) Can the use of Numbered Heads Together (NHT) technique improve the grade VIII-B students’ writing skill achievement at SMP Muhammadiyah 6 Wuluhan?, (2) Can the use of Numbered Heads Together (NHT) technique improve the grade VIII-B students’ active xiv participation in teaching learning process at SMP Muhammadiyah 6 Wuluhan? To answer these problems, some actions in each cycle were then conducted collaboratively with the English teacher. The researchers gave four writing exercises by asking the students to write a narrative text guided by pictures in series by using Numbered Heads Together (NHT) technique. First, the researchers planned the action by preparing the material. Second, the researchers formed the students into 9 groups. Third, the researchers numbered the students from 1 to 4 each group. Fourth, the researchers posed questions related to the pictures in series. Fifth, the researchers asked the students to discuss the answers by putting their heads together. The last, the researchers called the number randomly. The students whose number was called write the answer on their answer sheet. These actions were continuously done until the results reached the target requirements of the research those were the students successfully achieved the target mean score that was 65 points and there were more than 70% of the students actively participated in the teaching learning process. In the first cycle, the results of the action could improve the students’ writing achievement. The mean score improved from 58.08 in writing test before the implementation of the research to 63.62 in cycle one. However, it could not achieve the target mean score that was 65. Moreover, the percentage of the students’ active participation in cycle one was only 37.14 %. Meanwhile, in cycle two, Numbered Heads Together (NHT) technique could improve the students’ writing achievement, that was 71.17. Further, the students’ active participation in cycle two was 75.71 %. These mean that the actions in cycle two were necessary stopped. The research proved that Numbered Heads Together (NHT) technique could improve the students’ writing skill achievement. Therefore, the English teacher was highly recommended to use NHT technique to improve the students’ writing achievement. It would be more motivating and could create supporting environment or good learning society by applying NHT technique in doing writing activity. Thus, it could improve the students’ writing skill achievement and active participation.