THE EFFECT OF USING CLUSTERING TECHNIQUE ON THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ RECOUNT TEXT WRITING ACHIEVEMENT AT SMPN 1 SILIRAGUNG BANYUWANGI IN THE 2015/2016 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Writing is one of the four basic skills in English language learning. It is one of the ways to communicate by using written language. It is regarded as the most important skill that can be seen from the use of writing at almost all of the subject matter at school whether on the language subject or the other lessons. Even, it is very important for students’ future endeavor because it is one of the requirements in every higher level of their study and for their future career. Writing is regarded as a difficult skill. To deliver a good writing, writer needs to follow some writing steps. They are: prewriting, organizing, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading. Prewriting is an important step of writing because in this activity the ideas are come up and the topic are developed. One of the prewriting techniques is clustering. In clustering, the students write various ideas and details. It helps students produce ideas more creative without inhibition. Moreover, there is no judgment to the ideas producing in clustering. The students get a relax situation and far from inhibition when they are clustering their ideas. Moreover, clustering help students to organize their ideas well, because it can also be used for grouping the ideas. It helps students group the ideas as they are connected each other by grouping the ideas in a graphic design. Besides, clustering can provide an interesting learning activity since there is no inhibition and limitation in producing ideas, therefore the students will be motivated to write. In other words, if the students are interested and motivated in writing, it can influence their achievement. This research was a quasi experimental research. The purpose of this research was to know whether or not there was a significant effect of using Clustering Technique on the eighth grade students’ recount writing achievement at SMP Negeri 1 Siliragung Banyuwangi in the 2015/2016 academic year. The area of this research was SMP Negeri 1 Siliragung Banyuwangi. It was chosen purposively because the researcher wanted to prove whether or not there was a significant effect of using clustering technique to teach writing recount text in this school. The population of this research was the eighth grade students in the 2015/2016 academic year. The research respondents were determined by cluster random sampling by using lottery since the population was homogeneous based on the result of homogeneity test. The total number of the respondents was 72 students that consisted of 36 students of VIII A as the experimental group taught by clustering technique, while the control group consisted of 36 students of VIII B taught without using clustering technique. The data of this research were collected from the students’ scores of post test to make comparison of the mean scores between the two groups, and the data were analyzed by using independent sample t-test formula. Based on the calculation, the mean score of the experimental group was higher than the mean score of the control group. The result of the data analysis showed that the statistical value of the students’ post-test was 3.428 while the value of t-table at significant level 5% with degree of freedom (Df) 70 was 1.994. It indicates that the value of t-test was higher than of t-table (3.428>1.994). Based on the output of independent sample t-test, it could be concluded that there was a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group. It indicated that there was a significant effect using clustering technique on the eighth grade students’ recount text writing achievement at SMP Negeri 1 Siliragung Banyuwangi in the 2015/2016 academic year. Therefore, it is recommended for the teacher to use clustering as a technique in teaching writing.