Observational Study on the Teacher’s Method and Assessment in Teaching Writing Skill in a Private Senior High School in Jember

Abstract

Curriculum 2013 has become a guide for the English teachers to teach English in secondary schools since 2013. As targeted in English Curriculum 2013, the English teacher is required to teach writing based on the basic competences stated in the curriculum. The present study is designed as observational research by observing how a senior high school English teacher teaches and assesses writing in SMAN 01 Arjasa Jember. The data collected in the present study are: (1) the methods in teaching writing, and (2) the assessment methods employed by the teacher in assessing the process and the product of the students‟ writing. Therefore, interview, observation, and documentation methods are used to collect the data. The obtained data from the observation, and documentation were analyzed by using thematic analysis, i.e., a method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data. The goal of the analyzing the data is to know the English teachers‟ patterns in teaching and assessing the students‟ writing in SMAN 01 Arjasa Jember. Findings of the research revealed that the teacher used cooperative learning methods in teaching English writing skill. The teacher applied several different approaches in the teaching activities. In the opening activity, the teacher applied genre based text approach because he focused on the explaining of the genre of the text. In the main activity, the teacher applied process approach because he observed the students and guided the students in writing a good example of explanation or narrative text. In the closing activity, the teacher applied product approach because he asked the student to create a text in the final task. In conducting assessment of writing, the teacher used analytical scoring method supported by scoring rubric to assess the students‟ writing of the two genres of the text (narrative text and explanation text). The teacher used process assessment in guiding the students to make a good narrative/explanation text and when he giving feedbacks to the students, he also used product assessment to measure the students‟ final task. From the findings of the research, it is suggested that the teacher makes variations of the teaching strategy in teaching different types of genre and teaches the students in the right order, although improvisation is permitted but it is recommended to comply with the steps that have been planned in the lesson plan. The teachers should provide a variety of exercises in joint construction of the text. In addition, next researchers also suggested to conduct further research on the teacher‟s method and assessment in teaching writing in other contexts due to lack of research studies on this issue.