Students‟ Grammatical Accuracy on Writing Descriptive Texts: An Action Research of Teacher‟s Written Corrective Feedback

Abstract

This classroom action research was intended to improve the tenth MIPA 3 grade students‟ grammatical accuracy on writing by using Teacher‟s Written Corrective Feedback at SMA Negeri Rambipuji, Jember. Based on the preliminary study, it was found out that the main problem of tenth MIPA 3 grade students was in grammar that made them produce errors when they constructed a piece of writing. It happened because the students experience difficulties in using appropriate tenses and teacher only gave feedback to some students as the example for the whole class. However, this technique did not seem to be effective to be implemented during writing activity. It made difficult for the students to correct their errors. Students still feel confused because when the case is on grammar, students might face situation which they could not correct the errors by themselves as the teacher did it only to some students‟ work instead of individual feedback. It was proved by looking at the percentage of students who could achieve the standard score (71) was only 67% students (Appendix A p.77). The data collection methods used were students‟ writing and questionnaire. The students‟ writing product was conducted in each cycle to gain students‟ grammatical accuracy scores, while the questionnaire was to know about students‟ perceptions towards the feedback given. The study was done in two cycles to check the consistency of the research result. Each cycle covered two meetings of the implementation of the action and one meeting for administering the test. Besides, the questionnaire consisted of 6 indicators, namely 1) students‟ perception of the importance of writing in learning English; (2) students‟ perception of the meaningfulness of teacher‟s written corrective feedback; (3) students‟ perception of their awareness of their mistakes; (4) students‟ perception of the ease in understanding their teacher‟s written corrective feedback; (5) students‟ perception of the benefit of teacher‟s written corrective feedback; (6) students‟ perception of their self-carefulness to the errors in their future. This research was considered to be successful if at least 71 % of X MIPA 3 students achieved the standard score of the school, that is, 71. The result of this research was categorized as successful because in the first cycle, the result of students‟ grammatical accuracy was 72 % or 26 students who got score at least or higher than 71. In other words, Cycle 1 fulfilled the criteria of success because 71% of students achieved the research criteria. Then, the action was continued to Cycle 2 to check the consistency of the students‟ achievement. The second Cycle showed much better result. It reported that 78% or 28 students passed the standard minimum score. It indicated that the percentage increased as much as 6% from Cycle 1 (72%) to Cycle 2. Moreover, the result of questionnaire on students‟ perception towards written corrective feedback revealed that the score level was 774 in which it was categorized as strongly positive. It can be concluded that teacher‟s written corrective feedback gave many contributions to the development of students‟ writing ability and improvement on students‟ grammatical accuracy. Furthermore, since the students‟ perception to the teacher‟s written corrective feedback was positive, it was highly recommended for teachers to apply written corrective feedback in teaching and learning process, especially in teaching writing. Based on the result above, it can be concluded that the action in Cycle 2 had achieved the criteria of success of the research. The result of Cycle 1 to Cycle 2 showed an improvement as well as achieved the criteria of success. Finally, it can be summarized that the application of Teacher‟s Written Corrective Feedback could improve the tenth MIPA 3 students‟ grammatical accuracy.