IMPROVING CLASS VII A STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH BY USING INDIVIDUAL PICTURES AT SMP NEGERI 2 BANYUPUTIH, SITUBONDO IN THE 2012/2013 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

MMARY Improving Class VII A Students’ Achievement in Writing A Descriptive Paragraph by Using Individual Pictures at SMPN 2 Banyuputih, Situbondo in the 2012/2013 Academic Year ; Elita Ayu Kurniawati, 090210401088; 2013; 46 pages; English Language Education Study Program of Language and Arts Department of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Jember University. This Classroom Action Research was intended to improve class VII A students’ achievement in writing a descriptive paragraph by using individual pictures at SMPN 2 Banyuputih, Situbondo in the 2012/2013 academic year. This research subjects were the students of class VII A that was determined purposively, because their writing achievement score was the lowest among the six existing classes which was below the standard score of English of the school that was 70. This was known from the result of the preliminary study, the interview, the classroom observation, and the students’ previous writing scores. Besides, they also experienced difficulties in the areas of vocabularies, tenses or structure, mechanic, organization, and content of the paragraph. As a result, they could not write in English well. Finally, both the researcher and the English teacher agreed to apply individual pictures because this learning media were suitable and appropriate to overcome the students’ problems in writing. This research was carried out in two cycles. Each cycle covered the stages that include the planning of the action, the implementation of the action, classroom observation and evaluation, and data analysis and reflection of the action. Each cycle was conducted in three meetings including the writing test. The data of the students’ writing achievement were collected by the writing test. Meanwhile, observation was used to observe the students’ active participation in xii the teaching learning process of descriptive paragraph writing by using observation checklist. The result of the students’ writing achievement test in cycle 1 showed that the percentage of the students who got score 70 or higher was 65%. In addition, the results of observation in cycle 1 showed that there were only 10 students (47.6%) of 21 students who actively participated in the teaching learning process of writing by using individual pictures. In conclusion, the actions in cycle 1 were not successful yet. Therefore, the actions were continued to cycle 2 by revising some necessary aspects related to the use of individual pictures in the teaching learning process of descriptive paragraph writing. In cycle 2, the researcher gave more explanations about descriptive paragraph writing such as the generic structures and the language features, gave more explanations about parts of a good paragraph, and gave another example of descriptive paragraph writing. Besides, the researcher gave them opportunities to ask the problems they faced. The result of the students’ writing achievement test in cycle 2 showed that there were 17 students (89.5%) of 19 students who got score 70 or higher. It improved from 65% in cycle 1 to 89.5% in cycle 2. Besides, there was also an improvement on the percentage of the students’ active participation. It improved from 61.9% in cycle 1 to 81% in cycle 2. It means that both the students’ writing test and their active participation in the teaching learning process of descriptive paragraph writing by using individual pictures improved in cycle 2 and fulfilled the success of the criteria of this research. Thus, the action research was ended. Based on the results above, it was showed that the use of individual pictures in the teaching learning process of descriptive paragraph writing could improve the students’ writing achievement in 2 cycles. Then, it is suggested to the English teacher and the students to use individual pictures as media in teaching and/or practicing writing. It is due to the result that individual pictures as media could improve the students’ descriptive paragraph writing achievement.