IMPROVING THE EIGHTH YEAR STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT THROUGH TEACHER’S FEEDBACK AT SMP AL BAITUL AMIEN FULL DAY SCHOOL JEMBER IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Based on the preliminary study that was done on February 27 2012, most of the eighth year students of SMP Al Baitul Amien Full Day School Jember faced some difficulties in writing a text in terms of writing by using appropriate tenses, choosing suitable words and putting the correct punctuations. This was proven by their writing scores. It showed that 16 (84.21%) of 19 students got <70 and the mean score was 62.1. Besides, the students’ participation in the teaching learning process of writing was still low. It means that they were still passive in the classroom. The classroom action research through teacher’s feedback was implemented in this research because this research was intended to improve the eighth year students’ writing achievement and their active participation in the teaching learning process of writing. In this research, the researcher collaborated with the English teacher of the eighth year of SMP Al Baitul Amien Full Day School Jember. The observation and the writing test were the methods that were used in collecting the data. The data were analyzed quantitatively. The action was conducted in two cycles in order to achieve the objectives of this classroom action research. The first cycle was done in three meetings. The results of the classroom observation indicated that 11 students of 18 students (one students was sick) or 61.11% of the students who actively participated in the teaching learning process in the first meeting of cycle 1 and 13 students of 19 students or 68.42% in meeting 2 were active during the teaching learning process. It showed that there was an improvement of the students’ active participation from meeting 1 to meeting 2, but it did not achieve the determined objective of the research that was 70%. In addition, the result of the writing test in the first cycle had not achieved the criteria of success of the research that was 70% of the students had to get the score of 70 or higher in the writing test. The percentage of the students who got score of 70 or higher was only 12 students or 63.15% of 19 students. Based on the results of the first cycle above, the second cycle was necessary to be conducted. Some revision had been made to solve the problems found in the first cycle. It showed an improvement. In the classroom observation, the students’ participation showed that 14 students or 73.68% in meeting 1 and 16 students or 84.21% in meeting 2 actively participated in the teaching learning process. So, the result of the observation in meeting 1 and meeting 2 had achieved the objective of the research. In the writing test, the percentage of the students who got score ≥ 70 in the writing test was 14 students or 73.68% of 19 students. Based on those results, it could be concluded that the actions in the second cycle were successful because the results of classroom observation and writing test achieved the objectives of the research. Finally, it can be summarized that the use of Teacher’s Feedback technique could improve the eighth year students’ achievement in writing a recount text and their active participation in the teaching learning process of writing a recount text at SMP Al Baitul Amien Full Day School Jember in 2011/2012 academic year. By considering the results above, it is suggested that the English teacher use Teacher’s Feedback technique to improve the students’ writing achievement as well as their active participation. Besides, the result of this research can be used as a source of information for the future researchers who want to conduct a further research that deals with a similar topic by using different research design, such as “The Effect of Teacher’s Feedback on students’ writing achievement at Senior High School Level”.