| dc.description.abstract | This research was intended to improve the writing ability of the grade VIII C
students of SMPN 1 Puger Jember in the 2009 / 2010 academic year. This research
was started by conducting preliminary study through interview and classroom
observation. From the results of preliminary study, it was known that, the students’
writing achievement was unsatisfactory, especially grade VIII C class. It was so
because (1) the students had difficulty to start their writing, (2) to write the correct
sentence structure in writing, (3) to organize their ideas in writing (4) and had low
motivation in writing classes. To overcome those problems, the researcher offered
three techniques that related to the problems. Finally, both the researcher and English
teacher agreed to apply Jigsaw II activity because this technique was more
appropriate and suitable to overcome the students’ problems in writ ing.
This research was carried out in two cycles. Each cycle covered the stages
of classroom action research that include planning the action, implementation of the
action, observation and evaluation, and reflection of the action. The first cycle was
conducted in four meetings including the writing test 1 and three meetings including
the writing test 2 for the second cycle. The research data were collected through the
writing test, observation checklist and field notes. The results of students’ writ ing
achievement in the first cycle showed that the percentage of the students who got
score 70 or more was 40%. In addition, the results of observation revealed that only
55–70% of 40 students participated actively during teaching and learning process
(TLP). The rest of students (30–45% of 40 students) participated passively during
TLP. This happened because the students could not build positive interdependence
and they had difficulty to write the correct sentence structure in writing and to apply
the simple past tense consistently. Besides, they had difficulty to organize their
narrative writing. Based on those results, it could be concluded that the action given
in the first cycle was not successful yet. Therefore, the action was continued to the
second cycle by revising the lesson plans in the first cycle by considering on the
strength and weaknesses of the students during the implementation of the action of
first cycle and by considering the weaknesses and errors that the students made in the
writing test.
In second cycle, the teacher explained the construction of simple past sentence
and the way to organize the ideas in writing narrative paragraph. Moreover, to
encourage the students to work cooperatively in doing the task given the teacher
assigned specific roles of checker and writer in the group. The high achievers were
assigned to be the groups’ checker. Meanwhile, the middle and low achievers were
assigned to be the groups’ writer. This assignment of specific roles intended to
promote the students accountability and responsibility. The results of the students’
writing achievement in the second cycle showed that 75.67% of students got score 70
or more. It improved from 40% in first cycle to 75.67% in second cycle. Besides,
there was also an improvement on the percentage of the students’ active participation
in the teaching and learning process of writing by applying Jigsaw II activity. It
improved from 55% -70% in first cycle to 85 % in second cycle. It means that both
the students’ writ ing test and the students’ act ive participation in the TLP of writing
by applying Jigsaw II activity improved in the second cycle and fulfilled the success
criteria of this research. Thus, the action research was ended.
Based on the results of the research above, it could be concluded that the
application of Jigsaw II activity in the teaching and learning of writing could improve
the students’ writ ing abilit y in two cycles. Then, it is suggested to the English teacher
and the students to apply the Jigsaw II activity as an alternative technique in writing.
It is due to the fact that this type of activity not only could improve the students
writing ability in writing but also encouraged the students actively in writing activity. | en_US |
