IMPROVING THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ SKILL IN WRITING A RECOUNT TEXT BY USING PICTURES AND WORD WEBS AT MTs NEGERI SUMBERBARU IN THE 2013/2014 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to improve the eighth grade students’ skill in writing a recount text at MTs Negeri Sumberbaru in the academic year 2013/2014 through pictures and word webs. This research design was a classroom action research that was conducted collaboratively by the researcher with the English teacher. The picture and word web were used to improve the eighth grade students’ skill in writing a recount text at MTs Negeri Sumberbaru. Before doing this research, the researcher did the preliminary study in MTs Negeri Sumberbaru. During the preliminary study by interviewing the English teacher, the researcher found the students’ difficulties in writing a text. They experienced difficulties in generating and organizing ideas. This finding was also supported with the result of the writing test given by the English teacher which showed that the eighth grade students had a problem in generating and organizing ideas in writing. Therefore, this research was conducted. The data in this research were gathered by administering writing test and by having observation in the class in each cycle. Each cycle consisted of four stages of activities; the preparation of the action, the implementation of the action, classroom observation and evaluation, reflection of the action. To overcome such problem, picture and word web as media were used to attract students, to facilitate them, and to contribute to the context in which the language was used. This research was intended to improve the students’ skill in writing a recount text in the 2013/2014 academic year. The subjects were 29 students viii of class VIII A. They were taken by using purposive method. Based on the results of the data analysis and discussion, it was revealed that teaching writing through picture and word web could motivate the students and make them willing to pay attention to the lesson more. It proved that the students’ participation during the teaching learning writing process increased from 70.7% in the first cycle to 89.7% in the second cycle. It also improved the eighth grade students’ skill in writing a recount text in the 2013/2014 academic year. The improvement of the students’ writing could be seen after they got writing test in each cycle. The mean score of the students’ writing test who got ≥70 or more was 59.8 in the first cycle to 72.9 in second cycle. The percentage of the students who got score 70 or more increased from 51.7% in the first cycle to 79.3% in the second cycle. Considering the results of the writing test by using picture and word web, it was concluded that the picture and word web were effective to overcome the problems in writing. So, it was suggested to the English teachers to use picture and word web to teach writing to the students, to improve their writing skill.