| dc.description.abstract | English is universal language spoken in most countries all over the world. It
becomes the most popular language either in developed countries or developing
countries, which covers the entire aspects of life like economy, science, technology,
health, education, etc. Therefore, mastering English is a must if one wants to catch up
with the rapid development of science and technology. Indonesia as one of
developing countries realizes that it is a necessity for students to master English both
in spoken and written form. That is why the education institution in Indonesia has
made it as a compulsary subject to be taught at any level of education; from
elementary up touniversity. There are four language skills which should be mastered
by the students namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, writing is
one which is considered as a difficult one for most students to be mastered. Besides, it
was found that the eighth year students of class VIII B faced problems in text writing.
The difficulties lied on the content, grammar, vocabulary, mechanic, and also the
organization. It was known from the score of writing test conducted by the teacher.
Moreover, based on the classroom observation done by the researcher, most students said that they could not organize their ideas well. It was so difficult for them to
organize their ideas. They were often confused with what they would talk about in
their writing. Some of them wasted their valuable time just for thinking how they
would start writing. Some of them could not produce enough sentences to support the
topic sentence. In response to this problem, the writer did an action research to
improve the students’ writing ability by the use of topic outline.
This classroom action research was intended to improve the students’ writing
ability. The research subjects were the eighth year students (VIII B) of SMPN 3
Tanggul-Jember in the 2010/2011 academic year. The primary data were collected
from the results of writing test and classroom observation. Meanwhile, the supporting
data were collected from documentation. The primary data were analyzed
quantitatively by using the percentage formula to find the percentage of the students
who were active in the writing activities, while supporting data were analyzed by
describing them based on the real facts. The results of the action showed that the use
of topic outline in teaching writing could improve the students writing ability. Their
ability improved significantly. The students’ score in the writing test showed 75% of
them achieved standard score of good level and their mean score was 73,71. The
writing test conducted by the teacher before the research was done showed that their
mean score was 63,43. It means the use of topic outline as a strategy in writing has
significant role for improving the students’ ability. Furthermore, the students were
actively participated during the teaching of writing. There were 80% of the students
had fulfilled the criterias of active students. In other words, the succesful criterias of
product evaluation and process evaluation had been achieved. Based on the
explanation above, it can be concluded that teaching writing by using topic outline
could improve the eighth year students’ writing ability of SMPN 3 Tanggul-Jember in
the 2010/2011 academic year. | en_US |
