proposal - bab 1 2 3
TRANSCRIPT
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem
Language is a way that people use to interact and communicate. Although
people are actually able to use gestures, using language is considerably more
effective in communication. However, it is still difficult for the people to
communicate when they have different languages. That is why people need to have a
universal language as a connector or facilitator and English is regarded for it. Today,
many people in the world are connected by using English.
English has been taught as a foreign language and it becomes one of the
essential lessons that are taught at schools or educational institutions in Indonesia. It
has been taught in elementary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, and
vocational high schools. The teaching and learning of English is aimed at the mastery
of the language components (spelling, pronunciation, and structure) and language
skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The English teaching emphasizes
the four language skills taught while the language components are taught to support
the language skills.
The objective of English teaching and learning is to enable students to do
English communication in both oral and written forms. The students should learn and
master English in a good pattern to understand many materials that are published in
English to face the globalization and information era.
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In those four language skills, writing is the most difficult skill than the others
and it is an important skill. Writing is the most difficult skill because if the writer
wants to be a good writer, he/ she should have high cognitive capability, broader
knowledge, and sensitivity; so that the writer is able to arrange meaningful letters or
characters that constitute readable matter for the reader because once again writing is
one of the communication ways. Writing is an important skill because today the act
of writing is embedded in almost every aspect of life. The ability to write regularly
gives one the power and opportunity to share and influence thoughts, ideas, and
opinions with others, not only in day-to-day situations, but across time and space.
Writing is a lifelong skill that every student needs to communicate
effectively. The students need to be able to produce a text in regard to content,
organization, vocabulary, grammatical, and mechanical considerations such as
spelling and punctuation because writing is not just a product but it is a process as
well.
Writing sounds simple, students start with an attention-grabbing first
sentence, then they move on to some interesting stuff in the middle, and then they
bring it all together at the end, but actually, there are some problems for ESL learners
to write. First, it is hard for students to learn English because this is not their mother
tongue or their first language. Second, the students are lack of vocabulary. Third,
they find difficulties when they have to make sentences. Fourth, there are still many
grammatical errors. Fifth, they have difficulties to put their ideas in written or any
other forms in English.
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Based on the observation and interview with the English teacher, there are
five similar problems that can be found in English learning process between SMA 1
Patuk students and most of other ESL learners. Meanwhile, the researcher also found
another problem coming from the teacher herself. The teacher does not use various
media yet. She uses lecturing method using textbook and course book as the main
media while in fact the use of various or alternative interactive and attractive media
is needed in English teaching and learning. It does not mean that the teacher’s
teaching method is wrong or even just unacceptable because in fact, she is a great
teacher and of course that she has her own teaching method, but the use of various or
alternative interactive and attractive media in the teaching and learning process
enables the teacher to accelerate the achievement of learning objectives.
This research tries to proof the effect of using short English article as a
teaching and learning media. The effectiveness of article as a teaching and learning
media needs to be proofed whether it can be use or not. The reason of the researcher
use article as a media is because there are relations between reading and writing.
Pinto in Rijlaarsdam, Bergh, and Couzijn (2005: 31) says that although
writing has its own set of characteristics and its psycholinguistic processing follows
different patterns, it cannot be seen in isolation from oral language or reading.
Indeed, it can be said that oral and written language nourish each other, and this
interaction should be borne in mind when they are practiced.
Through reading material such as article, the researcher thought that maybe it
is easier for the teachers to teach or help their students especially in writing. An
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article is structured written form or text on magazine, newspaper, or internet that
consisted of information and detail of things or events. For every single reading
material especially article as an informative text, obviously it has words and grammar
on it that enable to help students in developing or improving their writing skill.
Tenses and vocabulary are essential things that Indonesian students as the second
language learners need to be filled to facilitate their English learning. An article is
chosen because a lot of articles are consisted with interesting topics that are
appropriate with students and the researcher believes that it can attract students’
enthusiasms in learning English. Based on the explanation above, the researcher
chooses “The Effect of Using Short English Newspaper Article in Improving the
Students’ Writing Skill of Tenth Grade Students in SMA 1 Patuk in the Academic
Year of 2011/ 2012” as the title of the thesis.
B. Identification of Problem
The English writing teaching and learning process is not a simple thing and
there are five factors that influence the success of the writing teaching and learning
process. Those factors are teacher, students, method or technique, material, and
media. If those factors are neglected, it may takes possibility or risk that the goals of
writing teaching and learning cannot be reached. Based on the researcher’s
observation, there are some factors related to the problems of writing teaching and
learning process in the first grade of SMA 1 Patuk.
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1. The teacher, material, and method
Particularly in writing teaching and learning, it needs special treatment from
the teacher. A creative and innovative teacher is really needed to make the interesting
writing teaching and learning process.
Based on Harmer (2001: 57), one of the teacher’s roles is as an organizer. It
means that the teacher has to organize students to do various writing learning
activities. In existing ‘various writing learning activities‘, it can be firmed that it is on
occasion with various and interesting material, and also excellent and attractive
teaching method; but in fact, although the English teacher of the tenth grade students
in SMA 1 Patuk has great knowledge in English and also always uses dictionary to
help her students in learning English, but she uses textbook and course book as the
main materials which opposite with ‘various writing learning activities’.
Unfortunately, the efforts that the teacher makes take an effect for the students that
they are not too exited in learning English and its skills including writing.
2. The students
The second factors come from the students. Based on the researcher’s
observation in tenth grade students in SMA 1 Patuk, there are some difficulties that
students have in learning English. First common problem is English is not their first
language, it means that no matter how long they learnt this subject, it is quite hard for
them to be fitted with this. The second problem is they have less learning motivation.
The students thought that they are already had opinion that English writing is a
difficult subject cause it. It also the effect from the teacher’s teaching method and
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media. Third, most students are lack in grammar and vocabulary. It affected to their
English learning including writing; when they have to write something (paragraph or
sentence) in English, they found difficulties to spread their ideas on paper no matter
how great their concepts.
3. Media
In teaching and learning English, media have an important role in creating
interesting teaching and learning process. The fact of the using of the media in
teaching and learning process in tenth grade students of SMA 1 Patuk is that the
teacher is rarely use media but her main materials (textbook, course book, and
dictionary). These created less attractive situation for the students to learn.
C. Delimitation of Problem
In reference to the identification of the problem above, it is impossible for the
researcher to conduct the research on all factors influencing the teaching and learning
process of writing. In this part, short English newspaper articles are media that will
be investigated. This research is focused on analyzing students’ ability in writing
news item text for the tenth grade students of senior high school. Giving a short
English newspaper article as one of writing teaching and learning was defined that it
could help the students to create a good composition, since the rules and vocabulary
of article can help and stimulate them to produce and expand their ideas.
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D. Formulation of Problem
The problems can be formulated into the following questions:
1. What are the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1
Patuk who are taught by using short English newspaper articles in English
learning like?
2. What are the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA 1
Patuk who are taught without short English newspaper articles in English learning
like?
3. Is there any significant difference in the writing ability between students who are
taught by short English newspaper article and those who are taught without short
English newspaper articles as media?
E. Objectives of the Research
In line with the formulation of the problem above, the objectives of the study can be
described as follows:
1. To describe the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA
1 Patuk who are taught by using short English newspaper article in English
learning.
2. To describe the achievement scores of the students of tenth grade students in SMA
1 Patuk who are taught without short English newspaper article in English
learning.
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3. To predict the difference in the writing ability between students who are taught by
using picture series and those who are taught without using short English
newspaper article as media.
F. Significance of the Research
The results of the study are expected to be useful for interested people from different
points of view as follows:
1. For the teachers, the findings of the research are expected to give information
about the use of short English newspaper article as media to increase students’
writing ability.
2. For the students, the findings of the research are expected to motivate, interest,
and increase the students in learning English writing.
3. For other researchers, the findings of the research are expected to provide
reverences them to conduct further research in order to improve the quality of
English teaching and learning.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Writing Skills
a. Definition of Writing
Writing is a process that involves the work of one’s mind and requires one’s
language skill in expressing his thoughts or ideas and feelings into the written form.
It includes the organization of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences into coherent
and cohesive paragraphs and texts. “The ability to express one’s ideas in writing in a
second or foreign language and to do so with reasonable coherence and accuracy is a
major achievement” (Celce-Murcia, 2001:205). “Coherence means the sentences
must hold together, that is the movement from one sentence to the next must be
logical and smooth” (Oshima and Hogue, 2006: 94). It should be not only within
paragraphs but also among the paragraphs. The sentences in a paragraph, which are
related to each other, show the coherence of the paragraph. Coherence among the
paragraph means that the paragraphs are related to the previous and the next ones.
Cohesion is the use of techniques in order to make the relation among the sentences
within the paragraphs and that among the paragraphs. The techniques can be in the
form of transitional words, pronoun, repeated key words, and the parallel structure.
The application of coherence and cohesion is useful as it can make the texts clear and
easy to be understood.
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Every writing has a purpose. Writing purposes have to do with goals that are
often referred to aims of writing or writing intentions. Parmer, Hafner and Sharp
(1994:84) explain, “The goal of all writing is to construct the meaning for the writers
and to communicate that meaning to the readers.” When writers write, they generate
ideas, thoughts and images. The writer and the readers are involved in the
communication of the written text. .
Essentially, writing is a means of expressing ideas, thoughts and feelings to
others in written symbols. Therefore, writing ability is the ability to express ideas,
thoughts, and feelings in written language. In order to have such an ability, first of all
a writer should understand the graphic system of the language being used.
Nevertheless, to express ideas, thoughts and the feelings clearly and
effectively, the understanding of the graphic system is not enough, because good
writing requires knowledge of grammar and the art of using rhetoric such as
arranging words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in such a way that attract the
readers’ attention. As the main function of writing is for communication, one as a
writer should be able to make his readers understand the message he conveys.
Writing is a continuous process of discovery. “As one is writing, he may
think of ideas that may not be in his brainstorming list or outline” (Oshima and
Hogue, 2006: 18).Whenever we write, first we consider our specific audience that is
the people who will read what we have written. Second, we consider the tone of our
writing, our style or manner of expressions. It is revealed by our choice of words and
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grammatical structures, even the length of our sentences. Finally, the purpose of a
piece of writing determines its organizational pattern.
Writing is a way to communicate with others (Langan, 2005: 14). To
communicate effectively, people must constantly adjust their speech to suit their
purpose and audience, this same idea with writing and the audience who will be
reading our work. The ability to adjust our writing to suit our purpose and audience
will serve us well not only in the classroom, but also in the workplace and beyond.
Based on the statements above, it can be summarized that writing is the
process of expressing one’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings into written forms. The
writing ability is the ability to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings in written
language. Writing needs a well preparation and a lot of practices. It is a thinking
process that also needs ability to organize the language into a good writing product.
b. The Process of Writing
Grenville (2000: vii) states that short stories, essays, reports are seem
verydifferent, and they are doing different jobs, but writer can go about themall in the
same way using these same six steps:
1. Getting ideas (in no particular order).
2. Choosing (selecting the ideas people think will be most useful).
3. Outlining (putting these ideas into the best order-making a plan).
4. Drafting (doing a first draft from beginning to end, without goingback).
5. Revising (cutting, adding or moving parts of this draft where necessary).
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6. Editing (proofreading for grammar, spelling and paragraphs).
In contrast with Grenville, Oshima and Hogue (1999: 3) state that there are
four main stages in the writing process: prewriting, planning, writing and revising
drafts, and writing the final copy to hand in. Overall, although there are differences in
determining the process of writing, these writing processes have the same purpose to
get the best result of writing.
Although these stages have been defined differently, researchers agree that
the stages include some amount and type of prewriting, writing and revising drafts,
and writing the final copy to hand in.
1. Prewriting
Prewriting is the first step in the writing process. Brown (2001: 348) states
that the prewriting stage encourages the generating of ideas, which can happen in
numerous ways:
a. Reading (extensively) a passage
b. Skimming and/or scanning a passage
c. Conducting some outside research
d. Brainstorming
e. Listing (in writing-individually)
f. Clustering (begin with a key word, then add other words, using free association)
g. Discussing a topic or question
h. Instructor-initiated questions and probes
i. Free writing
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2. Planning
During planning, writers appear to engage in cognitive activities that allow
them to select topics, consider purposes and goals for writing, identify their audience,
decide upon voice, and generate provisional frameworks for their pieces. These
provisional plans can be informal in that little is written to reflect the occurrence of
these activities. For some writers and in some instances, however, the planning stage
is relatively formalized by the use of written outlines or frames, lists of ideas, and
themes or topic sentences. Instructional implications for this stage of the composing
process include the importance of providing students time to plan, modeling the
cognitive processes involved in planning, and establishing writing activities that have
genuine purposes.
3. Drafting
Grenville (2001:105) says that one of the occupational diseases of writers is
putting off thedreaded moment of actually starting to write. It is natural to get it right
first time, but that is a big question, so naturally students put it off some
more.However, unless they are sitting for an exam, they can do asmany drafts as they
need to get it right. First drafts are the ones writers burn so no one can ever know
how bad they were. Drafting, however, does not preclude continued planning and
revising of plans. Most expert writers engage in extensive revision of their plans as
they write. During drafting, authors juggle numerous demands, including continued
planning and constructing of meaning; selecting vocabulary to express meaning;
using conventions of grammar, punctuation, and spelling; and executing motor tasks
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of writing or typing. Instructionally, teachers can assist writers by encouraging them
during first drafts to focus on writing their ideas and reducing their attention to
writing conventions. Teachers can also provide adequate time and support for
students to revise and edit after drafting.
4. Revising, Editing, and Writing the Final Copy
Langan (2005: 33) states that revising is much a stage in the writing process
as prewriting, outlining, and doing the first draft. Revising means rewriting a paper,
building on what has already done, in order to make it stronger. Emphasis should be
placed first on revising the ideas to make the piece more coherent and clear. In the
revision process, sharing the written piece with others is important because it assists
the author in realizing the readers' understanding of the piece. Oshima and Hogue
(1997: 11) state that when writers revise, they change what they have written in order
to improve it. A writer checks it over for content and organization, including unity,
coherence, and logic. Langan (2005: 33) states that there are three stages in the
revising process:
a. Revising content. To revise the content of essay, people can check our paper that
it was unified, supported, and organized or not.
b. Revising sentences. To revise sentences in the essay, people can check our paper
that it used parallelism to balance the words and ideas, it had a consistent point of
view, itused specific words, it used active verbs, it used words effectively by
avoiding slang, clichés, pretentious language, and wordiness; and it was vary in
the sentences.
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c. Editing. It checks for and corrects- errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
In conclusion, the processes of writing areprewriting, drafting, revising,
editing and writing the final copy.Those processes are needed in creating a good,
understandable, and communicative text.
c. Types of Classroom Writing Performance
Brown (2001, 343-346) considers five major categories of classroom writing
performance. They are imitative, intensive, self-writing, display writing, and real
writing.
1. Imitative, or writing down
At the beginning level of learning to write, students will simply "write down"
English letters, words, and possibly sentences in order to learn the conventions of the
orthographic code. Some forms of dictation fall into this category, although dictation
can serve to teach and test higher-order processing as well.
Dictations typically involve five steps. First, teacher reads a short paragraph
once or twice at normal speed. Second, Teacher reads the paragraph in short phrase
units of three or four words each and each unit is followed by a pause. Third,
students write exactly what they hearduring the pause. Fourth, teacher then reads the
whole paragraph once more at normal speed so students can check their writing, and
the last is students' written work scoring can utilize a number of rubrics for assigning
points. Usually spelling and punctuation errors are not considered as severe as
grammatical errors.
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2. Intensive, or controlled writing
Writing is sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing, or
testing grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled,
written grammar exercises. This type of writing does not allow much, if any,
creativity on the part of the writer.
A common form of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in
which they have to alter a given structure throughout. Therefore, for example, they
may be asked to change all present tense verbs to past tense; in such a case, students
may need to alter other time references in the paragraph.
There are two forms in controlled writing (guided and dicto-comp writing).
Guided writing loosens the teacher's control but still offers a series of stimulators.
Another form of controlled writing is a dicto-comp. Here, a paragraph is read at
normal speed, usually two or three times; then the teacher asks students to rewrite the
paragraph to the best of their recollection of the reading. In one of several variations
of the dicto-comp technique, the teacher, after reading the passage, puts key words
from the paragraph, in sequence, on the chalkboard (or whiteboard) as cues for the
students.
3. Self-writing
A significant proportion of classroom writing may be devoted to self-writing,
or writing with only the self in mind as an audience. The most salient instance of this
category in classrooms is note-taking, where students take notes during a lecture for
the purpose of later recall. Diary or journal writing also falls into this category.
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4. Display writing
Writing within the school curricular context is a way of life. For all language
students, short answer exercises, essay examinations, and even research reports will
involve an element of display. For academically bound ESL students, one of the
academic skills that they need to master is a whole array of display writing
techniques.
5. Real writing
While virtually every classroom writing task will have an element of display
writing in it, some classroom writing aims at the genuine communication of
messages to an audience in need of those messages. The two categories of real and
display writing are actually two ends of a continuum, and in between the two
extremes lay some combination of display and real writing. Three subcategories
illustrate how reality can be injected; they are academic, vocational, and personal.
a. Academic
The language Experience Approach gives groups of students’ opportunities to
convey genuine information to each other. Content-based instruction encourages the
exchange of useful information, and some of this learning uses the written word.
Group problem-solving tasks, especially those that relate to current issues and other
personally relevant topics, may have a writing component in which information is
genuinely sought and conveyed. Peer-editing work adds to what would otherwise be
an audience of one (the instructor) and provides real writing opportunity.
b. Vocational/technical
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Quite a variety of real writing can take place in classes of students studying
English for advancement in their occupation, real letters can be written, genuine
directions for some operation or assembly might be given, and actual forms can be
filled out. These possibilities are even greater in what has come to be called "English
in the Workplace," where ESL is offered within companies and corporations.
c. Personal
In almost ESL class, diaries, letters, post cards, notes, personal messages, and
other informal writing can take place, especially in the context of an interactive
classroom. While certain tasks may be somewhat contrived, nevertheless the genuine
exchange of information can happen.
In conclusion, classroom writing performance covering five major categories,
they are imitative or writing down, intensive or controlled, self-writing, display
writing, and real writing. Each categories remains to developing students writing
ability and also related to writing processes and/ or text types to train students to
become good writers.
d. The Teaching of Writing
Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learners to learn
and setting the condition for learning (Brown, 2000: 7). Teaching is lifelong learning,
a constant interplay between knowing and experimenting, reflection and change. It is
imply that teaching cannot be separated from learning. Teaching is about the
teacher’s understanding of what teaching is and how the students will learn. Teaching
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also cannot be separated with the teacher’s philosophy of education, teaching style,
approaches, methods, and classroom technique.
Teaching writing is aimed to guide and facilitate students in learning writing.
The writing teaching and learning process is related with how to develop text.
Richard and Renandya (2002: 303) state that writing is a process of generating and
organizing ideas into readable texts. It means that in teaching writing, the teacher
must facilitate the students to learn how to write and guide them to do process of
writing so they can develop readable texts.
In teaching writing, there are some principles that teachers should know in
designing writing technique. Brown (2001: 346-348) states that there is a number of
specific principles for designing writing techniques such as incorporate practices of
good writers, balance process and product, account for cultural/ literary backgrounds,
connect reading and writing, provide as much authentic writing as possible, and
frame teachers’ techniques in term of prewriting, drafting, and revising
1. Incorporate practices of good writers.
It considers in various things that efficient writers do. Focus on a goal or
main idea in writing, perceptively gauge their audience, spend some time (but not too
much) planning to write, easily let their first ideas flow onto the paper, follow a
general organizational plan as they write, and solicit and utilize feedback on their
writing. The other things that efficient writers do are not wedded to certain surface
structures, revise their work willingly and efficiently, and patiently make as many
revisions as needed.
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2. Balance process and product.
Make sure that students are carefully led through appropriate stages in the
process of composing. At the same time, do not so hurry in the stages leading up to
the final product that you lose sight of the ultimate attainment. Make sure that
students see that everything leading up to this final creation was worth the effort.
3. Account for cultural/ literary backgrounds.
Make sure that teachers’ techniques do not assume that the students know
English rhetorical convention. It means that if there are some apparent contras
between students’ native traditions and those that teachers trying to teach, try to help
students to understand what it is.
4. Connect reading and writing.
Clearly, students learn to write in part by carefully observing what is ready
written. That is, they learn by observing or reading the written words. By reading and
studying a variety of relevant types of text, students can get important insight both
about how they should write and about subject matter that may become the topic of
their writing.
5. Provide as much authentic writing as possible.
Whether writing is real writing or for display, it can be still authentic in that
the purposes for writing are clear to the students, the audience is specified overtly,
and there is at least some intent to convey meaning. Share their writings with other
students in class, write a resume, and write advertisements. All these can be seen as
authentic writing.
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6. Frame teachers’ techniques in term of prewriting, drafting, and revising.
Prewriting stage encourages the generation of ideas. It can be happened in
numerous ways, such reading, skimming and/ or scanning a passage, conducting
some outside research, brainstorming, listing, clustering, discussing a topic,
instructor initiated questions and probes, and free-writing.
The drafting and revising stages are the core of writing process. The first
option gives no opportunity for systematic drafting, and second assumes that if
students did any drafting at all, they simply have to learn the tricks of the trade on
their own. In a process approach, drafting is viewed as an important and complex set
of strategies, the mastery of which takes time, patience, and trained instruction.
Getting started or free-writing technique, optimal monitoring of one’s writing,
peer-reviewing for content, using the teacher’s feedback, and editing for grammatical
errors are some strategies and skills apply to the drafting or revising process in
writing. Read aloud and proofreading can be included into the strategies of drafting
or revising process.
In conclusion, teaching writing is aimed in guiding and facilitating students in
develop readable texts. Teaching writing deals with some teacher’s philosophy of
education, teaching style, approaches, methods, and classroom technique.
3. The Teaching of Writing at Senior High School
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Students will be most apt to make appropriate gains in their ability to write
well when the focus of their writing is on those experiences and topics that
immediately concern them. Students become more interested in writing and the
quality of their writing improves when there are significant learning goals for writing
assignments and a clear sense of purpose for writing (U.S. Department of Education,
1987: 43).
Brown in Rodriguez and Fernando (2009: 336) said that textbooks in general
claim to supply a wide range of reading on different topics. However, while the range
of topics in some textbooks is reasonable, the variety of material is limited. Too
many textbooks feature mostly magazine-style reading passages, while ignoring
news reporting, prose fiction, poetry and other genres. Therefore, teachers need to
supplement materials with extra material that is compatible with the particular
situations found in language classrooms.
Meanwhile, Dorn and Soffos (2001) said that in the teaching writing to young
learners, teachers have to recognize the complexity of the process and also think a
moment about what happens in the mind of their students as they create a written
work. Teacher must be creative to prepare materials that feature real-life situations
and authentic language in teaching. Teachers also must be conscious of the types of
practice; they are mechanical, meaningful, and communicative.
In the teaching of writing in SMA 1 Patuk, the teacher of the first grade used
a Conventional Method to teach his students where the teacher was thecentre in the
teaching and learning. This method prioritized rote-memorization, understanding,
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and emphasized a result rather than a process. Therefore, the main activity was the
teacherexplained the material and students listened or record what the teacher said.
Teacher used materials from the textbooksin his teaching and learning
processes.Table 1 shows the Standard of Competency and Basic Competencies of
School-Based Curriculum of Senior High School year X of the second semester of
English Subject.
Table 1: Standard of Competency and Basic Competencies of School-Based Curriculum of Junior High School year X of the 2nd semester ofEnglish Subject
Standard of Competency Basic Competencies Indicators
11. Producing the meaning in the forms of short functional and texts and short essays, in the form of narrative, descriptive and news item in the daily life context.
11.2. Responding meaning and rhetoric steps in short essay accurately, fluent, and acceptable in the context of daily life in the form of narrative, descriptive, andnews item.
Using reported speech in news item text.
Using simple present tense in descriptive text.
Using adverbial clause in narrative text.
Developing text in the form of news item.
Developing text in the form of narrative.
Developing text in the form of descriptive.
4. Text types
According to Anderson (1997: 1), a piece of text is created when words are
put together to communicate a meaning. Meanwhile, Feez (2002: 4) states that texts
are any stretch of language which is held together cohesively through meaning.
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Creating a text requires making choices about the words that are used and how it can
be put together.
The School-Based Curriculum implies that senior high school students should
be able to understand many genres in English. It means that students should know the
genre of the text to develop English texts. There some types of texts taught in the
School-Based Curriculum of senior high schools. They are procedure, descriptive,
recount, narrative, and news item. In the second semester of tenth grade, there are
three genres that are taught to the students, they are narrative, descriptive, and news
item.
1. Descriptive Text
a. Definition of descriptive text
According to Anderson (1998: 26), a description text describes a particular
person, place or thing. Its purpose is to tell about the subject by describing its
features without including personal opinions. Description differs from an information
report because it describes a specific subject rather than a general group. The
example of descriptions texts include descriptions of a particular building,
description of a specific animal, descriptions of a particular places, and descriptions
of a specific person.
b. Description Scaffold
The description scaffold is a guide for constructing a piece of text description.
Anderson (1998: 26-27) says that the description text has three main parts.
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1. A general opening statement in the first paragraph
In this part, the teacher introduces the subject of the description to the students. The
teacher can give the students brief details about the when, or what of the subject.
2. A series of paragraphs about the subject
The teacher introduces that each paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence. The
topic sentence previews the details that will be contained in the remainders of the
paragraph. Each paragraph should describe one feature of the subject and these
paragraphs build description of the subject.
3. A concluding paragraph (optional)
In this part, the teacher asks the students to conclude paragraph signals the end of the
text.
c. Language Features of Descriptive Text
The language features of descriptive text are:
1. Using attributive and identifying process.
2. Using adjective and classifiers in nominal group.
3. Using simple present tense.
2. Narrative Text
a. Definition of Narrative Text
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According to Anderson (1997: 8), a narrative is a piece of text that tells a
story and, in doing so entertains or informs the reader or listener. Narrative is to
amuse, entertain and to deal with an actual or vicarious experience in different ways.
Narratives deal with problematic events that lead to a crisis or turning points of some
kind, which in turn find a resolution. Narratives can be in the form of a legend,
fables, fairy tales, etc.
Furthermore Anderson (1997: 14) states that a good narrative uses words to
paint a picture in our minds of what the characters look like (their appearance), where
the action is taking place (the setting), how things are happening (the action).
b. Narrative Scaffold
The narrative scaffold is a guide for constructing piece of text narrative.
According to Anderson (1997: 12), there are the activities to teach narrative text. He
says that narrative text have five main pats. They are:
1. Orientation
In this paragraph, the teacher tells the students about who, when, where, and what is
going on.
2. Complication
This is the part of the story where the teacher tells about something that will begin a
chain of events. These events will affect one or more of the characters. The
complication is the trigger.
3. Sequence of events
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This is where the teacher tells how the characters react to the complication. It
includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in chronological
order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks. The students are given the
teacher “point of view”.
4. Resolution
In this part of the narrative where the complication is sorted out or the problem is
solved.
5. Coda
The teacher includes a coda if there is to be a moral or message to be learned from
the story.
c. Language Features of Narrative Text
The language features of narrative texts are:
1. Using specific characters.
2. Using time words that connect events to tell when they occur.
3. Using Verbs to show the actions that occur in the story.
4. Using descriptive words to portray the characters and setting.
3. News item
a. Definition of news item
According to Kholidin (2010), news item text is News item is a text that
informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or
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important. A news item text tries to answer the5Ws and 1H questions; What, Who,
When, Where, Why, and How relating to the newsworthy.
b. Generic Structures of News Items
1. Main event/ Newsworthy events (tells the event in a summary form)
2. Elaboration/ Background events (elaborates what happened, explains what
caused the incident). It can be a background, participant, time, and place relating
to the accident. It is the detail information for the accident which informs on how
the accident happen and who are the victims.
3. Sources/ Resource of Information (comments by participants, witnesses,
authorities, and experts involved in the event). It can be a witness or
statement/treatment of the authority.
c. Language Feature of News Item
1. Information on the use of headlines
2. Use action verb
3. Use saying verb
4. Use passive sentences and use adverbs
In conclusion, there are the genres that are taught in the tenth grade of senior
high school: descriptive text, narrative text and news item text. Students of senior
high school are expected to be able to understand the pattern of each type of text and
develop or write a proper text in many types.
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4. Short English article as media
a. Media
Based on Celce and Murcia (2001: 460), media are technological innovations
in language teaching, of mechanical paraphernalia, and of glossy, polished
audiovisual aids. Definition of educational media have been proposed by many
experts, Kemp (1977: 73), for example, says that educational media are supporting
materials that can motivate students and can effectively explain and illustrate subject
content. In addition, the media can facilitate the interaction between teachers and
students so that learning activities more effectively and efficiently. It is the cause or
the tools that interfere with the functions of the two parties and the role of an
effective governing relation between the two main parties in the students’ learning
process and content (Fleming in Arsyad, 2003: 3).
The use of media in the teaching learning process must be established by the
requirement of the process. If media are to be used to facilitate teaching and learning,
they must be selected and used in appropriate necessity. According to Gerlach and
Ely (1980: 240), a medium of instruction must be selected on the basis on its
potential for implementing a stated objective. Kemp (1980: 7) adds requirement of
objectives, content, and instructional methods.
According to Goodwyn (1992: 48), teachers should think about five things in
selecting media. The first is the media agencies. Media should help students
understand that the production of all texts involve many things and circumstances.
The second thing is media categories. Media categories involve the form of the
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media and its genres. The third thing is media technologies. Technologies create and
improve meanings. The fourth thing is the languages of the media. Media have their
own codes and rules. The fifth thing is media representation. Media should represent
the real condition, so that they can support the teaching and learning process.
The following are factors that should be considered when incorporating
instructional media into language teaching goals:
a. Type of skill/ concept to be presented
b. Student preference: the age, interest, experiences, and learning styles of the
students concerned.
c. Teacher preference: facility with equipment, familiarity/adroitness with the
given medium, teaching style.
d. Availability of software and hardware
e. Physical circumstances of the classroom/ lab
Undoubtedly, as an alternative tool for language learning/ teaching, media
have always facilitated the task of language learning for both instructed and no
instructed learners. Media can be anything, material and non-material, physical and
non-physical, and those are useful to support the communication and interaction in
teaching learning process. It can be for explaining, motivating, or making clear thing
being discussed or talked about. The teacher uses media to involve students more
integrally in the learning process and to facilitate language learning by making it a
more authentic, meaningful process.
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b. Short English Newspaper Article
Tribble, White, and Arndt (1991: 5) state that writing is re-writing that
revision, seeing with new eyes, has a central role to play in the act of creating text. It
means that writing process, teacher need to give exemplary materials that can be
seen, learnt, and used by the students as guides for their writing, and reading material
can be one of the materials which is enable to cover those aspects. Article is a
structured written form or text on magazine, newspaper, or internet that consisted of
information and detail of things or events. The researcher use article as a media
because there are relations between reading and writing. Graça in Rijlaarsdam &
Bergh (2005: 31) states that although writing has its own set of characteristics and its
psycholinguistic processing follows different patterns; it cannot be seen in isolation
from oral language or reading. Indeed, it can be said that oral orreading and written
language nourish each other, and this interaction should be borne in mind when they
are practiced. Mallett (2002: xi) argues helping children or students both to benefit
from and enjoy informational reading and writing is a considerable challenge for any
practicing teacher. People do not want children or students trapped in tightly
structured and essentially sterile learning processes. Rather people want them to
become avid and curious readers, intent on finding out, and confident writers,
practiced in communicating understanding and meaning.
Children or students also need to be taught library and study skills but people
must remember these are only tools that serve bigger purposes and intentions. They
will then be in the driving seat when it comes to their own writing, not merely
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mechanical reproducers of other people’s words but writing powerfully from within
themselves, using the knowledge that they have obtained and assimilated.
B. Relevant Research Study
A research by Alber (2003) found success with a classroom newspaper
because it allowed students to direct their writing to a specific audience and increased
their motivation. Using various topics of English newspaper articles as writing
teaching-learning media will open possibilities in giving suitable and attractive
teaching-learning media that enable to fulfill students’ anxieties.
Another researcher is Simpson (2007). She said that newspaper articles are
written in various topics and a particular topic will considerably affect knowledge
and vocabulary, therefore, the more topics to fulfill students’ anxieties mean the
more knowledge and vocabulary. By having more knowledge and vocabulary, it is
easier for students to develop their abilities to organize information and construct it
into a text, revise the text, and redraft.
C. Conceptual Framework
Writing is the latest language skill that is mastered by the students because it
is the hardest skill among the others.It is true when people say that the more practice
gain the better writing, but first, it is important for students to have guides or lessons
before they start to do their practice. When teachers givelesson, automatically it is
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related to learning media. Media is one of the important elements that can help
teachers and students in teaching and learning processes. Therefore, the media used
by teachers in English language learning process should be appropriate to the needs
and learning objectives to be achieved.
Students writing activities are related to several text types and of course it
needs a representative text for each text types to be given as teaching and learning
media. One of the text type that tenth grade senior high school students need to learnt
is news item text and newspaper article is one of the text that counted into. In news
item writing, it is important for students to understand about what and how before
they start to write and newspaper article is able to give clear explanation and example
about the what and how of news item writing. The peculiaritiesof newspaper article
are in various interesting topics that enable to attract students in learning process by
giving an appropriate student-age topics and it has various unfamiliar words that of
course will enrich students’ vocabularies. News item texts also provide many
knowledge that obviously needed by students.
D. Research Hypothesis
As mentioned in the introduction, the aim of this research is to investigate
whether there is a significant difference or not in the SMA 1 Patukstudents’ writing
abilities between those who are taught by using short English newspaper articles as
writing teaching-learning media andthose who are not. Based on the literature review
34
and the conceptual framework above, the researcher formulates the hypothesis of the
research as follows:
“There is a significant difference in the writing ability between the students who are
taught by using a diary and those who are not.”
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
This study is classified into a quasi-experimental study. The research design
is an intact group pre-test and post test design which involves a group of students in
the experimental group and a group of students in the control group. Bell (1999: 15)
states that the principle of this experiment is that if two identical groups are selected,
one of which (the experimental group) is given special treatment and the other (the
control group) is not; then any differences between the two groups at the end of the
experimental period may be attributed to the difference in treatment.
Table 1: Design of the Study
Sample Class Pre-test Treatment Post-test
S E O1 X O2
S C O2Conventional
method O2
Where:
S : Sample
E : Experiment
C : Control
O1 : Students Pre – test Score
O2 : Students Post – test Score
X : Treatment
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The treatment, in this case using various type of short english newspaper
articles that applied in the experimental group. Meanwhile, the control group did not
used short english newspaper articles in the teaching and learning process.
The following table presents the distribution of the treatment.
Table 3
Distribution of the Treatment
No. Class Group Treatment Number of students
1. XE ExperimentalShort english
newspaper article36
2. XG ControlThe teacher’s
method34
The implementation of the short english newspaper article was done in the
experimental group for five meetings. There were three sections in each meeting:
warming up, main teaching, and closing. In warming up, the researcher started the
lesson with greeting and directed the students’ attention toward the topics by asking
some questions about the students’ experience which was related to the topic.
In the main teaching, the researcher asked students to work in a group of
students and introduced the examples of each text type; news item text. Then, the
researcher gave the whole explanations about article and gave them the examples,
and then the researcher gave some exercises based on the topic. Last, in closing, the
researcher reviewed the lesson given and asked the students to write articles related
to the topic.
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In opposite with the experimental group, the students in the control group
were still taught by using the teacher’s methods, materials, and medias. Basically the
process of the teaching learning in the control group was almost the same as that in
the experimental group. In the control group, the teacher did not use short english
newspaper article in the teaching writing.
B. Research Variables
The research involved two variables. The independent and the dependent
variables. The independent variable was the short english newspaper articles to teach
writing, namely X. Meanwhile, the dependent variable was the students’ writing
achievements, namely Y.
C. Population and Sample
The population of this study included the first year students of SMA 1 Patuk
in the academic year 2011/2012. There were eight classes of the tenth grade as the
population of the research: XA, XB, XC, XD, XE, XF, XG, and XH. Each class
consisted of thirty eight to forty students. The following table shows the specification
of the population of the study.
Table 2: Research Population by Class
No Classes Number of students1 XA 402 XB 403 XC 384 XD 39
38
5 XE 366 XF 407 XG 348 XH 38
Total 315
In this research, two classes were selected from the population, as the
experimental group and the control group. A random assignment was applied by:
1. Writing each class name on a piece of paper
2. Putting the papers into a box
3. Shaking the box
4. Taking one slip from the container as the experimental group and one slip as the
control group.
The random assignment resulted class XE as the experimental group and
class XG as the control group. The teaching and learning process of writing in the
experimental group (XE) used short English newspaper article; meanwhile in the
control group (XG), the teaching and learning process of writing was taught by using
the teacher’s method and material.
D. Research Instrument
In this research, the instrument used to collect the data was a test of writing
ability, focused on one text type (news item). The researcher used two tests, pre-test
and post-test, that used to get scores to find the students’ writing abilities. The pre-
39
test was given before the treatment applied and the post-test was given after the
treatment.
The test was in the form of essays. Each student had to write a composition
about the determined topic. The time allocation is 45 minutes for the news item text
and for the each composition is at least consist 50 words. The tests were given twice.
The first test is used to gain the score of pretest, and the second test is used to gain
the score of posttest after the treatment.
E. The Validity and Reliability of The Instrument
1. Validity of the Writing Tests
Validity refers to the degree to which a method , a test or a research tool
actually measures what it is supposed to measure (Wellington 2000 : 30). Validity of
the writing test covered content and constructs validity.
a. Content Validity
Furlong, Lovelace, and Lovelace (2000: 72) state that a test is said to have
content validity when the items of the test accurately represent the concept being
measured. The writing test is developed in reference to standard of competency and
basic competencies stated in of Senior High School Year X of the second semester of
the English subject. It means that the whole materials which were covered in the test
reflect the materials which were given to the tenth grade students. Table 4 shows the
Blueprint of the writing ability test.
Table 4: The Blueprint of the writing ability tests
40
No. Indicators Aspects of Writing The Item Number
1. Writing a news item text. Ideas and Development
Organization Vocabulary Sentence Structure Capitalization and
Punctuation Spelling
1
2. Writing a news item text. Ideas and Development
Organization Vocabulary Sentence Structure Capitalization and
Punctuation Spelling
1
Total 2
b. Construct Validity
In assessing the writing tests, there are some aspects that should be
considered. In this study, there were six aspects or characteristics that were assessed
in students’ writing, namely ideas and development, organizations, vocabulary,
sentence sructure, capitalization and punctuation, and spelling Anderson (2003: 92).
The scoring of students’ writing tests was done by the researcher and the English
teacher.
2. Reliability of the Writing Test
The reliability of a research instrument is the degree of consistency and
dependence with which the instrument measures the attribute. Wellington (2000:
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200) state that reliability is also used in connection with research methods in order to
estimate the degree of confidence in the data. Reliability refers to the extent to which
a test or technique functions consistently and accurately by yielding the same results
at different times or when used by different researchers.
In this research, inter-rater reliability was used. Inter-rater reliability is
established when the results of the writing test are assessed using subjective
judgment. It is applied to know whether or not the data of the writing score that are
given by two raters are reliable. The researcher was the first rater and the teacher as
the second rater in gaining students’ score. After the raters gained the results, they
were compared. When there was a high degree of agreement, the procedure could be
considered reliable.
In order to determine the level of the instrument reliability, the norm of
categorizing the reliability coefficient was employed. The following table is the norm
of adopted categorizing the reliability coefficient. Table 6 shows the value of the
reliability coefficient.
Table 5: Value of the Reliability Coefficient
Reliability Coefficient Reliability Category
0.800 - 1.000 Very High
0.600 - 0.799 High
0.400 - 0.599 Fair
0.200 - 0.399 Low
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0.000 - 0.199 Very Low
3. Scoring Rubric
Urquhart and Mc Iver (2005:31) argue that rubric is very effective assessment
tool because it describes specific levels of performance. Besides, rubric also explains
the students’ performances clearly. Research also supports using rubric because it
clearly communicates expectations for both teaching and learning. In this study,
researcher presents only one of four types of rubric, which is analytic rubric.
Analytic rubric provides more detailed information about students’ writing
abilities. Researcher used this type of rubric because it facilitated the different
writing aspects such as content, organization, mechanic, and/or language and
vocabulary that used in assessing writing.
Table 6. Rubric for writing assessment
CATEGORY 1.5 marks 1 mark 0.5 mark
CONTENT
______ / 1.5
All requested sections are complete and information is kept in a logical sequence.There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information.
One or two sections are missing.One or two pieces of information are not kept in a logical sequence.Main idea is clear but the supporting information is general or not enough.
Three or more sections are missing. Information is not kept in a logical sequence.The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information.
LANGUAGE AND VOCABULARY
______ / 1.5
Correct use of structures and a good range of vocabulary according to the level.
Some grammar problems don’t influence communication although the reader is aware of themAppropriate use of vocabulary
Numerous grammar problems don’t influence communication although the reader is aware of themLittle use of vocabulary for the level
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MECHANICS AND LENGTH
______ / 1.0
One or two spelling or punctuation errors. Good use of connectors.The student has written the number of words requested
Three or more spelling or punctuation errors. Basic or no use of connectors (and, but, also).The student has written slightly more or less than the number of words requested.
ORGANISATION
______ / 1.0
Correct register used throughout.Appropriate format and layout based on the specifications.
Inconsistent register.Inappropriate format/layout based on the specifications.
TOTAL
_____ / 5
COMMENTS
F. Data Collecting Technique
The data were collected from the pretest and posttest of the control group (XG Class)
and experimental group (XE Class). The research instrument for collecting data was done by
using a test. In this research, the test method was intended to reveal pretest and posttest data.
Pretest was given to two groups, namely experimental group (XG Class) and control group
(XE Class). It aimed to measure the students’ writing ability of the groups before they were
given a treatment. Then, the researcher gave the short news paper articles to the experimental
group and the teacher gave her own teaching methods, material, and media to the control
group. Posttest was given to the experiment group (XG Class) and control group (XE Class)
to measure the students’ writing ability after the treatments were given. The researcher then
compared the results of the experimental and control group to find out the achievement of
their writing ability.
44
Before the treatment was applied to the experimental group, the researcher
gave the teacher the information about the characteristic of the study. Next, the
researcher taught XG Class by using various topics of short English newspaper
articles. The lesson plans for the teaching and learning in both classes are presented
as follows:
1. The experimental group
a. The teacher comes to the class, greets the students and checks the students’
attendance list.
b. The teacher begins the lesson by asking the students some questions related to
news item text.
c. The teacher gives a brief explanation about news item text by using a short
English newspaper article with a particular topic.
d. The teacher asks groups of the students to write two paragraphs of news item
that consists eight sentences in minimum and related to a particular topic.
e. The teacher asks students to do the tasks individually in a particular topic.
f. The teacher and the students discuss the tasks.
g. The teacher gives a reflection and conclusion of the lesson.
h. The teacher gives the students an assignment.
i. The teacher closes the lesson.
2. The control group
a. The teacher comes to the class, greets the students and also checks the
attendance list of the students.
45
b. The teacher begins the lesson by asking the students some questions related to
the topic.
c. The teacher gives a brief explanation about topics without using a short
English newspaper article.
d. The teacher asks students to do some tasks in groups.
e. The teacher asks students to do the tasks individually.
f. The teacher and the students discuss the tasks.
g. The teacher gives a reflection and conclusion of the lesson.
h. The teacher gives the students an assignment.
i. The teacher closes the lesson.
G. Data Analysis technique
There were two techniques that the researcher employed to analyze the data in
this research. They were the descriptive and inferential statistics.
1. Descriptive Analysis
The descriptive analysis are aimed at providing answers to the research
questions about the effect of using short english newspaper article to improve
students’ writing ability. The statistics used in computation are the mean, which is
the average score attained by the subjects of the research, and standard deviation,
which is the average variability of all scores around the mean.
2. Score Categorization
46
The categorization of scores gained by students was made to find out the level
of students’ writing ability. The scores categorization of students’ writing ability was
based on the ideal score. The ideal mean score (Mi) and ideal standard deviation
(SDi) could be calculating using the formula as follows:
Mi = ½ (highest score + lowest score)
SDi = 1/6 (highest score - lowest score)
The frequency distribution of the scores of the students’ writing ability can be
categorized into five levels, namely,excellent, very good, good, fair, poor, and very
poor. The distribution was calculated based on the Mi score and SDi as follows:
Table 7
Scale Category of Reliability
Interval Reliability category
84 - 94 Excellent
72 - 83 Very good
60 - 71 Good
48 - 59 Fair
36 - 47 Poor
24 - 35 Very poor
3. Inferential Statistics
The inferential statistics was focused to answer the question of the
formulation of the problem, which was whether there is a significant difference in
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English learning between the junior high school students in eighth grade who are
taught by using short english newspaper article as media and those of students who
are taught without. The statistics used in this computation were test of normality, test
of homogeneity, and test of hypothesis.
a. Test of Normality
This test is aimed at knowing whether or not the collected data show a normal
distribution. For this, the Chi-Square formula is applied. Borg and Gall (1983:559)
stated that Chi Square is a nonparametric statistical test that is used when the
research data are in the form of frequency counts. This test was done by using the
SPSS version 15.00 for windows computer program.
b. Test of Homogeneity
This test is used to find out whether or not the sample variance is
homogeneous, is the scores of one group have homogeneous variance with the scores
of the other groups or not. For this, the Levene-test was applied. This test was done
by using the SPSS version 15.00 for windows computer program.
c. Hypothesis Testing
Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is used in determining whether the
increase in the students’ writing ability by using short English newspaper articles and
without using short English newspaper articles is significant or not. To know the
effect of using the short English newspaper articles on the students’ writing ability,
the researcher put another variable that might have effect on it. Another variable that
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used in this research is called the covariate. The covariate is the pretest scores of the
students. The pretest scores are considered to reflect the students’ writing ability
before the treatment. The covariance is used to control the effect of using the short
english newspaper articles on the students’ writing ability. The computation uses
SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science) version 15.00 for windows computer
program.