ABSTRACT Eni Rahmawati
IMPROVING STUDENTS WRITING SKILL THROUGH TEXTLESS COMICS (A CAR of the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Qaryah Thayyibah Salatiga in the Academic Year of 2013/2014).
Graduating Paper. English Department of Educational Faculty. STAIN Salatiga. Counselor: Ruwandi, MA.
This study is a classroom action research. The general objective of this study is improving students writing skill through textless comic, while the specific objectives of this research are (1) to find out whether or not textless comic can improve students writing skill in the eighth grade of SMP Qaryah Thayyibah Salatiga in the academic year 2013/2014, (2) to find out the effectiveness of using textless comic as a media to improve students writing skill, (3) to find out the strengths of the use of textless comic as a media in the teaching and learning process in improving students writing skill of the eighth grade of SMP Qaryah Thayyibah. This classroom action research was conducted at SMP Qaryah Thayyibah Salatiga. The procedure of the research consisted of planning, action, observation, and reflection. The data were collected from achievement test and observation. The observation during the process of English teaching and learning was conducted with the help from collaborator. In this research, the writer acted as the practitioner. The tests were in the form of pre-test and post-test conducted in cycle 1 and cycle 2. The research resulted: (1) Using textless comic as a media can improve students writing skill, it is proved with the students improvement score of the tests because mean of post-test in cycle 1 is higher than mean of pretest (66.73>59.33) and the mean of post-test in cycle 2 is higher than mean of pretest (75.53>69.46), (2) The effectiveness of using textless comic in improving students writing skill is proved from the result of t-test and t-table in cycle 1 (7.17>2.14) which the score of t-test was higher than the score of t-table and the result of t-test and t-table in cycle 2 (8.75>2.14) also showed that the score of t- test was higher than the score of t-table, (3) The theory of the strengths of textless comic as a teaching media by Hillman is proved when the result of the observation sheets is mostly good when it applied in cycle 1 and mostly excellent when it applied in cycle 2.
Key Word: improving writing skill, textless comic
13 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Research English in Indonesia becomes the first foreign language which has to be taught in schools as a compulsory subject. English is taught in Junior High School from first year to the third year, and one of its goals is to develop oral and written communication competence in the four language skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. The four basic competences especially in writing has the benefit to train the students to show their idea to other people logically. Writing can help the learners express themselves. If the learners do not involve their skill of writing in the communication, they cut themselves off from a community. Writing can be a great tool to help them know more about what the way they think. It can solidify ideas and thoughts and allow them to reflect on them better than if the ideas remained evolving in their head. Writing is one of the ways that can be used to translate someone s thought for other people. Some people are better at expressing themselves in writing than any other. Writing is both social and cognitive process. In real community outside the classroom, the learners write to communicate with the audience, drawing on their knowledge of contents and writing, strategies for planning and revising and basic writing skill. Furthermore, writing assists the learners 1
14 to combine their knowledge of language with other language tasks as well. It helps them learn how to form language, how to spell, and how to put together a plot. Then the learners will learn how to make a logical argument, or how to persuade, mainly through writing. By writing people are able to express ideas, feeling and opinion and able to communicate with other people. In addition, most of important official documents such as laws, formal regulations, treaties, guaranties, contracts and so forth are made in the written form. In daily life, people get announcement, advertisements, letters, information, even warning in the form of writing. At school, there are a lot of writing works such as take a note, make lists, complete laboratory reports and compose any kinds of texts and others. People are consciously or unconsciously engage a lot in writing. In short, writing is a very important skill that should be learned by the students. It covers two significant benefits, for the purpose of communication and learning. Writing requires knowledge and focus thought. In order to write, learners must have something to express in the written form. Therefore, learners must acquire and present content (fact, generalization and concept) when they write a type of the short essay. Writing is inherently an integrative process, combining the total intellectual capacities of the writer. So, practically, to be able to write a type of short essay in form of narrative text the learners should be able to integrate their knowledge of language, the 2
15 correct grammar and spelling applied in writing process, generate and organize their ideas, and their understanding of the fact given to them. On the other hand, the fact in class showed that the students had problems with their writing skill and difficulties to generate and organize their ideas in the written-form. It can be identified by several indicators in the class related with their writing skill such as; 1. Most of the students face difficulties in starting make compositions. 2. Some of the students get difficulties in expressing ideas even lack of idea. 3. The students are not able to organize the ideas logically. 4. The students are not capable to develop readable paragraphs. From the pre-research, the writer found that the students, whose their daily score taken by their English teacher, who got mark in writing more than 71 were only 3 students. Those who got between 61 and 70 were 6 students, and the other students got less than 60 from totally 15 students in that class. They don t show their writing competence well. They make some mistakes in grammar by using uncontrolled pattern. Almost 75% of them did not have well structure. They had low writing skill. In short, the students who reach the minimum passing grade of writing is less than 60%. It cannot be said as satisfying result. KKM is very important as it is due to now, every school must use School Unit Based Curriculum (KTSP: Kurikulum Tingkat SatuanPendidikan). This curriculum has certain principle that each 3
16 school has to reach minimum passing grade (KKM) in every lesson, as well as in English lesson. In order to make writing more interesting, good media are needed. According to Munadi, to select the appropriate media, the teacher must consider the characteristics of the students, which directly related to the learning process such as verbal abilities, visual and audio perception skills. Other factors which also ought to be considered in media selection come from our instructional system model, that is, the organization of groups, the time available and the space in which the media will be used (Munadi, 2008: 255). Based on the fact above, the writer conducted a classroom action research to increase the students writing skill through textless comic books as teaching media. The writer hopes that by textless comic students will be active as participants and they have more chance to express their minds, ideas and imagination. They will feel something new and different from what they usually get in their class. This media is expected to help the students in generating ideas before writing so that they can write smoothly based on textless comic they got. Textless comic involve making a visual record of invention and inquiry. It helps writer think and explore about topic and its details from the pictures on the comic. The main aim using textless comic is to create fun atmosphere in teaching and learning process, so learners are interested in English especially in writing. To contribute new findings at different level 4
17 and grade of education, the researcher conduct a study in the form Classroom Action Research (CAR) about the use of concept texless comic to help the eighth grade of QaryahThayyibah high school students to generate ideas to write narrative text. B. Research Problems Based on the background and the problem identification, this study particularly aimed at finding the answers to the following questions: 1. Can textless comic improve students writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPQaryahThayyibah? 2. How far is the effectiveness of using textless comic to improve students writing skill in the eighth grade of SMPQaryahThayyibah? 3. What are the strengths of using textless comic as a teaching media in improving students writing skill inthe eighth grade of SMPQaryahThayyibah? C. Objectives of the Research From this research the writer wants to achieve some objectives; the general objective and the specific ones. 1. General Objective The general objective is to describe the implementation of textless comic as a teaching media to improve students writing narrative text skill in the eighth grade of SMPQaryahThayyibah in the academic year of 2013/ The specific Objectives 5
18 The specific objectives or the research are: a. To identify the improvement of the students writing skill through textless comic for the eighth grade students of SMPQaryahTayyibahSalatiga in the academic year of 2013/2014 b. To find out the effectiveness of textless comic to improve the students writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPQaryahTayyibahSalatiga in the academic year of 2013/2014 c. To find out the strengths of using textless comic as a media in teaching and learning writing in the eighth grade students of SMPQaryahTayyibahSalatiga in the academic year of 2013/2014 D. Previous Research A previous research has been conducted previously by Ferri Prastya Kristi entitled The Implementation Of Comic Strips As Media In Teaching Writing Narrative Text For The Tenth Graders Of Senior High School. It was a descriptive qualitative research. In her research, she focused on the implementation and students composition after implementing the comic strips as a media in teaching narrative. Other previous research has been conducted by Fika Megawati entitled Comic Strips:A Study On The Teaching Of Writing Narrative TextsTo Indonesian Efl Students. This action research focused on the investigation of the implementation of comic strips in teaching writing through a collaborative classroom action research at MAN Bangil. 6
19 Both of two previous researches concerned on the implementation of comic strips in teaching writing, while in this research the researcher would concern on the goals, they are students score improvement, find the effectiveness, and prove the strengths of textless comic by Hillman. E. Benefits of the Research By the thesis the author expects that this research would give several benefits, both theoretically and practically. 1. Theoretical Benefits a. To produce a new knowledge in teaching foreign language, like English, especially on writing narrative text by using texless comics as a teaching media. b. Becomes a reference for next researchers whether with the similar or different approach 2. Practical Benefits a. To the students, the result of the study will be helpful particularly students of the eighth grade in QaryahThayyibah Junior High School will become freshmen. Get an easy way in organizing their idea(s) or information(s) integrated in writing narrative text. b. To the English teachers, the output of the study will help them to seek more effective strategies on how to improve their teaching competencies and teaching styles (especially in teaching narrative text). Identifies students necessaries and problems and gives solution(s). 7
20 c. To the school, the output of the study will help achieve higher quality of education, because of the well-trained teachers and good performance of the students F. Limitation of the Research The writer limits this research because there are many factors that improve students writing skill. Therefore, the writer only focuses on writing skill in narrative text. In compiling paragraph, the writer uses textless comic as a media to support students to produce a narrative text. G. Definition of the Key Term 1. Improving writing skill Improving is the process of becoming or making to be better (Oxford university press, 2003: 216). In other dictionary we can find the word improve which means to make better in quality or to make more productive to become better (Webster, 1994: 487) Writing skill is specified into the skill in organizing ideas (Rohman, 2009:5). Writing is representing the information to the reader in written form. From the theories above, improving writing skill can be described as the process of becoming better in the quality of organizing ideas in the written form. 2. Textless comic Textless comic is pure comic or picture series that contains very minimal text (Hilman, 1995: 7). 8
21 H. Hypothesis The writer tries to determine the hypothesis of the research. The hypothesis of the research is textless comic will improve students writing skill I. Paper Organization In writing this research, the author divided into five chapters. The systematic organized as follows: Chapter 1 is introduction that consists of background or the research, research review, research problems, objective of the research, benefit of the research, limitation of the research and also research paper organization. Chapter II is the theoretical framework. It consists of the underlying theories that include the nature English language teaching and learning, nature of writing skill and textless comic. Chapter III is the methodology of the research. It elaborated the methodology of the research including research method, research schedule, data collecting, the technique of data analysis, and the last is school profiles. Chapter IV is the result and discussion of the research. It consists of data presentation, discussion, observation and reflection, data analysis, and research summary. Chapter V is closure that consists of conclusion, suggestions, and recommendation. For the attachment there are bibliography and appendix. 9
22 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter presents some points to be discussed. It is very important because theoretical view is as the basic concept to the research. The theoretical view below present some supporting theoretical description related to the research. The first discussion is the nature of English language teaching and learning, the second is the nature of writing skill. And the last discussion is textless comic. A. The Nature of Learning and Language Learning 1. The Nature of Learning Learning is acquiring or getting of knowledge of subject of a skill by study, experience or instruction (Brown, 2000: 7). According to Finocchiaro & Brumfit in Brown (2000: 45) language learning is learning structures, sounds or words in audio-lingual method. Therefore, language learning is learning to communicate in communicative language teaching. Learning process is process between learners with their environment. Therefore, there would be behavior interchange through better situation. The language acquisition and language teaching pointed through the one effort for developing and creating proper communication. The acquisition, basically, is a process of students knowing communication with their environment verbally. (O Malley, 10
23 1990:16-19). The students language acquisition is beyond their consciousness, means that their language acquisition is not always under consciousness. It reflected through language users. Moreover, the language acquisition has accidentally begun, secondly, the language acquisition has gradually beginning which rise from social motorist and paralinguistic cognitive (Freeman, et.all, 1991: 40-41). The other definitions of learning are stated by some expert. They define learning as; 1. Learning as a quantitative increase in knowledge. Learning is acquiring information (Amri, 2010:205) 2. Learning is shorting information that can be reproduced (Trianto, 2009:15-21) 3. Learning is acquiring facts, skills, and methods that can be retained and used as necessary (Trianto, 2009:15-21) 4. Learning is making sense or abstracting meaning. Learning involves relating parts of the subject matter to each other to the real world (Trianto, 2009:15-21) 5. Learning is comprehending the world by reinterpreting knowledge (Amri, 2010:205) From the explanation above, it can be concluded that language learning is a process of discovery. Learners develop ability to use the language for specific communication purposes. There is a concern with what happens when the learning takes place. In this way, learning could 11
24 be thought as a process by which behavior changes as a result of experience. 2. The Nature of Language Learning Language is viewed as a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or interact (Finocchario 1964:8). According to Thomson, language is a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences"). While learning is assumed to master, process of discovery the elements of language for a communication and interaction purpose. (Richard and Rodger, 1986: 49). Brown (2001:209) stated that learning a language can be effective when; a). Teachers and students enjoy positive relationship with one another. b). The teacher has a high level of competency in knowledge of language. c). The teacher is enthusiastic about the language and sees his/her own learning as ongoing. d). Language learning involves learning about the culture and leads to intercultural competence. c). The teacher demonstrate good classroom management skills. f). The teacher has the ability and willingness to adapt to the teaching context in which he/she finds him/herself. People need to learn language because they want to communicate with other. They want to be understood and also be able to understand others. This view is in accordance with Larsen and Freeman (2000:129) 12
25 who state that students are, above all, communicators. They are actively engaged in negotiating meaning, in trying to make them understood and understanding others, even if their knowledge is incomplete. From the perspective above, it can be concluded that language learning is a process of discovery. Learner develops ability to use the language for specific communication purposes. Teacher models language use and facilitate students development of language skills. In this learnercentered model, both students and teacher are active participants who share responsibility for the student s learning. 3. The Nature of Language Learning and Teaching Teaching is a complex process which can conceptualize in a number of different ways. Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning. Learning foreign language cannot be separated from teaching since the learner can only acquire the language through the certain environment such as school or course. Nathan Gage in Brown noted that to satisfy the practical demands of education, theories of learning must be stood on their head so as to yield theories of teaching (1994:7). From the perspective above, it can be concluded that language teaching is a complex process which cannot be separated from learning. Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the condition for learning. Teaching is showing or helping 13
26 someone how to do something, giving instruction, guiding in the study of something providing with knowledge, causing to know or to understand. 4. Elements of Teaching and Learning Process According to Brown (2001:46), there are six elements of teaching and learning process, they are: 1. Teacher Teacher is a facilitator in students learning process. 2. Student Student is learner or someone who attends an educational institution 3. Material Material is what to learnt in learning process. 4. Medium Medium is any person, materials, equipment or events that establish the condition of the students acquire knowledge, skill and attitudes. Teaching medium is a tool used by teacher when teaching to help clarify the subject matter presented to students. 5. Method Method is the way in which a teacher chooses to explain or teach material to students so they can learn the material. 6. Evaluation Evaluation is a structured process of assessing the success of a project in meeting its goals and reflects on the lessons learned. 14
27 5. Elements of Good Teaching According to Richard Lee Colvin on his article, there are six elements of good teaching a) Physical Environment Good teaching is when teachers can use the physical environment as teaching tools. b) Social Environment Teachers can build good relationship with the students and provide support for learning. c) Instruction The teachers instruction must be easy to be captured by students. d) Content What is being taught is as important as how it is being taught. Whether it is challenging and meet state standard or not e) Assessment Teachers assess students progress based on the national standard. Teachers also adjust their teaching based on the result. f) Effect on Students What students have learned is the ultimate test of good teaching. 15
28 6. Aspects of Teaching English According to Brown (in Gista, 2012:15), teaching English emphasized on four aspects namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. 1. Listening Listening is the ability to hear what someone is saying and paying attention to their words and the meaning at the same time 2. Speaking Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information 3. Reading Reading is the process of translating the symbolic writing (letters) to constructs or derives meaning. 4. Writing Writing is a medium of communication that represents language through the inscription of signs and symbols. The four aspects of teaching English should be reinforced equally (Brown, 2000:234). B. The Nature of Writing Skill 1. The Meaning of Writing Pardiyo stated that writing is a process of sharing information, message, or ideas in grammatically correct sentences. The information, 16
29 ideas, and message are wrapped in the form of text, which conventionally agreed by the language user community about some criteria with them. They are: (1) Purpose, (2) rhetorical structure, (3) linguistic realization or grammatical structures. (Pardiyono, 2000:2). In order that, the such ideas, information, or message can be transferred effectively, the writer should be aware of the context of situation and context of culture. Harmer (2007:13) mentioned that writing involve planning what we are going to write. First, drafting it. Then reviewing and editing what we have written and producing a final version. Many people have thought that this is linear process but a closer examination of how writers of all different kinds are involve in writing process. Suggest that we do all these thing again and again. Thus, we may plan, draft, re-plan, draft, edit, re-edit, re-plan, etc before we produce our version. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that writing is process of creating written text that obtains ideas, feelings, thoughts, and desires to other persons. 2. Criteria of Good Writing According to Harris (2001: 13) there are five criteria of good writing, they are: a. Content: writing must convey the main idea or an attentive reader should be able to grasps the writer purpose. 17
30 b. Form: writing should contain logical or associative connection and transition which clearly express the relationship of the idea described. c. Grammar: writing should adhere to the rules of grammar related to the tenses with sequence of time, the employment of grammatical form and synthetic pattern. d. Style: writing should engage its reader through original insight and precise. e. Mechanic: writing must use good spelling and punctuation. 3. Writing Skill In learning language, include English and other ones, the students have to require four language skills, such as reading, speaking, listening and writing which each skill connect one another. From all those skills, writing is the most difficult one. The reason is cultural differences. The writers have to understand about cultural and social context of using the language according to its background. In this case, English cultural context create several text, called as genre, which has their own characteristic and purpose. According to Ministry of National Education (2003:44), it is mentioned that standard of competence for writing skill is expressing the meaning by developing the right rhetorical in writing text as narration, explanation, discussion, commentary, and review with variation structures of modification. In writing a readable and logical text, students have to apply several strategies bellow: 18
31 1. Reading for many kinds of text. 2. Brainstorming to collect ideas. 3. Using semantic mapping to find out specific ideas in writing. 4. Viewing the ideas in writing from any directions. 5. Making the lists. 6. Correcting the result 7. Using vocabulary which found from any sources (Ministry of National Education, 2003: 53) Brown (2001: ) stated the process approach to writing instructions. The instructions are mentioned below: 1) Focus on the process of writing that leads to the final written product. 2) Help students write to understand their own composing process. 3) Help them to build repertoires of strategies for prewriting, drafting, and rewriting. 4) Give students time to write and rewrite. 5) Place central importance on the process of revision. 6) Let students discover what they want to say as they write. 7) Give students feedback through the composing process (not just on the product) as they attempt to bring their expression closer and closer to intention. 8) Encourage feedback from both instructor and peers. 19
32 9) Include individual conferences between teacher and students during the process of composition. 10) In short, writing competences is the target of learning process of writing in making effective written text. The competence includes the ability to make grammatically and rhetorically structured text the appropriate communicative context. C. Textless Comic 1. Comic and Textless Comic A comic is a book (often shortened to simply comics and sometimes called comic paper or comic magazine) is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and (virtually always) dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in Despite the term, comic book do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter, in fact, it is serious and action-oriented. Since the introduction of the comic format in 1934 with the publication of Famous Funnies, the United State has been the leading producer, with only British comic and Japanese manga as close competitor in term of quantity of title. The majority of all comic books in both U.S and Japan are marketed to young adult readers, though they also produce titles for young children as well as adult audience. Comic typically appear in three or four square-shape cells, called panels. The panels are arranged in row and are red from left to right (right to left for Japanese manga). Comics are booklet-length comics that 20
33 are more stylized and tell a more involved story. They can be written in the same style as comic strips, but they also feature panels of different shapes and sizes and are read both horizontally and vertically. Most daily -newspaper comics are published in black and white and most comic books produced in color. Comic books are booklets that come in varying size, and are most often in color. The lengths of comic books allow them to tell more involved stories than comic strips can. The design of the panels can also differ from comic strips, which nearly always consist of three or four equally sized square panels per strip. In comic books, the number of panels on each page can differ, as can their size and shape. Sometimes one scene can occupy an entire page. Textless comic is pure comic or picture series that contains very minimal text (Hillman, 1995: 7). Textless comic connect visual literacy (learning to interpret images), cultural literacy (learning the characteristics and expectations of social groups) and literacy with print (learning to read and write language). Most children and young love comic because of their visual, attractive, humorous, and overall appeal (Hillman, 1995: 66). From this statement the researcher applied this textless comic media in the eighth grade of junior high school in her classroom action research. 2. Roles of Textless Comic 21
34 According to Hillman (1995: ) textless comic have some roles in the class, they are: a. Comics can motivate students and make them want to pay attention and take apart. b. Comics contribute to the context in which the language is being used. They bring the words into the classroom. c. Comics can be described in objective way or interpreted, or responded to subjectively. d. Comics can cue response to questions or substitution through controlled practice. e. Comics can stimulate and provide to be referred into conversation, discussion, the language they use and storytelling From the points above it can be concluded that textless comic is very useful in learning the English language. Teacher and learners are helped by using this media to achieve the learning goals. It can solve the problem faced by the students in the process of writing especially in writing narrative text and caused them concentrate more on the orderly arrangement of story by paying attention to the textless comic and the language they use. 22
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