THE APPLICATION OF BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILL OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 2 SUKAWATI IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

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1 THESIS THE APPLICATION OF BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILL OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 2 SUKAWATI IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014 KADEK PANDE YUNI ARTINI ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY DENPASAR 2014 i

2 THESIS THE APPLICATION OF BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILL OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 2 SUKAWATI IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014 KADEK PANDE YUNI ARTINI NPM ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY DENPASAR 2014 ii

3 PRE-REQUISITE TITLE THE APPLICATION OF BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILL OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 2 SUKAWATI IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014 Thesis As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Education Study Program Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Mahasaraswati Denpasar University KADEK PANDE YUNI ARTINI NPM ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY DENPASAR 2014 iii

4 APPROVAL SHEET 1 This thesis entitled The Application of Brainstorming Technique to improve writing skill of the Eighth Grade Students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in Academic Year 2013/2014 has been approved and accepted as partial fulfillment for the Sarjana Pendidikan degree in English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University. Approved By Advisor I Advisor II I Komang Budiarta, S.Pd., M.Hum. A.A. Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S., M.Hum. NPK NPK iv

5 APPROVAL SHEET 2 This thesis has been examined and assessed by the examiner committee of English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University in the oral examination on 13 th February Chief Examiner Ni Wayan Krismayani, S.Pd., M.Pd. NPK Examiner I Examiner II I Komang Budiarta, S.Pd., M.Hum. A.A. Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S., M.Hum. NPK NPK Approved by Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Head of the English Education Study Program Prof. Dr. Wayan Maba I Komang Budiarta, S.Pd., M.Hum. NIP NPK v

6 STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY The researcher hereby declares that this thesis is her own writing and it is true and correct that there is no other s work or statement, except the work or statement that is referred in the references. All cited works were quoted in accordance with the ethical code of academic writing. Denpasar, 13 February 2014 The Researcher, Kadek Pande Yuni Artini NPM vi

7 ACKNOWLEDGMENT First of all, the researcher would like to express her great-sincere gratitude to the almighty God so that Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa, for His most generous motivation so that the researcher can finish this thesis entitled The Application of Brainstorming Technique to Improve Writing Skill of the Eighth Grade Students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in Academic Year 2013/2014. The researcher would like to express her deepest gratitude and appreciation to the Rector of Mahasaraswati Denpasar University, the Dean, Vice Deans, the Head of English Education Study Program, all lecturers and staff of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University for their valuable assistance and motivation in writing this thesis. The researcher also would like to thank to her first and second advisor, I Komang Budiarta, S.Pd., M.Hum. and A.A. Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S., M.Hum. who have already guided her and shared their brilliant ideas for the improvement of the thesis. In addition, she thanks them for their patience, kindness and correction in finishing this thesis. The gratefulness further goes to the headmaster of SMPN 2 Sukawati, Vice Headmaster for the Curriculum Affair, the English teacher, and the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014 for their permission, their hospitality, good cooperation, forbearance, and help so that the process of data collection could run smoothly and successfully. The researcher would like to dedicate this thesis to her family: her super dad, I Ketut Murdana; her lovely mom, Ni Luh Sudani; her beloved sisters and brother, Putu Pande Eka Widiani, Komang Pande Mery Ariyanti, and Ketut Pande Angga Wiraguna; and her special person, Angga Wirastama for their prayer, love, and support during the writing of this thesis. The researcher is fully aware of her weakness that this thesis is far from perfect; therefore, she would greatly appreciate all comments, criticisms and also meaningful and helpful suggestions. Finally the researcher hopes that her writing will be useful particularly to the researcher herself and generally to the readers who are interested in this field of study. Denpasar, 13 th February 2014 The Researcher vii

8 ABSTRACT Artini, K. P. Y. (2014). The Application of Brainstorming Technique to Improve Writing Skill of the Eighth Grade Students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in Academic Year 2013/2014. The First Advisor: I Komang Budiarta, S.Pd., M.Hum, and the Second Advisor: A.A Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S., M.Hum. Writing skill especially genre-based paragraph writing is considered as an important skill. This study had a purpose to apply brainstorming technique to improve writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014. The subjects of the present study were VIIIG of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014. The total of the subjects under study were 41 students which consisted of 13 females and 28 males. The present classroom action investigation was conducted because the subjects had crucial problem in writing descriptive paragraph. Based on the mean score of pre-test which was carried out in pre-cycle, it pointed out that the subjects ability in writing descriptive paragraph was still low. The present classroom action research was then carried out through applying brainstorming technique in two-planned cycles. The result of the post-test in each cycle obviously showed that there was significant improvement concerning the subjects ability in writing descriptive paragraph. This research furthermore showed that there were positive responses concerning the technique applied in improving the subjects writing skill. To sum up, the present classroom action study proved that brainstorming technique could improve writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014; in addition, the subjects also responded positively the application of brainstorming technique. Keywords: improving, writing skill, and brainstorming technique. viii

9 TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER... i INSIDE COVER... ii PRE-REQUISITE TITLE... iii APPROVAL SHEET 1... iv APPROVAL SHEET 2... v STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... vii ABSTRACT... viii TABLE OF CONTENT... ix LIST OF TABLES... xi LIST OF GRAPHS... xii LIST OF APPENDICES... xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Research Problem Objective of the Study Limitation of the Study Significance of the Study Definition of Key Term... 5 CHAPTER II THEORITICAL AND EMPIRICAL REVIEW Theoretical Review The conception of Writing Descriptive Paragraph Brainstorming Technique Assessment of Writing Empirical Review CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD Subject of the Study Research Design ix

10 3.3 Research Procedure Initial Reflection Planning Action Observation Reflection Research Instrument Test Questionnaire Data Collection Data Analysis Success Indicator CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION Finding Pre-cycle Cycle I Cycle II Discussion CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion Suggestion REFERENCES APPENDICES x

11 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 The Scoring Rubric Paragraph Table 4.1 Tabulation of Data Showing the Subjects Progressing Score in Writing Skill after The Application of Brainstorming Technique Table 4.2 Tabulation of Data Showing the Subjects Response after The Application of Brainstorming Technique xi

12 LIST OF GRAPHS Graph 4.1 Depicting the Subjects Subjects Progressing Score in Writing Skill after The Application of Brainstorming Technique Graph 4.2 Depicting the Subjects Responses after The Application of Brainstorming Technique xii

13 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1 List of Subjects Appendix 2 Pre-Test Appendix 3 Lesson Plan Appendix 4 Lesson Plan Appendix 5 Post-test Appendix 6 Post-test Appendix 7 Questionnaire xiii

14 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Writing is one of the four basic skills which should be mastered by the student. Writing skill is an integrated part of language production. It means that how the writer could make a writing which can be useful for the reader. Ramet (2007:1) asserts that writing something, anything every day will make us able to build up the discipline and commitment that are needed to ensure that we can produce a complete manuscript in various forms. Writing is a transforming process of thought into language, it means that the writer should think the content of writing first and then arrange the ideas using appropriate language (grammar and vocabulary) into a paragraph and consequently, organizational skills in writing also should be learned. It is really so hard to combine one sentence with other sentences to be a good paragraph writing. Obviously, the ability to write clearly is recognized in society as well as at schools as an important objective of language teaching. Writing is one of the important skills to be mastered by the students. There are three reasons why teaching writing is considered important for the students. The first is that writing reinforces the grammatical form, idiom, and vocabulary that have been given by teacher. The second is when students write, they should be familiar with what they have already written down. The last one is students become involved with the languages which they use to write a good paragraph for themselves and for the readers when read the paragraph. From the preliminary observation made by the researcher to the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati by interviewing the English teacher, the 1

15 2 researcher knew that most of the students had difficulties in writing. They had problems in structure, word spelling, the punctuation mark, finding and organizing the ideas in a descriptive paragraph. Moreover, they were not able to use simple present tense in descriptive paragraph in a proper way. In addition, when the students were asked to write a short descriptive paragraph, they still made the same paragraph like the example of descriptive paragraph that was given by their teacher and it indicated that they still found difficulties to create and develop descriptive paragraph by their own words. Therefore, the researcher was very interested in focussing the research to improve the learners writing ability, especially in writing a descriptive paragraph. The teaching technique which was used by teacher was always three phases technique. It was good technique to teach junior high school; however, the students needed combination in teaching learning process so that they would have more interest and motivation in studying English, especially in writing skill. Because of those situations, teacher should be able to choose an appropriate technique that can improve the student enthusiasm in writing a paragraph. Every level of the students has different way to learn. In this case, teacher should choose a teaching technique for the students so that it could bring effect of their success in learning English language. As a teacher, this was a big challenge to find some techniques that could make writing more interesting for the students. Teacher also needs to find ways to motivate the students to improve their writing skill so that they can make a good paragraph. One technique of writing that could overcome the problems is called brainstorming technique. Brainstorming is a technique which is generally used in a group setting to quickly generate a large number of ideas about a specific

16 3 problem or topic. Brainstorming offers the teacher an opportunity to help students to be more active, giving feedback on ideas, working together in a group, drawing connections among various concepts, and helping students developing the topics. Brainstorming also helps to develop organizational skill as students have an opportunity to clarify and organize ideas before they write. This technique gives enough opportunity for students to express their ideas freely about the main topic given by teacher, and then they could discuss and share ideas with each other. This technique also could help students in solving the problem when they have difficulty in writing, especially in writing descriptive paragraph. Based on the background above, the researcher is interested and motivated to discover the use of brainstorming technique in improving writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/ Research Problem Teaching descriptive paragraph writing in the classroom is considered important and should be given a great attention by teacher. It is because descriptive paragraph writing is one form of communication where the students can express their ideas freely. This study is conducted to improve the students writing ability by using brainstorming technique. Based on the background of the study above, the research question can be formulated as follows: can writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014 be improved through brainstorming technique? 1.3 Objective of the Study The Objective of the study basically is to improve the students ability in mastering writing by expressing their ideas freely. Concerning with the problem mentioned above, the objective of the study is to find out whether or not writing

17 skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in Academic Year 2013/2014 can be improved through brainstorming technique Limitation of the Study Writing skill is definitely too broad and complex to be dealt with in a single study. In this present class action research, the researcher limits the study on improving writing skill technique of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014 by means of brainstorming as teaching technique. The study is also limited on writing descriptive paragraph especially in describing person, thing or place. In addition, descriptive paragraph should have a generic structure such as identification, description and conclusion. 1.5 Significance of the Study This study is greatly expected to be used for English teacher and students writing mastery by using brainstorming technique. There are two significances of this study, theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the result of this research can gain a theory which can be used for learning writing. The findings are expected to be used as evidence that brainstorming technique is effective in improving English writing skill. This study can be used as the reference and additional source for other researchers in conducting similar research, especially in the context of teaching writing. Practically, brainstorming technique is expected to give good contribution to the researcher, teacher, and students. For the researcher, the result of the study hopefully can give a good experience in teaching writing skill by using brainstorming technique. In addition, for teacher, the result of this study can be

18 5 applied to improve the students writing skill and find solutions to the problem by using brainstorming technique. Finally, for students, this study can help them to express their own ideas to improve their ability in writing skill. They are expected to be conscious in order to be successful in descriptive paragraph writing. 1.6 Definition of Key Term Definition of key term is very important to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the terms used in the present study. The researcher defines three key terms intensively used in the context of the present study which needs to be operationally clarified as the following terms: 1. Writing skill in the present study is defined as the ability of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014 in writing descriptive paragraph which describes about person, thing or place; furthermore, this paragraph has the generic structure which consists of identification, description, and conclusion. 2. Brainstorming is defined as a technique of improving descriptive paragraph writing of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in which teacher gives a topic to students and brainstorms their ideas. In this study brainstorming will be done by using tree diagram through asking questions to build up their ideas such as where, who, when, what, why, and how. The collections of the ideas are used to make a descriptive paragraph. 3. SMPN 2 Sukawati is a junior high school which is located in Jalan Raya Singapadu, Gianyar regency where the present research is conducted.

19 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical Review The scientific investigation which is expected to contribute both theoretical and practical significance should be conducted on the basis of some relevant theoretical constructs and empirical evidences. The present study will be conducted on the ground of the following theoretical bases: The Conception of Writing Writing is one of the four skills that should be learnt and mastered in language learning. Patel and Jain (2008:125) state that writing is a kind of linguistic behaviour; a picture is not. It presents the sounds of language through visual symbols. Writing may be very important for one group of students but much less important for others. Writing is essential features of learning a language because it provides a very good means of foxing the vocabulary, spelling, and sentence pattern. Writing is the most efficiently acquired when practice in writing parallels practice in the other skills. It provides an excellent consolidating activity. Urquhart and McIver (2005:3) stated that writing is a process of exploration that offers benefits to students and content area teachers alike. As students write to make their ideas clear and comprehensible, they experience the fun of discovery, and so do their teachers. Writing is concerned it is much more difficult to identify a central theme to the discussions about teaching (Wyse and Jones, 2001:113). McDonald and McDonald (2002:7) argue that writing is usefully described as a process, something which shows continuous change in time like growth in organic nature. Different things happen at different stages in the process of putting 6

20 7 thoughts into words and words onto paper. Writing is transforming thoughts into language; it means that we need to think about the content of our writing first and then arrange the ideas using appropriate language (e.g. grammar and vocabulary). Therefore, we should learn about organizational skills in writing. The important function of language in society is for communication. Nowadays, more and more people communicate their ideas, feeling, thoughts and many other affairs through writing. A good writer absolutely needs to know how to express his ideas or messages in written words clear so that it can be easily understood by the readers. Graham and Perin (2007:3) write that writing well is not just an option but it is a necessity. A long with reading comprehension, writing skill is a predictor of academic success and a basic requirement for participant in civic life and in global economic. They also add that writing is a means of extending and deepening students knowledge. Urquhart and McIver (2005:11) write that in the following section, we examine this question in the context of the stages of the writing process: Prewriting is the period where writers get ready to write-gathering information, organizing ideas, identifying audience and purpose, and selecting genre. Drafting is the production stage of getting ideas down using complete sentences and reflecting the general conventions of writing. Revising is the time when writers review their work, checking for clarity of message, word choice, and organization. Editing is the process of checking written work for the conventions of writing and any lingering concerns with voice, tone, and style. Graham and Perin (2007:9) state that most contexts of life (school, the workplace, and the community) call for some levels of writing skill, and each context makes overlapping, but not identical demands. Proficient writers can

21 8 adapt their writing flexibly to the context in which it takes place. In the school setting, writing plays two distinct but complementary roles. First, it is a skill that draws on the use of strategies (such as planning, evaluating, and revising text) to accomplish a variety of goals, such as writing a report or expressing an opinion with the support of evidence. Second, writing is a means of extending and deepening students knowledge; it acts as a tool for learning subject matter. In supporting statement above, Fulwiler (2002:32) writes that writing helps us figure things out in at least two ways. On the one hand, it makes our thoughts visible and it allows us to expand, contracts, modifies, or discards them. We can hold only so many thoughts in our heads at one time; when we talk out loud and have dialogues with friends, or with ourselves, we lose much of what we say because it is not written down. More importantly, we cannot extend, expand, or develop our ideas fully because we cannot see them. When we can witness our thoughts, we can do something with them. On the other hand, the act of writing itself generates entirely new thoughts that we can then further manipulate. Writing one word, one sentence, or one paragraph suggests still other words, sentences, and paragraphs. Writing progresses as an act of discovery; no other thinking process helps us so completely develop a line of inquiry or a mode of thought. Scientists, artists, mathematicians, lawyers, and engineers all think with pen to paper, chalk to blackboard, and hands on terminal keys. Extended thought about complex matters is seldom possible, for most of us, any other way. Harmer (2004:31) argues that writing (as one of four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing) has always formed part of syllabus in the teaching of English. Besides, writing encourages students to focus on accurate language

22 9 use because they think as they write; it may well provoke language development as they resolve problems which the writing puts into their minds. Moreover, writing is frequently useful as preparation for some other activity, in particular when students write sentences preamble to discuss activities. Once again, writing is used to help students perform a different kind of activity (in this case speaking and listening). The students need to be able to write to do these activities; however, the activities do not teach students to write. Hence, it can be concluded that the writing is very important for students because it is not only in the writing lessons the students have to write. However, it is also needed in four skills because the writing has been covering the four skills Descriptive Paragraph Description is an element in many different types of writing. Descriptive writing appeals to the senses, so it tells how something looks, feels, smells, tastes, and/or sounds. A good description is a word picture; the reader can imagine the object, place, or person in his or her mind (Oshima and Hogue, 2007:61). In the same line, Savage and Shafiei (2007:30) state that in a descriptive paragraph, the writer uses words that create an image and help the reader to see, feel, touch, smell, or taste the topic that she or he is describing. Therefore, in a descriptive writing, someone or something should be described as vivid and real as possible to attract the reader s sense. According to Zemach and Rumisek (2003:25), a descriptive paragraph explains how someone or something looks or feels. A descriptive paragraph is a paragraph which describes a person, place, or thing so that the reader can picture it in his or her mind. Describe writing uses words to build images for the reader

23 10 (Savage and Shafiei, 2007:34). It is usually written in logical order and very vivid detail. Oshima and Hogue (2007:61) state that descriptive writing consideration to the senses; hence, it tells how something looks, feels, smells, tastes, or sounds. Field (2009:44) states that a paragraph can vary in length but each paragraph always deals with one topic. Within the group of sentences there should usually be a topic sentence. This is the main sentences and the content of the paragraph is expanded in the rest of the paragraph. In addition, a descriptive paragraph consists of topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. The topic sentence in descriptive paragraph introduces the item that the researcher will describe; besides, it may also include the researcher s general feeling or opinion about the item. While the supporting sentences give some background information and descriptive details about the item. The last is concluding sentence that restates the idea in topic sentence using different words. Besides, Evans (2000:8) states that a topic sentence introduces or summarizes the main topic of the paragraph and gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph will be about. Moreover, topic sentence should be followed by some supporting sentences which provide some examples, details, reasons, justifications and some evidences to support the topic sentence. Moreover, Savage and Mayer (2005:2) state that a typical paragraph begins with a topic sentence which introduces the topic. The supporting sentences that follow support the idea in topic sentence with explanations, reasons and other details. The concluding sentences bring the paragraph to an end. Zemach and Islam (2005:21) state that when you describe a place you can develop your paragraph by adding descriptive details and information that tell

24 11 how a place looks, sounds, smells or feels. A descriptive paragraph is organized with generic structure; those are identification, description, and conclusion. Identification in the first paragraph to introduce what is exactly going to be described. The researcher uses identification to identify the recognition; besides, it can be about the general statement about place, person, or thing which the writer wants to describe. After stating the identification, a descriptive paragraph will show the description of the object. The conclusion is the last part of the paragraph and it is optional. A conclusion does not really give impression, but it is very often helpful to the reader because it usually signals the end of the paragraph. A description usually follows a pattern of organization that we call spatial order. Spatial order is the arrangement things in a space (Oshima and Hogue, 2007:61). Some possible patterns of movement for description include movement from left side move clockwise to the right, from right side move counter clockwise to left side, from top to bottom, from bottom to top, from near to far, from far to near, outside to inside, inside to outside. Turn signal is also important because it helps the reader to follow the order of movement in the descriptive paragraph. The example of turn signals are next to, by to the left, above, beside, to the right, over, below, on the top, behind, in front of, etc Brainstorming Technique Kelly and Gargagliano (2000:4) state that when you brainstorm, you write as many words or phrases as you can think of about a topic. You do not have to write complete sentences when brainstorming. Folse et al. (2010:31) add that brainstorming is quickly writing down all the taught that come to your head. When you brainstorm, you do not think about whether an idea is good or bad or

25 12 whether your writing is correct. You simply write to put your ideas on paper. This process is called brainstorming because it feels like there is a storm in your brain. According to Sinagatullin (2009:98), brainstorming is the activity which depends on the active participation of the whole group, helps create a spirit of cooperation, and encourages students creative thinking. Owing to various cultural and individual reasons, not all students willingly join in such an activity. Some learners know that they are not sharp-witted and clever enough to solve intricate problems and try to stay apart from group work. Others just loathe working cooperatively and prefer answering questions in academic solitude. Teachers are required to use brainstorming techniques rationally, it is not to exceed the established mental and physical boundaries and norms. Folse et al. (2010:32) add that brainstorming is not a linear or a consecutive process. Writers do not think of one thing, write it down, then think of something else, write it down, and so on. Instead, brainstorming can be a messy process. Writers move from one idea to another, then back to an earlier idea, then forward again to a new idea, and so on. They cross out words, draw lines to make connections, and change their minds. Brainstorming is a cycle with steps that repeat continually. In addition, Urquhart and McIver (2005:15) argue that the beauty of brainstorming is its nonjudgmental quality. If it has done properly, students do not censor their ideas on a brainstorming list. Rather, anything goes. When students use this strategy, they discover what they know about a given topic and can see what they may need to learn more about. Pollard (2008:51) states that writing process focuses on the process of writing rather than on the final product. This involves teaching students about the stages involved in writing; i.e. the process. The aim is to help students see each stage as being important and to dedicate time to each of them. The teacher s role

26 13 is to guide students through the stages one uses when writing. The stages are as follows. First, students brainstorm and note down any ideas connected to the topic. They decide from the brainstormed list which ideas are the most relevant to the topic, task or title. Then the students decide which order to put those ideas in. Next, the students prepare the first draft; the focus at this stage is organization of the piece of writing. This does not mean that grammar and accuracy are not important; it just means that they are not the focus at this stage. In addition, revision and editing the drafts are initially focused on content, relevance and organization. The final stage is the production of a finished piece of work. In addition, to raise awareness of the students on the stages of writing, teacher can brainstorm the steps with the students. Alternatively, teacher can present them with the list above and ask for their comments on it. Finally, teacher could give them the list above, jumble up and ask them to put the stages in order. In addition, teacher can guide students in writing ability through the stages by brainstorming technique as the following; 1. Brainstorming: write the topic or title on the board and invite students to say anything at all connected to the topic. 2. Go through the brainstormed items and decide which are the most relevant to the topic and the most interesting. 3. From the list of chosen items, students decide how the comments will be organized. At the end of this stage, students will have a plan or mind map that they can use for writing. 4. Students write the first draft of their piece of work. 5. In the same lesson, in later lessons, or for homework, students can revise their first drafts, improving on the content and organization.

27 14 6. When they have a good second draft, i.e. the content, relevance and organization satisfies them, they can move onto improving the language. 7. Finally, students can copy out their essays, in a clean, final version Assessment of Writing Assessment is a part of language teaching as are the materials, syllabus in approach. There should be evident a harmonious relationship between course objectives and all these curriculum elements. The assessment is very important to measure the effectiveness of teaching learning process. It also helps the English teacher decide to move on the next material or just simply repeat the materials. Coffin et al. (2003:2) state in assessing such writing, lecturers focus on the content and the form of the writing that is the language used, the text structure, the construction of argument, grammar and punctuation. Assessment can be defined as a way for teachers to know the students achievement and ability to give score to the students. Every subject in teaching learning process need to be assessed; it includes writing in English subject. Brown, (2004:218) states that the assessment of writing is no simple task. Assessing students writing ability needs a clearance about the objective and the criterion itself. It has the role rubric that uses to score the writing s ability of the students. It also help the English teacher decide to move on the next material or just repeat the materials have been given to the students. According to McKay (2006:140), classroom assessment refers to assessment carried out by the teachers in the classroom. He divides classroom, assessment into two assessments. Firstly, Formative Assessment is an assessment when teachers are collecting information about children s strengths and

28 15 weaknesses in order to provide feedback to learners and to make further decisions about teaching. Secondly, Summative Assessment is an assessment when teachers are collecting information at the end of a period of time; generally, it gives a report to others about children s progress. Summative assessment carried out by teachers may also inform their own teaching. Then tests are a subset of assessment; they are certainly not the only form of assessment that a teacher can make. Tests can be useful devices, but they are only one of many kinds of procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use to assess the student (Brown, 2004:4). The construct of writing assessment may be determined by the curriculum, and or the theory. The students can succeed in writing genres at a range of different levels, and assessment is related to the gradual development of features of successful writing within each genre. Johnson and Johnson (2002:6) stated that assessment is collecting information about the quality or quantity of the change in a student, group, teacher, or administrator. Performance assessment is collecting information about demonstrations of achievement involving actually performing a task or a set of task, such as conducting an experiment, giving a speech, writing a story, or operating a mechine. After the intended outcomes of instruction are defined, the procedures are used to determine their achievement. In order to achieve purpose that match with the students performances. Weigle (2002:1) stated that the best way to test people writing ability is to get them to write. It means that a rest of writing involves at least two basic components: one or more writing tasks, or instructions that tell test takers what to write, and a means of evaluating the writing samples that test takers produce. The researcher focuses on assessing students ability in composing a good descriptive paragraph. The students are asked to make a descriptive paragraph

29 16 based on the topic given and they have to submit their works, then the researcher analyzes it and gives the score for students works by using rubric which includes some components, such as: format, punctuation and mechanics, content, organization, grammar and sentence structure (Oshima and Hogue, 2007:196). Therefore, the assessment is very important to do by teachers in the classroom in order to know the students achievement toward the material during the teaching learning process. It can develop students ability to evaluate themselves, to make judgments about their own performance and improve upon it. 2.2 Empirical Review Empirical review is a review of the previous researchers and theories that were currently available on the subject which will be used in this present study. The point of empirical review is to elaborate a deep understanding of the theories previously. In this part, the researcher reviews two studies which had been conducted by two different researchers. The following are the reviews: Widiari (2011) had conducted a similar research entitled Improving writing skill through brainstorming technique of tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal In Academic Year 2010/2011. The present classroom action study basically was triggered by the fact that the subjects under still faced problem in finding and organizing ideas in writing. This technique gave enough opportunity for the students to express their ideas freely about the main topic given by the teacher. After the application of brainstorming technique, there was a significant improvement of the students ability in writing. Therefore, it was concluded that brainstorming technique can improve students writing ability. It was seen when they could do the last post-test with high mean score.

30 17 Saputra (2012) had conducted a similar research entitled Using Brainstorming Technique to Improve Writing Skill of the Tenth Grade Students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in Academic Year 2011/2012. The research was begun when he found that writing ability of the students was very low. Most of Students faced these difficulties in finding and organizing ideas for writing a paragraph. Brainstorming technique gave enough opportunity for the students to express their ideas freely about the main topic given by the teacher. The result of the study showed that students ability in writing descriptive paragraph could be improved. It meant that the result was appropriate with the purpose of the study. Both of the studies showed a significant improvement of the students ability in writing; it can be a mirror that the present study will be as successful as the previous one. It indicated that brainstorming technique was an effective technique to improve students writing skill. Thus, this technique was also expected can improve the achievement of the subjects ability especially in descriptive paragraph writing. Both of them used holistic rubric in which there were no detail how to score the subjects by using the criteria in the rubric. Analytic rubric would be used to score the subjects in order to give much feedback for improvement. Moreover, the researcher in the present study must be carefully chooses the topics to be appropriate and close to the subjects environment. This way actually can help the subjects to choose and brainstorm the topics based on their environment. By the application of brainstorming technique, the subjects ability in writing hopefully can be improved significantly.

31 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Subject of the Study The subjects of present class action studies were class VIII G of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014. The total numbers of subjects were 41 students consisting of 13 females and 28 males. The present study was preceded by conducting a preliminary study in which the researcher interviewed the English teacher currently teaching class VIII students at SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014. It indicated that their writing ability was still low. The class was chosen by the researcher because most of the subjects found difficulty in developing and organizing the ideas in writing. 3.2 Research Design This research design for this study was used a classroom action research design. Costello (2003:4) stated that action research is a flexible spiral process which allows action (changing and improvement) and research (understanding and knowledge) to be achieved at the same time. Action research is usually described as cyclic, with action and critical reflection taking place in turn. The reflection is used to review the previous action and plan the next one. Cohen et al. (2000:227) stated that action research is concerned equally with changing individuals, on the one hand, and, on the other, the culture of the groups, institutions and societies to which they belong. The goal of action research in education is to create an inquiry stance toward teaching where questioning one s own practice becomes part of the work and of the teaching culture (Ary et al., 2010:513). According to Burns (2010:5), action research is a research carried out in the classroom by the teacher, mainly with purpose to 18

32 19 improve the teaching-learning process. In addition, McNiff and Whitehead (2006:7) added that action research is a form of enquiry that enables practitioners everywhere to investigate and evaluate their work. Action research has become increasingly popular around the world as a form of professional learning. It has been particularly well developed in education, specifically in teaching. Furthermore, Richards and Lockhart (2009:12) stated that action research typically involves small scale investigation projects in the teacher s own classroom and consists of a number of phases which often recur in cycles: planning, action, observation, and reflection. In this present study, the teaching and learning processes were divided into two cycles where each cycle consisted of some sessions. Each session consisted of four interconnected activities namely: planning, action, observation, and reflection. To make it clear, the design of the present class action research can be explained as the following: Initial Reflection CYCLE I Planning Action Observation Reflection Reflection Observation Action Revised Planning CYCLE II NEXT CYCLE Adapted from action research design by Kemmis and McTaggart in Burns (2010:9) Ary et al. (2010:518) stated that experience and perceptions are used to identify an area of focus based on a problem. Time is taken to review what is already known about the problem or focus area and to learn more about the problem. This may include a review of the literature. This phase is also referred to

33 20 as identifying and limiting the topic as the following: In Initial Reflection, to get the real fact from the students about the extent of their writing skill, the researcher administered the pre-test to subjects. Planning is developed for taking action and/or for gathering information and data in order to observe or capture the experience or monitor the practice. In this phase, the research questions and methods are explicated. Action referred to what the researcher did in the classroom and how the class was managed during teaching learning activities after all preparations had been completed. In Observation, the researcher acted both as a classroom teacher and an observer. Classroom activity had to be served to know the effectiveness of teaching learning process and the result being achieved. The last is reflection; the researcher evaluated the subjects works which were conducted in the end of the cycle in order to know their progress and also improvement. It was also able to reflect how significance the differences that made by the technique to the subjects achievement. 3.3 Research Procedure It has been stated that type of investigation used in this research was Classroom Action Research (CAR). The first thing to do was to know the initial reflection of the subjects during preliminary observation by doing interview with the English teacher and administering pre-test. Initial reflection showed the real achievement or the pre-existing writing skill of the eighth students of SMPN 2 Sukawati especially in class VIII G in academic year 2013/2014. In order to improve writing skill of the subjects, some lessons were conducted by the researcher based on classroom action research procedure. In this

34 21 case, the teaching learning processes were done in some cycles and each cycle consisted of planning, action, observation, and reflection Initial Reflection This study was begun by asking some questions to the English teacher of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati. There were some difficulties faced by the subjects in writing. Then, in this study, initial reflection was carried out to gather by the information about the pre-existing writing ability. In initial reflection, some questions were prepared to do an interview with the English teacher to know the problem, especially the subjects difficulties in writing ability. Then, the result of the interview was used as basic consideration in constructing the pre-test. The pre-test itself would quantify the subjects ability in writing Planning The researcher had to prepare instructional planning for all of the sessions before the present classroom action research could be successfully carried out. As mentioned previously, the subjects of the present study were the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati who presumed to have low writing ability. For this reason, the teaching of writing through brainstorming technique was a way to improve and progressively enhance the writing ability. In order to achieve the objective of the present classroom action study, the researcher planned the instructional activities as described below: - Seeking and preparing a series of teaching materials which could be appropriately used in teaching writing that could solve the problems faced by the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati. - Preparing the topic of descriptive paragraph which would be written by the subjects of the study.

35 22 - Designing the lesson plans or setting up the teaching scenarios of the present class action research. The lesson plans were concerned with selecting the materials discussion, writing a descriptive paragraph which could be suitably implemented through brainstorming technique. - Constructing post-test which would be administered at the end of each cycle. It was focused on figuring out subjects achievement in writing skill. - Constructing questionnaire which would be given to subjects of study at the end of the last cycle. The questionnaire dealt with the subjects responses toward the application of brainstorming technique Action Action was the implementation of the previous planning. This was the main activity in the classroom action study. Actions referred to what the researcher really did in the classroom setting during the processes of teaching writing a simple descriptive paragraph through brainstorming technique. The researcher attempted to manage and conduct the previously planned classroom activities in the teaching scenarios so that objective of teaching writing for each session can be the most effectively and efficiently attained. What the researcher did successively in every classroom session was principally based on a three phases technique. Therefore, the classroom activities were classified into three main parts; those were pre-activities, whilst activities and post activities. In pre-activity, the researcher tried to activate and focus the subjects mutual interests and attention. Basically, the pre-activities were intended to activate the subjects prior knowledge related to the topics, which were to be discussed. During this activity, the researcher asked some general questions that were related to the topic and then the subjects responded orally. In this way, most

36 23 subjects actively participated and involved themselves in the pre-activities which were planned to last for about 10 minutes for each session. In whilst-activity, the researcher first introduced the topic of the present study to be learnt by the subjects such as asking about what they have known about descriptive paragraph. Then the researcher explained the materials of descriptive paragraph and an example of descriptive paragraph to the subjects. The researcher also asked the subjects to work in pair to identify the generic structure of descriptive paragraph. Next, the researcher discussed the generic structure of descriptive paragraph with subjects. After they were understood about the material, they were given a topic to brainstorm their ideas about the topic and written the subjects answer on the board. Finally, the subjects made a paragraph in the form of descriptive by brainstorming their ideas based on the title given by the teacher. This activity was to measure that each subject individually could make a descriptive paragraph by brainstorming their ideas freely. Its activity in each session was intended to last for about 60 minutes. In post-activities, the researcher asked the subjects to collect their works and reviewed their activity by concluding what they have learnt and discussed the difficulties faced by the subjects during the teaching learning process. To end the class, the researcher also conducted follow up activity and gave homework. This final activity in each session was planned to last for about 10 minutes Observation In this stage, the researcher acted as a classroom s teacher as well as an observer. The observation was intended to establish whether the teaching learning process which was undertaken improved subjects writing skill in writing descriptive paragraph. Besides, it was also meant to see whether there were any

37 24 positive changing behavior, attitude, and motivation on the side of the subjects in learning and practicing of the descriptive paragraph writing Reflection Reflection was the activity of reflecting and analyzing the action as it was recorded or based on the results of the observation. It was given to the subjects being studied on the basis of teaching writing through brainstorming technique. Reflection was used to diagnose the cause of the unsuccessful actions given and each reflection was administered during the post-activities of the session. This activity was done after the teaching process. The result of the reflection was used to determine what should be done in the next cycles. 3.4 Research Instrument Selecting a valid and reliable research instruments was very essential step of scientific investigation. This was due to the fact that merely the qualified research instruments on their own can result in the valid and reliable required data of the study being carried out. Without instruments, it was impossible for the researcher to collect the needed data which was used to determine its validity. In relation with what has been stated above, there were some research instruments that were used by the researcher in conducting the present study Test In this study, the test consisted of pre-test and post-test. Pre-test was conducted in order to know the pre-existing descriptive paragraph writing of the subjects under study; therefore, it was used to find out the existing of subjects ability in writing descriptive paragraph before brainstorming was implemented. Post-test was used to measure the extent of the subjects progress in writing

38 descriptive paragraph; the subjects instructed to write a descriptive paragraph. They were expected to express their ideas freely about the main topic given by the teacher and organized a good descriptive paragraph. They constructed the paragraph by using generic structure which consisted of identification, description, and conclusion. Then, descriptive paragraph was scored by using scoring rubric. The different was the score of post-test used to examine whether or not their ability in writing descriptive paragraph can be improved after students have been taught writing by implementing brainstorming technique. The rubric was taken from Oshima and Hogue (2007:196) Table 3.1 Scoring Rubric of Descriptive Paragraph 25 Max. Score Format 5 Points - There is a title. 1 - The title is centered. 1 - The first line is indented. 1 - There are margins on both sides. 1 - The work is tidy and clean. 1 Total 5 Actual Score Punctuation And Mechanics 5 Points - There is a period after every sentence. 1 - Capital letters are used correctly. 1 - The spellings are correct. 2 - Capitalization & other punctuations are used correctly. 1 Total 5 Content 20 Points - The paragraph fits the assignment. 4 - The paragraph is unity. 8 - The paragraph is coherence. 8 Total 20

39 26 Organization 40 Points - The paragraph begins with a clear identification about the 10 object to be described. - The paragraph contains vivid detail descriptions of place, person, or thing that subjects want to describe so that the 25 reader can easily imagine or picture the object, or they can feel the object with their five senses. - The paragraph ends with an appropriate concluding 5 sentence. Total 40 Grammar and Sentence Structure 30 Poins - Estimate a grammar and sentence structure score 30 Grand Total Questionnaire Questionnaire is series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically useful information about a given topic. In this study, questionnaire was administered to eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati after the last cycle. The type of questions constructed in questionnaire was multiple choice questions which consisted of ten items and each item consisted of four options. The researcher used questionnaire to know the subjects responses after they had been taught through brainstorming technique in the last cycle. In order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding the questionnaire was written in Bahasa. The items of the questionnaire were scored using rating scale of 1-4. If they answered A, it meant they strongly agreed (4), B meant they agreed (3), C meant they quite agreed (2), and D meant they disagreed (1). 3.5 Data Collection Data collection of this present study was taken from the subjects of the study. The processes of gathering data were as follows. Firstly, the researcher gave pre-test to the subjects before the treatment carried out to know the subjects

40 27 prior knowledge on writing skill especially in writing a descriptive paragraph. Secondly, the researcher could prepare the material and also determine the posttest. Before conducting the post-test, the teaching of the material should have been completed in the lesson plan for each cycle. Then, post-tests were given at the end of the cycles. Finally, the researcher administered questionnaire in the end of the last cycle to quantify subjects responses toward the application of brainstorming technique to improve subjects writing in the classroom. 3.6 Data Analysis The most important data required to answer the research question under study was collected through administering pre-test and post-test and supporting additional data were gathered through administering questionnaire to the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014. Thus, there were considerably three kinds of data obtained for the present classroom action study toward the application of brainstorming technique, as follows: 1) data indicating the subjects pre-existing writing skill, 2) data showing the subjects progressing achievement in writing skill, and 3) data showing the subjects responses on the application of the technique. The data were obtained through the test were used as data on this study. The mean scores of the result of pre-test and post-test would be analyzed by using the formulas as follows: X = X N x 100% Where X = the mean score of the subjects achievement in writing ΣX = the sum of the total scores

41 28 N = the total number of the subjects The data resulted from the questionnaire would be analyzed descriptively as the following percentage of an item: Percentage = 3.7 Success Indicator Total response on an item Total response on all items x 100% The study would be considered successful if the subjects have reached the minimum passing standard that have been determined. Based on the curriculum used in SMPN 2 Sukawati in which the minimum passing grade that must be achieved by the students in English subject is 70. It means that all subjects included in class G of VIII grade as the subjects of the study, must get at least 70 to pass the lesson. In conducting this study, the researcher did hope that all subjects would achieve it well since the score was very useful to their next educational level. However, the present study was considered successful and can be ended if 80 % or at least 38 subjects of all subjects (i.e. 41 subjects) could achieve the minimum standard score of 70 in English.

42 CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Finding The objective of the present study was to figure out whether or not the writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014 can be improved through the application of brainstorming. The writing skill which was improved was focused on writing descriptive paragraph, a paragraph that is used to describe thing, person, or place. The Finding dealt with the result of data collection and what they represented. In any study, data became so important since they were the authentic evidence that made the study valid and reliable. In the present study, data were gathered by using two research instruments which were in form of test and questionnaire. Those two kinds of research instruments were used during the study started from the pre-cycle, cycle I, and cycle II. The details of the data that gathered in the pre-cycle, cycle I, and cycle II could be seen in the table below: Table 4.1 Tabulation of Data Showing the Subjects Progressing Scores of Writing Skill after the Application of Brainstorming Technique Subject Pre-Cycle Cycle I Cycle II Pre-test Post-test 1 Post-test

43 Total To make the findings more significant, further data required for this study were collected through administering questionnaire to the subjects under study at the end of the last cycle. The data gathered from administering questionnaire showed the subjects responses on the application of brainstorming in teaching

44 descriptive paragraph writing ability. There were 10 multiple choice items using Bahasa in the questionnaire. The answers of the questionnaire were quantitatively scored using the rating scale of 1-4, meaning that if the subjects strongly agreed (A), the scale would be 4; if the subjects agreed (B), the scale would be 3; if the subjects quite agreed (C), the scale would be 2; and if the subjects disagreed (D), the scale would be 1. The obtained data showing the subjects total scores for each item of the questionnaire were tabulated as the following: Table 4.2 Tabulation of Data Showing the Subjects Responses after the Application of Brainstorming Technique 31 Subjects A (4) B (3) C (2) D (1)

45 Total Total A + B + C + D = Pre-Cycle In pre-cycle, the researcher interviewed the teacher to know exactly subjects problem in writing skill. The researcher knew that the subjects had difficulties to create and to develop descriptive paragraph by their own words. Thus, the researcher was interested to focuss on the research to improve the learners writing ability. Pre-test was administered in order to know the real problem and quantify the subjects initial score in writing. In pre-test, the subjects were asked to choose one of the topics given and write a descriptive paragraph which consisted of 5 10 sentences. The subjects had 25 minutes to write a descriptive paragraph based on the topic that had been chosen before. The subjects products of descriptive paragraph were scored based on the rubric which

46 33 consisted of five elements such as format, punctuation and mechanics, content, organization, and grammar and sentence structure (See table 3.1). After scoring the subjects descriptive paragraph, the data of the pre test showed that the subjects ability in recount paragraph were low and needed to be improved. The total scores of the pre-test which was followed by 41 subjects was 2236 (see on table 4.1). To get the mean score of the pre-test, the researcher used a formula which could be analyzed as follows: M = x = 2236 = N 41 Based on the data above, the mean score of pre-test was It showed that only 1 subject of the study could reach the minimum standard passing grade of SMPN 2 Sukawati that was 70. The results indicated it urgently needed further improvement. Therefore, the researcher tried to improve the subjects descriptive paragraph writing ability by the application of brainstorming in cycle I Cycle I Cycle I was conducted based on the result of pre-test. In cycle I, there were four steps which were done namely planning, action, observation, and reflection. These steps were conducted chronologically to get the maximum result. In planning, the researcher prepared a series of teaching materials which could be appropriately used in teaching writing that could solve the problem faced by the subjects. Next, she prepared the topic of descriptive paragraph that would be written by the subjects of study, and then designed the lesson plan for some cycles. The cycle consisted of 2 sessions. Each session was conducted for about 80 minutes. Firstly, the researcher gave explanation and example about the material. Secondly, the subjects were asked to practice the material. The researcher also constructed a post-test at the end of each cycle.

47 34 In action, the researchers applied the steps which had been prepared. Cycle I was divided into two sessions in which the duration for each session was about 80 minutes. In the first session, the researcher tried to focus on the attention of the subjects and explained gave an example of descriptive paragraph entitled My Mother through brainstorming. In the second session, the researcher tried to focus on the attention of the subjects and they began practicing writing descriptive paragraph entitled My Classmate and consisted of the generic structure. The observation was mainly focused on identifying the situation of the lessons and analyzing the data taken from the action. Here, the researcher acted as a classroom's teacher as well as an observer. The observation was intended to establish whether in teaching learning process being undertaken by the subjects could improve their writing skill in writing descriptive paragraph by using brainstorming technique. Exactly, there was a progress which showed that the subjects were more active in teaching learning process and they could make descriptive paragraph writing by brainstorming their ideas freely. To get the subjects data improvement after applying brainstorming technique, the researcher administered post-test which was followed by 41 subjects was 2869 (see table 4.1). To get the mean score of the post-test, the researcher used a formula to get the mean score as the following: M = x = 2869 = N 41 It showed that the mean score of the post-test in cycle I was It was also in line that 28 subjects could reach the minimum standard of passing grade for the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati that was 70. This result showed that there was an improvement from the result of the pre-test in subjects descriptive paragraph writing ability by applying brainstorming technique.

48 However, the score was still low and there were a few subjects who had reached the success indicator. Thus, the researcher continued to the next cycle, cycle II Cycle II Cycle II was conducted based on the result of the post-test in cycle I. This cycle consisted of two sessions. There were four steps which were done similar to the steps in cycle I: planning, action, observation and reflection. Those four steps were arranged chronologically to solve the subjects problem. In planning, cycle II was started with planning which had already been revised from the previous version. This revision was made based on the results of the post-test 1. In the planning, additional material presentation was prepared. After the preparation was complete, cycle II was carried out as it was planned on the course plan. In general, the teaching learning process in cycle II was also as same as cycle I; however, it was presented by using different material. In action, the researchers applied the steps which had been prepared. Cycle II was divided into two sessions in which the duration for each session was about 80 minutes. Firstly, the researcher explained the materials and gave an example of descriptive paragraph entitled My House and she also showed a related picture through brainstorming technique. Secondly, the subjects began practicing in writing a descriptive paragraph. The last was administering post-test to subjects, to make it clear see appendix 6. In observation, the researcher gave motivation to the subjects to be more interesting in learning descriptive paragraph, where at first; they were still passive in the teaching learning process. In cycle II, the researcher combined the explanation of the material with the pictures. To make the subjects more active and interested, the researcher gave an appreciation to the subjects in teaching

49 36 learning process like a little present if they could answer and brainstorm their ideas. As the result, there was a progress where the subjects showed their enthusiasm in writing descriptive paragraph in teaching learning process. To get the data of their improvement after applying brainstorming technique, the researcher gave post-test which was followed by 41 subjects. It can be seen by calculating the mean score of post-test cycle II as follows: M = x = 3121 = N 41 The questionnaire was also administered to know the subjects response toward the implementation of brainstorming technique in the teaching learning process. The questionnaire which was administered consisted of ten statements in bahasa and each option in each number had different. Therefore, each answer which was chosen by the subjects were multiplied by its rating scale (see table 4.2). For the computation of the comparative percentages for the options score of the questionnaire which showed the subjects total answer for option A, B, C, and D. The total percentage of each option could be shown as follows: 1. The total percentage of option A = 669 x 100% = 49.79% The total percentage of option B = 3. The total percentage of option C = 4. The total percentage of option D = x 100% = 44.81% x 100% = 5.33% x 100% = 0.07% The result of the post-test 2 analysis showed that there was a progress from cycle I to cycle II. It indicated that brainstorming technique could improve subjects ability in writing descriptive paragraph. The results of the data analysis

50 37 for cycle II showed by calculating the mean score of the cycle. From the data which presented in table 4.1 the data of post-test in cycle II showed that there were 38 subjects who could reach the minimum standard of passing grade for the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati, which was 70. It meant that there was a significant improvement ability of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014 in writing descriptive paragraph after the application of brainstorming technique. From the data of questionnaire, it was found that there were 49.79% of the subjects strongly agreed, 44.81% agreed, 5.33% quite agreed, 0.07% disagreed on the application of brainstorming technique. These findings supported the major findings of this study. Moreover, it clearly indicated the subject s positive responses in improving subjects descriptive paragraph writing ability through the application of brainstorming technique. Based on the analysis data which has already been clarified in the previous section and in order to simplify the presentation of the finding, the data which were resulted by the research instrument such as: pre-test, post-test 1, post-test 2 and questionnaire, could be presented in the form of graphs as follows: Pre-Cycle Cycle II Cycle II Graph 4.1 Depicting the Subjects Subjects Progressing Score in Writing Skill after the Application of Brainstorming Technique

51 38 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 49.79% 44.81% 5.33% 0,07% A B C D Graph 4.2 Depicting the Subjects Responses after the Application of Brainstorming Technique In this classroom action research, the significant improvements of the descriptive paragraph writing ability from pre-cycle to cycle I and II after the application of brainstorming technique were main consideration to stop the research because it had already reached the minimum passing grade in SMPN 2 Sukawati, which was 70. To make deeper understanding of the finding, the researcher would describe it into an explanation in the following sub discussion. 4.2 Discussion According to the findings in the pre-cycle, cycle I, and cycle II, it was needed to do deep discussion in order to clarify those data to create deeper understanding. In general, it can be concluded that the application brainstorming technique can improve writing skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sukawati in academic year 2013/2014. However, the improvement was not instantly achieved in a single lesson. There were some lessons conducted and the subjects of the study must build adaptation to the technique. Therefore, the present study did not only focus on the improvement subjects ability in writing ability but also the subjects responses after having the lessons.