IMPROVING RECOUNT WRITING SKILL THROUGH RAFT TECHNIQUE OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMAN 1 ABIANSEMAL IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2010/2011 BY NI WAYAN SUDARNINGSIH I KETUT WARDANA ENGLISH DEPARTMENT THE FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY DENPASAR 2011
IMPROVING RECOUNT WRITING SKILL THROUGH RAFT OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMAN 1 ABIANSEMAL IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2010/2011 Ni Wayan Sudarningsih I Ketut Wardana English Education Department, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, University of Mahasaraswati Denpasar ABSTRACT The present classroom action study dealt with improving recount writing skill through RAFT technique of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011, especially in class X 4. This class consisted of 45 students, 22 males and 23 females. The present classroom action investigation basically triggered by the fact that the subject under the study still faced problems and had weakness in writing recount text. In the light of main objective of the classroom action study, the IR was intended to establish the real pre existing writing skill of the subjects under study in recount text. The result of the IR was 42.9. It clearly showed that the recount text writing skill of the students was low. Directly, the RAFT technique was applied in order to improve the students recount writing skill. The result of the data analysis of the reflection scores for cycle I figured out the increasing mean figures of 49.6, 54.9, 60.7 and 65.9 for S1, S2, S3 and S4 respectively. The result of the data analysis of the reflection scores for cycle II showed the figures of 71.2, 76.6, 81.7 and 86.2 for S5, S6, S7, and S8 respectively. The grand mean figures for cycle I and cycle II showed the figures of 57.8 and 78.9. There is difference mean figure of 21.1 between the two cycles. These findings clearly discovered that the use of RAFT technique was effective enough in helping the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal to improve their writing skill in recount text. The result analysis of the questionnaires scores showed the comparative percentage figure of 61.76 % for the item A, 31.88 % for the item B, 6.36 % for the item C and 0 % for the item D. These result comparative percentages figure clearly showed the subject attitude and motivation in learning and exercising recount text writing through the use of RAFT technique changed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Key words: improving, writing, RAFT technique
Back ground of the Study Writing is one of the skills, which is used as one medium to communicate with others. In other words, one way to express the language is through written form. Since writing is used as one form of communications, mastering the skill of writing is needed because by writing, people especially the students will enable to express their ideas, feelings, and experiences in the certain pale time and situation in written form. Raimes (1983: 54) states that there are three reasons why teaching writing is considered important. The first is that writing reinforces the grammatical form, idioms and vocabulary that the teachers has been doing with the class. The second is when the students write, they have chance to be familiar with a language for themselves and the readers. The last is the students become involved with the language with himself/herself and with his/ her readers. Even though writing is an essential skill in English for students to learn, but unfortunately, the writing skill of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal, especially in writing paragraph was still low. Based on the interview with their English teacher and the result of the pre test, the researcher knew that the most of the students had difficulties in writing. The students had problems in process and the product of the writing. They had writing problems in organization, structure, spelling, punctuation, diction, monitoring their writing, finding and organizing ideas developing as well as organizing the ideas in forming of a recount text. They also got problems of how to begin their recount text, how to write sentences (topic sentence and some supporting sentences) and then set them in chronological order based on the generic structure of recount text, and the last they did not know how to use Simple Past Tense in recount text. The students did not only face all the problems above (vocabulary, mechanic, grammar, coherence and organization) they but also got some factors which cause their achievement in writing are low, especially in writing a recount text; low learning motivation, low quality input, and uninteresting technique in teaching writing.
One technique of teaching writing that can overcome the problems is called RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, and Topic). RAFT is a writing technique that is believed to be able to help the students understand their role as a writer and how to effectively communicate their ideas and mission clearly so that the reader can easily understand everything written. Additionally, RAFT helps students focus on the audience they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the topic they will be writing about. By using this technique, teachers encourage students to write creatively, to consider a topic from multiple perspectives, and to gain the ability to write for different audiences. Considering the importance of the statements and facts above, the researcher is very challenged, motivated and interested in conducting a study on improving the students writing skill in recount text through RAFT technique of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011. The Statement of Research Question Based on the background of the study above, the problem of the study can be formulated as follows: Can recount writing skill of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal be improved through RAFT technique? Objective of the Study In the light of the problem formulated before, the objective of the study is to know the improvement the students recount writing skill through RAFT technique of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011. Limitation of the Study This study is restricted to improve the students writing skill in recount text through RAFT technique of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011.
Underlying Theories Writing is one of the four English skills in which, we express our idea, opinion, feeling, and so on in written form (Maharani; 2007:2). However, to convey our idea in written form is not easy. Students often feel that it is very difficult to write, it because they do not know how to write correctly and effectively. Graham and Perin (2007:7) add that writing is sometimes seen as the flip side of reading. It is assumed that adolescents who are proficient readers must be proficient writers too. On the other hand, Wallace et all (2004:15) state that writing is the final product of several separate acts that are hugely challenging to learn simultaneously. Heaton (1989:135) adds that the writing skills are complex and sometimes difficult to teach, requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical devices but also of conceptual and judge mental elements. The following analysis attempts to group the many varied skills necessary for writing good prose into five general components or main areas such as: language use, mechanical skills, treatment of content, stylistic skills and judgment skills. Writing has a central position in classroom work. Littlejohn (2005:78) states that there are a number of good reasons for bringing writing into a more central position in classroom work. Firstly, in contrast to oral classroom work, writing can offer students the opportunity to work at their own pace and, above all, to think while they are producing language. Secondly, writing can give students a chance to retrace their steps, to check and correct what they have written before they are required to show it to another person. Thirdly, unlike oral classroom work, writing can offer a permanent record; students can look back on what they have done, improve, check
things and refresh their memory of what they learnt in class. In short, writing can offer more opportunities to learn. In writing, before writing a text, a writer must know how to write a paragraph; it is because a text consists of some paragraphs. According to Keifer (1983:1), paragraph is a unit of logical thought composed of any number of sentences supporting the central idea of the paragraph. With more detailed information, Iwuk (2007:38) states that paragraph is a group of sentences that has one main idea, and it takes a role as a part of a text that makes the text is easier to read and to learn by the reader. Knowing how to write a good paragraph is needed in writing a text. A writer, before writing a good paragraph must know the components of paragraph. A good paragraph writing is made up of three kinds of sentences, namely: the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and the concluding sentence. These sentences should develop the writer s main idea, opinion or felling about the topic. Moreover, a paragraph is considered good if it has what one often calls unity, coherence, completeness and order. There are 5 kinds of text which are taught for tenth grade students of Senior High School based on the syllabus such as: narrative text, recount text, procedure text, descriptive text and report text. In this research, the researcher was focused on teaching and improving the students recount writing skill. Recount text is a text which retells events or experiences in the past. Its purpose is either to inform or to entertain the readers. Yuliani (2008:11) states that there are three kinds of recount text namely (1) historical recount, (2) biographical recount, and (3) autobiographical recount. Maharani (2007:69) adds that there are three generic structures of a recount text as follow: orientation, events, and re-orientation and all of these generic structures are very important to know in writing recount text for the students. RAFT Technique
RAFT is a writing technique that is believed to be able to help the students understand their role as writer and how to effectively communicate their ideas and mission clearly so that the reader can easily understanding everything written. Additionally, RAFT helps students focus on the audience they will addressee, the varied format for writing, and the topic they will be writing about. A RAFT activity infuses a writing assignment with imagination, creativity and motivation. The strategy involves writing form a view point other than that of a student, to aim audience other than the teacher an aim in a form other than a standard assignment or written answer to questions (Buehl, 2009:144). Buehl (2009:144) gives an explanation how to using the RAFT technique. He states RAFT is an acronym for: (1) R: role of the writer (who are you as the writer), (2) A: Audience for the writer (to whom are your writing), (3) F: format of the writing (what form will your writing assume), and (4) T: topic to be addressed in the writing (what are you writing about). Assessment of Writing Heaton (1989:5) clearly contends that teaching and evaluation are closely interrelated. That is virtually impossible to work in either field without being constantly concerned with other. Writing is complex activity, it may be hard to evaluate. Ideally, the teachers should assess aspects and skills involved in writing, in this case, text writing, but many teachers find it impossible to do. According to Heaton (1989:147) there are some aspects that should be considered in scoring writing including grammar, vocabularies, mechanics, that refers to punctuation and spelling. In assessing the text writing of the students, the English teachers can make use of different form of assessment. The following rating scale is the result of considerable and careful research conducted in the scoring of composition. Heaton (1989:148) states that there are five compositions achieved in writing ability and the composition are grammar, vocabularies, mechanics, fluency, and also relevance. It can be shown descriptively with the following table:
5 4 3 2 1 Grammar Vocabulary Mechanics Fluency Relevance Note: mechanics refers to punctuation and spelling; fluency refers to style and ease of communication; relevance refers to the content in relation to the task demanded of the students. RESEARCH METHOD Subject of the Study The finding of any classroom action research could not be generalized to other groups of students even though they might be at the same school. Subject of the present study was concentrated on the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal which consisted of 424 students, but the chosen subject was focused on X 4 which consisted of 23 females and 22 males. The researcher determined this class as the subject of the study because their recount writing skill needed to be improved. Research Design The present classroom action made use of classroom action research design. Thus, this classroom action study was concerned with improving the students recount writing skill through RAFT technique of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011 by using two kinds of tests, that were, initial reflection or pre-test and reflection or post-test. The teaching and learning process in
this classroom action study were divided into two cycles in which each cycle consists of four sessions and each session consists of four interconnected activities such as planning, action, observation and reflection. This classroom action research started by giving pre-test or Initial Reflection to assess the pre-existing the students skill in writing recount text while Reflection or post-test at the end of each session to reveal the expected enlargement in the students writing skill after they had been taught recount text through RAFT technique. The mean score of the initial reflection was compared with the corresponding mean score of the reflection administered by the end of each session for the sake of establishing the degree of the students improvement in recount writing skill. 1.2 Research Instruments The Instruments which were used in collecting the data for this study were: teaching learning scenario/ lesson plan, tests, teacher s diary, and questionnaire. 1. Lesson Plan The teaching learning scenario was prepared in order to have the description of what the researcher wanted to do while teaching in the class. 2. The Tests The tests were used to measure the students achievement on the lesson plan such as: pre test and post tests. The pre-test was conducted before the treatment was carried out to know the students prior knowledge in writing a recount text. 3. Teacher s Diary
Teacher s diary was used to observe the result of applying the actionin the class. Researcher took some note about the students action in form of diary during the teaching and learning process. 4. Questionnaire The questionnaire was given to the students in order to get some information which was related to the students feeling, motivation, and interest in doing the activities in the classroom. This questionnaire was made in the form of multiple choice in which it consisted of ten questions and each question consisted of four options (A, B, C and D), looking the students responses toward the application of RAFT technique. The scores that were obtained through the questionnaire were used as qualitative data on this study. While data had been gathered, then they were analyzed descriptively by using the following formula: % = the total score of each item chosen X 100 % the grand total score of all item chosen FINDING AND DISCUSSION The data analysis which established the findings of the present classroom action study showed that the mean of the IR or pre-test scores (Xo) obtained by the students in writing skill pointed out the mean figure of 42.9. This mean figure clearly showed that the recount writing skill of the subjects under the study was relatively insufficient. Therefore, the researcher decided to apply RAFT technique in order to be able to solve the problem immediately.
The result of the data analysis of the reflection scores in cycle I (S1, S2, S3, and S4) showed the increasing mean figures of 49.6, 54.9, 60.7, and 65.9. The mean figure obtained by the students for each session in cycle I was obviously much higher than the mean figure of the IR scores. The grand mean figure of reflection or post-test scores obtained by the students in cycle I was 57.8. It showed the obvious improvement of students skill in writing recount text through RAFT technique. The result of the data analysis of the reflection or post-test scores obtained by the students for cycle II (S5, S6, S7, and S8) pointed out the increasing mean figures of 71.2, 76.6, 81.7 and 86.2. Compared to the mean figure of IR scores, the mean figure obtained by the students for each session was convincingly much higher than the IR mean figure. The grand mean figure of the reflection or post-test scores obtained by the students in cycle I was 57.8 and in cycle II was 78.9. There was significant difference of 21.1 between the mean figure of cycle I and cycle II. The comparative percentage figures of the total response of the questionnaire for items A, B, C, and D were 61.76 %, 31.88 %, 6.36 % and 0 %. This figure proved that the subjects learning behaviors changing positively, that were, their attitudes and motivation heightened significantly. This also indicated that teaching recount writing skill through RAFT technique was effective. The findings of the present classroom action study were in line with the existing research findings, which have revealed the effectiveness of RAFT technique on improving the students recount writing skill. In relation to the purpose of the present classroom action study, although the findings of the present classroom action study could not be generalized to all of the tenth grade students of different classes, belonging to the same school. It could be stated that RAFT technique could improve recount writing skill of the tenth grade students of SMA N 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011.
CONCLUSSION It had been stated in Chapter I that the objective of conducting this research was to improve recount writing skill of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011 especially in class X 4, and because of this objective, the researcher applied CAR (Classroom Action Research). The grand mean of the reflection scores in cycle I figured the mean figure of X I = 57.8, the grand mean of the reflection scores in cycle II figured the mean figure of X II = 78.9. These findings clearly showed that the means of the initial reflection score in recount writing skill (Xo = 42.9) was much lower than both the grand mean in cycle I and the grand mean in cycle II. Clearly, the findings of the present classroom action study convincingly revealed that improving recount writing skill through RAFT technique could effectively improve and increase the low writing skill in recount text of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011. The data requires for the present action study were also collected by giving questionnaire to the subjects of the study. The result of the questionnaires showed the comparative percentages of 61.76 %, 31.88 %, 6.36 % and 0 % for respective total items of the questionnaires indicating A, B, C and D. These findings suggested that the most of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal showed positive attitudes, high learning motivation as well as active participation in learning recount text writing skill through RAFT technique. Based on the clear discussion in chapter IV, the researcher concluded that RAFT technique could improve recount writing skill of the tenth grade students of SMAN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2010/2011. This was revealed by the significant improvement of the mean scores the students got, both in cycle I and cycle II, compared to the mean score of the IR or pre-test. It means that RAFT technique
was effective to be used as a writing technique to improve the students recount text writing skill. SUGGESTIONS The English teachers of SMAN 1 Abiansemal are suggested to apply RAFT technique in teaching English especially in teaching recount writing skill. It is because RAFT technique can help the students to write their recount text more focus and easier because they know exactly what is their role as the writers, the audiences who will read their writing, the format and the topic of their writing. The English teachers of SMAN 1 Abiansemal are also suggested to keep on motivating their students to improve their recount writing skill more intensively. For instance, the teachers can give more assignments or homework to the students in order to the students can practice their recount writing skill. REFERENCES Ary. D., Jacob, L.C., and Razavieh, A. 1979. Introduction to Research in Education. New York: Rinehart & Winston Beuhl, Doug. 2009. Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning. Chicago: The International Reading Association, Inc. Brown, Douglas H. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. San Francisco: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Brown, H. Douglas. 2004. Language Assessment Principles and Classroom Practice. San Fransisco: Pearson Education, Inc
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