THE USE OF WRITERS WORKSHOP METHOD IN IMPROVING WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP HARAPAN DENPASAR

THE USE OF WRITERS WORKSHOP METHOD
IN IMPROVING WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP HARAPAN DENPASAR

Written By:

Luh Ketut Sri Widhiasih



ABSTRACT

This study aimed at finding out whether Writers Workshop could improve the writing achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar. The subjects of the study were 37 students of Class VIII 1 of SMP Harapan Denpasar which consisting of 13 males and 24 females. This research was conducted in the form of Classroom Action Research which included four steps, namely planning, action, observation, and reflection. This study was conducted in two cycles and each cycle consisted of two teaching sessions. The instruments used in this study were tests, researcher’s diary, and questionnaire.

The result of the study showed that the students’ mean score in writing achievement improved from 50.43 out 100 in the pre-test to 66.76 out of 100 in post-test I, and then in post-test II, it increased to 71.51 out of 100; while it was also noticed that the students obtaining score below 70 decreased from 100% students in the pre-test to 70.27% in post-test I and only 27.03% in post-test II. This result was also optimized by the students’ positive response toward the application of Writers Workshop method. Finally, it could be concluded that Writers Workshop method could improve the students’ writing achievement.

Key terms: Writing, Writers Workshop method, Writing Achievement


INTRODUCTION

Suparman (2007) in Model Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) SMP dan MTs states one of the aims of the development of KTSP is to learn how to build and find the ability of the students by active, creative, effective and fun in the learning process. It means all of the learning process should enable the students to learn at their level and enjoy the learning process. The learning activity should also be fun and effective, so that it will allow students to be active and creative in learning something. The activity should not be monotonous otherwise the students will not be bored easily. To make them active and creative, the teacher should conduct class in student-centered learning, meaning that the students are the center of the learning, not the teacher anymore. The students should have a big opportunity to explore themselves.

Further, according to Suparman (2007), the purpose of teaching English in junior high school is to construct the language skill and communicative skill orally and in writing to face the development of knowledge and technology in welcoming the globalization era. Teaching English is not a matter of teaching the students how to speak English but also how to write in English and equip them to live in this globalization era.

Based on Silabus Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris Kelas VIII SMP Harapan Denpasar Tahun Ajaran 2010/2011 by MGMP Bahasa Inggris SMP Harapan Denpasar (2010), the standard competency of writing skill in second semester is to express the meaning in the short and simple functional and simple essay in the forms of narrative and recount to interact with social environment. It can be said that the students are expected to write their ideas in the form of narrative text and recount text in order to have a good relationship with their society. From that statement, it is clearly stated that writing is very important in the students’ social life, so writing skill should be maintained well in language learning, especially English.

On the other hand, pre-test that was conducted to the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar in the academic year 2010/2011 showed that the writing score of the students was low. The mean score of pre-test was 50.43 out of 100 compared with success indicator that was 70.

Moreover, based on the observation that was conducted to the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar in the academic year 2010/2011, there were several problems found in students’ writing. It was found that many students were unable to collect ideas to build their paragraph. They tended to write a short paragraph that has condensed ideas. Moreover, there were also a lot of incorrect grammatical sentences, misspelling, and improper punctuation in the students’ writing. Their paragraphs were also weak in vocabulary use, poorly organized and insufficiently developed.

Besides, it was also found that some students’ works lacked of originality. They tended to write a paragraph which was the same as what their teacher retold before using a series of pictures. It became uncertain as to whether the students understood the story or just memorized the pictures. The students also tended to copy their friend’s writing although they themselves did not understand the content of their friend’s writing, which is because they did not have the freedom to write what they want to write.

Further, the teaching writing at that pre-test also indicated that the teacher could not give any chance yet to the students to explore themselves, because of the perception of the teacher who was afraid that the students could not do anything without the guidance of the teacher. The classes were conducted in teacher-centered learning, indicating that the teacher is the center of the learning and the students just listen to and do what their teacher asks. The teacher takes a big part in the development of his students; it prevents the students from expressing themselves freely. That condition was not in line with what Suparman (2007) states that the class should maintain in student centered learning to give big chance to the students to explore themselves.

It could be concluded that there were two problems that were found during the pre-test: (1) writing achievement of the students that was low, and (2) the teaching learning process that was taught in teacher-centered method. Thus, the problems should be solved by using method that was student-centered learning. One of the methods that was conducted in student-centered learning is Writers Workshop method. It can be said that Writers Workshop can be used as a method to improve writing achievement. Therefore, the researcher wanted to do classroom based action research by using Writers Workshop method to solve the problems.

The problem concerned in the present study is stated as “Can Writers Workshop method improve the writing achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar in the academic year 2010/2011?”

In relation to the problem stated above, the objective of this study was to find out whether Writers Workshop could improve the writing achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar in the academic year 2010/2011.

The results of this study are expected to be beneficial for the students, English teachers and other researchers. The present study was limited to improve the students’ achievement of the eight grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar, class VIII 1 in the academic year 2010/2011 in writing recount paragraph through the implementation of Writers Workshop method.

The hypothesis on this study was formulated as ”Writers Workshop method can improve writing achievement of the eighth year students of SMP Harapan Denpasar especially in class VIII 1 in the academic year 2010/2011.”



REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Based on Wagaman (2008), Writers Workshop is a method that allows the students to learn writing individually in their own level. They should not take the same steps like what their friend do. They use their own imagination in their own level of ability to write something. It is a student-centered method of teaching writing skills. The students actively do their writing; the teacher just takes a role as facilitator. The opportunity to practice their writing is widely opened. It teaches the students how to write in many points of view, from the viewpoint of the writer and reader, for the purpose of revision. The students learn how to accept criticisms from the reader about their writing, and then try to do such kind of revision to make their writing better. The revision can be in the grammar point, mechanic, structure of the writing, etc. Furthermore, there are some steps that we can find in Writers Workshop, such as group instruction time, individual writing time, sharing from the author’s chair and individual conferences with each child during the week.

It is important to use Writer Workshop to teach writing because it has more strengths than weaknesses. In addition, Frey (2000) states that the strengths of this method are huge, for example it can be used for students of different level of ability and in different curriculum's and grade levels. This is good because the students in a class have different ability in learning something, hence this method will accommodate each student’s ability. It also supported by Ritchie (2000) that had applied this method in her class. Her students liked writing because the Writers Workshop did not push the students to learn in the same pace. In line with the high interest of the students, the writing achievement of the students was also increasing. Also, Frey (2000) states that Writers Workshop provides the students with many forms of activities that will not cause them to become bored. This method benefits all of the students and helps the teacher to modify lesson plans to the particular level of each student. The students become successful writers because the teacher is able to differentiate instruction to meet their individual needs. Sheakoski (2008) explained that Writers Workshop can be flexible based on the level where we will conduct the method.

RESEARCH METHODS

.The subjects of the research were the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar, especially Class VIII 1, in the academic year 2010/2011. The average age of the students was 14 years old. They learned English for only 5 hours in a week at the school. The main consideration in choosing the subjects was due to their low ability in writing, in this case writing recount paragraph in terms of content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics as finding in the pre-test.

The present study employed a classroom based action research because the aim of the study was to find out whether Writers Workshop can improve the writing achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar in the academic year 2010/2011. There were two cycles in this study; each cycle consisted of planning, action, observation and reflection. In order to collect the intended data, the researcher used several instruments, including pre-test, post-test, researcher’s diary and questionnaire.

There were two kinds of data that the researcher gained, namely: quantitative data and qualitative data. Both of them will be analyzed descriptively. The quantitative data were obtained from the result of the pre – test and post-test. After obtaining the result of the pre – test and post – test, the researcher then compared those results in order to learn whether or not the students’ achievement improved after the application of Writers Workshop method. Qualitative data were obtained from the questionnaires and researcher’s diary. These data were collected during the cycles. They were aimed at identifying the students’ problems in writing as well as their needs and expectations. It was also intended to get responses from the subjects to the application of Writers Workshop method in their writing. The data used to compare between qualitative data and quantitative data.

The quality of the students’ paragraphs was determined based on the following criteria proposed by (Hughes (1989) in Widiartini, 2009). The analytical scoring rubric developed in this research covered five dimensions of writing, namely: content, organization, structure, vocabulary, and mechanic. Each dimension consisted of several descriptors or criteria and had different weight in scoring. The level of the students’ mastery was determined based on the criteria proposed by Masidjo (1995) in Widiartini (2009) using criterion-reference type one.



FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION



The result of the preliminary observation showed that (1) the students’ writing ability was still low, and (2) the teaching learning activities did not run well. The proof could be seen from the mean scores of the pre – test that was 50.43 out of 100. If compared with the success indicator that was 70, the pre-test mean score was still much lower. Furthermore, it was indicated that they had problems in terms of content, organization, grammar, vocabulary and mechanics. These findings were also supported by the class situation and the students’ behavior during the teaching learning activities. Unfortunately, as we can see from the researcher’s diary, most of the students were not attentive. It means the response of the students toward the teaching learning was very low. Based on the results of the pre-test, the researcher’s diary, and questionnaire, the researcher conducted Writers Workshop to the students. The researcher’s intention was to find out whether Writers Workshop could improve the writing achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar. In addition, the treatment was conducted in cycle I.

Moreover, there were some improvements in the students’ achievement in writing a recount paragraph after using Writers Workshop as the method. The data analysis showed that the mean score of the students was improved 50.43 (50%) in the pre-test to 66.76 (67%) in post-test I. Based on the criteria of the students’ level of mastery, the students’ mean score in cycle I can be categorized as fair to poor. The improvement of the students’ writing can also be shown from the number of students getting score 70, the percentage of students that got score below 70 decreased from 100% in the pre-test and 70.27% in the post-test I. The result of post-test I was also supported by the results of the researcher’s diary. In this cycle, there was some improvement in each step of the students’ behavior during the implementation of this method. Overall, the percentage of the students’ active involvement increased from one step to the next step. Thirdly, the improvement was also reflected by the result of the questionnaire. There were four major points that became evident from the treatment, such as: (1) the method helped the students in writing a recount paragraph (said by 91.89% students), (2) they felt free to express their idea in writing (said by 75.67% students), (3) they were helpful to find their weakness in writing (said by 83.79% students), and (4) they liked writing (said by 59.46% students). Although the result of the teaching learning process showed improvement on cycle I, the success indicator could not be achieved yet because the mean score of post-test I (66.76 out of 100) was still lower then the success indicator. Therefore, the students’ score still needed to be improved because the success indicator used by the researcher in this study was 70, besides that, the researcher also found out that the students still had problem in the quality of their writing. They found difficulty in conveying their ideas into a good sentence and making a good sentence with appropriate structure and vocabulary. Moreover, by looking the results of the classroom observation, the researcher still found some students who were less attentive while their friends paid attention to the discussion conducted. Based on the weaknesses above, the study was continued to the next cycle (cycle II) to get better improvement. Modifying the way in implementing the method had been carried out.

Then, there was some improvement in the students’ achievement in cycle II. The data analysis showed that the mean scores of the students was improved from 66.76 out of 100 (67%) in the post-test I to 71.51 out of 100 (72%) in post-test II. Based on table of the criteria of students’ level of mastery, the students’ mean score in cycle II can be categorized as good to average. The percentage of the students who got score below 70 decreased from 70.27% in post-test I to 27.03% in post-test II. The improvement of the students’ mean score was the result of the implementation of Writers Workshop method which allowed the students to write freely at their own pace. The result of post-test II was also supported by the result of the researchers’ diary. In Cycle II, each steps described that most of the students responded actively in joining the teaching learning process. It was shown by the improvement of the percentage of the students’ involvement in the class. Furthermore, the students’ responses toward the questionnaire were also the reflection of the improvement on their competency in writing a recount paragraph. The class condition during the treatment showed that the students’ participation were positive. Looking at the students’ mean score in writing a recount paragraph on Cycle II, it had been satisfying since the success indicator score, 70 had been achieved by the students. There were 72.97% of the students who could achieve the success indicator score. Since the number of percentage was reached by the students, the researcher decided to stop the study.

From the analysis of the data, the statement of problem of this study could be clearly answered. According to the findings in the pre-cycle, cycle I, and cycle II, the main objective of this study that was to find out whether Writers Workshop could improve the writing achievement of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar could be achieved. After conducting the study as well as implementing the action in two cycles, the purpose of this study was accomplished.

Generally, the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph could be improved through the implementation of Writers Workshop as a method in teaching writing. It could be seen from the teaching learning process as well as their mean score. The successfulness of the teaching and learning process was indicated from the result of the students’ post-test. In the pre-test, the students’ mean score was 50.43 out of 100 (50% from the maximum total score), which was categorized as being very poor. Then, after the application of Writers Workshop method in the first cycle the students’ mean score improved to 66.76 out of 100 (67% from the maximum total score) which was considered to fair to poor level mastery. In the second cycle the students’ mean score was 71.51 out of 100 (72% from the maximum total score) which was categorized as good to average. By looking at the achievement made by the students, it could be said that the implementation of Writers Workshop method could improve the students’ achievement in writing. Moreover, the students’ improvement can also be seen from the students’ mean score in each element of writing. The students’ writing skill in terms of the five elements of writing such as, content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanic had improved both in cycle I and cycle II. This improvement can be said satisfying especially on the improvement at the second cycle.

Additionally, based on the percentage of the criteria of the students’ level of mastery, it showed a satisfying improvement from the result of the Pre – test to the result of the post-test II. The percentage of the students’ successfulness in learning was 50% at the pre-test, then, it increased into 67% at post-test I, and it increased again satisfyingly into 72% at the post-test II. For that reason, it can be said that the teaching learning process with the implementation of Writers Workshop method had run successfully.

On the other hand, based on the researcher’s diary, the teaching and learning process was successfully improved during the action. It can be seen from the students’ response and active involvement in following step of activities. The students’ response was very positive, although there were some students that looked very nervous at the first meeting, but then most of the students enjoyed the writing exercises very well.

Meanwhile, the result of the classroom observation, which was conducted through questionnaire, revealed that the students’ response toward the implementation of Writers Workshop method was very positive. The students’ response was getting closer to the class expectation from the first cycle to the second cycle. It means that they performed better behavior, stated better opinions, and expressed better feeling. All students really liked, were happy, and enjoyed toward the implementation of Writers Workshop method. It was reflected by the students’ readiness, interest, and seriousness in every steps of the action. They said that the method used was helped them to improve their ability in writing a recount paragraph.

Based on the discussion above, the theory of Writers Workshop method as a students’ guide to the writing process proposed by Wagaman (2008) had been strongly supported by the results of the present study. The study revealed that the students were given more opportunity to express their idea freely in writing because they wrote on their own ability. It also gave the students good environment of writing, which built their habit in writing. Moreover, the teaching and learning process had ran in a very good way, in which the eighth grade students of class VIII 1 of SMP Harapan Denpasar, as the beginning writers were encouraged to express their idea on the paper freely based on their ability. Furthermore, the result of the study had also encouraged the students to find their weaknesses in writing and solve it together with their teacher.



CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION



As stated previously, the major purpose of this study was to find out whether Writers Workshop could improve the writing achievement of the eight grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar. From the result of the data analysis, the implementation of Writers Workshop method in the writing class was able to improve the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph of the eighth grade students of SMP Harapan Denpasar. The students’ problem in writing recount paragraph could be overcome with a very satisfying result. It can be clearly seen from the improvement of students’ mean score from 50.42 out of 100 in the pre-test to 66.76 out of 100 in the post-test I and 71.51 out of 100 in the post-test II. Furthermore, based on the percentage of the their level of mastery, the students’ classical success in learning also showed a very good improvement. The percentage of the students’ successfulness in learning was 50% in the pre-test, then, it increased into 67% at the post-test I. Then, from the post-test I, it increased satisfyingly into 72% at the post-test II. Based on the mean score from post-test I and post-test II, it can be said that Writers Workshop could improve the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

Based on the classroom observation through researchers’ diary and questionnaire, the teaching and learning process was successfully improved during the action. It could be seen from the students’ response and active involvement during the teaching and learning process.



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Based on the result of the study, there are some points that can be suggested, i.e.:

§ As stated previously, Writers Workshop could improve the students’ writing ability. Therefore, it is suggested that English teachers implement this method in their writing class.



§ Because Writers Workshop needs more time in its application, it is suggested that English teachers manage their time well, so that they can give the same portion to other skills, such as reading, speaking and listening.



REFERENCES

Frey, C. P. 2000. "A writers’ workshop for highly verbal students" Gifted Child Today Magazine 23.

MGMP Bahasa Inggris SMP Harapan Denpasar. 2010. Silabus Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris Kelas VIII of SMP Harapan Denpasar Tahun Ajaran 2010/2011. SMP Harapan Denpasar Unpublished Silabus.

Ritchie, Gail V. 2000. "I LOVE WRITING!" Restructuring Writer’s Workshop. Kings Park ES: www.googlesearch.com

Sheakoski, Megan. 2008. “Writer's Workshop for Elementary Kids, Teach Prewriting, Writing, Revising, Editing, and Publishing Skills”. www.suite101.com.

Suparman. 2007.“Model Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) SMP dan MTs”. Solo: PT. Tiga serangkai Pustaka Mandiri

Wagaman, Jennifer. 2008. “Teaching Writing with Writers Workshop, An Individualized Method to Teaching Students How to Write”. www.suite101.com. Widiartini, Nyoman Nina. 2009. Improving The Tenth-Year Students’ Competence in Writing Descriptive Paragraphs Trough Collaborative Writing Strategy Conducted at SMA Laboratorium Undiksha Singaraja In Academic Year 2008/2009. Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha. Unpublished Thesis.