MID ACADEMIC WRITING

IMPROVING

WRITTEN RECOUNT  BY USING PICTURES ON ELEMENTARY STUDENT

proposal skripsi

disajikan sebagai salah satu tugas mata kuliah Academic Writing

by

Septiana Wahyu Setyaningrum

2201412053

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY

2014

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1. Background of the Research

                          In learning English we understand that there are four language skills, listening, reading speaking, and writing. Of that four language skills, writing may really be considered the most sophisticated one. In listening and reading, the students receive a message formulated by another; their role is receptive even though they may be actively interpreting and analyzing what they are hearing or reading. In speaking, the students are engaged in communicating their own ideas and feelings, but with approximate and explanation. Communication through the written word, on the other hand, possesses a certain degree of finality and demands real proficiency from the writer if it is to be effective. So here, in writing everybody deliver their own ideas by themselves, no helping from other, because one and another have different ideas in making writing.

Writing is one of the language skills that is taught in English class. We may find many students feel difficult in process writing. They don’t feel easy to deliver their ideas. One of text type that is taught on Elementary students is recount text. Recount text is a kind of text that retell past events. In teaching recount, the teacher suggest to improve written recount by using pictures because students will stimulate with the pictures  and they feel fun when look various pictures.

B.     Research Question

1.         Can picture as media to improve the student written recount?

2.         How to apply pictures to improve the student written recount?

C.     Research Objective

1.         to find out the evidence that picture can improve student written recount

2.         to discuss how the pictures improve students written recount

D.    Benefit of the Research

1.      Theoretical benefit

This research may become reference and alternative choice for another researcher.

2.      Practical benefit

a.         For students: Students will be able to improve their written recount effectively by using pictures.

b.        For the teacher: This research wants to introduce the teachers that teaching recount by using pictures may improve students written.

c.         For the writer: The writer herself, this study can increase her skill in writing proficiency.

E.       Review of the Related Literature

A.     Review of the Previous Studies

Many researchers use picture as a topic on their research. Pešková (2008:70) on her thesis concluded that pictures still seem to have their place in ESL(English Second Language) teaching and to be an appropriate supplementary material, also for purposes of teaching about ESC(English Spoken Country). Then Sa’diyah on her journal  suggested that teachers use picture series to enrich ideas, promote students’ attention, help them focus on the learning process, and enhance participation. Another researcher Litasari stated that using picture series had effects in improving students’ skill in writing narrative text. Besides, using picture series in teaching writing has improved the students’ writing ability in writing narrative text, since the students’ achievement increase after they were taught by using picture series, it increased students attention while they are asked to write a narrative text, the students were focus to participate the writing lesson while teaching learning activity was happening.

B.     Theoretical Reviews

1.         Pictures

According to Rimes (1983:28) some suggestion for general strategies for using any pictures might be useful:

a.              Whole-class discussion which then leads to writing, can be generated by many types of pictures

b.                          To provide a student audience for the student writers, give a half the class one

picture, and the other half another. A range of communicative tasks for small groups opens up now, with students conveying real information to others.

c.              With students working in pairs or small group, give each student of pair or each group a different pictures to work with, it can make teacher frees of obtaining class sets of pictures, and also provides students with a real communicative task. When the students have the only copy of a picture, they should be able to inform the rest of the class about it.

d.             Real communicative tasks can be developed by using in the classroom pictures that the students themselves provide. The is a double advantages here: the teacher can relieved of the task of finding a picture and the students have something to write about in the classroom.

e.              Do not limit classroom work to what the students can actually see in the picture. Remember that students can make inferences, predictions, and suppositions about the world beyond the fame of the picture. Ask the students to use their imagination to visualize what happened just before the moment in the picture and what will happen next.

Gerngross and Puchta (1992) explained the types of picture:

a.              Photographs from magazines or newspapers, which include portraits, action

photographs, landscapes, objects, animals, etc.

b.             Personal photographs taken by the teacher or students

c.              Drawings including visual material like artwork, stickers, maps, etc.

d.             Cartoons a s pictures stories

e.              Classroom visual aids which are all kinds of visual stimuli created for use in the

classroom only.

f.              Commercial artwork, i.e. advertisements, book covers, etc.

According to Hill (1985), the following ideas were kept in mind while the pictures:

a.          Pictures stimulate thinking, ideas and provide a context for learners to write.

b.         Similar types of picture stories were given to familiarize learners with the genre

of picture story writing and to avoid confusion.

c.          Complete picture stories were given to learners as they would provide mental

links, save time, and help for continuity in writing.

                        Pešková (2008: 18) stated that the teacher can choose from different possibilities when presentate the picturesa.

a.         Pictures are displayed just by the teacher: The teacher holds a poster or a bigger’picture in his/her hands and displays it from that place in the classroom which is visible to all learners. Alternatively, he/she walks around the classroom.

b.        The teacher distributes copies to individuals/pairs/groups, depending on the type of work.

c.         Most frequently pictures are displayed on magnet boards/black boards/notice boards.

d.        Computers can be used: the teacher prepares a slide show or learners work on their own computers at their desks.

e.         Pictures are hidden on the furniture in the classroom when the activity is arranged as a game: e. g. picture are stuck on different pieces of furniture around the classroom and pupils have to find them.

The presence of the picture series as interesting realia in this study also facilitated the interaction between the students and the teacher. The observation show that more than half the class participated in asking questions and giving ideas. Most of them (approximately more than half the class) were actively involved in the learning process, making comments or asking questions about the instruction as well as about the pictures, whether to the teacher or to their classmates. It can be inferred that there was dynamic interaction between the teacher and the students. This dynamic interaction between the teacher and the students was made by because of the presence of the concrete object to be observed and to be discussed, i.e., the picture series (Halimatus Sa’diyah, The English Teacher Vol. XL: 164-182).

2.         Recount

Recount text is one of the example of story genre which “retell events for the purpose of informing” (Hartono, 2005, p.6)

Anderson M&K (2003:50) explained that the recount text type retells past events, usually in the order in which they happened. The steps for constructing  a written recount are:

a.              A first paragraph that gives background information about who, what, where and when (called an orientation)

b.             A series of paragraph that retell the events in the order in which they happened

c.              A concluding paragraph (not always necessary)

Anderson M&K (2003:50) also stated that the language feature usually found in recount are:

a.              Proper noun to identify those involved in the text

b.              Descriptive words to give details about who, what, when, where and how

c.              The use of the past tense to retell the events

d.             that show the order of the events (for example, first, next, then)

F.      Flowchart

 

First do the research, the researcher notice what the problem on this research that is using pictures to improve written recount. Then identification problem then see what the objective on this research. Next, the researcher collects the data. It’s match to do test, because there is experiment research. There are experimental group and control group. After that the researcher will analyze the data to know the result then get the conclusion of the research.

G.    Research Design

            This research deals with improving written recount by using pictures. Accordingly, an experimental research is the best way to do this research. According to Ary et al (2010:301), an experimental design is the general plan for carrying out a study with an active independent variable. The design is important because it determines the study’s internal validity, which is the ability to reach valid conclusions about the effect of the experimental treatment on the dependent variable. Designs differ in their efficiency and their demands in terms of time and resources, but the major difference is in how effectively they rule out threats to internal validity. Obviously, one first chooses the design that is appropriate for testing the hypothesis of the study. From the appropriate designs, one must choose the one that will (1) ensure that the subjects assigned to the treatment and control groups do not differ systematically on any variables except those under consideration and (2) ensure that the outcome is a consequence of the manipulation of the independent variable and not of extraneous variables. So I used the quantitative experimental, where there are two groups to be researched. So, I will choose two classes to be researched. One’s called experimental class and the other one is control

H.    Object of the research

The object of the research is Elementary students.

I.       Research instrument

In this study, the data is from test. So the researcher will get score both from experimental group and control group.

10. Data collection technique

The data collection techniques is based on:

1.      Pre-test:

In the first meeting pre-test will be held to measure students’ writing skill. Experiment group and control group are both got pre-test. The student have to write recount text accidentally.

2.      Treatment

 In this step, researcher introduce students to engage recount text by using pictures. This treatment is held more than once. The experiment group will get this treatment, on the other hand the control group is not. It means the control group is not teach recount by using pictures, but in ordinary way.

3.      Post-test:

4.      Post-test is given in the end of research, it means in the end of the treatment. This post test leads us to know the difference between experimental group and control group and the result of the research.

K.    Data Analysis Technique

The researcher will use quantitative data analysis because this research relate to score on students based on pre-test and post-test. Cohen et al (2007) explained that quantitative data analysis is a powerful research form, emanating in part from the positivist tradition.

L.     Bibliography

Anderson, M. & Anderson, K. 2003. Text Types in English 1. South Yarra, Victoria: MacMillan Education Australia.

Ary, Donald et al. 2010. Introduction to Research in Education. California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Cohen, Louis et al.2007.Research Methods in Education. New York: Routledge

Gerngross G. and Puchta H.1992. Pictures in Action. Prentice Hall: New York

Hartono, Rudi. 2005. Genre-Based Writing. Semarang: Semarang State University

Hill, L.A., 1985.The Picture Composition.London: Longman

Litasari, Linda. “An Experimental Study On The Use Of Picture Series In Teaching Writing Narrative Text At The Tenth Grade Students Of SMA Negeri 2 Banjarbaru”. FKIP Universitas Lambung Mangkurat

Pešková, Karolína. 2008. “Teaching about English Speaking Countries through Pictures”. Thesis. Brno: Masaryk University.

Raimes, Ann. 1983. Techniques in Teaching Writing. New York: Oxford University Press

Sa’diyah, Halimatus. “Improving Students’ Ability In Writing Descriptive Texts Through A Picture Series-Aided Learning Strategy”. The English Teacher Vol. XL: 164-182