CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents: (1) background, (2) problem of the study, (3)

objectives of the study, (4) significance of the study.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background

Language is practically defining as a characteristic of the human species

and knowledge of language.According to Algeo (2010, p. 2), a language is a

system of conventional vocal signs by means of which human beings

communicate. Therefore, language is as a communication tool to connect people

each other. Without language, it is difficult for people to communicate with others.

In addition, Nga (2008, p. 261) says that English dominate as a global language

because English is used as an official or semiofficial language, it is the main

language of books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic control, international

business and academic conferences, science, technology, medicine, diplomacy,

sports, international competitions, pop music, and advertising. Therefore, reality

encourages many countries to put English as a subject that must be learned in

world education, one of those countries is Indonesia.

English is one of languages that is used for communication all over the

world, therefore English has become a global language. Crystal (2003, p. 1)

defines English as a global language. In addition, Nga (2008, p. 261) says that

English dominate as a global language because English is used as an official or

semiofficial language, it is the main language of books, newspapers, airports and

1
air-traffic control, international business and academic conferences, science,

technology, medicine, diplomacy, sports, international competitions, pop music,

and advertising. Therefore, reality encourages many countries to put English as a

subject that must be learned in world education, one of those countries is

Indonesia.

In Indonesia, English becomes one of important subjects to be

mastered.English as an international language and its position as foreign language

too, it is undeniable that English is regarded very important to be mastered so that

English is taught from Elementary to University level. Matarrima and Hamdan

(2011, p. 101) state that teaching of English has become increasingly important as

a first foreign language in Indonesia. Furthermore, there are four skills of English,

as stated in 2004 curriculum that English is means for the students to develope

knowledge and the final objective of teaching and learning process is the students

are expected to master the four skills of language: listening, writing, reading and

speaking. They are speaking and writing which are classified as productive skills,

where language is actually being produced. Meanwhile, reading and listening are

categorized into receptive skills, where the meaning is extracted from the text or

discourse (Harmer, 2007, p. 265).

Based on the four language skills above,one skill which has important

function for the students is writing. Writing is a part of language skills and it

becomes one of important aspects in learning a language. According to Petel and

Jain (2008, p. 125), writing is essential features of learning a language because it

provides a very good means of foxing vocabulary, spelling, and sentence pattern

2
and writing is the most efficiently acquired when practice in writing parallels

practice in other skills. Moreover Richard and Renandya ( 2002, p. 303 ) say that

writing is the most difficult skill for language learners to master, the difficulty is

not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating these ideas into

readable text.Teaching writing is not only to make students easy to write the

descriptive, narrative and recount text but also help the students who have

difficulties in writing because the students still have the problem to create or

make a sentences. There are some problem in writing. According to Rass (1997, p.

1) , writing is a difficult skill for native spekers and non active speakers alike,

because writer must balance multile issues such as content, organization, purpose,

audience,vocabularry,punctuation, spelling and mechanics such as capitaliation.

Based on the junior high level syllabus, there are some texts that should be

learned by the students, especially on the eighth grade. Those are descriptive,

narrative, and recount texts. In this research, the writer focused on descriptive

text. Descriptive text is a text that describe particular person place or thing.

Descriptive also describes someone or something in detail (Zaida, 2009, p. 9). The

purpose of learning those texts is that the students can express their ideas in a

simple written form such as functional text and essay, and can use those texts in

their daily life.

According to Mukarto ( 2007, p.140 ) Descriptive text is a kind of text to

describe something, someone or place. Descriptive text has two main parts, they

are identification and description. The structure of a text is called the generic

structure. Descriptive text is like describe white house, animals, fruits, etc.

3
Description is about sensory experience, how something looks, sounds, tastes.”

(Kane, 2000, p. 351)

Based on the writer’s interview at SMP Nurul Iman Palembang, the writer

found the student’s problem by interviewing the English teacher. The writer found

out that the students had difficulties in writing, many students still had problems

in writing, especially in writing descriptive texts. When the teacher asked the

students to write a descriptive text, they were still confused about what they

should write and how they should organize their writing. It was likely that they

had so many things to write, but unable to express their ideas in a written form

well. The problem mainly faced by the students was their confusion on what is

first, next, especially in writing a descriptive text, then the students’ grammatical

abilities were low. Then, their weak comprehension and mastery of grammar also

made their writings difficult to understand. Some of the students had difficulties to

start writing because they only translated their thoughts from their native language

into English. They didn’t know what kind of tenses that are used in descriptive

text. Furthermore Kern & McGuire (2003, p. 92) mention that decriptive text is

typically more difficult because students have fewer experience instruction with

them, therefore, students need explicit instruction in the ways text are organized

and they need to practice with all of the writing modes, which are termed genres

in the school. Therefore, to solve those problems the teacher should be creative to

find the best way and strategies how to improve, motivate and establish the

condition of the students in writing descriptive text because the teacher’s role is

very influence the students’ achievement.Therefore, Snow (2002, p. 48) stated that

4
teacher quality is one of the most critical variables in student’s achievement.So,

teacher’s role is very important to determine the best things for the students in

order to they are challenged to learn especially in writing descriptive text.

Therefore, related to these problems, the researcher intends to help the

students improve their ability in writing essays. There are many writing strategies

that help students learn in writing. One of the strategies that can be used by the

teacher in teaching descriptive text is PLEASE Strategy. PLEASE Strategy is one

of the strategies that can be used to facilitate the students to write a descriptive

paragraph. Akincilar ( 2010, p. 53 ) tells that PLEASE Strategy is effective for

improving the students’ ability in writing paragraph, PLEASE is acronym from,

six strategies for each letter, those are : P is for Pick, pick a topic. L is for List, list

the ideas about the topic. E is for Evaluate, evaluate the list of ideas and plan the

best way to organize the ideas. A is for Active, active the paragraph with a topic

sentence. S is for Supply, supply the supporting sentence. E is for End, end

writing and evaluate your work.

This strategy is not only can be used in paragraph writing but this strategy

can also be used in writing essay text. Welch, M. Said (1992) states :

“PLEASE strategy aims to improve the ability of students with

learning disabilities to write paragraphs. The strategy provides a
structure to help students generate and organize ideas and to
write sentences and paragraphs. The PLEASE strategy is useful
because it provides cues to help students with disabilities
remember and apply activities involved in the process of
planning and writing. It is useful for all students, and
specifically for students in the middle grades students.”
By using this strategy the students will be helped to start writing and it will

help them to write step by step until they finish writing descriptive text. They will

5
be helped by the teacher and PLEASE strategy in writing desciptive text. In

PLEASE strategy the students should know who will read their writing and

choose the appropriate topic and then start to collect the data information about

what they will write and start their writing.

Then, based on the study that writen by Mona Liza and Refnaldi (2013, p.

443), the title “ Using PLEASE Strategy in Teaching Writing a Descriptive text”.

The PLEASE strategy also effective for improving the students’ ability in writing

and essay. PLEASE strategy is suitable for students at junior high school and can

help the students in improving their writing skill. The teacher can teach the

students how to use PLEASE strategy in helping the students to write a text, the

teacher can adapt this strategy and use it in writing text, because basically this

strategy is the same as writing process. This strategy guides the students how to

their start writing and generate their idea. So, PLEASE strategy is a strategy in

writing process. PLEASE strategy can help the students to improve the students

writing ability especially in writing paragraph. The teacher can also use PLEASE

strategy to teach other genre of the text. The PLEASE strategy can be applied in

teaching procedure text, narrative text, recount text, and other texts in the

curriculum.

Based on the thesis which written by Vildan Akincilar, the thesis’ title is

“The Effect Of “Please” Strategy Training Through The Self-Regulated Strategy

Development (Srsd) Model On Fifth Grade Efl Students’ Descriptive Writing:

Strategy Training On Planning”. This study aims to investigate the effects of the

“PLEASE” (a general paragraph writing strategy ) writing strategy instruction

6
through the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model on descriptive

writing of fifth grade English language learners studying in a private primary

school in Istanbul. The current study specifically focuses on if instruction on pre-

writing planning through the SRSD model results in improvements in students’

written products, planning behaviors and self-beliefs as writers. For the study,

eight fifthgrade students participated in a writing club activity offered by the

researcher at school.

As a result, the pre-test and the post-test writingscores indicated that each

student experienced improvement in terms of overall qualityand length of the

written products. The strategy training helped students become more aware of the

need for pre-writing planning and they started to engage in planning prior to

writing in real practice. After the treatment, the students also experienced

increased self-confidence

This was also supported by the result of a classroom action result done by

Marlin Sinambela. The undertaking of the present classroom action research was

mainly based on the problems existed in academic year 2013. The thesis’ title

“Improving Students’ Achievement In Writing Hortatory Exposition Text Through

Please Strategy” .This study attempts to improve students’ achievement in

writing hortatory exposition text by using PLEASE (Pick, List, Evaluate,

Activate, Supply, End) strategy through classroom action research. The subjects

of the research were 41 students of class XI IA 2 SMA Negeri 1 Tanjung

Morawa. After analyzing the data in the two-cycle of classroom action research, it

was found that there was an improvement of students score from 49.88 in the test

7
I became 64.90 in the test II in cycle I and improved again became 74.23 in the

test III in cycle II. In line with the data, it was showed that the useof PLEASE

(Pick, List, Evaluate, Activate, Supply, End) strategy significantly improved

student’s achievement in writing hortatory exposition text.

Based on the above explanation about the importance of mastering writing

skill especially descriptive paragraph for junior high school students, researcher is

motivated to conduct research on the use of PLEASE Strategy to gather

information whether this strategy can improve students’ ability in writing

descriptive paragraph or not, the researcherwould like to conduct entitled

“Teaching Writing Descriptive Text by Using Pick, List, Evaluate, Active, Supply,

End (PLEASE) Strategy to the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Nurul Iman

Palembang.”

1.2 The Problems of Study

Based on the general background of the study above, the problems of this

study are follows in the questions:

1. Is there any significant improvement on the eighth grade students’descriptive

writing achievement who are taught by using PLEASE Strategy at SMP

Nurul ImanPalembang?
2. Is there any significant difference on the eighth grade students’ descriptive

writing achievement between those who are taught by using PLEASE

Strategy and those who are not at SMP Nurul Iman Palembang ?
1.3 The Objectives of the Study

Based on the problems above, the objective of this study will be formulated to

find out:

8
 1. Whether or not there is significant improvement on the eighth grade

student’s descriptive writing achievementwho are taught by PLEASE

Strategy at SMP Nurul Iman Palembang.

2. Whether or not there is significant difference on the eighth grade

student’s descriptive writing achievement between those who are

taught by using PLEASE Strategy and those who are not at SMP

Nurul Iman Palembang.

1.4 The Significance of the Study

The result of this study is expected to bring some significance and

contribution in teaching and learning English. The first for English teachers, the

result of this research is expected to be useful for teachers. The teacher can be

apply as one of the alternatives by English teachers in improving students’ skill,

especially in writing descriptive text.

The second for the students, this study can give input to improve students’

ability and competence in writing skill. The students will be more motivated to

come to the class because it gives them broader chance to share their ideas. The

teaching and learning process will be more interesting and enjoyable and

students will be more active.The students will be able to get better achievement

in learning English. Besides, the students also will be able to get better score in

examination. And for the school, it can be used to any subjects not only in

English language class but also other subject.

For researcher, the researcher would get more knowledge and experience

9
in doing this research, especially about teaching writing by using PLEASE

strategy. The researcherwould be able to know the level of students’ motivation

and weaknesses when they are learning speaking. Finally, the researcher would

solve the student’s problems in learning writing by using PLEASE strategy.

Then, for other researchers, the result of this study is expected to be useful in

providing the references for whomever wants to study the same case and help

them as the guide in developing their researchs.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

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 This chapter presents: (1) concept of teaching, (2) concept of writing, (3)

concept of descriptive text, (4) concept of PLEASE strategy, (5) previous related

study, (6) research setting, (7) hypotheses.

2.1 Concept of Teaching

Teaching means to help and share knowledge to others and also can give

an information and can do something. According to Brown (2007, p.7), teaching

may be defined as showing or helping someone to learn how to do something,

giving instruction, guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge,

causing to know or understand. Teaching is also to facilite the students to be able

in learning the material. Brown (2000, p.7) states that teaching is guiding and

faciliting learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the condition for

learning.Teaching also gives some information of a subject matter to the students

in the classroom.

Teaching is to educate people that have not know something. Allah SWT

says in surah Al-Mujaddalah

َ‫شزز يواَ اقييذل ذوااَذذا‬ ‫ذخابييرر ذتيعذمل ز يوذن ابذماَ ا ز ذو ذدذرذجتَتاَيلاعيلذماَ ز يوزت يواَ اَللاذييذن ذو امينزكيماَ ذذمزن يواَ اَللاذييذن ا ز ذييرذفاع ذفاَين ز‬....
‫شززيواَاَين ز‬

Means,

...And when you are told, "Arise," then arise; Allah will raise those who

have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees. And

Allah is Acquainted with what you do.

`From the holy verse of Al-Qur’an above, the writer interpret that Allah

SWT asks us to learn all of God’s creations where Allah is the most generous who

knows everything. Then Allah SWT explain about the primacy of the faithful and

11
learned knowledge and those who believe and learned knowledge will be raised

in degrees by Allah SWT .Teaching materials should be organized in order to

make teaching process run well, so the teacher will know students‟ achievement

by preparing learning objectives and lesson plan. According toStringer,

Christensen and Baldwin (2010 p. 3)state that common views of teaching see it as

relatively straightforward process, selected content being organized into a lesson

plan that sets out the sequence of activities required to accomplish student

learning objectives and outcomes.

2.1.2 Concept of Writing

Writing is very complex communication process which includes a number

of cognative and metacognative. Richardson and Morgan (2003, p. 286)state thyat

writing may be the most complex communication process within the

communicative arts.Similarly, According to Negari (2011, p. 299) states :

“Writing is a complicated process which involves a number of

cognitive and metacognative, for instance; brainstorming,
planning, outling, organazing, drafting, and revising. Further,
writing isn’t only complex but also hard to teach where we need
to master the grammatical and other components of writing”.

Furthermore, Harmer (2004, p. 44) states that writing has mechanical

components like any other skill; those are, handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and

the construction of well – formed sentences, paragraphs,and text. The teachers of

writing skill should relized if the sudents are quilified for those components

before moving to the process of writing it self.

However, writing is not easy, it needs a lot of knowledge to write well

such as how to use appropriate vocabulary, grammar and how to select the ideas.

12
According to Sakolik in Nunan (2003, p.88), Writing is mental work of inventing

ideas. He adds that the writer does a process such as imagination, organizing,

drafting, editing, reading, and rereading. Furthemore, Linse (2005, p. 88) says that

writing is a combination of process in gathering ideas and working with them and

make reader comprehensible to the writer ideas. Based on the two experts opinion,

it can be concluded that writing is a way to express ideas or thoughts and to

organize them into sentence and paragraph based on the determined pattern.

In addition, there are severalcomponents of writing process that proposed

by Clark (2007,p. 10) such as:

1) Prewriting
At this stage, writers generate ideas, brainstorm topics, web ideas together,

or talk or think about ideas. Teachers explain that students may get writing

ideas from personal experiences, stories, pictures, magazines, newspapers,

television, and a variety of other sources.

2) Drafting
Students begin to put their ideas on paper. Students need to keep in mind

the genre or format, audience, and purpose.

3) Revising
Revision looks at the organization and the structure of the writing. When

revising, students analyze their writing for required traits: sequencing words

in a lab report, descriptive language in science fiction story, topic sentences

and supporting details in a persuasive essay. They also askquestions of their

writing: “Does it make sense? Is anything out of order? Should anything be

added or deleted? ”. While editing, looks at the mechanics of the writing.

So, students must understand how to do both.

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 4) Publishing

At this stage, teacher allows students to celebrate their hard work. It

occurs after the other steps are completed and the students are ready to

produce the final copy, which can be handwritten or typed on a word

processor

5) Reflecting
Reflecting is a key element in the writing process. It encourages the

writer to think about his or her writing. Reflection also allows the writer to

look back at brainstorming and the beginning of a writing project to see if

the original goals were met.

2.1.3 Concept of Descriptive Text

Descriptive text is a text which describes a specific person, please, thing,

or any subject. As Jolly (1994, p.56) says :

“In descriptive text, there are some categories that should be

considered in writing description text. First, place, and position :
direction. Second, measurement: weight, size/ volume, distance.
Third, shape, and pattern.Fourth, colors and textures.Fifth,
material and substance. Sixth, technical vocabulary; faces and
bodies, character, clothes, building, weather, and so on”.

Finally, use any value. So, descriptive text is a kind of writings which

describes object or any subject with detail. Such as colors, size, shapes, textures,

materials, subject, technical of vocabularies and value of the object.Finally, use

any value. So, descriptive text is a kind of writings which describes object or any

subject with detail. Such as colors, size, shapes, textures, materials, subject,

technical of vocabularies and value of the object.

14
 2.1.4 The Generic Structure of Descriptive Text

In descriptive text, it should consist of generic structure, such as:

identification and description. Pardiyono (2010, p.44) state that the descriptive

text follows some particular statges.

1) Identification

Identification (introduction) is a statement or a short paragraph that

identifies the object that is going to be describe, it is usually intersting and able to

provoke the reader to be eager to read the text.

2) Description

It may consist of one of several paragraph. This part is used to give

sufficient description about the object as mentioned in the identificaion part.

The description of the object can be done according to different angles,

such as size, length, strength , color, height, condition, of the location, weather,

qualities, shapes, etc.

“My classroom”
There are 30 tables and chairs in the classroom. There

Identification are two picturesof the president and the vice president hanging

on the front wall.

TheGaruda is hanging between the picture of the

president and the vicepresident. There is a whiteboard in front of

Description
the class and also the teacher’sdesk and chair in front of the

class. The color of the wall paint is white.There is a rubbish bin

near the door.My class is really clean and comfortable.

2.1.4 Concept of PLEASE Strategy

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 The “PLEASE” strategy is one of the strategies suggested to be taught

according to the guidelines of the SRSD model. It is a mnemonic that provides

learners with a road map for writing a paragraph. It reminds learners tocarry out

the following steps while writing (Graham and Harris, 2007). According Welch

(1992) “PLEASE” strategy is assumed to use as a management strategy in solving

this problem. The steps of PLEASE strategy based on Akincilar (2010):

1) Pick a topic, audience and type of paragraph.

2) List your ideas about the topic.
3) Evaluate your list.
4) Activate the paragraph with a topic sentence.
5) Supply supporting sentences.
6) End with a concluding sentence and evaluate your work.

Graham and Harris (2005) provided a brief overview of how this strategy

might be implemented, and their out-line is referenced throughout the description

that follows. This writing strategy was developed as a metacognitive strategy for

written expression, to assist students in planning and writing compositions by

modifying a highly structured, step-by-step procedure. This is intended to enable

students to generate and organize ideas in simple paragraph form.In applying this

strategy to write a text there are some step that should berevise, such as activate

the text with an introduction, and supply the supportingdetail. So the full step in

using PLEASE strategy in writing a text is pick a topic,purpose and audience, list

the ideas about the topic, evaluate the list of ideas andplan the best way to

organize the ideas, activate the text with an introduction,supply the supporting

detail, end your writing and evaluate your work.

In conclusion, PLEASE is a strategy in writing process. PLEASE strategy

can help the students to improve the students writing ability especially in writing

16
aparagraph. This strategy is not only can be used in paragraph writing but

thisstrategy can also be used in writing a text and an essay. By using this strategy

thestudents will be helped to start writing and help them to write step by step

untilthey finish writing a descriptive text. They will be lead by the teacher and

PLEASE strategy in writing their descriptive text. In PLEASE strategy the

students should know who will read their writing and choose the appropriate topic

and them start to collect the data information about what they will write and start
their writing.

2.1.5 The Procedure in Using PLEASE Strategy in Teaching Writing

Teaching writing by using PLEASE strategy there are following steps

while writing (Graham and Harris, 2007). There are as follows:

Step 1.Pick :

The first step of the students to pick the topic, audience and type of the

paragraph they plan to write.

Step 2. List :
The second step reminds students to generate list of ideas that they plan to

include in their writing.

Step 3.Evaluate :
At this step, students evaluate their list to see if it is complete or it is

necessary to add more ideas.

Step 4.Activate :
Students activate the paragraph by constructing a topic sentence,
Step 5.Supply :
Students supply sentences that support the topic sentence by using their

list of ideas. They are expected to turn eachidea into a sentence and

elaborate on it where appropriate.

Step 6. End :

17
 The final step of the mnemonic reminds the students to end their writing

with a conclusion. Students are also expected to evaluate their work by

revising their ideas and editing their mistakes

2.1.6The Advantages of PLEASE strategy

Teaching writing a descriptive text by using PLEASE strategy has some

advantages:

1) PLEASE strategy can help the student to improve the students’ writing

ability especially in writing a paragraph and also in writing a text.

2) PLEASE strategy can also help the students how to start their writing. This

strategy also help the students to plan what they are going to write from

pre-writing activity and also help the students to generate their idea while

writing and how to revise their writing.

3) PLEASE strategy helps the students to write independently. It will help the

students to write independently because PLEASE strategy leads the

students to find their own topic and ideas about what they will write. This

strategy also leads the students to write from beginning of their writing

until end it.

2.2 Previous Related Studies

PLEASE strategy one of the strategy that is usually used to improve students'

writing skills. There are some other researchers who have conducted similar

studies. The result of the research is described as follows.

The first research was conducted by Marlin Sinambela. The undertaking of

the present classroom action research was mainly based on the problems existed

in academic year 2013. The thesis’ title “Improving Students’ Achievement In

18
Writing Hortatory Exposition Text Through Please Strategy” .This study attempts

to improve students’ achievement in writing hortatory exposition text by using

PLEASE (Pick, List, Evaluate, Activate, Supply, End) strategy through

classroom action research. The subjects of the research were 41 students of

class XI IA 2 SMA Negeri 1 Tanjung Morawa. After analyzing the data in the

two-cycle of classroom action research, it was found that there was an

improvement of students score from 49.88 in the test I became 64.90 in the test

II in cycle I and improved again became 74.23 in the test III in cycle II. In line

with the data, it was showed that the use of PLEASE (Pick, List, Evaluate,

Activate, Supply, End) strategy significantly improved student’s achievement in

writing hortatory exposition text.

Another research is conducted by by Vildan Akincilar, the thesis’ title is “The

Effect Of “Please” Strategy Training Through The Self-Regulated Strategy

Development (Srsd) Model On Fifth Grade Efl Students’ Descriptive Writing:

Strategy Training On Planning”. This study aims to investigate the effects of the

“PLEASE” (a general paragraph writing strategy ) writing strategy instruction

through the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model on descriptive

writing of fifth grade English language learners studying in a private primary

school in Istanbul. The current study specifically focuses on if instruction on pre-

writing planning through the SRSD model results in improvements in students’

written products, planning behaviors and self-beliefs as writers. For the study,

eight fifthgrade students participated in a writing club activity offered by the

researcher at school.

19
 As a result, the pre-test and the post-test writing scores indicated that each

student experienced improvement in terms of overall qualityand length of the

written products. The strategy training helped students become more aware of the

need for pre-writing planning and they started to engage in planning prior to

writing in real practice. After the treatment, the students also experienced

increased self-confidence.

2.3 Research Setting

In this study, the data were collected at SMP Nurul Iman Palembang

whichis located on Jl. Mayor Salim Batubara, kec. Kemuning, South Sumatera,

30761. It is one of the famous school in Palembang then the acreditation of SMP

Nurul Iman Palembang is A. The headmaster of SMP nurul Iman Palembang is

Mr. Zulkifni, S. Ag. The total of teachers and staffs of SMP Nurul Iman

Palembang were 45 people. SMP Nurul Iman has some facilities that can make

students comfortable to study. The total students of SMP Nurul Iman Palembang

were 642 students from VII grade untill IX grade. SMP Nurul Iman Palembang

has some facilities. They are used to support teaching, learning and other school

activities such as meetings room for teachers and others are sufficient. In addition,

other facilities in the classroom as whiteboards, desks, chairs, and others are in

good conditions. SMP Nurul Iman Palembangowns indoor sports facilities such

as basketball field can also be used as a futsal field,volley field, and basketball

field, it is pretty good with some equipment, language laboratorium and science

laboratorium.
2.4 Hypothesis

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 In this study there are two hypotheses proposed. They are null hypothesis

(Ho) and alternative hypothesis (Ha). In this study there are two hypotheses

proposed. They are null hypothesis (Ho) and alternative hypothesis (Ha).The

hypotheses are as follows :

1. (Ho)1 : There is no significant improvement on the eighth grade student’s

descriptive writing achievement who are taught by using

PLEASE strategy.

(Ha)1 : There is a significant improvement on the eighth grade students’

descriptive writing achievement who are taught by using PLEASE

strategy.

2. (Ho)2 : There is no significant difference on the eighth grade students’

descriptive writing achievement between those who are taught by

using PLEASE strategy and those who are not.

(Ha)2 : There is a significant difference on the eighth gade students’

descriptive writing achievement between those who are taught by

using PLEASE strategy and those who are not.

2.5 Criteria of Testing the Hypotheses

In this research the writer will uses hypothesis of difference beacause the

objective of the study is to find out wether or not there is a significant difference

on students’ writing achievement after the two groups (experimental and control)

are given the treatment. The criteria of testing the hypothesis is as follow:

1) a. If the p-output (Sig.2-tailed) is higher than 0.05 level and t-obtained is

lower than t-table 2,024 ( with df =38 ) the null hypothesis (Ho) is
accepted, and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is rejected.
b. If the p-output (Sig.2-tailed) is lower than 0.05 level and t - obtained is

21
 higher than t-table 2,024 ( with df =38 ) the null hypothesis (Ho) is

rejected, and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted.

2) a. If the p-output (Sig.2-tailed) is higher than 0.05 level and t-obtained is
lower than t-table 1,991 ( with df =76 ) the null hypothesis (Ho) is
accepted, and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is rejected.
b. If the p-output (Sig.2-tailed) is lower than 0.05 level and t-obtained is
higher than t-table 1,991 ( with df =76 ) the null hypothesis (Ho) is
rejected, and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURES

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 This chapter presents:(1) reseach method, (2) variable of the study, (3)

operational definition, (4) subject of the sudy, (5) data collection, (6) validity and

reliabiity, (7) data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

The method used in conducting this study was an experimental design.

According to Best and Khan (1993, p. 146), experimental design is the blueprint

of the procedures that enable the researcher to test the hypothesis by reaching

valid conclusion about the relationships between independent and dependent

variable. In this research, the researcher applied one of quasi experimental design.

This study was conducted by using quasi experimental design, pre-test and

post-test nonequivalent group design. The figure of Pretest-Posttest Nonequivalent

Groups Design is suggested by Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2007, p. 283), as

follows :

O1 X O2 Eksperimental Group
----------------------
O3 O4 Control Group

Where :
O1 = Pretest for experimental group design
X = Treatments (PLEASE Strategy)
O2 = Posttest for experimental group design
O3 = Pretest for Control group design
O4 = Postest for Control group design
--- = Dashed line (separating the parallel rows in the
diagram of the non-equivalent control group

indicates that experimental and control groups)

There were two groups, they were experimental group and control group. The

experimental group was taught by using PLEASE Strategy.

3.2 Variables of the Study

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 Creswell (2012, p. 112) states that a variable is a characteristic or attribute

of an individual or an organization that (a) researchers can measure or observe

and (b) varies among individuals or organizations studied. There were two kinds

of variables in this study: independent and dependent variables.

Then, Creswell (2012, p. 121) mentions that dependent variable is an

attribute or characteristic that is dependent on or influenced by the independent

variable. The dependent variable (Y) of this study is students’ writing desciptive

text scores, and PLEASE Strategy as independent variable (X).

3.3 Operational Definitions

The title of this study is “Teaching Writing Descriptive Text byUsing

PLEASE strategy to the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Nurul Iman Palembang”.

From the title, the researcher explains some terms. They are writing descriptive

Text, and PLEASE strategy.

1. PLEASE strategy
PLEASE strategy is an instructionalstrategy designed to help

students write something very simple and then describe it in detail. There

are six step in PLEASE strategy that can guide the students in writing text,

start they writing and generate their ideas, because basically PLEASE

strategy is the same as wrting process.

2. Descriptive Writing
Descriptive writing is the text that describes what kind of person or an

object described, good shape, properties, number and others in particular.

Goal (purpose) of the descriptive text is clear, namely to explain, describe

or disclose a specific individual or object.To measure the score of students’

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 writing descriptive text used rubric, which there are five scales in the

rubric.
3.4 Subject of Study

3.4.1 Population of the Study

According to Frankel, et. al, (2012, p. 92), the population is the group of

interest to the researcher, the group of whom the researcher would like to

generalize the result of study. Meanwhile, Arikunto (2010, p. 173) defines

that Population is all the subjects of investigation. In this study, the

population was conducted at the Eighth Grade of Students Nurul Iman

Palembang of the first semester in academic year of 2016-2017. The total

numbers were 154 students consists of 74 male and 80 female. The

distribution of whole population can be seen in Table.1

Table. 1
The Population of the Study

No Class Students Total

Male Female
1 VIII 1 19 21 40
2 VIII 2 20 16 36
3 VIII 3 20 19 39
4 VIII 4 18 15 39
TOTAL OF STUDENTS 154
(Source : School Administration of SMP Nurul Iman Palembang in academic year 2016-

2017)

3.4.2 Sample of the Study

According to Fraenkel et. al. (2012, p. 91), sample is a group of subjects

on which information is obtained. In this study, two classes are needed as a

sample to collect the data. The sample was taken by using purposive sampling.

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Fraenkel et. al. (2012, p. 100) also state that purposive sampling is technique in

selecting the sample based on previous knowledge of a population and the specific

purpose of the research, investigators use personal judgement to select a sample.

Thus, the writer decided to study take two classes at the eighth grade where

VIII.3 and VIII.4 as the sample where those classes were easier for the study.

Moreover, both of the classes have the problem in English, especially in writing.

These sample was choose with some consideration. First, the teacher of English is

similar of each class. Second, the total of the students were also similar. The

number of the sample was 78 students, 39 students for experimental group and 39

students for control group. The sample of the study can be seen in Table.2

Table.2

The Sample of the Study

No Class Number of students

1 VIII 3 39
2 VIII 4 39
Total 78

3.5 Data Collection

In this study, the writer used test to collect the data. The test was conducted

twice as pre-test and post-test in control and experimental group. According to

Brown (2004, p. 3), test is a method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge,

or performance in a given domain. Based on the statement, the writer can say that

test was conducted to measure the students’ ability or students’ learning

achievement. In this study, the writer used pretest and posttest. The test was in

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form of make a descriptive text by choosing some topics. Before collecting the

data, the writer tried out the instrument to find out its reliability and validity.

a. Pre-test
The pre-test was the test that given before giving some treatments

from the teacher. According to Creswell (2012, p. 297), a pretest provides

a measure on some attribute or characteristic that you assess for

participants in an experiment before they receive a treatment. The pretest

take by conducted to the sample. Both an experimental and control group

given pretest. It measures the students’ writing achievement before

treatment. The purpose of giving pretest to the students was to know the

students’ ability in learning writing before implementing PLEASE

Strategy. And the result of students’ work checked and scored by three

raters.
b. Post-test
Post-test took given after giving the treatment to the experimental

and the control group. According to Creswell (2012, p. 297), a posttest is a

measure on some attribute or characteristic that is assessed for participants

in an experiment after a treatment. The treatment which given to the

experimental group was PLEASE strategy. The type of posttest was the

same as the pretest. The aim of giving posttest to the students was to

measure students’ ability in writing after implementing PLEASE Strategy.

The same as pretest, three raters checked and give score to the students’

work. The result of this test becompared with the result of pretest in order

to know the effect of teaching writing by using PLEASE Strategy to

students’ writing ability. From the posttest, the writer got the data that can

27
 be used to measure the students’ progress taught by using PLEASE

Strategy
c. Scoring
This test calculated the composition of essay test by using

descriptive writing rubric adapted from Brown (2008) there were five

aspect in scoring writing descriptive text. Five aspects were : content,

consist of 30 %, organization, consist of 20%, grammar, consists of 20%,

vocabulary, consist of 15% and the last mechanic, consist of 15 %.

3.5 Data Instrument Analysis

3.5.1 Validity Test

A good test should fulfill its validity. According to Fraenklel, et.al ( 2012,

p.147), Validity is the most important idea to consider when preparing or selecting

an instrument for use. Therefore validity test was find out whether the instrument

for pretest and posttest activities valid or not.

a. Content Validity
Then, the writer estimated the content validity. According to

Cohen, Manion, & Morrison (2000, p. 131), content validity is achieved

by ensuring that the content of the test fairly samples the class or fields of

the situations or subject matter in question, achieved by making

professional judgements about the relevance and sampling of the contents

of the test to a particular domain, and concerned with coverage and

representativeness rather than with patterns of response or scores. Further,

Fraenkel, Wallen, & Hyun (2012, p. 148) state that content validity refers

to the content and format of the instrument.

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\

Table.3

Test Specification

No Basic Competency Indicator Question

number
1 6.2 Expressing meaning and Writing essay of 1

rhetorical stages of a simple, descriptive text

short essay by using a variety

of written language

accurately, fluently and

thankful to interact with the

surrounding environment in

the form of descriptive text

and recount

b. Construct Validity
The writer done construct validity of the test to judge or measure

whether or not a test instrument and lesson plan well to measure the

sudents’ ability. In construct validity of this study, the writer submitted

three raters or expert judgements. The format of the writing instrument test

is measured by three raters before doing research. According to Brown

( 2004, p. 25 ) states that construct validity is a major issues in validating

large-scale standardized test of profiency.

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 In this study, the writer found out the construct validity of the

instruments by having expert judgment from at least three validators to

evaluate whether the component of the instruments was valid or not to

applied in research activities. The writer have several criteria in choosing

expert judgment. The criteria of the raters are:

a. Rater had TOEFL score higher than 500
b. A lecture of English had passed master degree
c. Rater had experience at least 2 years in teaching writing.
There were three validators to validate the research instrument test

and lesson plan. The first validator was Deta Desvitasari,M.Pd. The result

analysis of instrument could be used without revision and result analysis

of lesson plan could be used with little revision as suggest. The second

validator was Beni Wijaya,M.Pd. The result analysis of instuments could

be without revision and the result analysis of lesson plan could be used

with little revision. And the third validator was Nova Lingga

Pitaloka,M.Pd. The result anaylsis of instrument could be used with

revision in generic structure, scoring system, and the direction, the result

analysis of lesson plan could be used with some revision in grammatical

sentences, indicator and scoring system. It means that the instrument of

writing descripive text was available to be tested to the students.

3.5.2 Reliability Test

Reliability test is a measure of degree to which a test gives consistent

result or scores. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p. 133), realibility refers

to the consistency of the scores obtained-how consistent they are for each

individual from one administration of an instrument to another and from one set

30
of items to another. And also Hatch and Farhay ( 1982, p. 244 ) mention that

reliability is the extent to which a test procedures result when administerd under

similar conditions.
In this study, the writer used inter-rater reliability to know whether the test

was reliable or not. According to Brown (2004, p. 21), inter-rater reiability is

comon occurence for classroom teachers because of unclear scoring criteria,

fatigue, bias toward particular “good” and “bad” Students, or simple carelessness.

Inter-rater reliability is degree of agreement among raters.The writer needs three

raters to evaluate student’s writing task by using assesment rubric by Brown

(2007). The reliability of the writimg test items calculated by using Spearmen

Rank Order formula. The formula suggest as folllow :

Where :

The sum of the squared differences

N = Number of sample
3. 6 Data Analyses

In analyzing the data, data obtained from quasi experimental design

calculated by means of SPSS 20 software (Statistical Package for the Social

Sciences). Firstly, the data from writing instrument test that give to the students

had analyzed by raters. The raters give the score based on five aspect of the rubric

that adepted from Brown (2007), there are content, organization, grammar,

31
vocabulary, and mechanics. The scale of all aspects was from four to one and then

the writer sum all of the score of the students that was analyzed by three raters, by

using writing rubric from Brown:

After that, the students’ score from raters were divided by three obtain the

average or total score. As a result, the highest score of all was 100 and the lowest

was 25. Then the categorized based on the following categories or score interval :

Table
The score interval

Interval Qualification

80-100 Excellent

75-79 Good

60-69 Average

56-59 Poor

0-55 Very poor

(Based on Curriculum Junior High School Nurul Iman Palembang)

After that, the students writing score was calculated by using SPSS 20

software (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and analyzed the differences

using t-test, paired sample t test and indepedent sample t test in SPSS 20 software

application. Moreover, the researcher use and describe some techniques, as

follows :

3.6.1 Data Descriptions

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 In data description, there were two analysis to be done, they were : 1)

distribution of frequency data and 2) descriptive statistic.

3.6.1.1 Distribution of Frequency Data

In this section, the scores of the students were described by presenting a

number of the students who got a certain score and the percentage. The

distributions of frequency data are obtained from students’ pretest score in control

group, students’ posttest score in control group, the students’ pretest score in

experimental group, and students’ posttest score in experimental group. Then, the

distribution of frequency data displayed in a table analysis.

3.6.1.2 Descriptive Statistics

In descriptive statistics, number of sample, the lowest score, the highest

score, mean, standard deviation, and standard error of mean are obtained.

Descriptive statistics are obtained from students’ pretest and posttest scores in

control and experimental group.

3.6.2 Prerequisite Analysis

A prerequisite analysis done before testing hypothesis. It estimates

whether or not the obtained data from students’ pretest and posttest score in

experimental and control group were distributed normal and homogen. In

analyzing the data, the researchers firstly have to test the normality and

homogeneity.

3.6.2.1 Normality Test

Normality test was used to determine whether the sample data had been

drawn from normally distributed population or not. The data was obtained from

students’ pretest and posttest in experimental and control group. Moreover, Flynn

33
also states that the data that have normal distribution is the score of significancy

higher than 0.05. (Flynn, 2003, p.17).

In measuring normality test, the researcher used One Sample Kolmogorov-

Smirnov test in SPSS 20 (Statistical Package for the Social and Science) software

application

3.6.2.2 Homogeneity Test

Homogeneity test was used to measure the scores obtained whether it was

homogen or not. According to Flynn, (2003, p.17), the data can be categorized

homogen whenever it is higher than 0.05. In measuring homogeneity test, the

researcher used Levene Statistics in SPSS software application.

3.6.3 Hypotheses testing

In measuring significant improvement and significant difference on

students’ descriptive writing achievement taught by using PLEASE Strategy. The

researcher analyzed the differences using t-test, paired sample t test and

indepedent sample t test in SPSS 20 software application. The explanations as

follows:

a. In measuring a significant improvement, paired sample t-test was used for

testing the students’ pretest to posttest scores using PLEASE Strategy in

experimental groups. A significant improvement was found whenever the p-

output is lower than 0,05 and t-obtained was higher than t-table 2,024 (with df

=38)
b. In measuring a significant difference, independent sample t-test used for testing

student’s posttest scores in control and experimental groups. A significant

34
 difference was found whenever the p-output is lower than 0,05 and t-obtained

is higher than t-table 1,991 ( with df =76 )

3.7 Research Schedule

Treatments are designed at least for twelve meetings excluding pretest and

posttest activities. The research will be conducted to the eight grade students of

SMP Nurul Iman Palembang and the treatments are only given to the

experimental group. The materials are taught based on teaching learning

objectives that refer to the English syllabus of Junior High school. The learning

materials are taken from English Book for SMP/MTS Class eight and Internet

script.

No Meeting Topic Type of text Time Allocation

1. Borobudur Temple Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

2. Cat Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

3. My father Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

4. Ampera bridge Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

5. Lion Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

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6. My favourite fruit Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

7. My mother Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

8. Sule Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

9. My house Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

10. My favourite Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

teacher
11. My lovely pets Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

12. My dream car Descrptive text 1 X 45 Minutes

36