Contoh proposal skripsi

PROPOSAL

IMPROVING STUDENT’S WRITING ABILITY THROUGH DIARY

(A Classroom Action Research at the PBI 5B Pekalongan University in the Academic Year 2012/2013)

This proposal is submitted in a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the mid term of Academic Writing

by

Sri Wahyuningsih

0630078712

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

TEACHERS’ TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY

PEKALONGAN UNIVERSITY

2014

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter reviews the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study.

1.1              Background of the study

English is the first language to be taught ( Departement of Education and Culture, 1993: 28 ) however, for some of English students might be difficult to learn. Therefore, having English as a subject at their school seems to be a burden for some of them. There are many strategies that can make English teaching and learning process communicative but none is the best. Therefore a teacher must try to find out the appropriate strategies to teach his or her students because the teacher has a very important role in the teaching and learning process. One of strategies is using creative language arts, such as song, essay, writing diary, and so on. Structure is one of linguistic aspects which students the should learn, even thought the students may find difficulties in learning and mastering English writing skill. It is important to learn because it permeates all language skill. Subiyakti ( 1988: 12 ) mentions that the objectives of the teaching of English structure is as follows :

“Tujuan pengajaran structure ialah membimbing para siswa dalam membentuk dan memakai kalimat yang benar dan baik secara lisan maupun tulisan.

Nowadays in Indonesia, all of the students at schools from primary school to university learn English as a foreign language. The purpose of learning English is that students can communicate in English both oral form and written one. Especially in senior high school level, the students learn all English language skills like speaking and writing.

Writing is one of the four language skills. As stated by Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983:149), “Writing should reinforce and help extends the listening, speaking, and  reading skills”.

Writing as one of the four language skills is part of syllabus in English teaching. It can be seen from the curriculum 2004, standard competency of senior high school (Depdiknas:2003) starting the aim of English teaching is “Siswa mampu mengembangkan kemampuan dalam bahasa Inggris dalam bentuk lisan dan tulisan. Kemampuan berkomunikasi meliputi mendengarkan (Listening), berbicara (Speaking), membaca (Reading), dan menulis (Writing).”

From the statement above, the writer concludes that writing can support the others language skills. It means that writing is a complex domain to learn and to teach because it requires many skills. Before doing and making a good writing, the students need to gather much information by listening to other people, doing discussion with others, and reading more books. By writing, the students can deliver their messages to their readers.

1.2              Statements of the problem

Based on the background of the study, the writer will formulates the statement of problem as follows:

“How can diary improving students’ writing ability to the students of PBI 5 B University of Pekalongan?

1.3              Objective of the study

The writer conducted the aims of this study as follows:

“To identify the improvement of students skill in writing diary of PBI 5 B University of Pekalongan.

1.4              Significance of the study

Theoretically the significance of this study is to introduce tecnique to improve writing skills. Besides, this study also signified to find out the advantages and disadvantages of the use of writing diary in improving students’ writing ability. The research findings will also enrich the previous theories and research findings about teaching strategy, especially for teaching writing.

Practically the research findings will give some advantages to the English teachers and efforts to develop teaching learning strategy in school. Writing diary can be used as an alternative strategy that is the students can do to make they active writing in english.

Pedagogically the result of this study will give some advantages for further research a reference and empirical evidence. This study can also conduct to help educators in every level even subject of study to find a good strategy in teaching writing.

1.5               Scope and Limitation

This study is focused on the classroom action research of the teaching writing by using diary.  The subject of this study are students B class of english departments university of pekalongan academic year 2012/2013

1.6              Definition of Key Term

To avoid misunderstanding of the concept in this study, the writer gives some definitions as follows:

1.        Writing skill  :   Writing skills are specific abilities which  help writers put their thoughts into words in a meaningful form and to mentally interact with the message ( Lingulink, 1999).

1.7              Outline of the study

This final project contains five chapters. With the purpose of facilitating the reader to understand the study, this writing is organized as follows :

     Chapter I, Introduction. This chapter consists of background of the study, statements of the problems objectives of the study, significances of the study, definition of the key terms, and outline of the research.

      Chapter II, Reviewed related literature. In this chapter contains review of the previous studies, theoretical review which contains  Writing skills & Diary.

      Chapter III, Methodology of The Research. This chapter discusses the research design, setting of the research and subject of the research instrument of the research, techmique of data collection, method of data analysis.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter concerns with the literature review that used as the basis to carry out a research in this study. The literature reviews of this research namely: previous studies, theoretical review, and the theoretical framework.

2.1              REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES

There are some researches relate to this study. One of them was the implementation of film to students’ writing skill in descriptive text. The first study was done by the student of Pekalongan University, Ikhsanudin (2012), entitled “The effectiveness of using CJ7 film to improve students’ writing skill in descriptive text The  true experiment of eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Doro  in  the academic  year of 2011/2012”. The writer took the whole students of VIII A and VIII B. The numbers of the students were 32 students and 31 students. There were eight meetings during the experiment, four meetings used treatments to experiment class, one to conduct post-test, two meetings were to teach control class and one class was to conduct post-test. In  the  test,  the average scores of  the experiment class and control class of  the students were 71.93(standard of deviation = 12.751) and 73.33(standard of deviation = 6.183).While  the independent  samples  test  table  at  the Equal  variances  not  assumed, was  obtained:  t-value =  -0.392 with  the Sig. (2-tailed) = 0.699.  t-value and  t-table were compared  t-table = 2.045 and  t-value =  -0.392,  it means  that  t-table >  t-value  so  that H0 was  accepted  and  it was  significant (probability) because the Sig value. = 0.699 and 95% confidence level, it means that Sig. > 0.05, so H0 was accepted.  It  means  that  there  was  no  significant  influence  in  using  CJ7  film  in teaching descriptive text. Then, from the additional data collected the writer concluded  that  there  was  no  significant  influence  in  using  CJ7  film  in teaching descriptive text.

The previous research is the thesis entitled  “The Use of Diary Writing in the Teaching of Writing Recount  Text”  (An Experimental Study at the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Nurul Islami Mijen Semarang in the Academic Year of 2009/2010)  written by  I‟in Ainatuz Zahiroh,  (English Language Education of Walisongo State Institute for Islamic Studies, Semarang, 2010).

The writer said that, the main objective of this study is to find out the effectiveness of the teaching of writing recount text with the use of diary writing.

After the research finished, she said that there is a significant difference in writing recount text score between students taught by using diary and those who taught by using non-diary writing. It is showed the mean of experimental class is higher than control class.

On the other hand, the test of hypothesis using t-test formula shows the value of the t-test is higher than the value of the t -table. The hypothesis is accepted. Based on the result, the writer concluded that diary writing is effective to be used in the teaching of writing recount text. It helped the students to solve their proble ms in writing recount text and improve students‟ fluency in writing.

The research was aimed at proving whether diary writing is effective to improve students’ skill in writing recount text or not. The research was pre-experimental research design. The population of this research was the tenth grade students at SMA Alkhairaat Kalukubula and the sample was class XA. The number of the sample was 25 students. The writer employed cluster sampling and adopted one group pre-test and post-test design. The pre-test was used to measure the students’ skill in writing recount text before treatment, and post-test was used to measure the students’ skill after the treatment. Based on the result of both tests, the writer found that the t-counted was 8.56.  The level of significance counted is set up at 0.05 and the  degree of freedom (df) of the table is 25 –  1 = 24. The writer found that t-table was 2.064. It showed that t-counted was higher than the t-table. It means that the hypothesis of this research is accepted. In conclusion,  the use of  diary  writing  was effective to improve the students’ skill in writing recount text.( abstract of IMPROVING WRITING SKILL IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT THROUGH DIARY WRITING by Vita Ningrum, Ferry Rita, Hastini)

2.2              THEORETICAL REVIEW

2.2.1        Writing Skills

A.    Definition of Writing

 “Writing is functional communication, making learners possible to create imagined worlds of their own design.” Writing as one of four language skills is considered as a difficult skill because the writer should make some aspects in writing such as content, organization, purpose, vocabulary, punctuation, and spelling in a balance way.

Writing is the activity or occupation of writing, for example books, stories, or articles. We can take more times to think and choose words in order to express our idea, thought, and feeling. We still can make editing or revision if it is not so clear to express what intends to write. Writing is a progressive activity. This means that when you first write something down, you have already been thinking about what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. The after you have finished writing, you read over what you have written and make changes and corrections.

Therefore, writing is never a one step actions; it is a process that has several steps.Writing is a discovery process that involves discovering ideas, how to organize them and what that you want to put over to your order, so a lot of what a writer does as a writer doesn‟t actually appear on the page.  It is a means of communication.  Whenever the writer want to write, he has to knowing the audience or reader, it will help in reaching the the goal of communicating clearly and effectively.

Communication in writing tends to involve a thinking process because writing requires  the process of selecting and organizing ideas into coherent and logical whole, so in this case writing is undeniably based in thought.  Finnochiaro says that writing has been characterized as written thinking.

It means that writing is a way to produce language that comes from our thought. In the writing process, the writer tries to developing their ideas and feelings to produce into a good sentence, in order to inform the other.

B.     The Concept of Writing

Oshima and Hogue ( 1983: 2 ) state that a paragraph writing is a basic unit of organization in writing in which a group of related sentences develops one main idea. They further explain that three major structural parts of paragraph of : the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. It can be said that writing is : (1) a. The act of one who writes, b. The act, practice, or occupation of literary composition. (2) a. A written letter or words, b. A written composition, c. A written or printed, notice, document (3) Composition in specific manner or for a specific purpose. Furthemore, Oshima and Hogue ( 1983: 2 ) say that three major structural parts of paragraph, they are the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. A topic sentence is a sentence which states the main idea of paragraph ( of diary ). It is called the topic of the paragraph and limits the topic that can be discussed completely in the space of single paragraph of diary ( controlling idea ).

Supporting sentences are sentences that develop the topic sentences by giving reasons, examples, facts, statistic, quotation, comparison, definition, classifications, descriptive. A concluding sentence is a sentence which signals the end of the paragraph of diary and leaves the reader with importation points to remember.

Oshima ang Hogue ( 1983: 4 ) state there are two additional elements of paragraph : unity and coherence. - Unity means that there is only one main idea in the paragraph of diary. The main idea is stated in the topic sentence and then each and every suppoting sentence develops. - Coherence means that the paragraph ( in this study is diary ) is easy to read and understand because, (1) The supporting sentences are in some kind of logical order, and (2) The ideas are connected by the use of appropriate transition signals. The relationship between the ideas is clearly shown by using appropriate transition words and phrases such as “first of all”, the second important characteristic”, “for example” and “in conclusion”. In summary, a well-written diary contains five elements : a topic sentence, supporting sentence,a concluding sentence, unity, and coherence

C.    Types of Writing

The type of writing system which exists in the native language  is

an important factor in determining to easy of speech with which students

learn to write There are two types of writing:

a.       Practical Writing

This type deals with the fact and functional writing.  It is purposed to special goal that we can find it in let ters, papers, summaries, outlines, essays, etc.

b.      Creative or Imaginary Writing

This type usually exists in literature. Such as novel, romance, poem, short story, science fiction, etc.

D.     Purposes of Writing

According to O‟Malley and Pierce, there are three purposes of writing based on the types of writing in English language learning, those are:

a.       Informative

It is represented by “informative writing,” that is purposed to share knowledge or information, give directions, and state ideas to other. Informative writing involves describing events or experiences, analyzing concept, speculating on causes and effect, and developing new ideas that are purposed to inform something may important to the readers.

b.      Expressive or Narrative

It is represented by “expressive writing” or “narrative writing is” that is purposed to share a personal or imaginative expression. Commonly it is composed by the writer story or essay. Expressive or narrative often used to perform a pleasure discovery, story, poems, or short play.

c.       Persuasive

It is represented by “persuasive writing” that is purposed to persuade the readers to do something. It effort to influences others and initiate action or change. This type of writing includes evaluation of book, movie, consumer product, or controversial issues.

E.     Writing Process

There are  three  steps in writing process, they are prewriting, writing, and revising.  All of those steps are important to make our writing better and systematic.

1.      Prewriting

Prewriting is the first step; it is preparation step before  writing process. Prewriting gives warming up the brain to gathering the ideas to write about. There are several ways to warm up before we write.

a.     Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a prewriting activity to enlisting the ideas related the topic.  In this  technique, we write down every single thing that passing through or comes into our minds.

b.     Clustering

Clustering is another technique to bind ideas. We visualize our ideas using circles and lines which are interconnected one to others. The topic is positioned in  the center of blank paper as a core circle, while the ideas are spread around.

There are the steps of clustering process:

1.      Write our topic in the center of a blank piece of paper and draw a circle around it.

2.      Write any ideas that come into our mind about the topic in circles around the main circle.

3.      Connect those ideas to the center word with a line.

4.      Think about each of our new ideas, and then connect them.

5.      Repeat this process until you run out of ideas.

2.      Writing

The next step is writing process. The result  of brainstorming or clustering in prewriting process is guidance for us to write paragraph.

As we write, the first draft on your paragraph, use the ideas we generated from prewriting as a guide. As we write, remember to:

a.    Begin with a topic sentence that states the main ideas, include several sentences that support the main idea.

b.   Stick the topic does not include information that does not directly support the main idea.

c.    Arrange the sentences so that the other ideas make sense.

d.   Use signal words to help the reader understand how the ideas in your paragraph are connected.

3.       Revising

The last step is revising; it is the important step to do after we have produced a draft. We have to analyze the content of the draft may unclear,  ambiguous or confusing.  We have to  ensure that our paragraph is unified and coherent and improve the grammatical accuracy. So, in this step we can enrich our writing content with add new sentence to support others idea, or deleting some sentences those are irrelevant with the topic.

It is almost impossible to write a perfect paragraph on the first try, so it needs to be revised. The steps are:

a.    Add new ideas to support the topic.

b.    Cross out sentences that do not support the topic.

c.    Change the order of the sentences.

d.   Using the following checklist to revise your paragraph.

1.      Make sure you have a topic sentence.

2.      Cross out sentences that do not relate to the main idea.

3.      Check to see if the sentences are in the right order.

4.      Add new ideas if they support the topic sentences.

5.      Make sure you have included signal words to help guide the reader.

6.      Check the punctuations, spelling and grammar.

F.     Writing Skill

Writing skills are specific abilities which help students or writers put their  thoughts into words in a meaningful form and to mentally interact with the message.  It helps the learner gain  independence, comprehensibility,  fluency  and creativity  in writing.

Independence  is the ability to function in a given area without depending upon another's help. Independence writing is the ability to write anything one can say or understand in his or her language without depending upon another's help. Comprehensibility means the ability to be understood; intelligible. Fluency is the ability to read, speak, or write easily, smoothly, and expressively. Fluency skills are the ability to see larger segment and phrases as wholes as an aid to reading and writing more quickly. If learners have mastered these skills, they will be able to write so that not only  they  can read what they have written, but other speakers of that language can read and understand it.

G.    Improving Students’ Writing Skill

Improvement in Oxford Learners Pocket Dictionary is the process of becoming or making something better. Students are  person  who is studying at a college or university, person studying at  secondary school,  and  any person interested in a

particular subject.  The improving students‟ writing skill can be done  if there is a good preparation of using aids, it  will  be possible for the teacher to  create a good language learning process in which the students‟ participation is dominant; as a result, the students‟ knowledge and skill can be improved.  In this study, diary  is an aid that uses  to improve students‟ writing skill.

There are some factors that can influence students‟ writing skill:

1.      Limited vocabulary

2.      Difficulty in organizing to write about something

3.      No motivation to write

4.      Lack of confidence in grammar

Those are the problems that mostly faced by students in writing. As a teacher, it is important to help the students when they get problem. When teacher can play their role, the students will be helped in their writing. The improvement of students‟ ability in writing skill can be seen  by look at the differences or raising the students‟ ability in those factors.

H.    Teaching Writing Skill

Writing as one of the four skills has always formed part of the syllabus in the teaching of English. However, it can be used for a variety of purposes, ranging from being merely a „backup‟ for grammar teaching to a major syllabus strand in its own right, where mastering the ability to write effectively is seen as a key objective for learners.

The important given to writing differs from teaching situation to teaching situation. In some cases it shares equal billing with the other skill; in other curricula it is only used, if at all in its writing for learning role where students write predominantly to augment their learning of the grammar and vocabulary of the language.

Partly because of the nature of the writing process and also because of the need for accuracy in writing, the mental processes that a student goes through when writing differ significantly from the way they approach discussion or other kinds of spoken communication. This is just   as true for single-sentence writing as it with single paragraph or extended text.

Writing is often not time bound in the way conversation is. When writing, students frequently have more time to think than they do in oral activities. They can go through what they know in their minds, and even consult dictionaries, grammar books, or other reference material to help them. Writing encourages students to focus on accurate language use and, because they think as they write, it may well provoke language developme nt as they resolve problems which the writing puts into their minds.

However, this quite separates from the issues of writing process and genre. Since here students are not writing to become better writers, they are writing to help them learn better.

a.     Implications for Learning and Teaching

A consideration of the writing process, and how speaking and writing are related to each other-especially in a world of changing communication media-is not only of academic interest. It also has implications for the way we teach writing.Many traditional approaches, for example, failed to incorporate the kind of insight into the writing process that we have been discussing.

In some teaching, for example, students write a composition in the classroom which the teacher corrects and hand back the next day covered in red ink.

The students put the corrected pieces of work in their folders and rarely look at them again. For many years the teaching of writing focused on the written product rather than on the writing process. In other words, the students‟ attention was directed to the rather than the how of text construction. Product approaches expected the student to only analyze texts in term of what language they used and how they were constructed.

b.    Strategy for Writing Teaching Process

There are a number of strategies we need to consider for concentrate on the process of writing, they are:

1.      Get students to plan writing

Before getting students to write we can encourage them to think about they are going to write by planning the cont ent and sequence of what they will put down on paper (or type into the computer). There are various ways of doing this. Including, at one end of the scale, brainstorming (where the students in pairs or groups come up with as many ideas as they can through  discussion) to more guided tasks where the teacher or the course book includes a number of activities which leads students to plan for a forthcoming task. When students are planning we can encourage them to think not just about the content of what they want to say but also about what the purpose of their writing is, and who the audience is they are writing for.

2.      Encourage students to draft, reflect and revise  writing

Students who are unused to process-writing lessons will need to be encouraged to reflect on  what they have written, learning how to treat first draft as first attempt and not as finishes product. We may want to train them in using and responding to correction symbols, we may offer them revision checklist to use when looking through what they have written with a view to make revision.

One way of encouraging drafting, reflection, and revision is to have students involved in collaborative writing. A pair of group of students working together on a piece of writing can respond to each other‟s ideas (both in terms of language and content), making suggestion for changes, and so contributing to the success of the finishes product.

3.      Respond to students’ writing

In order  for a process-writing approach to work well, some teachers may need to rethink the way in which they react to their students‟ work, in place of making correction to a finished version; they will need, at times, to respond to a work-in-progress. This may involve talking with individual students about a first, second, third, and fourth draft, will other members of the group are working on their own. Alternatively, teachers can read through a draft and then make written suggestions about how the text could be reordered. This is especially appropriate, for example, when the class is working in a computer at a time from a central console.

Another possibility is for the teacher to write out their own version of how a section of text might look better. Such reformulation will be beneficial to the student who compares their version with their teachers.

It is not just teachers who can respond to the students writing. It is useful to have students look at work done by their colleagues and respond in their own way. Such peer response may provide welcome alternative to the teacher‟s feedback as well as offering a fresh perspective on the writing.

4.      General Concept of Text

Human being  lives in a world of words. When these words are put together to communicate a meaning, a piece of text is created. When speaking or writing  to communicate a message,  there  are constructing a text. When reading, listening  or view a piece of text,  there  are interpreting its meaning.

In general, text is an  article  which often read.  It  is the language unity that expresses the meaning contextually. The limitation of the text is that  the text is not measure the number of sentence or page, but the text is measured from the meaning expressed and context. Thus, the quality of the text is not measured from the quantity of the sentences.

According to Hartono, text is a unit of meaning which is coherent and appropriate for its context.Human beings are different from other creatures that  live in a world of words. When these words are put together to communicate a meaning, a piece of text is created. They will think to express their expressions; it is mean  human need to express their own in many ways that can be understood by others. Human can use a text as one of the ways to express their own.  It means that  when the writer uses  language to write,  he  is creating and constructing a text.  When  the reader reads a text,  he is interpreting texts. Moreover, creating and interpreting text   also occur when they are talking and listening.

Halliday and Hasan said that a text is a social exchange of meanings. The meaning of a sentence may have different  meaning according to the context. For example, I am buying a drink for everybody here, and the mean of that sentence is one drink for all or one drink for each. Therefore,  the teacher must be able to develop students‟ abilities to exchange the meanings in different points of sentence.

2.2.2        DIARY

A.    The meaning of diary

Hornby says that a book, sometimes with spaces for each day of the year, in which one writer about one’s daily experiences, record’s one’s private thought.Diary is a record of events, transactions, or observations kept daily or at frequent intervals. And diary is a daily log of experiences, especially those of the writer.

B.     The benefit of writing diary

The simple act of writing in a diary may actually give you more free time by helping to keep your life more structured and organized. Here are some benefits of keeping a diary on a daily basis:

a.It can help you stay organized

When you write down your activities of the day in diary form, you get a clearer picture of how you're spending your time as well as an objective record of your daily activities. Most people waste more time than they know and having a written record can make you more aware of wasted time and opportunities. By keeping a diary documenting what you do each day, you can review your activities and make changes if you find you're not accomplishing your goals. 

b.   It can make you more disciplined

Setting aside fifteen to twenty minutes each evening to write in your diary will help you develop focus and discipline. Instead of spending twenty minutes in front of the television, you'll be doing a structured activity that requires thought and focus. This kind of focus, once developed, can help to bring success in other areas of your life. The discipline of keeping a diary can help to motivate you to accomplish more in all areas of your life. 

c. It's a stress reliever

Keeping a diary allows you to express your innermost thoughts which can be an excellent way to relieve stress. If you don't feel comfortable discussing your problems with another person, you can always express them in your diary. Writing down your worries and concerns is an excellent catharsis. Once you set aside that twenty minute period to write in your diary each night, you'll begin to look forward to it as a welcome break from the hassles of the day.

d.  diary is a true friend

The diary is a friend that will always listen, never judge and will have no prejudice. You will get the diary next to you all time when you are really in need of someone.

e. improve your writing

The more you write the more your writing improves. So always try to write something even if that might be a meaningless writing but your writing skill will definitely improve.
f. teach you to express your thought clearly
The diary helps you to learn to express your thought clearly. Express your thought properly is an art which you can develop by writing a regular diary.

C.    Example of Diary

Adapted from Arthur Brooked & Peter Grundy, 1998:88)

Yesterday was in some ways like any other day. I woke up at seven o’clock, got up, showered, shaved and had my breakfast. Some happening were less predictable.

For instance, I heard on the radio that my team won their match. I also got an unexpected bill through the post. We had a new teacher at nine o’clock.

Every day has pleasant and unpleasant events. I was pleased that my team

had won, but the big bill spoilt the morning

D.    Concept of the Teaching of Diary Writing

Saleh ( 1985: 2 ) states that teaching English as a foreign language means that English is taught as school subject or a dual level solely for the purpose of giving the learner a foreign language competence which he/ she may use to read literature technical words and scientific book, to understand the dialogue in films, and to communicate orally or in writing, with the people of other countries. Beside that the writing skill is the fourth skills, the learner of English should develop it. It is the hardest one, but the learner should be able to use written English for the purpose of writing out forms, informal letters and business letter also for diary. The way of writing composition can be saparated into two ways, guided composition and free-Composition. Guided composition is developed at the intermediate level. Free-composition is writing on a topic of her or his choices in which the students are taught to express their ideas clearly in practical writing, and it is engaged at the advanced level. The teaching of writing diary in this study is doing through guided writing. “Guide” means something that direct or influences ( conduct, etc ). The words “guide” refers to the way that directs the students’ conduct, and writing refers to the skill of expressing ideas in written form. It means that students enable them to express their ideas in the form of diary, a group of sentences using main idea.

In order to make students’ able to express their ideas in writing diaries, it is necessary for the teacher of English to teach them how a good diary is and what should they have made a good diary or a standard of writing.

E.     Diary Writing

This instance of personal, expressive writing based on experience or recollection offers very good insight on the students’ own perception of their learning process by reflecting on their own lives. Additionally, they will gradually gain independence from the teacher and autonomy in their learning. Learning diary, in particular, is multidimensional self-evaluations that create a visible record of the students’ linguistic growth and simulate the development of meaning-making strategies, critical thinking and habits of reflective questioning. A diary is personal record of events that happen over a period of time, usually consist of date of each diary item, and be as brief or detailed as the writer of diary like. Record events in the order in which they happened it. Includes descriptions of the events, impressions about the events, feelings triggered, and opinions the writer of diary formed based on the events. A diary is personal and generally not meant for someone else unless the owner gives permission for it to be shared. Concept of diary is a firsthand record of ideas, impressions, feelings and opinions about the events in a persons’s life. Record the events in the order in which they happen, in as brief or as detailed a way as the writer of diary wish, for example :

June 21st, 2010. Dear diary, today I met Amy after I have been no see her for long time. We talked everything that remains us fourth years ago, where we as a good friend in high school. Hanging out and share everything together. That was a beautiful moment, now she is a wife and mother for two daughters. I’m so glad to know that, but also make jealous for her beautiful life, I wish that I can be like her someday.

A written diary consist of one or more sentences and the sentences should have a clear relation with each other. In technical fields, the communicative aspect of writing has gained widespread. Attention as writing has become one of the most widely used modes of communication. Technical writing involves several genres of reporting: oral presentations, technical reports, proposals, business letters, journal articles ( Huckin and Olsen 1983 ).

However the basic skill involved in writing diaries as their activity and report. The diary writing describes their daily activity, write on their private book or in other media, telling about their life. Besides its training teh students to write well, this could be made the students closer to their teacher. It can also make the students no seperated walls to learn. The content based approach, which connects language with the study of specific academics, is widely advocated. In teaching English for specific purposes. In teaching writing, it is seen as a good way to develop thinking, researching, and writing ( Shih, 1986: 58 ).

Diary is a book, sometimes with spaces for each day of the year, in which one writes about one daily experiences, record one’s private history. In US, diary also means calender of a book with spaces for each day of the year, in which one can write down appointments, things to be done in the future, etc. example a desk diary which consists of a note of the next meeting in diary. Beach and Bridwell ( 1984: 47 ) state that if writing is linked to the specific subject matter students are learning, the ability to think and learn can be strengthened simultaneosly because of the students’ high motivation to study. In a word, the content based approach in teaching writing enables student writing to experience the process of learning to write and writing to learn. ( Shih 1986: 26 ).

 Saleh ( 1996: 14-15 ) states that research findings indicate that successful language learners are those who are not only able to use the language correctly and appropriately in oral communication, but also in written communication actively ( speaking and writing ) as well as passively ( reading and listening ). It means that written communication plays an important role in communicative activities, especially in daily activities. Diary writing, although not the focus of most writing courses, has probably been one of the most effective and popular additions to writing activities. Diary writing can allow a personal voice to develop, which is often lost when only traditional basic writing skills are stressed. Because diary involves students in non-threatening exploration and development of ideas. Diary usually saves the secret of the writer’s life, the open sentences to help you write as follows:
I wish.........My favorite things are........ I am happy if........>< I hate if......... The best thing of........is........ When I grow up, I will........ Tomorrow........ If only.........

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH

In this chapter the writer discusses about research design, location and time of the study, object of the study, techniques of data collection, procedures of the study, techniques of data analysis and scoring technique.

3.1  Research Design

This research is Classroom Action research. Basrowi and  Suwandi  states, Classroom Action Research is action research in education sector what do in class area and have the goal to repair and or to increase the learning quality.

It means that classroom action research is a  kind  of research has qualit y with do specific action so it  can repair and or increase  the learning practices in classroom with more professional.

According to Arikunto, action research is one of the type investigation that has characteristic  reflective  participative, collaborative, and spiral that have purpose to  repair  and to increase the system, method, process, su bstance, competence and situation.

Elliot said classroom action research is  study about social situation; it means to improve action quality through diagnosis process, planning doing, observation and learn about the influence that is affected.

Kemmis and  Taggort add in Nunan‟s book explain that action research is a group of activity and a piece of descriptive research carried out by the teacher in his or her own classroom, without the involvement of others, which is aimed at interesting our understanding  rather than changing the phenomenon under the investigation that would not be considered by these commentators to be „action research‟, the essential impetus for carrying out action research is to change the system.

Wiriatmaja in his book  Metode Penelitian Tindakan Kelas states,classroom action research is method how a group of teacher can organize  his teaching learning condition and learn from  his  own experience. Teacher can try idea reparation in  his  teaching learning process, and look the real effect o f those efforts There are some characteristics, aims and model of classroom action research, they are:

1)      Characteristics of a classroom action research Kemmis and Mc. Taggort in Nunan‟s book argue that there are three defining characteristic of action research, they are:

a. It is carried out by practitioners (for our purposes, classroom teachers) rather than outside writers.

b.It is collaborative, and

c. It is aimed at changing things.

2)      The aim of action research

There are many possible reasons for conducting a  classroom action research as follow:  The  teacher wants to know more about  his students  and the difficulties in learning process. Teacher wants to learn more about him  as teachers how effective teacher is, how teacher looks  to the students, how teacher looks at  himself  as if  observing her own teaching. Teacher wants  to gauge the interest generated by certain topics, or judge the effectiveness of certain activities types. Teacher want s  to see if an activity would work better done in groups rather than pairs,  or investigate whether reading is more effective with or without pre teaching vocabulary.

The method of this research was action research. There are two cycles in this research. Action research is an educational attempt to improve students’ skill. The term problematic does not mean that the teacher is an incompetent, but the point is that, as teacher often sees gaps between actually in happening teaching situation and ideally like to see happening. The cycle is described through the scheme of action research phases as follows:

3.2  Location of study

The writer would like to conduct an action research that will be taken in the fifth semester b class students of university of pekalongan in academic year 2011/2013. In this case, the writer would like to implement the use of diary in improving students’ writing ability.

3.3  Subject of the study

a.      Population

Based on Sugiyono (2009:80), population is generalization distinct that consist of object or subject which has specific quantity and characteristic that ruled by the writer to take the conclusion. The population in this research is fifth semester students of English departement university of pekalongan.

b.      Sample

Sugiyono ( 2009: 81) states  sample is a part of number and characteristic which is had by population. The collecting sample held by random sampling. Technique of random sampling used in this research because based on the normality and homogeneity of the population is found that it is normal distributed and has the same variance.

In this research, the writer will take b class students of university of pekalongan in academic year 2011/2013 as the object of the study.. They are 40 students consist of 8 men and 32 women. The writer takes the object at b class students of university of pekalongan in academic year 2011/2013 to serve the object through “the Classroom Action Research” in improving students writing ability through diary.

The Scheme of Classroom Action Research

Action

Reflection

Cycle I

Observation

Planning

Action

Cycle II

Observation

?

Reflection

Planning

 

2.2.3         Techniques of data collection,

The writer get the data from the sources, because in every research there should be data to study. The data source in a research basically subjects from data that will be got by the student.

a.Test

According to Hornby (1974; 193) test is as examination or trial to find its quality, value, composition, etc. He also pointed out that the other fields in test are knowledge, proficiency, comprehension and understanding about the subject matter. Therefore, appropriate test is very crucial in process collecting data because there are many subfields involved.

In this research, the writer uses achievement test to collect the data from the research object. John W. Best explains that the achievement test is such kind of tool to measure what an individual has learned. Based on the John’s argument, the writer thinks that achievement test is really appropriate way to collect data for the research.

b.    Questionnaire

According to Sugiyono (2008:199) questionnaire is a technique of data collection that is done by giving a set of questions or a written statement to the respondent.

The questionnaire used to know the students difficulties in writing.

2.2.4        Procedures of the study

This research focused on the positive effect of using diary as the media to improve writing skill. The writer also hopes that the students are able to write in a good sentence.

            In this classroom action research, the research is divided into two cycles. They are:

1.   Cycle 1

The cycle 1 in this classroom action research consisted of plan, action, observation, and reflection as follow:

a.    Planning

In planning, the writer made some plans, as follows ;

1)   The writer made lesson plan of collaborative writing.

2)   The writer made instrument of evaluation for classroom action research cycle.

3)   The writer prepare the diary books.

b.   Action

This research was conducted in two cycles. Every one cycle included four meetings.

1.   The First meeting

In first meeting, the teacher will do the action as follow;

a)   The teacher explain recount text.

b)   The teacher ask the students to make a group.

c)      The teacher show a diary to the students.

2.   The Second meeting

In second meeting, the teacher will do the action as follow;

a)    The teacher asked the students to write recount text in group based on their own story.

b)   The students write generic structure of recount text

c)    The writer evaluate the students’ work

c.    Observation

The writer observe:

1)   The situation of teaching and learning activity.

2)   The students’ activeness in learning by diary.

3)   The students’ competence in applying “writing recount text”.

d.   Reflection

The result of evaluation which will analyzed in cycle I, will reflected to the cycle II. The teacher analyze the first cycle to know whether the action of the cycle achieved the criteria based on the test result of the first action. If the students’ ability in writing is less in cycle I, the writer continue to conduct the cycle II.

2.    Cycle II

The writer continues to conduct the research of cycle II, to make complete the result in the cycle, the writer will revise the lesson plan in the cycle II. Cycle II consists of planning, action, observation, and reflection as follow:

a.    Planning

In planning step, the writer made some plans as follows;

1)   The writer revised lesson plan of writing recount text.

2)   The writer made instrument of evaluation for classroom action research cycle.

3)   Preparing diary for observation.

b.   Action

The cycle II is the revision of the cycle I that will be conducted with four meeting. In one cycle included four meetings.

1)   The First meeting

In first meeting, the teacher will do the acting as follow;

a)   The teacher show diary to the students.

b)   The teacher asked the students to make a group.

2)   The Second meeting

In second meeting, the teacher will do the action as follow;

a)      The teacher ask the students to write recount text in group based ontheir own story.

b)      The teacher give evaluation to the students.

c)      The students write recount text by their own words.

d)     To make the generic structure of recount text by the students. 

c.    Observation

The writer will observe:

1)   The situation of teaching and learning activity.

2)   The students’ activeness in learning by using diary.

3)   The students’ competence in applying “writing recount text”.

d.   Reflection

The reflection will be done to know the result of the students’ ability in applying writing recount text after giving revision. The reflection means for making conclusions. The writer use cycle II as consideration things for measuring the students’ ability accordance with the result of cycle I.

2.2.5        Techniques of data analysis

The writer used some analyzes for collecting the data:

1.      Questionnaire

The questionnaire will given to get the information about the difficulties faced by the students in writing recount text. The writer analyze the data of questionnaire after they have been completed.

2.      Observation sheet

In this research, the observation  get the data about the strength and weaknesses of diary  when it will be applied to improve students’ recount writing skill. The writer analyzed the observation sheet to get that information.

3.      Test

Test is use to assess the students’ recount writing skill by using diary. This test is to know that the students’ recount writing skill by using diary improve or not. The test will divided into two tests, they were:

1.      Pre-test

The writer give pre-test to the students. The pre-test will in writing form. The students write recount text based on their idea. The pre-test will given before cycle I.

2.      Post-test

The second test will be held after the writer apply the cycle to know how far distinction of the students’ improvement in writing recount text by using diary.

After the tests done, the writer will  analyze the students’ work.

            To calculate the mean score the writer use the formula:

Where:

      :  mean.

∑  : the total score

N  : number of students

Glanz (1998:156)

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