TEACHING WRITING A DESCRIPTIVE TEXT BY USING

GUIDED WRITING STRATEGY 

English Education Study Program of Languagesand Arts Education of Teacher Training and Education
email : lili [email protected]

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of teaching writing a descriptive text by using guided writing strategy at eighth grade student sma   Academic Year 2020/2021. Moreover, this research is intended to find out how effective teaching is teaching writing a descriptive text by using guided writing strategy at eighth grade students. The students’ problem in elements of identification makes hard for them to start their writing. They tend to jump to write the description of the subject without writing the identification. Meanwhile, identification is important in writing descriptive text. The second problem is the incorrect use of language features. They can not write correct sentence of simple present tense that is used in descriptive text. As the purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of teaching writing descriptive text, the method used in this research is pre-experimental research with single group pre-test and post-test. One class of eighth grader of Sma Negeri 7 bengkulu were choses as the sample in this study. There were 34 students in the class. The findings of this research suggested that Guided Writing Strategy was highly effective in teaching writing a descriptive text as indicated by a statistically higher writing score of post-test (70,44) than pre-test (51,09). This difference was highly significant with the effect size value 1,36. Based on the research foundings, it can be conluded that the effectiveness of teaching writing a descriptive text by using guided writing is high. Thus, it is suggested for English teacher to use this strategy as an alternative for teaching writing.

Kata kunci: descriptive text, guided writing strategy.

Abstrak: Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui efektivitas mengajar menulis teks deskriptif dengan menggunakan strategi menulis terbimbing pada siswa kelas X SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu Tahun Ajaran 2020/2021 . Selain itu , penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui seberapa efektif mengajar menulis teks deskriptif dengan menggunakan strategi menulis terbimbing pada siswa kelas X. Masalah yang di hadapi siswa yaitu dalam menentukan identifikasi yang membuatnya sulit untuk mulai menulis. Mereka cenderung melompat untuk menulis teks deskripsi tanpa menulis identifikasi. Sementara itu, kalimat identifikasi sangat penting dalam menulis teks deskriptif. Masalah kedua adalah penggunaan yang salah dari fitur bahasa. Mereka tidak bisa menulis kalimat dalam bentuk simple present tense dengan benar yang digunakan dalam teks deskriptif. Sebagai tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui efektivitas mengajar menulis teks deskriptif, metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian pre-eksperimental dengan satu kelompok pre – test dan post -test. Sampel penelitian adalah siswasiswa Kelas X. Ada 34 siswa di kelas. Temuan penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Strategi Menulis Dipandu sangat efektif dalam mengajar menulis teks deskriptif seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh skor menulis statistik lebih tinggi dari post-test ( 70,44 ) dari pre-test ( 51,09 ). Perbedaan ini sangat signifikan dengan efek nilai ukuran 1,36. Berdasarkan penelitian, dapat disimpulkan bahwa efektivitas mengajar menulis teks deskriptif dengan menggunakan dipandu menulis sangat tinggi. Oleh karena itu, disarankan bagi guru bahasa Inggris untuk menggunakan strategi ini sebagai alternatif untuk pengajaran menulis. Key words:teks deskriptif, strategi membimbing dalam menulis.

The students need to be able to to express ideas through a functional written text and avery simple short essay in form of descriptive texts to make active interaction in the social life. However, writing is regarded as difficult skill to learn. It requires active thinking throughout a continuous productive process in which thoughts and  ideas are transferred into written communication. Byrne (1993)claims that the production of graphic symbols has to be arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain ways to form all coherent.

Based on the observation, the students of Class X  of “SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu faced difficulties to write a descriptive text. The lack of ideas especially incomplete elements of organization in descriptive text, and incorrect use of simple present tense and adjective were the students’ problems when writing descriptive text. The first problem of writing a descriptive text faced byYear-Xstudents of SMA 7 Bengkulu was incomplete element of identification. Incorrect use of language features became the second main problems for the YearX students of SMA 7 Bengkulu The students could not write correct sentence in simple present tense. Those problems made the score of students’ writing in descriptive text were lower from standard minimum score in the school, that is 70. The problem above will be overcomeby using guided writing strategy which will be investigated through an experimental study. The research question is “How effective is teaching writing a descriptive text by using guided writing strategy at eighth grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu in Academic Year 2020/2021?”

 The research participants are Year-X students of SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu in the academic year 2020/2021. The data collected by using measurement technique which is written test.

Guided writing strategy was not yet used in writing descriptive text in SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu. Descriptive text is a text which describes particular place, thing, or person which is explained details according to the object being described or located. Descriptive text can be divided from its purpose, generic structure and language feature. The purpose in descriptive writing is to engage the readers’ attention, to create characters, to set a mood or create an atmosphere or describe a place so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects, etc. (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996). Therefore, the ability to write descriptive texts is important to improve students’ literacy in the Junior High School. Descriptive text as a material is the one of the text which is suitable to be combined with guided writing stratey because the strategy help students to develop their ideas and imagination in writing descriptive text.

Below are the procedures in applying guided writing strategy (Ontario Education, 2005) :(a)Examination and discussion models are given during the first part of lesson;(b)Students then work as a group to compose a text, applying the focus skill;(c)Teacher guides students to write their own text independently, applying the focus skill;(d)Students then share their writing, as a whole group, with a partner, or with a teacher.

It is important to provide example of descriptive text and then discuss it with the students because it will give clear idea about what a good descriptive text is (the structure and the language features used). The discussion then may happen in a small group of students or class discussion. After they review specific writing skill in groups, they can apply the skill through indepent writing.

Based on the students’ problem writing descriptive text,this research is expected to find the effectiveness of guided writing strategy in teaching writing descriptive text. The indication of the effectiveness can be seen in the result of the effect size value.

From the pre-observation, the researcher found out that the students made many mistakes in writing descriptive text. This happened because the teacher did not use the proper strategy. Therefore, the researcher decided to find a new strategy that is guided writing strategy.

Using this strategy, teacher presented authentic and modelled the ways in which writer works. It was done in collaborative discussion to develop students’ understanding of the purposes and techniques of writing. Guided writing offers a series of stimulator by the teacher but the teacher’s controls is loosened (Brown, 2001: 344). This gives students spaces to their creativity yet still expand their awareness in the aspect of good writing.Guided writing strategy is suitable for teaching writing for students with a similar need since it focus on a specific key point in learning (Welsh Assembly Government, 2010).

According to Pinces (1982), guided writing includes a model to follow, an outline to expnad form, and an incomplete written version or picture to shows a new subject to write about.

Primary National Strategy (2007: 6) claims that, guided writing strategy gives some benefits as follow:(a)It enables the teacher to modify the teaching based on the needs of the students;(b)It enables teacher to focus on the needs of the students as well as the needs of individuals;(c)It encourages students to be more active in discussion about writing;(d)It builds confidence;(e)It allows the teacher to give immediate feedback.

Whereas Frase (2008) mentions the advantages of guided writing as follows:(a)Teacher teach based on the need of the groups;(b)Teacher can observe and respond to individuals’ needs;(c)Teacher encourages students to discuss writing;(d)Teacher builds students’ confidence.

Guided writing is a teaching component designed to teach a specific skill or strategy to the whole group, a small group, or individuals, and to give students practice in writing. Guided writing allows a teacher to work closely with a small group of students based on a common need. During a guided writing lesson, a teacher might gather a small group and model writing, or maybe they will complete a shared writing experience together. The teacher can also observe and monitor the strategies that children are using as they write, as well as their involvement and confidence as writers (Brown, 2007).

METHOD
This research was pre experimental design or single group pre-test and posttest design. This design is written X₁ T X₂ which indicates  that X₁ is pre-test and X₂ is the post-test and is the treatment.

 The sample was Class X of SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu. This class consisted of 34 students. The data were collected by applying a written test. This test was to measure students’ ability in organizing text, using language features, and mechanics. The research question is answered by applying the following formula, that is:

From this result, the significant score of effect size is categorized as high with ES > 0,8 In other words, guided writing strategy has proved by the measurement techniques of data collecting as a good activity in teaching writing descriptive text.

Discussion
Based on the result of the data computation, the effect of the treatment (ES) is 1,36. It was used to answer the problem of how effective the use of guided writing strategy in teaching writing descriptive text to the eighth grade students of SMA 7 Bengkulu in academic year 2020-2021. Based on the result (ES >  0,8), it was categorized as high. Therefore, the first hypothesis, the effectiveness of teaching writing a descriptive text by using guided writing strategy is high, is accepted and the other two are rejected. The researcher compared the score of pre test and post test. On the first meeting to get data about students’ achievement before the treatment, students were given a writing test. As can be seen in students’ weakness were in all aspects of writing (organization, grammar and usage, vocabulary, and mechanics). Post test shows better result. Students were improving in all aspects that are organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics.

Table 2: The Result of Students’ Score of Pretest and Posttest

From this result, the significant score of effect size is categorized as high with ES > 0,8 In other words, guided writing strategy has proved by the measurement techniques of data collecting as a good activity in teaching writing descriptive text.

Discussion
Based on the result of the data computation, the effect of the treatment (ES) is 1,36. It was used to answer the problem of how effective the use of guided writing strategy in teaching writing descriptive text to the eighth grade students of SMA 7 Bengkulu in academic year 2020-2021. Based on the result (ES >  0,8), it was categorized as high. Therefore, the first hypothesis, the effectiveness of teaching writing a descriptive text by using guided writing strategy is high, is accepted and the other two are rejected. The researcher compared the score of pre test and post test. On the first meeting to get data about students’ achievement before the treatment, students were given a writing test. As can be seen in students’ weakness were in all aspects of writing (organization, grammar and usage, vocabulary, and mechanics). Post test shows better result. Students were improving in all aspects that are organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics.

Table 2: The Result of Students’ Score of Pretest and Posttest

From the both result of pre test and post test, it can be seen that the score of guided writing strategy is much higher than the traditional method. Therefore it can be concluded that guided writing strategy is more effective in teaching writing a descriptive text at eight grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu in academic year 2020/2021.

The research was conducted within 4 weeks’ time. It was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of teaching writing descriptive text by using guided writing strategy at eight grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu in academic year 2020/2021. In the research, one strategy of English teaching activities for writing class was designed. The strategy was implemented and proved that the students have better result in writing descriptive paragraph.

The comparison of single group’s pre test and post test result was proved that there were changes of using guided writing strategy on improving students’ ability in writing descriptive text. Using guided writing strategy is highly effective in teaching writing descriptive text.

Since the role of the teacher is as the facilitator who offers guidance in helping students to engage in the thinking process of composing (Brown, 2001: 340), it is then applied in the guided writing strategy. The strategy allows students to get more practice and immediate guidance from the teacher.

Most eight grade students at SMA Negeri 7 Bengkulu are poor writes. They experienced problems in writing descriptive text and rarely practice the writing and the process. The teacher then applied guided writing stratgey. Using this strategy, teacher presented authentic and modelled the ways in which writer works. It was done in collaborative discussion to develop students’ understanding of the purposes and techniques of writing. Guided writing offers a series of stimulator by the teacher but the teacher’s controls is loosened (Brown, 2001: 344). This gives students spaces to their creativity yet still expand their awareness in the aspect of good writing.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

Conclusion

Teaching writing descriptive text using guided writing strategy is effective.

This fact can be seen through the mean score of students’ post test result (70,44) which is higher than the result of the students’ pre test (51,09). The result also shows that there is significant difference of pre test and post test, where effect size reaches high category (1,36 > 0,8). Guided writing startegy helps the students to develop their writing skill by giving them wide range of vocabularies and and grammar. Since vocabularies are very important to develop writing skill, it will be very difficult for them to write if they do not have enough vocabulary. Grammar 7 helps them in arranging words into sentences with correct structure.

Sugestion
After concluding the research finding, the researcher wishes to give some suggestion as follow:(a)Teacher should be well prepared for guided writing by preparing the students and the environment so that the students can focus on the lesson;(b)Guided writing strategy is suggested to be used by English teachers to help students increasing their descriptive text writing as alternative strategy for teaching writing;(c)The teacher should keep guiding the students so that they will not loose their attention during the writing process;(d)The students have to practice more to improve their writing skill because they deal much with writing tasks;(e)In writing tasks, such as writing sentences, paragraph or even text, can not be separated from grammar aspects. The knowledge of grammar is needed to help in writing with the correct structure and order.

REFERENCES

Byrne, Don. (1993). Teaching Writing Skills. Singapore: Longman.

Welsh Assembly Government. (2010). Guidance on The Teaching of Writing Skills. Cymry Ifanc Young Weldsh.

Pincas, Anita. (1982). Teaching English Writing. London: MacMillan.

Primary National Strategy. (2007). Improving Writing With A Focus on Guided Writing. Department for Children, Schools, and Family.

Frase, L. (2008). Effective Teaching Solution: Guided Writing. Retrieved on

November   25,        2012,   from effectiveteachingsolutions.com

/guidedwriting.pdf.

Brown, Douglas H. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Third Edition.  San Fransisco : Pearson.

Grabe, William., and Kaplan, Robert B. (1996). Theory and Practice of Writing:

An Applied Linguistic Perspective. New York: Longman.

Ontario Education.(2005). A Guide to Effective Instruction in Writing. Ontario: Ontario Education.

Cohen, Louis., Lawrence, Manion., Morrison, Keith. (2005). Research Methods in Education.London: Routledge.