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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem Writing is a physical act of developing words or ideas into statement and paragraph (Nunan, 2008). So, writing skill is a skill of language to product some elements such as vocabulary, grammar, organization, spelling, and punctuation (Rodearta Purba, 2017). Vocabulary is a set of words know to a person or other entity, or a part of a particular language (Hornby, 1986). While grammar is a process to describe the structure of phrases and sentences by considering its order in a language (Yule, 2006, p. 74). Organization is to tell about the flow of ideas (Syafi’i, et al, 2007). Spelling is an ability to recognize, recall, reproduce or obtain orally or in written form the correct sequence of letters in words (Graham and Miller, 1979, p. 2). Oxford Advances Learner`s Dictionary (2000) defines punctuation is the marks or signs used in writing to separate sentences or phrases. In writing, there are five components such as content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics (Hughes, 1983, p. 13). Content is to discuss about how to think creatively and develop their thought while organization refers to tell about the systematic of ideas (Hughes, 1983, p. 13). Organization refers to tell about the systematic of ideas (Syafi’i, et al, 2007). Vocabulary is a set of lexes such as single word, compound words and idioms (Richard, et al, 2002, p. 15). Language use refers to the effective complex construction, agreement, number, word order, pronouns and preposition
(Hughes, 1983, p. 15). Mechanic is an aspect that makes writing meaningful, such as spelling, punctuation, and capitalization (Hughes, 1983, p. 17). By using components of writing, it can result good writing. Hasibuan & M. Ansyari: 2007 states there are six text types of writing such as recount, procedure, report, descriptive, expository, and narrative text. Recount text is a text which retells experiences in the past (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 32). Procedure text is a text to tell how to do something (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 33). Report text is a text to present information about a class of things (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 34). Decsriptive text is a text to describe something such as place, thing, person, and animal (Anderson, 1998). Expository text is a text to influence the readers (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 35). Narrative text is a text to tell events in the past to give moral lesson to readers (Pardyono, 2007). Narrative is one of texts which is important to learn. There is a writing technique that can be used to effect students’ ability in writing narrative text. It is a discussion starter story technique. Discussion starter story technique is a learning material to solve problem of story which are relevant to background of students (Sudjana, 2001). Discussion starter story technique relates to students’ writing skill in solving problem of story. In using discussion starter story technique, teacher usually gives or presents story then the students must continue the story by doing discussion about the story. The term of discussion starter story technique could be developed in many focused topics. Most of previous researchers interested in improving
narrative texts in the class. This is done because discussion starter story technique is very important. Based on the problems above, the writer is interested in investigating the problems above into a research entittled “Using Discussion Starter Story Technique: Its Effect on Students’ Ability in Writing Narrative Text at SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru”. B. Problem
1. Identification of the Problem Based on the background of the problem above, there are many problems that are faced by the students. The problems can be identified as follows: a. Some of the students lack of vocabulary in writing narrative texts. b. Some of the students are not able to develop their ideas to write narrative texts clearly. c. Some of the students do not understand correct grammatical structure in writing narrative texts. d. Some of the students do not understand correct spelling. 2. Limitation of the Problem Based on the identification of the problem above, the writer focuses this research on the use of discussion starter story technique: its effect on students’ ability in writing narrative text. This research will be conducted at the tenth grade of SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru.
3. The Formulation of the Problem Based on the limitation of the problem above, this research will be formulated as follows: a. How is the students’ ability in writing narrative text taught by using discussion starter story technique at the tenth grade of SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru? b. How is the students’ ability in writing narrative text taught without using discussion starter story technique at the tenth grade of SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru? c. Is there any significant difference of the students’ ability in writing narrative text taught by using and without using discussion starter story technique at the tenth grade of SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru? d. What is the strength of the significance of the effect of using discussion starter story technique on the students’ ability in writing narrative text at the tenth grade of SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru? **C. The Objective and Significance of the Research
- The Objectives of the research:** a. To find out the students’ ability in writing narrative text taught by using discussion starter story technique at the tenth grade of SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru.
English that can improve their skill in learning and teaching English. D. Definition of the Key Terms To avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting in writing in this paper, it is necessary for the researcher to explain the terms that are used in this study. They are defined as follows:
- Effect Following Richards and Richards Schmit (2010, p. 190), effect is one variable’s effect on another that is measured of the strengt or the relationship between two or more variables. The researcher concludes that effect means impact one to another because there is something gives it. In this research, the researcher will establish the research about effect of using discussion starter story technique on students’ writing ability of narrative text.
- Discussion Starter Story Technique A discussion starter story technique is a problem solving that relates to learning materials (Sudjana, 2001: 119). It is usually relevant to live background of the students. Discussion starter story technique stimulates the process of discussion to begin in writing a story. So, it can be stated that this techique helps students to think and develop in writing a story.
- Writing Ability According to Rodearta Purba (2018, p.28) writing is a communication process that is done by conveying ideas and opinion in written form. In writing process, students must choose suitable words and relate to story that they write. This is done so that they produce good writing. They should pay attention grammar structure and paragraph in the story. Hyland (2002: 24) defines that good writing is a step to combine suitable words to produce a fresh and original story.
- Narrative Text Pardyono (2007: 94) states that narrative text is a kind of text that tells events in the past. In this research, narrative text is a kind of text that tells in the past and aims entertain readers also gives a moral lesson for the readers. E. Reasons for Choosing the Title There are some reasons why the researcher is interested in conducting this research: 1. The title of the research is interesting and relevant for the researcher’s status as a student of English Education Department. 2. Through this research, the researcher wants to know students’ ability in writing narrative texts by applying discussion starter story technique at SMA Plus Bina Bangsa Pekanbaru. 3. The title of the research is not yet investigated by other previous researchers.
small aspect which do not have important role in language, for examples, prepositions and articles. They are as important as other aspects in language. These aspects also become a problem for the foreign language learners. They often make mistake in using preposition and article so that it influences their production of language. b. Components of Writing There are some components of writing that should be considered by the writers. According to Hughes (1983, p. 13) there are five components that are needed to create effective writing as follows:
- Content Content discuss about how to think creatively and develop their thought (Hughes, 1983, p. 13). To develop contents, the writers need to define a term, to expand the points of view about subject discussed, or to elaborate examples in order to help readers understand the text.
- Organization Organization refers to tell about the systematic of ideas (Syafi’i, et al, 2007). So, a writing must be coherent. A writing is coherent if its paragraph is flow into each other.
- Vocabulary Vocabulary is a set of lexes (Richard, et al, 2002, p. 15). In writing, the writers should pay attention to the usage of words and how to place those words effectively.
- Language use Language use refers to the effective complex construction, agreement, number, word order, pronouns and preposition (Hughes, 1983, p. 15). So, the writer must master grammar well.
- Mechanic Mechanic is an aspect that makes writing meaningful, such as spelling, punctuation, and capitalization (Hughes, 1983, p.17). Therefore, five components of writing above should be developed in writing skill. So, the five components above can not be separated each other. c. Genre of Writing The following genre of writing can help the writer to shape their writing based on the purpose determined. According to Pratama (2012, p. 18) there are some genre of writing as follows:
- Narrative Text Narrative text is a kind of text to tell events in the past to give moral lesson to readers (Pardyono, 2007). There are four generic structures of narrative text such as orientation,
- Recount Text Recount text is a kind of text which retells experiences in the past (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 32). There are three generic structures of recount text such as orientation, event, and re-orientation. Orientation is to give the readers the background information needed to understand the text, such as who was involved, where it happened, and when it happened. Events is a series of events, ordered in a chronological sequence. Re- orientation is a personal comment about the event or what happened in the end. When writing a recount text, there are some language features of recount text such as use of simple past tense, action verb (e.g. went, stayed), conjunction (e.g. then, before, after), temporal sequence (e.g. On Saturday. On Monday, On Sunday), and focus on specific participant, [e.g. I (the writer)].
- Expository Text Expository text is a kind of text to influence the readers so that they prove the writer’s idea (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 35). There are three generic structures of expository text such as thesis, argument, and reiteration. Thesis is to introduce the topic and indicating the writer’s point of view. Argument is to explain the argument to support the writer’s position. The number of arguments may vary, but each
argument must be supported by evidence and explanation. Reiteration is to restate the writer’s point of view/to strengthen the thesis. There are some language features of expository text such as use of relational process (e.g. relationships between and among leaders, workers, followers, partners, co-workers, internal conjunction (e.g. firstly, secondly, next, finally), contrastive conjunction (e.g. but, nevertheless), simple present tense, and passive sentence. This type of text can be found in scientific books, journal, magazines, and newspaper articles.
- Procedure Text Procedure text is a kind of text to tell how to do something (Hasibuan & M. Ansyari, 2007, p. 33). There are three generic structure of procedure text such as goal, material or ingredient, and step. Goal contains the purpose of text (e.g. how to make spaghetti). Material or ingredient contains the materials that used in the process (e.g. onion, tomato sauce). Step contains the steps to make something in the goal (e.g. first, wash the tomatoes, second cut the onions). There are some language features of procedure text such as use of simple present tense, imperative sentence (e.g. don’t mix, turn on, cut into slices), connective of sequence (e.g. first, then, while, next), action verb (e.g. turn, plug, put), and adverb (e.g. slowly, carefully).
process in teaching writing. 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 what rather than how of text construction. e. Process of Writing According to Grenville (2001: p. 47) there are five processes of writing as follows:
- Planning In planning, the writers must explore ideas. The writer needs to explore their memory, texts, notes, and the library in order to get information and ideas for their writing. Besides, the writer can also ask any information from others related to their topics.
- Drafting In this stage, writers begin to develop and form their ideas from their thoughts into more concrete form. When drafting, write down topic sentence, details, information. Then, write paragraphs into draft.
- Revising In revising, the writer should analyze the weaknesses from their initial draft with a minimum of recopying, and cut out and add other thing into the text.
- Editing To finish well, the writers have to edit their writing. The writers edit to recheck their whole text, to make sure what they want to write same as what they intend to say.
- Finished Product The last stage is finishing product. Before producing the final product, the writers must improve their writing because writing is continuos product and it can be finished in order to the writers feel satisfy with their works. f. Writing Assessment Writing is highly valued in educational settings. Teacher can not evaluate a student’s writing ability by giving him or her a multiple choice test. Teacher should understand if the students are learning about writing, they have to write, and assessed in the form of writing. Bachman and Palmer (1996: p. 176) explain that there are two purposes of language test:
- To make inference about language ability.
- To make decisions based on those inferences. ESL composition profile is an evaluation guide in order to provide a point of view, an outline of an ESL writer’s success at composing or putting together the main elements of written discourse into a connected, coherent piece of writing that communicates effectively. This profile contains five component
loosely organized but main ideas stand out • limited support • logical but incomplete sequencing 13-10 FAIR TO POOR: non-fluent • ideas confused or disconnected • lacks logical sequencing and development 9-7 VERY POOR: does not communicate • no organization • or not enough to evaluate LANGUAGE USE 25-22 EXCELLENT TO VERY GOOD: effective complex constructions • few errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions 21-18 GOOD TO AVERAGE: effective but simple constructions • minor problems in complex constructions • several errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/function, article, pronouns, prepositions but meaning seldom obscured 17-11 FAIR TO POOR: major problems in simple/ complex constructions • frequent errors of negation, tense, number, word order/function, article, pronouns, prepositions and/ or fragments, run-ons, deletions • meaning confused or obscured 10-5 VERY POOR: virtually no mastery or sentence construction rules • dominated by errors • does not communicate • or not enough to evaluate 20-18 EXCELLENT TO VERY GOOD: sophisticated range •effective word/idiom choice and usage • word form mastery •
VOCABULARY appropriate register 17-14 GOOD TO AVERAGE: adequate range • occasional errors or word/idiom form, choice, usage but meaning not obscured 13-10 FAIR TO POOR: limited range • frequent errors of word/idiom form, choice, usage • meaning confused or obscured 9-7 VERY POOR: essentially translation • little knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, word form • or not enough to evaluate MECHANICS
5 EXCELLENT TO VERY GOOD:
demonstrates mastery of conventions • few errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing 4 GOOD TO AVERAGE: occasional errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing but meaning not obscured 3 FAIR TO POOR: frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing • poor handwriting • meaning confused or obscured 2 VERY POOR: no mastery of conventions • dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing • handwriting illegible • or not enough to evaluate Adopted from: Jacob, at al (1983, p.140)
2. Discussion Starter Story a. The Nature of Discussion Starter Story Technique Rodearta Purba (2018: 29) says that discussion starter story technique is one of the group learning techniques that involves students
