IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT BY USING PICTURE

The purpose of the research is to investigate whether or not pictures can improve students’ writing skill and class condition. The subject of this research is students of class VIII A in SMP N 5 Kebumen. The method of the research is a classroom action research. This research was conducted in two cycles. Each cycle consisted of four steps: planning, action, observation and reflection. To collect the qualitative data, the researcher used field notes, photograph and interview. To collect the quantitative data, the researcher conducted tests. The tests were pre-test and posttests. To analyze the qualitative data, the researcher used interactive model data analysis. For the quantitative data, the researcher analyzed the mean scores of the tests to compare differences between pre-test and post-test. The result of the research shows that teaching writing skill by using pictures could improve the students’ writing skill and the class condition. The improvements of the mean scores showed that there was an improvement on the students’ writing skill. The students’ mean score of pre-test is 51.15, it improves up-to 57.79 in the post-test I and up to 60.82 in the post-test II. Therefore, it could be concluded that teaching writing skill by using picture could improve the students’ writing skill

Developing Computer-Assisted Tutorial Instructional Program for Teaching Grammar in Higher Education

The aims of this research were to: (1) gain information on the existing condition of learning media which are used by lecturers to teach grammar, (2) develop the proper media which is suitable for the students' need and appropriate to teach grammar, and (3) find out the feasibility of the proposed media. Research and Development method was used in this research. The research consisted of exploration stage and development stage. Observation, questionnaire, and interview were used to gain the data, while Spiral Data Analysis was used to analyze the data. From the exploration stage, it was found out that the media usually used by the lecturer to teach grammar were Power Point Presentation and handouts. The weaknesses of these media were lecturer dependent, bad presentation, time consuming, non-independent learning, device malfunction, and limited exercises. It was also revealed that Computer Assisted Instruction was not used to teach grammar while it was needed. Moodle based English Grammar Gate was designed as an answer to the students' need. It consisted of two major parts; they are: tutorial part and exercise part. Expert judgment was done to validate the product. The experts suggested several improvements and revision was made regarding the evaluation given. The revised product was then used in field testing to find out the feasibility of the product. Facing two field testing processes and having several revision toward the product, it was then stated feasible

Improving Students\u27 Skill in Writing Narrative Text Through Animation Movies

The objectives of the research are: (1) to identify whether or not animation movies can improve the students\u27 writing skill at the eighth grade of SMPN 2 Klego and (2) to describe the class situation. The research findings show that the use of animation movies can improve students\u27 writing skill and class situation. The improvement of students\u27 writing skill includes: (1) the students organized their ideas coherently using appropriate generic structure of narrative; (2) the students used more appropriate vocabularies; (3) the students wrote their naratives in grammatically correct sentences; (4) the students used spellings and punctuations correctly in their composition. The class situation also improved : (1) students were active and creative, they paid attention to the teacher\u27s explanation; (2) they did all exercises given by the teacher. Finally, it could be concluded that the use of animation movies could improve the students\u27 writing skill and the class situation

Improving Students' Writing Skill Through Guided Writing

This study aims to describe (1) whether guided writing can improve the writing skill of class X2 students at SMA N 2 Boyolali in the academic year 2011/2012; and (2) the class situation when guided writing is implemented in the writing class. The data of the research were in of qualitative and quantitative ones. The qualitative data were collected through interview, observation, questionnaire, and documentation. The quantitative data were collected through tests. The research findings showed that guided writing could improve students' writing skill and class situation. Related to the improvement of students' writing skill, they found it easier to develop the idea, to choose the vocabulary, to organize their sentences; they also made fewer mistakes in mechanics, and their mistakes in grammar reduced. Related to the improvement of class situation, they enjoyed the teaching and learning process, and they were more active. From those findings, it can be concluded that guided writing can improve both students writing skill and class situation

Pre-Service English Teachers' Perception on Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in English Language Teaching

Higher order thinking skill is one of the important components for an individual to be able to solve new problems in the 21th century. In the revised Bloom's taxonomy, HOTS is defined as an incision among the three top levels of ability in the cognitive dimension (analyzing, evaluating, creating), and 3 levels of knowledge dimension (conceptual, procedural, metacognitive). The aim of the present case study was to investigate pre-service English teachers' perception on Higher Order Thinking Skills in English language teaching. A total of 15 pre-service English teachers in a university in Indonesia participated in this study. The research used questionnaire to collect the data. Data were analyzed using interpretative approach. The result showed that the pre-service English teachers have their perspective about higher order thinking skills by themselves. They are aware towards Higher Order Thinking Skills in English language teaching. They are involving some activities to encourage students in thinking skill. They believed that every student is capable to think critically