This reseach is aimed to improve Students Writing Ability through a Whatsapp Group and know how the classroom situation when the students practice their writing ability through the Whatsapp Group. It is a classroom action research undertaken at SMPN 8 Metro in 2020/2021 academic year. The subject of the study was 22 students of the eighth grade. It was completed in two cycles. The criteria of success put in this study, if the students have big interests and high motivation in writing practices through WhatsApp group and get a minimum standard of 60.4 score. The data yielded by conducting classical teaching activity, doing interviews, observations, and tests. The data were analyzed descriptively and simple statistically. The pre-test result showed that the average score gained by the students in the pre-cyclewas less than 60.4(78.12%).Only 5 students (21.88%) got 75 scores, otherwise 17 students (63.64%) were under the passing grade. Then, the students who got score ≥ 75 in post test of cycle 1 were 63.64% or 14 students while 36.36% or 8 students got score &lt; 75. Furthermore, in post test of cycle 2 showed that 85 % of the students got ≥ 75 scores. Furthermore, the classroom situation before the treatment was classified into low category with the mean score of 56.00 or . Then, the students’ activity after the treatment in cycle I increase significantly with the mean score 64. There were 16 active students (72.72%). The average of score yielded in cycle 2 was classified into high category with the mean score of 80 and the number of active students became 19 students (86.36%). Thus, it can be concluded that WhatsApp group is able to improve students’ writing ability. Therefore, it is recommended implemented by teachers in practicing English writing

Kurniati, Yunita

Kusumawati, Fitri Palupi

Refa'i, Refa'i

English

Jurnal Universitas Muhammadiyah Metro (UM Metro)

 39  APPLYING WHATSAPP GROUP TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS    Refai1 Fitri Palupi Kusumawati2 Yunita Kurniati3  123Muhammadiyah University of Metro  refaiummetro@gmail.com1 fitripalupi.1985@gmail.com2 yunitakurniati@gmail.com3  Abstract: This reseach is aimed to improve Students Writing Ability through a Whatsapp Group and know how the classroom situation when the students practice their writing ability through the Whatsapp Group. It is a classroom action research undertaken at SMPN 8 Metro in 2020/2021 academic year. The subject of the study was 22 students of the eighth grade. It was completed in two cycles. The criteria of success put in this study, if the students have big interests and high motivation in writing practices through WhatsApp group and get a minimum standard of 60.4 score. The data yielded by conducting classical teaching activity, doing interviews, observations, and tests. The data were analyzed descriptively and simple statistically. The pre-test result showed that the average score gained by the students in the pre-cyclewas less than 60.4(78.12%).Only 5 students (21.88%) got 75 scores, otherwise 17 students (63.64%) were under the passing grade. Then, the students who got score ≥ 75 in post test of cycle 1 were 63.64% or 14 students while 36.36% or 8 students got score < 75. Furthermore, in post test of cycle 2 showed that 85 % of the students got ≥ 75 scores. Furthermore, the classroom situation before the treatment was classified into low category with the mean score of 56.00 or . Then, the students’ activity after the treatment in cycle I increase significantly with the mean score 64. There were 16 active students (72.72%). The average of score yielded in cycle 2 was classified into high category with the mean score of 80 and the number of active students became 19 students (86.36%). Thus, it can be concluded that WhatsApp group is able to improve students’ writing ability. Therefore, it is recommended implemented by teachers in practicing English writing.  Keywords: Whatsapp, recount, junior high school  INTRODUCTION Writing is frequently regarded as a challenging English language skill. Therefore, the teachers must participate in order to resolve the issue. The teachers' involvement to find out the solution of this matter is primarily aimed to transform the writing class into something more than just a learning opportunity for students. To make writing become more than just a learning, but it must be implemented as interesting learning situation directed by teachers. 40    Based on the syllabus of curriculum 2013 from the ministry of national education written that the students who are learning English writing should be able to; (1); Determine the social function of simple oral and written texts related to personal experiences in the past (2) Identify the text structure of spoken and written simple texts related to personal experiences in the past (3) Identify linguistic elements from spoken and written simple recount texts related to personal experiences in the past. During their observation, the researchers discovered the following: 1) Students have very little interest in learning English; 2) They find it hard to remember vocabulary; and 3) When they learn English, they tend to be less active. According to Sri Narti (2016) that writing is treated as a process. This means that when someone writes something for the first time, they need to know how to say it and think about what they're saying. The next step is to read what has been written and make any necessary adjustments after the author has finished writing. Writing is therefore a one-step process; It is a process that involves several steps. Writing requires both mental and physical effort. Writing, at its most fundamental level, is the physical act of committing words or ideas to a medium, whether that medium is permanent ink written in hieroglyphics or an email message typed into a computer. Writing, on the other hand, is the mental work of coming up with ideas, considering how to express them, and organizing them into clear statements and paragraphs for a reader. On the basis of the aforementioned viewpoint, it is possible to draw the conclusion that when teaching writing of the recount text can put students' mental and physical abilities to the test to see if they can come up with ideas and write about them. A study titled "Teaching Improving Students' Writing Ability by Applying the WhatsApp Group Application at Eighth Grade of SMPN 8 Metro in Academic Year 2018/2019 carried out by the researchers.   METHOD This is a Classroom Action Research (CAR). To gain the data, the researchers undertook pre and posttest to get the quantitative data and applied observations and field notes to yield qualitative ones. The observation data are grouped based on the students’ behavior and students’ responses  41  as clues or indicators on students’ activities while techniques are implemented. Based on the criteria of success determined by the researchers that the study can be understood to be successful if 75% of the students have good participations throughout the learning processes, as they follow the learning activities, their writing ability through WhatsApp group developed and produce good responses. In addition, this study would be successful if the students’ writing ability improved which can be seen from their writing average scores. The average writing scores would meet to the success criteria if 75% of student scores are 56.5-60.4 or C as a minimum completeness criteria. The observations are analyzed as below: Score = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑥𝑥100%  Total score The researcher also uses mean formula in this research to know the average of students’ score and to check students’ improvement in writing. The formula is as follow: 𝑀𝑥𝑁 Explanation: M : The average of students’ score x:Total score N : The number of students  Before the cycle one conducted, the researchers will administer the pre-test to assess the students’ previous scores pre the treatments. Then,when the cycle one has been completed, the researcher would administer a post-test to seethe average scores of students after the first treatment. Then, the mean score taken from the pre-test will be compared with the mean of cycle  42  one and the next cycles. They are undergone to know how far the progress of students in teaching and learning process occurred. The researcher also used a formula to determine the final score based on the minimum completeness criteria's value of 56,5-60,4 or C.  RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Findings The students' writing scores from the pre-test, post-test 1, and post-test 2 were reported in the following matrix. In the meantime, the students' activities in cycles 1 and 2 were observed in the classroom. The table below provides a description of the students' scores: Variable Pre Cycle Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Improvement Percentage Writing Ability 70.95 74.23 77.82 6.87 9.68% Classroom situation 28.00 32.00 40.00 8.00 25.00%  The descriptive analysis of the students' writing abilities revealed that the average pre-test score was 70.95. The post-test average for cycle 1 was then 74.23. This indicates that the students' writing skills improve by 4.62 percent following the treatment. In the meantime, the average post-test score in cycle 2 was 77.82 percent. It is possible to draw the conclusion that the classroom action research treatment significantly improved the writing abilities of the students. Additionally, the classroom environment improved by 8.00 points, or 25% (the students received scores of 32 in cycle 1 and 40 in cycle 2):  Discussion  43  The results of students' activity in cycles 1 and 2 were important because they showed how active students were progressing through each cycle. The researcher could determine the shift in students' attitudes during the learning process by doing this.  The students' actions served as evidence from cycle 1 and cycle 2's data. It was derived from the average active student score on the observation sheet. It could be deduced from the preceding data that the average student score in cycle 2 was higher than in cycle 1 (18>11). In addition, the cycle 2 average percentage was higher than the cycle 1 average (81.00>50.00). As a result, it was stated that active students improved between cycles 1 and 2. This indicates that the use of the WhatsApp app in a learning activity can significantly improve the active students because the songs in the app can increase the students' interest in following the lesson. According to the findings of the research, the students who used WhatsApp media had better outcomes. The students' motivation significantly improved their activities as a result of this media. This suggested that the WhatsApp application's videos and images were superior to other forms of media for teaching English writing. The student could make learning English interesting and enjoyable, which made the class's learning process more active. When the students were actively engaged in the learning process, they were better able to respond. The results of the pre- and post-tests, on the other hand, it indicates how well the class's teaching and learning process is working. The number of students who scored less than 75 on the pretest was 36.36 percent, while the number of students who scored below 75 was 64.64 percent. It suggested that the majority of students lacked writing ability. Less writing practice for the students' recount texts. Only eight of the 22 students, or 36.36 percent, frequently wrote recount texts.  44  In addition, 36.36 percent of students scored below 75 on post-test 1, while 64.64 % score above 75. The students' writing scores increased significantly by 27.28 %. This indicates that students' writing skills may have improved as a result of using the WhatsApp app. The students' scores improved as a result of these media. In addition, in the post-test 2 results, all students (90.91 %) scored below 75. It appears that the students' writing abilities may significantly improve as a result of the treatment that was implemented during the learning and teaching process. The WhatsApp app had a significant impact on the rise in English proficiency, particularly in writing. As a result, the use of songs in the WhatsApp app was seen as a good way to increase students' activities, motivation, and interest as well as their writing skills in English. The average score of the students' progress was shown in the table that followed.  CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion Using WhatsApp can help eighth-grade students at SMPN 8 of Metro in the academic year 2020/21 improve their writing skill. The pre-test results show that 5 students got a score below 75, or 21.88 percent, and that 17 students, or 64.64 percent, were not performing well. The number of students who received a score below 75 on posttest 1 was then 63.64%, or 14 students, and 36.36%, or 8 students, received a score below 75. In addition, in the post-test results of cycle 2, all students (100 percent) received scores below 75. After the treatment that was implemented during the process of teaching and learning, it is suggested that the writing abilities of the students might significantly improve. With a mean score of 56.00, the outcome indicated that the classroom situation prior to treatment was low. After the treatment in cycle I, the students' activity significantly increases,  45  with a mean score of 64 and 16 active students (72.72%). In addition, the cycle 2 average score is in the high category, with a mean score of 80 and 19 active students (83.36).  Suggestion It is thought that using the WhatsApp app to teach writing in English is a good way to improve students' writing skills. As a result, English teachers at SMPN 8 Metro are expected to implement and develop their teaching materials in order to improve learning outcomes. The use of WhatsApp to improve students' English writing abilities is implemented not only in classroom activities but also in daily activities. Students are expected to practice writing a lot as they learn English, especially writing, such as writing about their own personal experiences. It is suggested that additional researchers carry out a study that is more in-depth on students who are still learning to write in English as their second language. It is absolutely necessary for students to use in order to develop their writing skills, use effective teaching materials, and teach writing in English as a foreign language.   46  REFERENCES  Alodwan, DrTalal. (2014). The Effect Of Using The Process Approach To Writing On Developing University Students’ Essay Writing Skills In EFL.International Journal Of Linguistics And Communication. 2(2), 147-163.  Dumanauw.Asiani. (2018).The Use OfWhatsapp Application To Teach Writing Of Recount Text An Article. Teacher Training AndEducationTanjungpura University.  Fasya, Dzaky Mubarak. 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APPLYING WHATSAPP GROUP TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

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APPLYING WHATSAPP GROUP TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

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