UTILIZING E-MAIL
TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL
(A Classroom Action Research at the Eleventh Grade of SMK PGRI 6, Ngawi
in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)
TRI YULIWATI S 890809214, 2009. Utilizing E-Mail to Improve Students’
Writing Skill” (A Classroom Action Research at the Eleventh Grade of SMK
PGRI 6, Ngawi in the Academic Year of 2010/2011). A thesis: English Education
Department, Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University, 2011.
The objectives of this research are to: (1) identify whether or not and to
what extent utilizing e-mail is able to improve the students’ writing skill: and (2)
describe the situation when e-mail is applied in the writing class. In this research,
the problem refers to the teaching and learning English, especially their writing
skill which is still low.
The research methodology applied in this research is action research with
two cycles in which each cycle consists of planning, acting, observing, and
reflecting. The data collected are the qualitative data and quantitative data. The
qualitative data are collected from observation, interview, questionnaire, and
document. The quantitative data are collected from pre-test in pre-research, test in
Cycle 1, and post test in Cycle 2. The qualitative data are analyzed by Constant
Comparative Method and the quantitative data are analyzed by descriptive
statistics.
The finding of the research shows that utilizing e-mail in teaching and
learning process can improve: (1) students’ writing skill. The improvement of
writing skill could be seen from these indicators, students were able to: (a) use
punctuation and capital letter; (b) select appropriate vocabulary; (c) make
sentences grammatically; (d) make supporting details; and (e) organize writing. It
could be seen from the collected data, the students had obtained better score from
Cycle 1 to Cycle 2. The mean score increased from 45.73 in the pre-test to 66.04
in the test of Cycle 1 and to 74.27 in the post test of Cycle 2. The minimum score
of English lesson was 65.00: (2) class situation: (a) the students paid full attention
to the teacher’s explanation; (b) the students are able to do the homework
actively; (c) the students talk each other when they had to discuss in their group
dealing with the material given by the teacher; (d) nobody asks for permission to
the teacher to go to the bathroom as the reason just to get out of the class; and (e)
the students take a part in teaching and learning actively.
Utilizing e-mail has succeeded in improving the students’ writing skill; the
researcher would like to propose some suggestions for the English teachers,
especially those who teach in vocational school to: (1) utilize e-mail as one of the
techniques to improve students’ writing skill; (2) learn how to enhance their
ability in teaching; and (3) facilitate the students to practice English writing in
order that the students are accustomed to make English writing tex