IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ ABILTY IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVEudTEXTS THROUGH COLLABORATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUEud(A Classroom Action Research at Grade VIII A Students of SMP Negeri 1udPelaihari, Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan Province inudthe Academic Year of 2010/2011)ud

摘要

Supiani. 2011. S. 890809027. Improving the Students’ Ability in WritingudDescriptive Texts through Collaborative Writing Technique (A Classroom ActionudResearch at Grade VIII A Students of SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari, Tanah LautudRegency, South Kalimantan Province in the Academic Year of 2010/2011).udThesis: English Education of Graduate Program. Sebelas Maret University,udSurakarta. Consultants: (I) Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd, (II) Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd.ududThe main objectives of the research are (1) to improve the ability inudwriting descriptive texts of the grade VIII A students of SMPN 1 Pelaihariudthrough collaborative writing technique; and (2) to know the strengths andudweaknesses of the implementation of collaborative writing technique in improvingudstudents’ writing ability of descriptive texts in the grade VIII A students of SMPNud1 Pelaihari.udThe classroom action research was employed in this research. The subjectudof the research is 28 of grade VIII A students of the SMP Negeri 1 Pelaihari in theudAcademic Year of 2010/2011. This action research was conducted in two cycles.udEach consisted of planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting the action. Inudcollecting the data, the researcher used quantitative and qualitative data. Theudquantitative data were taken from the writing tests scored by two scorers. Theudwriting test was scored based on content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, andudmechanics. The quantitative analysis that was used to analyze the students’udachievement before and after the cycle was implemented by using descriptiveudstatistics, finding out the mean of the scores in the test and the improvement of theudscores. Meanwhile, the qualitative data were taken from the questionnaire,udinterview, and observation which were done before and after the treatment. Thoseudwere analyzed by using Constant Comparative Method proposed by Strauss andudGlasser consisting of the following steps: (1) comparing incidents applicable toudeach category; (2) integrating categories and their properties; (3) delimiting theudtheory; and (4) writing the theory.udThe research findings are described in line with the problem statements asudfollows: first, by using collaborative writing technique the students’ ability inudwriting descriptive texts improves. This is proved by the significant increase ofudthe mean score of the post-test cycle 1 and post-test cycle 2. Besides, they can alsoudfollow the writing process well which covers six steps in their activities namelyudidea generating/pre-writing, drafting, reading, editing, copying, and evaluating.udThose steps help the students to produce their writing to be better. Second byudimplementing collaborative writing technique in teaching writing, the students’udbehavior in learning writing changes and improves their motivation as well.udMoreover, they are actively involved in pair work and the class situation becomesudlively and also increases the students’ participation in writing class. In theudteaching and learning process the students have interest and self-awareness inudwriting.udThird, based on the results of the research there are the strengths andudweaknesses. The strengths are: (1) CWT can improve the students’ writing ability because they do in pair with his/her partner and every step of writing helps themudto write better; (2) the students have become more motivated to study English; (3)udthe students have higher self-confidence and felt happy because the students wereudalso actively involved in working in a pair; and (4) it builds the teacher or theudcollaborator’s awareness that there are many varied ways which can be used inudteaching learning English. Besides, the weaknesses are: (1) the students have toudspend a long time to complete every step of writing process in the classroom; (2)udthe condition of the class is noisy; and (3) sometimes the pair has differentudopinions or arguments in developing paragraphs so it can make a difficult workingudsituation or poor finished product.udBased on the results of the research, it can be concluded that the use of theudcollaborative writing technique improves the students’ writing ability. Therefore,udit is recommended that teachers apply collaborative writing technique in teachingudwriting.udKeyword: Collaborative writing technique, descriptive texts, writing abilityudud