IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING NARRATIVE TEXTS USING udSHORT ANIMATED STORIES AT CLASS VIII C OF SMPN 2 SANDEN, BANTUL IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2013/2014

摘要

This research was aimed at improving the writing ability of students of VIII C of SMP Negeri 2 Sanden, Bantul Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2013/2014. The problem was that they had low writing ability. This particular research was categorized as action research. The actions were implemented in two cycles based on the class schedule. This research involved the 28 students of class VIII C of SMP Negeri 2 Sanden Bantul Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2013/2014 and the English teacher as the research collaborator. The data of the study were in the forms of qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained by observing the teaching and learning process of writing, interviewing the students of class VIII C and the English teacher, holding discussions with the collaborator and taking pictures. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were acquired through a pre-test, a progress test, and a post test. The validity of the data was obtained by applying democratic validity, dialogic validity, catalytic validity and outcome validity. The research findings showed that the use of short animated stories combined with the use of some supporting activities and classroom English was proven to be effective to improve the students’ writing ability. It could get students’ attention and increase their learning motivation. It can help the students understand the story better as the video contains visual or moving images that can help imagining the real situation in the story. The students who just gained the mean score of 58.8 in the pre-test, were able to increase their score up to 76.1 in the post test. It indicated that they made a considerable improvement in some aspects of writing skills such as content, organization, vocabulary and grammar and mechanics.