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1 IMPROVING STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH MIND MAPPING MODEL OF EIGHT GRADE SMP NEGERI 13 MEDAN. TESIS. PROGRAM PENDIDIKAN DASAR, SEKOLAH PASCASARJANA, UNIVERSITAS NEGERI MEDAN. IMPROVING STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH MIND MAPPING MODEL OF EIGHT GRADE SMP NEGERI 13 MEDAN BY SRI MONA RIZA 1 ABSTRAK Penelitian ini dilaksanakan berdasarkan permasalahan yang dihadapi peneliti didalam kelas pada SMP Negeri 13 Medan menunjukkan bahwa kemampuan siswa dalam menulis masih rendah dan tidak memiliki motivasi dalam menulis. Penelitian ini menggunakan mind mapping untuk meningkatkan pemahaman siswa dalam menulis teks deskriptif. Desain penelitian ini adalah penelitian tindakan kelas. Peneliti dibantu oleh seorang observer meliputi : perencanaan, implementasi, observasi, dan refleksi. Siklus 1 dan 2 masing-masing terdiri dari dua pertemuan. Subjek penelitian adalah siswa kelas VIII.6 semester 2 tahun ajaran 2012/2013 yang berjumlah 35 orang. Instrumen penelitian menggunakan test menulis, lembar observasi, questioner dan catatan lapangan. Temuan penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa siswa berperan aktif selama proses pembelajaran writing dan kemampuan siswa meningkat. Nilai yang diperoleh berdasarkan harus berdasarkan KKM yang telah ditentukan yaitu 70. Nilai ratarata pada siklus 1 adalah 68,57 dengan nilai 50=11 siswa (31,42%), nilai 70=7 siswa (20%), dan nilai 80=17 siswa (48,57%). Nilai rata-rata pada siklus 2 adalah 79,14 dengan nilai 70=6 siswa (17,14%), nilai 80=26 siswa (74,28%), dan nilai 90=3 siswa (8,5%). Key words: mind mapping, writing descriptive text. ABSTRACT This study was conducted on the basis of the problems faced by the researcher in English teaching in the classroom in SMP Negeri 13 Medan showed that the students ability in writing English was still low and they have not motivated in writing. This study proposed mind mapping to develop the eight grade students achievement in writing a descriptive text. This research is aimed to find out whether teaching writing of descriptive text through mind mapping is effective to improve students writing skill, to collect students perception and students impression of mind mapping process and to collect the progressive result of students participation in learning writing of descriptive text. The design of the study was collaborative classroom action research. Both the researcher and the 1 Sri Mona Riza, Guru SMP Negeri 13 Medan Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

2 observer worked together in cyclic activities such as Planning, Implementing, Observing, and Reflecting. The subjects of the study were the students of VIII.6 in the second semester 2012/2013 academic year which consisted of 35 students. The instruments used were the students writing test, observation checklist, questionnaire and field notes. The research findings indicated that the students were active during the teaching and learning process and the students ability improved. The improvement increased based on KKM is 70. The mean of students score in cycle 1 was 68,57 with the score 50 was 1 (31,42%) students, score 70 was 7 (20%) students, and score 80 was 17 (48,57%) students. The mean of students score in cycle 2 was 79,14 with the score 70 was 6 (17,14%) students, score 80 was 26 (74,28%) students, and score 90 was 3 (8,5%) students. A. THE BACKGROUND OF STUDY Language is an important device and very beneficial means for human being to communicate with other people. By using language, people can talk and understand each other. Writing is one of the language skills that will never be left in education. It is very essential part of the lesson, not only in language class, but also in other classes. Writing is one of skills that be taught in teaching English. Writing has relative closed to reading, if someone has a good reading habit, it makes easy to write one topic in papers with many views and arguments. Few years ago, the teaching and learning of English subject was focus on reading and grammatical context. As development of curriculum in Indonesia, the four skills of English (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are taught equally, even though in the practice, there is a skill that is given priority in the teaching and learning of writing. The objective of teaching English is to enable students to communicate in English orally and in English written form. Accuracy and fluency are aspects of language proficiency. Accuracy refers to mastering language components; pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Meanwhile, fluency refers to mastering language skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing. Moreover, mastering language skills is the objective of English teaching based on the current School- Based Curriculum. Based on the current School-Based Curriculum that writing is one of the language skills that must be taught at junior high school/islamic junior high Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

3 school (SMP/MTs). The teaching of writing aims at enabling students to master the functional texts and monologue texts or paragraphs in the form of descriptive, narrative, recount, procedure, and report. In addition, based on Competency Standard- Standar Kompetensi (SK) and Basic Competency- Kompetensi Dasar (KD), the second year students are expected to be able to express meaningful ideas in term of functional text and simple short essay in the form of descriptive and recount to interact with people in their nearest environment. The work of writing is presented in the form of text types, usually known as genres, which are closely related to the purpose of each type. Descriptive writing is one of the text types that is taught at the eighth grade. Unfortunately, the teaching of writing is not much paid attention to English teaching in this Junior High School named SMP Negeri 13 Medan. Teaching writing has problem. The Teacher does not achieve the target of teaching as mentioned in Educational Unit Oriented Curriculum 2006 (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan). In the process of the teaching of writing, English as a Foreign Language teacher often gets difficulties. Students have low motivation and poor ability in writing. It was shown by the score which derived by the students after learning writing. At that time, the average score was in 2011/2012 Academic Year. This reality did not match with the expectation which has been formulated where the standard score was 70. This condition was happened by some factors. They did not enjoy study writing. In addition, most English teachers have so far used traditional approach based on the researcher s experiences. The EFL students frequently get difficulties in writing. Sometimes, there are many errors in students writing. Some of them write fragments, run-on sentences and misplaced modifiers. The students also have low motivation and can not interest in the writing class. Another difficulties is that they can not manipulate the language well and they lack confidence. Most of them do not know what to say if they do, they do not know how to say it. They can not organize their ideas accurately in the writen form. In this case, they confront with the two main problems. They are content and expression. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

4 Students who do not write well can not draw on its power to support and extend learning and development, and adults with inadequate writing skills can face significant barries in further education and employment. It means difficulties with writing can result students failure to realize their educational, occupational, or personal potential. Considering the difficultness of mastering writing skill, many methods and techniques are used in teching and learning of writing. These methods and strategies are used to help students have good ability in writing. Certain methods or technique are used to improve students achievement. Mind mapping model is one of the teachers staretegies in teaching. Not only mind maps show facts, but also show the overall structure of a subject and the relative importance of individual parts of it. It helps students to associate ideas, think creatively, and make connections that might not otherwise make. Mind map works well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed. Mind map work especially well when created in groups, since the discussion this engenders aids the production of ideas, and makes the task levelier and more enjoyable. The mind mapping model can be used to explore almost any topics in writing and also used in very kind of writing such as : narrative, descriptive, recount, persuasive, argumentative, essay, etc. Students can improve their ideas and lend themselves to discussing ideas in groups. In this case the writer feel challenged to create an innovative method of teaching English material especially descriptive text of text material through mind mapping due the writer s teaching experiences in her school with the title Improving Students Achievement In Writing Descriptive Text Through Mind Mapping Model Of Eight Grade SMP Negeri 13 Medan. The writer took some previous studies. The first thesis is entitled The Effectiveness of Mind Mapping Technique in Increasing The Second Uear Students Reading Comprehension at SLTP Negeri 43 Palembang which is written by Yusuf Effendi, a student of University of PGRI. The result of the calculation of the matched t-test formula was It indicated that the t-obtained was higher than the critical value (02.021). The findings of the the study showed Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

5 that mind mapping could be significantly effective in teaching reading comprehension to the subject of SLTP Negeri 43 Palembang. The second thesis is entitled Teaching Writing Paragraphs By Using Mind Mapping To The Eleventh Year Students of SMA Negeri 14 Palembang written by Hermalasari, a student of University of PGRI. The students average score in pre-test was and the average score of the students post-test was It indicated that t-obtain was higher than the t-table (1.684). There are some differences between those previous theses and the writer s study, they are; (1) in Yusuf s thesis, he took reading comprehension and he used quasi-experimental method. His study was done in SLTP Negeri 43 Palembang to the second year students. (2) In Hermalasari s thesis, she took writing paragraphs and she used pre-experimental method, one group pretest-posttest design. Her study was done in SMA Negeri 14 Palembang. The writer will take the classroom action research, the title Improving Students Achievement In Writing Descriptive Text Through Mind Mapping Model of Eight Grade SMP Negeri 13 Medan. B. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1. Writing Brown (2000:335) states that writing is the result of thinking, drafting, and revising procedures that require specialized skills. The specialized skills in this case are generating ideas, organizing them coherently, using discourse markers and rhetorical conventions to put them cohesively into a written text, revising text for clearer meaning, editing text for appropriate grammar, and producing a final product. 2. Descriptive Text Gerot & Wignel (1994:208) in Making Sense of Functional Grammar says Descriptive Text is a kind of text with a purpose to give information. The context of this kind of text is the description of particular thing, animal, person, or others, for instance: our pets or a person we know well. It differs from report which describes things, animals, persons, or others in general. The Social Function of Descriptive Text is to describe a particular person, thing or place. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

6 3. Mind Mapping Mind Map were popularized by author and consultant, Tony Buzan. He used a two-dimensional structure, instead of the list format conventionally used to take notes. As Tony Buzan (2002) states mind mapping is a graphic representation of ideas (usually generated via a brainstorming session). It shows the ideas which are henerated around a central theme and how they are interlinked. It is a tool primarily used for stimulating thought. He realized that education system primarily focused on the left and brain strength, which include the use of language, logic, numbers, sequence, looks at detail, linier, symbolic representation, and judgmental characteristics. Buzan states that a mind mapping is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It is visual map of ideas, laid out in a radial format around a central thought and it involves a unique combination of imagery, colour and visual-spatial arrangement which is proven to significantly improve recall when compared to conventional methods of note-taking and learning by rote. It needs imagination and association to activate our brain in remembering something. C. METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH 1. Location of the Research This research was conducted at SMP Negeri 13 Medan which is located at Jl. Sampali No. 47 Medan. 2. Subject of the Research The research was conducted in eight grade students of SMP Negeri 13 Medan, they were 35 students. The research was held in the second semester of 2012/2013 school year starting from April 29 th until May 20 th Research Design This study was designed as Classroom Action Research (CAR), with the several processess. Classroom Action Research (CAR) is developed by Kemmis and McTaggart (1982:91), which consisted of four steps, namely planning the action, observing the action, implementing the action, and reflecting the action. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

7 3.1 Planning the Action It was guided by preparing the mind mapping model, designing the lesson plan, discussing with collaborator, preparing instructional materials and media, preparing the criteria of success Preparing the Mind Mapping Model It was given some examples of mind mapping model and the students can make their own mind mapping model related to descriptive text in describing person Designing Lesson Plan The lesson plan was made before doing the implementation. The function of lesson plan is the steps of what should happen in the class and also the material of teaching and learning process for each meeting Discussing with Collaborator The teacher as a researcher was helped by a collaborator in the process of teaching and learning to take teacher and students observation sheet Preparing Instructional Materials and Media It was guided with some steps and using interesting media about mind mapping to improve the students achievement in writing descriptive text. The steps are as follows: 1. The students can choose the topic about descriptive text that they want to write in a piece of paper. 2. Make a central image in the centre of the paper. Colour and add something interesting. 3. Draw some basic ordering ideas, spread out from the central image. Thinking of all something interesting as much as possible and funny for the students and can be connected with the central image to give the students the inspiration. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

8 4. Add some branches to the basic ordering ideas using symbols, pictures, and colours as much as possible. Thinking of the details which are interesting and it can encourage their curious it add to their mind map. 5. Continue it until the students have adequate information for their mind map Preparing Criteria of Success The indicator of success here is to know the use of mind mapping model in solving the writing skill of Eight Grade Students of SMP Negeri 13 Medan with the KKM Implementation of Action (Acting) It was done in lesson plan by implementing mind mapping model in teaching descriptive text. 3.3 Observing of Action (Observation) It was observed by using teacher and students observation sheet in teaching and learning process. 3.4 Analysis and Reflections The data was analyzed in process of writing descriptive text (generating ideas, developing and organizing the ideas, and revising and editing) and product of writing descriptive text (identification and description) by using criteria of assessment (content, vocabulary, generic structure, and language features). Process and product of writing descriptive text was reflelected as a references for planning in the next cycle. C. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 1. Findings 1.1 The result of Pre-Test Based on the result of the pre-test, the data showed that the mean of pretest was 42,57. There were not students who passed the score of KKM meanwhile the lowest achievement gained score 10. From that analyzing, it could be seen that of VIII.6 students writing skill of descriptive text was still very low. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

9 1.2 Cycle Planning In this phase, the researcher made planning for the action based on the problems faced by students toward writing skill of descriptive text. In this case, the reseacher prepared the instruments of researchb for observer and students like descriptive text test, observation sheets, questionnaire form. The researcher also prepared the post-test cycle 1 for students to know whether any improvement in students writing achievement from pre-test to the post-test cycle 1. The reseacher also prepared learning resources, and developed learning scenario Acting The researcher implemented the teaching learning process based on the lesson plan had been made. Here the researcher tried to motivate the students which pointed to the basic competence and explain the objectives of learning. Then the researcher explained to the students about descriptive text and how to make descriptive text through mind mapping. The researcher let the students ask if they did not understand. Next, the researcher gave the example of mind mapping and the topic, then tried to make descriptive text together. Afterward, the researcher provided a topic and mind mapping. Then, the reseacher asked the students to make a descriptive text based on the topic and mind mapping. Next, the researcher discussed the test with the students and evaluated the moststudents error. Finally the researcher gave the students questionnaire to get the students-reflection data Observing In this phase, the observer observed the researcher and students activity when the teaching and learning process. This cycle was devided into two meetings. Teacher Observation Sheet showed that the reseacher had done the activities start from pre-activities, main-activities, and post-activities. (see Table 4.17). Students Observation Sheet showed that students agree with all of statements in the process of teaching and learning (see Table 4.18). This phase, the researcher also took field notes (see Table 4.19) and gave questionnaire sheet (see Table 4.20) to the students to get the reflection data. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

10 On this cycle, there were 11 (31,42%) students still had difficulties in learning descriptive text by using mind mapping and did not pass the KKM. So the writer would continue to the next cycle Reflecting Based on the result of observation sheets, field notes and questionnaire sheet toward teaching learning process in this cycle, the researcher and observed discussed the conclussion of applying the action. There were some students mistakes in their writing descriptive text especially in their vocabulary and language features. It may be caused the students had not been ready to learn descriptive text through mind mapping (see Students Worksheet on Appendix). From the reflecting phase above, there must be more efforts to develop students writing skill of descriptive text through mind mapping. It needed to be improve again in the next cycle. The researcher needed to motivate the students and to explain again about how to make descriptive text by using mind mapping and how to write correctly. 1.3 Cycle Planning In this cycle, the researcher prepared lesson plans and also the research instruments to get the reflection data. The writer also prepared the learning resources and the post test 2 to get the students achievement data. Then, the researcher made the learn scenario to control the teaching and learning activity Acting The researcher implemented the teaching learning process based on the lesson plan had been made. Here, the researcher tried to motivate more to the students to improve their motivation and gave a reward to the students who passed the KKM. Then, the researcher explained the objectives of the learning to the students. Next, the researcher explained to the students about the most students error. Then, the researcher let the students ask if they did not understand. Afterward, the researcher gave the post test 2 to the students. The researcher provided a topic and guided questionnaire to the students. Then, the reseacher Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

11 asked the students to make a descriptive text based on the topic and mind mapping. Next, the researcher discussed the test with the students and then evaluated and explained students error. Finally, the researcher gave the students questionnaire to get the students reflection data Observing In this phase, the observer observed the researcher and students activity when the teaching and learning process. This cycle was devided into two meetings. Teacher Observation Sheet showed that the reseacher had done the activities start from pre-activities, main-activities, and post-activities. (see Table 4.17). Students Observation Sheet showed that students agree with all of statements in the process of teaching and learning (see Table 4.18). This phase, the researcher also took field notes (see Table4.19) and gave questionnaire sheet (see Table 4.20) to the students to get the reflection data. From the result of this cycle the reseacher stopped the reseacrh and did not continue to the next cycle Reflecting The reflecting was carried out after gaining the score result of writing text. The researcher and the observer felt satisfied in as much their efforts to improve the students writing skill of descriptive text had been realized. The students could understand how to make descriptive text easily and could explore their ideas easily. It was proven by their improving scores from the pre-test 1. Indeed, they seemed more interesting during the teaching learning process. The data obtained above showed that mind mapping was able to improve the students attitude toward the learning process as well as their learning behaviour in doing the writing test. The teacher s and students observation sheets showed that both of them can work together, active in teaching and learning process. The Field Notes showed that the students interest in teaching and learning process. The writing activity become more interesting when mind papping was presented. The questionnaire data indicated that the majority of the students were interseted and joyful in using mind mapping. Text Analysis showed that there Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

12 were three categories of students score based on the criteria of action success level, they are: low achiever, mid achiever, and high achiever. The low achiever are very incompetent in writing descriptive text through mind mapping. They confused in drafting and generating their ideas because they didn t know about vocabulary and knowledge about mind mapping and descriptive text but they still did their task. But some of them tried to get their friends (high achiever) task and rewriting it for them. The mid achiever are competent in writing descriptive text through mind mapping. They are better than the low achiever. They tried to be a good writer but sometime they looked at their friends (high achiever) task to compare their task. The high achiever are good in writing descriptive text through mind mapping. They were very active, enthusiasm, in practicing their knowledge from the teacher explanation about mind mapping and descriptive text. They can do their task individually, their vocabulary are better than their friends. The mean score of students score in pre-test was 42,5714 while the mean score in cycle I was 68,5714 and the mean score in cycle II was 79,1429. The score increased for every step. This study showed that the researcher applied process of teaching descriptive text through mind mapping. Thus, it is important to implement the teaching and learning activities in the process of writing descrriptive text since the process is very beneficial for the students achievement in writing descriptive text. The whole class jointed construction of the text. The application of group works aimed to enable the students worked collaboratively in sharing and generating ideas, gathering, organizing material. All students customarily went through the basic phases of the writing process of descriptive text. They showed the different stages in the production of a piece of writing descriptive text. Students were pleased to write. It was indicated that the teaching of writing got positive response from the students. It had something to do with the mind mapping in the teaching of writing descriptive text to the students. Some students undecided about writing. It means that some students would like writing. If they felt they were familiar with the issue. However, if the issue was strange to them, they turned to hate writing. It was indicated that the rule of building knowledge of the field in the teaching of writing, particularly a Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

13 descriptive text, was considered very helpful for enhancing the students view about the issue. By doing so, it was expected that the students would motivated in learning writing. And there was only stating that writing was unpleasant activities. Besides that, some students consider writing as a difficult task because they did not master a sufficient to conduc product of writing descriptive text (content vocabulary, generic structure, and language features), therefore, they can not develop their ideas conveniently in texts. Regarding the students expectation about writing a descriptive text, most of the students only know the terms like generic structure and language features of the text. However, when they were interviewed what they should write in each stages. It was indicated that implementing mind mapping can increase the students achievement in writing descriptive text and the research stopped. 2. Discussions According to the reseach reaearch problems and research findings above, students achievement in writing descriptive text through mind mapping of eight grade SMP Negeri 13 Medan improved. The result of the evaluating between the researcher and observer could be assumed that the implementing of CAR in developing students writing skill of descriptive text by using mind mapping was appropriate with the planning that had been discussed by the researcher and observer previously. In this case, every acting was planned as good as possible so that the writing activities could be accompolished well. The students score increased in every test. It can be seen in pre-test, the students got the low score was 10 and the high score was 60. In post-test cycle 1, the students got the low score was 50 and the high score was 80. In post-test cycle 2, the students got the low score was 70 and the high score was 90. It can be shown in the student worksheet. (see appendix). There are some teacher and student weakness after having participated in the mind mapping. In the process of cycle 1 and 2, the researcher took a lot of time to give some explanations and organizations about mind mapping and descriptive text, the teacher got difficulties to alocate the time. Sometimes the students still confused how to make and drafting their mind mapping related to the topic. In the product of writing descriptive text, some of the students got low score Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

14 in writing descriptive text and some of the students got high score in writing descriptive text. The students vocabulary and language features were still one of problems in students skill to generating their ideas to be a good descriptive text. D. CONCLUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 1. Conclussions Based on the research carried out in VIII.6 grade at SMP Negeri 13 Medan academic year 2012/2013, it is concluded that mind mapping is effective to enhance the students writing skill of descriptive text. It refers to the following informations: 1. Related to the achievement data, there are some progressions of student score from pre-test to the post-test of the two cycle. In the pre-test, there were not students who passed the KKM and the mean score of pre-test were 42,57. Then in the result of post-test in cycle 1, there were 24 (68,57%) students in the class who passed the KKM considering thet their mean score of the test gained is 68,57. Next in the result of post-test in the cycle 2, there were 35 (100%) students who passed the KKM in which their mean score of writing test derived is 79, The observation sheet result showed that the student s participation are more interested in teaching descriptive text through mind mapping in the classroom. 3. Based on the questionnaire result, it can be concluded that the student s perception and impression about process of learning writing skill of descriptive text through mind mapping is more enthusiastic. 4. Mind mapping made students easier in making descriptive text and made them easier in exploring their ideas in making descriptive text. The method also can improve student s achievement significantly in writing skill of descriptive text. 2. Suggestions as follows : Based on the classroom research result, the writer gives some suggestions Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember

15 1. In learning writing skill, the teacher are hoped more creative in teaching their students in order to maximize teaching learning process, and makes the students are not boring. 2. The students can use the mind mapping before they start to write descriptive text. 3. Teachers should not teach their students monotonously, because it may make them bored. Teachers may use the other innovations in teaching and learning process to improve student s academic achievement. 4. Mind Mapping can be applied in English teaching learning process in others skills as one of the innovations in teaching and learning process, particularly the attempt of improving student writing skill of descriptive text because mind mapping make them easier in creating descriptive text. E. REFERENCES Anthony, Patrick, Raymond The Journal of Management Development. Mind Mapping in Executive Education. USA:Maryland. Apriliawati, Anis Comprehending Text Types. Jakarta:Ganeca Exact. Brown, H. Douglas Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. 2nd ed. New York: Longman. Brown, H. Douglas Language Assesment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York: Longman. Bryne, Teaching Writing Skill. London: Longman Group. Buzan, Tony and Buzan, Barry The Mind Map Book. BBC Books. London:Eterprise. Volume : 003/No.12/DIKSAS/Desember