The Effectiveness of Using Picture Series to Improve the Students’ Writing Skill Viewed from their Learning Motivation (An Experimental Study in the Seventh Grade of SMPN 1 Tanjunganom Nganjuk in the Academic Year 2008/2009)

Oleh :
Dwi Ariningsih - S890208104 - Sekolah Pascasarjana

ABSTRACT The objectives of the research are: (1) to know whether using picture series is more effective than using translation in teaching writing for the seventh grade students of SMPN 1 Tanjunganom in the academic year 2008/2009; (2) to know whether the writing skill of the students having high motivation is better than that of those having low motivation in learning English; and (3) to know whether there is an interaction between teaching techniques and motivation in teaching writing for the seventh grade students of SMPN 1 Tanjunganom in the academic year 2008/2009. The research was carried out at SMPN 1 Tanjunganom Nganjuk East Java, from March 2009 to August 2009. The research method was experimental. The subjects of the research are the students of the seventh grade 1 and the seventh grade 2. Each of them consists of 36 students. There are 18 boys and 18 girls in the seventh one and there are also 18 boys and 18 girls in the seventh two. The seventh one is as an experimental class which was taught using picture series and the seventh two is as a control class which was taught using translation. The data were obtained from test. The researcher gained quantitative data for her research. They are the students’ scores of students’ writing test after having eight times treatment for each class. The researcher analyzed the data using ANOVA or analysis of variance and Tukey test. Based on the result of data analysis, the research findings are: (1) The picture series is more effective than translation to teach writing for the seventh grade students of junior high school; (2) The writing skill achievement of the students having high motivation is better than that of those having low motivation; and (3) There is an interaction between teaching techniques and learning motivation. Based on these research findings, it can be concluded that picture series is an effective technique used to improve the writing skill of the seventh grade students of SMPN 1 Tanjunganom, Nganjuk. The research result of this study implies that: (1) English teachers should use picture series to develop their techniques to teach writing; (2) the students use picture to improve their writing ability as it can help them with the new ideas and vocabularies; and (3) the future researchers develop some dimensions which have not been developed in this research like using different students’ population or students’ condition viewed from the students’ habit or interest.