Improving The Students’ Writing Skill Using Index Card Match (A Classroom Action Research at the Second Grade Students of SMP N 1 Penawangan, Grobogan in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)

Oleh :
Eko Putriyana Sri Supriyanti - S890809203 -

The main objectives of the research are: (1) to prove that index card match can improve the students’ skill in writing recount and narrative text for the second grade students of SMP N 1 Penawangan; and (2) to know the strengths and the weaknesses of using index card match to teach writing. The classroom action research was employed in this research. The subject of the research was 40 second grade students of SMP N 1 Penawangan in the academic year of 2010/2011. This action research was conducted in two cycles. Each consisted of planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting the action. In collecting data, the researcher used quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data were taken from the writing test scored by two scorers. The writing test was to write recount and narrative texts scored based on organization, idea/content, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. The qualitative data were taken from the result of questionnaire given to the students. To support the qualitative data, the researcher conducted interviews to the students to know the problem they had in writing. 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 research findings are described in line with the problem statements as follows: first, by using index card match the students’ writing skill improves. This is proved by the significant increase of the mean score of the pre-test, post-test 1, and post-test 2. Besides, by implementing index card match in teaching writing, the students’ interest in writing improves. They are also actively involved in the teaching learning process. Second, based on the result of the research there are strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are: (1) index card match can improve teacher’s performance, it makes the teacher creative in teaching; (2) index card match can improve the students’ motivation. They are interested in joining the class. The weaknesses are: (1) it takes a long time for students in writing using index card match. They have to arrange the cards before they write based on the content of cards; and (2) using index card match, the class is noisy. The students sit closer and speak to each other. Based on the result of the research, it can be concluded that the use of index card match improves students’ writing skill. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers apply index card match in teaching writing. Key words: Index Card Match, Writing