ABSTRACT

Muliawati. K2209065. 2016. Improving Students’ Writing Skill Using Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) (An Action Research at the Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri 1 Baturetno in the Academic Year of 2013/2014). Thesis. First Consultant: Dr. Abdul Asib, M. Pd., second consultant: TeguhSarosa, S. S., M. Hum. English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, SebelasMaret University, Surakarta.

The objectives of this research are: (1) to describe whether Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) can improve students’ writing skill; (2) to describe the class situation during the implementation of CIRC in this research; (3) to describe the strengths and weaknesses of CIRC implementation in this research.
The action research was conducted in one cycle from September of 2013
to April of 2014. There are 8 meetings in the cycle. The cycle consisted of four steps: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The data were collected by using  observation (participant  and  non-participant  observation,  field  notes, checklist), interviewing (guided interview), surveying (questionnaire), and assessing (pre-test, post-test) techniques. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis for descriptive data and descriptive statistics for numeric data.
The research findings showed that: (1) the implementation of CIRC could improve students’ writing skill. The students’ writing skill had improved along with the activities in CIRC which provided the students opportunity to explore their English writing. The improvement of students’ writing skill was proved by the  improvement  of  English  writing  score.  The  mean  score  of  writing  test increased from 62.70 to 80.89. (2) The class situation during CIRC’s implementation in English writing teaching and learning improved. It can be seen from the improvement in students’ involvement, cooperative peer environment, and the guidance of the teacher. (3) The strengths and weaknesses of CIRC’s implementation in this setting were described to get better understanding in CIRC implementation.
From the finding of this research, it can be concluded that CIRC is the
good technique to teach writing that benefits both for students’ skill and class situation.    It  is recommended  that  the teacher  implement  CIRC to  overcome students’ problems in writing skill and her problems in class situation.

Key Words: cooperative integrated reading and composition (CIRC), students’
writing skill, class situation