CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Background of Study
The teaching of writing has been considered a troublesome-side issue to
mainstream of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Despite the fact t
writing has been taught in such a long period of time, students still find it difficul
master the skill. The problem that lies in this issue is the fact that most teachers ra
check and correct the ideas of the students, but they mark the grammatical mistakes
students make instead. Moreover, the students tend to focus on avoiding the grammat
mistakes rather than developing their skills in elaborating their ideas. Teachers think
the fewer the grammatical mistakes the students make, the better writing they prod
The main focus of this kind of teaching lies on the finished product that the stud
created rather than on the process. This method, known as traditional approach,
based upon the belief that a better pedagogical approach, particularly one that focuse
usage, structure, or grammar,
and correct
form, would
foster students
wri
performance (Zamel, 1982, 196).
In this kind of method the focus of the writing exercises is primarily on lang
structure. Students will get good mark if they write a composition with a
grammatical mistakes. The result of this assignment is very boring for both the stud
who are writing and the teacher who is reading all the papers. Moreover, the stud
can not express their ideas freely as the teachers will always try to find their gramma
errors and as a result, the feeling of being afraid of making the mistakes makes
students produce "stiff' writing for the teacher concerns more on the grammar than t
content.
However, some people believe that the main objective of teaching writing has
be placed on the process rather than on the finished products. Pica (1986, 6) stated th
the writing classroom can be a source of frustration to both language learners and t
teachers if they overemphasize the grammatical accuracy and rhetorical organizati
upon the writing assignments that are the characteristics of traditional approach. Ma
students become confused, distressed, or even bored with the demand on their writi
assignments (ibid).
These two viewpoints lead to the emergence of several problems regardi
whether people in the field of teaching English as a foreign language or teaching Engl
as a second language know about these two approaches in depth and are consistent
using these two different concepts as there are so many overlaps and mismatches t
happen to both the teachers of English and the students. The second problem t
appears is the fact that teachers of English, particularly who are teaching writing, are
able to change their paradigms from Grammar Translation Method (GTM) wh
focuses more language structure into a more efficient and effective method of teach
English that is process-oriented approach. The third problem lies in the side of
students themselves. Are the students ready to follow the instructions without a
reward or motivation from the teachers? Are the students who are learning English
their foreign language are able to direct themselves to study and improve themsel
naturally?
This study uses process-oriented approach which focuses more on the proc
(pre-writing, writing, and post-writing) a writer engages in when constructing mean
(Montague, 1995, 15) to see and find out the extent to which this approach can influe
or improve students' performance in writing.
The writer is interested in writing this topic because it might be useful for both
teachers and the students who are learning English, especially in finding a way on
to make writing easier, more interesting, challenging, and less boring.
1.2.
Statement of Problem
The problem in this study lies in how extensively the use of process-orie
approach in teaching writing is running as most teachers still use product-orie
approach where the main focus is on the teaching of grammar.
1.3.
Scope and Limitation
The scope of this study is the third grade of Don Bosco I junior high sc
students. It will take about two months to do the observation.
The study is limited to the discussion of the teaching of composition
biography writing. The skills to be taught are comprised of brainstorming, outlin
composing, preparing interview questions, and compiling information they get int
script and narration.
1.4.
Goals and Functions
The goals of this study are to find out the extent to which process-orie
approach is more optimal than traditional approach like Grammar Translation Me
(GTM) that focuses on the final product and to reveal that process-oriented approa
also efficient in classes consisting of large number of students.
The function of this study is to help both the teacher and students in teaching
learning writing to make writing class more interesting and challenging by enhanc
the teachers' working effectiveness and stimulating the students to explore their id
better.
1.5
Research Methodology
This study applies both qualitative by observing the students and quantita
research to find if there is improvement in the students' performance by using statist
analysis, both with manual calculation and statistical softwares.
To collect the data and information required to make this thesis is by using lib
research (some textbooks and articles regarding English teaching methods) and f
research (data taken from students' performance in class).
1.5.1 Library Research
The writer looks for the sources of this thesis and compiles the theories f
books, articles, and journals in Bina Nusantara University library, Atma Jaya Univer
library, and World Wide Web.
1.5.2
Field Research
The writer used observation in doing the field research. The respondents of
thesis were seventy seven (77) students of Don Bosco I junior high school. The
purpose of this thesis is to find out the extent to which process oriented approach
improve students' performance in writing.
The writing tests given to the students were composition and biography wri
The students were asked to create at least 3 paragraphs and they were given
opportunity to decide on the topic they want to write both for composition an
biography writing. Before they started writing, the writer of this thesis explained som
processes they should do before they really produce their work. Some of the process
were brainstorming, outlining, reviewing, and revising which were parts of pre-writin
writing, and post-writing phase.
The observation took place in SMP Don Bosco I Kelapa Gading. It started fro
August 15, 2007 until 31 October 2007. On the first week the writer of this thesis wh
also taught them, explained some steps that were the writing process before they cou
finally get a good product. There are four papers that had to be submitted by ea
student. Two were compositions and two were biography writings. For each paper, eve
student was given a week to do the assignment before they submitted so that they h
time to edit and revise their paper. Later the papers will be used as the data collection.
The writer analyzed the result to see if there was an improvement on their writin
The improvement would be seen by the statistical calculation using Paired T-test bo
with manual calculation and statistical softwares (SPSS, MINITAB, and MS. EXCEL
The statistical theory and computation will be discussed more clearly in the next chapt