Improving the Students’ Writing Skill in News Item Text using the Journalist’s Questions Technique

ABSTRACT
Dananto, Bambang. 2011. S 890209105. Improving the Students’ Writing Skill in News Item Text using the Journalist’s Questions Technique (An action research in Class X-2 of SMA Negeri 1 Bojonegoro in the academic year of 2009/2010 ). Thesis, Graduate Program in English Education, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. Advisors: (I) Dr. Sujoko, MA (II) Drs. H. Tarjana, MA.
This research investigates whether the Journalist’s Questions technique can improve the students’ writing skill in News Item Text and how the teaching learning situation when the technique is applied in writing class of Class X-2 students of SMA Negeri 1 Bojonegoro in the second semester in the academic year of2009/2010. During the teaching-learning process, the researcher found out that the students got difficulties in getting ideas and arranged them in coherent paragraphs. They also got difficulties in determining what tenses they should use in their sentences, besides they lacked of vocabulary to express the ideas.
This research is an action research. Action research is a way of reflecting on the teaching which is done systematically by collecting the data on every day practice and analyzing it in order to come to the decision about what the future practice should be. The research was done in two cycles with four meetings in every cycle. Each cycle consisted of planning, acting, reflecting, and the post-test. The qualitative data were collected by observation, interview, and tests. The quantitative data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, figuring out the mean scores of the test and the improvement of the score. The qualitative data was analyzed using Constant-comparative technique proposed by Strauss and Glasser consisting of the following steps: (1) Observing the students during the writing process, starting from pre-writing activities by using observation sheet. (2) Analyzing the result of the interview to find out the information about the implementation of the Journalist’s Questions Technique in writing. (3) Analyzing the students’ writing progress based on the result of analytic scoring rubric.
The result of the study showed that: (1) the Journalist’s Questions technique can improve the students’ writing ability. It also improved the students’ interest in writing. The students were actively involved in the teaching and learning process. Most of them were able to organize their ideas in news item text. (2) The Journalist’s Questions technique also produced more alive classroom atmosphere, increased the students’ participation, reduced teacher’s domination, provided more chances for the students to write, increased teachers’ innovation and understanding the students’ potential.
Based on the results of the study, the researcher concluded that the Journalist’s Questions technique can improve students’ writing ability and classroom situation. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers use the technique in teaching writing, especially in writing news item text.