CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
This classroom action research was intended to investigate
the recount text writing ability of eighth grade students at SMP
Negeri 5 Jember. This chapter presents some aspects related to
the research which includes the background of the research, the
problems of the research, the objectives of the research and the
significance of the research.
1.1 Background of the Research
English is one of compulsory subjects in middle school
curriculum which is taught twice a week (2 x 40 minutes per
lesson). Hartoyo (2011), as cited in Triyanuarsih (2011), states
that English Language Teaching in Junior High School is aimed at
enabling students to reach functional level in a sense that they
can communicate in spoken and written way to solve daily
problems. He further explains that the purposes of English
language teaching in junior high school are: 1) developing
communicative competence in spoken and written language to
reach functional literacy; 2) generating awareness about the
nature

and

importance

of

English

to

improve

nations

competitiveness in global society; and 3) developing students

understanding about the relationship between language and
culture. Thus, successful language learning process is achieved
when learning objectives could be mastered by the students.
Each learning programs must be established and designed to
prepare students in achieving their educational goals.
Students are required to master English which are taught
and assessed in terms of receptive skill (listening and reading)

and productive skill (speaking and writing). In this research, the

researcher focused on writing skill. Writing is an essential part of
communication for self-expression which can train the students
to convey their thoughts, ideas, opinions and feelings in written
form. In order to achieve good writing to communicate their
message with clarity and ease, the students should express them
into proper, orderly and complete language. So that it is
considered as a daunting task that students are expected to
acquire due to requiring the mastery of a variety of linguistic and
cognitive. Learning to write in either a first or second language is
one of the most difficult tasks a learner encounters (Richard,
1990:100). Basically, students face difficulties in arranging
sentences, feel stress about grammar rules and underprivileged
of using language to develop reasoning skills. Students with
problems in these areas may lead their inability to express their
thoughts, feeling and ideas till they feel reluctant in creating
good writing. Since writing involves a daunting task and
students problems, it is important for students to takes practice
to build their writing fluency because good writing takes a lot of
time.
Based on the result of preliminary study by interviewing an
eighth grade English teacher and observing SMP Negeri 5 Jember
on 21st and 22nd January 2016, it showed that there are some
problems experienced by students in writing, such as difficulties
in expressing and developing their ideas in correct grammar,
vocabulary, organization and mechanic. They are slow and incapable in
retrieving the right words to express the ideas. Most of them also have a
hard time to get start in finding the first sentence of the first
paragraph. Moreover, they often made grammatical mistakes in
their sentences, such as I very happy holiday in Bromo, it

should be written I was very happy holiday in Bromo. They also

seemed to translate word by word, such as I hope you reply
yes, it should be written I hope your reply soon and I went to
poor market, it should be written I went to Pasar Malang.
Referring to the problems of writing as explained above,
there were several cause of the problems identified. First, limited
range of the technique and activity used by the teacher. She got difficulties in
deciding an appropriate technique and activity for the students who had low
ability and interest in writing. Teachers need to try and find ways of presenting
activities, particularly those which children find less appealing, can increase their
motivation (Bull et.al, 2013:84). Second, the use of teaching media is rarely used
because of inadequate school facilities such as LCD projector for displaying video
and images. However, a teacher should find effective ways of implementing
teaching media in the classroom. Chan et. al (2011:1) state media have always
been inextricably linked to the process of teaching and learning which can support
teachers instruction and help make this principle visible to students.
Based on the problems above, learning improvement is
needed in acquiring effective learning outcomes and feedback by
implementing the innovation, such as the development of
teaching media. As we know that teaching media have the
important role to succeed in language learning which can affect
the students learning outcomes. One of effective teaching media
which is desirable by the writer to solve those problems is by
using comic strips as the media in teaching writing. Comics are
one way to make teaching different. Comics can have a unique
and powerful voice in the classroom by upholding the definition
of visual literacy (McVicker, 2007:85). On a similar note, Yunus et.
al (2012) point out that comic can help in learning English, as students
must, before they can create a simple dialogue, decode and comprehend language
devices. A comic can be a stepping-stone in helping students to produce more

complex and traditional written work. Indeed, the use of comic strips as
teaching media is effective tool in writing.
Previous researcher found that comic strips could improve
writing achievement and students attitude in writing activities.
Megawati (2012) in her study stated that the result of the use of
comic strips for composing narrative texts through writing
process in this study showed that the students writing ability
improved during the cycles conducted. Besides, the mean scores
of each aspect of writing; content, organization, grammar,
vocabulary, and mechanics also improved. All of the students of
XII-language

program

can

achieve

the

minimum

passing

criterion, 70. Furthermore, the students attitude towards writing

activities had improved. They were more confident in writing and
felt that the implementation of comic strips was helpful for them
in writing a narrative text. Besides, a research that was
conducted by Hidayaty Eldina entitled The Effect of Using Comic
Strips on the Eighth Grade Students Recount Writing Achievement at SMPN 1
Jember in the 2013/2014 Academic Year, proved that comic strips had a
significant effect on the eighth grade students recount writing achievement. It was
verified by the value of significant column of Lavenes test which was 0.036.
According to the theories and previous researches, it was
revealed that comic strips can contribute effectively in improving
students writing achievement as well as students active
participation in writing class. To confirm the results of previous
research, the researcher was interested to conduct the classroom action research
entitled Improving the Eighth Grade Students Recount Writing Achievement by
Using Comic Strips at SMP Negeri 5 Jember.

1.2 Problems of the Research

Based on the background of the research described above,

the problems of the research were formulated as follows:

1. How can the use of comic strips improve the eighth grade students active
participation in teaching learning process at SMP Negeri 5 Jember?
2. How can the use of comic strips improve the eighth grade students
recount text writing achievement at SMP Negeri 5 Jember?
1.3 Objectives of the Research
Based on the research problems above, the research objectives were
formulated as follows:
1. to improve the eighth grade students active participation in teaching
learning process by using comic strips at SMP Negeri 5 Jember.
2. to improve the eighth grade students recount text writing achievement by
using comic strips at SMP Negeri 5 Jember.
1.4 Significance of the Research
The result of this study hopefully can give significant contribution for the
following people:
1. for the English teacher
The result of this research can be used as reference and knowledge for the
English teacher about the interesting media to teach writing, especially
recount writing.
2. for the students
The actions that will be given to the students are hopefully can motivate
students to improve their active participation and their recount writing
achievement since they will find out that writing is not a daunting task.
3. for the future researchers

The result of this research can be used as guide or reference to support the
future researchers in conducting classroom action research, especially in
improving students recount writing achievement by using comic strips.