Faradina Primarini NS

1923042001
Task I Draft I

I INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses background knowledge, research question, objectives of the research,

uses of the research, and definitions of terms. The explanation of the subtopics are presented

as follows:

1.1 Background Knowledge

Writing has largely attracted the attention of researchers as being a crucial skill that

contributes in learning any language. Writing itself is a process of thinking to invent ideas,

thinking how to express the ideas into good writing and thinking how to arrange it all into

paragraphs properly and clearly (Nunan, 2003). However, as students learn to write inside or

outside the classroom settings, they encounter difficulties which hinder their writing

proficiency. The writing difficulties are commonly shared among English native speakers,

and even students who are learning English both as a second or foreign language (Aragón,

Baires & Rodriguez, 2013). This issue may be traced back to the stages of writing, planning,

drafting, editing and publishing (Harmer, 2004) as well as to the components of a good piece

of writing (Raimes, 1983) which students need to take into account while composing in

English.

Several studies found out that students have difficulties in understanding and their

ignorance of the content of writing, organization, mechanics, and lack of vocabulary as

Sahardin et al (2018) and Wati (2015) wrote in their researches. First of all, Sahardin (2018)

investigated that the problems faced by the students in writing included: (a) it was difficult

for them to find ideas to write about, (b) they lacked vocabulary and (c) they could not

organize their ideas properly due to lack of comprehension of the ways to compose a text, (d)

the students could not use or choose proper grammar, and (e) they misspelled words. His
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investigation is in line with Wati (2015). In her research, she mentioned that content of

writing, organization, lack of vocabulary, grammar, and mechanic are considered as the most

difficult aspects for students in each class because there are many steps in the writing process

related to those aspects; thinking about what to write, how to decipher it, then putting those

ideas into phrases to create a good writing project. However, those two previous researches

merely investigated the difficulties related to the five aspects of writing yet in the end of their

researches they did not analyze whether those difficulties can be overcome by showing the

students improvement from pretest and posttest after being taught through Think-Pair-Share

technique. Thus, their research findings are questionable related to five aspects of writing.

In fact, Jacobs et al (1981) state that there are five aspects of writing, namely content,

organization, grammar, vocabulary and mechanics these aspects are often used to judge the

quality of writing. Furthermore, they are related to each other in order to produce a good

result in writing. Therefore, every teacher needs to be more critical in choosing and using

appropriate technique in order to teach five aspects of writing and enhance students’ writing

ability. In regard to teaching writing, Think-pair-share technique is considered as an

appropriate technique that can teach five aspects of writing and enhance students writing

ability. The Think-Pair-Share procedure is designed to provide a student with time and

structure for thinking about a given topic, followed by being paired with a peer to discuss

responses to said topic, and finally during step three, they synthesize and share their ideas

with a group or the class (Shih & Reynolds, 2015). Some previous researches related to the

implementation of TPS technique in teaching writing have been done by Wati (2018),

Sahardin 2015), and Sanjaya (2013). In their research they proved that Think-Pair-Share

technique was an effective technique that could be used to improve students’ writing ability.

On the other hand, these previous researches have not even touched or analyzed five aspects

of writing.

Besides, this research is interested in integrating TPS technique with technology. Kern as

cited in (Almasri, 2011) stated the world is changing rapidly, and this affects the way

students learn. In order to facilitate students learning a foreign language, Lee as cited in
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(Almasri, 2011) suggests that teachers integrate IT into their EFL classes. Additionally,

learners right now live in a world dominated by technology and they tend to seek a new way

to learn. Nowadays mobile phones are one of the technological developments that have

greatly affected learners’ life. With the technologically advanced smartphones, students

depend on their mobile phones in performing multiple tasks: making and receiving phone

calls, storing data, taking pictures, and even studying. In education, there has been a trend to

use mobile phones for learning especially in technology-deprived classrooms. This trend has

been called Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) and it stands for an approach to

learning that is assisted or enhanced through the use of mobile devices such as iPads, MP3

players, smartphones etc. MALL is in fact a subset of computer-assisted language learning

(CALL). Just like computers, mobile phones can open up new opportunities for sharing

learning materials and for interaction among students and between teachers and their students

(Wong et al., 2012).

In response to that, some teacher tries to integrate technology into their teaching and

teachers could apply mobile learning in a number of ways for example by using social media

application. Hence, social media is an example of technological development which can be

integrated in English language teaching. According to Tess (2011) social media are

computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share idea, exchange information and

pictures or videos in virtual communities and networks through the internet. It is becoming an

integral part of life online and has enabled changes in the way people live, work, interact and

acquire knowledge and learning via the internet.

In the early days of blended learning, the term could mean ‘almost any combination of

technologies, pedagogies and even job tasks’ (Volchenkova, 2016). In blended learning, a

mix of face-to-face and online instruction is built into the design of a course, rather than

offering online instruction as simpliy an add-on to complement the course. Blended learning

emerged as a response to the fact that face-toface instruction cannot adequately meet the

demands of a large number of students: students who have only a limited amount of time

available for classroom instruction and for whom self-study is insufficient.

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On top of that, the most recent popular social media application is WhatsApp messenger.

WhatsApp messenger is a proprietary, cross platform instant messaging application that

allows smartphone users to exchange text, image, video, and audio. According to Fattah

(2015) WhatsApp messenger can improve students’ active participation in EFL classroom. It

can facilitate students with: a) opportunity for practicing the language for free, b) more

personal and comprehensive relationship between students and teachers, c) a chance for

students not to be more sociable only but to learn better, and d) an opportunity for students to

relate their opinions to those of others. Additionally, several previous researches related to

the effect of WhatsApp in English language teaching particularly in writing have been

conducted by Hamad (2017), Fattah (2015), and Allagui (2013). Those previous researches

concluded that WhatsApp can give positive effect on students’ writing ability. Nevertheless,

those previous researches did not investigate aspects of writing namely content, organization,

grammar, vocabulary, and mechanic.

All in all, this current research is interested in modifying Think-Pair-Share technique by

inserting WhatsApp messenger in its implementation. WhatsApp messenger in this research

functions as a medium for learning that emphasizes the social aspect of technology and its

ability to connect learners, either with authentic language input (e.g. the internet), or with

native speakers or other learners. The modification is based on two assumptions proposed by

Dumanauw (2018) and Linda (2018). Dumanauw (2018) and Linda (2018) in their researches

that focused on the implementation of WhatsApp assumed that WhatsApp can provide an

opportunity for students to work in pair or individually moreover with the implementation of

cooperative learning through WhatsApp group, students can help each other to fix the

mistakes in using the language. Furthermore, two of specific suggestions for integrating

Technology for Language Learning and Teaching (TLLT) with the teaching of writing skills

according to Richard (2015) include: a) sharing and showcasing work: students can share

their compositions b) Computer-mediated peer review: students can share drafts of written

work.
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On the other hand, the specific reason why this research chooses Think-pair-share

technique as cooperative learning strategy, Jones (2006) states that in the implementation of

TPS, students have to turn to someone near them to summarize what they learned, to answer

a question raised during the discussion, or to understand how, why and when they might

apply a concept to their own situations the objectives of TPS are to engage students with the

material on an individual level, in pairs, and finally as a large group. He also emphasizes that

TPS is a helpful technique because it raises a discussion among students in the class.

Therefore, modifying Think-Pair-share technique by inserting WhatsApp messenger during

the implementation can be done based on two assumptions and two suggestions above.

Hence, it is important to note that modifying TPS technique has never been done before and

it can be investigated from the previous researches where they only focused on one technique

mainly Think-Pair-Share.

In conclusion, in this research the researcher modified Think-pair-Share technique by

inserting WhatsApp Messenger as a media during the implementation in order to identify

whether the modified Think-Pair-Share would make better improvement on students or not

compared to the original Think-pair-Share. Moreover, this research mainly focused on

teaching five aspects of writing by using modified Think-Pair-Share and identify whether

there is improvement or not on those five aspects at the end of the course by analyzing pretest

and posttest.

1.2 Research Question

Based on the background of the knowledge above, some research question is formulated

in order to explain specifically what this study will attempt to learn or study. The formulation

of research question as follows:

1. In comparison of the experimental group (which employed modified Think-Pair-share

technique) with the control group (which learnt through original Think-Pair-Share

technique) which group’s writing performance will have significantly improved the

most in writing test?

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2. Which aspect of writing improves the most after being taught through modified

Think-Pair-Share technique?

1.3 Objectives

Objectives are set to ensure that the data of this study are relevant to research question.

The objectives of the research as follows:

1. To find out which group between experimental group and control group has

significantly improved the most in writing test.

2. To find out the aspect of writing improves the most after being taught through

modified Think-Pair-share technique.

1.4 Uses of the Research

This research would be useful both practically and theoretically.

a. Theoretical
The findings of this research are expected to support the existing theories on writing and

the use of TPS technique and WhatsApp messenger in teaching writing. Besides that, this

research might give additional contribution in case of education especially in English

writing and it might verify the previous findings about the utilization of Think-Pair-Share

technique and WhatsApp messenger in teaching writing. Moreover, this research could

also be used as additional reference for further research related to the use of TPS and

WhatsApp messenger .

b. Practical
The researcher expected that this research’s findings could be useful for the researcher,

teachers and students which are elaborated bellow:

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1. For the researcher: the researcher expected this research helped her to be a

professional and creative teacher who was able to make enjoyable class for the

students while improving their English ability.

2. For the teachers: the results of this research might give new reference and

information to English teacher that modified Think-Pair-Share technique by inserting

WhatsApp messenger as a media can be used to enhance writing ability of students.

3. For the students: through this research hopefully the students can enhance their

writing ability, have enjoyable writing class, and be more active and confident in the

learning activities in the classroom.

1.5 Scope of the Research

A research cannot cover everything at once therefore scope is set to describe how much

of topic is going to cover. This research mainly deals with the utilization of modified Think-

Pair-Share technique in teaching writing in formal or informal setting.

This research is focused on finding out which group between experimental group and

control group has significantly improved the most in the post writing test. The last focus is to

find out which aspect of writing improves the most after being taught through modified

Think-Pair-share technique.

There are five aspects of writing that are measured by the researcher namely content,

grammar, organization, vocabulary and mechanic. The materials that are used in this research

are several picture, video, or jumbled sentences that are given to the students during the

implementation of modified TPS technique and the materials are taken from internet. The

course that is taught in this research is procedure text.

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1.6 Definitions of Terms

In order to specify the topic of the research, the writer provides some definition of terms

which were related to the research.

1. Writing

Writing is an activity that is done by students to express their ideas by forming visible letters

into meaningful words on a piece of paper or other media.

2. Writing Ability

Writing ability is an ability that is possessed by students in expressing their ideas in which the

students are able to form visible letters into meaningful words on a piece of paper or other

media.

3. Improvement

Improvement is a process of becoming better. In this research the researcher intends to make

students’ writing ability better by progressing students’ writing score.

4. Procedure Text

Procedure Text is a text that is designed to describe how something is achieved through a

sequence of actions or steps.

5. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is instant messaging application that allows users to exchange text, video, audio,

and messages.

6. Think-Pair-Share
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Think-Pair-Share technique is designed to to help students form individual ideas, discuss and

share with the others in-group.

7. Blended Learning

Blended learning, the term could mean ‘almost any combination of technologies, pedagogies

and even job tasks’.