STICK FIGURE ON WRITING RECOUNT

USING STICK FIGURE IN ‘CTL’ TO IMPROVE

STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXT

OF CLASS VII-A SMPN 1 LUMAJANG

By : Yusuf Wijanarko, S.Pd.

ABSTRACT : English Curriculum 2004 for SMP/MTs states that learning English aims to develop students’ competence to communicate in English both orally and written. It refers to the competence of mastering Genre, understanding and producing some kinds of texts. One of the texts is Recount. In fact, students find difficulties in digging their ideas and formulate them with sufficient vocabulary to construct the text as the generic structure and language feature. Referring to I.A. Richards and Christine M. Gibson’s ideas that using stick figure is more vivid than words and much easier to recall, so students understand the words better when they have seen some objects associated with it. In line with the problem, the writer intends to develop the strategy of encouraging students to dig their ideas and build their vocabulary by using Stick Figure to construct the words to make sentences/text in coherence and in unity. This Classroom Action Research entitled ‘Using Stick Figure in ‘CTL’ to improve students’ ability in writing Recount text, conducted to students of class VII-A SMPN 1 Lumajang on the odd semester of the academic year of 2004/2005. The writer designs in two cycles implemented in twelve meetings. Paper and pencil test and performance test are used as instrument of the study. The result shows that learning process runs more joyful and helps the students to dig their ideas and construct the text more easily both in-group and individually.

Key words : Stick Figure, Recount text

English Curriculum 2004 for SMP/MTs states that the objective of learning English is to develop students’ competence to communicate in English both orally and written. The students’ competence in communicating refers to the competence of mastering genre that is the competence in understanding and producing some kinds of texts, that is Descriptive, Narrative, Recount, Procedure, and Anecdote, both orally and written.

The students, who learn Recount text, are hopefully able to understand the generic structure of the text and able to develop their ideas in constructing the text as the language feature of it. In fact, the students of VII-A SMPN 1 Lumajang have limited vocabulary and often find difficulties in producing the text both orally and in written.

More than anything else, it is visual aids in one form or another that helped the students entered an imaginative experience beyond the classroom. Students understood and retained the meaning of a word better when they had seen some object associated with it. For this reason, the teacher should expose the student to real-life situation; when this is not possible, the visual aids could serve as a useful substitute. As picture and their images were more vivid than words, they were much easier to recall than words. Using pictures is one of the most successful techniques most teachers had tried in teaching English. In this research, it did not mean ready-made printed pictures – it referred to stick pictures, or stick figures, or blackboard drawings, as they were sometimes called (I.A. Richards and Christine M. Gibson, 2005).

Then, the problem is how can using Stick Figure in ‘CTL’ improve students’ ability in writing Recount text of class VII-A SMPN 1 Lumajang?

In line with the problem, the writer intends to develop the strategy of encouraging students to dig their ideas and build their vocabulary by using Stick Figure to construct the words to make sentences/text in coherence and in unity.

This classroom action research gives the teachers more various ways in which we used stick figures in teaching Recount text, so they can arouse the students’ interest and attract their attention, create an atmosphere in which students learn English naturally, bring into the classroom a live language situation, which involves both language patterns already learned and new items. Also, this classroom action research can help the students to be able to learn Recount text more joyful and more easily before they can produce Recount text in written

There is a wide variety of uses to which Stick Figure can be put to provide meaningful practice in the classroom at different levels of linguistic attainment. They can be used at the practice stage of a lesson, for review, or as a stimulus for discussion.

In this procdure, the students look at the Stick Figure and tell the teacher what they see. The teacher may ask questions to encourage the students to observe more closely and to describe what they see more clearly and precisely. This type of observation exercise is useful mainly in introducing new vocabulary items.

Stick Figure can also be used for intepretation – to help students speak more, as they discuss possible intepretations of a picture, form opinions about them, and imagine what might have happened beyond what appears in the picture. They arouse interest and release imagination and energy, which is a hard thing to do in a language class. When the students have finished discussing the details of a picture, they can try to make interpretation of them in a sequence so that they tell the story.

There is one thing we need to be aware of. All teaching aids, and not ends in themselves. They are not substitutes for teaching. Used wisely, however, they can be a real help to the teacher.

RESEARCH METHOD

This Classroom Action Research starts from describing the planned strategy, followed with implementing the planned strategy, observing the implementation of the planned strategy, and reflecting or evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation. The strategy is revised if the evaluation shows that the implemented strategy does not prance satisfactory result yet. 

The subject of the research is students of class VII-A SMPN 1 Lumajang in the academic year 2004/2005. They consist of 42 students, 22 female and 20 male. The classroom action research has been conducted for four months in the odd semester of the academic year 2004/2005 that is on September to December 2004. The writer uses Paper and Pencil test and Performance Assessment to collect data to measure the achievement of students’ ability in writing Recount text.

The writer conducts English learning of Recount text for the first cycle on September to October 2004 and the second cycle on November to December 2004. Each cycle has 6 meeting and each meeting has 2X45 minutes.

They consists of the first and seventh meeting are for building knowledge of field (BKOF), the second and eighth meeting are for modeling of text (MOT), the third, fourth and ninth, tenth meeting are for joint construction of text (JCOT), the fifth, sixth and eleventh, twelfth meeting are for individual construction of text (ICOT).

Performance Assessment is integrated in learning process (On Going assessment). It is conducted when the students do their learning experiences in main activity of each stage (BKOF, MOT, JCOT, ICOT).  Paper and Pencil test in the end of the fourth and ninth meeting for group work and the sixth and twelfth meeting for individual works.

 FINDING

In BKOF and MOT of cycle 1, teacher begins the lesson by asking questions about the actual events happened recently. He accommodates and chooses the most interesting event and draws a situational stick figure on the blackboard. He gives the students a few minute to observe among themselves and asks them to tell what they see in the picture. He writes down some relevant-key words,  from the ask and answer, on the other side of the blackboard, then sums up the words in sentences to make Recount text orally. It is repeated twice. This learning process still makes students hardly to sum up the generic structure and language feature of the text. In cycle 2, when the teacher sums up the words in sentences in written, it gives much easier for students to sum up the generic structure and language feature of the text.

In JCOT of cycle 1, teacher begins the lesson by asking questions about the actual events happened recently. He accommodates and chooses the most interesting event and draws a situational stick figure on the blackboard. He gives the students, in-group of three, a few minute to observe among themselves and asks them to tell what they see in the picture. The teacher asks the groups to find and write down some relevant-key words on their notebooks, and then they have to construct the relevant-key words into sentences/text. Here, the groups still need teacher’s help to determine the correct words and apply the language feature properly. In cycle 2, it is more helpful when teacher sums up with the class and writes down the fixed-relevant-key words on the other side of the blackboard. Then, the groups construct the relevant words into sentences/text. Also, teacher changes the grouping, from group of three to group of four that makes the process better.

In ICOT of cycle 1, teacher begins the lesson by asking questions about the actual events happened recently. He accommodates and chooses the other most interesting event and draws a situational stick figure on the blackboard. He asks each student to find and write down some relevant-key words on his/her notebooks and construct the relevant-key words into sentences. But, they are hardly to find and construct the relevant-key words into sentences/text. In cycle 2, the teacher helps the students by summing up the relevant-key words and writing down on the other side of blackboard. Then, the students construct the relevant-key words into sentences/text.

DISCUSSION

A.   Cycle 1

The first and second meeting: The students get difficulties to understand the text orally because some words used in the oral text sounds strange for them, although they are really not unfamiliar words. They still cannot identify the generic structure and language feature of the text because they cannot understand the coherence and the unity of the entire oral text.

The third and fourth meeting: The students, in-group of three, can get some relevant-key words but they still cannot get the other words as needed to construct the sentences/text because they are lack of vocabulary. They can make identification of the generic structure from the sentences they make but they cannot apply the language feature properly. The students, in-group of three, still need teacher’s help to lead them in determining the correct words and applying language feature properly.

The fifth and sixth meeting: Some students, individually, can get some relevant-key words but they still cannot get the other words as needed to construct the sentences/text because they are lack of vocabulary. Some students can make identification of the generic structure from the sentences they make but they cannot apply the language feature properly. Some students, individually, still needs teacher’s help to lead him/her in determining the correct words and applying language feature. Each student needs different time to finish his/her individual work. Some students find the time allotment is not enough.

The reflecting of the first circle is used as a guidance to make planning in the second cycle .

Some indicators of weaknesses found in the first circle have been revised in the meetings in cycle 2.

B.   Cycle 2

The seventh and eighth meeting: Students still get some unfamiliar words but they try to get the meanings by guessing or matching between the words and the stick figure. They get the generic structure more clearly, because they can identify the words when they are used in certain positions and their characteristics in written. They get the language feature more clearly, because they perform the class more actively to ask to the teacher and answer teacher’s questions

The ninth and tenth meeting: The students, in-group of four, gets better in finding and constructing the words into sentences/text because their vocabulary gets better as well. Their cooperative learning in-group of four makes learning runs better in determining the correct words and applying the language feature properly. They are more actively to ask and answer questions, give and take ideas and make clarifications among themselves

The eleventh and twelfth meeting: The student, individually, gets better in finding and constructing the words into sentences/text because his/her vocabularies get better as well. The teacher’s help stimuli the student, individually, to lead him/her in determining the correct words and applying language feature. The time allotment for each student to write a text individually runs less time.

Performance assessment is conducted when the students do their learning experiences in main activity of each stages (BKOF, MOT, JCOT, ICOT) in Cycle 1 and 2. 

Table 1: The Resume of Performance Assessment in Cycle 1

No	Performance Assessment	Grade in Numbers					Grade in Percentage
		A	B	C	D	E	A	B	C	D	E
1	Identifying the generic structure and language feature	-	23	13	6	-	-	54.76	30.95	14.29	-
2	Constructing the relevant words into sentences to make the text in groups	2	15	17	8	-	4.76	35.71	40.48	19.05	-
3	Constructing the relevant words into sentences to make the text individually	-	9	10	17	8	-	21.43	23.81	35.71	19.05

Table 2: The Resume of Performance Assessment in cycle 2

No	Performance Assessment	Grade in Numbers					Grade in Percentage
		A	B	C	D	E	A	B	C	D	E
1	Identifying the generic structure and language feature	8	28	6	-	-	19.05	66.67	14.29	-	-
2	Constructing the relevant words into sentences to make the text in groups	14	25	3	-	-	33.33	59.52	7.14	-	-
3	Constructing the relevant words into sentences to make the text individually	15	15	9	3	-	35.71	35.71	21.43	7.14	-

A : Excellent, B : Good, C : Fair,  D : Inadequate, E : In acceptable

Based on Table 1 and 2, the writer finds that the students get achievement in identifying the generic structure and language feature between cycle 1 and cycle 2. It can be described, as following:

Identifying the generic structure and language feature: Students who get grade A   increases from no student (0%) to 8 students (19.05%). Students who get grade B increases from 23 students (54.76%) to 28 students (66.67%). Students who get grade C decreases from 13 students (30.95%) to 6 students (14.29%). And students who get grade D decreases from 6 students (54.76%) to no student (0%).

Constructing the relevant words into sentences to make the text in groups: Students who get grade A increases from 2 students (4.76%) to 14 students (33.33%). Students who get grade B increases from 15 students (35.71%) to 25 students (59.52%). Students who get grade C decreases from 17 students (40.48%) to 3 students (7.14%). Students who get grade D   decreases from 8 students (19.05%) to no student (0%).

Constructing the relevant words into sentences to make the text individually: Students who get grade A increases from no student (0%) to 15 students (35.71%). Students who get grade B increases from 9 students (21.43%) to 15 students (35.71%). Students who get grade C decreases from 10 students (23.81%) to 9 students (21.43%). Students who get grade D decreases from 17 students (35.71%) to 3 students (7.14%). And students who get grade E           decreases from 8 students (19.05%) to n0 student (0%).

Some indicators support the achievement that can be discussed, as following: (1) the chronological events illustrated in the situational stick figure can lead students to find the details of time, manner, and place, (2) the unity of events illustrated in the situational stick figure can help students to divides event by event, (3) the characters illustrated in the situational stick figure can help students to find the specific participants, (4) the actions illustrated in the situational stick figure can help students to find the use of action verbs, (4) the time setting illustrated in the situational stick figure can explain the use of tenses, especially past tense.

Paper and Pencil test is taken in the end of the fourth and tenth meeting for group work and the sixth and twelfth meeting for individual works.

It gives the result that (1) the students tend to get achievement in constructing the relevant words into sentences/text in groups between cycle 1 (73.43%) and cycle 2 (84.88%), (2) the students tend to get achievement in constructing the relevant words into sentences/text individually between cycle 1 (67.95%) and cycle 2 (78.81%)

Some indicators supports the achievement can be discussed as following: (1) the details in the situational stick figure can encourage students to dig their ideas deeper and find the relevant-key words sufficiently, (2) the details in the illustrated in the situational stick figure can explain some confusion words that students find, (3) the entire situational stick figure leads students to construct the words to make sentences/text in coherence and in unity to make Recount text

CONCLUSION

This study finds that using Stick Figure (1) arouses the students’ interest and attracts their attention, (2) creates an atmosphere in which students learned English naturally, (3) brings into the classroom a live language situation, which involved both language patterns already learned and new items, (4) represents the coherence and unity of the entire text and guides the students to construct the text based on the generic structure and the language feature of the text

SUGGESTION

Teachers can consider of using Stick Figure as one alternative in teaching Writing. Especially, for teachers who have large classes, the use of Stick Figure is suggested to be applied because it can change students to be active, participated, competitive, and brave. It gives more joyful to have new impressions or experiences.

Learning English will be more attractive when media are used. It is recommended to keep trying to supply the media even the simple one, like Stick Figure.

In certain cases, teacher’s help on guiding students can be substituted by asking the faster students to help their slower friends in work groups but in the other cases, teacher’s help on guiding students is still needed. The most important one is teacher always keeps observing the students’ progress on every step of learning.

Further researchers are expected to improve more until it reaches to a perfect strategy and furthermore it can be applied in anywhere and any situation without facing significant problems.

REFERENCES

Derewianka, B. 1990. Exploring How Texts Work. Rozelle, NSW : Primary English Teaching Association.

Hardy, J. and Klarwein, D. 1990. Written Genres in the Secondary School. Department of Education Queensland.

I A Richards and Christine M Gibson. 2005. English Through Pictures. Atlanta: Pippin Publishing.

Li-Shing, Tang. 1981. English through Pictures. English Teaching Forum, 19 (4):10-15.

McNiff, Jean. 1988. Action Research: Principles and Pracice. New York: Routledge.

Pusat Kurikulum. 2003. Kurikulum 2004: Standar Kompetensi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris.  Jakarta: Depdiknas.

Shaaban, Kassim. Assessment of Young Learners. (http: //www.BBC@yahoo.com, diakses 14 Februari 2005)

Szyke, Grazyna. 1981. Using Pictures as Teaching Aids. English Teaching Forum, 19 (4):45-46.