Improving Students' Ability In Writing English Through Writing Diary (PTK)

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING ENGLISH THROUGH WRITING DIARY

(An Classroom Action Research at the Tennth Grade Students of SMKN 1 KOTA BIMA,  in academic year 2014/2015)

THESIS

BY:

 RAHMAT SATRIA

2011.050.075

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM

TAMAN SISWA  TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

2014/2015

BIMA

 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.     Background of Study

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system). It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of
language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio. Writing most likely began as a consequence of political expansion in ancient cultures, which needed reliable means for transmitting information, maintaining financial accounts, keeping historical records, and similar activities. Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration outgrew the power of memory, [citation needed] and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form. In both Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica writing may have evolved through calendrics and a political necessity for recording historical and environmental events.

Writing, more particularly, refers to two things: writing as a noun, the thing that is written; and writing as a verb, which designates the activity of writing. It refers to the inscription of characters on a medium, thereby forming words, and larger units of language, known as texts. It also refers to the creation of meaning and the information thereby generated. In that regard, linguistics (and related sciences) distinguishes between the written language and the spoken language. The significance of the medium by which meaning and information is conveyed is indicated by the distinction made in the arts and sciences. For example, while public speaking and poetry reading are both types of speech, the former is governed by the rules of rhetoric and the latter by poetics.

A person who composes a message or story in the form of text is generally known as a writer or an author. However, more specific designations exist which are dictated by the particular nature of the text such as that of poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, journalist, and more.

A translator is a specialized multilingual writer who must fully understand a message written by somebody else in one language; the translator's job is to produce a document of faithfully equivalent message in a completely different language. A person who transcribes or produces text to deliver a message authored by another person is known as a scribe, typist or typesetter. A person who produces text with emphasis on the aesthetics of glyphs is known as a calligrapher or graphic designer.
Writing is also a distinctly human activity. Such writing has been speculatively designated as coincidental. At this point in time, the only confirmed writing in existence is of human origin.

Consequently, it is very important to develop the communicative competence in English language teaching both orally and written. The learners of any school level in Indonesia including the junior high school, in this case, should be able to learn English as a foreign language that is focused on the four language skills, namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing (KTSP, 2006).  BNSP, (2007). Experiences in school leave some people with the impression that good writing simply means writing that contains no bad mistakes, that is, no error of grammar, punctuation, or spelling. In fact, good writing is much more than just correct writing. It's writing that responds to the interests and needs of our readers.

Based on preliminary study did by the researcher, that the teacher’s technique in teaching speaking in SMKN 1 Kota Bima is still conventional. It means that the teacher just talk about the material without order to student to write what they feel, because all of student just want to get a fun study. Meanwhile, teacher rarely ask the students to practice writing although writing activity is actually very important to perform in the classroom in order the students become habituated in writing. As the impact, the students’ motivation in English subject, based the preliminary of study, is neither very high nor very low.

One problem of teaching writing in SMKN 1 Kota bima, as found by the researcher in the observation is that the teachers found to set appropriate material for writing. The teachers just take the material from the books without  any necessary adjustment so that the students seem hard to practice writing exercises. In order that this circumstances would nor occur, it is recommended that the material should be match to the context of surrounding environment as it is emphasized by the standard of competence in the curriculum.

Another problem is that the teacher does not have any strategy in teaching and learning process. It means that the teaching and learning process runs traditionally without any changes. The students fell bored and do nor have ability in expressing their idea in learning English. This circumstances makes writing activities during the lesson do not run well.

Based on those problems above, the researcher interested in applying writing diary technique to improve speaking ability of the ten grade students of SMKN 1 Kota Bima.

B.     Statement of Problem

This research points out the statement of problem as the following:

”Does Writing Diary improve the writing ability of the ten grade students’ of SMKN 1 Kota Bima?

C.     Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study is to find out whether the use of writing diary  improve the students’ writing ability of the ten grade students of SMKN 1 Kota bima in academic year 2014/2015.

D.    Limitation of  the Study

This study applied to the ten grade students of SMKN 1 Kota Bima, and the study focused on using Writing Diary in improving students’ ability in term of expressing ideas through words, phrases, or sentences writed to a diary’s book.

E.     Significance of the Study

The study has significance on contributing theoretically and practically:

1.      For the teachers.

The finding of this study can help them in their teaching process, or they can adopt this technique to improve the students’ ability.

2.      For the other researchers.

This study will  be very useful references for those who are interested in the same study and give useful consideration to conduct another study which is still related to the area of the study.

3.      For the students.

Hopefully, this study can improve their writing ability and make them more enjoyable during teaching and learning process.

F.      Definition of Key Terms

To avoid misconception and misunderstanding of the study, the researcher would like to explain some key terms, as follow:

1.      Writing ability

Writing ability is the ability to express ideas through words, phrases, or sentences orally (Djiwandono, 2008; Spratt, M., Pulverness, A. & Williams, M. 2005).

2.      Diary

Diary (also called journal) is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period (Samuel Pepys.1730). A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Decriptive text is a text which is describe a person or certain place.

CHAPTER II

THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

A.     Teaching Of Writing

According to Pardiyono(2003:34),teaching writing is only focus on how to write the correct sentence grammatically.

Furthermore, Nunan (2003: 92-93) states there are form principle of the teaching writing, they are:

1. Understand your students’ reason for

writing.

2. Provided many opportunities for the

students write.

3. Make feedback helpful & meaningful.

Then, Perkis (2005:72) states that teaching writing is a process that requires teachers to help the students in developing their thinking critically in written form. Based on the discussion above, it can be concluded that the teaching writing is continue thinking process. Teacher helps students in choosing and finding topic.

There are items which we st necessarily exclude and items which we must necessarily include in our plan. Between these lie the problems of selection of the items. Mackey (1975: 164) states that the selectivity of any item is inversely  proportional to its restrict ability, that is, to the capacity of the language to do without it. A writing class for advanced students. Selecting materials is the first way that language teachers should do.

B.    Techiques in Teaching Writing

Writing in the target language involves the ability to shape the letters of the alphabet (graphics), knowledge of the right combinations of letters (spelling), and the skill in expressing ideas through the written word of the target language (composition). Each of the three skills has different types and each type may function as a technique that can be used to teach writing. The following section will address the types of writing that can function as techniques in teaching writing (adapted from Mackey, 1975). Types of writing will function as tecniques when they are used to improve students’ writing.

1.      Spelling

Since the English sounds and letters have little regulary, students should learn which letters to use for a sound or word. The spelling drills may include written exercises in completion, transliteration, and dictation.

a.      Completion

The purpose of this exercise is to train students in observing the shape of words that they have learned in listening or speaking. In copletion exercise one or two letters are omitted and students should fill in the blanks to form a correctly spelled word.

Example :

The teacher spells the word school

                        Sch__l

The teacher spells the word chicken

                        __icken

b.      Transliteration

This writing skill is introduced when the spoken language is learned first. When our students learn the language from what they liste, they  may be provided with phonetic transcription and the phonetic transcription represents what they hear. The exercise of this writing is done by providing texts in the phonetic transcription to be rewritten in the conventional orthography. this exercise may also develop their pronunciation by reading phonetic symbols when they use a dictionary.

c.       Dictation

Dictation may be a good exercise for our students to develop their writing skill from what they hear. Different from transliteration exercise, in dictation exercise our students write what they hear in the conventional orthography. In this exercise our students learn to associate the spoken and the written words. We may read the spoken texts at dictation speed or the texts may be recorded on tape.

2.      Composition

Written work should start with the vocabulary and structure that our students have either learned orally or simply learned to read. Composition may range from the easiest exercise to more difficult one; they may be grouped under sentence modification, sentence composition, and paragraph writing. The three types of techniques will be discussed in the following section.

a.      Sentence Modification

Sentence modification may have five types: multiple choice, conversion, word jumbles, matching and aliteration. The five types will be discussed in the following section.

1)      Multiple Choice

This exercise may be used to give practice in grammatical elements or vocabulary use. It includes supplying missing word and giving a correct answer.

2)      Conversion

Students are given practice in a new from in place of a known one: from positive to interrogative, or from simple present tense to simple past tense, depending on the instruction from the teacher.

Text            : The book is  new

Students     : Is the book new?

Text            : We are in the class.

Students     : Are we in the class?

3)      Word Jumbles

In this exercise words are mixed in a random order and our students are required to make a sentence out of them.

4)      Alliteration

The text gives a series of sentences with certain words underlined. Our students re-write the sentences using the opposites of the words underlined. The exercise may also require our students to change all the nouns or the tenses, or make similar changes in the text.

5)      Matching

Our students are provided with two lists of words or word-groups. By matching them, our students compose sentences which make sense.

b.      Sentence Composition

Composing original sentences may be presented through caption writing, sentence writing, sentence translation and composition tables. The three techniques will be discussed below.

1)      Caption Writing

Caption writing may include a series of pictures under each of which students should write their own sentences. In this exercise student are expected to write sentences that describe the picture.

2)      Sentence Translation

Translating from the native language to the target language can be a form of writing exercise. In this exercise students translate sentences written in their first language into English. the sentences may be presented disconnected or connected in the form of a story.

3)      Composition Tables

Composition talbes may be a type of controlled composition. Students are provided with tables and write out full sentences from the tables. Since the purpose or writing is to drill students in the use of English, not in the use of imagination, they may be provided with enough ideas before they write.

c.       Paragraph Writing

Writing a paragraph may include paraphrase writing, narration, description, free composition and translation.

1)      Paraphrase

Writing exercise may take a form of paraphrasing selected passages or summaring in their own words. Paraphrasing may take a form of altering sentences, which is simpler than paraphrasing passages.

2)      Narration

Narration may be written from a sequence of pictures and students write the stoy they tell. It may also require students to write in full sentences the activities which they perform during the day, from the time they get up to the time they go to bed.

3)      Description

In writing a paragraph teachers may provide students with a series of pictures. The pictures may lead our studentsinto writing a description of each picture of the whole pictures.

4)      Exposition

In expositino students are required to tell how they do an action with which they are likely to be familiar. For example, how they start or ride a motorcycle.

5)      Free Composition

Free composition is regarded as the culminating point of writing exercise. Composition may be required on topics with which our students are familiar. In this exercise students may be given a detailed outline of the composition so that they will not spend much time for imagination when they will start to write.

6)      Paragraph Translation

Paragraph writin is given to advanced students since in this exercise they are expected to have a good knowledge of the structure and the vocabulary of thhe target language. Moreover, they are expected to have a good knowledge of its culture and certain expression in the target language as well.

C.    Purpose of Teaching Writing

1.      Writing for Language Practice

Writing can be taught primarily for practising language forms to develop accuracy and correctness. With the influence of behaviourist theory in the audio-lingual approach to teaching language, writing was mainly for reinforcement, training, and imitation of language forms. The behaviourists believed that humans could learn through stimulus and response. This was applied to language learning in which accurate use of the language was learned through reinforcement, constant practice and imitation. In such language-based writing tasks, students would be given writing exercises that would reinforce language structures that they have learned through the manipulation of grammatical patterns. Examples of such writing tasks found in a lower secondary English textbook are shown below. These are controlled compositions in which students would be given a paragraph and asked to perform substitutions, transformations, expansions, or completion exercises.

Writing Skills

Sentence Connectors

Look at the table and the example sentence. Write out nine sentences using the information in the table. Use connecting words such as

a. because, since, as
b. therefore, so, as a result
(Table Given)

Example: His car wouldn't start because the battery was flat. He therefore had to take a taxi. (Interlink 3, 1987:41)

Writing Skills

Sequencing the Steps in a Process

Below is a conversation between yourself and a stranger to Singapore who does not know how to use the telephone here. Look at the pictures and then complete your part of the dialogue, selecting your sentences from the choices given. Rewrite the complete dialogue on a separate paper. (Interlink 3, 1987:11)

If the teaching of writing focuses mainly on such language-based writing tasks, the danger is that students may perceive writing as a mechanical practice and nothing more than producing correct sentences. We assume that such highly controlled writing tasks ~could help our students develop accuracy and correctness by doing the exercises. However, when we ask students to compose using their own sentences, we can observe that students would still make the same errors even though they have done numerous practices on such writing tasks. Unfortunately, these students are often categorised as slow or remedial learners. Maybe what we should be questioning is the effectiveness of such mechanistic writing tasks as well as our own unrealistic expectations of students' performances, particularly for second language learners. As a result of such emphasis on accuracy, students may be afraid of making errors and taking risks in the process of creating a text using their own words and sentences to express their ideas. However, if we believe that learning can take place through making errors, allowing students to express their thoughts using their own language can improve their fluency and competency over time. By over-emphasising accuracy, we inhibit students' own construction of language and meaning in composing their texts.

2.      Writing for Rhetorical Practice

Research in contrastive rhetoric (Kaplan, 1966; Purves, 1988; Connors, 1996) has hypothesised that the rhetorical patterns could differ between languages and cultures. Students learning a second language may organise their essays using a pattern that could violate native readers' expectations. As a result, the teaching of rhetorical forms and conventions began to have its influence on language textbooks and teaching practices. In writing tasks that teach rhetorical forms, teachers would provide the content and use model essays as stimuli for writing. Students will imitate the rhetorical and syntactic forms by following the chosen model passage. Examples of such tasks are writing guided compositions in which the content and organisation are given by the teacher, reading a passage and writing a composition with parallel organisation, and reading an essay and analysing its organisational pattern and writing a similar essay on a related topic. The following are examples of guided writing tasks that are both language and product based.

Write On
Guided Composition: A Description of a Place
Read the following passage about the Jurong Bird Park.
Using the reading passage as a model, write a similar description
and tram-car commentary on the Singapore Zoological Gardens.
Use these notes. Wherever possible, use the pattern If + present tense + will. (Interlink 3, 1987:13-14)

Functional Writing 1
A. You can describe an event, for example, a festival, using a systematic format. Read the following account that Keiko has written.

(Model Essay: The Japanese New Year)

B. Write about an important festival that your family celebrates using the given format. (New Clue2A, 1994:100)

Too much emphasis on rhetorical structures and modelling will inhibit students in exploring ideas and creating meaningful and authentic texts on their own. Even though models could be helpful in providing examples and support in producing a text, Raimes (1987) argues that models used by teachers are often not authentic texts written for real communicative purposes for real readers, but tend to be simplified and contrived models written for textbooks for the purpose of demonstrating form. When students are always dependent on the teacher to provide the ideas or models, the process of composing and creating a text on their own would become a difficult task mainly because they lack the experience and not because they do not have the ability to do so. Therefore, it is not surprising to find students saying that they do not know what to write when models or ideas are not given to them by the teacher. This will result in students suffering from writers' block, that is a feeling of anxiety and inability to think of ideas to write because the teacher has become the supplier of content for students in addition to instructing them on how to format their ideas.

3.      Writing for Communication

With the emphasis of communicative competence as a goal in language learning (Widdowson, 1978; Brumfit & Johnson, 1979), teaching of writing began to shift its emphasis on accuracy and patterns to the ability to understand and convey information content. Completing a communicative writing task would require greater awareness of writer's purpose, audience, and the context of writing. Here writing has a social function. Such communicative writing tasks would simulate real life situations where a writer would write to convey some information to a reader. Below are examples of such writing tasks taken from a secondary English texthook

Composition Writing

Imagine you work for a travel company and it is your job to write a leaflet giving advice to customers going on long journeys. You have made some notes but unfortunately you have dropped them and they have become rather jumbled:

(Jumbled Notes given)

Compose a text of the leaflet using the ideas in the notes by arranging them in a sensible order. You will need to develop bare instructions in the notes by explaining why they are important. (Forté Workbook 2, 1992:48)

Look at the set of photographs below. Imagine you are a housing agent and have to sell the house in the photographs. Using the photographs to help you, write an advertisement to be put in the newspaper. Make use of what you have learnt in the comprehension section of this unit to help you. (CLUE Express 3, 1985:54)

In these writing tasks, students are given fictional roles which they have no experience in and usually the content is again provided by the teacher. Similar to the writing tasks for the development of language skills, there is little room for students to become inventive and be really involved in text creation using their own thoughts and ideas. Here, we see that such communicative writing tasks view writing as a means for conveying information, not as a means for thinking and formulating ideas. Another disadvantage is that the audience here is usually a fictional one. There is no real need for meaningful communication to real readers. In reality, the writing is for the teacher who is the grader of the assignment. If students were always asked to write with the functional purpose of transmitting information rather than to write to explore and construct their own meaning, they might not view writing as means of discovering their "true self' and projecting their "voice" as authors in their texts.

4.      Writing as a Discovery and Cognitive Process

In response to the limitations in both the language-based, product-based, and communicative approaches to teaching writing, writing tasks in the classrooms began to shift their focus to the process of writing which was influenced by the humanistic and cognitive approaches. The process approach has two main schools of thought: the expressive and the cognitive.

The expressive school of thought stresses the importance of self-development. Writing is viewed as an expressive mode through which student writers use writing as a means to explore and discover meaning for themselves and develop their own voice (Elbow, 1973; Graves, 1983; Murray, 1985). The act of composing is "a creative act in which the process:- the discovery of the true self - is as important as the product" (Berlin, 1988:484) and should be "the result of a genuine need to express one's personal feeling, experience, or reactions" (Zamel, 1980:74).

Students are encouraged to generate their own ideas by writing freely so that they can put down their ideas without interruptions. Elbow (1973) believes that freewriting is able to develop fluency and the writer's unique and authentic "voice". The teacher acts as a facilitator whose task is to promote a supportive learning environment which provides learners with opportunities to write about their own ideas and discover their voices rather than act as a judge whose task is to identify students' errors. Writing tasks that subscribe to such a view of writing would include journal writing and expressive essays that encourage self-discovery and self realisation.

With the influence of cognitive psychology, writing researchers (Flowers & Hayes, 1980) began to study the mental processes during the act of composing. From the studies of composing processes using protocol analysis, researchers found that good writers do "not only have a large repertoire of strategies, but they have sufficient self-awareness of their own process to draw on these alternative techniques as they need them. In other words, they guide their own creative process" (Flower, 1985:370). In composing, experienced writers were found to employ more effective writing strategies such as planning, writing multiple drafts and making more content and global revisions, while novice writers would focus on surface features such as rhetorical and linguistic forms.

Research in the composing process has contributed to our understanding that writing is not a linear but a recursive process of constructing meaning. Here, writing is viewed as a process of "forming concepts, and forging new structure of ideas, while at the same time trying to juggle all the constraints imposed by his or her purpose, audience, and language itself' (Flower & Hayes, 1988:92). It is through the process of drafting, rethinking, and revising that new insights and ideas are created. As a result of the work done by cognitive writing researchers, the teaching of writing as a process has influenced texthook writers. Process writing tasks would involve the use of prewriting, drafting, peer-reviewing, revising and editing strategies.

D.    Writing Ability

Writing is one of the language skills . In the division of the ability to speak , write always put the final after listening skills , speaking , and reading . Although the end is always written , does not mean that writing is an ability that is not important .
In writing all of the elements of language skills should be concentrated in full in order to get results that are really good . Henry Thunder Tarin (1986 : 15 ) states that writing can be interpreted as activity ideas / ideas using written language as a medium conveys .
According to Tarin Djago in Elina Sharif , Zulkarnaini , Sumarno (2009 : 5 ) writes means to express ideas in writing , ideas, opinions , or thoughts and feelings . Lado in Elina Sharif , Zulkarnaini , Sumarno (2009 : 5 ) also expressed his opinion about the writing that is: put a graphic symbol that represents a language that is understandable to others.
Writing can be regarded as a process and an outcome . Writing is an activity undertaken by a person to produce a paper . According to Heaton St . Y. Slamet (2008 : 141 ) writing is a skill that is difficult and complex .
According to Gebhardt and Dawn Rodrigues (1989 : 1 ) writing is one of the most important Things you do in college . Writing is one of the most important things you do in school . Good writing skills play an important role in the success , be it writing a report , proposal or assignment in school .
Understanding writing is also expressed by Bram Barley (2002 : 7 ) in principle , to write means to try to produce or reproduce writen message . Bram barley defines writing as an attempt to create or recreate existing literature .
According to Eric Gould , Robert DiYanni , and William Smith (1989 : 18 ) mentions writing is a creative act , the act of writing is creative because its requires to interpret or make sense of something : a experience , a text , an event . Writing is a creative behavior , the behavior of creative writing because it requires an understanding or feel something : an experience , writing , events .
Semi Atar M. (2007 : 14 ) in his book reveals the sense of creative writing is a process of moving ideas into writing symbols . Burhan Nurgiantoro (1988 : 273 ) states that writing is an active productive activity , ie the activity generating the language .
Writing by McCrimmon in St . Y. Slamet (2008 : 141 ) is digging the thoughts and feelings of a subject , choose the things that will be written , determining how to write so that the reader can understand easily and clearly . St . Y. Slamet (2008 : 72 ) their own opinions about writing is an activity that requires capabilities that are complex .

Painting a picture is not writing . In other words letters drawing is not writing . A painter can only paint Chinese characters , but he can not be said to write , if he does not understand the Chinese language along with the letters . With such criteria , it can be said that copying or copying letters or prepare a script in script letters in certain letters to be printed is not write that these people do not understand the language and its representation ( Lado , 1979:143 ) .
In principle function and are writing as a means of indirect communication . Writing is very important for education because it allows the students to think , can help us think critically , can help us to feel and enjoy the relationships , responsiveness or deepen our perceptions , solve the problems we face , sort the order for the experience.
Writing is a form of thinking , but rather think for certain reading and for a specific time . One of the most important tasks of the writer was to master the principles of writing and thinking , which will be able to help him achieve his aim . The most important among the principles which meant it was an invention , arrangement , and style . In brief, learning to write is learning to think in / in a certain way ( Angelo , 1980:5 ) .
The author who is accomplished writer who can take advantage of the situation appropriately . Situation that must be considered and utilized it as follows .
1 . Aims and objectives of the author ( changes are expected to occur in
      the reader ) .
2 . Reader or viewer ( reader whether it is a parent, acquaintance , or friend of the
      authors ) .
3 . Time or opportunity ( the circumstances involving the occurrence of an
      certain events , time , place , and situation that demands immediate attention ,
      problem that needs solving , questions that require jawaba , and
      etc. ) ( Angelo , 1980:20 ) .

Given that nowadays writing skill is included in main standardised tests worldwide as well as nationwide, as writing assessment is employed as a part of performance assessment in classroom testing at high school level in Korea, English teachers are first expected to establish the construct of writing ability explicitly prior to devising other test-related aspects such as test specifications, tasks and scoring/grading schemes for the sake of validity of the testing. The definition of writing ability can be formed depending on teachers' own experience as teachers and philosophy of writing, taken into consideration characteristics of learners and aims of pedagogy in a given context. It may also be formed according to pedagogical approaches to the teaching of writing which each teacher adopts. This study, therefore, aims at exploring the definitions of writing ability according to three approaches to the teaching of writing (product-based, process-based and reader/genre-based) and examining whether English teachers at high school level in Korea have established their own but theoretical definitions of writing ability and what they look like, and making suggestions on ways to help them with this issue. For this study, six English teachers participated in the interview as respondents and their answers were discussed qualitatively. Even though this study has limitations of generalizing the findings from the small number of participants, it shows that there are ways to help them have their own concrete construct of writing ability before they establish and administer valid and consistent assessment scheme.

E.     Writing Diary

A diary (also called journal) is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone who keeps a diary is known as a diarist. Diaries undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in many aspects of human civilization, including government records (e.g., Hansard), business ledgers and military records. In British English, the word may also denote a preprinted journal format.

Today the term is generally employed for personal diaries, normally intended to remain private or to have a limited circulation amongst friends or relatives. The word "journal" may be sometimes used for "diary," but generally a diary has (or intends to have) daily entries, whereas journal-writing can be less frequent.

Although a diary may provide information for a memoir, autobiography or biography, it is generally written not with the intention of being published as it stands, but for the author's own use. In recent years, however, there is internal evidence in some diaries (e.g., those of Ned Rorem, Alan Clark, Tony Benn or Simon Gray) that they are written with eventual publication in mind, with the intention of self-vindication (pre- or posthumous) or simply for profit.

By extension the term diary is also used to mean a printed publication of a written diary; and may also refer to other terms of journal including electronic formats (e.g., blogs).

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) is the earliest diarist who is well-known today; his diaries, preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge, were first transcribed and published in 1825. Pepys was amongst the first who took the diary beyond mere business transaction notation, into the realm of the personal. Pepys' contemporary John Evelyn also kept a notable diary, and their works are among the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period, and consist of eyewitness accounts of many great events, such as the Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London.

The practice of posthumous publication of diaries of literary and other notables began in the 19th century. As examples, the Grasmere Journal of Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855) was published in 1897; the Journals of Fanny Burney (1752-1840) were published in 1889; the diaries of Henry Crabb Robinson (1776-1867) were published in 1869.

Among important U.S. Civil War diaries are those of George Templeton Strong, a New York lawyer, and Mary Chesnut, the wife of a Confederate officer. The diary of Jemima Condict, living in the area of what is now West Orange, New Jersey, includes local observations of the American Revolutionary War.

Since the 19th century the publication of diaries by their authors has become commonplace – notably amongst politicians seeking justification but also amongst artists and litterateurs of all descriptions. Amongst late 20th century British published political diaries, those of Richard Crossman, Tony Benn and Alan Clark are representative, the latter being more indiscreet in the tradition of the diaries of Chips Channon. In Britain in the field of the arts notable diaries were published by James Lees-Milne, Roy Strong and Peter Hall.

One of the most famous modern diaries, widely read and translated, is the posthumously published The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, who wrote it while in hiding during the German occupation of Amsterdam in the 1940s. Otto Frank edited his daughter's diary and arranged for its publication after the War.

The writing of diaries was also often practised from the 20th century onwards as a conscious act of self-exploration (of greater or lesser sincerity) – examples being the diaries of Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley and Anaïs Nin.[7] Among important diaries by 20th-century literary figures are those of Franz Kafka and Edmund Wilson.

A strong psychological effect may arise from having an audience for one's self-expression, even if this is the book one writes in, only read by oneself - particularly in adversity. Anne Frank went so far as to address her diary as "Kitty." Friedrich Kellner, a court official in Nazi Germany, thought of his diary as a weapon for any future fight against tyrants and terrorism, and named it "Mein Widerstand," "My Opposition." Victor Klemperer was similarly concerned with recording for the future the tyrannies and hypocrisies of Nazi Germany and of its East German successor state in his diaries. In none of these cases however did the authors anticipate early — or indeed any — publication.

Diaries are great ways to keep track of your past and think about your future. You can make predictions about what will happen and see if they come true, and you can see how you changed over time, and read over memories, having a few laughs. Anyone can write a diary.

1.      How To Write Diary

Write all of your deep thoughts. If you keep things inside of you, there's no point in keeping a diary. If you stop writing for a while, tell your diary what's been happening. There's nothing worse than reading a diary entry and having no idea what it's about. Write whatever comes to mind. Lets say you just thought of a story or song, stop, put three dots,and just write it in. Then skip a line and continue writing. You never know what could happen!

Make it good to read When you look back you want to enjoy reading it. Try starting the entry with something catchy or exciting. Like 'Oh my Gosh!' or 'You'd never guess what!' or even 'something awful happened today.' and then end with maybe writing your feeling so far in this day or doing a face to show how you are feeling.

You can put quotes in it if you wish, for example: "To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure" (Albus Dumbledore). Pick a cover design that you think is nice or suits your style. For example if you are kind of an artist, just draw on the cover or if you are much of a skater guy/girl, you can stick a picture of you doing a stunt on your skateboard or a picture of skateboards. Sometimes it can be as simple as a school notebook, which can be transformed with drawings, stickers, and even pipe cleaners!

Keep it neat! When you look back at the diary about twenty years from now, you at least want to be able to read your own writing!

A format you can use is to write your entry on one side of the page and on the other side put a picture of whatever you did. For example if you went to Florida with your friends you can put a picture of you and your friends there. And even if you don't have pictures you can always put a souvenir like a bag of popcorn you got on your first date. Little things like that. But you should try and find a moderately large book for this.

Remember that this is your diary, and you can write in it how you want. This page is just ideas, you can follow them if you like, but in the end it's your choice how you want to do it.

Try not to write in it more than once a day. If something drastic happens that you must write about put 'Later' under the part that you already wrote.

2.      Internet Diary

As internet access became commonly available, many people adopted it as another medium in which to chronicle their lives with the added dimension of an audience. The first online diary is thought to be Claudio Pinhanez's "Open Diary," published at the MIT Media Lab website from 14 November 1994 until 1996.[8] Other early online diarists include Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal online diary-writing in 1994,[9] Carolyn Burke, who started publishing "Carolyn's Diary" on 3 January 1995,[10] and Bryon Sutherland, who announced his diary The Semi-Existence of Bryon in a USENET newsgroup on 19 April 1995.[11]

Web-based services such as Open Diary (started in October, 1998) and Live Journal (January, 1999) soon appeared to streamline and automate online publishing, but growth in personal storytelling came with the emergence of blogs. While the format first focused on external links and topical commentary, widespread blogging tools were quickly used to create web journals. Recent advances have also been made to enable the privacy of internet diary entries. For example, some diary software now stores entries in encrypted format, such 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption, and others only permit access to the diary after correct PIN entry on a secure USB device.

3.      Fictional Diary

There are numerous examples of fictional diaries. One of the earliest printed fictional diaries was the humorous Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon. 20th century examples include radio broadcasts (e.g. Mrs. Dale's Diary) and published books (e.g. the Diaries of Adrian Mole). Both prompted long-running satirical features in the magazine Private Eye: the former entitled Mrs Wilson's Diary in reference to Mary Wilson, wife of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, the latter entitled "The Secret Diary of John Major Aged 47¾" and written as a pastiche of the Adrian Mole diaries from the perspective of the then Prime Minister John Major.

F.      Hypothesis of the Study.

Sugiyono, (2011: 84) says that hypothesis is as tentative answer to the research problems. While Mulyasa (2009: 63) states that hypothesis is as tentative answer to the research problems, or as alternative action to solve the problem.

Based on the above explanation, the research hypothesis can be formulated as follow:

”The writing ability of the tenth grade students in writing English of SMKN 1 Kota Bima can be improved through the writing diary”.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

A.     Research Design

The use of method research in this study is the classroom action research (CAR). Classroom action research is conduct by researcher in the classroom, with the aim to improve the performance of teaching that learning outcomes increase (Kusumah:66). The method emphasize the study of this class action a review a truly natural class of situations so as to improve and enchance the quality of teaching and learning.

This study is use the quantitative approach. Quantitative approach is the approach that result in the from of sentences or words, use the proces data from observational learning implementation. While the quantitative approach is the result of research approach those number, use for data processing test result, the extent of develop vocabulary competnence that is own by the student after carrying out the process of learning in the classroom.

Figure 3.1. Kemmis and McTaggard Cyclical Action Research Design (1988).

Plan

Revised plan

Cycle 1

Cycle 2

Cycle …

act

Observe

Reflect

act

Observe

Reflect

 

                   Plan

                                                                            

                                             

15

Shortly, Classroom Action Research constitutes the systematic study in classrooms or schools in order to develop strategies in teaching by doing some practical actions by giving the chance on them to writing their idea. In relation to the technique used in this study, the researcher implements the  ”Writing Diary” technique as the teaching strategy to improve the speaking ability of the tenth grade students of SMKN 1 Kota Bima. Some action taken should be in the corridor of writing diary.

B.     Research Procedure

The research procedures can be represented as a spiral in which it denotes planning, implementation, observing, and reflecting the action (Kemmis and Taggart, 1988). Before conducting the research, it is firstly, important to have a ”preliminary study”. A preliminary study aims at identifying the exact difficulty towards the students’ performance especially in writing. Beside that, a preliminary study functions as to know the students’ ability before setting the criteria of success. To adjust the steps, the researcher needs to adapt the model of Action Research spiral. In this adaptation, the research modifies the cycle on Action Research spiral in order to give clearer description of the steps as visualized in the following figure:

In preliminary study, the researcher gave questionnaires to both students and teacher. The questionnaire for students is primarily focused on their attitude towards writing ability. Meanwhile, for the English teacher, the questionnaire inquired about the media used in teaching writing, strategy being applied, the students’ obstacle, and the frequency of teaching English. Moreover, the students’ attainment in English especially in writing performance is also important aspect to be considered. The finding of the preliminary study is, then, analyzed for the next step. There are four steps in conducting the action research, namely:

Cycle 1

1.    Planning.

In planning the action, the researcher should arrange the way to manage the class, who to observe and take the data, and what instrument to use.

Related to those mentioned above, the researcher prepared the teaching procedures like checking the ”Kompetensi dasar” or Basic Competency for the tenth grade students related to writing skill. The next, the researcher needs to provide the material used such as Diary book of succes writer. The material should be interesting and challenging. Interesting means the material could attack the students’ intention so that they are focused on the lesson being taught. Challenging means the material is neither too easy nor to  difficult for them to study; it is based on their level of competence. After that, the researcher prepares the teaching technique, decides the role of the researcher and co-researcher, design lesson plan, and sets the criteria of success. Those procedures are discussed in turn.

2.    Implementing.

Basically, there were three phases implemented in the teaching procedure here. They were pre-teaching, whilst-teaching, and post-teaching. During the teaching, the researcher is assisted by her collaborators. The researcher takes action as the teacher who teaches the students in the classroom while the collaborators act as the observer that monitor the process of teaching as well as students’ response or their involvement. In order to make the teaching be more effective, prior to it, the researcher together with the collaborators discusses the arrangement of the material to be used, the technique applied, and the media by which the teaching is implemented. Table 3.1 in appendix is a set of procedure in implementing the action. It covers the teachers’ and the students’ activities in each step.

3.    Observing.

This study focuses on observing the students who write the diaries in English in teaching writing. Other aspects to be observed are the students’ writing performances and their involvement during the class. The instrument used are the scoring rubric for writing, and the format of students’ writing performance, observation sheet, and questionnaire form made for both the English teacher and the students of the tenth grade. The procedure or observing is conducted by the observer by checking the observation sheet provided.

The observation sheet comprises two forms, namely: observation sheet for teaching writing activities through writing the Diary, and observation sheet for the students’ involvement. Meanwhile, the researcher, as the teacher, also  does evaluate the students’ writing performance in the format of students’ writing performance by order them to write their activity in their Diary’s book.

4.    Reflecting

In the reflection, the researcher together with the observer analyzes some aspects such as the students’ writing performance, their involvement in the process of teaching and learning, and the teaching writing activity through writing the Diary. The description of development and the content of instrument are also some essential things to analyze. The result of the analysis including the analysis of data becomes the reflection for the next meeting in the cycle. In other words, the previous cycle of teaching functions as the foundation to conduct the next cycle in teaching.

C.     Research Setting and Subjects

This research conducted at SMKN 1 Kota Bima– Bima Town. The school has thirty classes of students ranging from the tenth grade until the twelveth grade.

The subjects of this research are the students of X TKJ. The class consist of 30 students with 10 male and  20 famale. The researcher chooses the tenth grade students of that school because their poor writing ability. It is based on the teacher’s experiences during teaching in that school.  

D.    Research Instrument

The instruments used in this study are test  and observation checklist. Test for writing (it covers the description of the students’ performance including the Relevant Content, the Systematic Organization, and the Language Use, Djiwandono (2008: 120).

The grades for these description are ”Poor, Fair, and Good, (in order of quality)”. The description of the test of writing can be seen in the appendix.

Meanwhile, the observation checklist applied to both the teacher and the students. It aims to monitor whether the teacher could do each step of the action well or not based on the lesson plan made. Besides, the observation is also to monitor the students’ activities toward the action given by the teacher during the teaching and learning process. The result of the observation can be a base  for reflection in evaluating the success or not of the action.

E.     Technique of Data Collection

In collecting the data above, the researcher utilized   instruments, namely test and observation sheet.

The researcher used the ability test. The aim of this test is to know the improvement of the students writing ability. This test applied at the end of every cycle.

Observation sheet is to know the teacher and the students’ performance during the teaching and learning process.

F.      Technique Of Data Analysis

After obtain the data is analisys by looking forexhaustiveness learning class everage. To determine the success of the study use the follow criteria:

a.    To determine the everage class in use the formula:

 ( Arikunto:24 )

R                        : The value of the everage grade.

∑            : The number of the students the valuers obtain.

N            : Number of students who take the tests.

To determine student competence, use the descriotive analysis of exposure data the reveal the information generate from the quantitative measurements to determine the everage value of tests results. Say to be succesfull in mastery the concept present when every cycle always develop.

b.      Individual completeness, each students in learning process is say to be individualy complete if student are able to obtain KKM.

c.         Classical completeness, calculate by the equation:

Description:

KK         : exhaustiveness

X            : Number of students score

Z             : The number of students who take the best.

H            : Indicators of students success

In addition, the ideal passing score can be seen as follow:

SCORE	PERCENTAGE	CRITERIA
90 – 100	90% – 100%	Excellent
80 – 89	89% – 89%	Very Good
65 – 79	65% – 79%	Good
55 – 64	55% – 64%	Sufficient
10 – 54	10% – 54%	Insufficient

G.    Setting The Criteria Of Succes

The criteria of success in this research as follows:

1.      Table 3.1. The individually mean score is 65.

No	Category	Score
1	Success	>65
2	Enough Success	51 – 64
3	Not Success	<50

2.      Table 3.2. 85% of students get <65 classically .

No	Category	Score
1	Good	<85%
2	Good Enough	61% - 84%
3	Not Good	<60%

3.      The teacher and the students’ activity during the learning process.

Table 3.3 percentage of the students’ activity.

No	Category	Score
1	Active	≥75%
2	Active Enough	61% - 74%
3	Not Active	<60%