1 ELT FORUM 2 (1) (2013) English Language Teaching Forum http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt USING SEQUENCED PICTURES ON THE FLICKR SOCIAL NETWORK IN TEACHING WRITING NEWS ITEM FOR THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA 3 PURWOKERTO Rufiah Ning Asrianti Department of English, Faculty Language and Arts, Semarang State University, Indonesia Info Artikel ________________ SejarahArtikel: DiterimaJanuari 2013 DisetujuiFebruari 2013 DipublikasikanJuni 2013 ________________ Keywords: Flickr Social Network, Written News Item Text, Writing Ability ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ This study mainly aims at determining the effectiveness of using Flickr social network in teaching written news item text to improve students’ writing ability and also to find out the significant difference between the students who are taught using Flickr social network and the students who are taught using conventional method (a sequence of pictures). The subject of my research was 64 students of X7 and X8 class of SMA N 3 Purwokerto. The research applied was experimental research. By using purposive sampling, the students of X8 were taken as the samples of the experimental group and the samples of control group were students of X7. In this research, the students were taught using Flickr social network. The result of this research was found by comparing the result of pretest and posttest. I used t-test to find out the significance enhancement. Based on the result of the research, the result of the observed t-value is higher than the critical t- value; observed t-value 3.24 and the critical t-value is 2.04, the result of the writing aspects in the posttest is higher than the pretest, and the percentage of the students who got the score more than 60 in the posttest was 53% while in the pretest was only 16%. Therefore, it can conclude that using Flickr social network can effectively enhance students’ writing ability. © 2013UniversitasNegeri Semarang Alamatkorespondensi: GedungB3Lantai3 FBSUnnes KampusSekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 E-mail: hanien1423@gmail.com ISSN 2252-6706 mailto:arumsani666@yahoo.com Rufiah Ning Asrianti / Journal of English Language Teaching 2 (1) (2013) 2 INTRODUCTION In this global era, we learn language in many ways. As we can see English is taught in all levels of school, including Elemantary School, Junior High School, Senior High School and Vocational School as an optional subject or usually called local content. Based on the present curriculum, namely KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan), one of the competence standards for the ten grade students of Senior High School is that they are demanded to be able to write the news items test by using sequence picture in Flickr social network. From the statement above, we know that news item text is one of the essay forms that must be taught in Senior High School. For the students, it is one of the difficult texts to understand and create orally. Therefore, the teacher should provide interesting media so that students can create written news item text. One of the way that can be used to teach written news item text is sequenced pictures on Flickr social network. It can make the process of teaching written news item text easier and more exciting than teaching without any media. News item text is infact rather similar with the reported of sequenches pictures. In writing news item text using sequenced pictures on Flickr social network, the students are expected to give an analysis about the pictures. They can give their report analysis based on the picture they uploaded before in Flickr social network. Therefore, I want to know whether Flickr social network is effective to be used as a media in teaching writing the news items text. METHOD The study was carried out through three activities. In this research, sequenced picture and Flickr social network are used in the teaching and learning process. Its objectives were to prove that the use of sequenced pictures on the Flickr Social Network to improve students' ability to master the technique of writing News Item text is more effective than conventional technique; and discuss the reason of why using sequenced pictures on Flickr social network is effective to improve students’ ability in producing writing news item text for ten grade students. The result of this research will show that the post test is better than the pretest; the statement “using sequenced pictures on the Flickr social network in teaching writing news item for the tenth grade students of SMA 3 Purwokerto” was accurate. Pretest was given before the treatment. Pretest was an observation that was done before an experiment or treatment. I had the same pretest between experimental group and control group. First, the writer came to the class and explained what they were going to do. Then, the answer sheets of pretest were distributed to the students and they were asked to do the pretest. In this research, the experimental group and the control group was asked to make a news item text to know the students ability in writing news item text. For the treatment in the experimental group, the students were introducing to used sequenced picture on the Flickr social network to make News Item text. They were introduced to the News Item, started from its structures, function, and also its features. In this section, researcher also introduces about Flickr social network in the experimental group and makes the students understand how to use it as a fun media to write news item text. But for control group, I used the conventional method to teach News Item text. Then, it was continue with the session of question-answer to make sure that they had understood about the material. In the control group, pictures were provided to teach news item. Post test was given after conducting the pretest and the treatments. Posttest was an observation that was done after an experiment of treatment. Posttest in this study had a purpose to measure the students writing ability improvement getting treatments. Before the students had their posttest, they were asked to understand how to used sequenced picture on the Flickr social network in writing news item text and pictures for the control group. Then, they were asked to submit the post test. Then, Rufiah Ning Asrianti / Journal of English Language Teaching 2 (1) (2013) 3 the data were collected and analyzed. The score of the test is based on four categories; Coherence, grammar, vocabulary, and content. The total sore of each category is 20. Here is the formula about how to make the sample of the oral English rating based on J.B Heaton (1975: 109-111). In this study, scoring guidance taken from Heaton’s Grid and Categories was chosen to analyze the students’ test in writing News Item text. According to Heaton (1975:109) “there are five areas on a marking composition suggested by Heaton’s grid and categories: coherence, grammar, vocabulary, and content.” Some procedures were used to analyze the data. For the first step, the writer adds the scores of writing components to get the total number. Here is the formula: Total number = C+G+V+CT In which: C : Coherence G : Grammar V : Vocabulary CT : Content (J.B Heaton) After conducting the research, the students’ works were analyzed and given score based on the quality of their works and the next step was analyzed the data using SPSS 16.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Science). To ensure the calculation, the researcher analyzes deeper using the descriptive statistics analysis and the inferential statistics analysis. RESULT AND DISCUSSION Before doing the research, the the activities that would be done were arranged. The topic which was going to be used in the research was determined. The research instruments, including the questions for the pretest and posttest, lesson plan, and research assessment, were also arranged. Based on the arrangement, it was decided that there were four meetings in this research; the first meeting was pretest, the second and the third meetings were treatments, and the fourth meeting was posttest. The total time allotment was 8x35 minutes. In analyzing the data, I used statistical analysis and interpretation analysis. In collecting the data, firstly I conducted a pre-test in writing of news item text from the newspaper to both experimental and control group of the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 3 Purwokerto, Kabupaten Banyumas in the academic year 2011/2012. For the post-test I used a little bit more difficult test to see whether any significance difference between experimental and control group or not. Since the research had been conducted, data gathered could be processed. Before calculating the ttest, I calculated the pre-test and post-test. And this is the result of the comparison between experimental group and control group. From the tables 4.1, it can be seen that there is no far difference between the experimental group and the control group. The similarity of the two test results obtained average yield of 0,986 from Sig. (2-tailed) equal variances assumed. The value was greater than the significance level of 0,05. It means that there was no significance difference. Having the result of the pre-test, I then applied the next step of the collecting data procedure. It was administering a teaching learning process on writing news item text using sequences of pictures in Flickr social network to the experimental group and using the sequences of pictures in text book to the control group. The process took four meetings or eight lesson-hours. It was hoped that by using Flickr social network, the students of the experimental group were able to understand and to improve their writing ability better than the students of the control group who were taught using text book. After giving treatments, the next step was giving post-test to both the experimental and the control group. The test was the same for both of the groups. It was almost the same as pre-test, but a little bit more difficult. The result of the post-test would be analyzed to answer the research question. Here is the result of the post- test (table 4.2). Rufiah Ning Asrianti / Journal of English Language Teaching 2 (1) (2013) 4 Based on the table, Sig (2-tailed) Equal variances assumed = 0,002 less than significance level = 0,05 then H0 is rejected. The result of the test showed that the average score of post-test score of the students who were taught using Flickr Social Network was higher than those who were taught using a sequence of pictures. The average of the experimental group before treatment was 44.22, and after treatment were 78.12. It means that there was a significance difference after doing treatment. So, it can be concluded that in this study, the use of Flickr social network was more effective than a sequence of pictures in teaching writing news item text. We can see that the experimental group had higher values than control group. The media was one of the factors which made the students understand about the material. The media that I used was sequenced picture of Flickr social network. Besides, the computer labs and internet network in the school was quite adequate. Due to the fact that there was significant difference in writing skill in the news item text achievement between two groups, the null hypothesis saying that “There is no significant difference in achievement between students who are taught written news item text by using Flickr social network and those who are taught without Flickr social network” is rejected. On the contrary, the working hypothesis is accepted. Therefore, it can be concluded that using Flickr social network in teaching written news item text to the tenth grade students of SMA N 3 Purwokerto in the academic year 2011/2012 is effective. Table.1 the Scoring Guidance Taken from Heaton Grid and Categories with some modifications (1975: 109-111) Components Score Characteristics Coherence 5 4 3 2 1 The writing style is very easy to understand; both complex and simple sentences very used effectively. The writing style is quite easy to understand; a few complex sentences very used effectively. The writing style is reasonably smooth; not too hard to understand mostly (but not all); simple sentences used are fairly effective. Rough writing style; an effort is needed to understand; some complex sentences are confusing; although most simple sentences are used fairly effective. Very rough writing; hard to understand; almost all sentences used are simple sentences and redundant. Grammar 5 4 3 2 1 Use present tense, other grammars are used well and everything uses present tense; only 1-2 minor mistakes. Use mostly present tense, only a few minor mistakes found (preposition, articles, etc.) Use present tense in some parts, only 1 or 2 major mistakes with a few minor ones. Use present tense in some parts; major mistakes lead to difficulty in understanding lack of mastery of sentence construction. Numerous serious mistake; including not using present tense properly and horrible sentence construction; almost illegible. Vocabulary 5 Use of wide range of vocabulary. Rufiah Ning Asrianti / Journal of English Language Teaching 2 (1) (2013) 5 4 3 2 1 Good use of new words acquired; fairly appropriate words used in context, less redundancy. Attempts to use broad range of words; fairly appropriate vocabulary in context still found redundancy. Narrow range of vocabulary; uses some inappropriate words for some context. Very narrow range of vocabulary, inappropriate use of words such as slang for indirect sentences, etc. Content 5 4 3 2 1 All sentences support the main story; highly organized and clear progression of ideas. Ideas are well organized and quite organized with some minor errors. Ideas seem to be well thought but not organized quite well. Little or no attempt to give new ideas or organizing the sentences to look interesting. Lack of ideas and do not relate to the main story at all. Independent Samples Test Nilai Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed Levene's Test for Equality of Variances F .049 Sig. .826 t-test for Equality of Means t .131 .131 df 62 61.998 Sig. (2-tailed) .896 .896 Mean Difference .312 .312 Std. Error Difference 2.385 2.385 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower -4.455 -4.455 Upper 5.080 5.080 Table 4.1 the Distribution of Pre-Test Rufiah Ning Asrianti / Journal of English Language Teaching 2 (1) (2013) 6 Table 4.2 the Distribution of Post-Test Nilai Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed Levene's Test for Equality of Variances F .476 Sig. .493 t-test for Equality of Means T 3.240 3.240 Df 62 61.952 Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .002 Mean Difference 9.062 9.062 Std. Error Difference 2.797 2.797 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower 3.472 3.472 Upper 14.653 14.653 Rufiah Ning Asrianti / Journal of English Language Teaching 2 (1) (2013) 7 REFERENCES Anderson, M. and Anderson, K. 1997. Text Types in English. South Yarra: Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd. Arikunto, S. 2006. Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Jakarta: PT Asdi Mahasatya. Astuti, Puji. 2011. Kurikulum Bahasa Inggris SMA 2006. Available: http://pujiastutiunnesfiles.wordpress.com/20 11/04/sajian-kurikulum-sma.ppt. (May 11, 2011). Brown, H. 2004. Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York: Longman.com Websites: http://flickr.com (Accessed on January 21, 2011) http://pujiastutiunnesfiles.wordpress.com/2011/04/sajian-kurikulum-sma.ppt http://pujiastutiunnesfiles.wordpress.com/2011/04/sajian-kurikulum-sma.ppt http://flickr.com/