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 ELT FORUM 5 (1) (2016) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 

 

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 

 

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JOURNALIST QUESTION TECHNIQUE 

TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL IN NARRATIVE TEXT 

(An Experimental Study at Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 19 Semarang in the 

Academic Year of 2014/2015) 

 

Puspa Dewi Ayu Kurniyasari 

 

English Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Semarang. 

 

Aticle Info 

________________ 
Article History: 

Received in February 

2016 

Approved in March 2016 

Published in April 2016 

________________ 
Keywords: 

Journalist questions 

technique, Writing, 

Narrative text, Experimental 

research. 

____________________ 

Abstract 
___________________________________________________________________ 
This research is about using Journalist Question technique for teaching writing in junior high school. Journalist 

Question technique is a technique that can help the students to explore their idea in writing to cover the content 

of the narrative text. This research that aims to investigate the effectiveness of Journalist Questions technique to 

improve students’ writing skill in narrative text. The research design used was an experimental research. Tests 

were used as the instruments to collect the data and information. Before conducting the experiment, try out was 

given to 33 students of VIII-B to make sure that they were valid and reliable. The researcher used class VIII-D 

as the experimental group and VIII-C as the control group. Both classes were in the same level, background, and 

competence. 

The result of this research showed that the average score of the pre-test in the experimental group was 54.78 and 

the post-test was 66.42. The improvement on the experimental group was 11.64. While, on the control group, 

the average score of the pre-test was 53.69 and the post-test was 60.48. The improvement on the control group 

was 6,73. From the t-test computation of the post-test score, the t-value was higher than t-table (t-value > t-table 

= 2.083 > 1.998). Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected and the working hypothesis was accepted. It means 

that there is a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group.  

The results indicate that Journalist Question technique technique is effective in improving the writing skill at the 

eighth graders of SMP Negeri 19 Semarang in the academic year of 2014/2015. It is suggested that the findings 

of this study could be applied regularly and continously or developed by the English teachers to have a better 

teaching writing. 

 

© 2016 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 
 Correspondent Address:  

   B3 Building  FBS Unnes  

   Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 

   E-mail: puspadewiayu@gmail.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISSN 2252-6706 



 

Puspa Dewi Ayu Kurniyasari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

2 

INTRODUCTION 

In learning English, there are four skills 

that have to be  mastered by students. Those skills 

are listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. 

Writing is considered as the most difficult skillif 

it is compared to the other skills. It becomes 

difficult because it needs many competencies 

including grammar, diction, cohesion, etc to 

express theideas or opinions. According to 

Brown (2001:335), “the process of writing 

requires an entirely different set of competencies. 

Written products are often the result of thinking, 

drafting, and revising procedures that requires 

specialized skills, skills that not every speaker 

develop naturally.”  

The result of observation that the 

researcher conducted in SMP N 19 Semarang 

showed that writing is also the most difficult skill 

for students in junior high school. The students 

sometimes face many problems in learning 

English, especially in writing. They will face with 

many difficulties like expressing their idea, 

mastering the competencies, through the steps of 

writing.  

Based on School Based Curriculum in 

junior high school, there are three kinds of text 

taught in the eight grade of senior high school, 

they are: descriptive, recount, and narrative. 

Narrative text is considered as the difficult text to 

create because there are difficult things like the 

foreign words and the complicated cotent that 

have to be learned by the eighth grade students. 

The other texts like descriptive and recount are 

not too difficult for the students because it uses a 

simple words and the content is easier to be 

learned. 

In order to enable students to express their 

ideas in writing, Therefore, the teacher will help 

the students by using many kinds of techniques so 

that the students will enjoy the teaching learning 

process. In addition, they will easier to learn 

about the subject taught by the teacher. One of the 

alternatives techniques is using Journalist Question 

technique which is developed by Charles et. al. 

(1985:129). In this technique, there are six key 

questions (journalist questions) that journalism 

students are taught to answer somewhere in their 

news articles to make sure that they have covered 

the whole story. The Journalist Question technique 

is used to help the students in writing  to cover the 

whole story in narrative text. 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

There have been a number of researchers 

conducted some studies related to the use of 

Journalist Question technique to improve students’ 

writing skill in narrative text such as Octaviani, 

Santi (2009), Rokhayani, Atik(2006), 

Nurdwiansyah, Denni (2013), Kurniati(2015), 

and Zulfida (2012). From the above previous 

research findings, the researcher would like to use 

Journalists Question Technique in writing 

narrative text with the eighth grade students of 

SMP N 19 Semarang in the academic year 

2014/2015. The researcher would like to know 

whether it is an effective technique or not to use 

in teaching narrative text. 

 

The Journalist Question technique 

Journalists Question is one of the 

techniques to teach narrative text text. It consists 

of 6 words (who, what, where, when, why and 

how) which are use by reporters to ask 

interviewees. Those words can stimulate the 

students to generate their ideas in writing 

narrative texts.  

 Based on Urquhart and McIver (2005), 

"Journalists' Questions (who, what, where, when, 

why and how), or the questions that are referred 

to as the five Ws and one H, have been the 

mainstay of newsrooms across the country. The 

first word is who. “Who” is used to explore about 

the person in the news. The second word is what. 

“What” is used to explore about something 

happened in  the news. The third word is when. 

“When” is used to explore about the time in the 

news. The fourth word is where. “Where” is used 

to explore about the location of the news. The 

fifth word is why. “Why” is used to explore about 

cause and result of the news. The sixth word is 

how. “How” is used to explore about how is 

something happened. The students can use that 

words to explore their idea in writing narrative  

text. It can help tem to explore their idea in 

covering the whole story of writing narrative text. 

 



 

Puspa Dewi Ayu Kurniyasari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

3 

The  General Concept of Writing 

Based on Meyers (2005: 2), “Writing is a 

way to produce language you do naturally when 

you speak. Writing is speaking to other on a paper 

or on a computer screen. Writing is also an 

action, a process of discovering and organizing 

your ideas, putting them on a paper and 

reshaping and revising them”. 

According to White and Arndt(1991:5) in 

Harmer (2003) “writing is re-writing that 

revision, seeing with new eyes, has central role to 

play in the act of creating text”. In their model, 

process writing is in interrelated set of recursive 

stages which includes : 

- Drafting 

- Structuring (ordering informatin, 

experimenting with arrangements, etc) 

- Reviewing (checking context, 

connections, assessing impact, editing) 

- Focusing (that is making sure you are 

getting the message across you want to 

get across) 

- Generating ideas and evaluation 

(assessing the draft) 

One of the disadvantages of getting 

students to concentrate on the process of writing 

is that it takes time : time to brainstorm their 

ideas, time to draft a piece of writing andf then, 

with the teacher’s help perhaps, review it and edit 

it in various ways before, perhaps, changing the 

focus, generating more ideas, redrafting, re-

editing and so on. This cannot be done in fifteen 

minutes. Therefore, writing is not an  easy process 

for the students. It has several steps to be done  by 

the students guiding b y the teacher. The teacher 

has a significant section in students steps of 

writing. 

 

METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 

In this study, the researcher decides to use 

an experimental research design with the use of 

non-equivalent control group design. Best 

(1981:73) states that “The pre-test post-test non-

equivalent groups design is often used in 

classroom experiments when experimental and 

control groups are such naturally assembled 

groups as intact classes which maybe similar”. 

The design of the pre-test-post-test non-

equivalent group design can be described as the 

following:  

The pre-test-post-test non-equivalent group 

design 

  O1 X O2 

  O1 O3=pre-tests 

 O3 C O4  

 O2 O4=post-tests 

     

   (Best, 1981:73) 

Where; 

X : Treatment using Journalist Questions 

technique  

C : Treatment without using Journalist 

Questions technique 

O1 : Pre-test for experimental group  

O2   : Post-test for experimental group 

O3 : Pre-test for control group  

O4    : Post-test for control group 

The population was eight classes of eighth 

grade students of SMP N 19 Semarang. It 

consisted of 258 students. The sample was VIII-C 

as the experimental group and VIII-D as the 

control group. The instrument of this research 

was test. Before the test is used to collect the data, 

the try-out test was conducted to measure the 

validity and reliability of the test. The researcher 

used t-test based on Arikunto (2002) to measure 

the significance of the pre-test and post-test of the 

both groups,  

 

RESEARCH FINDINGS 

Tryout 

The tryout test was conducted on May 

15th, 2015 in class VIII B. The index validity of 

number 1 (grammar) was 0,7848, it was found by 

calculated using Pearson Product Moment. Then 

from the table of critical r-value, the significant 

level 5% for N = 33 is 0.344. Based on the data, 

the index validity of the item number 1 

(Grammar) was considered to be valid because 

the result of the computation was higher than 

critical r-value. The index validity of number 2 

(Vocabulary) was 0,861802 , number 3 

(Mechanics (Spelling))  was 0,769964 , number 4 

(Fluency) was 0,88024, and number 5 (Relevance 

(Content)) was 0,88024 , it is all higher than r-

value which considered to be valid. Based on the 



 

Puspa Dewi Ayu Kurniyasari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

4 

result, the reliability of the test showed that the 

estimated r11 was 0.871772. Then from the table 

of critical r-value with significant level 5% for 

N=32 is 0.349. It can be considered that the  test 

was reliable because r11 was higher than r-value. 

 

Pre-Test 

A pre-test was given before doing the 

experiment. The pre-test of experimental group 

was conducted on May 18th, 2015 in class VIIID 

and the pre-test of the control group was 

conducted on May 19th, 2015 in class VIIIC. 

 The result of the pre-test find out that the 

average score of the experimental group was 

54.78 and the control group was 53.69. The result 

of t-value was 0.374 and the result of t-table was 

1.998. T-value was lower than t-table (0,374 < 

1.998). It meant there is no significant difference 

between experimental and control groups, and it 

was relatively the same before the treatment was 

given. 

 

Treatments 

In conducting the experiment, the 

treatment was given to the students after the pre-

test. The VIII-C as the experimental group was 

taught by using Journalist Question technique as a 

technique to learn narrative text, meanwhile VIII-

D as the control group was taught by discussion 

guided teaching.  

 The first treatment for experimental 

group was done on May 20th, 2015 and the second 

meeting was on May 25th, 2015. On the other 

hand the treatments for control group were done 

on May 21st, 2015 and on May 26th, 2015. After 

doing the treatment, the researcher found that 

there were some advantages of using Journalist 

Question Technique. The advantages of using 

Journalist Question technique are easy to learn and 

help the students in generating their ideas. 

Besides the advantages of using Journalist Question 

technique, the researcher also found out the 

disadvantages of this technique. The teacher have 

to explain clearly about the key questions so that 

the students can understand well about the 

questions when they applied them to create a 

narrative text. 

 

Post-Test 

A post-test was given after doing the 

experiment. The post-test of experimental group 

was conducted on May 27th, 2015 in class VIIID 

and the pre-test of the control group was 

conducted on May 28st, 2015 in class VIIIC. 

The result of the post-test find out that the 

average score of the experimental group was 

66,42 and the control group was 60,48. The result 

of t-value was 2.49 and the result of t-table was 

1.998. T-value was lower than t-table (2.49 < 

1.998). It meant there is a significant difference 

between experimental and control groups. 

However, the improvement of students writing 

skill in experimental group was higher than in the 

control group. 

 

The Significance Difference of Two Tests 

The computation of the data was made 

after analyzing the sudents score. By comparing 

the difference means of those two groups is a way 

to identify the significant difference between the 

experimental and control groups. The data being 

compared were the difference between the two 

means of the pre-test and post-test because the 

data showed the result of the treatments. 

 Based on Best (1981:225), the difference 

between the two means could be computed as 

follows : 

 𝑀 =  
∑ 𝑋

𝑁
 

M1=
∑ 𝑋1

𝑁1
 

M2=
∑ 𝑋2

𝑁2
 

Where; 

M = mean 

M1 = mean of experimental group 

M2 = mean of control group 

∑= sum of 

X = scores in distribution 

N= number of scores 

The mean of the experimental group on the 

pre-test is: 

M1=
∑ 𝑋

𝑁
 = 

1808

33
= 54.78 

The mean of the experimental group on the 

post-test is: 

M1=
∑ 𝑋

𝑁
 = 

2192

33
= 66.42 



 

Puspa Dewi Ayu Kurniyasari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

5 

The mean of the control group on the pre-

test is: 

M2=
∑ 𝑋

𝑁
= 

1772

33
= 53.69 

The mean of the control group on the post-

test is: 

M2=
∑ 𝑋

𝑁
 = 

1996

33
= 60.48 

 Based on the calculation above, it can be 

seen that the mean of the pre-test in the 

experimental group was 54,78 and the post-test 

was 66,42. The different meanfrom those score 

between pre-test and post-test in the experimental 

group was 11,64. While,on the control group, the 

mean of the pre-test was 53.69 and the post-

testwas 60.48. The different meanfrom those 

score between pre-test and post-test on the control 

group was 6.73. It can be concluded that the 

different mean from the average score of the 

students in the experimental group was higher 

than the control group. 

 

CONCLUSIONS 

The purpose of this research is to find out 

the improvement and the effectiveness of using 

Journalist Question technique at the eighth grade 

students of SMP N 19 Semarang in the academic 

year 2014/2015. Based on the research that has 

been done, the researcher drew some 

conclusions. 

Firstly, the computation of the students 

improvement showed that in the experimental 

group, the average score of the pre-test was 54.78 

and the post-test was 66.42. the difference 

between the pre-test and post-test score was 

11.64. The post-test score was higher than the pre-

test score, it meant that there is an improvement 

of students skill in writing narrative text. In 

addition, the improvement of students skill in 

writing narrative text can be seen at the t-test of 

the gain score between the pre-test and post-test 

of the experimental and the control groups. The 

t-test was 2.29, it was higher than t-table (1.998). 

It meant that there is a significant improvement 

of students skill in writing narrative text. 

Secondly, the effectiveness of using 

Journalist Questions technique could be drawn 

by looking at the significant differences between 

the experimental and the control groups. The 

average score of the pre-test in the experimental 

group was 54.78 and the post-test was 66.42. The 

improvement of the experimental group was 

11.64. While, in the control groups, the average 

score of the pre-test was 53.69 and the post-test 

was 60.48. The improvement in the control group 

was 6.73. The means of both groups increased in 

the post-test but the mean of the post-test in the 

experimental group was higher than the control 

group. The computation showed that the t-test 

value of the difference means between 

experimental and control group (2.083) was 

higher than t-table (1.998). It means that there is 

significant difference mean between experimental 

and control group. It can be concluded that it is 

more effective to teach writing narrative text by 

using Journalist Questions technique to improve 

students’ skill compared to teach writing 

narrative text without using it. 

  

REFERENCES 

 

Arikunto, S. 2002. Dasar-Dasar Evaluasi Pendidikan. 

Jakarta: Bumi Aksara 

 

Best, J.W. 1981. Research in Education. London: 

Prentice-Hall. 

 

Brown, H Douglas. 2001. Teaching by Principles. New 

York: Longman. 

 

Charles, M. et.al. 1985. Exploring American English. 

New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 

 

Harmer, Jeremy. 2003. The Practice of English 

Language Teaching. Malaysia: CPM, 

Cambridge. 

 

Kurniati. 2015. Journal of The Effect of Peer Editing 

Technique Toward Writing Skill in Narrative 

Text of The First Year Students at SMAN 3 

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2014/2015. Online at http://e-

journal.upp.ac.id/index.php/binggrisfkip/arti

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Puspa Dewi Ayu Kurniyasari / Journal of English Language Teaching 5 (1) (2016) 

6 

Nurdwiansyah, Denni. (2013). Journal of Teaching 

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N 1 Cepu in the Academic Year of 2007/2008). 

Semarang: UNNES. 

 

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UNNES. 

 

Sari Saragih, Zulfida. 2012. Journal of Improving 

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