THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JIGSAW STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' SKILL IN WRITING A RECOUNT TEXT ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF JIGSAW STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' SKILL INWRITING A RECOUNT TEXT Iranita Sitohang Department of English Education, Faculty of Language and Literature Education, Indonesia University of Education Email: ira.leonie@hotmail.com) Pupung Purnawarman Department of English Education, Faculty of Language and Literature Education, Indonesia University of Education Email: purnawarman@upi.edu) APA Citation: Sitohang, I & Purnawarman, P. (2015). The effectiveness of jigsaw strategy to improve students' skill in writing a recount text. English Review: Journal of English Education, 3(2), 183-189 Received: 09-04-2015 Accepted: 25-04-2015 Published: 01-06-2015 Abstract: This study was intended to investigate the use of Jigsaw technique and the improvement of students’ skill in writing a recount text and their challenges in writing. It was conducted at a vocational high school in Bandung, involving students of eleventh grade as the participants using a quasi-experimental design. In this study, the data were obtained through questionnaires, pre- and post-tests. The data from the pre-test and the post-test were analyzed by using independent t-test. SPSS 20.0 program was used to do the statistical test. Based on the findings, it was revealed that the challenges faced by students in writing a recount text were the use of past tense, limited vocabulary, and the schematic structure of recount text. The quantitative finding of the study shows that significance value is lower than 0.05 (p = 0.000 < 0.05), which indicates that Jigsaw technique can improve students’ writing skill in the class investigated. Jigsaw helps students to deal with their inability of writing a recount text because each student supports each other member in the home group in order to gain their group’s achievement. In addition, Jigsaw helps students to gather more knowledge when sharing the information and knowledge of their part in the expert group. Keywords: jigsaw strategy, writing, recount text INTRODUCTION Learning English means learning four basic skills of the language: speaking, listening, reading and writing. The students should have abilities in reading and listening to support their speaking and writing. Grabe and Kaplan (1996, p. 5) stated that writing is particularly the most complex composing skill valued in the academy which involves training, instruction, practice, experience and purpose. Eventhough writing is often considered as a more difficult skill than other language skills, it still can be learned and mastered. In line with this, Langan (2008, p. 10) says that the more students practice writing, the better they will write. In the context of Indonesian school, writing is often directed toward writing a text. Based on the text structure or overall design, there are two different written texts: report and recount text (Feez & Joyce, 1998, p. 3). They further pointed out that recount text is designed to tell a series of events which happened IRANITA SITOHANG & PUPUNG PURNAWARMAN The Effectiveness of Jigsaw Strategy to Improve Students' Skill in Writing a Recount Text one after the other. It means that when writing recount text the doer who relates with the event will be known. To stimulate the students’ writing skill, especially writing recount text, teacher can use several sources such as student experience, book, magazine, television or movie. Teacher can also use different teaching technique for example jigsaw. Jigsaw is one of learning techniques in cooperative learning. Nastasi and Clements (1991) view cooperative learning as a group learning process, built on the belief that students learn better when they learn together. Jigsaw is similar with group to group exchange with an important difference: every student tends to teach. Mattingly & Van Sickle (1991) as cited in Slavin (2009, p. 57) state that there is positive effect from Jigsaw strategy in student achievement. Elliot Aronson who developed the Jigsaw in 1978 (Slavin, 2009, p. 14) suggested that jigsaw preferred use for some subjects including literature, especially in written form. Generally, this research is aimed to find out whether jigsaw strategy is effective to improve students’ skill of English language in writing a recount text. Moreover, it is intended to find out students challenges in writing a recount text and how Jigsaw strategy can improve students’ skill in writing a recount text. It uses quasi experimental procedures. The sample in this research is 60 students of a vocational school in Bandung. The 60 students come from two classes. The 30 students are the experimental group (EG) and other 30 students are the control group (CG). METHOD Using a quasi-experimental design, two classes of vocational high school students were investigated in this study: one class consisting of 30 participants was made as an experimental group (EG) which was taught using Jigsaw strategy as a treatment and the other class of 30 students was grouped into a control group (CG). A pre-test was administered to both groups before the experiment and a post-test was administered to both groups after the treatment. The data for the study were collected from the samples through questionnaires, pre-test and post-test results. The questionnaires were distributed to find out the challenges that the participants encountered while writing a recount text. The pre-test and post-test results were analyzed to find out the effectiveness of Jigsaw strategy in improving students’ skill in writing a recount text. The questionnaires in this study consisted of ten questions which were intended to obtain information about students’ opinion towards the challenges in writing a recount text. The pre-test in this study was administered to capture the initial differences between the experimental and the control groups while the post-test served to find out the improvement of their writing quality. Before administering the pre-test and the post-test, a pilot test was conducted to find out the students level of knowledge before actually starting the experiment. In this study, the pilot test was given to the students who were identified to have the same or similar grades with the students in the experimental and the control groups and they already learned how to write a recount text. In this test, the students were asked to write a recount text. Three aspects of writing ability in recount text were measured using a scoring rubric: content, schematic structure, and language use. The collected data through pre-test and post- test then were computed using IBM SPSS program. ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE RESULTS & DISCUSSION The analyzed data show that the challenge faced by students in writing a recount text is grammar, particularly in using appropriate tenses such as the past tense. Students were not aware about the changes of verb from present to past. The pre-test analysis shows that they were not consistent in the use of past tenses. This may be influenced by the students’ native language; Bahasa Indonesia, which there is no particular difference between the verb in present and in past. This is illustrated in the follows students’ writing result: (Student I) RA.:When I was went to my grand mother house, I went with my family (The correction): Iwent to my grandmother’s house with my family. (Student II) IG.: Suddenly the motor is knocking our bikes and we fell into the river. (The correction): Suddenly the motor crashed our bikes and we fell down into the river) (Student III) DD.: A time when we’ve finished enjoying the mountain Tangkuban Parahu we went home. (The correction): After we had finished enjoying the mountain Tangkuban Parahu, we went home. The examples above show that the students’ lack of understanding of past tense and need more explicit teaching about past tense. The result of questionnaire also shows that half of students in the investigated class realized that grammar is one of the challenges in writing a recount text. This finding is in line with Cyril Weir (in ELT Documents: 129, 1988, p. 17) who detects grammatical error as the first challenge of writing problems of EFL students. Other challenges are the vocabulary and students’ mastery of schematic structure of recount texts. In the vocabulary challenges, students had difficulty in translating the idea and choosing the right words in their writing. Whereas, vocabulary is one of writing aspects which should be considered by students in order to help readers to understand the meaning of their writing (Brown, 2001). This is illustrated in the follows students’ writing result: (Student I) RA.:My mother said if you took a motorcyle don’t too fast... (The correction):My mother said, “If you ride a motorcycle, don’t too fast...” (Student II) IG.: Suddenly the motor is knocking our bikes... (The correction): Suddenly the motor crashed our bikes... (Student III) DD.: ... he told I replace the damage but I do not have the money to replace (The correction): ... he toldme to pay for the damage but I did not have money for that. The examples above show that the students’ lack of vocabulary and the way to use it. Even though they were allowed to use dictionary, it was still difficult for them to look for a word and chose the right one. Based on the questionnaire result, students admitted that the challenges of writing a recount text are the choosing of IRANITA SITOHANG & PUPUNG PURNAWARMAN The Effectiveness of Jigsaw Strategy to Improve Students' Skill in Writing a Recount Text vocabulary and the way they use appropriate vocabulary. More than half of the students realized this difficulties. Moreover, most of students discovered that the difficulties are because they did not practice more frequently (60.7%) and the class situation does not support them to write more (53.5%). The study found that students also had difficulties in schematic structure of a recount text. According to the concept of a recount text, students could retell the whole story but the details of events were not clear enough to make the reader more interested. The way they organize the story is still inadequate in order to elaborate the event of the story. Students had shown their efforts in writing from the schematic structure’s view. Yet, the chronological sequence of the story is confusing. In addition, the story is also not coherent. Based on the result of pre-test and post-test, this research also discovers that Jigsaw improves students’ writing skill in writing a recount text in the class investigated. In relation to the use of Jigsaw, the research finds that it can stimulate students to be more active in the learning process and provide proper environment to write. Based on the analyzed data, the mean of writing score of experimental group increased 21.07 point, from 56.07 to 77.14. While control group mean point which does not receive Jigsaw as the learning strategy only increased 0.36 point, from 65.00 to 65.36. The increase on the writing score means that students’ mastery of writing recount text is improving. After the treatment students could retell the event clearly and add some important information that readers need to know. They could write a recount text chronologically and coherently. In addition, students could give evaluation and personal comment in their writing even though not too significant. This is illustrated in the follows students’ writing result: “Dear Mom, How are you there? I hope you are fine right there. Mom I want to tell you about what I get as long as I’m in the village. Two weeks ago, when I went to the village with my uncle on my trip got adverse events, the car that we were riding crashed into a motorcycle. We are all very shocked but uncle to apologize directly to the motor driver. During the trip we were very careful. And then we finished to village at 14.00 and we arrived safely. Next time I will send you letter again. Good bye, Mom. Miss you... I.G” The writing above shows that students’ grammatical error in writing decreased. Students became more aware of the use of past tense. Since they had discussions frequently, their awareness in applying the vocabulary appeared to increase significantly. It proves that Jigsaw gave positive result in order to improve students’ skills in writing a recount text in the class investigated. Jigsaw strategy has two groups; home group and expert group. The study shows that Jigsaw as the learning strategy stimulated students to be more active in looking for the information that were needed for their own group benefit. Besides, students also became active in discussing and sharing their part in the expert group with other students from different group. ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 3, Issue 2, June 2015 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE The home group became students’ social interaction room. In this group, they participated in every aspect such as making a decision about the choosing of the chief of the group, the choosing of which part that every member will focus on, and also how to support their group. It assured that every student was involved in the learning process. This group also facilitated them to share their knowledge and conclusion from the discussion in the expert group without feeling ashamed about their English ability. It is because they had known each other. The study found that there was a different result among the experimental group and the control group. The mean score of the experimental group was higher than the control group. In addition, the mean score of the experimental group also increased significantly after receiving the treatment. Generally, the learning process using Jigsaw strategy proceeded well. However, students were not used to learning using Jigsaw strategy. Firstly, they asked many questions to the teacher but after they got the explanation they could study in a cooperative manner and showed self-reliant in doing the task. In the 2nd - 6th meeting, students had adapted to Jigsaw strategy that made the learning process went smoothly. The questionnaire analysis shows that students had been aware about their frequency of writing. They realized that the more they practice, the better they can write. Instead of supporting them to write more, the class situation became one of the factors that made them not motivated to write. Jigsaw strategy can help to solve this problem. It is because Jigsaw facilitated them to learn together in which each student had their own task in order to support their group and at last it gave effect to themselves (Slavin, 2009). The research reveals that in the class investigated the grammar challenges about the use of past tenses, the vocabulary and the way to use the vocab appropriately could be overcame by Jigsaw. It is because Jigsaw stimulated students to build cooperation between themselves. Students could share and discuss their knowledge without feeling ashamed of their limited vocabulary. Jigsaw as one of the cooperative learning strategies can build cooperative circumstance between teacher and students. The students could directly ask some questions about the lesson to the teacher on behalf of their group. It means that the communication became two ways communication between the teacher and the students. Furthermore, students were encouraged to be more active to look for the information that are needed. It is because every group’s member had their own task to accomplish which was counted as a contribution for the group’s achievement (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1990). Jigsaw as one of the cooperative learning is believed to have a positive effect on relationship setting (Slavin, 1987). It was revealed that Jigsaw helped them to build positive relationship with their group member. Students could state their opinion freely without feeling that they will be judged for their insufficiency in their home group. Actually, the aim of home group is to make students felt homey. Meanwhile by continuously discussing and sharing, students built their knowledge about the lesson. The result indicates that Jigsaw class improve better than conventional class where students only listened to the explanation of the teacher. This result is in line with IRANITA SITOHANG & PUPUNG PURNAWARMAN The Effectiveness of Jigsaw Strategy to Improve Students' Skill in Writing a Recount Text the study conducted by Phelps in 1990 (Slavin, 2009, p. 57) that the achievement of average score in Jigsaw class was highe r than in traditional-teaching class. In this research, it had been proven that Jigsaw as a learning strategy is suitable not only to improve students’ reading skill (Adawiyah, 2011), (Dens, 2010), (Erviana, 2012), and Sari (2012) but also students’ writing skill in writing a recount text. This is in line with Aronson (2000) as the first user of Jigsaw who pointed out that Jigsaw can be used across grade levels and content areas (Barkley, Cross & Major, 2005). Particularly, this research supports that Jigsaw is useful to increase students’ skill in English language (Kagan 1990, cited in Huda, 2012). CONCLUSION Based on the results, the conclusion can be drawn as Jigsaw is effective to improve students’ skill in writing a recount text. It succeeded in making the good result. It is because students in the home group give support and share their knowledge to their member in order to get the higher score. It can be concluded that teaching recount text by using Jigsaw is an effective way to solve the challenges faced by students in term of building and developing their knowledge of writing a recount text. Jigsaw can also be effective to increase students’ knowledge of recount text schematic structure. Students help one to another by sharing and getting detail information about their part in the expert group, so that each student gets the lesson specifically during the writing class. There are some suggestions in implementing Jigsaw in the class. Jigsaw gives students opportunities to involve in teaching-learning process actively. Every student has time to brainstorm ideas, discuss and solve problems, and practice what they have learned with their group member. Therefore, English teachers are suggested to use Jigsaw as a learning strategy to improve students’ skill in writing a recount text. Future researchers are suggested to conduct the research on the use of Jigsaw in teaching writing in other kinds of texts genre or in teaching other language skills. In addition, further research is suggested to be conducted longer to get more detailed results, and to use different types of instructional media when using Jigsaw strategy. REFERENCES Adawiyah, S. W. (2011). The use of jigsaw in teaching reading for junior high school students. A Research Paper of FPBS UPI Bandung: Unpublished. Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2005). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Fransisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. USA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. Dens, D. J. (2010). The effectiveness of cooperative learning: Jigsaw technique in improving students’ reading comprehension. A Research Paper of FPBS UPI Bandung: Unpublished. Erviana, M. E. (2012). 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