The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code 2625 Copyright © 2024 The Author IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo IDEAS Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Volume 12, Number 2, December 2024 pp. 2625 - 2635 The Implementation of Freewriting Technique in Improving Student’s Writing Skill Ivana Caroline Sumual1, Sriati Usman2, Muhammad Arid3, Jamiluddin4 E-mail: ivanacaroline07@gmail.com 1,2,3,4Language Education English, FKIP Tadulako University Received: 2024-08-30 Accepted:2024-12-31 DOI: 10.2456/ideas. v12i2.5536 Abstract This research aims to prove whether or not the implementation of the Freewriting technique is effective in improving students’ writing skills of the eighth-grade students of SMP Negeri 9 Palu. This research used a quasi-experimental design. The Population of this research was class VIII students of SMP Negeri 9 Palu. The researcher used purposive sampling technique and chose two groups: VIII B and VIII D (experimental and control). The instrument used for collecting data was tests (pre-test and post-test). The results of the research show that there was a significance difference in the improve in students writing being taught through free writing technique. Data analysis shows that the t- counted value 10.380 is greater than the t-table value 1.683 by applying a significance level of 0.05 with degrees of freedom (df) = 45. It means that the t-counted is higher than the t- table. It can be interpreted that the hypothesis was accepted. Therefore, the implementation of Freewriting techniques in improving students' writing skills is accepted. The implication of this finding to the teaching practice is that teachers need to apply the freewriting in the learning strategies to make teaching better. Keywords: Writing, Improving, Freewriting technique Introduction Writing is a linguistic competence that is expressed through the written form rather than the oral form. Writing is often regarded as the most challenging skill for many students among other language skills, such as listening, speaking, and reading. It is a complex activity that requires careful attention and effort. Writing is a vital tool in communication between individuals. It allows people to convey their http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302 mailto:ivanacaroline07@gmail.com Ivana Caroline Sumual, Sriati Usman, Muhammad Arid, Jamiluddin The Implementation of Freewriting Technique in Improving Student’s Writing Skill 2626 thoughts, ideas, and information effectively to others. Writing skill is used to share our knowledge and ideas in written form. The purposes of writing itself are to express ideas and tell information to the reader. Oshima & Hogue (2007) state “Academic writing is the kind of writing used in high school and college classes.” Writing enables effective communication and facilitates the exchange of information, making it an essential skill for effective interpersonal communication. Writing is considered a complicated skill for students because when they write, they need to understand several components of writing such as vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Teaching writing is chosen to be investigated because although this skill must be taught in senior high school students often face many difficulties in studying writing. For example, most of the students in SMP Negeri 9 Palu, particularly the eighth - grade students, found some problem from many factors. In the learning process, the students faced difficulties in writing a descriptive text. They difficult to put their ideas into writing, the students are confused about what they are going to write. This happened because they were not accommodated to practice their writing. When they write, they lacking of writing skills of the students is an indication of weakness. They usually doubt to write down what is in their mind. Sometimes they have ideas but they get confused about how to construct and make them into good writing. There are several problems before writing which make them confused such as grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. Based on initial observations at SMP Negeri 9 Palu, researchers found students' problems in learning English, especially in students' writing skills. They experience difficulties in writing skills due to lack of motivation to develop ideas, lack of vocabulary, not being able to write paragraphs well, and grammatical errors. From the information obtained, the researcher thinks that this may be because the learning strategies used are still not appropriate in teaching students' writing skills. So, the researchers decided to apply interesting teaching and learning techniques and develop creative ideas in class VIII students at SMP Negeri 9 Palu. The researcher decided to choose the Freewriting technique as one of the strategies for learning students' writing skills. Researchers chose to test the Freewriting technique on eighth grade students at SMP Negeri 9 Palu to prove the effectiveness of this technique in learning students' writing skills. Previously, this technique was recommended for use in strategies for learning students' writing skills. In this case the researcher will focus IDEAS, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2024 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 2627 on the elements of writing; such as vocabulary, grammar, and organization in descriptive paragraphs. Freewriting means writing whatever comes to the writer’s mind and feelings. It can take to a lot of places. Freewriting is a prewriting technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period without referring to spelling, grammar, or topic. It produces raw, often unusable material, but helps write overcome blocks of apathy and self-criticism. Freewriting is a technique in which the writer writes down his or her thoughts quickly and continuously, without having to worry about form, style, or even grammar. Freewriting is usually used at the beginning of the writing process to collect and organize one's thoughts. Freewriting provides insight into the optimal order of topics and overall structure. It can also help develop your unique writing style. Not to mention, it can inspire some ideas that you may not have thought of before. The benefits of freewriting range from organization, and inspiration, as well as overcoming writer's block and relieving certain anxieties. With this freewriting technique, it can trigger students' creativity. These findings align with a previous study by Wulandari (2020) found that the use of Freewriting as a technique in writing recount text can improve the students’ learning motivation in writing recount text of the tenth graders of Madrasah Aliyah Al-Ihsan Boarding School Riau. Similarly, Atiah, et al. (2023) the results of this research show that Freewriting techniques had a significant positive effect on the writing ability of the students. Another research was conducted by Sagita, et al. (2018) The result of this research can be said the freewriting technique is effective in improving students’ writing ability. Based on the previous findings, the use of Freewriting can also increase students’ motivation in writing. And for the research question: Is the use of freewriting technique effective in improving students writing skills of the eighth- grade students of SMP Negeri 9 Palu? Method To investigate the effectiveness of Freewriting technique in improving writing skill, this research used a quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent control group design. Two groups were taken in this research, namely experimental and control groups. Ivana Caroline Sumual, Sriati Usman, Muhammad Arid, Jamiluddin The Implementation of Freewriting Technique in Improving Student’s Writing Skill 2628 This research was conducted into eighth meetings, including a pre-test in the first meeting to determine students’ prior knowledge of the research, six meetings for the treatment, and the last meetings for a post-test. The population of this research was conducted by involving 47 eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 9 Palu. These VIII - grade students of this school are divided into five classes, and the total population of this research is 130 students. The sample was chosen purposive sampling technique, based on the need of the research and the sample of the research was VIII B and VII D. VIII B as an experimental group while VII D as a control group that consisted of 45 students. This class was chosen because they have the same ability in English subjects as in English subjects. In collecting the data, the instrument used a writing test. The test was administered twice as pre-test in the first meeting and post-test in the last meeting. For the type of test, the researchers provided a writing test in the form of essay questions to make descriptive text with consist 20 - 25 sentences. After collecting the data, the researchers analyzed the data by using SPSS 22 version program. Results To answer the research question firstly, the researchers calculated the students' scores as shown in the Table below. Table 1 Descriptive Statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Pre-test Experiment 25 43.75 68.75 57.0000 8.33073 Post-test Experiment 25 68.75 93.75 82.5000 8.26797 Pre-test Control 22 37.50 75.00 53.9773 10.48409 Post-test Control 22 50.00 81.25 64.4886 8.04248 Valid N (listwise) 22 Based on Table 1, it shows that the highest score obtained by the students in the experimental group on the pre-test is 68,75 while the lowest score is 43,75. The mean score achieved by the experimental group in the pre-test is 57. For the control group it can be seen that the highest score is 68.75 and the lowest score is 37.5. the mean score of control group in pre-test is 53.97. IDEAS, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2024 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 2629 *. This is a lower bound of the true significance. a. Lilliefors Significance Correction In analyzing the normality of the data test of pre-test and post-test in the experimental and control group scores (sig.). The significance value (sig.) of the pre-test and post-test can be seen in the analytical test result above. The pre-test significance value in the Kolmogorov Smirnov column is 0.026 in the experimental group and 0.200 in the control group. Based on the results of the normality test between the pre-test and the post-test of the experimental group and the control group shows that the distribution of the data is normal because the significance value of both classes is >0.05. Table 3 Test of Homogeneity of Variance Table 2 Tests of Normality Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk Class Statistic df Sig. Statisti c df Sig. Students learning outcomes Pre-test experimental .185 25 .026* .905 25 .024 Post-test experimental .178 25 .040 .892 25 .013 Pre-test control .148 22 .200 .952 22 .350 post-test control .189 22 .041 .944 22 .242 Ivana Caroline Sumual, Sriati Usman, Muhammad Arid, Jamiluddin The Implementation of Freewriting Technique in Improving Student’s Writing Skill 2630 Levene Statistic df1 df2 Sig. Students learning outcomes Based on Mean .267 1 45 .608 Based on Median .269 1 45 .606 Based on Median and with adjusted df .269 1 43.762 .607 Based on trimmed mean .305 1 45 .583 After getting the normality test, the next step is the homogeneity test. It purposed to test the similarity of the sample in both classes. The result of the data, the significance score of 0.018 is higher than >0.05. It means that the mean score of the post-test of the experimental and control group is homogeneous. Testing Hypothesis The researchers conduct hypothesis after carrying out normality and homogeneity tests on existing research data. Hypothesis testing is testing a statement using statistical methods to see whether the results are significant. The researchers can decide whether a hypothesis is accepted or rejected by testing it statistically. Independent sample t test was used in this study. Independent sample t- test was used to determine whether there was significance in student writing skill between the experimental group and the control group. IDEAS, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2024 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 2631 Based on Table 4 shows that the scores sig. is 0.608 which indicates that Ha (alternative hypothesis) is accepted, and the Ho (null hypothesis) is rejected. In conclusion, the Implementation of freewriting technique is effective in improving students' writing skill. Discussion In this section, the researcher discussed the result of the data analysis of the pre-test and post-test of this study. In the pre-test they must to make a descriptive text about they’re school with consist of 20 sentences. This study used quasi- experimental design so that the sample were divided into two classes. The result of the pre-test in the experimental group showed that the mean score was 57. After doing a pre-test the researcher moved to the next step which is the treatment. In improving students’ writing skills, the researcher used Freewriting as technique as a treatment. The implementation of Freewriting as a technique for writing descriptive texts was effective for eighth-grade students at SMP Negeri 9 Palu. The t-test for Equality of Means Mean df Students outcomes learning Equal variances assumed Equal assumed variances not Sig. (2-tailed) Difference 45 .000 18.01136 44.526 .000 18.01136 outcomes Equal assumed variances not 2.38211 13.21214 22.81058 Table 4 Independent sample test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means F Sig. T Students learning outcomes Equal variances assumed .267 .608 7.547 Equal variances not assumed 7.561 Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Difference Lower Upper Students learning Equal variances assumed 2.38641 13.20489 22.81784 Ivana Caroline Sumual, Sriati Usman, Muhammad Arid, Jamiluddin The Implementation of Freewriting Technique in Improving Student’s Writing Skill 2632 study found significant effectiveness in learning, supported by a significance value of 0.05 at a moderate level. The result of the experimental class mean score in the post-test was 82.5. Based on the data analysis above that had been done by the researcher, the result of this study showed that Freewriting technique is effective on students’ writing skill in descriptive text for students of VIII grade of SMP Negeri 9 Palu. Moreover, for the control group, the researcher did not teach the students by Freewriting technique, but the researcher wanted to change conventional method which is only using a whiteboard and book as a learning medium. The control group also took the pre-test and the mean score was of 53.97 and a post- test mean score was 64.48. The reason why the control group was given different treatments, was because the researcher wanted to compare the experimental group and the control group which applied conventional learning media. Freewriting aims to make the action flows as it goes. It took amount of time to make the writer feel free to write everything. However, it still needed students‟ motivation for doing the writing. These techniques helped students to be more enjoy in writing as it enabled students to write any topics based on their interests. It is also easy to implement and students can be actively involved in the learning process. Therefore, Freewriting can be used as an alternative technique in teaching writing as it has a positive influence on students’ writing skills. In writing with the Freewriting technique, of course, the results of students' writing need to be assessed with several criteria such as how the grammar is in the students' writing, how the students organize a good writing, researchers also assess how the students' vocabulary increases by writing using this method. The way the Freewriting method works, which makes students write without stopping, is able to improve students' ability to write well and hone their creativity. According to Zemach, Dorothy and Rumisek (2003), Freewriting helps students to practice fluency (writing quickly and easily). When students Freewrite, students just have to write everything that comes to their mind about the topic without stopping. Students do not need to worry about accuracy (having correct grammar and spelling), and Students do not need to check their dictionaries when they do Free write. Most freewriting exercises are short, just five or ten minutes. Freewriting technique helps students to elaborate their writing skill. Freewriting IDEAS, Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2024 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 2633 makes students to focus on specific topic that they have chosen. This study has the same results as previous studies to improve students' writing skills by implementing Freewriting techniques in writing, the researcher concluded that freewriting as a writing learning technique is effective in improving students' writing skills. In this case, Freewriting technique could interest the students in making a good writing. Wulandari (2020) found that by using Freewriting technique, the students gained new knowledge such as how make a good writing especially in recount text. Based on the previous research, Freewriting as an effective platform to improve students writing skill. This is supported by Atiah, Baihaqi, and Utomo (2023) found that after using Freewriting as a writing technique, student felt to be more enjoy in writing. It is also easy to implement and students can be actively involved in the learning process. Next researcher is from Sagita et al (2018) “Improving Students Writing Skill by Using Free Writing Technique” the result showed by using free writing technique in teaching writing, the writer allowed the students to express their idea without worried about the elements of writing. Furthermore, in this study it can be seen that Freewriting provides a space for those who are passionate about sharing and pouring out their thoughts and feelings in writing. Students can explore their writing skills by sharing their own stories, with topics they have chosen into paper. The results of this study indicate that Freewriting has a significance influence on students' writing skills by looking at the test results before and after being given treatment. Conclusion This research was approached by using a quasi-experimental method with the aim of knowing whether or not the implementation of Freewriting technique was effective in improving the writing of descriptive text for the eighth-grade students of SMP Negeri 9 Palu. The researcher conducted a pre-test in the two classes at the beginning to find out the extent of students' knowledge. All experimental and control group students had knowledge that was not much different. After being given the treatment and the data collected was analyzed, it Ivana Caroline Sumual, Sriati Usman, Muhammad Arid, Jamiluddin The Implementation of Freewriting Technique in Improving Student’s Writing Skill 2634 can be concluded that the Freewriting technique has a positive impact on students' ability to generate ideas, focus on specific topics, and engage in the writing process. This technique helps students to be more creative and confident in their writing. It is proved by the result of the experimental group research which obtained that the mean score of the pre-test of the students is 57 and the post-test is 82.5. Therefore, the t-counted value (10.380) was higher than the t-table value (1.683). It is proven that the hypothesis is accepted which means there is improvement in the writing skills of the students after being given the treatment. Thus, the result of the t-test is higher than the t-table (t value > t table) which means that Ha (alternative hypothesis) is accepted. In short, the implementation of freewriting technique has an effect in improving students writing skills for the eighth-grade students of SMP Negeri 9 Palu. References Arikunto, S. (2013). Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktis. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta. Atiah, U., Baihaqi, A., Utomo, D. W., Sultan, U., Tirtayasa, A., Sultan, U., Tirtayasa, A., Sultan, U., & Tirtayasa, A. (n.d.). Investigating the Effect of Freewriting Techniques on. Dorothy E Zemach, Lisa A Rumisek. (2003). Academic Writin from Paragraph to Essay. Furwana, D., & Syam, A. T. (2019). Improving Students Writing Skill on Descriptive Text By Estafet Strategy of the Eleventh Year Students of SMA 4 Palopo. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 7(1). Husnaini, H., Iksan, M., & Wiwin, W. (2023). 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