Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 97 IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL THROUGH INTERACTIVE BLOG AT IKIP MATARAM Muhamad Suhaili (1) , Taufik Suadiyatno (2) (Suhailimuhamad46@gmail.com (1) , taufiklombok7@gmail.com (2) ) Faculty of Education for Language and Art (FPBS) Mataram Institute of Teacher Training and Education (IKIP) ABSTRACT This research is aimed to improve students’ writing skill through Interactive Blog at English Department of IKIP Mataram. The subjects of the research were A class students of the fifth semester of English Department that consist of 45 students. This research was a Classroom Action Research that involved critical analyses of the situation in classroom and system in which they worked. These situations were structured institutionally with some cycles that consist of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting which can help to define issues and ideas. There were four techniques of data collection that were applied in this research; they were observation, interview, questioner and objective test. The techniques of analyzing data in this research used analytical scoring rubric adapted from Weigle. There were five components presented in the analytical scoring rubric for writing, i.e., content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. The result of this research showed that interactive blog could improve students’ writing skill, It can be proved by some facts; first, related to the srudents’ result, there was 82% who passed the passing grade (60). Second, the observation result of students’ participation showed the good improvement from the first meeting until the last meeting. The last, the result of interview towards students and lecturer showed the positive response when the interactive blog was applied in improving students’ writing skill. It created a situation of feeling free and enjoyable. The students can explore and share their idea or opinion with other friends. Therefore students can help each other to do whatever was necessary to succeed. These situation made students’ writing skill and productivity were more increasing. In addition by using this media, students were able to improve their ability in working individually, students were able to build their own knowledge, students were able to find out steps in solving problem in writing. Based on the result of this research, it can be concluded that interactive blog is able to improve students writing skill at IKIP Mataram. Keywords: Writing Skill, Interactive Blog INTRODUCTION The use of technology in language teaching and learning has been around for many years. Language labs, tape recorders, overhead projectors, TV sets and videos date from the 60's and 70's. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) mailto:Suhailimuhamad46@gmail.com mailto:taufiklombok7@gmail.com Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 98 appeared on the scene in the early 80's with the use of computer programs while the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) came to be known in the 90's moving ahead from static language programs to the dynamic World Wide Web and the so-called web-based tools. Nowadays with the tools of the Web 2.0 geared toward individuals and groups, educational institutions, universities specifically, have to take advantage of the easy to handle and high potential of these technologies which seem to fit perfectly in project collaboration and group learning (Swain, 2008). Weblogs or blogs are online personal journals which have been in cyberspace since 1998. In August of 1999 the release of Blogger, a free blog hosting service, led to the rapid growth of these sites (Blood, 2002). Later, blogs extended into various professional areas especially journalism and business. The cover story of the first issue of Fortune magazine in 2005 introduces "10 tech trends to watch in 2005," and blogs rank as the first one. "According to Blog Search-Engine and measurement firm Technorati," Fortune reports, "23,000 new weblogs are created everyday -- or about one every three seconds" (p. 34). No wonder the author claims that Blogs have become a force that business cannot afford to ignore. Conejo (2006) refers to a blog as a website where regular updating takes place. The posting of various entries is arranged in chronological order, usually published from the latest to the oldest. Blogs may share a specific theme and their content can be collected and posted by one or more authors. They are also used to organize links to other WebPages which may host videos and podcasts. Blogs generally include the option of allowing members and visitors to comment on the posts, thus promoting the interaction between users without the need to open discussion forums or threads. In this particular experience, blogs were used as open source and easy to handle web-tools. Even people with little technical background can take part in the creation, managing and maintenance of a Blog. Blogs allow teachers and students to upload content pertinent to their courses on the web and reach out to people providing opportunities to promote student-teacher, student-student, and student-others interactions. Another reason for using blogs is that posts are published instantly, without much time investment. Blogs are accessible to all who might be interested in making contributions in a relatively lengthy period of time, without moving physically or attending face- to-face (f2f) classes. Besides, blogs have proven to be of great use in foreign language courses because images, songs, podcasts, and videos can be uploaded so students can be exposed to them in a real multimedia environment (Campbell, 2003, 2004; Dieu, 2004; Grewling, 2004). Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 99 According to Grewling (2004) the biggest reason for using blogs in language teaching is the way they are set up because they invite participation and have the potential to democratize the classroom since each student is given the chance to participate equally. Grewling (2004) also brings up the fact that issues like "shyness" become less relevant in a blog than in f2f situations and, furthermore, that quieter students' participation increases in online environments. Blogs can also be accessed practically anytime and anywhere so contributors can post and comment at their own convenience and determine their own pace and level of contribution (Grewling, 2004). Pinkman (2005) states that blogs give students more control over their own learning and when created by students themselves. Blogs can also give students the ownership of a personal space, a sense of belonging that is not so easily achieved in f2f environments. Panday (2007) assures that blogs offer many benefits to our students since they help to enhance the skills of communicating, sharing, analyzing, reflecting, reading, writing, keeping records and promote collaboration among grown-ups. The present study explored how blogging could be implemented to practice students’ writing skill at English Department of IKIP Mataram. The classical problem that might be faced by the language learners in mastering writing skill, especially for the beginner was “how to begin” as same as another case, begin to write is difficult. Therefore, the talent and habitual factor may have important role to support of the language learners especially who wants to be a good writer. FINDING AND DISCUSSION Planning : In this phase, the reseachers made a planning for the action research based on the problem that was faced on preliminary study. In this case, the reseachers determined selected material using interactive blog. Besides, making lesson plan, the reseachers also prepared observation sheet to observe the students’ activities in learning process. And also the reseachers prepared the post-test to collect the data; to know there were some students’ improvement score from pre- test to post-test. The last was determining the passing grade. Action Cycle : The action of cycle was done on December 19th 2015 and it was conducted in eight meetings. The first meeting up to eight meeting was the implementation of interactive blog and at the last meeting the researchers gave a test through interactive blog. The reseachers implemented the action based on the lesson plan had been made. The action of Meeting I : The first meeting of this action research was conducted on November, 15 th 2015 at 4.10 am. The reseachers prepared the material about descriptive text, it was “Describing Someone”. The Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 100 implementation of this action was using interactive blog to improve students’ writing skill especially to the fifth semester students of FPBS IKIP Mataram. The reseachers started by greeting the students to got in touch with the students and asked their condition. Then, the reseachers checked students’ attendance. Totally, the class consisted of 45 students. The lecturer facilitating students by giving the task in picture form about “The famous actress”, students work individually. The reseachers gave chance the students to think, analyze and did the tasks. The action of Meeting II: The second meeting was conducted on November, 22 nd 2015 at 5.05 pm. The reseachers started by greeting the students to get in touch with the students and ask their condition. Then, the reseachers checked students’ attendance. Totally, the class consisted of 49 students. However, there was 4 students who did not attend the class. Furthermore, the reseacherss conveyed the material related to decriptive text. As usual after discussing the material the lecturer facilitating students by giving the assignment or tasks that should be done at internet directly. The lecturer gave chanced the students to thought, analyzed and did the task. The action of meeting III: The third meeting was carried out on November 29 th 2015 at 4.55 pm. The reseachers started by greeting the students to got in touch with the students and asked their condition. Then, the reseachers checked students’ attendance as usually. This meeting was attended by 43 students there were 2 students did not come without a certain reason. Furthermore, the reseachers conveyed the material related to descriptive text, and discussed the material with the students. The students were given some different topics to be selected and elaborated regarding with “Procedure Text”. The reseachers asked students worked individually to make descriptive. The reseachers gave chance the students to thought, analyzed and did the tasks. The last step for the third meeting was giving conclusion to te students related to material and asked students’ difficulty. Before closing the activity, the reseachers offered homework to students dealing with the material was discussed and the reseachers informed students the next lesson plan. The action of meeting IV : The fourth meeting was conducted on December, 2 nd 2015 at 5.57 pm. The reseachers started by greeting the students to got in touch with the students and asked their condition. Then the reseachers checked students’ attendance. The students on the third meeting were 45 students. The reseachers asked the previous material that had been discussed. The topic was the same with previous meeting that was descriptive text, but in this case the reseachers asked them to gave comment in term of the reseachers and other members posts. Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 101 The reseachers gave chance the students to thought, analyzed and did the tasks. Then the last step for the fourth meeting was giving conclusion related to material. Before closing the activity, as usual the reseachers asked students for studying writing at home and the reseachers informed students the next lesson plan. The action of meeting V: The fifth meeting was carried out on December 13 rd 2015 at 7.58 pm. The reseachers started by greeting the students to got in touch with the students and asks their condition. Then, the reseachers checked students’ attendance. This meeting was attending with 45 students. Furthermore, the reseachers conveyed the material related to descriptive text, and discussing material with the students. The students were give Media for Teaching Gramatical. The reseachers asked students works individually to explained about other media that can be used in teaching garammatical. The reseachers gave chanced to the students to thought, analyzed and did the tasks. The last step for the the sixth meeting was giving conclusion to the students related to material and asked students’ difficulty. Before closing the activity, the reseachers offered homework to students dealing with the material was discussed and the reseachers informed students the next lesson plan. The action of meeting VI: The sixth meeting was carried out on 21 st December 2015 at 1.30 am. The reseachers started by greeting the students to got in touch with the students and asked their condition. Then, the reseachers checked students’ attendance. This meeting was attending with 43 students there were 2 students did not come without permission. Furthermore, the reseachers conveyed the material with the students. The students were given Spelling and Punctuation. The reseachers asked students works individually to make make fre topic to be explored in the blog. The reseachers gave chance to the students to think, analyze and do the tasks. The last step for sixth meeting was giving conclusion to the students related to material and asked students’ difficulty. Before closing the activity, the reseachers offered homework to students dealing with the material was discussed and the reseachers informed students the next lesson plan. The action of meeting VII : The seventh meeting of this action research was conduct on December 28 th 2015 at 6.29 am. The reseachers started by greeting the students to got in touch with the students and asked their condition. Then, the reseachers checked students’ attendance. This meeting was attending with 44 students were 1 students who did not post into the blog. Furthermore, the reseachers conveyed the material related to descriptive text, and discussing material with the students. The students were given free title of descriptive text, in thi case the reseacher asked them to wrote free Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 102 paragraph as well. The reseachers asked students worked individually to made short paragraph at least 200 words. The reseachers gave chanced the students to thought, analyzed and did the tasks. The last step for the seventh meeting was giving students conclusion and asking students’ difficulty during teaching learning process but not one clarified their difficulty. Before closing the activity, the reseachers asked students for studying writing related to the previous material at home and the reseachers informed students that next meeting we would test. The action of meeting VIII: The last meeting was conduct on January 5 th 2016 at 5.20 pm. The reseachers started by greeting students and asked their condition. The reseachers started the class by greeting and checking students’ attendance. After that the reseachers expalained the rules of test, the test was coming from the reseachers related to the descriptive. At the end of this meeting, the reseachers aseked them to made summary in term of class blog from the fist meeting to the end. In theis matter, we invited them to comprehend the students’ response toward the use of interactive blog in teaching writing. Observation : After conducting the observation toward lecturer and students during teaching and learning process, the reseachers found data as follows: Table.1 result of observation toward students’ Activities Meeting Indicator Score Category I 10 15 Low II 10 15 Low III 10 21 High IV 10 21 High V 10 23 High VI 10 23 High VII 10 27 Very High VIII 10 27 Very High The data showed the students’ score activities during teaching and learning process was improved significantly, from the first and second meeting were 15 which were categorized as low, and third and fourth meeting were 21 and 21 which were categorized as high, then in the fifth and sixth meeting improved to be 23 and 23 which were categorized as high, and the last from the seventh to eight meeting were categorized very high with the score 27 and 27. In conducting the observation, there were several problems such as in the first meeting two students did not attend the class, there were two students, while applying the task there were students who chated with the other students. Second meeting the reseachers found six students did not attend the class. And they said Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 103 forgot to put the blogs during the investigation process. Third meeting, students had difficulty to wrote procedure because they were seldom to study individually. Fourth meeting, students are able to understood the meaning of picture that the reseachers gave. Meanwhile, from fifth meeting up to the last meeting, students were already to conducted this task even several students still did not finish the work. Even there were problem appeared the reseachers were able to fixed it in every meeting. Looking at those data,the reseachers were successful in increasing students’s writing skill. So this study stopped in one cycle and it did not need to continue to next cycle. The result of Post-test: The post test was held after implementing the Classroom Action Research. It was conducted on January 5 th 2016 at 5.20 pm. The allocation of time was 50 minutes and its one sets of descriptive text in form of writing text or making a paragraph. Students’ writing skill can be seen in table below: Table.2. The Score of Students Learning Test Result (Post-test) No Name Aspect of Assessment Score Post-test Grade F G V C S 1 EF - - - - - - - - 2 J - - - - - - - - 3 SY 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 4 AO 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 5 LEHTM 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 6 RW - - - - - - - - 7 VF 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 8 S 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 9 SW 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 10 HA 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 11 SH 3 3 4 3 4 17 68 Pass 12 HF 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 13 S 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 14 SH 4 3 3 3 3 16 64 Pass 15 I 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 16 M 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 17 AP 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 18 N 4 3 3 3 3 16 64 Pass 19 LKA 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 20 SH 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 21 M 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 22 AH 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 23 S 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 24 KAA 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 25 EM 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 26 N 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 27 QA 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 104 28 S 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 29 SH - - - - - - - - 30 SR 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 31 AS 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 32 MB 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 33 SMS 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 34 U 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 35 UM 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 36 APF 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 37 DIA 5 5 4 5 4 23 92 Pass 38 AT 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 39 S 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 40 R 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 41 VST 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 42 FF 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 43 M 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 44 MM 3 3 3 3 2 14 56 Fail 45 DM 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 46 R 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass 47 LK 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 48 LZ 3 4 4 3 4 18 72 Pass 49 I 4 4 4 4 4 20 80 Pass Total 3344 Arrange 74,31 CL (%) 82% They were able to achieve a high achievement of writing elements. In analyzing quantitative data, the reseacherss compared the result pre test and post test. Then, the reseacherss saw the significant improvement among the test. The mean score of pre test was 55,11 (24%) then improved into 74,31(82%). The detail score are as follows: Table.3. The Result of Pre Test and Post Test No Name Pre-test Post-test 1 EF - - 2 J - - 3 SY 40 72 4 AO 52 72 5 LEHTM 52 92 6 RW - - 7 VF 52 56 8 S 72 72 9 SW 48 92 10 HA 48 72 11 SH 68 68 12 HF 56 80 Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 105 13 S 72 80 14 SH 64 64 15 I 52 80 16 M 72 72 17 AP 56 56 18 N 64 64 19 LKA 52 80 20 SH 52 80 21 M 56 56 22 AH 56 56 23 S 40 92 24 KAA 48 56 25 EM 52 80 26 N 52 92 27 QA 52 72 28 S 40 80 29 SH - - 30 SR 48 56 31 AS 56 80 32 MB 56 80 33 SMS 72 72 34 U 48 92 35 UM 56 92 36 APF 48 72 37 DIA 56 92 38 AT 56 72 39 S 72 80 40 R 48 72 41 VST 48 80 42 FF 48 56 43 M 72 80 44 MM 48 56 45 DM 64 72 46 R 48 80 47 LK 52 72 48 LZ 52 72 49 I 64 80 Total 2480 3344 Mean score 51,11 74,31 CL (%) 24% 82% The reseachers compared the result of students’ achievement in pre test and post test. Then, the reseachers saw the significant increasing among the students’ writing skill, it can be seen at the following figure:  Students mean score Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 106 M = = = 74,31  Percentage of students learn achievement classically P = x 100% = = 82% After that, the reseachers compared the result of pre-test and post-test with the passing grade that was 60. In the pre test, the students’ mean score under passing grade that was 51,11 (24%). Furthermore, the mean score of post-test was 74,31 (82%), it showed that the passing grade were achieved. Reflection : The reflection of classroom action research (CAR) was conduct after giving the result of writing test. The reseachers and lecturer felt satisfied in effort to improved the students’s writing skill has been realized. The students could understand the writing process easily. It was proven by the result of pre-test that improved in post-test. Furthermore, they could cooperated among their teams easily and they seemed more interesting during the teaching and learning process. After achieving the target research of post-test which showed mean score 74,31 it was higher than passing grade that was 70. Therefore, the reseachers and lecturer decided to stop Classroom Action Research because it had already succeeded. Hence, the reasearcher did not need to rearrange the next cycle. It was enough with one cycle only. According to the evaluation between reseachers and lecturer, it should be inferred that the implementation of interactive blog was able to improve students’ writing skill. CONCLUSION After having Classroom Action Research at fifith semseter students of FPBS in academic year 2015/2016, the reseachers inferred that interactive blog could improve students’ writing skill. It can be proved by the following facts. First, related to the srudents’ result, there was 82% who passed the passing grade 60. Within the pre-test, there were 34 students did not passed the passing grade. Second, the observation result of students’ participation showed the good improvement from the first meeting until the last meeting. The last, the result of interview towards students and lecturer showed the positive response when the interactive blog was applied in improving students’ writing skill. In this case, interactive blog created a situation felt free and enjoyable to explored their ideas, they also can shared their ideas, opinion and expressed their feeling through class blog and they were not ashamed to shared their ideas with other friends. Therefore students help each other to did whatever was necessary Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 107 to succeed and everyone needed to put in maximum effort. These situation made students’ writing skill and productivity were more increasing. In conclusion, this research was successful in improving students’ writing skill by using interactive blog. In addition by using this media, students were able to improve their ability in working individually, students were able to built their own knowledge, and students were able to found steps in solving problem in writing. Journal of English Language Teaching Volume 3 Nomor 2, Agustus 2016 ISSN: 2548-5865 108 REFERENCES Blood, R. (2002). A history and perspective. Rebecca's Pocket. Retrieved October 5, 2008 from http://rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html. Campbell, A. P. (2003). Weblogs for Use with ESL Classes. The Internet TESL Journal, 9 (2). Campbell, A. P. (2004). Using Live Journal for Authentic Communication in EFL Classes. The Internet TESL Journal, 10 (9). Conejo, M. (2006). Usos Didácticos. Centro de Profesores y de Recursos de Mérida, JUNTA de Extremadura, Spain. Retrieved January 22, 2008 from https://docs.moodle.org/all/es/Usos_did%C3%A1cticos. Grewling, N. (2004). Collaborative Learning Online: Using Blogs for Language Teaching. CLA Language Center Newsletter, 15 (1). University of Minnesota. Retrieved October 5, 2008 from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/blogging-elt. Pinkman, K. (2005). Using blogs in the Foreign Language Classroom: Encouraging Learner Independence. The JALT CALL Journal, 1 (1), 12-24. Retrieved October 5, 2008. Swain, H. (2008, May 12). Web 2.0: Boon or Bane for Universities. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved November 30, 2008 from https://mg.co.za/article/2017-08-25-00-university-rankings-boon-or-bane. Weigle, Sara Cushing, 2002. Assessing Writing. Cambridge Language Assessment. New York: Cambridge University Press.