IMPROVING CREATIVE WRITING FOR YOUNG LEARNERS USING CTL POST COVID 19 Elli Setiyo Wahyuni, Deasy Arieffiani Universitas Hang Tuah elli.setiyo@hangtuah.ac.id, deasy.ariffiani@hangtuah.ac.id Abstract The research aims to implement contextual teaching and learning approach in writing skill which is integrated in the lesson plan. This is a case study in a primary school in Indonesia. The purpose of the study is to investigate the improvement of students’ writing skill post covid 19. There are five strategies in contextual teaching and learning approach, namely relating, experiencing, applying, cooperating, and transferring (REACT). The implementation is providing practices on descriptive and narrative writing. The assessment is the learning project related to real-world context and writing story telling. The result indicates that CTL enhances the students’ creative writing because it is practical in real world situation. It is suggested to integrate CTL in a lesson plan which is relevant with the current development in English language teaching. Keywords: contextual teaching and learning, creative writing, lesson plan, REACT I INTRODUCTION One of the most common problem for Indonesian students in writing skill is putting the ideas i nt o written form. Students understand what the teachers have explained theoretically, unfortunately, they have found difficulties in constructing their ideas and thought into creative writing. For this reason, they feel reluctant to write and do not have motivation to produce written answers in English. In addition, learning English is considered as foreign language acquisition that unknown vocabulary and sentence pattern are difficult to be mastered easily. Furthermore, grammar usage and time signals in basic English material are found difficult to be memorized so that students have inability to master this language (Taylor & Taylor, 2019). It is a fact that mastering English language is different from learning Indonesian language f or t he mother tongue has no difference in using time signal and its language pattern. A person could communicate in Indonesian language without memorizing various sentence patterns (D’Arcy Nell, 2017; Inan-Karagul & Yuksel, 2014). In addition, formal education in Indonesia usually emphasizes the English teaching only on theory rather than practice. As the result, students become lack of practices especially in writing (Neff-Lippman, 2011; Reyhan, 2012). The condition also contributes to the problem of comprehension in writing skill, even though the teachers begin the learning process st ep by step by introducing vocabulary, explaining grammar rules, and providing examples (Renandya et al., 2018; McCowan, 2010). Therefore, the purpose of the study is to provide new concept in writing by using creativity through contextual teaching and learning in term of the lesson plan, classroom act i vi t y, and particular project for the students. In this case, creative writing is the term should be emphasi zed t o enhance learning motivation using online media (Satriani et al., 2012). The second term is the use of CTL that provides teachers detailed solutions in lesson plan (Nawas, 2020). The students’ background problem supports the idea of using contextual teaching and learning approach in order to create creative writing in the learning activity. Furthermore, improving writing skill should be included in the goal of lesson plan by integrating the skill and the use of CTL (Nasrun, 2014; Lynch, 2014). REACT is the strategy of contextual teaching and learning used in this study which means relating, experiencing, applying, cooperating, and transferring (Crawford, 2001). The lesson pl an accommodates writing skill by using the application of REACT in online class. Furthermore, the l esson plan is described in detail for the learning activity, assessment, students’ task, practices, and teaching materials. The examples of REACT enforcement are applying and transferring. Teacher gives an example of writing through video, explanation, and tutorial. The students practice writing accor di ng t o the topic that has been set. Students are also asked to find another topic that matches with their preferences so that they know what to write and what to do in writing. In this case, the students learn how to transfer the basic knowledge of English skill in students’ real classroom and life situation (TienRafida, 2016; Karim, 2017). The use of CTL approach aims to set a lesson plan for writing skill. The implementation will be applied by using REACT (Satriani et al., 2012; Fadhilah et al., 2017). For this reason, CTL approach mailto:elli.setiyo@hangtuah.ac.id mailto:deasy.ariffiani@hangtuah.ac.id 2 | Elli Setiyo Wahyuni, Deasy Arieffiani Lingual (Vol. 11, No.1, 2021) applies real practices and experiences for students to learn English. The application can be seen in the students’ task and project by using real situation materials and background knowledge (Preradovic, 2020). Students transfer the knowledge into written form related to school and real life. CTL appr oach contains real practice to develop knowledge through projects and activities (Berns & Erickson, 2001; Susiloningsih, 2016). In this case, students have opportunity to create community of transferring knowledge among friends and practicing English skills. In addition, students also have opportunity to make connection between academic knowledge and situation occurred in the teaching process (Sears, 2003). As the benefit, students increase their motivation in mastering English and experiences in improving writing skill. The previous researches conducted contextual teaching and learning approach for improving the academic purposes. The results indicated that the application of CTL improved students’ critical thinking and motivation (Winarti, 2016; Sihono, 2004). In addition, CTL provided recommended strategy of teaching and learning in social, sciences, and English skills. The previous studies proved t he effectiveness of contextual teaching and learning approach for all academic subjects. For this reason, contextual teaching and learning approach should be applied for the effectiveness and benefits in improving creative writing. Furthermore, character-based teaching materials through the contextual teaching and learning approach generated in the development study, have been declared effective for improving learning skills and developing student character (Sianipar et al., 2017). Contextual t eachi ng and learning activities had positive effect on language achievement. It is strongly recommended to be used especially in improving writing skill (Gull & Shehzad, 2015; Dewi, 2018) The application of contextual teaching and learning approach develops student English competency by engaging the material and the real experience. The strategy of REACT also motivates students to make connection between knowledge and the application to their lives as family members, citizens, and students (Hudson & Whisler, 2007). Thus, the lesson plan is designed to meet students’ need and learning target to enhance writing skill. Furthermore, the study aims to answer t he f ol l owi ng research questions. 1) the integration of CTL approach and creative writing in the lesson plan, 2) the implementation of teaching creative writing to young learner post Covid 19. II MATERIALS AND METHOD The study uses qualitative method to observe students’ improvement in writing skill . The case study is taken in a primary school in Indonesia that the activity is conducted through online learning due to covid 19. The participants are the sixth-grade students in three classrooms. The study aims to meet the target learning in creative writing, apply REACT strategy in the lesson plan, and emphasize the students’ involvement in learning activity from knowledge to the applications of real situation. The dat a collection technique uses the following procedure. Outlining lesson Plan The implementation Data analysis integra ting creative writing a nd CTL (REACT) Students' a ctivity, Cla ss projects Students' writing result Table 1. Data Collection Technique III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The function of REACT proves that students relate their background knowledge, practice vocabulary and grammar, cooperate with friends, and transfer knowledge. The strategy of REACT in CTL supports students to be autonomous and creative learners. The implementation of teaching creati ve writing to young learner post covid 19 consists of relating, experiencing, applying, cooperating, and transferring. Relating means that students use their background knowledge to be related in the materials taught . The implementation of relating can be seen from the activity related to the topic that has been introduced. Students can identify the sequence of the story, and guess the meaning of vocabularies. In brief, relating means students are familiar with the topic given and perform well in the writing exercises. For this reason, the purpose of relating is to make connection between ideas and practical activities. The Improving Creative Writing for Young Learners using CTL Post COVID 19 | 3 activity can be seen in the lesson plan that they can put the ideas of storytelling into their descriptive and narrative writing. Students describe the main character from the story and write the sequence of story. Experiencing is contextual teaching and learning strategy that makes meaningful connection between knowledge and academic purposes. Students are motivated to retell the sequence of the story using proper expression and intonation in online class. The examples are the activity of story r epet i t i on that each student presents the storyline in simple words or sentences. Applying is the students’ participation in constructing sentences to build a story and to describe someone or something according to background knowledge. In writing descriptive writing, students practice to write what they know to describe picture or someone they know to produce a creative writing. Here, students can apply the knowledge of grammar rules and vocabulary into descr i pt i ve and narrative writing. Students can retell the story by using simple present tense to conclude the story. Contextual teaching and learning strategy accommodate strengths and weaknesses on students’ writing skill. Whereas, students can share knowledge among the others in order to help in facing complex problem in understanding instruction or inability to accomplish the task. The purpose of cooperating is to maintain collaboration, team work, and participation. In this phase, cooperating enables students to be autonomous learners that they do not depend only on the teacher whenever they have problem in learning, in fact, they learn how to find solution themselves through literature, sharing knowledge, and information from media. In cooperating with other students, they need cer t ai n t i m e t o discuss their project. As it is online learning, they collaborate the ideas into written form and present t he result in online class. Students transfer what they know into descriptive and narrative writing. The activity can be seen from transferring the written work into spoken form by doing presentation in online class. In transferring knowledge into written form, students can use their background knowledge and experiences to conclude the story and provide moral value. They can share the conclusion and thought to the peers in order t o be active in online learning. Contextual teaching and learning help students in relating the materials they are learning to real life context. What the students have known as background knowledge, will be connected with t he pr i or knowledge and forms experiences in learning. The learning target accommodates students in m ast er i ng writing skill. Thus, learning through context and real situation are great opportunities f or students to practice theory in the class to be applied in community where they live. The following lesson plan is used to teach creative writing. The purpose of outlining a lesson pl an is to implement contextual teaching and learning approach to improve writing skill. Writing genre Teaching and learning activity Creative writing 1. Descriptive writing (Introduction) - Tea cher introduces a topic by using video, pictures, a nd storytelling (tea cher ca n use zoom meeting or Google meet). - Tea cher a sks students to do repetition in vocabulary - Tea cher a sks students to guess the meaning of vocabulary tha t they learn - Tea cher explains gra mmar rules - Tea cher shows a video how to use gra mmar rules into sentences. - Tea cher a sks students to do repetition on sentences and words. - Tea cher explains descriptive writing by giving exa mple a nd showing video to construct sentences. Storytelling project, writing 4 | Elli Setiyo Wahyuni, Deasy Arieffiani Lingual (Vol. 11, No.1, 2021) 2. Na rra tive writing (Rela ting a nd experiencing) - Ea ch student writes a sentence to describe something/ someone. - Ea ch student shares the result of the descriptive writing - Tea cher shows the examples how to write descriptive essa y in two or three sentences. - Ea ch student writes descriptive writing rela ted to the topic in two or three sentences. (Applying a nd cooperating) - Tea cher tells a story rela ted to the topic - Students do repetition on some sentences. - Students write descriptive writing a bout the object or the figure in the story. (Tra nsferring) - Students present their writing to the cla ss (they ca n tell the sequences of story using proper expression a nd intonation). (Introduction) - Tea cher introduces a folklore from Indonesia using video, story book, a nd pictures (teacher ca n use zoom meeting or Google meet). - Tea cher a sks students to do repetition on vocabulary - Tea cher shows some pictures a nd a sks students to guess the vocabula ry - Tea cher explains gra mmar rules - Tea cher shows a video how to use gra mmar rules into sentences. - Tea cher a sks students to do repetition on sentences and words. - Tea chers explain narrative writing by giving exa mple and showing video to construct sentences. (Rela ting a nd experiencing) - Ea ch student writes a sentence to retell one of the actions on the folklore. - Ea ch student shares the result of narration. - Tea cher shows the examples how to write na rrative essay in two or three sentences. - Ea ch student writes two or three sentences according to Improving Creative Writing for Young Learners using CTL Post COVID 19 | 5 the a ctions on the pictures. (Applying, cooperating, a nd transferring) - Tea cher a sks students to make a sequence story by working together in group. - Students present the story in sequence. Table 2. Lesson Plan The lesson plan provides detail information of applying REACT in contextual teaching and learning. It promotes some topics related to real world context. Based on the data taken in the assessment and students’ work, it can be seen that students perform well in their study of acquiring English as the foreign language, students participate more in the discussion because the topics relat ed t o the knowledge of world that they have mastered. Furthermore, it can be seen that students improve thei r motivation in learning English because they are not only learning the language, but also enhancing creativity in writing, and cooperation. The application of REACT in the lesson plan assists the teacher to know what to do in the class activities. The teacher as the facilitator works optimally in the teaching because students are the centre of the learning, and the teacher facilitates the class with various activity for monitoring their improvement. The function of lesson plan also provides detail activity and learning target so that both of them comprehend the objective of the study. Contextual teaching and learning approach help teacher and students in connecting the meaning of subject matter through prior and new knowledge in order to get new understanding. The strategy of CTL provides a wide range of activities that enables students to take part in various contexts of their lives. The benefit of applying CTL is to motivate students in using creativity and the ability to work toget her . The activity in lesson plan aims to educate learners to be creative in writing sentences. Furthermore, t he benefit of CTL is to strengthen students’ memory and understanding of the concept because the student s are learning through the material that has taken from their experience and new knowledge. In other words, they relate their prior and new knowledge to understand the lesson. Thus, they will easily remember, recall, and comprehend the material. In addition, contextual teaching and learning engages students in significant activity that helps them to see meaningful work by formulating projects, identifying problems, making choices, searching out information and reaching conclusion. IV CONCLUSION The role of teacher in teaching English for young learners is important, especially in the new normal era or post covid 19. The study recommends some techniques in motivating students to learn and write creatively even though the class is conducted in online meeting. For it is an online learning, teacher should use creative media so that students can focus on the lesson. 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