using powerpoint for writing recount text

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THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING POWERPOINT

IN WRITING RECOUNT TEXTS

FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

By

SAEPUL APANDI

UNIVERSITAS INDRAPRASTA PGRI

2011

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the Study

There are four basic skills in English instruction at schools in

Indonesia: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Generally speaking, these

four basic skills are divided into two major facets; they are receptive and

productive skills. Harmer (1999:199) states that “receptive skills are the ways

in which people extract meaning from the discourse they see or hear”. By this

point of view, listening and reading are considered as receptive skills, while

speaking and writing belong to the productive skills.

Writing as the productive skill is more difficult than any other

skills. It is still hard to conduct, even for those who can read and hear well.

Hadley (2000: 280) elaborates the difficulty in process of writing, arguing

that “Most people who have attempted to put pen on paper to communicate

ideas would agree that expressing oneself clearly in writing can be a slow and

painful process”. Meanwhile, Bell and Burnaby (1984, in Nunan, 1989:36)

strongly outline the complicated activity of writing a foreign language, saying

that ‘It is an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer

required to reveal organizing number of variables at once’.

In addition, therefore, writing recount text as the compulsory

content for the Junior High School students based on the newest curriculum,

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School Based-Curriculum (KTSP) is not simply as a matter of “writing things

down”. Some certain features of recount will make more difficult for the

students who learn it. For instance, there are some reasons for this case: 1).

Writing recount requires good grammar, the students have to remember some

specific rules in structure of recount which are different from their own

language. 2). Students spend less of their time for writing. 3). Students

usually have big question in mind whether what they write is correct or

incorrect.

Giving the solutions to the problems in writing as mentioned

above, Byrne (1988:21) highlights the important approach in teaching

writing:

The approaches of teaching writing should encourage the students to write as much as possible and as quickly as possible – without worrying about making mistakes. The important thing is to get one’s ideas down on paper. In this way students feel that they are actually writing, … and consequently writing is an enjoyable experience.

One of the supporting factors towards the students’ achievement in

writing skill is learning media. Providing an appropriate learning media shows

that students are given the opportunities to explore the current writing

material. Considering the importance of media for the students’ learning,

Richard Clark (1984) as cited by Blacker and Oborne (1987:167) points out

the suitable learning media that can be utilized by the students in their

learning, he states that ‘we are continually searching for new technologies that

will produce more learning outcomes than the ‘older’ media, and that the

computer is seen as a particularly powerful technology in this sense’.

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The use of PowerPoint and multimedia, as the medium for learning

English in the classroom, has significantly increased globally in recent years;

few studies have systematically investigated its impact on students learning

and attitudes (Connor n Wong, 2004:15).

As the application which is laid out in a "storyboard" type fashion,

PowerPoint can be utilized for creating and formatting texts and images. For

the learners, this feature can be used as their worksheet for writing the story

more interesting. As, basically a presentation software, PowerPoint program

can be optimized as the teaching instruction used by the teachers in delivering

particular English material. Moreover, some basic features of graphic,

animation, color (imagery) and audio in PowerPoint enable the users to make

the writing activity more meaningful, enjoyable and well-organized as these

features are considered as the underpinning accessories for writing activity.

Considering those facts mentioned above, the writer intends to

explore both writing recount and PowerPoint, following by analyzing the

effectiveness of this computer program in students’ writing of recount texts.

2. Statement of the Problem

The present study is aimed at seeing the effectiveness in using

learning media (i.e. using PowerPoint program) in writing recount texts

compared to the conventional technique of learning current skill. The

effectiveness should be measured in the terms of achievement in writing

skills. For instance, it is intended to see whether PowerPoint program leads to

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a better achievement in writing recount skill. The problem in this research can

be formulated in the following question:

“Does PowerPoint program work effectively in improving students’

ability in writing recount text?”

3. Hypothesis

Based on the statement of the problem, the hypothesis is stated as

follows:

“The students who learned through PowerPoint in writing recount texts would

have no difference with those who did not”.

4. The Objectives of the Study

The goal of this research is to explore PowerPoint Program as the

learning experience, whether it could enhance the proficiency in writing

recount texts for the second year students of MTs Negeri 6 Jakarta.

5. Significance of the Study

By doing this research, the researcher expects some valuable

contribution:

5.1. For the students

They could measure themselves and realize that there is another

learning experience in writing skill.

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5.2. For the teacher

This study can be as the measurement whether not he or she has

succeeded in teaching the students in writing skills, especially in recount

text.

5.3. For the education field

The study is aimed at exploring the central issue of Information and

Communication technology within teaching and learning process,

especially in accordance with the writing skill.

5.4. For the researcher himself

This study should be considered as a source of information and practical

theories to improve his knowledge and teaching experience.

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CHAPTER 2

RECOUNT TEXTS AND POWERPOINT PROGRAM

This chapter presents the review of related literature underpinning this

research covering Recount Texts, Characteristics of Recount Text, Computer for

Learning, and Writing Recount text with PowerPoint, each will be considered.

6. Recount Texts

Rose (2008) suggests three general families of genre: stories,

factual and evaluating. The term ‘genre’ here is used to refer to particular text

type, not to traditional varieties of literature. The genre of the text is partly

determined by the culture in which the text is used, since different cultures

achieve their purposes through language in different ways.

Our national curriculum has determined the story genre for Junior

high school students into two kinds; they are recount and narrative. These two

genres are taught for the second year of junior high school students, as it can

be seen in Competence Standard of writing skill for the second year students

at the second semester (Depdiknas, 2006:58):

Mengungkapkan makna dan langkah retorika dalam essei pendek sederhana dengan menggunakan ragam bahasa tulis secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekitar dalam teks berbentuk narratif dan recount. (to express the meaning and rethoric features of short simple essays by using written language accurately in the form of narrative and recount to be able to interact in the dayly life).

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Derewianka (1990:14) defines that recount as “the unfolding of a

sequence of events over time. We are using English to keep the past alive and

help us to interpret experience, in a recount we reconstruct past experience”.

In line with this definition, Gerot and Wignel (1994:120) highlight recount as

“the text which retell an event”. Based on two previous definitions, the term

of story genre is appropriate for recount.

More detail, Derewianka (1990:15) categorizes the text of recount

into three major types; they are Personal Recount, Factual Recount,

Imaginative Recount, he defines as follows:

Personal Recount is retelling of an activity that the writer or speaker has been personally involved in (e.g. oral anecdote and diary entry), Factual Recount is recording the particulars of an incident (e.g. report of a science experiment, police report, news report and historical account). Finally, Imaginative Recount is taking on an imaginary role and giving details of events (e.g. a day in the life of a Roman slave, how I invented).

In line with the categorization of the recount text, Hardy and

Klarwein (1990:12) describes two kinds of recount text, they are personal

recount as in personal letters and excursion ‘write-ups’, and historical recount

which attempts to retell past experience in the objective view, such as report

of science experiment and police report.

5. The Characteristics of Recount Text

The characteristics of the recount text can be seen from its social

function, schematic structures, and linguistics features. Therefore, a text can

be categorized as a recount text if it fulfills the requirements of these

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characteristics. In the following sections, each characteristic of recount text is

explained.

7. Social Function of Recount Text

Derewianka (1990:10) argues that “the purpose or the social function

of the text type accounts for differences in the texts which are structured in

different ways”. To get a clear understanding about the purpose of recount

text, Derewianka exemplifies with the purpose of instructions, being used to

tell someone how to do or to make something. Thus, the structure of such text

would typically move through the particular stages. Finally he states the

purpose of recount text; it is to tell what happened. To achieve its purpose,

the text will move through a different set of stages which are considered as

schematic structure.

Giving the addition for the purpose of recount text, Macken-Horarik

(2002:21) and Gerot and Wignel (1994:194) tell that the social purpose of the

recount text is to retell events for the purpose of informing or entertaining,

events usually arranged in a temporal sequences. By this view, recount

doesn’t only attempt to inform past experiences or events, but it is also

entertaining and amusing the readers.

Among the points of view about the social function, it can be

summarized that an author of recount text writes a retelling or interpretation

of an event or a series of events which are memorable in his or her life, or in

the life of another person. A recount is a written restructuring or interpretation

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of an event or series of events to inform the past events and or entertain the

readers.

8. The Schematic Structure of Recount Text

According to Derewianka (1990:15) “the focus of a recount is on a

sequence of events, all of which relate to a particular occasion”. Afterwards,

he determines the schematic structure of recount into three stages, namely:

orientation, series of events and personal comment. Giving the same meaning

in different terms, Gerot and Wignel (1994:194) state the terms of orientation,

events and re-orientation for the stages in recount texts. Also Macken-Horarik

(2002:21) gives another term, they are orientation, record of events and re-

orientation.

9. The Linguistic Features of Recount Text

The linguistic features of recount text that can be inferred from two

experts (Derewianka and Gerot-Wignel) as mentioned before, are: First,

focusing on specific participants, with defined identity, such as Mrs. Brady,

our dog, the shopkeeper. Second, using simple past tense, in the form of both

regular and irregular verbs, for example he smiled, it barked, she came. Third,

the verbs used are mainly action verbs (material process). However there

could be also many verbs which refer to what the human participants said,

felt, or thought (verbal and mental processes). Forth, many linking words can

be used to do with time and to make the sentences cohesively, for example:

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on Wednesday, then, at the same time, next, later, before. In other word, it

focuses on the temporal sequence. Fifth, the irrelevant information to the

purpose of the text should be avoided. Sixth, circumstance of place is used to

complete the information in the text.

10. The PowerPoint features for Writing Recount

PowerPoint is also called ‘storyboard type fashion’ or ‘multimedia

storytelling’. It means that it can be used to put and display the particular

words or sentences in the screen and make them more interesting. Conducting

writing recount can be done in PowerPoint in some extent below:

5.1. The students can use PowerPoint as the program for writing, instead of

utilizing word processing. The students can use the spellchecker to

correct their writing, synonym or thesaurus to use proper sentences, or

giving pictures to make writing more meaningful.

5.2. The teachers can apply the notion of Computer Based Instruction

(CBI), in conducting recount text at the classroom teaching. Drill and

practice can be made by creating the skeleton of recount text in Power

Point, Tutorial can be used attractively in introducing the particular

text type, and simulation can be built by utilizing the features of

animation schemes and slide transition.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHOD

11. The Research Type

This research is a quasi experimental one. Creswell (2002:298) states

that “In experiment you test an idea, practice or procedure to determine

whether it influences an outcome or dependent variable”. Based on his view,

this study is aimed at applying the use of PowerPoint Program to examine its

effectiveness in writing recount text.

12. The Treatment

Two strategies of teaching writing recount were studied in the

present research; by facilitating PowerPoint program and the conventional

one. In treatment phase, both control and experimental groups are given the

same material of recount text. The procedures in conducting the lesson

material is based on guide book from Ministry of National Education

(2004:23), and will be described below:

13. Time Allocation

The research experiment conducted for 10 sessions, it took a month

and each session was carried out in 80 minutes. The research was conducted

in November 2010, on Monday, Thursday and Friday.

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14. Population and Sample

The population of this research is all second year students of MTs

Negeri 6 Jakarta with the sampling frame consisting of 7 classes or 245

students. The sample is 60 students or two classes; they are 30 students for

the experimental group (class 8-1) and 30 students for the control group (class

8-2), selected purposively based on certain condition without splitting them

randomly.

15. The Research Instrument

There are two kinds of instruments used to gather the data, namely:

1. Instrument for conducting a treatment which was in the form of lesson

plans and recount material, and 2. Instrument for scoring in the form of

pretest and posttest items which consists of Multiple Choice and Essay Test.

The Scoring for the writing test comprises Overall organization (Form),

Cohesion, Vocabulary, Grammar and Mechanic.

16. Data Gathering

The data which was found in this research was, first, the data of the

sample respondents’ ability in writing recount text before receiving the

treatment and second, the data of their achievement after receiving the

treatment.

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17. Data Analysis

Before analyzing the data, the data was verified and classified.

Verification was done to analyze the data, whether or not it can be examined.

Uncompleted and unworthy data was not analyzed and then the completed

ones were coded for further analysis. Data analysis was conducted to analyze

raw scores into fixed scores to get easier to be analyzed.

18. Hypothesis testing

To test the null hypothesis (Ho) in this research, some assumptions

should be fulfilled. Ho is accepted if:

a. There is no significant difference between mean of posttest scores and

pretest scores, either experimental or control group.

b. There is a significant difference between mean of pretest scores of the

two groups.

c. There is no significant difference between mean of posttest score of the

two groups.

To fulfill the assumptions above, statistical of paired samples and

independent samples t-test were applied in this research to determine how

mean of pretest scores were different from posttest scores, both in the group

itself and between two groups with the level of significance of 0.05. The

significance of the test was analyzed by using computer program of Statistical

Package of the Social Science or SPSS v.11.5.

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CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH FINDINGS

19. The Pretest Scores of the Experimental Group

5.3. The scores of Multiple Choice test

The minimum score is 3.50 and the maximum one is 8.00 with

the range of 4.5. In addition, with the analysis of central tendency of the

group , it was obtained that mean is 5.5 , median is 5.5, and mode is 6.5

whereas from the analysis of variance it is found that the standard

deviation is 1.30 and the score of variance is 1.71.

5.4. The Score of Essay test

The minimum score is 4.00 and the maximum one is 8.00 with

the range of 4.00. In addition, with the analysis of central tendency of

the group , it was obtained that mean is 5.22 , median is 5.2, and mode

is 5.2 whereas from the analysis of variance it is found that the standard


20. The Posttest Scores of the Experimental Group

5.5. The Multiple Choice Scores

The minimum score is 4.0 and the maximum score is 9.0 with the

range of 5.0. In addition, with the analysis of central tendency of the


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deviation is 1.483 and the score of variance is 2.201 .

5.6. Essay Score

The minimum score is 4.8 and the maximum score is 8.8 with the

range of 4.0. In addition, with the analysis of central tendency of the




21. The Pretest Scores of the Control Group

5.7. Multiple Choice Scores

The minimum score of pretest gained by the control group is 4.0

and the maximum score is 7.0 with the range of 3.0. In addition, with the

analysis of central tendency of the group, it was obtained that mean is

5.93 , median is 6.0, and mode is 6.0 whereas form the analysis of

variance it is found that the standard deviation is 0.82 and the score of

variance is 0.68.

5.8. Essay Score

The minimum score of pretest gained by the experimental group

is 4.0 and the maximum score is 6.0 with the range of 4.0 . In addition,

with the analysis of central tendency of the group , it was obtained that

mean is 4.54 , median is 4.4, and mode is 4.4 whereas form the analysis

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of variance it is found that the standard deviation is 0.75 and the score of

variance is 0.56.

22. The Posttest Scores of the Control Group

5.9. The Multiple Choice Scores






variance is 0.56 .

5.10. The Essay Scores






variance is 0.55.

23. Discussion of the Research Findings

This research highlighted the problem on how to improve and

develop students’ ability in writing by giving such kind of treatment on using

PowerPoint program by emphasizing the students’ skill in the matter of

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Fluency, Grammar, Vocabulary, Content (Overall organization) and spelling

or punctuation. By applying paired samples and independent samples of t-

test, this research provides some findings in line with the treatment on

applying the PowerPoint program.

First, from comparative analysis of the pretest and posttest scores of

the experimental group, it was shown that on the level of significance of 0.05,

the value of t-Stat. is 3.68 (multiple choice test) and 5.29 (essay test), the

value of t- Crit. is 2.04. So, t-Stat. > t-Crit. The improvement of the score is

quite significant: 5.6 and 5.3 becomes 6.2 and 6.3. It means that in

consistence with the theory proposed by Butler and Mautz (1996) that

computer program and multimedia affect the students to perform better

quizzes and exams.

Thus, this study which was supported by some research concluded

that using PowerPoint program both for language learning or teaching

instruction is much helpful and effective in developing students’ writing

recount texts.

Second, the result of comparative analysis of the pretest and posttest

score of the control group, it was proved that on the level of significance of

0.05 and degree of freedom of 29, the data showed that t-Stat. is 2.66

(multiple choice) and 2.87 (essay) and t-Crit. is 2.04 without getting a

treatment on using PowerPoint program, the control group also has better

result in finishing the posttest items. The reasons of what happened to the

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group and why there was also a significant improvement from the pretest to

posttest scores had not identified in this research.

The study proved that without any significant differences between

the pretest of the experimental and control groups, it means that both two

groups are in the same condition. It was also indicated that t-Stat. of the

Experimental group is 3.68 (multiple choice) and 5.29 (essay) and t-Stat. of

the control group is 2.66 (multiple choice) and 2.87 (essay), it means that

there was significant difference between respondents who were trained and

those who were not.

The result showed that null hypothesis is rejected, meaning that there

was a significant difference between the students who were taught by using

PowerPoint program and the students who were not involved in the particular

treatment. So, it was concluded that using PowerPoint program can develop

students’ writing ability in recount texts.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This research concludes the present study and offers some suggestions.

The conclusions are presented to address the problems of the present study, which

are formulated in research question. The recommendations are made on the basis

of the findings and corresponding discussion.

24. The Conclusion

The present study investigates how to improve and develop students’

ability in writing recount texts by giving the treatment on using PowerPoint

program. It was proved that writing recount texts by using PowerPoint

program is effective in developing students’ writing ability. It can be seen that

the posttest scores were significantly difference with the pretest scores of the

experimental group, so that the result of this research supports what Russell

(2001) believes that the features of PowerPoint such as story template can

help develop writing and storytelling skills. When the students use the

presentation software such as PowerPoint, they will find that there are some

hints which will guide them to write in English well.

The result or the output of learning is also significant difference

between students who used PowerPoint program and those who didn’t use it.

It is assumed that writing recount texts by using PowerPoint program can be

used by the students as the learning media and by the teachers as the teaching

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instruction in order to increase students’ proficiency in writing recount texts.

So, this research supports the notion which was proposed by Castellani and

Jeffs (2001) that Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) enhances teacher’s

instruction and students’ achievement in learning English. It improves

students’ achievement because they receive immediate feedback.

Furthermore, PowerPoint that has two major functions (as a set of drill-

practice and ready-made teaching instruction) can encourage the students’ to

increase their writing skill in recount texts.

25. The Recommendation

First, as a matter of fact, the PowerPoint is much helpful and

effective in developing students’ writing ability. It is recommended that the

English teachers assist the students in solving their writing problems by

treating them with the appropriate method and approach in order to increase

and develop their achievement.

Second, this research has tried to solve one of the problems in

writing skill by using PowerPoint in learning recount texts. So, it was

suggested that other researchers who care of students’ problems in writing

recount text involve other learning media to get the better result and more

application to be used in regular classroom teaching and learning process.

Thus, the writing activities in English classroom can be integrated into more

other interactive computer programs. Finally, writing practice in English will

not be a scary learning anymore

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Byrne, D. (1988). Teaching Writing Skill. England : Longman.

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Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. (2007). Lampiran Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Nomor 34 Tahun 2007 tanggal 5 November 2007. Jakarta: BP. Dharma Bhakti.

Derewianka, B. (1990) Exploring how text work. Newtown: Primary English Teaching Association.

Dudeney, G., and Hockly, N. (2007). How to Teach English With Technology, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Gerot, L., and Wignell, P. (1994). Making Sense of Functional Grammar. Australia: Gerd Stabler Antipodean Educational Enterprises.

Hadley, A.O. (2001). Teaching Language in Context. USA: Heinle & Heinle

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Harmer, J. (1998). How to Teach English. An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. Malaysia: Longman.

Hatch and Farhady. (1982). Research Design and Statistics for Applied Linguistics. Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers.

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http://www.Iteslj.org/

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Alhamdulillah, with his blessing and the hard effort I have managed, this

paper entitled “The Effectiveness of Using PowerPoint Program in Writing

Recount Texts for Junior High School Students” is finally able to be

accomplished.

First and foremost, special gratitude goes to Drs. H. Nur Pawaidudin as the

headmaster of MTs Negeri 6 Jakarta and Drs. Lebeng, M.Ed as the curriculum

staff for giving me such a beneficial opportunity to conduct the research. To all

students who were involved in this study, and to all of the English teachers in

MTsN 6 and 33 Jakarta with whom I have shared the knowledge during

conducting this research.

A deep thank is also addressed to Prof. Dr. H. Sumaryoto, the Head of

Indraprasta University, for providing the opportunity to do this research, as well

as to his staff, for their kind services.

My deepest love and appreciation are addressed to my beloved wife,

Minarni. Thank you for your understanding and patience waiting for my

graduation. To my parents, and my only sister, I thank them for their endless love,

pray and support. May God always bless us.

Writer,

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TABLE OF CONTENT

AKCNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................... i

TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................... ii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .................................................................

1. The Background of the Problem ........................................ 1

2. Statement of the Problem ................................................... 3

3. Hypothesis ......................................................................... 4

4. The Objective of the Study ................................................ 4

5. Significance of the Study ................................................... 4

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1. Recount Text ...................................................................... 6

2. The Characteristics of Recount Text .................................. 7

3. Social Function of Recount Text ....................................... 8

4. The Schematic Structure of Recount Text.......................... 9

5. The Linguistics Features Recount Text .............................. 9

6. The PowerPoint features for Writing Recount .................... 10

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD

1. The Research Type ............................................................ 11

2. The Treatment ................................................................... 11

3. Time Allocation ................................................................ 11

4. Population and Sample ...................................................... 12

5. The Research Instrument ................................................... 12

6. Data Gathering .................................................................. 12

7. Data Analysis `................................................................... 13

8. Hypothesis Testing ............................................................ 13

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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS

1. The Pretest Scores of the Experimental Group .................... 14

2. The Posttest Scores of the Experimental Group .................. 14

3. The Pretest Scores of the Control Group ............................. 15

4. The Posttest Scores of the Control Group ............................ 15

5. Discussion of the Research Findings ................................... 16

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

1. Conclusion .......................................................................... 19

2. Suggestion .......................................................................... 20

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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using powerpoint for writing recount text

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