CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Problem
Writing is one of four skills in learning language and it is very important for students to write. The ability to write for them is necessary since they are sued to be able to communicate through writing. Besides, it will contribute to their knowledge development, improve the language skills, help them to express their ideas and share their knowledge to the readers. There are some aspects that are needed to be considered before writing, such as grammar, mechanics, content, vocabulary, and organization. If one of these aspects is missed, a reader may misinterpret or misunderstand in comprehending the writing.
Writing is not only done in classroom but also outside classroom. At a university or college, it is usually called academic writing, example writing paragraph, essay and article. These writing can train them how to write some types of paragraphs, essays and paper. Each type of writing has different way to write. For instance, writing descriptive paragraph has different way from writing problem and solution paragraph. As university students, they have to know how to write well since at this level writing does not only focus on grammar and diction but also on organization, mechanics, and content of the writing. To help them to be better writers, they need to write outside classroom, for instance writing poem, diary and prose. Last, when they teach at school later, they are able to write well and even they can write an article and a text-book that will be useful for him/her and the readers.
Academic writing is a kind of writing used at college or university classes and it is different from creative writing and personal writing. In academic writing, the students have to use formal language, such as they are forbidden to write obscured form or contraction, formal diction, and the structure of a sentence should be complete. However, in creative writing the writer may use informal language; using contraction, omitting subject of a sentence, slang, and the use of old English like ‘Oh Rose, Thou art sick.’ The word thou is not standard English. It is the same as the word you for the formal one. In addition, a personal writing like writing a letter and short message from a friend to his or her friends, the writer may use informal language.
Since academic writing in English is different from academic writing in students’ native language, the words, grammar and the way of organizing ideas are different from the way they do in their own language. These cases make the students have problems in writing. They seem to translate the English from their native languages, for example in Indonesian, ‘Merokok dapat mengakibatkan dampak yang buruk terhadap kesehatan kita.’ They may be translating the sentence into ‘Smoking can to cause bad effect to our health.’ Sometimes it is not easy for them to write English since it is as a foreign language. The language form or structure is not the same as their native one. And also it may not be easy for them to differentiate the part of speech or what class of word it is. The sentence should be ‘Smoking can cause a bad effect to our health.’ It seems that the form of English is not easy to be understood by students when they try to write.
At STKIP Dharmasraya, there are four writing courses that are learned by the English department students; writing 1, writing 2, writing 3, and paper and thesis writing. Writing one is learned at second semester meanwhile writing 2 and writing 3 are learned at third and fourth semester and paper and thesis writing is learned at sixth semester. During writing one, the materials concerns about writing developing paragraph. In writing 2 and 3, they concern about writing essay and paper and thesis writing concerns about how to write paper, article, and thesis.
There are five types of paragraph that learned by the students at English department of STKIP Dharmasraya. They are descriptive, chronological order, narrative, cause, and effect, comparison and contrast paragraph. Those paragraph are learned in writing 1 besides learning organization of paragraph; topic sentence, supporting sentence and concluding paragraph, punctuation, unity and coherence.
During teaching Structure 1, 2 and 3, the English students seem to have problems to arrange sentences. This can be assumed that they have problems in writing since grammar is one of aspects which are needed in writing. They also seem to have low motivation in learning structure and even one of them said that she hated grammar. Moreover, based on the interview on April 24, 2015 to the third year English students, they said that they have problems how to write thesis statement, organize the idea, tenses, vocabulary, punctuations, and supporting sentences or develop topic sentence. They also said that theories in writing were much more taught than practice so they have problems in writing.
In addition, it was also based on the interview to the lecturer of writing on April 24, 2015, she said that almost all of the English students seem to have problems in writing essay. It seems that they have poor vocabulary, make error in grammar, and do not know how to develop a topic sentence and a thesis statement in a paragraph. Further, when the three of seven students who were on thesis proposal seminar examination, they made many errors in their proposal. And it was reflected in their speaking and teaching practice when they were observed.
Problems can be a hindrance in achieving goal and objectives of learning writing. Therefore, they should be overcome not only by the students but also by the lecturers of grammar course and writing course as facilitators in learning and teaching process. If the problems are not solved, the quality of writing is poor. Moreover, at the end of the S1 degree program, they have to write a thesis. This is one of the requirements to reach bachelor degree or S1 Degree. How they are able to write well meanwhile their writing quality is poor or low. Even they are teachers to be. How they can teach in front of students if they make errors in writing. They may transfer wrong knowledge to students. Thus, the quality of component on cause and effect paragraph is needed to investigate so as that there will be attention from the students and English lecturers at STKIP Dharmasraya.
Identification of the Problem
Based on the background above, there are some problems in writing. They are vocabulary or diction, grammar, organization of essay, content, and the mechanic of paragraph. These can be found in all kinds of paragraphs and essays, for instance, in writing descriptive, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, problem and solution, narrative, expository, persuasive, chronological, argumentative paragraph and essay writing. These problems can be a hindrance in achieving goal and objectives of writing for students.
Limitation of the Problem
Based on the identification of the problem above, the limitation of this research is the knowledge about review text that focuses on the quality of components on cause and effect paragraph written by the English students at STKIP Dharmasraya and also their problems in writing the paragraph.
1.4 Formulation of the Problem
The problem of this research is formulated in such question: how is the quality of components on cause and effect paragraph and what problems are found in the paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya?
1.5 Research Questions
The research questions are as follows:
How is the quality on organization of cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya?
How is the quality on content of cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya?
How is the quality on grammar of cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya?
How is the quality on mechanics of cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya?
How is the quality on vocabulary of cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya?
What problems are found on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya?
Purposes of the Research
The main purpose of this research is to investigate the quality of components on cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya and their problems in writing cause and effect paragraph. Specifically, its purposes are:
To investigate the quality of organization on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya
To investigate the quality of content on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya
To investigate the quality of grammar on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya
To investigate the quality of mechanics on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya
To investigate the quality of vocabulary on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya
To investigate the problems are found on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya
1.7 Significance of the Research
The significance of this research is to give contribution theoretically and pedagogically. Theoretically, it is hoped that the result of this research will enrich the knowledge of the researcher about the quality of components on cause and effect paragraph written by English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya and the problems that are faced by them. From pedagogical perspective, it is hoped that this study is useful for grammar and writing lecturers, how to improve the quality of learning and teaching process so as the students are able to write well. For the students, it hoped that they need to explore of learning grammar and practice writing as many as possible since writing is not spontaneous like speaking. For the owner of the institution, it is expected that she will hire a qualified lecturers at least master degree graduates and increase the facilities like language laboratory and books.
1.8 Definition of the Key Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, there are some key terms that should be defined:
Quality is the standard of something how good or well it is.
Cause and effect paragraph is a paragraph that analyzes the causes or the effects of something or the relationship between both.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Review of Related Literature
In reviewing of related literature, there are some topics that will be reviewed. They are the concept, components, and problems in writing, writing paragraph, cause and effect paragraph, and assessing writing.
1 Concept of Writing
Writing is the most difficult skills among the other skills. Thus, students will have difficulties when they try to write. According to Harmer (2007:112), writing needs thinking time than students get when they try spontaneous dialogue. In the same line with Oshima and Hogue (2003:3) say that writing is not easy to do because writers need to consider several process of writing in order to be able to produce a good writing. In addition, Davies (1998) states that writing is an important creative process and good writers have to learn to communicate their ideas clearly for unknown audience. Moreover, Nunan (1999: 271) says that writing is a difficult skill even most native speaker of English language cannot master it well since there are some components that need to be considered. Further, Blanchard and Root (2003:1) also claims that writing is not easy but by having everyday training it will help students to have a good writing skills.
To sum up, writing is not an easy skill. It need much time to train so as that the writer is able to write well. In writing, there are some aspects needed to be considered. These components shape writing. Without the components, the reader will not understand what the writer implies.
Writing is an important part of language skills. When the learners are assigned to write, they need time and guidance to activate their prior knowledge about the topic that will be developed. Kim (2005:20) says that in writing composition, whether the students learn English as a foreign or a second language, they need to select correct grammar, generating ideas, developing ideas, diction and specific topic.
In accordance with the idea, it can be summarized that the students need much time to practice writing and need a process and procedures so as they produce a qualified composition. The process helps the writers in generating their writing ideas easily. By considering it, it is expected that they are able to produce a good writing.
2.1 2 Components of Writing
Components of writing are main bases to shape a good writing. They are must be included in it. By having them, readers are able to understand what the writers imply. If one of the components is missed and or misuse, the meaning may change or the writing is not included a good or qualified composition. For instance, Because of the Chemicals in soaps and deodorants may affect our health. Customers need to select which cosmetics do not have bad effects.
The use of period (.) is wrong. It should be comma (,) after the word healthy and the beginning letter for the words customers is not in form of capital letter. In addition, the dependent clause in first sentence is not able to stand alone. It needs main/independent clause.
There are some experts mentioning the components of writing. Brown and Abeywickrama (2010:285) state that there are five general components of writing; content, organization, vocabulary, syntax, and mechanics. Harris (1986:68-69) says that there are five general components of writing; content, form (organization of the content), grammar, style (the choice of structure and lexical items to give a particular tone to the writing), and mechanics. The two of these opinions are in line with Hughes (2003: 101:102), the components of writing are grammar, vocabulary, mechanics, fluency, and form (organization). Meanwhile, Starkey (2004: 14) says that to make great writing, it should have organization, diction, clarity and mechanics. Moreover, Marcia (2007:17) mentions there are several components of a good writing. They are ideas, vocabulary, grammar, and spelling.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that there are five components of writing; organization, content, grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. The organization includes topic sentence, controlling idea, supporting sentence and concluding sentence. The organization of essay is introductory, body and concluding paragraph. The content includes topic or writer’s idea and unity and coherence. Punctuation, capital letter, margin, paragraph indented and spelling are included into mechanics. Grammar includes the sentence problems, modal auxiliary, verb, articles and so on. The vocabulary includes diction or choice of words and style.
2.1.3 Problems in Writing
Writing is not spontaneous. It needs much thinking time to produce a good or qualified work. Most of students seem do not like writing. They prefer speaking to writing. Sometimes when they are assigned to write a short paragraph, they do not know where and what to start writing. Problems are always found in students’ writing.
According to Farooq and Hassan (2012), students have difficulties or problems in writing due to lack of vocabulary, poor spelling, L1 interference and poor understanding of grammatical structures. And Trang and Hoa (2008) state students have problems in the use of grammar and spelling in writing. In addition, Abdulkareem (2013) states students’ problems in writing are organization and sentence structure. Moreover, common problems that are faced by students in learning English as a foreign language are limited vocabulary, poor grammar, misuse punctuation, incorrect spelling, poor paragraph, and logical sequence and sentence structure (Al Habri, 2007).
Further, Rosenwasser and Stephen (2012:417) state that there are nine basic problems in writing. they are, sentence fragment, comma splices, and fused (run-on) sentence, errors in subject-verb agreement, shifts in sentence structure, pronoun reference, misplaced modifiers, using possessive apostrophes, comma errors and spelling/diction that interfere with the meaning.
However, Ahmad (2010) states that students are also have problems in cohesion and coherence. It is supported by Ageel and Sajid (2014) claim the students have problems in cohesive devices. They are substitution, ellipsis, reference, conjunction, and lexical cohesion.
Basically, there are only five problems in writing. Even though some writers include sentence fragment, subject-verb agreement, ellipses, reference, cohesion and coherence, these are included into grammar. Comma error, capitalization, spelling, punctuation are included mechanics. Diction is included vocabulary. And poor paragraph is included organization like introductory, body and concluding paragraph in an essay. For content, it includes a topic and development of idea.
The five of these can be summed up that problems in writing are grammar, vocabulary, mechanics, organization, and content.
2.1.4 Writing paragraph
Writing paragraph is not easy if students do not have knowledge to write since it needs thinking time and needs a long process to be good work. Sometimes a paragraph needs some evaluators to revise before it becomes a good paragraph. Consequently, writing paragraph is not instant and it consists of a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. The three parts of the paragraph shape a good writing. According to Langan (2010:87), traditionally there are four types of writing. They are exposition (exemplification, process, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, definition, and division-classification), description, narration and argumentation.
Oshima and Hogue (2007:23), claims that paragraph is combination of some sentences which develop a main idea. It consists of a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. And they add the number of sentences is unimportant but they should be long enough to develop a main idea of a paragraph. In addition, Yarber and Yarber (2010:6) state that paragraph is several sentences that deal with a topic. They also add that a good paragraph should be unified and coherent. The unified paragraph means there is only one topic in a paragraph that should be developed. Coherent paragraph means the sentences in the paragraph are on the right order with the right connecting words so that the reader is not confused on the writing. Moreover, Savage and Safiei (2007:2) say that paragraph is a group of sentences that discuss about an idea. Moreover, Zemach and Islam (2005:9) claims that a paragraph has 6 to 12 sentences that explain about the topic and every topic should explains the writer’s main idea about that topic. However, according to Balley (2003: 32), a paragraph is a collection of sentences that deal with a subject and it has one topic sentence but s not always at the beginning of the sentence.
So a paragraph is a group of statements that are related to a single topic. The first sentence is the topic sentence. The rest are supporting sentences and concluding sentence. Here is the example of paragraph.
‘A Gem-stone of Sungai Dareh’
‘A gem-stone of Sungai Dareh has become trending topic in community. It was caused when the second regent of Dharmasraya, Marlon Martua gave the stone to the previous Indonesian’s president; Susilo Bambang Yudhiyono. Then, the stone has been priceless for level of community. It starts from low economy level to high economy one, like celebrities. The examples of gem-stones from Sungai Dareh are Hijau Lumuik, Limau Manih, Pucuk Pisang, Kacubung and Solar. Among them, Hijau Lumuik is the most popular. In fact, it has been number one in competition in West Sumatera that is why it becomes popular.’
The first sentence is a topic sentence. It is about telling the topic that will be explained by a writer. In this sentence, the explanation of the topic is called controlling idea. In the sentence
‘A gem-stone of Sungai Dareh has become trending topic in community.’
Topic Controlling idea
The second to five is supporting sentences. The functions of them are to support the topic. These can be in definitions, explanations, and example. The supporting sentences ‘It was caused when the second regent of Dharmasraya, Marlon Martua gave the stone to the previous Indonesian’s president; Susilo Bambang Yudhiyono. Then, the stone has been priceless for level of community. It starts from low economy level to high economy one, like celebrities. The examples of gem-stones from Sungai Dareh are Hijau Lumuik, Limau Manih, Pucuk Pisang, Kacubung and Solar. Among them, Hijau Lumuik is the most popular.’support the idea in first sentence in form of explanation and example of a gem-stone.
The last sentence is a concluding sentence. It is actually an optional. It may be stated or not in a paragraph. It is at the end of the paragraph. Its function is to remind the reader of the topic of the paragraph and usually writes in other words, like in the sentence ‘In fact, it has been number one in competition in West Sumatera that why it becomes popular.’ Actually this sentence reminds the readers to the topic that is discussed in the paragraph.
Unity and Coherence
A paragraph must have unity. According to Levine (2004:235), unity means oneness. It means that when all sentences support the single idea, it is called unity. And also the paragraph must have one controlling idea in a topic sentence. Otherwise, it does not focus on the single idea or topic. For supporting sentences in a paragraph, it must explain the controlling idea with example, explanation, and definition. Otherwise, the paragraph has many topic or ideas. And the concluding sentence should restate the idea in the topic sentence. Otherwise, the main idea of the paragraph is not clear. Thus, the unity of the paragraph needs to be considered since it focuses a single topic in developing the paragraph.
A paragraph must also have coherence. Boardman and Frydenberg (2001:31) state that coherence means that the sentences in a paragraph are ordered according to principles. They add that the principle may change since it depends on the types of paragraph. Narrative text has rather different for the transition words or conjunctions used from cause and effect text. In other words, it can be joining a text together with reference words (e.g. he, theirs, your, they, we) and conjunctions (e.g. but, then, otherwise. thus), so that the whole text is clear and readable. Look at the example.
When you stop by to fill in fuel at a gas station, you will see several signs for the different directions. The first sign you may see is ‘IN’ and ‘OUT’. Then, when you pass through the ‘IN,’ you may see ‘NO SMOKING’, ‘TURN OF MOBILEPHONE’ and or ‘RUN OUT OF FUEL,’ etc. You need to obey the notices. Otherwise, there will be fire if you still smoke near the station as an example. Around it, there are also shop, mosque and restroom. When you want to leave it, you should pass ‘OUT.’
In the paragraph above, it can be found some transition words and reference words to connect one sentence to other ones, such as; when, otherwise, then, it, you, etc.
2.1.5 Cause and Effect Paragraph
A cause and effect paragraph indicates there are cause and effect in the paragraph. According to Nordquist (2015), a cause and effect paragraph is a paragraph which analyzes the causes or effects of a certain situation. It means the causes may results some effects or the effects are caused by causes. And Melzow (2008) states that a cause and effect paragraph is the paragraph that seeks to illustrate the relationship between two or more events by revealing why or how something happen. It means that the sentences in paragraphs are not enough to state causes and effects. They need to have connection between them.
Moreever, a cause and effect paragraph is a paragraph which contains the cause that produces a result. The function of this paragraph is usually to answer the questions why and what. Why did it happen? Or what are its causes? And or what are its effects? D’Angelo (1977). He adds that the formula of the cause and effect paragraph is ‘X’ (cause) produces ‘Y’ (effect) or ‘Y’ (effect) is produced by ‘X’ (cause). It means that the types of cause and effect paragraph are divided into two. They are a cause and effect paragraph pattern and the effect to cause paragraph pattern.
In accordance with the ideas above it can be concluded that a cause and effect paragraph is a paragraphs that indicates the cause and effect or vice versa and it has relation or connection between them. In addition, the organization of the cause and effect paragraph is consisted into two; a cause and effect paragraph pattern and the effect to cause paragraph pattern.
Organization of Cause and Effect Paragraph
Based on the theory De’Angelo (1977), the organization of a cause and effect paragraph are a cause and effect paragraph pattern and the effect to cause paragraph pattern. In cause and effect paragraph pattern, the topic sentence of a paragraph states the main idea in such a way that some causes produce some effects. Here is the example.
‘Hurricanes’
Because a hurricane can be hundreds of kilometers across, people in the area begin to feel the effects hours before it reaches land. The winds arrive first, bringing lots of rain. Strong winds blow roofs off buildings and knock down trees and power lines. The storm surge a rise in sea level caused by hurricanes is responsible for most hurricane related deaths. The storm surge can cause sudden flooding and can even harm habitats where fish breed.
(http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=40&art_nm=Hurricanes)
The example above can be outlined as follow:
In the effect to cause paragraph pattern, the topic sentence of a paragraph will also clearly state the some effects comes from some causes. Here is the example take from Sullivan (2005).
‘Dropping Out’
For many teenagers, there are numerous negative factors that can lead them to give up on their education and drop out of school. The first cause is that many teenagers lack positive role models in their lives. The lack of an encouraging adult in their lives can cause them to think negatively about themselves and it does not allow them to live up to their full potential. Also, the lack of a positive role model can cause them to get involved with the wrong kind of people and activities. When students get involved in these types of negative situations, they usually don’t focus on school. This can lead many impressionable young children to give up on their education. Another factor that causes a student to give up on school is a lack of determination. If they’re not determined to graduate, it can be very difficult for them to stay in school. Many students find it difficult to stay focused on school when they feel that getting an education is useless. Some students only attend school because they are forced to and they are not there to further their education. The third factor is peer pressure. Many students give into pure pressure very easily. If the pure pressure is negative, this can lead them into drugs and alcohol. The drugs and alcohol can cause them to drop out very easily because that is the only thing that they are focused on and it can easily ruin a child’s life.
The example above can be outlined as follow:
Language of Cause and Effect Paragraph
Writing sentences interestingly is important for the writer since it can attract the readers to read what he/she writes. Zemach (2005:51) states that the position of dependent clause at the beginning of the sentence followed by independent/main clause at the end of a sentence has the same meaning as the main/independent clause at the beginning of a sentence followed by dependent clause. The difference is only the use of punctuation. The use of the two styles are varied and they make writing is interesting. Look at the following examples.
‘Because music can make people calm, they often listen to it when they have problems.’
People often listen to music when they have problems because it can make them calm.
Actually, the meaning of the two sentences is the same. The difference is the use of comma after dependent clause at the beginning of the sentence as in example No.1 above.
In addition, Bailley (2011:109-110; 2003:83) states that the cause and effect paragraph can be linked by using verb and conjunction. It means the transition words and some certain verb can be used to make writing unity and coherence. The verbs and conjunctions that can link the sentences can be seen in the following table.
Verb for Cause Conjunction for Cause Conjunction for Effect Verb for Effect
Cause Because As a result Be +caused by
Create Since Consequently Be + produced by
Lead to Due to Hence Be+ Resulted from
Produce Owing to Thus
Result Because of Therefore
As Result in
Due to So (Coordinating conj.)
For (Coordinating conj.) So ‘.. that ‘..
Such ‘. That ‘.
Table 2.1 Lists of Conjunction and Verb in Cause and Effect Paragraph
The examples of cause
The heavy rain caused the flood.
Due to the heavy rain, flood happens in certain parts of the city.
Because of my courage, I can accomplish my master degree thesis. (use comma at the end of dependent clause)
He could accomplish his master degree thesis because of his courage. (Do not use comma after main clause.)
Many people spend a lot of money to buy a gem-stone for they like to wear it.
The examples of effect
The flood was caused by the heavy rain.
There was a flood due to the heavy rain.
Smoking is dangerous for health, so some smokers stop smoking.
My advisors gave me such good advice and guidance that I could accomplish my thesis proposal.
A gem-stone becomes such priceless stone that most of people wear it.
Assessing Writing
Assessing writing is not an easy work like assessing other skills if an evaluator does not have a guideline or rubric. By having it, it can help him/her to give score easily to students’ composition. Brown and Abeywickrama (2010:283) states that commonly test designers use holistic, primary trait and analytical approaches in giving score to students’ writing. Holistic means a single score is assigned to an essay, which represent readers’ general overall assessment. Primary trait scoring is a variation of the holistic methods in that the achievement of the primary purpose of an essay is the only factor rated. And analytical scoring breaks students’ writing down into some components; organization, grammar, content, vocabulary and mechanics and gives a separate rating for each.
Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Herfie and Hughey (1981) in Brown and Abeywickrama (2010:285) suggest five components in writing to be scored. Here is the following guideline:
Content 30
Organization 20
Vocabulary 20
Syntax/grammar 25
Mechanics 5
Total Score 100
Table 2.2 Guideline Score Suggested by Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Herfie and Hughey (1981)
The rubric above will be explained in detail by Jacob et al. In this research, the rubric that is suggested by Jacobs et al.’s (1981) in Hughes (2003:104) will be used but some contents will be adapted in scoring a cause and effect paragraph. It can be seen as follow:
Components Level Criteria
Content 30-27
Excellent to Very Good: – Knowledgeable ‘ substantive ‘ through development of idea or topic ‘ relevant to assigned topic
26-22 Good to Average: – some knowledge of subject ‘ adequate range ‘ limited of development of topic ‘ mostly relevant to topic but lacks details
21-17 Fair to Poor: – limited knowledge of subject ‘ little substance ‘ inadequate development topic
16-13 Very Poor: – does not show knowledge of subject ‘ non-substantive ‘ not pertinent ‘ or not enough to evaluate
Organization 20-18 Excellent to Very Good: – fluent expression ‘ ideas clearly stated/supported ‘ succinct ‘ well-organized ‘ logical sequencing ‘ cohesive
17-14 Good to Average: somewhat choppy ‘ loosely organized but main ideas stand out ‘ limited support ‘ logical but incomplete sequencing
13-10 Fair to Poor: -non-fluent ‘ ideas focused or disconnected ‘ lacks of logical sequencing and development
9-7 Very Poor: – does not communicate ‘ not organization ‘ or not enough to evaluate
Vocabulary 20-18 Excellent to Very Good: – Sophisticated range ‘ effective word/idiom choice and usage ‘ word from mastery ‘ appropriate register
17-14 Good to Average: – adequate range ‘ occasional errors of word/idiom form, choice, usage but meaning not obscured
13-10 Fair to Poor: – limited range ‘ frequent errors of word/idiom form, choice usage ‘ meaning confused or obscured
9-7 Very Poor: – essentially translation ‘ little knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, word form – not enough to evaluate
Grammar 25-22 Excellent to Very Good: – effective complex constructions ‘ few errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, preposition
21-18 Good to Average: – effective but simple constructions ‘ minor problems in complex constructions ‘ several errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, preposition but meaning seldom obscured
17-11 Fair to Poor: – major problems in simple/complex constructions ‘ frequent errors of negation, agreement, tense, number, word order/function, articles, pronouns, prepositions and/or fragments, run-ons deletions ‘ meaning confused or obscured
10-5 Very Poor: – virtually no mastery of sentence construction rules ‘ dominated by errors ‘ does not communicate ‘ or not enough to evaluate
Mechanics 5 Excellent to Very Good: -demonstrates mastery of conventions ‘ few errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing
4 Good to Average: – occasional errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, but meaning not obscured
3 Fair to Poor: – frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing ‘ poor handwriting ‘ meaning confused or obscured
2 Very Poor: – no mastery of conventions ‘ dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, – handwriting illegible ‘ or not enough to evaluate
Table 2.3 Analytical Scoring suggested by Jacobs et al
2.2 Review of Related Findings
There are some researchers had conducted a research related to the writing whether it is quality, ability, or problem that relate to the topic of this research.
The first, Purty (2007) conducted the research entitled ‘The Quality of Recount Text Written by The English Department Students of State University of Padang.’ This research was conducted in English department students, academic year 2005/2006. She found that the second year students’ quality is good in writing the three components of generic structure in recount text.
The second, Fery (2011) conducted a research entitled ‘The Study of The Quality of Descriptive Text Written by The Third Year Students of English Department of Maha Putra Muhamad Yamin University Solok.’ The finding showed that third year students was mostly poor in writing descriptive text. there were 11 students got good quality in identification. 17 students were poor quality in identification, 2 students were very poor and none of them got very good quality. Then analyzing the text per indicator, it was found that 2 students got very good, most of them (20) got good, 6 students were poor and 2 students were very poor for identification. For description, 3 students were very good, 13 students got good, 13 students also had poor quality and 2 o students were very poor. In organization, 18 students had poor quality, 8 of them had good. 2 of them were very good and 2 students got very poor. Generally, it indicates that the students had problems in writing descriptive.
Rismawanti conducted a research in 2013, entitled ‘An Analysis on the Ability of the Third Year Students at English Department of Bung Hatta University in Writing Argumentative.’ Her finding showed that the ability of third year English students was moderate in general. Specifically, the result showed 19 students had moderate ability in writing a good content, organizing ideas and vocabulary. 21 students had moderate ability in writing a good grammar and 23 students had moderate ability in writing a good mechanics of argumentative essay.
The next researcher conducted a research that relates to this study is Ka-kan-dee and Kaur (2014) The title of the research is ‘Argumentative Writing Difficulties of Thai English Major Students.’ The findings of this research is the Thai English students had difficulties in vocabulary, grammar structure, structure of writing argumentative essays, time constraints, organizing ideas, fulfilling task demand, understanding the questions, L1 transfer and translating and writing thesis statements. This study suggested that curriculum planners and materials writers and designers can integrate components that focus on argumentative writing.
The next one is Octavia (1999) in Mulayadi (2008). She did a research entitled ‘The Third Year Students’ Writing Ability in Composing a Persuasive Essay at English Department of IKIP Padang in Academic Year 1996/1997. The finding showed that just few of the students were able to organize their persuasive essay effectively by considering the purpose, audience, and the role as the writer.
The next researcher is Anwar (2013). The title of the research is ‘An Analysis on The Students’ Ability in Writing Narrative text at Grade IX of SMPN 2 Gunung Talang.’ Generally, the finding showed that the ability of the students were moderate. Specifically, there were 19 students had moderate ability in writing generic structure, 17 students had moderate ability in applying language feature of narrative text, 22 students had moderate ability in using appropriate diction or vocabulary and 19 students ability had moderate ability in applying good mechanics.
In accordance with the findings of the research about, it can be concluded that students still have problems in writing. And most their ability were poor to moderate. The previous researches were on recount text, descriptive text, argumentative essay, persuasive essay and narrative text. However, this research will focus on the component quality of cause and effect paragraph written by English students of STKIP Dharmasraya.
Conceptual Framework
In conducting this research, the following concept will be as a guideline.
2.5 Conceptual Framework
In this research, firstly cause and effect paragraphs of students will be collected by seeing components of writing; organization, content, grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. After correcting the works, the degree of the quality of component on cause and effect paragraph will be known. The next step is students’ problems are also will be investigated in this research. It means what problems are found on cause and effect paragraph written by English students department of STKIP Dharmasraya. Finally, draw conclusion from the finding of the research
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Design of the Research
The design of this research is descriptive research since it involves collecting data in order to answer the questions concerning the current status of the subject of the research and this method is useful to investigate a variety of educational problems. In addition, this design concerns with the assessment of attitude, opinions, demographic information, conditions and procedures.
In this research, the quality of component on cause and effect paragraph written by English department of STKIP Dharmasraya and the problems in writing the paragraph will be appropriate to use descriptive method since this relates to educational problem
3.2 Population and Sample
The population of this research will be the English department students of STKIP Dharmasraya. The total numbers of students are 25 students. The number of the first year is 6 students. The second year is 9 students. The third year is 3 and the number of fourth year is 7 students
The sample is a part of population. In this case, since the numbers of population is relatively small, all members of population will be taken as the sample of this research. It is called Sampling Jenuh or Saturated sampling suggested by Sugiyono (2013:68). As a result, saturated sampling or Sampling Jenuh will be used in this research.
3.3 Instrumentation
In conducting this research, test will be used as the instrument. In this case, it is a kind of writing cause and effect paragraph. To fulfill the principles of language assessment, validity and reliability of the test must be checked. Before giving the test, it will be tried out to the students to see whether it is reliable and valid or not. Moreover, its function is to see the instruction of the test whether it is understood or not. Further, to see the time allotted whether it is sufficient or not.
In applying the validity of the test, content validity will be used. Content validity means the test should measure what the students have learned (Arikunto, 2013). It means the test given to the students will be based on the syllabus used at English department of STKIP Dharmasraya. Cause and effect paragraph is learned by the students in Writing 1 when they are at first year, exactly at second semester.
Another principle of the test is reliable. It means that the test is consistent. In other words, that the same test which has the same instruction and time allotted will be tested at different time to the same students, will result similar score. (Brown and Abeywickrama, 2010). To see the reliability of the test, test-retest method will be used. Then, the scores from the first and second test will be correlated by using following formula suggested by Arikunto (2013:87)
r_xy =(N”’xy-(”’x) (”’y)”’)/(‘({N”x^2 -(”’x)’^2 ) }{N”’y^2-(””y)’^(2 )}”)
Where: r_xy = Coefficient correlation between x and y variable
N = Numbers of students
”’x=Sum of the item score’
”’y=Sum of the total score’
”x^2 = Square of X
”y^(2 ) = Square of Y
”’xy’^ = Score total of cross product x and y
Finally, the degree of coefficient correlation of the test will be checked whether the test is reliable or not based on Arikunto’s idea (2013:89):
0.800 – 1.00 : Very High 0.600 – 0.800 : High 0.400 – 0.600 : Fair
0.200 – 0.400 : low
0.00 – 0.200 : very low
In addition, the test or questionnaire is reliable if Rii or Rxy is > 0.5. If it is < 0.5, it is not reliable (Waluyo, 1992).
3. 4 Technique of Data Collection
The data will be collected by using cause and effect paragraph test. Then, the students are asked to write a paragraph on a given topics. In addition, the time allotted will be 60 minutes since they will write the paragraph.
3.5 Technique of Data Analysis
After collecting the data, they will be analyzed to answer the research questions. The following procedures will be used to analyze the data:
Check the students’ writing and give scores
Categorize the students’ cause and effect paragraph components whether they are excellent to very good, good to average, fair to poor, and very poor quality by adapting from following rating rubrics suggested by Jacobs et al in Hughes (2003:104)
Components Score
Content 30-27 = Excellent to Very Good
26-22 = Good to Average
21-17 = Fair to Poor
16-13 = Very Poor
Organization 20-18 = Excellent to Very Good
17-14 = Good to Average
13-10 = Fair to Poor
9-7 = Very Poor
Vocabulary 20-18 = Excellent to Very Good
17-14 = Good to Average
13-10 = Fair to Poor
9-7 = Very Poor
Grammar 25-22 = Excellent to Very Good
21-18 = Good to Average
17-11 = Fair to Poor
10-5 = Very Poor
Mechanics 5 = Excellent to Very Good
4 = Good to Average
3 = Fair to Poor
2 = Very Poor
3.1 Table of Quality of component Level in writing cause and effect paragraph
The highest score for each category are content (30), organization (20), vocabulary (20), grammar (25), and mechanics (5).
3. In order to classify and see percentage of the quality, the following formula will be used that is suggested by Sudijono (2007)
Pi = F/N x 100%
Pi : Percentage of Sample
F : Frequency of level of quality on argumentative essay
N : Number of Sample
4. The next procedure in analyzing the data is finding the students’ problems in writing cause and effect paragraph.
5. Last, make interpretation or draw conclusion.
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