Developing Writing Blended Approach to Increase Students’ Descriptive Writing Competency

This quantitative research was to find out whether there was a statistically significant difference of students’ descriptive writing competency taught through Blended approach and the traditional one and to find out the effectiveness of the Blended approach in increasing students’ descriptive writing competency. The subjects were 29 students of the second grade of SMP 1 Purbolinggo, east Lampung. The instruments used were descriptive writing tests. The data were analysed by using Repeated Measure t-test. The result showed that there was a statically significant difference of students’ descriptive writing competency taught through Writing Blended approach and the traditional one with the significant level 0.05. This suggests that Blended Approach to Writing promotes the students to increase students’ descriptive writing competency. Keywords: [Blended Approach to writing, Effectiveness, Writing competency].

AN ANALYSIS OF COHERENCE AND COHESION ON THE STUDENTS’ DESCRIPTIVE WRITING AT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN CIREBON

<p><strong>Abstract</strong>: This study aimed to find out the usage of coherence and cohesion on the Students’ Descriptive Texts, especially in ten grader students at state senior high school in Cirebon. This study adopted thematic progression analysis to explore coherence in the students’ Descriptive text. This study was a qualitative study that used content analysis. The technique of collecting data was documentation from 46 students writing descriptive texts. The procedures were firstly collecting data, analyzing data, presenting data, and concluding the result of the study. Based on the analyzed data,1) 46 students’ writing descriptive text had grown the writing as the series of the stage in the descriptive text, using Identification and Description. Then, in analyzing coherence 2) 76% students got the coherence level is good, there are 19% in Fair, there are 2% in Less and 3% in Poor and in analyzing cohesion 3) there are 1052 cohesion markers that consist of 852 findings markers of grammatical cohesion (596 findings markers reference and 256 markers conjunction) and 200 markers of lexical cohesion (200 markers repetition).<br /><strong>Keywords</strong>: series of stage, coherence, cohesion</p>

An Error Analysis of the Use of Prepositions in Students' Descriptive Writing

This research aims to identify the types of students’ errors in using prepositional place in the descriptive text made by eighth grade (8) students to identify the cause of errors made by students in using prepositional place. That most of the students did not pay attention to use prepositional correctly in a sentence. This research is qualitative research. The research object shows four types of the error made by students, omission, addition, misordering, and misformation. Based on the data, the frequency of students' error in using prepositional place mainly occurred in prepositional in place in 35 errors. The second is prepositional on with 14 errors. The third is the prepositional place at with 12 errors.

Towards Figurative Expression Enhancement: Effects of the SVVR-Supported Worked Example Approach on the Descriptive Writing of Highly Engaged Students

During the past decades, many researchers have attempted to explore effective teaching methods for developing students’ descriptive writing performance. In this study, the worked example was implemented as an effective way of guiding students to provide step-by-step solutions to learning tasks. Moreover, a spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) environment was provided to place students in real-world situations which enabled them to experience the learning contexts in depth. A pretest-posttest quasi experimental study was conducted to explore the influence of the SVVR-supported worked example approach and engagement level on students’ Chinese descriptive writing performance. A total of 79 fourth-grade elementary school students participated in this study. The experimental group used SVVR with worked examples to complete Chinese writing assignments, whereas the control group used videos and worked examples. The results showed no significant effects of the SVVR-supported worked example approach compared with the conventional worked example approach regarding organization, sensory details, or creativity dimensions. As for the figurative expression dimension, students in the SVVR-supported worked example approach condition scored significantly higher. Moreover, high engagement students significantly outperformed low engagement students in all four writing performance dimensions. Additionally, a significant interaction effect between learning approach and engagement level on figurative expression was found.

Analyzing Descriptive Writing among Chinese Undergraduates According to Gender

The aim of the study is to assess the Chinese undergraduate students’ EFL descriptive writing ability according to gender and to explore four EFL lecturers’ views on how to help students enhance their EFL descriptive writing. This study employed descriptive research design using the QUAN-qual model. A descriptive writing test was used as an instrument and the essays of the students were marked by a lecturer. Purposive sampling was used to select samples which consists of 400 Chinese undergraduate students (200 males and 200 females) from Hunan City University in Hunan Province, China. Before the actual study, the researcher carried out a pilot test to investigate the reliability and validity of the instrument (descriptive writing test). The results obtained from the quantitative data showed that female students outperformed male students in their overall writing as well as each component of the writing. In relation to students’ writing level, the lecturers emphasized that it is very crucial to utilize the Process Approach in class to enhance students’ vocabulary and grammar foundation. In addition, students are required to practice writing more frequently which can arouse their enthusiasm in learning English.

THE USE OF GOOGLE CLASSROOM IN LEARNING WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

Writing is one of the four essential language skills for language learning. Writing is considered important because it's one of the communication medium and it makes student critical. However, writing is a significant difficulty for both native and non-native learners. Due to advancements in technology, LMS enables educators and students to communicate and engage in new ways. Google Classroom, being one of the most widely used LMS platforms, may assist students in developing their ability to write a descriptive text. This research aimed to investigate students’ perception of using Google Classroom in learning writing descriptive text. The subject examined students in the tenth grade at a Senior High School in Indonesia. This research used a qualitative approach with a narrative inquiry. The researcher utilized semi-structured interviews to gather the data and analyzed them using the thematic analysis of Braun & Clarke. The indicator of the research question is based on UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance of Technology) by Vankavesh (2003). The study discovered that students preferred using Google Classroom to learn descriptive text. Google Classroom helps them to know and understand descriptive writing materials easily. However, Effort Expectancy may be altered with sufficient internet use and Google Classroom upgrades.

Pre-service English Teacher Experience of Using Video-based Descriptive Text Writing During Teaching Practicum: A Narrative Analysis

This research aims to find pre-service teacher experience of implementing Video-based Descriptive text during teaching practicum. One insider participant was involved in this research to find his view and perception about the use of video. To process data from participants in the form of self-reflective journals, qualitative methods and thematic analysis are used. This study also presented several other findings, such as emotional and technical problems, social experience, and pedagogical experience. According to this study, when using video-based to teach descriptive writing, participants must put in extra effort, such as making the video interactive and engaging enough for students to watch. Furthermore, the use of video-based has been shown to provide participants with flexibility. One disadvantage of this method is that the teaching process in this way is quite ineffective.

Writing Descriptive Mapping on students D3 Bahasa Inggris Programs

ABSTRACT This study concerns with the improve students’ creativity ability in writing descriptive paragraph through mind mapping technique. The objective of this study is to discover whether the use of mind mapping could significantly improve students’ creativity ability in writing descriptive paragraph. With support from the theory by Buzan. This study was conducted by applying Classroom Action Research which was carried out in two cycles in 4 meetings. The subject of this study was the Administration Public course in 2ed semester of Students Universitas Merdeka Malang which consisted of 20 students. The data will take in quantitative and qualitative data. Where quantitative data collected by giving descriptive writing tests that related to topic in TA( (tugas akhir) and calculating the mean of students’ scores. The quantities data were collected by the students’ score in (80. 55) which was higher than the first cycle (74.95) and orientation test (69.65). The qualitative data were collected observation and questionnaire sheets. The analyzed qualitative data gathered from the observation and questionnaire sheet during cycle I and II. It was found that students also made improvement students creativity in writing descriptive paragraph by using mapping on their TA (tugas akhir) while guidance and teaching learning proses . Despite all students got problems at 1st meeting, they could handle their difficulties and more enjoy their lesson. By the process they become active and creative in writing descriptive paragraph and qualitative data showed students strongly agreed by mind mapping had solve students problem in writing TA (tugas akhir) that related to writing descriptive paragraph. The result of the research showed that mind mapping significantly improved students’ ability in writing TA (tugas akhir) that related to descriptive paragraph text.

The Effects of Utilizing Telegram App to Enhance Students’ ESL Writing Skills

Mobile learning provides students to learn anywhere without the need of physical classroom. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether the utilization of Telegram app can enhance students’ ESL writing skills. The second objective is to investigate whether the utilization of Telegram app can enhance students’ perceptions towards ESL writing skills. Quasi-experimental one group pre-test post-test design was employed in this study. The students from the experimental group were given a pre-test (descriptive writing test) via Telegram app and their essays were marked by their teacher. The experiment lasted four weeks, and students were taught ESL writing skills using the Telegram app during that time. After the intervention a post-test was administered. This study used two types of instruments, pre- test, post-tests and a questionnaire. The data from the pre-test and post-test were analyzed using the paired sample t-test, and the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics. This study shows some interesting findings. Firstly, the results indicate that the utilization of Telegram app enhances students’ performance in their overall ESL writing; spelling, punctuation, organization, vocabulary, grammar, content quality and creativity. In addition, students’ perceptions towards ESL writing skills enhanced significantly. This study has effective pedagogical implication because utilization of Telegram app helps to improve students’ writing skills. Furthermore, the findings suggest that ESL teachers can use Telegram app as an alternative method in teaching writing skills.

Error Analysis in Descriptive English Writing among Undergraduates in Hunan City University

In this age of globalization, EFL writing skills are essential for Chinese undergraduates, especially in the areas of communication, education and business cooperation. The objective of this study is to study and analyze EFL descriptive writing errors among Chinese undergraduates, according to gender and faculty of study. Descriptive research design was employed in this study. The undergraduate students in the study were given a descriptive writing test and their essays were marked by a lecturer using rubric provided by the researchers. The sample of the study consisted of 400 Chinese undergraduate students (200 males and 200 females,) from Hunan City University in Hunan Province, China. Stratified random sampling was employed in selecting the samples. Students’ errors in EFL writing were analyzed based on Corder’s error analysis and James’s classification of errors. The findings from quantitative data revealed that male students made significantly more errors than female students in their overall writing, mechanical, coherence and cohesion, grammar, lexical and sentence structures. There is also significant difference in the mean errors among students from the four faculties. Moreover, the results indicated that the students from the faculties of Education Management and Chinese Language Studies (social sciences) performed better than the students from the other faculties. In terms of pedagogical implications, the findings suggest that further research should be carried out to minimize male students’ errors in their writing skills as well as the students from the Information Technology and Civil Engineering faculties.