�Syntax Literate : Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia p�ISSN: 2541-0849

��e-ISSN : 2548-1398

Vol. 6, Special Issue No. 2, Desember 2021

�

TEACHING WRITING OF RECOUNT TEXT USING �FREEZE! FREEZE!� GAME IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL

Hari Widi Utomo

Institut Teknologi Telkom Purwokerto, Indonesia

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

One of the most difficult skills in English lesson is teaching writing. Therefore, this study aims to find out the effectiveness of �Freeze! Freeze!� game for teaching writing on grade eight students of SMP N 1 Rakit, Banjarnegara. This study is an experimental research at SMP N 1 Rakit. This study consisted of two groups which are experimental and control groups. In collecting the data, the writer used a test and the result was analyzed by using a t-test to find out the effect of the treatment. After analyzing the data, the writer found that there was a positive effect of the use of �Freeze! Freeze!� game in teaching writing of recount text. It could be seen from the result of hypothesis testing that the t-test was higher than the t-table (3.792>1.997). Thus, it can be concluded that the use of �Freeze! Freeze!� game in teaching writing of recount text was effective.

Keywords: experimental research; writing skill; recount text; freeze! freeze! game

Received: 2021-10-20; Accepted: 2021-11-05; Published: 2021-11-20

Introduction

English teaching should be focused on the students' ability to communicate well, both spoken and written. Lado (1961) defines writing as the ability to use the language and its graphic representation productively in ordinary writing situations. More specifically, writing is stated as the ability to use sentences, the lexical items, and conventional representation in ordinary matter of fact writing. Oshima and Hogue (2006) states that writing is one of the English skills that is not easy. It takes study and practice to develop this skill. It is important to note that writing is a "process", not a "product". In line with Oshima, David (2003) also says that writing is generally regarded as the most difficult of the four skills.��

Learning to write is more difficult than learning to speak because it also demands the mastery of grammar and a lot of vocabulary (Oshima & Hogue, 2006). Because writing needs a lot of practice under guidance, it should be often learned. Nunan (2003) states that writing is the mental work of inventing ideas, thinking about how to express, and organizing into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to the reader.

Based on an interview with Mrs. Titik as an English teacher of the second grade of SMP N 1 Rakit, there were a lot of problems in learning writing faced by the students. One of the problems is the students' lack of idea to compose a sentence into a paragraph, while it is really important both in the process and product of writing. Because of the reason, they had difficulties in writing.

Nurgiyantoro (2001) found that some problems faced by students in learning writing, such as; organizing idea, lack of vocabulary, and grammar accuracy.

In English lessons for the grade VIII students of Junior High School, three kinds of text must be taught, those are descriptive, recount, and narrative text. Here, the writer chooses Recount text because at the time Recount text has not taught yet by the teacher. Recount text is a text which retells events or experiences in the past (Syllabus of grade eight students). Recount text is also considered a difficult material for some students, especially in writing. There are some problems in writing recount text, those are: how to start writing, how to generate ideas, how to unify paragraphs, how to organize ideas logically, and how to make grammatical sentences.

There are several ways to overcome students' difficulty in making writing recount text. One of them is teaching writing through a game. Game is believed can help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work. Hadfield (1990) (as cited in Tuan, 2012) states that a game is an activity with rules, a goal, and an element of fun. The emphasis in the games is on successful communication rather than on the correctness of language. Of course, not all kinds of games can be played in learning the language. In this research, the writer focuses on the use of language, especially in writing skills. Hopefully, this game brings fun situation and the student will participate in the lesson without any boredom.

�Freeze! Freeze!� game is a kind of game that is done in a group in the classroom (Centervention, n.d.). The general rules of this game are that the classroom is divided into some groups and it requires a ball as the equipment of the game. Each group should pass the ball inside the group very quickly until the teacher shouts �Freeze� randomly. Then, students have to stop passing the ball. The student who is holding the ball cannot pass it to the next and has to make an opening sentence of recount text based on the keywords. The students can explore in making the next sentences out of the keywords. The game will be continued until they finish writing a recount text. The teacher should limit the time of the game for about 40 minutes so that all groups finish the writing at the same time.

Harmer (2004) declares that the process of writing has four main elements such as; planning, drafting, editing, and revision. The writer tries to improve the student's understanding of how to start writing, how to generate ideas, how to unify paragraphs, how to organize ideas logically, and how to make grammatical sentences by using this game.

Therefore, it also can practice students to do a task in a group discussion. It is expected that in �Freeze! Freeze!� game the students can share and help each other, work together to create a good recount text, and listen to other�s ideas in a fun way.

Methodology

Research Method

Research is a scientific activity which aims at developing and improving knowledge (Arikunto, 2005). This research has aimed to find out the influence of teaching writing for grade VIII students at SMP N 1 Rakit using "Freeze! Freeze!" game. The writer uses the experiment as a research method. According to (Arikunto, 2005), experiment research is a research that has a purpose to know whether there is an effect or not from the treatment given to the subject.

There are two groups in this study; the first group is called an experimental class which is given treatment by using "Freeze! Freeze!" game in teaching writing and the second group is called a control class which is taught by using the conventional method.

Sample

The samples of this research were grade VIII F as the experiment class and grade VIII G as the control class. It consisted of 35 students in each class. Sampling Technique

The writer used a purposive sampling technique because of consideration that the samples were two groups chosen from seven classes which had the same condition or characteristic (Arikunto, 2005).

Test Instrument

The writer used a test as an instrument to know the students� writing skills. The test was given before (pre-test) and after (post-test)� the learning process in the experimental class and the control class.

Data Analysis

For scoring students� English writing in analyzing data, the writer used some criteria based on Anderson�s opinion (as cited in Hughes, 2003), those are grammar, vocabulary, mechanics, fluency (style and ease of communication), and form (organization).

To know the differences between the experimental and control group, the writer used a t-test for computing data. By using this formula, the writer calculated the significance in the effect of "Freeze! Freeze!" game on the testing t-test calculation.�

The following are the steps of using t-test:

1. First, the writer made a table of a score of pre-test and post-test of the experimental and control group.

Number of students	Experiment Class				Control Class
	X1	X2	X	X2	Y1	Y2	Y	Y2
Sum (�)

Where:

X1������������������ : Pre-test of Experimental Class

X2������������������ : Post-test of Experiment Class

Y1������������������ : Pre-test of Control Class

Y2������������������ : Post-test of Control Class

X and Y���������� : Residual

2. Second, the writer calculated the mean of the experiment and control class.�

�2.1 Mean of deviation of experiment class

������� 2.1.1. The post-test score of each student is reduced by the pre-test score.

������� 2.1.2. Then, the writer calculated the total deviation (residual) ∑X

������� 2.1.3. Finally, the writer calculated the total deviation of the students in the����� experiment class and divided into the number of student in that class.

������ ���� Where:

Mx������ = Mean of deviation experimental class

∑x������ = The score sum of experimental class

N�������� = The total number of respondents�

�� �2.2 �Mean of deviation of the control class

������� 2.2.1. The post-test score of each student is reduced by the pre-test score.

������� 2.2.2. Then, the writer calculated the total deviation (residual) ∑X

������� 2.2.3. Finally, the writer calculated the total deviation of the students in the

����� control class and divided into the number of student in that class.��

Where:

My������ = Mean of the deviation control class

∑y������ = The score sum of the control class

�������������� ����������� = The total number of respondents�

3. Third, measuring the sum of the squared deviation of each class. The formula is

as follow:

�� 3.1. Experiment Class

�� 3.2. Control Class

�������������� ���

Where:

Σx2����� = The square deviation sum of experimental class

Σy2����� = The square deviation sum of the control class

ΣX������ = The score sum of experimental class

ΣY������ = The score sum of the control class

N�������� = The total number of respondents

4. Fourth, the writer applied all of them into the t-test formula. The formula is as follow:

�� Where:

Mx������ = Mean of experimental class

My ����� = Mean of the control class

Σx2����� = The total square of experimental class

Σy2�� �� = The total square of the control class

Nx������ = Total number of experimental class

Ny������ = The total number of the control class

5. Fifth, a computing degree of freedom (d.f).

The formula is:

Where :

d.f������� = degree of freedom

Nx������ = the number of the students in experiment class who take the test

Ny������ = the number of students in the control class who take the test.���������������������������������

(Arikunto, 2005)

After the writer calculated the result of the t-test, it compared to the t-value of t- table. If the result of the comparison shows that the t-value is higher than value t-table, it means that there is a positive effect of "Freeze! Freeze!" game as media in teaching writing skills. So the writer's hypothesis is accepted. On the contrary, if it is found out that the t-value is lower than the t-table, the writer's hypothesis is not accepted.

Discussion

Based on the process of data analysis which is taken from the result of the test between two groups (experimental and control), the writer calculated the data using a statistical formula that is called percentages score and t-test.

1. Individual student's competence in the experimental class

After calculating the data, then the writer analyzed it to find the individual student�s competence using the formula stated in the previous chapter.

Table 1. Result of individual competence in Experimental Class

Percentage	Categories	Number of Students
85%-100%	Very Good	14
75% - 84%	Good	17
60% - 74%	Fair	-
40% - 59%	Bad	1
0% - 39%	Fail	-

Based on Table 1, it can be seen that 14 students get a very good category and 17 students for the good category. It also can be seen that there are only 4 students with a fair category and no students who get bad and fail category.

2. Individual student�s competence in the control class

The individual competence in the control class is as follow:

Table 2. Result of individual competence in Control Class

Percentage	Categories	Number of Students
85% - 100%	Very Good	9
75% - 84%	Good	14
60% - 74%	Fair	11
40% - 59%	Bad	1
0% - 39%	Fail	-

Based on Table 2, it can be seen that 9 students get a very good category, 14 students with good category, and 11 students with the fair category. It also can be seen that there is only 1 student with a bad category and no students who get a fail category.

3. The Effectiveness of �Freeze! Freeze!�� Game

The steps finding t-test are as follow =

3.1. Finding out the mean of deviation of Experimental Class

The way to get the mean deviation of the experimental class is by dividing the total score of students in the experimental class with the number of students in the experimental class.

Where: Σx������ = 723.33

����������������������� N�������� = 35

�So, Mx����������� =

����� ����������������� = 20.67

���� 3.2. Finding out the mean of deviation of Control Class

The way to get the mean deviation of the control class is by dividing the total score of students in the control class with the number of students in the control class.

Where: Σy������ = 430.00

N�������� = 30

� �So, My����������� =���������

��������������������������� ������� = 12.29

���� 3.3. Calculating sum square deviation of Experimental Class

=

����� = 17966.67 � 14948.89

= 3017.78

� 3.4. Calculating sum square deviation of Control Class

�=

��������

�= 8077.78 � 5282.86

� ��������� �= 2794.92

��� 3.5. Calculating the t-table

The data above is applied into the t-test formula.

Where: Mx����� = 20.67

���� ��������My����� = 12.29

���� ������ Σx2����� = 3017.78

�� �������� Σy2����� = 2794.92

��� ������� Nx ����� = 35

Y�������� = 35

So,

��������� =

��������� =

��������� =

��������� =�

������������ =��� �3.792

�� 3.6. Calculating degree of freedom (df) by using the formula:

�� d.f = (Nx + Ny-2)

�� d.f = 35 + 35 � 2 = 68

�� 3.7. Interpreting the result

From the calculation above, the value of the t-test is 3.792 while the t-table is 1.997 on the level of significance 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df) is 68. It is showed that the t-test is higher than the t-table (3.792 > 1.997). It can be concluded that the hypothesis "The effectiveness of �Freeze! Freeze!� game is effective for teaching writing of recount text at SMP N 1 RAKIT" is accepted.

Conclusion

According to the result of the data above, there was a significant improvement from the pre-test to the post-test by using �Freeze! Freeze!� game in the experimental group. While for the control group there was a little significant improvement from pre-test to post-test. So, it can conclude that teaching writing of Recount text by using Freeze! Freeze! Game in grade VIII students of SMPN 1 Rakit could improve students' writing skills and motivate students in joining writing class.

Similarly with the previous research about the use of game in teaching writing were significantly improved by looking on the result of pre-test and post-test (Shopiah & Anggraeni, 2018; Hasibuan, 2016; Andisti, Salam, & Riyanti, n.d.).

The writer tries to give suggestions for the English teacher to apply any teaching methods for making fun and enjoy learning in the classroom. Teaching English also can be held not only in the classroom context but also outside the classroom to make students more interested in our lesson.

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Hari Widi Utomo (2021)

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Syntax Literate: Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia

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