CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

English is one of international languages that is used in over the world.

According to Richards and Rodgers (1986: 3), “English is the world’s most

widely studied foreign language.” Based on that, the researcher concludes that

English as the international language is needed and very important for human

for communication in the world.

Basically there are four basic skills of English: Listening, Speaking,

Reading and Writing. According to Alexander LG (1975: viii), “Speaking and

writing are the most important of these skills, since to some extent they

presuppose the other two.”

Raimes (1983: 2) says that writing is a skill in which we express ideas,

feelings, and thoughts that are arranged in words, sentence and paragraph by

using eyes, brain and hand. It means that writing is complex skill, because it

needs hard thinking to give ideas, feelings, sentence and paragraph. In

addition, Sutanto (2007: 1) states that writing is as a process of expressing

idea our thoughts in words that should be done at our leisure. It can be very
enjoy able as long as we have the ideas and the means to achieve it. So,

writing is an enjoyable activity as long as writer can create idea in her/his

writing.

In fact, many students think that writing is difficult. Mistakes in writing

can cause misinterpretation from the reader. The difficulties in writing make

the students afraid of making a text. In this case, the teacher should find

innovative methods to motivate the students in writing. One of the methods

that can be done by the teacher in the classroom is giving appropriate media

in order to help the students in learing as stated by Brown (1983:17)

“Educational media of all types play increasingly important roles in enabling

students to reap benefits from individualized learning.” There are many media

that can be used in the class. Giving visual aids or picture is a very common

and interactive media to create an enjoyable atmosphere in teaching writing.

Visual aids or picture can help students to see the concrete image of an object.

There are many visual aids which could be used, one of them is picture

cued task. Picture cued task is the most enjoyable visual aids because the

students learn in an enjoyable situation. Some scientists state that playing is

studying. As cited in Raharja (2009: 2), Dydren and Vos (2002) say that

playing is the most effective way of study. This statement is strengthened by

Kline and Drydren and Vos (2002) in Raharja (2009: 2), which argues that

studying will be more effective if it is fun and attractive. Picture-cued task has
many enjoyable activities. Diagram-labeling is classified as a picture cued

task. In diagram-labeling, the students have many clues about the parts of an

object. Diagram-labeling has similar features with mind mapping. The

difference between them is diagram-labeling consists of clues stated in a

sentence or some words rather than the name of the parts.

The topic of this final project is to improve writing skill in report text.

Report text is a scientific text which consists of phenomenon and facts. Thus,

in writing report text, the writer should consider about the way they deliver it.

Additionally, report text should be written in a scientific way, especially the

diction. The formality and organized structure of the text are also the most

important aspects in writing report text.

Based on the preliminary research in SMA Muhammadiyah-10

Rantauprapat at the eleventh grade on April 06, 2019 by interviewing the

English teacher, Mrs. Lilis [Link] said that the students had less motivation in

writing than the other skills. The researcher observed one class of eleventh

grade and found that the students have difficulties in delivering their ideas in

writing, especially in writing report text. The students had difficulties in

arranging their sentences. Moreover, the lack of vocabulary mastery leads to

the difficulties in finding appropriate words in describing an object. Eleventh

grade was chosen because report text is taught in eleventh grade of senior high

school.
 To help students’ problem, the researcher decide to make a research

about the media for teaching writing report text. The researcher choose

diagram-labeling for teaching writing to increase students’ motivation and

writing skill.

Based on research of Alrina Raras Tacazely (2015) entitled “Diagram-

Labeling To Enhance Students’ Writing Skill In Report Text (An Action

Research of Eleventh Grade Students of SMA N 1 Juwana).” The result of this

study showed that Diagram-Labeling is effective in improving students’

ability in writing report text.

In addition, another research conducted by Retana Tratila Tristy entitled

“Improving Students’ Skill in Writing Report Text with All About Animal VCD

at the Ninth Year Students of SMP 2 Kudu”s reveal that the use of media can

attract students in studying English especially in teaching writing report text.

Based on the explanations above, the researcher conducted a research

entitled “Improving Students’ Ability in Writing Report Text Using

Diagram Labeling at Eleventh Grade Students of SMA Muhammadiyah-

10 Rantauprapat in Academic Year of 2018/2019”.

B. Identification of the problem

the problems as follows :

1. The students had less motivation in writing.

2. The students have difficulties in delivering their ideas in writing.

3. The students had difficulties in arranging their sentences.

4. The students have lack of vocabulary.

C. S cope of the Problem

In this research, the researcher focus on the use of diagram labeling to

improving students’ ability in writing report text at eleventh grade students of

SMA Muhammadiyah-10 Rantauprapat in academic year of 2018/2019.

D. Formulation of the Problem

The problems of this study can be stated as the following:

1. How is the application of diagram-labeling as media in teaching writing

a report text for the eleventh grade students of SMA Muhammadiyah-10

Rantauprapat?

2. How does the use of diagram-labeling in teaching writing report text

improve the eleventh grade students of SMA Muhammadiyah-10

Rantauprapat in terms of:

a. students’ motivation in writing report text,

E. Objective of the Research

Based on those problems stated, the objectives of the study are:

1. To describe the application of diagram-labeling as media in teaching

writing report text for the eleventh grade students in SMA

Muhammadiyah-10 Rantauprapat.

2. To find out the use of diagram-labeling in teaching writing report text to

improve students’ writing skill in terms of motivation and achievement.

F. Significant of the Research

The result of this research is expected to give contribution to the related

study both theoretically and practically.

1. Theoretically

The result of this research is expected to be references in teaching

learning process especially for teaching writing subject.

2. Practically

The writer hopes that the result will be more useful for English teachers,

students, and the other researchers.

a. For English teacher

teacher to be more creative in giving appropriate and innovative

media as guidelines in teaching writing, especially report text.

b. For the sudents

The result can also motivate the students to improve their writing

skill by seeing the concrete shape of the object.

c. For other researcher

The result of this study can be useful as a reference for the one who

has an interest in the same topic.

G. Basic Assumption

Based on the background above, that there were many researchers have

been done about the writing improvement research, so the basic assumption of

the researcher in this study is by using Diagram-Labeling media in teaching

writing report text, the students’ writing ability more improved.

H. Hypothesis

By applying the Diagram-Labeling media in learning writing, the

assessment result of writing ability of SMA Muhammadiyah-10 Rantauprapat

students increased because Diagram-labeling helps the students to arrange

their ideas, so they can describe the object in sequence. Diagram-labeling

provides clues in a sentence or some words rather than the name of the parts,
so the students can find an appropriate word based on the clues. The clues will

help the students in describing the features of an object.