CHAPTER
II
REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE
A.
The
Nature of Writing
1.
Definition of Writing
Writing is a skill that can be practiced and mastered
(Blanchard, 2004:
1). It means that, writing does not only need the ability
to think but also needs the ability to practice. When students can colaborate the ability to think and the ability to practice, they can be mastered in writing. Writing
also can be definedas a process through which
students can explore and discover their thoughts,constructing meaning and
assessing it at the same time(Ho, 2006: 3).
How makes a good piece of writing? There are some
criteria
offered byHeaton (1988: 146)
in considering the good writing. Thosecriteria are: content, organization of ideas,
vocabulary, language use, and mechanics.
2. Elements Of Good Writing
According
to Blanchard (2004: 4) there are three important elements of good writing. They are:
1.
Subject
In order to write well, it is helpful to choose a topic
that interest students
and that they
know and understand. If students are assigned a subject, try to find the focus of that
subject that they
find interesting and want to explore.
2.
Purpose
Whenever students write something, it is important to think about the
purpose. To determine the purpose, the students should ask themselves that ‘Why are they writing?’In general there are three purposes of writing, those are to
entertain, to inform and to persuade.
3.
Audience
What the students write about (subject) and the reason for writing ( purpose) are affected by whom students are writing for (audience). Because the
students will be writing
for an audience, the students will communicate their ideas more effectively if they keep their audience in their mind.
3.
The
Purpose
of Writing.
According
to Grenville (2001, 1-3) there are three main purposes of writing, they are
to entertain, to inform,and to persuade.
a.
Writing to entertain
Writing
to entertain generally takes the form of so-called ‘imaginative writing’ or
‘creative writing’.It involves emotions can also be reflective and
contemplative andthe readers can be entertained by something very serious, even
sad, as well as by something funny. Examples of imaginative writing are novels,
stories, poems, song lyrics, plays, and screenplays.
b.
Writing to inform
Writing to
inform tells the reader about something. It aims to give the informations to
the readers.
The example of
writing to inform are newspaper, articles, business reports, instructions, or
procedures.
c.
Writing to persuade
Writing to persuade tries to convince the reader of
something. It includes advertisements, some newspaper
and magazine articles, and some types of essay.
4. Aspects of
Writing Assessment
According
to Heaton (1988: 146) there are five (5) aspects of criteria of teaching
writing assessment. Those aspects are: The
First aspect is content. Itincludes
knowledge and the substantive of the writing work. In writing an essay, the content of
writing must be clear and focused. It means that the ideas must be appropriate
and relevant to the topic of the essay. It intends to make the content of essay
is not bias and attract the readers’ interest in reading the essay. The second aspect is organization of
ideas. It
includes logical order and the expressions used in writing. The students’ essay shouldhave clear organizational pattern of ideas
that enables the reader to follow the flow of ideas. Therefore, the organization
of the essay should be logic, communicative, and clearly stated. The third
aspect is vocabulary. It includes the choice of words. In
this aspect, the students have to choose the appropriate words and do not make
errors so the readers can understand the essay. The fourth aspect is language use. This aspect is related to the
construction of the sentences and paragraph. It intends to make the students’
ideas between sentences or paragraphs are understood by the reader. The last
aspect is mechanics. It relates to the grammar, capitalization, punctuation.
The students’essay should be understood by the reader. Therefore, the students
should pay attention to the grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. It is also
related to the neatness of the students’ essay.
5.
The Role of Teacher in Teaching
Writing
According
to Harmer (2007: 330) there are three important roles of the teacher in teaching writing,
those are:
a.
Motivator; one of
our principal in writing tasks is to motivate the students, create
the right conditions
for the generation of ideas, persuade them of the usefulness of the activity and encourage them to make as much as possible the benefit of writing
tasks.
b.
Resource ; especially
during more extended writing tasks, the teacher should be ready to supply informations and language
if necessary. The teachers need
to tell students that the teacher are available and be prepared to look at
their work as it progresses, offering advice, and suggestions in a constructive
way.
c.
Feedback Provider;in this case the teachers should respond positively and
encouragingly to the content of what the students have written. When
the teacher gives feedback
and corrections on students writing tasks, the teacher will choose what
and how much to focus on, based on what the students need at this particular
stage of their studies and on the tasks they have undertaken.
B.
Essay
1.
Definition
of Essay
According
to Richards and schmidt (2000: 186) essay is a longer piece of
writing, particularly one that is writtenby a student as part of a course of
study or by a writer writing for publicationwhich expresses the writer’s
viewpoint on a topic.The
topic of one essay is too long and too complex
to discuss in one paragraph.Therefore, the students may divide the topic
into several paragraphs one for each other major point and it is supported by Blanchard (2004: 60) that an essay is a group of pargraphs about a
specific subject.
2.
The
Example of Essay
Ways of Learning English
People whose first language is not
English find difficulties to learn it.
Anyonne who does not major in English always asks me how to be succesful in
learning the language. They wonder why some people like me can learn English
well while others find it too
difficult. This is the problem of most
indonesian people. To those who happen
to ask me, i told them that there are so many ways of learning English including
by listening to radio news or English songs, by watching western films and by
reading books, novels, short stories, or even coomics in English. There are
still many other ways, but what i want to discuss is these three ways.
There are many
programs on the radio that offers oppurtunity to learn English language
including the news broadcasts and the song in English. Most of them are delivered by native speakers
of English. This is benefical since we
can get the informations and we can train our ears to be accustomed with the
languauge. It includes the way the words
are pronounced, the choice of words, the intonation, the grammar and still
others.
People who like watching television can
benefit from the programs the station offer, especially
the one related to the English. Besides
the local plays such as a drama, film and the others, young people like
watching western films. They enjoyed the
stories and at the same time they learnt the language. Since those films are delivered in English with their translation in Indonesian
at the bottom of the screeen, learners can learn it faster.
Still other people prefer reading books
to listening to the radio or watching telelvision. To them it is advised to include into their
stocks some books written in English
includiing novels, short stories or even comics. They may begin with the texts
which are easier to understand, and if they feel that their English has been
improved, they may choose more difficult
ones. Sometimes they need to consult with the dictionary, but finally it is
satisfiying to find that we can enjoy the story and learn the langauge as well. People who do
this activity benefit more in terms of their improvement in vocabulary and
grammar, besides the moral values that the author shared in the novel.
It is now
clear how we can be facilitated to learn
English thorugh a number of ways. By
listening to the radio or English songs, by watching western films, and by
reading novels, short stories, or even comics, our English can be improved.
What experience can you share to other people so that they are also succesful
in learning English?(Polly,
2009: 2 - 4)
3.
Parts
of Essay
There are three main parts of an essay.
According to Oshima (1983: 77), an essay has
three main parts; those are an
introductory paragraph, a body of paragraph and a concluding paragraph.
a.
Introductory Paragraph
Introductory
paragraph is used to
introduce the topic to the writer’s audience and to state the purpose of
the writer’s essay in thesis statement.Reid
(1988: 57) says that the introduction often opens with a general statement
about the topic and gives
the reader general information about the topic that is needed to understand the
essay. In line with that, Oshima
(1981: 78)
mentiones four purposes of introduction paragraph such as
introducing the topic of the essay, indicating the overall plan of the essay,
giving the general background of the topic, and arousing the reader’s interest
in the topic. Look at the example of introductory paragraph below.
People whose first language is not English find difficulties to learn it. Anyonne who does not major in English
always asks me how to be succesful in learning the language. They wonder why
some people like me can learn English well
while others find it too difficult.
This is the problem of most indonesian people. To those who happen to
ask me, i told them that there are so many ways of learning English including
by listening to radio news or English songs, by watching western films and by
reading books, novels, short stories, or even coomics in English. There are
still many other ways, but what i want to discuss is these three ways.
The introductory paragraph consists
of two parts; they aregeneral
statement and a thesis
statement. According to Oshima (1983: 78), the first sentence in an introductory
paragraph should be a very general comment about the subject. It aims to
attract the reader’s attention and to give background information on the topic.
Each subsequent sentence should become more specific than the previous one and
finally lead into the thesis statement. For example; People whose first
language is not English find difficulties to learn it.
Second
part is a thesis statement. According to Reid (1988:
42) a thesis sentence is generally located at the end of the introduction paragraph. This sentence is the most general, most important sentence in the essay. A
thesis statement for an essay is just like a topic sentence for a paragraph; it
names the specific topic and controlls
ideas or major subdivisions of the topic. It means that, each body of paragraph
has a main idea or topic sentence.
According to Oshima (1981: 76) thesis
statement is the most important sentence in the introduction.It states the
specific topic and the list of the major subtopics that will be discussed in
the body of the essay. It often indicates the method of organization such as
the chronological order. The same idea is stated by Reid (1988: 48). He states that each
essay you write will contain a thesis statement. It usually consists of one
sentence and states the purposes of writing. This statement must the strongest,
clearest in essay and it should
come at the beginning of the essay and usually at the end of the introductory
paragraph,
contain controlling ideas that will be used in the topic sentences of the body
paragraphs of the essay and you
will explain and prove in the body paragraph of the essay. The
example of thesis statement is there are still many other ways, but what i want
to discuss is these three ways.
b.
Body
of Paragraph
Body
of paragraph consists of one or more paragraphs. Each paragraph develops a
subdivision of your topic, so the number of the paragraph in the body will vary
with the number of subdivision.
Blanchard (2004:
60) says that the supporting paragraphs are also called body. Furthermore,
just as you can organize the ideas in a paragraph by chronological order you
can organize the paragraph in an essay in the same ways.
Look
at the example of body paragraph below:
There are many programs on the radio that offers oppurtunity to learn
English language including the news broadcasts and the song in English. Most of them are delivered by native speakers
of English. This is benefical since we
can get the informations and we can train our ears to be accustomed with the
languauge. It includes the way the words
are pronounced, the choice of words, the intonation, the grammar and still
others.
People who like watching television can benefit from
the programs the station offer, especially the one related to the
English. Besides the local plays such as
a drama, film and the others, young people like watching western films. They enjoyed the stories and at the same time
they learnt the language. Since those
films are delivered in English with
their translation in Indonesian at the bottom of the screeen, learners can
learn it faster.
Still other people prefer reading books to listening to the radio or
watching telelvision. To them it is advised
to include into their stocks some books
written in English includiing novels, short stories or even comics. They
may begin with the texts which are easier to understand, and if they feel that
their English has been improved, they
may choose more difficult ones.
Sometimes they need to consult with the dictionary, but finally it is
satisfiying to find that we can enjoy the story and learn the langauge as well. People who do
this activity benefit more in terms of their improvement in vocabulary and
grammar, besides the moral values that the author shared in the novel.
c. Concluding
Paragraph
The conclusion in an essay, like
the concluding sentence in a paragraph is a summary or review of the main
points in the body. According to Oshima (1983: 83), the final paragraph is the
conclusion, a very important part of the essay because it contains writing
summary of the main points discussed in the body of the essay or by rewriting
the thesis statement in different words. Then you add your final comments on the
subject. The example of
concluding paragraph that consists of the summary of main points of essay and
the comments on the subject.
It is now clear how we can be
facilitated to learn English through a number of ways. By listening to the radio or English songs,
by watching western films, and by reading novels, short stories, or even
comics, our English can be improved. What experience can you share to other
people so that they are also succesful in learning English?
4.
Kinds of Essay
According
to Polly ( 2010: 258-259) there are some factual genres of essay in diffrent purposes. They
are narrative, recount, procedure, description, report, explanation, and exposition/ expository essay.
The first is narrative essay. It is the one kind of essay, which aimsat
telling a story or
events and happenings in the world
based on imagination or can be real events and usually to entertain and inform.To entertain for
example, a teacher or a father usually tells a story about a rabbit to his
students or child meanwhile to inform for example the student tells about the
story of Toba Lake to his or her friends.
Second genre is recount. It
is used to reconstruct
past experiences by retelling events in original sequence. The
third genre is procedure.
It aim sat showing how processes or events are accomplished-how something
is done. The fourth is description. It purposes to give an account of imagination or factual events and phenomena. In
writing a descriptive essay,
the
students try to describe
something in detail. It means that, they describe something
point by point. For example, the students want to write a descriptive essay
about a mountain. It means that the students have to write it in detail from
its form, size, high and the other and also the things that the students want
to describe has to attract the reader’s interest.
The fifth genre is report. It is used to present information about a class of things,
usually by classifying them and then describing their characteristics.
The sixth genre is explanation.
It is used to give reasons for a
state of affairs or a judgement. The seventh genre is persuasive essay.According to Gillepsie et al
(1986: 294) persuasive essay uses all the techniques of exposition, naration and description, but for their own purpose
which is to create in an audience the desire to do or believing something. They
create this desire by appealing to the reader’s emotions ( emotion appeal), and by esthablishing the writer’s credibility.
The last genre is exposition/ expository essay. Expository writing is a type of writing
where the purposes are to inform, explain, describe, or define the author's
subject to the reader. This genreprovides information about and explains
a particularsubject. Patterns of development within expository writing
includegiving examples,
describing a processof doing or
making something, analyzing causes and
effects, comparing and/or
contrasting, defining aterm
or concept, and dividing something
into parts or classifyingit
intocategories (Longman, 2000:
337).
According to Rawlins (1987: 275), the purpose of informative writing is to get
information to the readers. Most of the
writing in the world – newspaper, instructions, cookbooks, textbooks, are
informative. The samples of expository essays includeessaysto describe how to do something, how to analyze events, ideas, objects, or
written works, to
describe a process and to explain/describe
a historical event.
There are varieties of ways to
develop an
expository essay. Rawlins (1987:
281) called these varieties as types of informative writing. Those ways are:
1.
Definition
According to Rawlins (1987:
283) definition is doing what the
dictionary does. It means that the students explain what a word or phrase really means
based on the definition of the dictionary and then the students can explore the
word or phrase. In expository
writing the
students might begin a
definition essay with quotation of a definition from a dictionary.
According to Gillepsie et al (1986: 260) a more important kind of definition for the students of exposition is extended definition. This type is most
often used with words that have uncommon
significance for the students or the readers because they are new, misused and abstract. For example,
the words poverty, freedom, happiness.In the extended part the
students can use naration,
description, or another part of exository essay such as comparison and contrast, classification or cause and effect.
2.
Example
In this type, the students will provide and describe
an example of a particular subject or group. It means that, several paragraphs
in students’ essay can be developed by explaining several examples that illustratethat
idea (Davis, 1983: 133).
3.
Cause
and Effect
With this developmental pattern, the students will
illustrate the relationship between two variables; one dependent on the
other.In cause and effect essay, the students can discuss the reasons for
something and discuss the results of it or discuss the first cause and the
first effect and a second cause and second effect and so on. Blanchard (2004:
101) said that when students want to analyze the reasons (causes or factors) or the
results (effects, disadvantage, benefits) of something, the
students should use a cause
or effect types of essay.
According to
Gillepsie et al (1986: 297), this type is often used in argumentation and persuasion, because it
can support logical appeal. The structure of this type like that of naration that is a series or choronological events or condition in
which the effect could not occur without
preceding the causes.
4.
Classification
This developmental pattern is used to categorize
multiple subjects into separate or distinct groups by certain criteria. According to Rawlins (1987:
283) classification is putting things in a group or dividing something into parts.
This idea is
supported by Gillepsie et al (1986: 260), that
division or classification is processed by which something
is divided into its constituent parts.
Classification is one way to understand and explain a subject. Its
purpose like that of all exposition is to explain and clarify.
Classification can be viewed as a special application of comparison and
contrast because the students
can
place the items in their classes on the basis of their similarities.
5.
Process analysis
A process
analysis is a description of a step by step sequence, like a recipe. According to Blanchard (2004: 79), when
the purpose of the students’ writing is to inform for the readers about how to
do something or to describe the order of steps in a procedure, the students
will write a process essay. It means that, the process analysis tells the
readers about the chronological
order or events.
6.
Comparison
and Contrast
With
this developmental pattern, the writer will examine both the similarities and
the differences between two or more distinct subjects.It means that, in this type of expository essay, the
students explore how things
are alike and different. Strictly, comparison means how things are alike and contrasting means how
they are different.
According
to Blanchard (2004:
115) very often in writing, the
students will want to show
how ideas, people, or things are similar or different. In this case, the students will use a comparison or contrast type of essay.
When the
students compare two things, they look for how are they similar. When they contrast two things
they look for how are
they different. It is important that, two things you compare or contrast belong to the same general class.
For
example, the students cannot
make the comparison and contrast between a book and a dog because they belong
to different class, but the students can make the comparison and contrast between
dog and cat because they belong to the same class.
According
to Oshima (1983: 106) a comparison answers the question how are x and y
similar? For example, the comparison between apple and banana.In this
comparison, the students can use the structure words which show the comparison
such as similarly, likewise, also, as, just as, and, like, just like, alike,
similar to, the same as, and compare to.
When
the students contrast two things, the students point out the differences
between them. The contrast answers the question what are the differences
between x and y? On the other hand, how are x and y different? The students can
use some structure words in making contrast. They are on the other hand, in
contrast, while, whereas, but, different, unlike, to differ from. In organizing
the comparison and contrast essay, the students can use several patterns or
method. According to Blanchard (2004: 120) there are two basic patterns for
writing comparison and contrast essay, they are the block method and the point-by-point
method.
First
is block method. In this pattern, the
students can write a comparison and contrast essay by describing all the
similarities of two things and then continue the differences. It means that,
after the students write the thesis statement, they can describe all the
similarities in the first supporting paragraph and then all the differences in
the second supporting paragraph. For example,the students compare and contrast
between book A
and book B, based on the explanation
of this pattern the students just focus first to write all the similarities
between book A
and book B in the first supporting paragraph and then the students continue to
write differences between them in the second supporting paragraph.
The
second is point-by-point method. In
this method, the students identify several important points to be compared and
contrasted. In the first supporting paragraph, students compare and contrast
the two things according to the first point. In the second supporting
paragraph, they compare and contrast the two things according to the second
point, and so on. For example, the students compare and contrast the price of a
book A and book B, and then compare and contrast the number of pages between
them and continue to other points. The price is the first point that they can
compare and contrast in the first supporting paragraph and pages is the second
point that the students can compare and contrast in second supporting paragraph.
C.
Process Approach In Teaching Writing
1.
Definition
of Process Approach
According to Leki in Ho (2006: 3) process approach is an approach to
teaching writing that places more emphasis on the stages of the writing
processthan on the final product. This definition is supported by Richards (2002: 308) that a commitment to
content, fluency, personal voice, and revising is called process writing. But
since all writing involves a process whether teacher focus on it or not, it is
called process approach and to emphasize that when the students or writers pay
attention to how a piece of writing is constructed. Harmer (2007: 326) also
supports it. He says that process approach pay attention to the various stage
that any pieces of writing go through.
2.
Several
Points to be considered in Process Approach
According to Brown in Polly (2009: 21), there are several points the teacher should pay attention to when
helping the students to write by using process approach?
a.
Focus on the process
of writing that lead to the
final written product.
b.
Help the students to understand their own composing
processes.
c.
Help them to build reportoires of
strategies for prewriting, drafting, and rewriting.
d.
Give students time to write and rewrite.
e.
Place central importance
on the process of revision.
f.
Let students discover
what they want to say as they write.
g.
Give students feedback
throughout the composing process as they attempt to
bring their expression closer to intention.
h.
Encourage feedback
from both instructor and peer.
i.
Include individual
conferences between teacher andstudents
during the process of composition.
3. Stages in
Process Approach
According to Richards (2002: 315), there are four stages
of process approach in writing an essay.They are planning (pre-writing),
drafting, revising and
editing. The same idea is stated by Blanchard (2004: 11). He
says that writing as a process involving the following steps:
Step one:
Prewriting
Planning and generating ideas
Step two: writing (Drafting)
Using your ideas to
write a first draft
Step three: Revising and editing
Improving what you have written
a. Pre-Writing
First stage in process approach is pre-writing. According to Blanchard (2004: 11),
pre-writing is a way to warm up the writer or
students brain before they write. It is an activity in the
classroom that encourages students to writeand stimulates thought for getting
started.During on this stage, the studentsplan what they want to write, choose
a good topic, and then develop ideas about the topic. Pre-writing consists of two techniques; they are planning the essay and generating ideas.
Planning the Essay
Planning
the essay related to then arrowing and choosing the topic. When the students
think about a subject and interested in to write, the students must narrow that
topic. It would be impossible for the students to cover such a big topic,
because the essay will be broader and many things can be explained. However,
when the students narrow the topic, it will be more focus only in a specific
topic. According to Field (2009:
99), if the students are planning their own
title, make sure that the students deal withonly one aspect of a subject and
fully understand it before starting work. It aims to avoid the bias of the
content of essay.For example;
ENVIRONMENT
POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION
|
From the
example above, the students are interested in writing an essay about environment. This topic is still
broader because there are still many aspects that the students will explain
about environment. There are pollution, air pollution, land pollution, and so
on. Because of it is still broader the students can narrow this topic to more
specific topic for example the topic about pollution. It will be more focus and
the content of essay will be not bias and perhaps the topic about Pollution is still broader, the
students can narrow again into
air Pollution if the students intererest in it.
Generating
Ideas
Following is the prewriting
techniquethat students
use to generate ideas.
Brainstorming
After
the students choose and narrow the topic, the next technique is generating the
ideas. This is done by a technique called brainstorming.
The purpose of brainstorming is to develop the ideas in related to the topic.
During the brainstorming stage, many ideas may be developed but only focus on
the topic.
According
to Watkins (1990: 2),brainstorming
is a group activity in which two or more people freely and without hesitation
discuss any thoughts that occur to them on a given topic without concern whether something is
relevant or not everything is considered as a potential idea for possible user
later on.
It means that, the students can write all the ideas in related to the topic
that comes onto t their mind. In another words Mills (1986: 2) states that brainstorming is a listing a specific ideas. It is
like freewriting for gathering thoughts about a subject.
There are two useful brainstorming techniques, they are listing and clustering
First
technique is listing. The students think about their topic and quickly make a
list of whatever words, phrase come into the students’ mind in a brainstorming
technique. The purpose of this technique is to produce as many ideas as
possible and to find a specific focus for the students’ topic of an essay. The
procedure in making listing are; the
students write
down the general topic at the top of their paper and then make a list of
every word or phrase that comes onto students’ mind about the topic and do not
worry about spelling and grammar. The students should remember that their goal
is to jot down the ideas come to their mind without worrying about whether an idea is
important, interesting. For example:
WAYS OF LEARNING ENGLISH
Reading
Novels
Books
Short stories
Comics
Listening
Tape recorder
Radio
News
Songs
Watching
Westeren films
Plays
Second technique is clustering. It is
almost drawing a map of the students’ thoughts, using circles, lines, arrows,
and words. It is another technique aimed at pulling as many different related
thoughts out of the students’ mind.
According to Oshima (1983: 9), clustering is another brainstorming
activity that the students can use to generate the ideas. The procedure of
using clustering is the students write down the topic in the centre of their paper
and draw circles around it. It is supported by Blanchard ( 2004:
13) that clustering is a tecnique to show the connections
among students’ ideas using circles or lines.For
example:
WAYS OF LEARNING
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
|
b.
Drafting
Second stage in process approach is
drafting. At the drafting stage,
thestudents focused on the fluency of writing and are not preoccupied with
grammatical accuracy or the neatness of the draft. According to Watkins (1990:
40)after students have gathered ideas
and words in pre writing activities, the students are ready to write the rough draft. As inprewriting
activities, the students do not need pay attention to spelling, grammar, and
punctuation mistake at this stage.
While writing down the ideas, the
students can use their native language if the students do not know the word or
the students leave blank space and in the editing or revising space, the
students can complete it. In this stage, the students can write more than one
draft until the students can write the final draft about the essay.
c. Revising
The
third stage in process approach is revising. According to
Sommers (1986: 21) revising includes large concerns such as determining
whether it is organized clearly enough and whether it addresses its intended
audience to satisfy their specific needs
or demands. It means that, revising involves looking at the whole essay as well as at
each part, at paragraph and sentence structure, and the choice of words.
Revising enables students
to make sure that their essay is clear, precise, and
effective.
Revising
stage can be done more than twice.According
to Watkins (1990: 4) after writing the first draft, the students rethink and rewrite the first draft
to form the second draft. This re
thinking may take the form of reorganizing what has been written in
the first draft, for instance sometimes ideas are added or ommited
and also to check if the composition has an
introduction in which the main idea is started, the body with supporting details, specific
examples, and explanation a
conclusion, the content of the introduction and the coherences of the writing.
The
role of the teachers in this stage are; collect and keep the student’s drafts, revise the draft, give some guidance if
the students’
writing are
wrong and after that the students can rewrite it based on the teacher’s
correction. It
aims at making the students’ writing to
be good writing.
d. Editing
The
last stage in process approach is editing. It is the final step of process
approach with the special attention to the grammar, punctuation, sentence,
accuracy of supportive materials and spelling. The students will identify, analyze and
correct the mistakes of an essay (
Watkins 1990: 5).
D.
Process Approach in Writing a Comparison and Contrast Essay
In
explanation below, the writer states the example of a
comparison and contrast essay.
1.
Prewriting
Inprewriting stage, the students will offer two steps, they are planningand generating ideas.
a.
Planning the Ideas
In planning the ideas,the students will narrow and select the topic of the subject that they will write.In this case, the
students narrow and select the topic of comparison and contrast essay. In narrowing and selecting the topic, the
students can use a diagram
to narrow and select the topic easily. For example of planning the ideas of
comparison and contrast essay:
Universities in Pennsylvania
Popular universities
State or Greenwell universities
|
From diagram above, the students stated three topics.
Those are Universities in Pennsylvania, Popular Universities and State or
Greenwell. The first topic is universities
in Pennsylvania.
It
is still a broader topic because there are many universities in Pennsylvania and it is impossible
forthe students to write an essay about all universities in Pennsylvania.
Because of it, the students can narrow it to be Popular Universities as the
next topic. However, it is still broader, because may be there are still many
popular universities in Pennsylvania. Therefore, to make the students focus in
writing a comparison and contrast essay, State and Greenwell are chosen by the
students. The reason is there is only one university named State and there is
only one university name Greenswell. Therefore, State and Greenwell are the most specific topic, and then the
students will discuss
about the differences and the similarities of those universities.
b. Generating
Ideas
A.
Brainstorming
1.
Listing
Listing is a brainstorming technique in which the
students think about a topic and make a list of whatever words, phrase come
into their mind. Below is the
example of the using of listing techniques in generating the ideas
of comparison and contrast essay which the topic is State or Greenwell.
State or Greenwell?
Location
Suburb
City
Cost
Scholarship
Number of students
The richest
students
The poorest
students
Quality
Standars of
education
The number of
education
The number of
classroom
The number of
lectures
Facilities
Personal attention
From
the list above, the students state all the ideas of comparison and contrast
essay which the topic is State and Greenwell, even the ideas are appropriate or
not. The purpose is to produce as many as ideas come into the students’ mind.
However, some ideas will be deleted after the draft is revised or edited,
because from the list above, there are some inappropriate words and phrases to
be used in completing the comparison and contrast essay.
2.
Clusterin
The
drawing map below is the example of the using of clustering techniques in
generating the ideas of comparison and contrast essay, which the topic is State
or Greenwell.
In clustering technique, the students generate their ideas in drawing a map like what is shown above. Everything the
students can write and do
not worry that the ideas have been written are inappropirate or not on subject. If
there are any words or ideas are not
appropirate, there is a next step that is revising to determine the ideas that
appropirate on subject.
2. Drafting
In this stage, the studentswrite a draft about our subject based on the
ideas from the pre-writing stage. It means that, the students write a
comparison and contrast essay by using the inappropriate and appropriate ideas.If there are any words or ideas are not appropirate,
there is a next step that is revising to determine the ideas that appropirate
on subject.
Look
at the example of the using drafting stage in writing a comparison and contrast
essay.
State or Greenwell?
Last week when i received
acceptances from my top two choices for college, state and greewell, I knew I
had a difficult decision to make. Although I had talk to friends and relative
who had attended both schools and had visited both campuses many times, I could not make up my
mind. It was only after I compared the location, cost,the number of the
students, the number of the classroom, the poorest and the richest students and quality of education of the two schools
that I could finally come to my decision to attended Greenwell.
The first thing I considered
was the location. First of all, both
unversity are located in Pennsylvania, where i am from. But that is where the similarities end.
State’s setting a safe suburb is
definetely more appealing than
Greenwell’s location in a dangerous city neighborhood. I aslso like state’s older campus with its beatiful
buildings and gardens more than
Greenwell’s new campus.
In addition to location¸ I had to pay a lot of attention o the financial component.
The tuition is the same at both
schools--$20,000 per year. However, Greenwell offered me a $3,000 scholarship,
but state could not give me any money. Also, if I go to Greenwell, I can live
at home and save on room and board.
Finally, since Greenwell is much closer to home, I will not have to spend as much on
transportation to and from school.
The number of students is there
almost 2000 students. The students who are there came from anyplace in
Pennsylvania. In relates to the number of students there are similarities
between both of schools, that is the number of woman are more than man and the
difference is more woman in State campus
came village and in Greenwell more woman came from city. In relating to the
students economic aspect, more students in State campus are rich than the
students in Greenwell campus.
The number of the
classroom between state and Greenwell campus are different. In state campus,
more number of classroom are in state campus and the least number are in
greenwell campus.The similarities in relating to the number of class is the
condition and and the size are same.
The quality of
education at the two schools had the
mostinfluence on my decision. In many ways, State and Greenwell have similar
standards of education. Both schools
have large libraries and exellent academic reputations. Also, state has
a first class engineering department,
and so does Greenwell. So I had to look at other things. What it came
down to was the difference in class size
between the two unniversities. State has arge classes and an impersonal feeling. On the other hand,
Greenwell has some classes and students get a lot of personal attention.
In conclusion, after taking everything into
consideration, I think I made the right
decesion. Since small classes, saving money and personal attention from my
professors are very important to me, I will probably be happier at Greenwell.
3.
Revising
In
this stage, the students revise the essay includes the ideas that they have generated. Revising can be done more than one until the
students have a good essay
and more emphasize in organization of ideas not in grammar or punctuation.
1. Revise the generating
ideas
a.
Listing
In revising
the listing step, the teacher or students underline the ideas that do not fit on subject. Below is the
example of the using revising stage. In this example, the writer uses this
stage to revise the ideas in listing technique of the comparison and contrast
essay, which the topic is State or Greenwell.
State or Greenwell?
Location
Suburb
City
Cost
Scholarship
Number of students
The richest students
The poorest students
Quality
Standars of education
The number of classroom
The number of lectures
Facilities
Personal attention
From the list above, there are some
phrases are underlined. It shows that the underlined phrases or words do not
fit with the topic. For example, the richest students and the poorest students.
Those phrases are not appropriate to promote the universities. Therefore, those
phrases will be deleted from the list and from the comparison and contrast
essay.
b.
Clustering
It is same
with revise
the listing that the teacher will cross out
the ideas
that do not fit on subject. Below is the example of the using
revising stage. In this example, the writer uses this stage to revise the ideas
in clustering technique of the comparison and contrast essay, which the topic
is State or Greenwell.
2. Revise the draft
In this stage,
the
teacher and students revise the
draft. The teacher or students will underline or delete some ideas that do not fit on
subject.Below
is the example of the using revising stage. In this example, the writer uses
this stage to revise the drafting of comparison and contrast essay, which the
topic is State or Greenwell.
State or Greenwell?
Last week when i
received acceptances from my top two choices for college, state and greewell, I
knew I had a difficult decision to make. Although I had talk to friends and
relative who had attended both schools and had visited both campuses many times, I could not make up my
mind. It was only after I compared the location, cost, the number of the
students, the number of the classroom, the poorest and the
richest students and quality of
education of the two schools that I could finally come to my decision to
attended Greenwell.
The first thing I considered was the
location. First of all, both unversity
are located in Pennsylvania, where i am from.
But that is where the similarities end. State’s setting a safe suburb is definetely more appealing than Greenwell’s location in a
dangerous city neighborhood. I aslso like
state’s older campus with its beatiful buildings and gardens more than Greenwell’s new campus.
In addition to location¸ I had to pay a lot of attention o the financial component.
The tuition is the same at both
schools--$20,000 per year. However, Greenwell offered me a $3,000 scholarship,
but state could not give me any money. Also, if I go to Greenwell, I can live
at home and save on room and board.
Finally, since Greenwell is much closer to home, I will not have to spend as much on
transportation to and from school.
The number of students is there almost
2000 students. The students who are there came from anyplace in Pennsylvania.
In relates to the number of students there are similarities between both of
schools, that is the number of woman are more than man and the difference
is more woman in State campus came from village and in Greenwell more woman came from city. In
relating to the students economic aspect, more students in State campus are
rich than the students in Greenwell
campus.
The number of the classroom between state and Greenwell campus are
different. In state campus, more number of classroom are in state campus and
the least number are in greenwell campus.The similarities in relating to the
number of class is the condition and and the size are same.
The quality of education at the two schools
had the most iinfluence on my decision. In many ways, State and
Greenwell have similar standards of education. Both schools have large libraries and exellent academic
reputations. Also, state has a first class engineering department, and so does Greenwell. So I had to look at
other things. What it came down to was the difference in class size between the two unniversities. State has arge classes and an impersonal feeling. On the other hand,
Greenwell has some classes and students get a lot of personal attention.
In conclusion, after taking everything into consideration, I think I made the right decesion. Since
small classes, saving money and personal attention from my professors are very
important to me, I will probably be happier at Greenwell.
From
the comparison and contrast essay above, there are some ideas have been
deleted. The reason is all the ideas that have been deleted are inappropriate
or are not important to be stated or to be considered in related to determine
which university would be chosen. For example,the numbers of students who come
from village or city are deleted because it is not important to be considered,
but the idea about the school fee is important idea to be considered in
determining which university will be chosen.
4. Editing
The
last stage is editing. It is the final step of process approach with the
special attention to the grammar, punctuation, and sentence.The students will want to identify by underlining the erorrs,
analyze and correct the errors of comparison and contrast essay. In this
example, the writer uses this stage to edit the ideas of comparison and
contrast essay, which the topic is State or Greenwell.
State or Greenwell?
Last week when i(I: must be in capital letter) received acceptances from my top two choices for college, state(
State ; capital letter)and greewell, (Greenwell) I knew I had a
difficult decision to make. Although I had talk ( I had talked; past perfect tense) to
friends and relative who had attended both schools and had visited both campuses many times, I could not make up my
mind. It was only after I compared the location, cost,and quality of education
of the two schools that I could finally come to my decision to attended
Greenwell.
The first thing I
considered was the location. First of
all, both university ( universities; plural) are located in
Pennsylvania, where I am from. But that
iss where the similarities end. State’s setting
a safe suburb is definetely more
appealing than Greenwell’s location in a dangerous city neighborhood. I aslso
like state’s older campus with its
beatiful buildings and gardens more than
Greenwell’s new campus.
In addition to location¸ I had to pay a lot of attention o the financial component.
The tuition is the same at both
schools--$20,000 per year. However, Greenwell offered me a $3,000 scholarship,
but state could not give me any money. Also, if I go to Greenwell, I can
lived ( I can live; modal plus verb
I) at home and save on room and board.
Finally, since Greenwell is much closer to home, I will not have to spend as
much on transportation to and from school.
The quality of education
at the two schools had the most
iinfluence on my decision. In many ways, State and Greenwell have similar
standards of education. Both schools
have large libraries and exellent academic reputations. Also, state has
a first class engineering department,
and so does Greenwell. So I had to look at other things. What it came
down to was the difference in class size
between the two universities. State has arge classes and an impersonal feeling. On the other hand,
Greenwell has some classes and students get a lot of personal attention.
In conclusion, after taking everything into
consideration, I think I made the right
decesion. Since small classes, saving money and personal attention from my
professors are very important to me, I will probably be happier at Greenwell.
From the comparison and contrast essay
above, the writer has edited the essay in which the writer underlined all the
incorrect grammar, incorrect punctuation, and so on. For example, I can lived. It is incorrect form of grammar because the verb after
modal always verb 1(one) so it can change I
can live. Another example is the word state.
It is wrong because for the name of place, name of college or university
the initial letter always in capital letter.
E.
Theoritical Framework
Based
on the review of the literature, the writer states the theoretical framework of
this study as following:
In teaching and learning English, there are four skills the students learn. They are speaking, writing, reading and listening.
From
the fourth skills, the writer focuses on writing skill. As a skill, writing is still the most difficult to be learnt by students. It is difficult because many language learners do not
have such a good strategy or capability especially how to start their writing, planning the
topic, generating the ideas. Hyland (
2003: XIII)
says that learning how
to write in a second language is the most challenging aspects of second
language learning. Based on this reason, the writer wants to
help the students to write easily by
offering process approach.
According to Leki in
Ho (2006: 3),
process approach is an approachto teaching writing that places more emphasis on
the stages of the writing process than on the final product. In addition,
related to process approach, Watkins
(1990: 2)
offers
some stages in helping students to write easily. Those stages are prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.Regarding with this
study, the writer uses process approach includes all stages in order to improve
writing skill of the eighth grade students of Accounting Program at SMPN 1 Sape in the academic year 2014/2015.
First
stage is prewriting.
In this stage, the writer offers
some steps such as planning the ideas and generating
ideas. In planning the ideas, the students select and narrow the topic meanwhile in
generating the ideas; the students can generate their ideas by using brainstorming, clustering, and listing.
Second stage is drafting. In this stage, the students start to write and it can be done twice or more than twice.The third step is revising.
It aims to look and relook the
ideas, the choronological activities of the students’ writing. The last stageis editing. It is related to the way teacher edit the students’ writing. There are some things that the
teacher can edit, they are the words, grammar, punctuation and the others.
F.
Relevant Studies
Ho in her thesis, which is the title Effectiveness of Using the Process
Approach to Teach Writing in Six Hongkong Primary Classrooms (2006: 19), stated some
advantages of her study. Those advantages are bring
positive changes in most students’ attitudes towards writing and improvements
in their writing habits and helped the students’ to improve their writing
performance. In related to her study, Ho wanted to describe the process
approach in teaching writing for the six Hongkong primarily classroom and based
on the result of her study, process approach was successful in teaching
writing.
