Improving the Students’ Writing Ability b Using Pictureseries at Grade VIII in SMP Pembangunan Piyungan in the Academic Year of 2014/2015

Abstract

This research aimed to improve students’ writing ability of grade VIII of SMP Pembangunan Piyungan by using a picture series in the academic year of 2014/2015. It concerns on how the use of picture series can improve the students writing ability in five aspects of writing (content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics).This study is classified into action research study. The qualitative data were obtained through the classroom observations and interview. The quantitative data were obtained through the students’ writing performance in pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2. Based on the qualitative data, the use of picture series as the media in the teaching and learning process helped the students in generating and developing the ideas. By looking at the order of the pictures series the students were able to organize their writing better. By using games and picture series the students became more active and involved in the teaching and learning process. Based on the quantitative data, the students also gained significant improvement in their writing performance. In the pre-test the students’ writing mean score was 52.36 and it increased up to 59.99 in the post-test 1. In the post-test 2 the students’ mean score reached 73.02 which proved that the use of picture series as the media in the teaching and learning process improved the students’ writing ability of grade VIII A of SMP Pembangunan Piyungan.