Using Graphic Organizers to Improve the Writing Skill of IX Grade Students of SMPN 9 Yogyakarta in the Academic Year of 2014/2015

Abstract

The objective of this study was to improve the writing skill of IX grade students of SMPN 9 Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2014/2015 through graphic organizers. This study was action research that was conducted in two cycles. Cycle one of the research consisted of  three meetings, and cycle two  of  the research consisted of  two meetings. The subjects of the study were 33 students of IX B class of SMPN 9 Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2014/2015. The data in this research were qualitative data and were also supported by quantitative data. The qualitative data were gained through observations and interviews. The data were in the form of vignettes and interview transcripts. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were gained through writing tests. This study used five kinds of validity, namely democratic validity, outcome validity, process validity, catalytic validity, and outcome validity, while to fulfil the reliability the researcher used investigator triangulation and theoretical triangulation. The steps of the study were planning, implementations/actions, observations, and reflections. The finding of this study was that the use of graphic organizers improved the writing skill of IX grade students of SMPN 9 Yogyakarta. The research showed that there was improvement on students writing skill in five aspects of writing, namely content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics of writing after the implementation of graphic organizer that was supported by other actions. Moreover, the students’ improvement also can be seen from students’ mean scores which increased from 62.88 in pre-test into 74.21 in post-test cycle 2. In addition,  the use of graphic  organizers  was  also  able  to  improve students’ motivation in writing.