The Implementation of Concept Mapping to Improve the Performance of the Eight Grade Students of SMPN 4 Malang in Writing Descriptive Texts

More than half of the students of class VIII D of SMP Negeri 4 Malang in the first semester of 2008/2009 academic year still have poor ability in writing descriptive texts. The major problem that the students faced was how to get an idea and develop it. To overcome the problem, an alternative strategy was applied in the teaching of writing, namely concept mapping technique. This technique was chosen since it helped the students to generate ideas and develop them. The strategy involved in the writing process including prewriting, writing, and post writing. The main objective of the study is aiming at developing concept mapping strategy to improve the students’ performance in writing descriptive texts. In this study, the research design used is Classroom Action Research. This research was conducted in three cycles. Every cycle consisted of four stages: planning, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting the action. The researcher, at the same time, acted as the English teacher in the class. The subjects of this research were the students of class VIII D of SMP Negeri 4 Malang in the first semester of 2008/2009 academic year which consisted of 39 students. The instruments used were writing assignment, field note, and scoring rubric. There were two kinds of data gained, namely the students’ writing scores and students’ attitude and classroom atmosphere. The data gained from the students’ writing scores were analyzed in terms of content, organization, and language use by using scoring rubric. The students’ attitude and classroom atmosphere was taken from the field notes. Both students’ writing score and attitude were supported by the result of the questionnaire on students’ responses on the application of concept mapping in writing. The research finding showed that concept mapping could be implemented to improve the students’ writing performance in writing descriptive texts and solved the students’ problem in generating and developing ideas. In Cycle 1, the implementation of the action was not fully successful; the mean score of the students’ writing for all the three assessed criteria did not significantly increase compared with the score in the preliminary study and there were some students producing descriptive writing below the standard level. So, it was continued to the next cycle that was Cycle 2. The mean score of the students’ writing in Cycle 2 significantly increased compared with the previous cycle; however, there were some students producing descriptive writing below the standard level. So, it was continued to the next cycle that was Cycle 3. The implementation of the action was fully successful in Cycle 3 since the students’ writing performance was better and there was no student producing descriptive writing below the standard level for all the three assessed criteria of writing that were content, organization, and language use. iiiiIn conclusion, concept mapping technique could be implemented at SMP Negeri 4 Malang, class VIII D. Using concept mapping in prewriting stage was suitable to help the students to improve their writing performance in terms of content, organization, and language use. The implementation of concept mapping in writing descriptive texts not only improved the students’ writing performance in terms of content, organization, and the language use, but also brought students’ positive attitude during the teaching and learning process, which at the end improved the students’ writing performance in class. Since the success of the implementation of the action was reached in Cycle 3—the students’ writing had been satisfactory and met the criteria of success that had been made before—, the stages in the cycle become the answer of the research problem. The procedures of concept mapping strategy used in this study covered four stages, namely planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. Planning included four things, which were preparing the lesson plan and media, developing concept mapping strategy into an appropriate model, preparing research instruments, and preparing the criteria of success. The concept mapping strategy involved process approach and using three-phase techniques in the implementation, namely pre activity, main activities, post activity. The pre activities included reviewing the students’ knowledge about descriptive text and concept mapping. The main activities involved assigning the students to generate ideas using concept mapping on free topics, asking them to start writing their drafts, reminding them of some linguistic points, asking them to proofread and give comments on each other’s work, and giving them time to edit and revise their work. The post activity involved submitting the students’ final work, asking their feeling and difficulties in learning using concept mapping, and eliciting them to conclude the lesson. The success of the implementation of these procedures was by implementing concept mapping in writing descriptive texts on free topics. The topics that had to be developed by the students were not determined by the teacher so that the students could write freely and more creative. It is recommended that the English teachers implement this technique in the teaching of descriptive writing. It is also recommended that either the junior high school or senior high school English teachers who possibly find similar problem in the teaching of descriptive texts use this technique by adjusting some parts of the procedures to suit the students’ level of ability and also the existing conditions. It is also suggested that other researchers conduct further research concerning to the use of concept mapping technique to improve students’ performance in writing the other text types. They are also recommended to conduct other research on the use of concept mapping technique in teaching the other skill like reading and language component like vocabulary. It is also suggested that future researchers conduct research using other techniques of writing different text types involving more respondents in different setting and conditions to see whether the technique can be implemented effectively or not