Mind Mapping Strategy to Develop Students’ Ability in Writing a Descriptive Text Grade VII-9 at SMPN 14 Malang

ABSTRAK Huda, Masrul. 2011. Mind Mapping Strategy to Develop Students’ Ability in Writing a Descriptive Text Grade VII-9 at SMPN 14 Malang .Thesis. Undergraduate Program in English Language Education, State University of Malang. Advisor: Prof. Dr. Hj. Nur Mukminatien, M.Pd. Key words: mind mapping, writing ability This study was conducted on the basis of the problems faced by the researcher in English teaching in the classroom. When conducting Internship Program in SMPN 14 Malang in the first grade in the second semester showed that the students’ ability in writing English was still low. Based on the preliminary study, there were several problems found. First, the students faced difficulties in starting and organizing the ideas (pre-writing stage). They did not know how to start, discover, and choose many ideas which come to their mind. Second, they got problem in producing a unified paragraph. The problem made the paragraph was difficult to be understood. The last problem was that the students neither active nor motivated in writing activity. In response to the problem, this study was focused on solving the problem related to how the students generate and organize the ideas to write for the topic. This study proposes mind mapping with the proper model to develop the seventh year students’ ability in writing a descriptive text. The research problem is “How can Mind Mapping Strategy develop the students’ writing ability in descriptive writing Grade VII-9 at SMPN 14 Malang?” The design of the study is collaborative classroom action research. Both the researcher and the class teacher worked together in cyclic activities - Planning, Implementing, Observing, and Reflecting on the data gained from the teaching and learning process which run in two cycles. Cycle I covered four meetings while Cycle II covered three meetings. The subjects of the study were the students of class VII-9 of the second semester in the 2010/2011 academic year which consisted of 45 students. The instruments used were the students’ writing task, observation checklist, and field notes. The reflection was based on the findings. Then, they were compared to the criteria of success, namely if 75% of students of the class got more or equal to 65 and if at least 75% of the students in the class were involved in the implementation of the strategy in writing activities. The result of the reflection was used to determine the planning for the next cycle. After implementing the model of mind mapping in the writing class, it was found that the procedures of a proper model developed in implementing mind mapping were as follows: First, model texts were spread out. Second, discussing and drawing Mind Mapping based on the text (Joint Construction). Third, the students brought the picture (favorite idol) by themselves (Cycle I) and made themselves as model (Cycle II) and drew Mind Mapping based on the pictures. Fourth, giving the students guided vocabulary items. Fifth, asking the students to write a rough draft based on the mind mapping. Sixth, asking the students to revise the draft focusing on the content, organization, and grammar. Seventh, asking the student to edit the draft focusing on the mechanics. Eighth, the products were published to the class. The research findings indicate that the students were active during the writing activities and the students’ writing ability developed after the action was implemented. The improvement is shown by the increase of the percentage of the students’ achievement in writing a descriptive text. The percentage of the students achieving the score greater than or equal to 65 increases from 51% in Cycle I to be 91% in Cycle II. The students’ involvement increases from 59.63% in Cycle I to be 82.25% in Cycle II. Based on the research findings, two suggestions are provided for teachers and future researches. In implementing the strategy, teachers should be aware of the following considerations. In using the media “pictures”, the teacher has to make sure that the media will help the students in writing process. The teacher should clarify their instruction in Bahasa Indonesia in order to avoid misunderstanding between the teacher and the students. In addition, dictionary or vocabulary guides should be provided also. The recommendation for the future researchers is to conduct the research by implementing Mind Mapping Strategy in other language skills. It is done to know whether or not Mind Mapping Strategy can be used to improve listening, speaking, and reading skills