A BLOG-BASED WRITING MEDIUM: ITS EFFECTIVENESS TO TEACH WRITING VIEWED FROM THE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION (An Experimental Research at SMA Negeri 3 Bantul, Yogyakarta in the Academic Year of 2015/2016)

ABSTRACT Defi Trisnasari. S891408008. 2016. A Blog-Based Writing Medium: Its Effectiveness to Teach Writing Viewed from the Students’ Motivation (An Experimental Research at the Tenth Grade Students of SMA Negeri 2 Bantul, Yogyakarta in the Academic Year of 2015/2016”. A Thesis. First Consultant: Dra. Diah Kristina, M.A, Ph.D; Second Consultant: Dr. Sumardi, M.Hum., English Education Department, Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University. This study aims to verify whether: (1) A blog-based writing medium is more effective than a diary to teach writing on recount text; (2) The students with high motivation have better writing skill than those having low motivation; and (3) There is an interaction between teaching media and students’ motivation in teaching writing. This quasi-experimental study was conducted to the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 2 Bantul, Yogyakarta in the academic year of 2015/2016. There were seven classes which consist of 184 students. To get the sample, the cluster random sampling was implemented. The sample was two classes labeled as the experimental class which was taught using a blog-based writing medium and the control class which was taught using a diary. Each class was initially divided into two groups according to the level of motivation: high and low groups. The groups were categorized by analyzing the result of the motivation questionnaire. To collect the data, a writing test was administered. The data were analyzed by using Multifactor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 2x2 and Tukey test. Before conducting the ANOVA test, normality and homogeneity tests were administered as the prerequisite test. The findings of the research show that: (1) a blog-based writing medium is more effective than a diary to teach writing on recount text (2) The students with high motivation have better writing skill than those having low motivation; and (3) There is an interaction between teaching media and students’ motivation in teaching writing. The research findings imply that a blog-based writing medium is considered as the more effective medium compared to a diary. The students with high motivation in learning are more suitable to apply the blog-based writing medium and those who have low motivation are recommended to apply a diary. Keywords: a blog-based writing medium, a diary, motivation, quasi-experimental, writing skil