IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITIES IN WRITING A RECOUNT TEXT BY USING JOURNAL WRITING OF CLASS VIII A STUDENTS OF SMP N 4 SLEMAN IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2012/2013

This research aims at improving the students' writing a recount text in the teaching and learning process through the use of journal writing. A total of 35 students of Grade VIII A at SMPN 4 Sleman participated in this research. The study consisted of two cycles. The data were obtained by interviewing the students of class VIII A of SMP N 4 Sleman, holding discussions with the English teacher and a collaborator, and doing class observations and documentation in the teaching and learning process. The instruments for collecting the data were field notes, interview guidelines, documentation, and questionnaires. The data collected were qualitative and quantitative. The data from the result of the field notes, interview transcripts, and documentation were analyzed qualitatively, while the data from the result of the students’ writing during the research were analyzed by using a writing rubric and inter-rater. During the process of this study, the researcher also fulfilled the criteria of validity and reliability of the research. The results show that there is significant improvement of the students who learn writing a recount text by using journal writing. It is proved by the mean score of the recount text writings in the post-test (2.11), which is higher than that in the pre-test (1.28). These achievements prove that the implementation of journal writing can improve the students' writing abilities in a recount text significantly