USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS OF GRADE VIII AT SMP NEGERI 5 WATES IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016

The objective of this action research study was to improve the writing skills of Grade VIII A students of SMP N 5 Wates in the academic year of 2015/2016 through the use of graphic organizers This action research was conducted in two cycles. The research steps are reconnaissance, planning, action and observation, and reflection. The action consisted of the use of graphic organizers in the teaching and learning process. The data were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained by observing the teaching and learning process and interviewing the students and the collaborators. The data were in the form of field notes, and interview transcripts. The quantitative data were gathered through students’ writing test. The qualitative data were analyzed by assembling, coding, comparing, and building interpretations of the data, and then reporting the outcomes. Besides, the quantitative data were analyzed by comparing the mean scores of the pre-test to the post-test. The validity of the data was obtained by applying the democratic, outcome, process, catalytic, and dialogic validities. The results show that the students’ writing skills improved through the use of graphic organizers. The students made improvement in five aspects of writing especially in the aspect of content and organization. In the aspect of content, graphic organizers help them to collect and generate ideas before they started to write. Graphic organizers contain charts which can be filled by the topics to brainstorm the ideas. Therefore, they would write many ideas in their writing. Meanwhile in organization aspect, graphic organizers help the students to organize their writing based on the generic structure of recount text. The students can fill charts with the sequence of the text in details. Therefore, the organization of their text can be in the well-organized. Keywords: graphic organizers, improving writing skill