IMPROVING WRITING ABILITY OF GRADE XII STUDENTS AT SMA NEGERI 1 MAJENANG USING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING (TBLT) IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2016/2017

The objective of this action research was to improve the students’ writing ability of grade XII students in SMA Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2016/2017 using Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). This research was carried out from August to October 2016. The subjects of this research were the students of Class XII IPA 3 in SMA Negeri 1 Majenang. It was conducted in two cycles involving TBLT stages namely Pre-task, Task-cycle, and Language focus. Each cycle consisted of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The data of this research were obtained through several techniques including observations, interviews, documentations, and writing tests. In analyzing the data, the researcher applied two types of data analysis. The first data were quantitative data. The quantitative data were in the form of the students’ writing scores from Pre-test, Progress-test, and Post-test by comparing the means of each test to find out the improvement of the students’ achievement in writing. The second data were qualitative data. In analyzing qualitative data, the researcher used interactive model; they were data reduction, data display, and data verification. Validity of this research was democratic validity, outcome validity, process validity, dialogic validity, and catalytic validity. Furthermore, this research applied time triangulation and investigator triangulation to get trustworthiness. The findings reveal that the students’ writing ability improved through the use of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). The students made improvements well in five aspects of writing namely content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. The students’ gain score compared from Pre-test to Post-test in content aspect was 4.3 (14.3%); organization aspect was 2.9 (14.5%); vocabulary aspect was 3.2 (16%); language use aspect was 5.2 (20.8%); and mechanics aspect was 0.1 (2%). In Pre-test, the students’ mean score of writing was 63.7. Then, in Progress-test, it improved up to 74.4. In the end of this research, from Post-test, it was known that it improved up to 79.3. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) also improved the students’ behavior toward the teaching and learning process of writing. It was shown that the students were more enthusiastic and active in the teaching and learning process of writing. The students had more chances to explore their ideas and to choose their own words. In addition, the teacher also had a lot of opportunities to develop various activities