sedikit catatan ni, correlational nui dipandang sebagai research yang paling RIBET, karena melibatkan dua variabel, and kita harus mencari MATCHING nya antara variable yang satui dengan yang lain....
let check gedot...
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE GRAMATICAL ABILITY AND
WRITING ABILITY OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS
OF SMP NEGERI 2 ABIANSEMAL
IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2009/2010
1.1 Background
of the Study
There is one thing that the human being
can not avoid to do, that is, interact to each other. The interactions made are
mostly happened in the form of communication either through oral, written or
spoken forms. Language is the key of communication. Language is a means of
communication among humans beings throughout the world. Communication happens not only with some
people but with many people from all over the world. Language is not only
communicated orally but also in written form.
English is the world’s most important
and the most widely used language. As an international language, the rule of
English in globalization era has been receiving more and more important. English
has become one of the main subjects studied in school. Nowadays, English has
been taught from fourth grade students of elementary school. Students may have
one simple question in our mind, why do they learn English? The answer should
be easy. English is a universal language (global language in this case we are
not the only creature who can speak.).
Moreover, Randolph (1980:7) states that
English which referred as a lingua Franca, is pre-eminently the most
international of language. By foreign language we mean a language as used by
someone for communication across frontiers or with people who are not his
countryman: listening to broadcasts, reading books or newspapers, commerce or
travel, for example. No language is more widely studied or used as a foreign
language that English.
All around the world, students of all
ages are learning to speak English, but their reasons for wanting to study
English can differ greatly. Some students, of course, only learn English
because it is on the curriculum at primary or secondary level, but the others,
studying the language reflects some kind of a choice. Many people learn English
because they think it will be useful in some ways for international
communication and traveling. Such students of general English often do not have
particular reason for going to English classes,
but simply wish to learn speak, read and write the language effectively for
wherever and whenever this might be useful for them.
During the period of teaching English,
it is found that many students are still facing many problems in learning
grammar. One of the problems faced by the students is that they are unable to
recognize and produce sentences according to grammatical pattern especially in
the form of simple past tense. Lim (2002:5) states that there are prescribed
rules to the entire English grammar, if we want the sentences we form to be
correct and meaningful, we must make sure these rules are followed. For a long
time there has been a lot of discussion about how languages are used and
learnt. Until the middle of twentieth century, many people believe, that, in
order to speak or write the best kind of English, you have to use complete
sentences which are grammatically correct (Baker and Westrup, 2000:14).
To be able to communicate fluently using
English, students will need to learn about grammar. It is more about to make other
person understand about what we mean to say. The English grammar is reflected
on its tenses which consist of the pattern on how to make good sentences. English
grammar is about how to put words together in a sensible order and add the right
endings. If the students have been able to learn the essential rules of
grammar, they could be able to use the language concerned, correctly and
meaningfully for all kinds of communication.
Grammatical ability has relationship
with four skills in English; those are listening, reading, speaking, and
writing. Writing is a hard work. But writing is also opportunity: to convey
something about yourself, to communicate ideas to people beyond your immediate
vicinity, to learn something you do not know. To make good use of those
opportunities, you need to develop the confidence that will enable you to
overcome whatever frustrations a writing assignment may present (McCrimmon,1984:6).
To have that confidence in them, they need to master the grammatical language,
and then they will feel free to fill their writing with all their thought.
To be able to write well means avoiding
making mistakes and/ or error in grammar. The term grammatical, which is often
used in writing comprehension, suggests that the use of correct or incorrect
grammar will surely affect the messages. People think that writing is the most
difficult ability to be mastered. As a productive skill, English writing has
widely been viewed and recognized as a challenging subject by most students.
Students very often take few minutes to start putting their ideas into a piece
of writing. The researcher assumes that they have a problem in writing because
they are still lack in grammar.
Grammar is not just about how to make up
a sentence, but also how to can use it in the right time. The difficulties that
students face in writing have connection with their grammar ability. Their
writing is also affected by the grammar ability. Realizing the significance of
grammar ability as an integral component of writing ability, it is very
important to teach the students intensively.
The research takes place in SMP Negeri 2
Abiansemal. The eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal which total 8
classes with 215 students all together are considered as the population of the
present study. Realizing the population of the study is very big, it is simply
impossible for the writer to study them all. In this study, writer simply
determines 40 students as the samples of the study. The 40 students are
determined out of the whole population by means of random sampling technique
because the writer wants to give equal opportunities for the population to be
selected as the samples of the study.
Based on the background above, the researcher is motivated to investigate
the correlation between those two variables. The above explanation is the
reason to make Grammatical Ability and Writing Ability as her main research to
be investigated.
1.2 Statement
of Research Question
Scientific research begins
with a problem. Selecting and formatting a problem is one of the most important
aspects of doing research in any field. There is no way to do research until a
problem is recognized, thought, through, and formulated in a useful way. The
researcher must decide on a specific question to be answered and must state
precisely what is to be done to reach an answer. Based on the background of the
study, the researcher formulates the research question of the present study as
follows: to what extent is the correlation between grammatical ability and
writing ability of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal?
1.3 Objective
of the Study
Objective of the study is
certainly intended to answer and solve the research question which has been
stated before. This thesis also has its purpose. In line with the research
question stated above, the undertaking of the present investigation intends of
figure out the correlation between grammatical ability and writing ability of the
eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal.
1.4 Limitation
of the Study
The purpose of the study has
been stated but it is a large quantity of reliable knowledge. It will be too
board and complex to be discussed in a certain time under a single
investigation of ex post facto research. That is why limitation is really
needed in this investigation. The present study also limited on investigating
the features of English tense which are supposed to have been learned and
acquired in the classroom include simple past tense and simple past continuous
tense in short narrative paragraph writing. The present study is limited on
investigating the correlation between grammatical ability and writing ability
of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal Thus, other features of
English tense are simply beyond the scope of this research.
1.5 Significance
of the Study
An investigation is
conducted to procedure such finding that can be used properly as board as
possible, but minimally it should be useful for the certain study being
investigated. The findings of the present study are hoped to provide both
theoretical as well as practical importance as follow:
1.
Theoretical Significance
The
findings of the present investigation are really expected to contribute and
strengthen the existing similar research findings with more empirical evidence
in investigating the correlation between grammatical ability and writing
ability of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal.
2.
Practical Significance
The
findings of the present study are intended as valuable informative feedback to
the English teachers of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal. By knowing that there is
correlation between the grammatical ability and writing ability of the eighth
grade students, the teacher are hoped to be able to relate the way of teaching
of English Tenses with teaching writing .
1.6 Assumption
In this investigation, the
researcher thinks that it is essential to make some assumption for the purpose
of emphasizing the present study. There are some other variables that may be related
and have effects to this research, however the researcher only concerns with
the variables as stated on research question. Some statements are assumed as
follow.
1.
The eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal
have studied English since the forth grade of Elementary school.
2.
The eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal have
similar interest and ability in learning English
3.
The eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal have
the similar motivation in learning English.
4.
The English teachers of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal have
the similar teaching qualification in English, as result, the students
difference in learning English tense is not caused by the teachers, but due to
the students’ ability which are different one to another.
1.7 Hypothesis
The purpose of hypothesis is
to provide a tentative proposition suggested to any research problem of a
study. The hypothesis is like a guiding material to arrive at a certain
conclusion. This will serve as the pathway to follow without wasting time or
effort in looking for answers without any directions. This is a single aspect
of thinking that will inform if something is true or not. Of course, in order
to prove it, the researcher needs to run tests of researching.
The hypothesis serves as the
initial guess for the researcher because she is still unsure of the outcome of
a certain research task On attempting to give a tentative solution to the
research problem, the hypothesis can be stated as follows: There is a
significant correlation between grammatical ability and writing ability of the
eight grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal.
1.8 Definition
of Key Terms
The terms in this thesis should be precisely and
concisely defined, quite possibly using relevant references. This allows
a reader to know exactly what a research is referring to and intending to
investigate. In order to make this research is clear enough to be understood,
the researcher needs to operationally define the following terms.
1.
Correlation is defined as relationship between dependent
variable and independent variable within a research statement. In this present
study, the two variables that are going to be investigated is the correlation between
grammatical ability and writing ability.
2.
Grammatical Ability is a description of the usages of
the English language by good speakers and writers of the present day. –Whitney.
Grammatical ability is the dependent variable of this study because the writing
ability is not just dependent on grammatical ability but also the vocabulary.
3.
Writing Ability is defined as the ability of putting
ideas and information into structured meaningful words in written form. Writing
ability is the independent variable of this study.
4.
SMP (Sekolah Menengah Pertama) is the level of study in
which the students have graduated from the elementary school. This levels same
as the level of Junior High School.
1.9 Theoretical
Framework
A scientific study should be
undertaken on the basis of some relevant theoretical framework and empirical
findings. For the purpose of underlying the present investigation some
theoretical view points as well as empirical evidences are reviewed in chapter II.
The present study is conducted on the ground of the following theoretical
basis: (1) conception of correlation study, (2) grammar ability, (3) writing
ability, (4) assessment of grammar in writing, and (5) some factors that
affecting the students’ achievement.
1.10
Research Methodology
The degree of the quality of
any research findings is considerably affected by the appropriate preparation
and selection of valid and reliable research procedures and measures. Hence,
the selection, the preparation of the scientific procedures of any scientific
writing, like thesis writing, should be given careful attention. The scientific
steps and procedures of the present study successively cover the following :
research design, population and samples, research instrument, data collection
and data analysis.
1.10. 1 Research Design
Research is simply a
methodical way of finding answers to questions used to discover new information
or prove scientific theories. And research methods can also be useful to
effectively evaluate an educational program or its participants in the most
objective way (Diem, 1999:6). He also states that an ex post facto study
is used when experimental research is not possible. The researcher starts by
specifying a dependent variable and then tries to identify possible reasons for
its occurrence as well as alternative (rival) explanations.
This study is investigating
the correlation between two variables; so that this investigation will use the
non-experimental research method Ex post facto research design is suitable to
be used in this investigation. Ex post facto according to Landman (1998: 62) is
used to refer to an experiment in which the researcher, rather than creating
the treatment, examines the effect of a naturally occurring treatment after it
has occurred. In other words it is a study that attempts to discover the
pre-existing causal conditions between groups.
1.10. 2 Population and Sample
Realizing the population of
the study is very big, it is simply impossible for the writer to study them
all. In this study, writer simply determines 40 students as the samples of the
study. The 40 students are determined out of the whole population with total of
250 students by means of random sampling technique. Simple random sampling is done for the sample
selection. This sampling method is conducted where each member of a population
has an equal opportunity to become part of the sample. As all members of the
population have an equal chance of becoming a research participant, this is
said to be the most efficient sampling procedure.
The use of random sampling method with lottery
technique is due to the fact that the population has rather homogeneous
characteristics in term of age, intelligence, attitudes and language
environments. The samples of the study which total 40 students are considered
to be representative. Hence the result of the study could later be generalized
to the population. However, the more samples can be drawn and studied the
better and more representative in the sense the established findings can be
more validly and reliably generalized to the whole population.
1.10. 3 Research Instrument
The preparation and
construction of valid and reliable research instrument is an important step of
any scientific study. In order to collect the data needed for the present
investigation, some instruments are made. It is very important to develop
dependable measuring instrument for the purpose of quantifying the behaviors
and attributes to be studied. In this study the instrument that is used to
collect the needed data is in the forms of tests, that is tests about English
tenses and narrative writing test.
The best way to state our
case is to give actual examples of test. It has been our thesis that a really
comprehensive test design must start with a definition of purpose and function.
To meet students’ needs and to ensure a benign relationship between the test
and other elements of the curriculum, a justifiable approach is to make a clear
and detailed statement of the purposes and settings of language use, and of the
skills and functions to be called on, and from this statement to generate the
language, content and tasks which a comprehensive test will have to cover.
The conventional approach to
language testing, in line with the measurement of behavior in other fields, has
been to stress objectivity in scoring test performance, a process best done by
getting testee to select the correct form from a number of given options. The
accepted answer is the either Yes or No, or one of three, four or even more
possible choices, it being laid down in advance which options are the correct
ones. There should therefore be no reasons for variations in scoring as between
different markers.
It was thought that this
sort of precision made the testing of linguistic behavior a very exact,
scientific matter. The newest test, however, make a good deal of use of
subjective assessment, that is, of the opinions of informed judges who know the
language and test contexts and assess the performance according to as number of
criteria in order to judge how effective a person is in using the language to
achieve specific results.
According to the explanation
above there are two tests that are going to be done in collecting the data;
those are multiple choice test and written test. Padmadewi (2003:65) states
that the most advantages of multiple choice is that scoring can be perfectly
reliable. The multiple choice tests are done for the first variable that is
grammar. In this case it will test the Simple Past Tense and Past Continuous
Tense in which the test consist of 20 items.
All these tenses have been taught to the subjects, that is, the eighth
grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Abiansemal. The material for the tests of
Grammar and writing are also taken from textbooks used by the English teachers
there.
The second test that is used in
collecting date is written test. According to Padmadewi (2003:80) the best way
to test people’s writing ability is to get them to write. The narrative
paragraph writing test is considered to have good face, content, and construct
validity. First, the format and the typing of the test sound and look good to
the testees (Heaton. 1989:159). The topics are believed of the subjects’ common
interest. In addition, the writing of the narrative paragraph writing test as a
productive language skill has already base on some theoretical constructs. In
short, the research instrument has already met some degree of content, face,
and constructs validity.
Thus, it could be used to
gather the data for the present study. In this case, the students are asked to
write a short narrative text about their unforgettable experience and consist
of 5 sentences. And every correct grammatical sentence is marked as one score
and wrong use of grammar in the sentences is marked as zero scored.
1.10. 3.1 Try out
Before the tests are administered to the
sample of study, the researcher does a try out in the other school, in this
case is in SMP Negeri 3 Abiansemal at the same level of eighth grade student.
In relation to this study, the research designed the tests to collect the
necessary data for this study, the test given should be appropriate and
dependable.
To be certain that the data collected by
the instrument in this study are accurate and dependable, the instrument should
be reliable and valid. It means that the validity as well as the reliability of
the question and answer tests have to be considered in order to meet the basic
requirement of a good test as the test have been analyzed after trying out to
the other students which the researcher considered have the similar ability in
English.
Harris (1969:13) says that
all good tests process three qualities: validity, reliability and practicality.
Closely related to these characteristics, the writer calculates the facility
value of the items. Items discrimination and the correlation coefficient by
using the technique of product moment correlation
The Grammar’s try out is
made in 40 items test, in which 20 items are the Simple Past Tense and another
20 items were the Past Continuous Tense test as the final test of the study.
1.10. 3.2 The validity of the test items.
In a research that always depends upon
measurement, the validity of the instrument should be considered. Heaton
(1989:159) argues that the validity of a test is the extent to which it
measures what it is supposed to measure and nothing else. Because of its
importance, every test should be constructed as valid as possible. To determine
the validity of a test is not an easy job. There are several ways to determine
the validity of a test, such as construct validity and contents validity.
In order to have a good validity, the
Grammar test items should have construct validity (Heaton. 1989:159). For the
instruments of the ability in answering the Grammar test items, the researcher
tries out 40 items test, where the score of correct answer is 1 point and wrong
answer is 0 point. The validity of a test can be found out from its facility
index and also the discrimination index. The test items is valid when both
index shows it coefficient between 0.30 to 0.70
In addition, being valid is not the
final judgment of the characteristic of a good test. Thus, the result of the
test should be further analyzed to figure out the facility value (FV) and
discrimination value (DV).
According to Carroll (1985:123) the
index of difficulty (or facility value) of an item simply shows how easy or
difficult the particular item proved in the test. The Index of difficulty is
generally expressed as the fraction of the students who answered the item
correctly. On the other hand, the discrimination index tells us whether those
students who performed well on the whole test indeed to do well or hardly on
each item in the text. The items will be acceptable if it has statistical
coefficient of facility and discrimination value ranging from 0.30 to 0.70.
The researcher
starts to compute the facility and discrimination value by using the following
formulas:
FV = U + L or R
N N
DV = U – L
1/2N
Where:
FV : Facility Value
DV : Discrimination Value
R : The total of correct answer of all
testees
U : The number of correct answer of the
upper half group
L : The number of correct answers of the
lower half group
N : The number of students in one group.
1.10. 3.3 The reliability of the test
Another characteristic of a good test is
reliability of test items. Anastasi in McLoughlin and Lewis (1981:118)
similarly defines reliability as the consistency of scores obtained by the same
person when reexamined with the same test on different occasions, or with
different sets of equivalent items. The degree of the reliability is shown by
reliability coefficient ranging from 0.00 – 1.00, Gronlund (1968:96) that is,
the higher the coefficient the more reliable the test.
Reliability is necessary characteristic
of any good test for it to be valid at all. A test must first be reliable as a
measuring instrument. There are many formulas which can be applied in
calculating the reliability of a test but in this investigation, the researcher
uses the Kuder-Richardson 21 (KR-21).
The formula of KR-21 is as follows:
KR – 21 = k (1- x (k – x) )
k – 1 k.s2t
k = the number
of test items
x = mean score
(22)
s2t =
the variance for the set of students total scores
Before calculating the KR-21, the researcher needs to find out the
variance for the set students total scores.
1.10. 4 Data Collection
After the research
instruments have been prepared then the writer proceed to data collection. The
tests are not administered at the same time. In this respect, the test of
Grammar will be administered first on 10th December 2009 and in the
following continued with administering test of writing on 11th
December 2009. The administration of each test lasted for about 60 minutes.
1.10. 5 Data Analysis
The main purpose of the
present study is to answer the research question which has been formulated
previously. The data which are collected by means of administering the research
instruments are analyzed so as to figure out to finding of the study.
There are six types of
correlational analysis and in this study, the data from the two sets of scores
about the two variables, the subjects’ achievement in Grammar and their
writing, are analyzed using one of the correlational analysis, that is, Pearson
Product Moment Correlation Formula. It is named Karl Pearson who developed the
correlational method research.
This finding of the study
which is in the form of coefficient of correlation figure is interpreted so as
to justify whether the hypothesis set forth for the present investigation is
confirmed or rejected. This is concern of the next chapter, that is, chapter
IV.
The Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Formula was formulated as below:
r = The Pearson Product
Moment Correlation Formula
N = Number of Students
X = Score of students’
Grammar ability
Y = Score of students’
Writing ability
∑X = Total value of X
∑Y = Total value of Y
∑XY = Total of cross product
(across product is each subject’s X score multiplied by his Y score or total
value of X times total value of Y)
∑X2 = The square of
each X score, subsequently added together
∑Y2 = The square of
each Y score, subsequently added together
(∑X )2 = The total of
all the X scores, squared
(∑Y)2 = The total of all the Y scores, squared
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