Research Proposal / Improving Students' Ability in Writing Recount Paragraph through Peer Assessment Strategy of the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada in Academic Year 2013/2014

Chapter I, II, III.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background of the Study

Indonesian government placed English as an important subject in our education system. According to the curriculum there are four skills that have to be mastered by the students in learning English, those are listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. By learning those skills, students are expected to be able to use English to communicate, either orally or in form of written. It is related with the purpose of learning. Scot (2013) stated that the purposes of learning English are academic and practical purpose and they are both needed. They are actually provide students with differing opportunities in which academic purpose is to develop the students’ communicative competences which includes speaking, listening, reading and writing skills proportionally. Meanwhile, practical purpose of learning English is to fulfil the need of globalization and information era. Because of that, the four skills should be taught integratedlly. Considering the academic purpose, writing is one way that can be used to communicate. It is clearly stated that writing competency is very important to be improved in order to be able to communicate.

In second years of junior High School in SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada, writing competency has its own standards competencies which must be attained by the students. The standard competency involves expressing meaning in short functional text and simple paragraph in the form of narrative and recount text in relation with real context. It is stated in the school English syllabus that the written form of English is taught to aims at building students’ ability to express idea in the form of short simple functional texts in the types of narrative and recount in daily life context. Meanwhile the basic competencies are:

1. Expressing idea in the form of short simple functional texts by using written language accurately, fluently, and understandably to interact with the environment.  

2. Expressing idea and rhetoric action in short simple essay by using written language in the form of recount and narrative accurately, fluently, and understandably to interact with the environment.

Based on the standard competency and basic competencies, there are some indicators that specifically indicate the competencies required. There are some activities conducted in order to get information about the students’ competency in school. Firstly, is conducting an informal interview with the English teacher. The English teacher was given some questions related to the students’ competency in English. The first question was about the students’ problem in English. The teacher answered that the students faced problem in all skill (writing, reading, speaking and listening), but the most prominent problem come in writing.

Flower & Hayes (2011) stated that writing is a highly complex, goal-directed, recursive activity. It develops over time as writers move from the production of egocentric, writer-based texts to reader-based texts. Writing is the most popular and prevalent method of creating connections among people. It is enable people to share and present their feelings and ideas toward certain topic into a piece of paper which would be read by themselves and others.

One of standard competencies in School Based Curriculum (KTSP) for the eighth grade students of Junior High School in the second semester states that the students should be able to express meaning in written functional text and short simple essay in the form of recount text for communicating with the environment. It means that to pass the standard, students should be able to master the content within it. It is also stated that students should understand the text, in which it could be gained through being able to write the text.  

The competency requires the students to be able to write the text. In order to know whether the students are able to write the text or not there are five sub skills or writing indicators that show the students’ competency in English. According to BSNP there are some indicators of writing ability. 

Those indicators are:

1.      The students are able to develop their idea and write good content

2.      The students are able to organize their idea

3.      The students are able to apply good grammar

4.      The students are able to choose appropriate diction or vocabulary

5.      The students are able to use appropriate mechanics

From the preliminary observation in the writing session it was found that the students wrote individually without sufficient step by step guidance so it is possible that they confused how to develop their idea. Writing is generally a new skill because it is started to be taught formally in junior high school, and most of the students did not have experiences in writing in English. They should go through a process of learning that gives them opportunity to learn how to write through the process.

Meanwhile, based on the interview with teacher and some students in SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada on Monday, October 24^th 2013 it was found that students in class VIII G encountered the problems in writing a paragraph such as difficulties in developing good content for their writing, difficulties in organizing their idea, difficulties in applying good grammar, difficulties in choosing appropriate vocabularies and using appropriate mechanics. But the most prominent problems are organizing idea, applying appropriate grammar and using appropriate vocabulary within their written. This problem might be caused by the strategy used by the teacher. In this case, the teacher should be able to select appropriate strategy that helps students along the process. In the process of writing students are less motivated and they do not know their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, peer assessment strategy is chosen in which peer assessment provides students to work collaboratively to assess others’ work and provides feedback for students to know their strengths and weaknesses in order to make their written better as well as motivate them in writing process.   

The phenomena that appear if students have lack ability in writing are the students will have limited knowledge about how to develop and organize their idea into a good paragraph. The students will also be confused about how to use correct grammar. They will have lack knowledge of the tenses and ability in using mechanics to each sentence, so it cannot be denied that students cannot make a good paragraph when they are writing. Because of their confusion about some tenses, grammatical errors happened. Besides, students have lack knowledge of vocabulary items, so that they are able to use appropriate vocabulary because they have limited vocabulary mastery.

Those phenomena appear because the students do not have adequate opportunity in writing. Having adequate opportunity in writing exercise will allow the students to learn how to write from their mistake in previous writing to produce a better product. In this case the role of the teacher is very important. Teacher should ask the students to write as much as possible at school rather than asked them to write at home. Unfortunately most teachers ignored it by asking the students to write at home. It causes writing appearance getting worse in English learning.

Actually writing is not merely a process of writing a paragraph or text only. It is a complex skill that has to be mastered by the students. Teacher should consider how to make students able to have good written text. By implementing strategy to improve students’ ability in writing, the students may have good written text, giving chance for the students to judge their friends’ writing is an important aspect in order to improve students’ critical thinking. Having good critical thinking can lead the students to write a good paragraph. Moreover in checking their friends’ work, the students can do self-reflection from their friends’ strength and their mistake in order to improve their writing competency.

            Based on the problems that appear there are some problems identified, such as, students are less motivated so they will reluctant to express their idea in written form. This commonly happens in the classroom with different characteristics of students itself. The students also have limited time to exercise during the classroom activities that makes their written is not as the teacher’s expectation. Meanwhile, most of the students are unresponsive to the assignment. They are not pay attention of teacher’s instruction at the beginning. Therefore, it makes students face difficulties in writing further paragraph.

After exploring the literature, the researcher chooses the strategy to overcome the problem that is Peer Assessment Strategy. Considering the important of writing assessment, it is a good idea to provide students with quality process of learning to write that include the activity of giving feedback to their friends’ writing. By this activity the students are not only expected to be able to write a good paragraph, but also they are able to assess their friends’ writing to give some feedback from each other which can help them to improve their writing achievement. Since the feedback from the teachers and students are important, and to make the students are accustomed to discuss their problem with their friends and aware of the mistake they make, peer assessment is chosen as the alterative assessment technique to enable the students to assess the writing to improve their writing competency.

            According to O’Farrell (nd:3) the teacher should assess students learning outcomes because of some reasons such as to determine that the intended learning outcomes of the course are being achieved, to provide feedback to students on their learning, enabling them to improve their performance and to motivate students to undertake appropriate work. It is also to support and guide learning, to describe student attainment, informing decisions on progression and awards, to demonstrate that appropriate standards are being maintained and to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching during the learning process.

            Puegphrom and Chiramanee (2011) stated that peer assessment refers to the process of assessing, revising, editing and changing writing contents, organizing ideas in the writing of peer in accordance with the writing objectives. It includes correcting writing mechanism and grammar features based on the assessment criteria for improving English writing.

            McAlister (2013:35) stated that peer assessment is an assessment of the work of others by people of equal status and power. In the context of student learning, peer assessment is used in making formal estimates of other students’ work and giving and receiving feedback. Making estimates of other students’ work is sometimes known as peer marking. This approach requires very careful planning, agreement of criteria and use of common tools for analyzing marks. By giving feedback sessions based on the results of the peer assessment will make the process more useful for students, in which the result of students’ score becomes transparent.

Therefore peer assessment is a process of assessing other students’ work in the equal status and power in which peer assessment enable students to assess, revise, editing and changing writing contents based on the criteria provided and give feedback each other during the learning process. The students will also be realized with their own mistakes so that they able to revise by themselves.

            Falchikov (2005) cited in Hernandez (2010:2) stated that there are some strengths of Peer Assessment for the students such as:

            Firstly, peer assessment can build high quality learning.  High quality learning of students will improve their ability because peer assessment encourages transfer of learning of the students, encourages reflection within the learning process, peer assessment allows students to internalize and understand better the assessment criteria and it facilitates better learning from seeing other students’ successes and weaknesses.

            Secondly, peer assessment improves students’ skills development. The students can develop their ability to work cooperatively when peer assessment strategy is implemented and it promotes lifelong learning skills because when they are assessed they know their mistakes so that the students will be able to revise their work to be better.

            Thirdly, peer assessment affect personal development. During the learning process the students can increase their responsibility in making good written text and in assessing other’s work as well as it increases students’ independence in doing their tasks.

            Fourthly, peer assessment increase students’ confidence when they are assessing and reduce students’ stress because they can share their knowledge with other. Therefore, it improves students’ motivation in learning.

            Moreover Falchikov (2005) cited in Hernandez (2010:3) also stated that there are some strengths of peer assessment for academics such as:

            Firstly, peer assessment can be an efficient and effective way to monitor students’ progress at regular intervals. It means that students will be easy to be monitored because the students show their result of written text after it is assessed by their peer. Secondly, peer assessment can reduce the lecturer assessment workload. The teachers may face assessment workload so peer assessment is beneficial for teacher. Thirdly, peer assessment provides students with more feedback. During the lesson the students may get feedback from the teachers, but in applying peer assessment teacher plays role as a guide and facilitator therefore teachers give more feedback to the students during the assessment process.

            By considering the strengths of peer assessment, the researcher uses peer assessment strategy to be implemented in the classroom to improve students writing competency. Therefore, peer-assessment requires students to apply assessment criteria, construct feedback and determine a grade to reflect peer performance. It is also an active learning involves encouraging the student to acquire knowledge and develop skills by taking some control and responsibility for their own learning experience.

            Beside the strengths of peer assessment that stated previously, there are some weaknesses of peer assessment according to Brighton (2010) such as:

            Peer assessment may be used as a device to force collaborative learning. The students may feel that they are forced to assess others. Traditionally assessment is individually based, and collaboration may be seen as cheating. It may encourage surface learning playing the system to ensure good grades within the assessment process. The students may not be competent at establishing objective assessment criteria, so they face difficulties in doing peer assessment. It also may encourage collusion between the students and extrovert students can be marked higher and quieter students marked down because extrovert students may threat quieter students to get better score.

            Assessments may be conducted for many purposes, but the prominent goal is always to improve instruction for each student. Whatever the method of assessment that is used it should consider the following strategies for making the assessment as effective as possible. The teacher also can reduce those weaknesses of peer assessment by implementing some important points according to Falchikov (2005) cited in Hernandez (2010:2):

            Firstly, the teacher should give students training in doing peer assessment. Before the strategy is implemented, the teacher should demonstrate or give them training to do the procedure of assessing step by step.

            Secondly, the teacher gives explanations and provides evidence of benefits to students of participating in assessment. Make sure students know the criteria for good writing. We can expect students to produce good writing only if they understand what good writing is. For example, a student writing a personal recount needs to know that recount express the writer’s experience in the sequence of events and are usually written in a less formal style than an essay.

            Thirdly, the teacher uses exemplars (excellent, average, poor) for students to get into the process of assessment. In an assessment situation, it is only fair that students know how their work will be judged. Knowing the criteria for good writing will also help students evaluate and revise their own writing before it is submitted for teacher evaluation. When teacher gives students the criteria, discuss what is expected of them.

            Fourthly, teacher has to involve students in discussing, negotiating and developing assessment criteria. The teacher explains to students how their writing will be scored. Students should know how you will be scoring their work and how to interpret the scores. For example, a student who receives an 80 on a composition should know what the score means and on what criteria it was based.

            Fifthly, teacher must evaluate the writing process, not just the final product. Writing is a process of steps, from the idea to the finished manuscript. Students will improve their writing as they improve their ability to complete each step in the process. An assessment of student writing that includes review and discussion of each step will help students understand what works in their writing and why it works.

            Sixthly, teacher provides opportunities for feedback. The teacher must give students feedback about their writing to help them understand their strengths and weaknesses and identify what parts or aspects of their writing need to be improved. Providing feedback can also be valuable in helping to identify patterns of growth, providing direction for a student’s individual development, and helping students improve their abilities to assess their own work and respond to the writing of others. Feedback may be provided in writing or in conversation during a conference with the student. Different kinds of feedback may also be provided through peer assessment.

By implementing this strategy, the students are expected to improve their writing competency. From the nature of the strategy, it can be said that the strategy is possible to improve the students’ writing competency. They should be capable to develop and formulate their ideas into a good paragraph. They are also expected to be able to share their knowledge about how to write good paragraph and implement their new knowledge and information in their own writing activity.

Writing a paragraph needs some consideration in which the writer has to know the structure, tenses and language features of each kind of text. One of genre of the text is recount. Recount text is learned by the eighth grade students of junior high school in the second semester. According to Nurbaity (2013) the social function of recount text is to retell events for the purposes of informing or entertaining. Writing recount paragraph is beneficial for students in which they can develop their paragraph based on their experience in the past so the students are easier to express each event in the sequence of event.

Based on the reasons mentioned, the researcher conducted an action based research using Peer Assessment strategy to improve the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

1.2 Statement of Problems

Based on the background of the study and problem identification the research problems can be formulated as follows:

1.2.1 Major Problem

Can the implementation of Peer Assessment strategy improve students’ ability in writing recount paragraph of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada particularly in class VIII G?

1.2.2 Minor Problem

a.       Can the students’ ability in developing the contents of recount paragraph improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy?

b.      Can the students’ ability in organizing ideas on recount paragraph improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy?

c.       Can the students’ ability in applying good grammar on recount paragraph improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy?

d.      Can the students’ ability in choosing appropriate vocabulary or diction on recount paragraph improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy?

e.       Can the students’ ability in using appropriate mechanics on recount paragraph improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy?

1.3 Research Hypothesis

Considering the strengths of the strategy, the hypothesis of this study can be formulated as follows:

The students’ ability in writing recount paragraph of class VIII G in SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada in the academic year 2013/2014 can be improved by using Peer Assessment strategy.

1.4 Objectives

Based on the problems stated previously, there are two objectives of this study. Those are general objective and specific objective.

1.4.1 The General Objective

The purpose of the study is to investigate the use of Peer Assessment strategy to improve students’ ability in writing recount paragraph of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada especially in class VIII G in academic year 2013/2014.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

a.       To know whether the students’ ability in developing the contents of recount text can be improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy.

b.      To know whether the students’ ability in organizing idea of recount text can be improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy.

c.       To know whether the students’ ability in applying good grammar on recount text can be improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy.

d.      To know whether the students’ ability in choosing appropriate vocabulary on recount text can be improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy.

e.       To know whether the students’ ability in using appropriate mechanics of recount text can be improved through the use of Peer Assessment strategy.

1.5 Significance

1.      The students

Theoretical significance of this study is to improve students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

2.      The teacher

Practical significance of this study is to give knowledge to the teacher to develop their ability in improving students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

3.      Other researcher

The result of the study is also expected to be used as a reference for other researchers in conducting further study related to the teaching of writing in school.

1.6 Scope of the Study

This study will be conducted to improve students’ ability in writing especially in recount paragraph of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada in academic year 2013/2014.

1.7 Success Indicator

The success for this study is based on following:

If the mean score of students in writing recount paragraph will about or more than seventy three (students’ mean score ≥ 73), the study will be considered success and the cycle will be stopped. This passing score will propose in Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal (KKM) or Minimum Passing Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada.

1.8 Definition of Key Terms

1.8.1 Conceptual Definition

1.    Writing

Writing is essential competency which helps learners to express the meaningful ideas within a text and developing literacy. By incorporating creative writing into a language curriculum, you can significantly contribute to learners' sense of autonomy over the language (Abrams 2010).

2.      Recount Paragraph

     Recount is a paragraph which retells events or experiences in the past. Its purpose is either to inform or to entertain the audience (Yulianto 2011).

3.      Peer Assessment

     Peer assessment is an assessment which involves the peers to review and grade their peer’s writing (Utami 2010).

1.8.2 Operational Definition

1. Writing

Writing is a process of creating experience into a written form which includes introduction, body and conclusion. It is an activity that presents a chronological order of events within each paragraph.

2. Recount Paragraph

Recount is a paragraph which tells a series of events in the past and has its own generic structure. Recount paragraph consists of orientation which introduces the participants, place and time, events which describe some events that happened in the past, and reorientation which states personal comment of the writer.

3.      Peer Assessment

Peer assessment is an assessment which involves students in assessing their friends’ work consists of two students. The teacher also involves in writing process and giving feedback to the students’ writing.

  

  

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Conceptual Foundation

2.1.1 Writing Ability

            Writing is one the four language skills which taught in English lesson or teaching English. Teaching writing is as important as teaching reading, speaking and listening because writing a medium used for communication among people. Writing is a process of expressing feeling, ideas, thought and knowledge in written form. It is a mean of language communication which is used by people through a form of written text as spoken language in speaking. Through writing people can catch information. It can be a valuable tool for language learning. It can help student to determine how much they understand the information and allow them to integrate new information with their prior knowledge. Through written text students can integrate their prior knowledge and new knowledge. In short, writing is a valuable tool for developing students’ knowledge in language learning. 

            Iqbal (2012) stated that writing is a productive skill in the written mode. It means that in the process of writing students have to be productive to write a paragraph.  It is a process of reflection and a complex process which covers the background knowledge and culture of the people. Writing can give feedback unlike speaking that could not be edited, writing can be revised. When people make a mistake in writing they can revise it by reviewing their writing again so they will know the gaffe they made. Therefore, they are able to revise and improve their writing.

            Furthermore, to short the ideas and information, students have gathered in order to make connection, identify relationship, and determine possible direction and form for their writing. In longer writing assignment, they need to know how to create a strong, focus introduction that catches the readers’ interest; how to link ideas in logically connected paragraphs that contain enough supporting details; and how to conclude with the strong ending.

            Beside, students need individual and group skills to assess their own work and the work of others for content, clarity, form, and style and for error in grammar, punctuation and spelling. The students have individual responsibility for the accuracy of their work, but they need to know how to help each other. In this case, the students are working collaboratively within the learning process.

            During the process of writing, there are some steps that must be followed by the writer; it comes through some process of organizing, making draft and revising to get a better result.  In teaching learning process, teacher should emphasize the process. It focuses students how to think about current issue, how to organize it coherently and how to put it cohesively into a certain text, how to convey the meaning and using appropriate structure to keep the real meaning clearly and understood by the reader.

2.1.1.1 Purposes of Writing

            Writing a piece of paragraph actually has a purpose. Reinking, et al. (2001) stated there are some purposes of writing. Those purposes are:

1.      To Inform. The most common purpose of writing is presenting information. The writer has to be as informative as possible to tell people about his/her writing.

2.      To Persuade. The writer may want to try swaying the reader by having strong views on many issues. Therefore the writer may persuade people to do something.

3.      To Express Yourself. Writing itself is a kind of expression that the writer has include personal essays, fiction, plays, and poetry as well as journals and diaries. The writers may express their ideas into a piece of written text as a kind of expressing their creativity.

4.      To Entertain. Writing can be entertaining for some people. Many written text are entertaining such as someone’s experiences story, comics, novel, and short stories that make people having fun.

            By knowing those purposes of writing students can organize and develop a certain paragraph based on each purpose.

2.1.1.2 Process of Writing

            In relation to previous definition of writing, it is a complex process which is involves some steps. In teaching writing, teacher should teach the student to follow the process in order to produce a good writing. The process of writing is followed by many writers follow naturally. All writing follow the same process, but some writers stated it implicitly rather than explained all the steps. Tompkins (2003) cited in Bae (2011:18) here five steps in writing process: 1) Pre-writing, 2) Writing, 3) Revising, 4) Editing, 5) Publishing. All of these steps can be described as follows:

1.  Pre-Writing

          It is a very important step in writing process because during this step student find out their idea of what to be written. Pre-writing covers everything students do before start to write. It is the stages when the ideas coming up and student start to jotting down the ideas trough out the time. In this step, there are two stages which were passed by student, like:

a)              Brainstorming

Brainstorming is an action of listing ideas as the come; it can be done to integrate more ideas. To brainstorm, simply list everything that pops into our mind when we think about our topic.

b)             Free-writing

Free writing means that students start to write everything that comes in their minds about the topic chosen. It does not allow editing the writing even they make mistake during this time, because it will make the students lost their ideas. It does not matter whether the students make some mistakes about spelling, logic, structure, etc. because it is a process when students allows the idea to put into words which can be looked at later.

            During free writing and brain storming, students will have a lot of thought which should be selected which ideas they will use in their writing. Then, students can decide to order those ideas.

2. Writing

          In this step the students make draft of their writing. The activities include examining, locating and placing ideas in well writing organization. The first thing that must be taken is thinking of strong opening sentence. But, do not think over fit sentence and perfect first draft. It can be revised and rewritten later. To make it really focus, it need to give limited time for students (30 minutes) to write without stopping.

3. Revising

          Every writers need to revise their writing for talented writers. Every writers wants reader to judge the idea of the writing not the mistake, so revising is very important. In this step, students might change, remove something or add some information which they need to support their idea. The stage of revising can be stated as follows:

a)      Adding

Students need to give some additional information about their topic that they think readers need to know.

b)      Rearranging

Students may need to rearrange the writing as when students write the text, they found that the argument will flow better if they reordered the paragraph.

c)      Removing

One or some ideas might not relate each other. Therefore some sentences need to be omitted.

d)     Replacing

In this phase, students should look on more vivid details of their writing. Students can replace the previous examples if it is not strong enough to support their arguments.

4. Editing

          This stage is distinct from revision, and needs to be done after make revision on a big scale. The students should go line by line to consider whether each word, phrase and sentences coherent and cohesive. They should check whether they use the same words for many times, were the sentences too hard to be understood, or what kind of word can be used to strengthen their argument. In line with this, students should focus on revising their writing in term of grammar and mechanic (spelling and punctuation).

5. Publishing

          The last stage of writing process is publishing. Here the revision should be rewritten to make it free from grammatical mistake and others. Students need to produce a final copy of their work in the correct format. Then, it will be read by other and the content can be understood.

2.1.1.3 Characteristics of Good Writing

            According Donovan (2014) there are some characteristics of good writing, such as:

1. Clarity and focus. Everything should make sense and the readers do not get lost about what is going on in the paragraph.
2. Organization. The paragraph must be a well-organized. A piece of writing is not only clear; it is presented in a way that is logical order. The writer can tell stories or place your thesis at the end of an essay and get away with it as long as the scenes or ideas are well ordered.
3. Ideas and themes. The topic must be relevant based on the themes. It also must contain clearly identifiable ideas and themes.
4. Voice. It is a unique way of stringing words together, formulating ideas, and relating scenes or images to the reader. In any piece of writing, the voice should be consistent and identifiable.
5. Language (word choice). Good writing includes smart and appropriate word choices and well-crafted sentences.
6. Grammar and style. A piece of writing has to follow the rules of grammar. Style is also important in ensuring that a piece of writing is clear and consistent and keep a grammar book and style guide handy.
7. Credibility or believability. In fiction, the story must be believable even if it is impossible, and in nonfiction, accurate research can make or break a writer.
8. Thought-provoking or emotionally inspiring.  The most important quality of good writing is how the reader responds to it. A good writing must have fresh perspective, new ideas, and senses.

            By knowing those characteristics of good writing the writers are able to write a paragraph appropriately and produce good writing.

2.1.1.4 Characteristic of a Good Paragraph

            To write a good paragraph is difficult since the writer must be able to understand the unit of information presented in a paragraph. According to Meyers (2003:25) paragraphs are the building blocks of all forms of writing, form essays, exams, and memos, on up to novel and textbook. It means that all of those form need to be mastered in order to write a paragraph.

Meyers (2003:25) also stated that a paragraph consists of three kinds of sentences that are used to develop the writer’s idea. The first is introduction which attracts the interest of the readers and it often states paragraph’s main point in a topic sentence. The topic sentence is the central key of the writer’s idea, so in a paragraph, the topic sentence should be general. It names and controls idea, the writer’s main idea, opinion or feeling about the topic. The second is the body that supports the main point with specific details, explanations, and examples in five to ten sentences. A writer should provide some sentences that will support their topic sentence. These sentence are called supporting sentences. The last part in a paragraph is the conclusion. Concluding sentence signals that the paragraph is finished and it completes the picture or story about the subject of the paragraph and ties together the ideas of the paragraph as it brings it to a graceful end.

            In short, it can be said that a paragraph consist of introduction which is a topic sentence, body which is supporting sentences and conclusion which summarizes the paragraph.

According to Varron (2011), there are three characteristics of a good paragraph, they are:

a.       Unity

It is important for a paragraph to have unity which means that all of sentence in the paragraph discuss only one main idea. In addition, all supporting sentences must directly explain or prove the main idea which is stated in the topic sentence, so that it will become unity. If there are sentences in the paragraph that are not directly related to main idea, the paragraph is consider to have no unity.

b.      Coherence

Every good paragraph must have coherence. This means that all parts of the paragraph are logically connected, well organized, logically ordered and easy to follow. There are two ways to achieve coherence. Firstly it can be done through the use of transactional signals connected to the idea in one sentence with the other idea in other sentences, so the paragraph moves smoothly and the readers will not find any problem in understanding the paragraph. Secondly it can also be done through the use of a consistent choice of an element such as a person (I, she, he, they, we, you), voice (active or passive), and register (formal or informal).

c.       Capitalization and Punctuation

In writing, writer must pay attention to capitalization and punctuation. Capitalization refers to rules of using capital letters, whilst punctuation is the rule of using any mark in writing. These elements will make the meaning of out sentences clear to the reader.  

2.1.2 Recount Paragraph

2.1.2.1 The Nature of Recount Paragraph

According to Literacy Secretariat (2012) recounts are used to relate experiences or retell events for the purpose of informing, entertaining or reflecting. Recounts can be personal, factual or imaginative.

Text which will be used in this study is recount text. Recount is a text which retells events or experiences in the past. Its purpose is either to inform or to entertain the audience. There is no complication among the participants and that differentiates from narrative. In the process of writing a recount text, the students have to know the generic structure of recount text, namely:

1.      Orientation: Introducing the participants, place and time.

2.      Events: Describing series of event that happened in the past.

3.      Reorientation: It is optional. It is stating personal comment of the writer to the story.

            Meanwhile there are some language features of recount text such as:

1.      Introducing personal participant; I, my group, and my friends.

2.      Using chronological connection; then, first, second, and after that.

3.      Using linking verb; was, were, saw, and heard.

4.      Using action verb; look, go, change, and walk.

5.      Using simple past tense

2.1.2. Assessment

              Assessment is a process of data collection to know and gain the score of products. It involves gathering information about the quality and quantity of a change done by a student, group, class, school, teacher, or administrator. In this study, the intended assessment is the process of collecting information about their achievement of the obliged competency. It is used to determine the students’ score and grade.

Nazzal (2011) stated that assessment is a critically important step within middle school instructional design. While that may seem like the understatement of the year, it is also one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, and overlooked steps within lesson design. Assessment within the classroom can be formative (intended to help students reach a learning goal) or summative (intended to assess progress at a particular point in time) and is often conducted within the classroom.

            According to McAlister (2013: 9) purposes of assessment is a generic term for a set of processes that measure the outcome of students’ learning, in terms of knowledge acquired, understanding developed and skills or abilities gained. Assessment serves several purposes such as: (1) It provides the means by which students are graded, passed or failed. The performance being judged relates to the achievement of the aims and intended learning outcomes of the module and course on which the student is enrolled. (2) It provides the basis for decisions on whether a student is ready to proceed, to qualify for an award or has demonstrated competence to practice. (3) It enables students to obtain feedback on their learning, their strengths and weaknesses, and helps them improve their performance. (4) It enables staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching.

According to Badan Standar Penilaian Nasional (BSNP), the information collected in the assessment process could be used by the teacher as (1) to know the competencies of the students, (2) to make the report about students’ achievement, and (3) to improve the teaching learning process.

2.1.2.1 Types of Assessments

There are many types of assessment that are available for teacher, school leader, or other assessors. They can use each type that is suitable to be used to achieve their purposes or goals. According to Ontario (2011), there are three types of assessment namely assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning.

a.       Assessment for learning (formative assessment). It helps teachers find out students’ understanding to plan and guide instruction, and also to give students helpful feedback. Through feedback, both teacher and student can plan further action to attain the learning goals.

b.      Assessment as learning. It makes students aware how they learn and therefore they can develop their learning and also take an increased responsibility for their learning.

c.       Assessment of learning (Summative assessment). It gets students, teachers, and parents, as well as the broader educational community know the achievements at a certain point in time in order to celebrate success, plan interventions and support continued progress.

In assessing the students, according to Badan Standar Penilaian Nasional (BSNP), there are three types of assessments based on the administration of the assessment.

a.       Assessment from the teacher

Assessment administered by teacher is done continuously to observe the students’ process of learning, to get the data of students’ progress, and to improve the effectiveness of learning process.

b.      Assessment from the educational unit (e.g. school)

Assessment administered by the educational unit such as school is administered to know the indicator achievements of all the subject matters.

c.       Assessment from the government

Assessment done by the government is in form an evaluation which aims at assessing the students’ competencies achievement on some certain subject matters in a national scope.

2.1.2.2 Assessment in Language Learning

            The term “assessment” is frequently used in education. According to Abedi (2010), assessment for learning is a pedagogical practice with anticipated gains of increased students motivation, mastery and autonomy as learners develop their capacity to monitor and plan their own learning. Assessment is a process of obtaining information for making particular education decision. For that reason it is important for us to differentiate them before explaining assessment in details. The types of assessment selected should measure the stated learning objectives and the consistence with course activities and sources. Assessment strategies should use established ways to measure effective learning and assess student’s progress by reference to stated learning objectives. The assessment formats should provide a reasonable way to measure the stated learning objectives.

2.1.2.3 Peer assessment

Juwah (2003) stated that “peer assessment is an interactive and dynamic process that involves learners in assessing, critiquing and making value judgment on the quality and standard of work of other learners, and providing feedback to peers to enable them enhance performance”. When introducing this strategy, be sure that students become aware of the benefits for them. Students need to see the value for themselves rather than the gains for their teachers. So it is important to introduce peer and self-assessment to improve learning and to develop new skills. It can also have benefits for the teacher by leading to time saving, once you are comfortable with self and peer assessment in your teaching and students see it as a natural part of their learning. But this should not be the reason for introducing it.

Swain (2010) stated that peer assessment is an activity where the students are involved in the process of assessing other students’ work. Peer assessment enables children to provide each other with valuable feedback on work so that they can learn from and support each other. The opportunity to discuss, explain and challenge each other adds a valuable dimension to learning overall. Peer assessment as an agreement in which individuals consider the amount level, value, worth, quality, or success of the products or outcomes of learning of peers of similar status.

Nazzal (2011) stated that “peer assessment is key strategies to involve students in taking more responsibility for their own learning”. While the benefits may not initially be obvious to students, this process offers a means of enhancing the learning experience and developing key capabilities in students.

Therefore, peer assessment is an interactive strategy and dynamic process to involve learners to be responsible in assessing, critiquing, and judging on others’ learners by giving feedback to each peer of their performance.

1.      The steps in applying Peer Assessment Strategy

According to Utami (2010) there are some steps of implementing peer assessment as follows:

a.       Pre-writing.

                                i.            Modelling and explanation. Teacher explains about the particular paragraph development and gives examples of paragraph. Students are asked to pay attention to the examples given and discuss some important point that can be learned.

                              ii.            Topic determination. Teacher then determines the topic of paragraph to be written.

                            iii.            Outlining. Students individually make an outline of their own paragraph.

b.      Writing.

Students develop the topic of writing into paragraph.

c.       Reviewing.

                           i.            Peer assessment. Each student finds their peer and shares their paper. The teacher then passes out peer feedback scoring guide which contain some points to be used to assess their friends’ writing. The teacher has to make sure that all students understand the criteria. The students then review the writing and put their comment or suggestion. Finally, they should give a rough score based on the scoring guide provided.

                         ii.            Paper submission. Students submit their writing along with the scoring guide to the teacher. The teacher will remark all papers to ensure an equitable mark has been granted.

d.      Class conference.

                           i.            Class conference administration. Teacher conduct class conference to let the students consult his/her paper. This moment, teacher may use one of students writing to be reviewed together, especially the one which has interesting or common mistakes to be learned.

                         ii.            Final revision. The students revise their paper based on the result of discussion during class conference.

            In short, those steps of peer assessment strategy have to be implemented in the writing class in order to make students involve to the assessment process and improve their writing ability. Therefore, peer assessment is the process of assessing peer by using a marking sheet.  

2.      The strengths of peer assessment

In particular, the students get benefits of continual practice in discrimination on the basis of quality, self-reflec­tion, assessing quality of feedback and a sense of where their own work fits relative to the work of peers. White (2009) stated that peer assessment can help the students to become more autonomous, responsible and involved. Meanwhile it encourages students to critically analyse work done by others, rather than simply seeing a mark. The feed­back is prompt and timely, which maximizes its learning impact. Students also learn to communicate their ideas in a focused and efficient manner. Therefore peer assessment strategy can improve students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

3.      The weaknesses of peer assessment

            Brighton (2010) stated that peer assessment technique has some disadvantages for the students. The students may lack of the ability to evaluate each other, the students may not be confident or comfortable assessing friends, the students may be reluctant to make judgements regarding their peers. At the other extreme students may be discriminated against if students ‘gang up’ against one group member.

2.3 Empirical Review

2.3.1 Review of Previous Research

Todd (2007) had also done a research on peer assessment strategy named, Using Graded Peer Evaluation to Improve Students’ Writing Skills, Critical Thinking Ability, and Comprehension of Material in A Principles of Public Relations Course. The students were positive about the peer assessment processes making contributions to their writing skills. The mean scores for each of the writing skill statements ranged from 4.8 to 5.6 on a scale of one to seven. Students indicated that they increased their writing skills from the comments provided by their peer assessment regarding spelling, grammar and punctuation. This suggests that students were most likely to increase their writing skills by grading or evaluating other students’ work.

Puegphrom and Chiramanee (2011) had done a research on peer assessment strategy named, The Effectiveness of Implementing Peer Assessment on Students’ Writing Proficiency.  It was found that after experiencing the writing instruction with peer assessment and being assessed by peer the subjects’ writing ability improved significantly. Highly positive attitudes towards the teaching technique were also found, in particular on the following aspects: the writing ability development, self-directed learning, co-operative learning, and self-confidence.

            The other research by Siyyari (2013) entitled Self-assessment and Peer-assessment: A Comparative Study of Their Effect on Writing Performance and Rating Accuracy also found that peer-assessment showed improvement in their average rating accuracy after nine sessions of self- and peer-assessment practice. In other words, the effects of the practice of peer-assessment and self-assessment on the rating accuracies of the two groups were almost similar. It could be concluded that both self- and peer-assessment can significantly improve the writing performance of learners in writing skill.

            The difference of the previous research and this research is this research is classroom-based action research which aims to improve students’ ability in writing recount paragraph through peer assessment strategy. Meanwhile the previous researches are experimental study and comparative study. Hence, the researcher conduct action based research which uses peer assessment strategy.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODS

1.1  Subject of study

The subjects of this study will be the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada, especially class VIII G in academic year of 2013/2014. The total subjects will 30 students consisting of 5 males and 25 females.

The considerations of choosing this specific class are due to the fact that this class faced problems in writing recount paragraph based on the preliminary observations and the result of interview to the teacher and students. Meanwhile, the researcher will also conduct pre-test to the students in VIII G class.

1.2  Research Design

This research is a classroom-based action research. It consists of four basics of spiral steps; planning, action, observation, and reflection. It concerned with the improvement of the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph through the implementation of “Peer Assessment”.

The Action Research Model by Kemmis and Mctaggart:

Action research is essentially a series of cycles of planning, action, observation and reflection. Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) cited in Wijaya (2011:26) developed a concept for action research. They proposed a spiral model comprising four steps: planning, acting, observing and reflecting (see Figure 3.1)

Figure 3.1 The Cycle of Research

3.3 Variables

There are two variables which will be applied in this study: (1) Peer assessment strategy, and (2) Students achievement in writing competency. Types of variables that will be used in this study are independent variable and dependent variable. The independent variable is the Peer Assessment strategy and the dependent variable is students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

3.4  Instruments

The instruments that will be used for collecting the data are as follows:

3.4.1        Interview Guide

Interview is used to collect the information accurately from the teacher and the students. It is also used to record the problems encountered by the students when following the lesson. The interview also helps the researcher to find the accurate information related to the teaching and learning process in the classroom especially in English class.

The interview guide can be seen in appendix 1.

3.4.2        Questionnaire

The questionnaire will be done in post-test to know the students’ responses to the implementation of “Peer Assessment” strategy. The researcher expects that the obtained data from the questionnaire give positive contribution to the study. 

3.4.3        Writing tests

The writing tests will be conducted in order to measure the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph. There are two kinds of writing tests, including pre-test and post-test. The pre-test will be conducted before giving the action which purpose to obtain the preliminary data about the students’ writing ability. Meanwhile, the post-test will be conducted at the end of each cycle in order to evaluate the students’ achievement after they are given the treatment.

3.4.4        Observation sheet

Observation sheet will be used to note everything happened in the classroom during the treatment. It is the same as teacher’s diary in which it consists of teacher’s activities, students’ activities and classroom situation. The observation sheet consists of eight columns. It can be seen on the table.

Table 3.1 Observation Sheet

No.	Teacher’s	Students’	Time		Students’	Classroom	Notes
	Activities	Activities	Planning	Action	Responses	Situation

3.5              Procedures

3.5.1        Pre-test

Pre-test will be administered in order to know the students ability in writing recount paragraph before the researcher implements peer assessment strategy.   

3.5.2        The Cycle

The procedure of this classroom-based action research comprises planning, action, observation and reflection. Those stages will be conducted in the cycle. Each cycle consists of three sessions. The cycle which will be done depends on the success indicator, if the students already achieve the indicator well, the cycle will be stopped. The research procedures are presented in details as follows:

a.       Planning

Planning refers to determine the steps of the action and instruments that are used for collecting the data. In this step, the researcher prepares and organizes the instruments such as the lesson plan, materials, checklist, writing test, and observation sheet that will be used for collecting the data. Planning can be divided into two, such as:

1.      Planning the pre-action

The pre-test will be conducted in purpose to know the students’ problem and also their primary skill in writing recount paragraph. In this stage, the researcher determines all the things that will be done in the action.

2.      Planning the action

After determining the things that will be done in the action, there are some preparations that will be done in planning the action, as follows:

a.       Setting up the teaching scenario

b.      Setting up the materials

c.       Setting up the teaching media

d.      Setting up the questionnaire

e.       Setting up the test

f.       Setting up the observation instrument

g.      Setting up the criteria of scoring

b.      Action

Action refers to what researcher do in the classroom to improve the quality of students’ writing and how the class will be managed based on the teaching scenario. In this step, the researcher conducts the cycles to solve the problems encountered by the students in writing recount paragraph. In this stage, some activities will be done in each cycle. These activities are pre-activity, whilst activity and post activity. Here, the researcher will give the treatment that had already been designed.

c.       Observation

It deals with the activity of observing and analyzing the classroom situation and the students’ behaviour during the process of teaching and learning activities. In this step, the researcher also evaluates the students’ work. The researcher uses observation sheet or teacher’s diary to note all of the students’ activities.

d.      Reflection

Reflection refers to diagnose the causes of the unsuccessful action will be applied in the teaching learning process. The researcher in this step finds out the problem as well as the solution for the problem. Furthermore, the researcher will decide whether the action will be continued or not. It is also the process of comparing the result of pre-test and each post-test, the researcher can determine whether the target of the research have been achieved or not. In this stage, the researcher finds the causes of the students’ problem in writing recount paragraph. Finding the causes of the students’ problems, make it easier to identify the problems. After the problems have been identified, the researcher will suggest the solution to be applied in the next cycle.

3.6    Data Analysis

3.6.1        Types of Data

The data will be analyzed by using two kinds of analysis; they are quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative data will be obtained from the result or pre-test will be compared to the result of the post-test. The quantitative data will be analyzed in order to know the improvement towards the implementation of the treatment. Meanwhile, the qualitative data will be obtained from the result of the interview and questionnaire.

3.6.2 Steps of Analyzing the Data

            When the data will be collected, the teacher then analyzes the data to find the mean score and percentage of the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph. The steps are:

a.       Correcting the students’ writing by using a writing rubric which contains 5 categories content and development (CD), Organization (O), Grammar (G), Vocabulary (V), and Mechanics (M). Rubric will be used to evaluate and analyze the data to find the mean score and percentage of the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph.

The form of Writing’s Rubric can be seen in appendix 5.

Then to find out students’ score, the following formula will use:

a.       The score of each student (X)

Score = (A X 5) + (B X 5) + (C X 4) + (D X 3) + (E X 3)

A= Content and Development
B= Organization

C= Grammar

D= Vocabulary

E= Mechanics

b.      The class main score (Y)

Y= 

The total score gain from this formula determined whether the students’ ability in writing recount paragraph improved or not.

3.6.3 Questionnaire Analysis

Analyzing the data from the questionnaire to obtain the quality data will use the following formula:

%=

3.6.4 Success Indicator

The success for this study is based on following:

If the mean score of the students in writing recount text is about or more than seventy three (students’ mean score ≥ 73), the study will be considered success and the cycle will be stopped. This passing score is proposed in Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal (KKM) or Minimum Passing Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Sukasada. The classification of the criteria of student’s mastery level as follow:

Table 3.3 The Criteria of Student’s Mastery Level

Score	Criteria
90 – 100	Excellent (A)
80 – 89	Good (B)
65 – 79	Sufficient (C)
55 – 64	Insufficient (D)
0 – 54	Poor (E)

            Based on the table above, the criteria of students’ mastery level will be described as follows: (a) the students’ mastery level is excellent if they can reach score between 90 – 100, (b) it will be good, if they can reach score between 80 – 89, (c) it is sufficient if they can reach score between 65 – 79, (d) it is insufficient if they could reach score only 55 – 64, (e) and it will be poor if the students’ score obtain less than 54.

References

Abedi, Jamal. 2010. Assessment for English Language Learner. Retrieved from: https://skill.standford.edu/system/files/performance-assessments-english-language-learners.pdf.

Abrams, Dr. Zsuzsanna. 2010. Foreign language teaching methods Writing. Retrieved from: http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/writing/05/. Downloaded on January 29^th 2014.

Bae, Jungnan. 2011. Teaching Process Writing for Intermediate/Advanced Learners in South Korea. Retrieved from: http://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/52570/Bae.pdf?sequence=1. Downloaded on February 2^nd 2014.

Badan Nasional Standar Pendidikan Indonesia : http://bsnp-indonesia.org/id/

Brighton, T .2010. Peer Assessment. Deakin University Australia. Retrieved from: http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/pd/tlmodules/assessment/group-assignments-peer/index.php

Dewi, onii citra. 2012. Characteristics of a Good Paragraph. Retrieved from: http://oniicitradewi.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/characteristics-of-a-good-paragraph/

Donovan, Melissa. 2014. Eight Characteristics of Good Writing. Retrieved from: http://www.writingforward.com/better-writing/characteristics-of-good-writing. Downloaded on February 2^nd 2014.

Flower and Hayes. 2001. College Composition and Communication. Retrieved from: Siew, Koh Teck.  2011. How Does Peer Editing Improve Students’ Quality of Writing.

Hanna, G. Dettmer, P. 2004. Assessment for Effective Teaching. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hernandez, Rosario. 2010. Benefits and Challenges of Using Self and

Peer Assessment. USD Dublin Retrieved from: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/ucdtla0033.pdf. Downloaded on January 22^nd 2014.

Iqbal, Javed. 2012. Four Language Skills. Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/JavedIqbal15/four-language-skills. Downloaded on January 30^th 2014.

Juwah, Charles. 2003. Using Peer Assessment to Develop Skills and Capabilities. Retrieved from: http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/JAN03_Issue/article04.html

Kemmis and McTaggart. 1988. Action Research. retrieved from: http://peoplelearn.comestead.com.

Literacy Secretariat. 2012. Engaging in and Exploring Recount Writing. Retrieved from: http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/literacy/files/links/link_157536.pdf

McAlister, Denise. 2013.  Assessment Handbook. Retrieved from: http://www.ulster.ac.uk/academicoffice/download/Handbooks/Assessment%20Handbook.pdf. Downloaded on January 23^rd 2014.

Melers, Alan. 2003. Composing with Confidence. New York:Longman

Nazzal, Allison. 2011. Peer and Self-Assessment: 20 Classroom Strategies and Other Resources to Increase Student Motivation and Achievement. Retrieved from: http://www.scmsa.org/files/Journal/2010-2011/NazzalPeerandSelf-Assessment.pdf

Nurbaity. 2013. Genres of Texts: Procedure, narrative, Descriptive, Recount,          News Items, Report, Spoof, Analytical Exposition, Hortatory Exposition   and Discussion Texts. Retrieved from:             http://guruberbagirasa.blogspot.com/2013/05/genres-of-texts-procedure-          narrative.html

O’Farrell, Dr Ciara. nd. Enhancing Student Learning through Assessment. Dublin Institute of Technology. Retrieved from:    http://www.tcd.ie/teaching-learning/academic             development/assets/pdf/250309_assessment_toolkit.pdf. Downloaded        on January 22^nd 2014.

Ontario. 2011. Learning for All. Retrieved from: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/learningforall2011.pdf. Downloaded on February 2^nd 2014

Permendiknas no 22, 2006 Tentang Standar Isi untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah.

Puegphroml, Puritchaya and Chiramanee,  Tanyapa. 2011. The Effectiveness of Implementing Peer Assessment on Students’ Writing Proficiency. Retrieved from: http://sv.libarts.psu.ac.th/conference5/proceedings/Proceedings3/article/2pdf/003.pdf

Reinking James A.,Hart Andrew W., and von der Osten Robert. 2001. Strategies for Successful Writing.United States of America:Prentice Hall

Scott Mike, DPT.2013. Academic versus Practical Learning (part one). Retrieved from:    http://mikescottdpt.com/2013/04/01/academicvspractical-learning-part-one/.

Siyyari, Masood. 2013.  Self-assessment and Peer-assessment: A Comparative Study of Their Effect on Writing Performance and Rating Accuracy. Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/464232/Self-assessment_and_Peer-assessment_A_Comparative_Study_of_Their_Effect_on_Writing_Performance_and_Rating_Accuracy. Downloaded on January 23^rd 2014

Swain, Beverly. 2010. The importance of peer and self assessment. Retrieved from:  http://education.scholastic.co.uk/content/13153

Todd, Vicki. 2007. Using Graded Peer Evaluation To Improve Students’ Writing Skills, Critical Thinking Ability, And Comprehension Of Material In A Principles Of Public Relations Course. Retrieved from: http://www.cluteonline.com/journals/index.php/TLC/article/download/1534/1514. Downloaded on January 22^nd 2014.

Utami, I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika. 2010. The Effect of Peer Assessment on Students’ Writing Achievement with Differing Achievement Motivation. (Thesis:unpublished). Ganesha University of Education.

Varron. 2011. Paragraphs; Unity, Coherence, Emphasis.Retrieved from:  http://writing.wikinut.com/Paragraphs%3B-Unity,-Coherence,-Emphasis/1l54qu9f/

White, Eddy. 2009. Student Perspectives of Peer Assessment for Learning in a Public Speaking Course. Retrieved from: http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/pta_January_09.pdf

Wijaya, Erik. 2011. The Implementation of Guided Writing Technique to Improve Students’ Achievement in Writing a Descriptive Paragraph of Eight Year Students of Muhamadiyah Singaraja in Academic Year 2010/2011. Thesis (unpublished). Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha Singaraja.

Yulianto, Puguh. 2011. What is Recount Text. Retrieved from: http://pakpuguh.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/recount-text/. Downloaded on January 20^th 2014.