CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
English is still considered one of the most important school
subjects

and

therefore,

beginning

teachers

can

find

the

responsibility of teaching it both exciting and challenging.

Everyone agrees that the subject 'English' is vitally important and
typically. It is described as the most important of all school
subjects, principally because reading, writing, speaking and
listening are needed to a greater or lesser degree in every
school's subject.
English is also the most consistently controversial and
debated subject. It might be argued that English is the subject
that many interested parties would most like to control. The
history of English is simply a history of constant change.
Inevitably, this makes teaching it a special kind of challenge, but
it also imbues the subject with energy and excitement. All
subjects have their debates and passions but English seems to
have the most, and they are very often unusually public and
attract plenty of media attention. As media attention is almost
inevitably negative, the public perception of English nationally
can be that children cannot spell, produce a decent paragraph or
even conduct a reasonable conversation; at the same time
parents, i.e. members of that 'public', will tell people that their
children have received an excellent English teaching at the local
school.
Generally speaking, more reading does contribute to
greater awareness of the use of language and this will have an
impact on pupils' writing. However, this will probably be quite
subtle

and

almost

unconsciously

achieved

as

the

more

sophisticated aspects of language use are adopted in much the

same way as grammar is absorbed from birth.
Writing is one of the most often used skills by the teachers
in teaching English at all levels of education. The writing skills
include compositions like writing reports, designing posters and
invitations, drafting business letters and letters to the editors.
Visual and verbal clues can be given to the students as inputs
without any additional inputs from the teachers and the students
can be asked to form stories, narratives, conclusions, reports and
criticisms.
It is undeniable that writing is probably one of the most
familiar things in our life. Every day people get written
announcements,

advertisements,

letters,

information,

even

warning in the form of writing. In school, they do a lot of writings

such as taking note, making lists, completing laboratory reports
and composing any kinds of texts and others. In short, people are
consciously or unconsciously engaged in writing a lot. As it
becomes crucial to enhance their life, they learn the skills from
pre-elementary school to university level. Then, they master
them by applying them into business of life.
However learning to write is not an easy task to do. Many
students still make errors and mistakes and, then, they are
fossilized. Their interest becomes less and less and students
begin to create negative stimuli about learning to write. This
condition drives the students to assume that writing is a very
difficult task to do. Besides, teachers should be aware of the
importance of interest in facilitating and aware of the use of a
variety of methods to induce students' interest. Teachers should
be able to apply methods that can motivate students to learn
English writing and make them actively involved during the
instructional activity. In addition, the methods used are hoped
can evolve the students' self-confidence and behavior that are

creative and innovative. A good method will have a great

influence in teaching learning process. Conversely, if the teacher
uses inappropriate method, it will make the students bored in
joining the lesson. The learning output, undoubtedly, will not be
satisfying. There are several methods that can be used to
facilitate learning English writing like process approach and
product approach.
Most of traditional approaches of teaching writing focus
merely on the product. The production of the composition is
structurally correct and well -looking. Unfortunately, this path
does not reach the crux of teaching writing itself. In this case the
students cannot show up their own ability in writing maximally.
They cannot express their ideas. It seems that their ideas just
stay put in their mind. This path emphasizes on grammatical
correctness and adherence to given models or guidelines only.
This method, however, is less effective and makes students
having no confidence in expressing their ideas. There is little or
no opportunity for the students to add any thoughts or ideas of
their own. The inevitable consequence is that little attention is
paid to the ideas and meaning of student's writing, what it
communicates to the reader, the purpose and the audience. 1
Most students do not know how to do free writing, and they do
not possess the strategies for composing texts independently.
Furthermore, most of them do not enjoy writing and lack of
confidence in writing on their own.
Therefore, the teachers should select and apply an
appropriate method and a learning technique in teaching writing
that can make the students able to explore and discover their
thoughts, construct meaning and asses it at the same time.
These characteristics navigate to the process approach. The
1 Ann Raimes. Techniques In Teaching Writing. New York: Oxford
University Press. 1983. P. 75

implementation of process approach is considered as the most

appropriate method used to teach writing. In spite of the
characteristics possessed by the process approach, this approach
can lead the students compose free writing. What is meant by
free writing here is a composition that gives freedom to the
students to determine the ideas and thoughts about a certain
topic given by the teacher. The teacher still determines the
framework of the composition that is the genre of the text. By
referring to the same genre, the students can freely make their
own outline. By implementing the process approach, the teacher
gives opportunities to the students to generate their ideas and
thoughts. Consequently, the grammar of the composition might
not be totally correct. This condition navigates the teacher to
play his role as a guide, a motivator, and also a facilitator. It is
important because the ultimate thing that needs to be measured
in process approach is the end of the process.

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE OF THEORY
A. What is Writing?
The written productive skill is called writing. It is the skill of
writer to communicate information to reader or group of reader.
Her or his skills also realized his or her ability to apply the rules
of language she/he is writing to transfer the information she/he
has in her or his mind to her the correct grammatical aspects of

the language she/he is writing, the types of the information

she/he is conducting in a communicative event too.2
So far as the teaching of writing is concerned, the teacher
should keep this nature of writing in mind. Writing always has
become difficult to teach or to learn because it involves a
different kind of mental process which includes the sub-skills like
drafting, editing, revising, organizing etc. Thats why, it is the
duty of a teacher to make the learners acquire the sub-skills for
acquiring the main skill.
B. What is Teaching?
Teaching

is

social

process.

There

are

so

many

educationists, complimented their definitions about teaching,

Here are some, to keep in mind.
There are definitions from scientist about teaching:
1) Gage, "Teaching is a form of interpersonal influence aimed
at changing the behavior potential of another person."
2) Edmund Amidon, Teaching is an interactive process,
primarily involving class room talk which takes place
between teacher and pupil and occurs during certain
definable activity."
3) Brubacher, "Teaching is an arrangement and manipulation
of a situation in which an individual will seek to overcome
and from which he will learn in the course of doing so."
4) Skinner, Teaching is the arrangement of contingencies of
reinforcement."
5) Ryans, "Teaching is concerned with the activities which are
concerned with the guidance or direction of the learning of
others."
6) H.C. Morrison, Teaching is an intimate contact between a
more mature personality and a less mature one which is
designed to further the education of the latter.
2 Sanggam Siahaan. (2008). The English paragraph. Graha Ilmu. P. 2

7) Edmund Amidon, Teaching is defined as an interactive

process, primarily involving classroom talk, which takes
place between teacher and pupil and occurs during certain
definable activities.
From the definitions, we can take a conclusion that
teaching is processes that improve the student's seeking level
more easily and it might be overcome any situation as an easy
way.
C. Learning and Learning Approaches
Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and
reinforcing,

existing

knowledge, behaviors, skills, values,

or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types

of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans,
animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow
learning. Learning is not compulsory; it is contextual. It does not
happen all at once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we
already know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process,
rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge.
Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes
produced are relatively permanent.3 Human learning may occur
as

part

or training.

of education, personal
It

may

development,

be goal-oriented and

may

schooling,
be

aided

by motivation. The study of how learning occurs is part

of educational
and pedagogy.

psychology, neuropsychology, learning

Learning

may

occur

as

theory,

result

of habituation or classical conditioning, seen in many animal

species, or as a result of more complex activities such as play,
seen

only

in

relatively

intelligent

animals. Learning

may

3 Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, Daniel M. Wegner (2009, 2011).

Psychology, 2nd Edition. Worth Publishers. p. 264.

occur consciously or without conscious awareness. Learning that

an aversive event can't be avoided nor escaped is called learned
helplessness.

There

is

evidence

for

human

behavioral

learning prenatally, in which habituation has been observed as

early as 32 weeks into gestation, indicating that the central
nervous system is sufficiently developed and primed for learning
and memory to occur very early on in development.4
Play has been approached by several theorists as the first
form of learning. Children experiment with the world, learn the
rules, and learn to interact through play. Lev Vygotsky agrees
that play is pivotal for children's development, since they make
meaning of their environment through play. 85 percent of brain
development occurs during the first five years of a child's life.
Approach to learning can be defined as a starting point or point
of view toward the learning process, which refers to the view of
the occurrence of a process which is still very common, inside
hosts, inspired meeting, strengthened, and became the basis of
learning methods with a particular theoretical coverage. White
and Arndt identify 6 non-linear procedures or processes when
writing. Figure 1 on the following page shows these procedures
and how they inter-relate.

4Sandman, Wadhwa, Hetrick, Porto & Peeke. (1997). Human Fetal

Heart Rate Dishabituation Between Thirty and Thirty-Two Weeks
Gestation. Child Development. P. 10311040.

This is sequence of activities for the classroom:

(Fig. 2: Sequence of Activities in the Process Approach to

Writing.)5
The role of both the teacher and the student differs from
other approaches in that, The teacher, instead of being cast
5 Ron white, Valerie Arndt. (1991). Process Writing (Longman
Handbooks for Language Teachers). London: Longman Group. P. 7

merely in the role of linguistic judge, now becomes a reader,

responding to what the students have written; the students,
rather than merely providing evidence of mastery of linguistic
forms, proffer experiences, ideas, attitudes and feelings to be
shared with the reader.6
Essentially, the process approach, as its name suggests,
focuses on the process one goes through when writing including
generating ideas, deciding which ideas are relevant to the
message and then using the language available to communicate
that message in a process that evolves as it develops. In the
classroom this translates into group brainstorming exercises,
general discussions, and group planning activities to decide on
the content of the piece of writing. Peer correction and group
evaluation are also encouraged.
Students are all to often plunged into composition work
long before they are ready for it. At some point in course, the
teacher may decide that is the time his students attempted to
write a composition, so he sets a short narrative or descriptive
piece and hopes for the best. This is a random, hit-or-miss
method which creates enormous remedial problems and conduct
disastrous result. If a students sole experience of written English
has been to fill in blank spaces in tailor made sentences, it is
wildly unreasonable to spring a composition subject on him and
then expect him to produce correct and readable prose. As with
premature discussions on set topics, all we are doing is to
encourage him to make mistakes. And it is no good hoping than
after a few years of this (involving massive correction on the part
of teacher) the student will somehow improve on his own. Very
few students are sufficiently conscientious or highly motivated to
examine in detail their own corrected written work. Even if they
6 Ibid., p. 2

did, there is absolutely no guarantee that they will not go on

making the same mistakes. Writing skill can best be developed
through carefully controlled and graded comprehension/prcis
exercises. Prcis writing is not a sterile academic exercise
students writing ability. At the pre-intermediate stage, the
student must learn how to write simple, compound, and complex
sentences and to connect ideas from notes. Controlled prcis
writing will enable the student to master each of these difficulties
and bring him to appoint where he will be capable of writing a
composition with a minimum of error.
The main stages is training the student in the written
language at the intermediate level may be summarized as
follows:

Practice in writing simple sentences through controlled

comprehension/prcis exercises

Practice in writing compound

sentences through controlled

comprehension/prcis exercises

Practice in writing complex

sentences through controlled

comprehension/prcis exercises

Practice in connecting ideas from notes that have been

provided.7

D.Contextual Teaching And Learning Approach To Teaching

Writing

7 L. G. Alexender. Practice and Progress. An Integrated Course For PreIntermediate Students. Yogyakarta: Percetakan Kansius. P. 9

10

Writing is an activity is the delivery of messages by using

stationery as the medium. 8 The message is the payload
contained in writing, while writing a symbol language that can be
seen and agreed upon the wearer. Communication in writing, at
least there are four elements involved, i.e. the author as a better
Messenger messages, content writing, media channels or in the
form of writing, and audience as the recipient of the message.
Learning is an activity which aims, many of the students
events and activities involving teachers. To achieve the learning
objectives required an approach that can be used as a tool to
achieve that goal. In the process of teachers need to use varied
teaching approach to achieve the learning objectives that had
been planned earlier.
During this time, learning to write is more accentuated on
the results in the form of writing, not on what should be done
when students write. During this time, students practice writing
directly without learning how to write. The teacher asked the
students to write in accordance with the basic competencies in
the curriculum. Upon completion, students collected writings,
corrected, and assessed by the teacher. This activity is constantly
carried out which resulted in students feel saturated and not
passionate in following instruction writing. As a result, the writing
skills of students are very low.
There are various approaches to teaching writing in class:9
1) The Controlled to Free Approach
In 1950s and early 1960, the audio- lingual method
dominated second language learning which emphasized on
speech and writing through mastering grammatical and syntactic
8 Suparno. Keterampilan Dasar Menulis. Jakarta: UT. 2004. P. 7
9 Ann Raimes. Techniques in teaching writing. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. 1983. P. 12

11

forms. Here, the students are given sentence exercises, and then
paragraphs

to

copy

or

manipulate

grammatically,

these

controlled compositions then followed by correction of errors, so

that it can lead to the free composition. Overall, this approach
focuses on accuracy rather than fluency.
2) The Free Writing Approach
This approach stresses writing quantity rather than quality.
This focuses on fluency rather than accuracy. It is based on the
principle that if once ideas are there, the organization follows.
3) The Paragraph Pattern Approach
This approach focuses on organization by copying the
paragraphs or model passages. It is based on the principle that in
different culture or situations, people construct and organize
communication with each other in different ways.
4) The Grammar-Syntax Organization Approach
This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than
one composition feature. In a way, it is inclusive here that writing
cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned
sequentially. So, students must be trained to pay attention to
organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and
syntax.
5) The Communicative Approach
This approach focuses 'on the purpose of writing and the
audience for it. They are given some tasks where they have to
behave as writers so that they can learn by doing it.

Why am I writing this?

Who will read it?
Thus, this approach is quite functional in nature, which can

provide the actual experience to the learners.

6) The Process Approach

12

This approach shows the shift from product to process

which shows:

How do I write this?

How do I get started?
Here, the students are trained to generate ideas for writing,

to think of purpose, audience, and ways of communication and

so on. In fact, it's a developmental process from generating ideas
to expressing them, drafting, redrafting, organizing and so on.
This process of writing can have three stages like: Prewriting,
Writing and Post-writing (Revising or Redrafting).
E. Contextual Teaching And Learning Approach To Teaching
Writing In Indonesia
In Indonesia, English language teaching and learning has
been implemented in schools curriculum since 1954 with the old
curriculum. It has even received a more special place in the
current KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan or SchoolBased Curriculum). In KTSP, the teacher does not have to
describe objectives and materials in detail for a teaching learning
process in the classroom. Hence, the teacher is given freedom to
use an approach that is relevant to the KTSP, for example the CTL
approach.
One of the approaches that emphasizes the process and
content of writing, which was discovered by Dewey (1916), is a
contextual approach. The contextual approach is a learning
philosophy that emphasizes students interests and experiences.
The contextual teaching and learning (CTL) was developed by the
Washington State Consortium, which involved 11 universities, 20
schools and some education organizations in the United States.
The contextual teaching and learning (CTL) applied in this
research

was

based

on

Crawfords

procedures:

Relating,

experiencing, applying, cooperating, and transferring (REACT).

13

Contextual teaching and learning has been reported to be

effective in developing students skills in English. Some studies
that used the CTL approach had been conducted in Indonesian
students classroom settings. From their studies, it was revealed
that

CTL

effectively

improved

students

comprehension,

interests, and competence in writing and reading skills.

The papers mentioned above state that a learning process
today still uses a teacher-oriented approach. Teachers transfer
their knowledge to their students actively, mean-while, their
students, like an empty bottle continually get filled with various
kinds of knowledge, which sometimes they do not understand.
Teachers

should

discover

creative

strategies

to

enhance

students interests to practice writing. Therefore, CTL can be

implemented in this present study.
The CTL approach is considered to be used in teaching
English, especially in teaching writing. Writing with context can
make students able to develop analysis when they write a
reasonable

paragraph

and

make

the

readers

give

their

expectation easier. In other words, if the students know what to

write, what the reader expects from the text, and which parts of
the language system that are relevant to the particular task in a
given context, then they will be able to develop their analysis in
writing a reasonable paragraph and have a good chance to write
something.
In Indonesia, the CTL approach is rarely used as an
approach to improve students writing ability. Based on the
background above, this study used the CTL to discover the
advantages and strategies used in the contextual teaching and
learning approach to teaching writing. The significance of this
study is on how the CTL will help the second graders of junior
high school write a recount text and their improvement in writing
will be observed.

14

Contextual teaching and learning has been differently

defined by many experts. Some experts define contextual
teaching and learning as a concept that helps teachers and
students relate the meaning and real world situations with the
subject matter in the right way. In other words, CTL motivates the
learners to take charge of their own learning and to relate
between knowledge and its application to the various contexts of
their lives. The constructivism philosophy is the reason why
teachers choose CTL as an alternative teaching and learning
approach. In this case, the students are expected to learn
through experiencing not by memorizing the subject matter.
CTL approach has some teaching strategies, which include
content as a critical component. Those strategies engage
students in an active learning process. The strategies can be
implemented

individually

or

in

group.

Teaching

strategies

associated with CTL approach are: Problem based learning,

cooperative learning, service learning, work based learning,
project based learning, and react strategies.10
In

addition,

the

Washington

State

Consortium

for

Contextual Teaching and Learning spawned great efforts to

construct teaching and learning approach, especially contextual
teaching and learning approach. There were many subjects
involved in the construction of the approach, namely eleven
universities, twenty schools, and some organizations in the field
of education in United States.
Regarding this, the implementation of CTL approach in the
classroom activities becomes common place throughout United
States because this approach is believed to significantly relate
the meaning

to the students real

world

situations. The

implementation of CTL, especially REACT (relating, experiencing,

10 Leigh Chiarelott. Curriculum in Context. Wadsworth. Cengage
Learning. 2005. P. 6

15

applying, cooperating, and transferring) strategies in America, a

constructivism method, is used to make students establish their
sense of interest, confidence, and a need for under-standing.
REACT strategies in CTL approach can help students improve
their learning. Indonesia has implemented CTL approach. In
Indonesia, the CTL approach is implemented in various fields,
such as mathematics, sciences, social sciences, and languages.
Some people have researched the use of CTL approach in the
field of education, especially in teaching English as second
language.

CHAPTER III

16

CONCLUSSION
So far, we have seen what writing is, the nature of writing,
types of writing and so on. In fact, written mode is important for
communicating our ideas, thoughts and even for recording the
same. One can always read his/her writing and reflect on the
ideas. Writing is considered the secondary skill because it comes
after the Speech which again makes writing more sophisticated
as a skill. By sophisticated, I mean that writing needs proper
planning and organization. One has to master the sub-skills of
writing for a good and more expressive writer.
Since, the duty of the teacher is to teach writing
effectively and enable the students acquire the writing skill with
a view to making them expressive. Writing is a powerful mode of
communication so one needs to acquire the skill. The teacher can
always teach keeping the learners in mind, by making teaching
functional and also by giving the proper purpose to the learners
for writing.

17

REFERENCES
Alexender, L. G.. Practice and Progress. An Integrated Course for
Pre-Intermediate Students. Yogyakarta: Percetakan Kansius.
1991
Heffernen, james A. W. and Lincoln, John E., Writing: a College
Hand Book. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 1986
Raimes, Ann. Techniques In Teaching Writing. New York: Oxford
University Press. 1983. P. 75
Siahaan, Sanggam. The English Paragraph. Yogyakarta: Graha
Ilmu. 2008
White, Ron and Valerie Arndt.
Handbooks

for

Process Writing (Longman

Language Teachers).

London:

Longman

Group. 1991

18