THE EFFECT OF THINK PAIR SHARE METHOD TOWARD WRITING

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT ABILITY

(A Study at the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat)

BY:

OSMAR MARPAUNG
NPM.09080210/Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
Mahasiswa STKIP “Tapanuli Selatan” Padangsidimpuan

Abstract
The aim of this research is to find out if there is significant effect on wrting descriptive
text ability of the eighth grade Students of SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat. In order to
reach the aim of this research, the writer carries the quantitative approach by applying
experimental method. The population is the eighth grade Students of SMP Negeri 1
Simangambat, which consists of 57 students. The writer uses total sampling
technique to get the sample. The tola sample are 57 students. The data is collected by
using composition test as an instrument. The data that has been collected are analyzed
by using statistic analysis that is used to prove the hypothesis. The formula used is
ttest.. After calculating the data, it is found that the mean score of students’ writing
descriptive text taught by using think pair share is 74.47, it is categorized “good”.
While the mean score of students’ writing descriptive text taught without using think
pair share method is 68.77, it is categorized “enough”. The result of the analyzed data
shows that to is greater than tt or (4.75> 2.00). It means there is a significant effect
think pair share method toward writing descriptive text ability at the eighth grade
students of SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat”. So, the hypothesis is accepted.

Keywords: Think Pair Share, Writing Descriptive text

INTRODUCTION
English is an international language. This language is used as a medium to
correlate between one country and another. English is also used in every educational
institution, primary school, junior high school, senior high school, and university. Based
on KTSP (School Based Curriculum) the instructional objectives of English is the mastery
of four language skills; they are: listening, reading, speaking, writing. Language skills are
classified into receptive and productive skills. Receptive skills includes: listening and
reading. While, productive skill includes: speaking and writing.

Based on KTSP writing is important skill to be owned by every students in order

to express their opinion, ideas, feelings, and so forth. Writing is a complex skill that
should be mastered in studying language. It is said as a complex skill because in writing,
the writer should be able to organize the letters, words, or sentences into good
paragraphs. Meanwhile, the paragraphs have coherence and unity. So, the paragraphs
can be said as writing which tells information for readers. This is one of writing purpose
that will be reached. It is to inform, tell the readers about something, also to entertain and
to persuade. Writing ability then can be defined as the process of expressing ideas,
opinions, or feeling through written symbols of a language.

In this case, the writer focus is on genre especially writing descriptive text skills.
Based on KTSP writing is an important skill to be owned by every students in order to
express opinion, ideas, feelings, and so forth.

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 Genre is the subject of English teaching in junior high school, senior high school,
as well as university. In genre there are many kinds of text which are studied. They are:
descriptive, narrative, exposition, anecdote, spoof, hortatory, procedure and so on. In this
case the writer focus is on descriptive text. It is essential material for junior high school
and has essential function related to daily activity.

Descriptive text is text that actually tells about short description of characteristic
of people, animals, things, and particular places. Writing descriptive text is important to
be mastered by the English learners. Writing descriptive text is a target in curriculum of
junior high school as the genre based learning targets.

In facts, many students feel difficult to understand descriptive text. In this

research, the writer chooses a factor from the external factor, that is using strategy in
learning. This problem can be seen from the students’ score in writing descriptive text.
They only got the score on the average 65. Meanwhile, they are expected to get the score
on the average of criteria minimum at 70. It can be seen that their score is low and
unsatisfactory.It is caused by many factors, that consist of internal and external factors.
Internal factor such as the ability of students in grammar and vocabulary. While, external
factors such as family background of students, method, teacher’s competence, and
curriculum.

To solve this problem, the writer makes the solution, that is using the new
method to teach writing descriptive text. The method is used by the writer is Think Pair
Share (TPS). In this learning method the students asked to open their mind to solve the
real problem in learning material.

Based on the explanation above, the writer assumes that it is necessary to

conduct a research about “The Effect of Think Pair Share (TPS) method toward writing
descriptive text ability of the eighth grade students SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat
2012/2013 academic year”.

1. Writing Descriptive Text

Writing is one skill of language that should be known when learning a language.
Torri (2006: 125) says that writing involves three fundamental processes 1) Planning what
to write and how to organize the composition, 2) Translating into written language, and
3) Revising what is written to make improvement.
Next, Nation (2009: 113) says, “Writing is an activity that can usefully be prepared
for by work in the other skills of listening, speaking and reading. This preparation can
make it possible for words that have been used receptively to come into productive use”.
Westwood (2008: 56), states “Writing can be extremely demanding for students because it
calls upon many experiential, cognitive, linguistic, affective and psycho - motor
memories and abilities.”Next, Roger (2008:250) says, “Writing is a highly complex
method of expression invloving the integration of eye-hand, linguistic, and conceptual
abilities”. In, addition Caroline (2005: 98) says, “Writing is a combination of process and
product. The process refers to the act of gathering ideas and working with them until
they are presented in a manner that is polished and comprehensible to readers.

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 Based on the explanation above, the writer concludes writing is a combination of
process and product and activity to develop expression involving the integration of eye-
hand, linguistic, and conceptual abilities. There are several kinds of products that can be
made such as text or it is familiar with genre.
Descriptive text is a text that describe the features of someone , something or a
certain palace. According to Siahaan (2008: 89) says “Descriptive text is a written English
text in which the writer describes an object”. Pardiyono (2009: 112) stated “Teks diskriptif
adalah informasi yang berupa pemaparan suatu object, baik object hidup atau object
mati, secara visual, qualitative, atau quantitative”. It means descriptive text is a
presentation of information of living or non-living object, visually, qualitatively, or
quantitatively.

Next, Kurniawan and Yuniawati says, ”Teks deskriptif adalah teks yang isinya
mendiskripsikan sesuatu / seseorang secara khusus / spesifik”. It means that descriptive
text is a text which describes something / someone in particular / specific. Then, Ida
Maharani (2007:65) says ”Descriptive text adalah teks yang memaparkan sesuatu “. It
means that descriptive text is a text which describes something. In addition, Djuharie
(2007: 24) says that descriptive text is a text which purpose to describe someone,
something, place, and animal.

Based on the previous explanations, the writer concludes that descriptive text is
kind of text which describes what an object is like.
.
2.1. Think Pair Share Method
Think pair share (TPS) is a cooperative learning strategy developed by Lyman in
1978 and can be defined as “a multi-mode discussion cycle in which students listen to a
question or presentation, have time to think individually, talk to each other in pairs, and
finally share responses with the larger group. According to Trianto (2009:91) think pair
share merupakan jenis pembelajaran kooperatif yang dirancang untuk mempengaruhi
pola interaksi siswa. It means think pair share method is a method designed instruct
providing students time and structure for thinking on a given topic, enabling them
formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with a peer

While Agus Suprijono (2009:54) says think pair share adalah pembelajaran
kooperatif yang mendorong pada pengonstruksian pengetahuan secara integratif. It
means think pair share method is a collaborative learning in which students work
together to solve the problem.

Suyanto (2009:54) says think pair share merupakan model pembelajaran

kooperatif yang memiliki prosedur ditetapkan secara eksplisit. It means think pair share
method is cooperative learning that has procedure or steps and give the students more
times to think the material and to make the students easier to understand the material.

The think, pair, share strategy can help students learn about the writing process.
Students who are asked to choose a topic of their own to write about often become stuck.
Teachers can make this process easier by asking early, "Where do story ideas come
from?" As students think about the question and discuss their ideas with a partner and

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then as a class, they usually come up with a long and valuable list of ideas that can take
them through an entire years worth of writing

METHODOLOGY
The writer conducts this research at SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat. It locates on
Simangambat village, Saipar Dolok Hole District South Tapanuli Regency. The process of
this research has been done for six months starts from January until June 2014.The
method of this research is experimental method since the aim of this research is to find
out the cause-effect relationship between two factors. This study applies the experimental
design by using design experimental class since the goal of the study is to find out the
effect of think pair share method on students’ writing descriptive text ability.
Population is all subjects that are observed. Ary (2006: 167) says, “Population is
defined as all members of any well defined class of people, events or subject.” The
population of this research is all the eighth grades students of SMP Negeri 1
Simangambat which consist of 57 students. Sample is a part of population. Sudjiono
(2010: 280) stated that sample is a small population of population which should be
researched, chosen, determined for the analysis need.The sample of this research is 57
students which is taken by using total sampling. Sugiyono (2009: 149) said that total
sampling is used to decide the sample if the population is under 100. Total sampling is a
sampling technique by taking the entire members of the population as the respondent or
samples.
Instrument is a tool for the researcher in collecting data. Arikunto(2010: 160) says
that instrument of the research is a tool of facility which is used by the researcher in
collecting data in order to be concluded easily and the result of the research is better,
more accurate, complete and systematic. Arikunto (2010: 67) said that test is a list of
questions or exercises and the other tools which are used to measure ability, knowledge,
intelligence, skills, talent that the individu or group have.The writer uses composition
test as the instrument to measure the students’ writing descriptive text and the result of
the test will be used as the data of this research.
The writer uses statistics formula to analyze the data. There are two kinds of
analyzing the data in research, they are: descriptive analysis and inferential analysis.
Descriptive analysis is used to describe the variables, for instance: mean, median, mode,
histogram and so forth. While, inferential analysis is used to testthe hypothesis of this
research by using t-test formula.

RESULT
After collecting the data from students’ writing descriptive text taught by using
think pair share method at the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat, it is
found the highest score is 95 and the lowest score is 50. The writer describes the students
got score 55-60 is 6 students or 10.52%, score 57-63 is 4 student or 7.01%, score 64-70 are
11 students or 19.29%, and score 71-77 is 10 students or 17.54%, score 78-84 is 12 students
or 21.05%, score 85-91 are 12 students or 21.05%, and score 92-98 are 2 student or 3.50%.
Based on the previous distribution, the writer finds that most of student’s score is 71-77
and score 78-84, there are 21,05%. It is found the lowest score is 50 and the highest score
is 95
Next, the data from students’ writing descriptive text ability taught without using
think pair share method at the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat, it is
found the highest score is 90 and lowest score is 50. The writer describes the students
who get score 50 – 55 are 8 students or 14.03%, score 56-61 are 9 students or 15.78%, score
62-67 are 8 students or 14.03%, score 68-73 are 12 students or 21.29%, score 74-79 are 7

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students or 12.28%, score 80-85 are 10 students or 17.54%, score 86-91 are 2 students or
3.5%. Based on the distribution above, the writer finds that most of the students score is
68-73 , there are 21.29% and it is found that the lowest score is 50-55, there are 14.03% and
the highest score is 86-91 there are 3.50% . It is found the lowest score is 50 and the
highest is 90.
The data which is taken will answer the hypothesis that the writer has been
explained previously. The data is analyzed by using t test formula. From the calculation,
it can be known that ttest is 4.75 and ttable is known as number 2.00 at 5% significant level
with degrees of freedom (df) = N - 2 = 57 - 2 = 55. After finding the scores of ttest and ttable,
both of the scores are difference. It is found that ttest is bigger than ttable (ttest 4.75 > ttable
2.00). It means that the hypothesis is accepted.

DISCUSSION
From the result of this research, the writer will compare with the previous related
research. In this research the writer found that students achievement in writing
descriptive text taught by using think pair share method is higher than taught without
using pair share method. It means pair share method is a suitable method in teaching
writing descriptive text.
Meanwhile in the previous think research by Anita Rachman Nasution who
researched about “A correlation between Sentences Combining Ability and Writing
Descriptive Text Ability (A study at the Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri 1
Padangsidimpuan in 2010) has found the score category sentences combining ability is
“enough” , because most of students got score on the mean of 63.50. While the score
category of writing descriptive text ability is categorized “enough”. It can be seen from
score mean of 67.25. So, there is significant correlation between sentences combining
ability and writing descriptive text ability of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1
Padangsidimpuan in 2010. It can be seen from the calculation of rxy > r table = 0.361 >
0.320. r table in which the level of significant is 5 %.
From the previous explanation, the writer concludes that there are many factors
that can increase students ability in writing descriptive text.

CONCLUSION

1. Conclusion
From the result of the research which is found in this research, the writer
concludes that the there is a significant effect of Think Pair Share method toward writing
descriptive text ability of the eighth grade students SMP Negeri 1 Simangambat.

2. Implication of the Research

Based on the result of the research, the writer concludes that think pair share
method is suitable method to be applied in teaching writing descriptive text. With this
method, students can convey their ideas in writing text especially descriptive text. So, for
the next time, the teacher should use think pair share method in teaching descriptive text.
Beside that, the teacher should motivate the students to add their knowledge in
writing descriptive text, more active to do exercise, etc. The teacher also must give new
vocabularies when teaching that attract the students interest when teaching and learning

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process in order the students are able to express their idea, feeling or sense in writing. So
that, the goal of teaching and learning can be reached.

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