AN ANALYSIS ON WRITING EXERCISES OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BOOK

COMMUNICATIVE & INTERACTIVE ENGLISH FOR THE YEAR VIII

OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL PUBLISHED BY YRAMA WIDYA
I. Introduction
A. Background of the Study
Language is a universal element in human societies. It has so many
interrelationships with various aspects of human life so we must carefully
examine the role of language in society if we are even to reach any
understanding of the processes of social change which we see in operation
around us.
Language is a system which is used by people in their communities
to communicate in speech and writing to convey the ideas, thoughts,
opinion,

and

feeling

to

others.

People

make

interaction

and

communication in order to fulfill their needs. In other words, language is a

means of communication, according to Carrol as cited by Ramelan (1992:
9): Language as a means of communication is a system of arbitrary vocal
symbols by which human being cooperate and interact.
Based on some statements above, the researcher conclude that
language is a main tool to interact, exchanging meaning and communicate
with others. Language is simple but it contains many meaning, in other
words language is simple but meaningful.
Those different versions of language definition just want to tell us
that language is very important thing in life because without language
people cannot express their ideas, feeling and showing their purposes,

2
thoughts and minds to other people language is used by people as means
of communication. Communication happens almost every day and
complex communication activities exist among countries. Each country
has its own language.
There are many languages in the world such as German, Dutch,
Chinese, English, Indonesian, and so on. English is one of the important
International languages. It is an International language used in many
countries, throughout the world, including Indonesia. So, it is not
surprising that many people try to master it. Today English is the worlds
most widely studied foreign language.
There are two languages taught in most schools in Indonesia
namely Indonesian and English. Indonesian is taught due to the
establishment as our national language since our independences day. It is
stated explicitly in our 1945 constitution article 36. Meanwhile English is
chosen as the first foreign language to be taught in Indonesian schools for
the reason that we recognize the important role to play in the International
words (Ramelan, 1992: 2).
In the history of Indonesia's education, national education
curriculum has experienced many changes, namely in the years 1947,
1952, 1964, 1968, 1975, 1984, 1994, 2004 and the latest is 2006 (Siscka
Elvyanti, 2011: 1). The first curriculum has a name Subject Plan 1947
(Rencana Pelajaran 1947). In the year 1952, Indonesia experienced
curriculum improvement with the Unravels Subject Plan 1952 (Rencana

3
Pelajaran Terurai 1952). In 1964, Indonesia improved the national
education curriculum, which is known as the Education Plan 1964. In
Curriculum 1968 has a goal to form a human Pancasila sincere, strong, and
healthy physical, enhance skills and acumen physical, moral, moral
character, and religious. The curriculum 1975 prepared as a substitute for
the curriculum 1968. The basic curriculums 1975 change to the curriculum
1984. The approach of teaching is based on students with students active
learning system (Cara Belajar Siswa Aktif, CBSA). Curriculum 1994
created as the completion of curriculum 1984.

In 2004 on Regional

Autonomy, curriculum developed at this time given the name of

Competency-Based Curriculum. In 2006, the government has lead to
implement the education curriculum in the form of the level of the
education curriculum, the curriculum developed by the operational and
implemented in each educational unit. Substantially, the Curriculum Level
Education Unit (KTSP).
To enable the students to master those language skills, English
teacher should provide the teaching materials including the text book,
which are appropriate with the curriculum. Communicative & Interactive
English for the Grade VIII of Junior High School published by Yrama
Widya is the compulsory text book though the curriculum of 2006
curriculum or KTSP.
The language skill to be achieved are divided in to two parts of
language function, namely, oral and written English as a means of

4
communication. In this case listening and speaking are oral language;
reading and writing are written language. However for the students the
written one is the most difficult skill of language. Writing is one of
difficult subjects at school. So, the teacher must create the subject so that
the students can study the subject easily. Besides, the kinds of the text can
also be important in teaching English in order to make the writing teaching
successful.
Writing is one of the language skills that should be thought by
English teachers to students not only because it is stated in the curriculum
but also because writing is one of the components in English learning.
However, teaching writing is difficult and complex, requiring the mastery
not only of grammatical and theoretical devices but also conceptual
judgment (Heaton, 1995: 138). In addition we face today that writing is
very important in all aspects of modern life. The importance of writing can
be seen in peoples daily activities in our social life. Brown (2004: 218)
state that today, the ability to write has become an indispensable skill in
our global literate community. Writing skill, at least at rudimentary levels,
is a necessary condition for achieving employment in many walks of like
and is simply taken for granted in literate cultures. Considering this fact,
people need to be able to write clearly with logical, well developed
organization that accomplishes an intended purpose.
The teacher should pay attention to the writing exercises in the
textbooks they used in the classroom because writing skills is very

5
important. The teacher should examine whether the writing exercises in
the textbook could improve the writing skills.
B. Problems of Study
The research questions of this study can be formulated as follows:
1. Are the writing exercises presented in Communicative & Interactive
English for the Grade VIII of Junior High School published by Yrama
Widya relevant to the 2006 curriculum?
2. Are the directions of the relevant writing exercises presented in
Communicative & Interactive English for the Grade VIII of Junior
High School published by Yrama Widya clear?
3. Do the writing exercises relevant to the curriculum presented in
Communicative &Interactive English for the Grade VIII of Junior
High School published by Yrama Widya present the examples?
4. What are the types of writing (guided or free writing) used in the
writing

exercises

relevant

to

the

curriculum

presented

in

Communicative & Interactive English for the Grade VIII of Junior

High School published by Yrama Widya?

C. The Objectives of the Study

Referring to the statement of the problems above, the objectives of
this study are trying to find out:
1. To analyze the relevancy of the writing exercises in the textbook and
the 2006 curriculum.

6
2. To know whether the writing exercises relevant to the curriculum
presented in the textbook have clear direction or not.
3. To know whether the writing exercises relevant to the curriculum
presented in the textbook present examples or not.
4. To know the types of writing (guided or free writing) used in writing
exercises relevant to the curriculum presented in the textbook.
D. Limitation of the Study
Since there are many books used at the SMP level, so the
researcher limits the study on one book only that is Communicative &
Interactive English for the Grade VIII of Junior High School published
by Yrama Widya as the compulsory book for the eight year student of
SMP. The study is focused on the writing exercises in textbook in terms of
its relevancy to the curriculum, clear direction, presence of example, and
type of writing.
E. Significances of the Study
After conducting the research, the researcher hope that:
1. Teacher will select the English textbook with good writing exercises
relevant to the curriculum before using in the classroom
2. English teacher will give more additional exercises in order to make
the students master writing skill.
3. English teacher will construct writing to have more variation writing
exercises to improve the students motivation in writing.

7
4. English textbook authors will present the writing material with good
exercises relevant to the curriculum.
II. Review of Related Literature
In this part, I will present the theories that are used in conducting
research. Such as learning English in Junior High School, general concept of
writing, the concept of English writing in the 2006 curriculum for Junior High
School students year VIII, the description of Communicative & Interactive
English for the year VIII of Junior High School book published by Yrama
Widya, and the last is Type of Analysis.
A. Learning English in Junior High School
In 2006 English curriculum or School Based Curriculum (KTSP)
for English subject of SD/MI, SMP/MTS, SMA/MA (2006: 277), it is
stated that Language has a central role in students intellectual, social and
emotional improvement. It is a support of successful in learning all of the
subjects. Hopefully, language learning could help the students to recognize
themselves, their culture, and the other peoples culture. Besides that,
language learning also help the students are able to express their idea,
feeling, and participate in the society, even find and use their analytic skill
and imaginative.
English is a means of communication, both spoken and written.
Communication is to comprehend and express the information, mind,
feeling,

and

develop

of

knowledge,

technology,

and

culture.

Communication ability is defined a discourse ability that is the ability to

8
comprehend and create a spoken and written text that applied in four
language skills. Those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These
four skills are used to respond or create a discourse in the society. Because
of this, English is used to improve those skills in order to make the
students are able to communicate in certain English literacy.
According to Suraya (2011: 14), learning English in junior high
schools is targeted to foster the learners to achieve the functional level of
spoken and written communication which relates to daily life matters.
Referring to the content standard (Depdiknas, 2006) said that the
aim of learning English is in order to be able to communicate, either
spoken or written in several language circumstances manifested in some
genres or model texts. The role of model text can be clearly seen through
the scope of English subject, as stated in the school based curriculum
(2007), which covers:
1. Discourse competence, that is the competence to understand and/or
produce texts, both speaking and written, which is realized in the four
language skills to achieve the informational literacy.
2. Interpreting and producing various short functional texts and
monologues of various genres: procedure, descriptive, recount,
narrative,

report,

news-item,

analytical

exposition,

hortatory

exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, review, public speaking.

9
3. Supporting

competencies:

linguistic

competence,

socio-cultural

competence, and strategic competence (School Based Curriculum,

2007:308).
From that elaboration, the researcher can conclude that genre or
model text plays essential role in the developing of students mastery of
language. It enables students to use language in context, to achieve the
purpose of communication. Therefore, English curriculum in KTSP is
specified into Text-Based Curriculum (TBC) which focused in the text as
the orientation of learning language, not only in isolated sentences.
Based on Hammond et al (1992: 09-11), literacy consists of
performative, functional, informational, and epistemic. In performative
level, people are able to read, write, listen, and speak with the used
symbol. In functional level, people are able to use language in daily life,
for examples reading a newspaper, manually or by direction. In
informational level, people are able to access knowledge with language
skills. In epistemic level, people are able to express their knowledge into
the target language.
According to KTSP for English subject of SD/MI, SMP/MTS,
SMA/MA (2006: 277), learning English in Junior High School have the
target, that is to make the students are able to reach the functional level. It
means SMP graduate should be able to achieve functional level for
communication, spoken and written language for problem solving in daily
life. The curriculum is also intended to develop skills of communication

10
that is the skills of understanding and/or creating spoken and/or written
text which are realized in four language skills: listening, speaking, writing,
and reading, in order to be able to communicate fluently and to make
discourse in certain level of literacy.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that the
objectives of the 2006 English Curriculum for SMP are preparing the
students to compete in the global society by way of developing their
communicative competence, spoken and written, and to understand the
relationship between language and culture.
B. General Concept of Writing
1. Definition of Writing
Writing is not simply a matter of putting words together.
Writing is a continuous process of thinking and organizing. Rethinking
and reorganizing (Boarman, 2002:11). Written text has a number of
conventions which separate it out from speaking. Apart from
differences in grammar and vocabulary, there are issues of letter, word,
and text formation, manifested by handwriting, spelling, and layout
punctuation. Nagaraj (1996: 134) states unlike listening and speaking,
writing is not something which is natural to human. It is a skill, which
has been developed, in civilized society to pass on knowledge or
messages.
Based on Alice Oshima & Ann Hogue (2006: 02), writing is a
progressive activity. This means that when you first write something

11
down, you have already been thinking about what you are going to say
and how you are going to say it. Then after you have finished writing,
you read over what you have written and make changes and
corrections. Therefore, writing is never a one step action, it is a process
that has several steps.
Oshima (1999:3) says, It is important to note that writing is a
process, not a product. This means that a piece of writing whether is a
composition for your chemistry class is never complete; that is it is
always possible to review and revise, and review and revise again.
From the statement writing can be imagined as a cyclic process that
needs some steps before coming to the final product. Along with
Oshima, Calderonello and Edwards (1997:5) consider writing as a
recursive process. Writer behaves recursively that is a writer must
often double block while writing-altering content, making changes,
making changes in organization and wording, rethinking a text at every
level in order to communicate their thesis and intention to the reader.
Meyers (2005:2) states that writing is an action, a process of
discovering and organizing ideas, putting them on paper, reshaping,
and revising them. It means that in order to create a quality work of
writing, the writers need to use all their thoughts and knowledge. In
other words, the writers have to be creative in generating and
organizing their ideas into meaningful written text. Harmer (2004: 86)
in How to Teach Writing states that writing is a process that what we

12
write is often heavily influenced by the constraints of genres, and then
these elements have to be present in learning activities. Therefore, in
the curriculum of English subject genre takes an important role in the
development of students linguistic competence.
According to Dvorak, as cited in Kern (2001:177), both first
and second language writing involve essentially similar processes, but
that second language writing involve complexified by the additional of
new resources and norms. Learning the structural elements of the
language, new rhetorical conventions and perhaps even new uses of
writing does not replace, but is added to what one already knows about
writing from ones native language. It means that teaching writing is
not an easy task so that teachers have to apply some techniques or
guidelines to be success- i.e. the curriculum. By knowing the
curriculum, English teachers are to manage the teaching and learning
process to reach the basic competences or objectives of teaching
English especially writing skills.
Based on the definition above, the researcher conclude that
writing is a means of communication where written form is used to
express the writer's purpose based on his or her experience. A writer
expresses his or her ideas, experiences, thoughts, and feeling through
writing for a specific purpose. Writing is not as simple as putting or
making letters on a paper or other media. Writing needs a process from
planning until presenting the text. By doing writing, someone is able to

13
express her/his thoughts, organize them into logical order, and share
them to other people. Writing is the difficult subject to learn. Because
this skill is not only exploring our ideas or feelings in a written text but
also the learner has to master the writing process well. So, it is very
important to learn. People wont get writing skill without learning. For
those who begin to write especially in the initial stages, writing is
confusing. So, the learner needs lots of training and exercises how to
express their own ideas. By doing so, the learner makes writing in a
habit.
2. Principles to Teach Writing
Many students think that writing is the most difficult skill to
master. The difficulty is not only in generating and organizing ideas,
but also in translating the idea into readable text. In writing, they also
need to consider the grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, and
so on. Almost all human beings grow up speaking their first language
(and sometimes their second or third) as a matter of course, writing has
to be learned and taught. Harmer (2004:3) states that spoken
language, for a child, is acquired naturally as a result of being exposed
to it, whereas the ability to write has to be consciously learned.
Hyland (2002:78) adds:
Fundamentally, writing is learned, rather than taught, and the
teachers best methods are flexibility and support. This means
responding to the specific instructional context, particularly the age,
first language and experience of the students, their writing purposes,
and their target writing communities, and providing extensive

14
encouragement in the form of meaningful contexts, peer involvement,
prior texts, useful feedback and guidance in the writing process.
Harmer (2004:11) suggests that teachers need to concentrate on
their students process of writing, and there are a number of strategies
we need to consider:
a. The way we get students to plan.
Before getting students to write we can encourage them to think
about what they are going to write.
b. The way we encourage them to draft, reflect, and revise.
One way of encouraging drafting, reflection, and revision is to
have students involved in collaborative writing. A pair or group of
students working together on a piece of writing can respond to
each others ideas, making suggestions for changes, and so
contributing to the success of the finished product.
c. The way we respond to our students writing.
It is not just teachers who can respond to students writing. It is
often useful to have students look at work done by their peers and
respond in their own way. Such peer response may provide a
welcome alternative to the teachers feedback, as well as offering a
fresh perspective on the writing.
d. The process trap
Teachers should consider the time allotment in teaching. One of the
problems of process writing is that it takes time. Over-planning can

15
take up too much time and, sometimes, restrict spontaneity and
creativity.
Richards and Renandya (2010: 306) also suggests ten steps in
planning a writing class. The first is ascertaining goals and institutional
constraints. Secondly, teachers have to decide on theoretical principles.
After that, teachers have to plan content and weighing the elements.
The fifth is drawing up a syllabus. The next are selecting materials,
preparing activities and roles, choosing types and methods of
feedback, evaluating the course, and the last is reflecting the teaching
experience.
Teaching writing is a complex process. A teacher should
consider the communicative competence. Canale (1983: 5) stated a
definition of communicative competence, communicative competence
was understood as the underlying systems of knowledge and skill
required for communication (e.g. knowledge of vocabulary and skill in
using the sociolinguistics conventions for a given language). In
addition,

Canale

also

outlines

four

major

components

of

communicative competence stated below.

a. Grammatical competence: including knowledge of vocabulary,
rules of word and sentence formation, linguistic semantics,
pronunciation and spelling.

16
b. Sociolinguistic competence: including rules of appropriateness of
both meanings (allowable messages) and grammatical forms in
different sociolinguistic contexts.
c. Discourse competence: the knowledge required to combine forms
and meanings to achieve unified spoken or written texts.
d. Strategic competence: knowledge of verbal and non-verbal
communication strategies that may be called upon to compensate
for limitations in one or more of the other areas of communicative
competence.
A teacher should also consider the teaching learning cycle for
writing. Hyland gives a teaching-learning process based on Feezs
cycle. The cycle informs the planning of classroom activities by
showing the process of learning a genre as a series of linked stages that
provide the support needed to move learners toward a critical
understanding of texts (Hyland, 2002: 128). The key stages are:
a. Developing the context. At this stage, students are introduced to the
social context of the genre to explore the general cultural context in
which the genre is used, the social purpose it achieves, and the
immediate context of the situation. This allows students to bring
their own experiences to the learning process and attempts to create
an understanding of the following questions:
1) What is the text about?
2) What purposes does it serve?

17
3) Who produced the text, and who for (what is the intended
audience)?
4) What choices does the writer have in formats, vocabulary,
topics, etc.? etc.
b. Modeling. It involves teachers and learners discussing and
exploring the stages of the genre and its key grammatical and
rhetorical features. The purpose here is to focus students on
features of the genre. Representative samples of the target genre
are analyzed, compared, and manipulated in order to sensitize
students to generic structure, alert them to the fact that writing
differs across genres, and equip them with the resources needed to
produce quality pieces of writing.
c. Joint Negotiation. At this stage of the cycle, teachers and learners
work together to construct whole examples of the genre, with the
teacher gradually reducing his or her contribution as learners gain
greater control over their writing. While joint construction is
normally done as a whole-class activity, it can also provide
opportunities for more able students to work together in groups
while teacher works with those who need more help.
d. Independent Construction. The purpose of this stage in the cycle is
for students to apply what they have learned and write a text
independently while the teacher looks on and gives advice from the
sidelines. Engaging in an entire writing process gives learners the

18
experience of an independent performance in which they combine
knowledge of content, process, language, context and genre. At the
same time, it provides teachers with a means of determining
whether students have achieved a required level of competency in
the genre.
e. Comparing Texts. This final stage of the teaching-learning cycle
provides opportunities for students to investigate how the genre
they have been studying is related to other texts that occur in the
same or similar context
Besides considering the key stages of teaching learning, some
aspects of writing should be considered by an English teacher when
she/he teaches writing an English text. Boardman and Frydenberg
(2002: 180) mentions five aspects of good writing. They are content or
ideas, organization, grammar or structure, word choice or word form,
and mechanics.
a. Content or Ideas
The first aspect of good writing is content or ideas. A written text
should have excellent support, unity and completeness in its
content. Unity means that a paragraph discusses one and only one
main idea from beginning to end and every supporting sentence
must directly explain or prove the main idea (Oshima and Hogue
2006: 18).
b. Organization

19
The second aspect of good writing is organization. A written text
with good organization is a text which has clear introductory
paragraph, well-organized body paragraphs, and concluding
paragraph. It should also have coherence and cohesion.
c. Grammar
Grammar is the rules about how words change their form and
combine with other words to make sentences (The Third Edition
of Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary). Garot and Wignel
(1994: 2) state that grammar is a theory of language, of how
language is put together and how it works. Frodesen (2001: 238)
states that when selecting texts and grammatical points for
analysis, the following considerations may serve as guidelines (a)
The grammatical features should be appropriate for students
developmental stages. (b) The grammatical features should reflect
students writing needs for the course of for future writing. (c)
When possible, assigned course readings should be sources of text
analysis so that grammar focus is integrated with other prewriting
activities. (d) The lessons should generally be kept brief, especially
for less advanced writers. (e) The instructor may want to enhance
the texts by underlining or bolding certain elements, especially
those that are not very salient for some learners.
d. Word Choice or Word Form Many researchers now advocate that
learners should initially be taught a large productive vocabulary of

20
at least two thousand high frequency words. Students should learn
very large vocabularies when they first start to acquire a language
(Decarrico, 2001: 287). Decarrico (2001: 288) also advices new
words should not be presented in isolation and should not be
learned by simple rote memorization. It is important that new
vocabulary items be presented in contexts rich enough to provide
clues to meaning and that students be given multiple exposure to
items they should learn.
Exercises and activities include learning words in word association
lists, focusing on highlighted words in texts, and playing
vocabulary games. More recently, computer programs that include
the sounds of the words as well as illustrative pictures provide
opportunity for practice with a variety of contexts, both written and
spoken. There are some vocabulary learning strategies, such as
guessing meaning from context, mnemonic devices, vocabulary
notebooks, etc (Decarrico, 2001: 290).
e. Mechanics
A good written text should have good written mechanics too.
Mechanics refer to letter recognition, letter discrimination, word
recognition, and basic rules of spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization, as well as recognition of whole sentences and
paragraphs (Olshtain, 2001: 208).
If the students write written texts with good written mechanics, the

21
written texts will be more understandable to read. As a result,
students need practicing a lot to be able to write with good written
mechanics and an English teacher should be patient when teaching
this aspect.
Olshtain (2001: 211) claims in order to develop and use more
demanding writing activities in the classroom, teachers need to
develop a detailed set of specifications which will enable both
teachers and students to cope successfully with the tasks. Such a
set of specifications should include the following:
1) Task Description: to present students with the goal of the task
and its importance. There are many tasks which can be used,
such as matching tasks, practical writing tasks, emotive writing
tasks, etc.
2) Content Description: to present students with possible content
areas that might be relevant to the task.
3) Audience Description: to guide students in developing an
understanding of the intended audience, their background,
needs, and expectations.
4) Format Cues: to help students in planning the overall
organizational structure of the written product.
5) Linguistic Cues: to help students make use of certain
grammatical structures and vocabulary choices.
6) Spelling and Punctuation Cues: to help students focus their

22
attention on spelling rules which they have learned and
eventually on the need to use the dictionary for checking
accuracy of spelling, and to guide students to use acceptable
punctuation and capitalization conventions.
3. Principle to Measure Writing Skill
In assessing writing, teachers need the scoring procedures.
These can vary considerably but fall into three main categories:
holistic, analytic, and primary trait (Hyland, 2004:162). A holistic scale
is based on a single, integrated score of writing behavior. Primary trait
scoring involves rating a piece of writing by just one feature critical to
that task, such as appropriate text staging, effective argument,
reference to sources, and so on. Analytic scoring, on the other hand,
requires readers to judge a text against a set of criteria important to
good writing and give a score for each category.
While, each scoring method has its

advantages

and

disadvantages. Brown (2004: 243) says that holistic scoring provides

little wash back into the writers further stages of learning. He also
explains that primary trait offers some potential feedback, but no
wash back for any of the aspects of the written production that enhance
the ultimate accomplishment of the purpose. According to him,
classroom evaluation is best served through analytic scoring, in which
as many as six major elements of writing are scored.

23
The following is the scoring guidance from analytical scale for
rating composition task of Brown and Bailey (1984: 39-41) as quoted
by Brown (2004:244). There are five categories in marking the
students composition, namely organization; logical developments of
idea (content); grammar; punctuation, spelling, and mechanics; and
style and quality of expression. The scoring is rated from 1 till 20
20-18
Excellent to
Good
1. OrganiAppropriate
zation:
title, effective
Introintroductory
duction,
paragraph,
Body, and topic is stated
Conclu
and leads to
sion
body;
transiti-onnal
expres-sion
used;
arrangement
material
shows
plan (could
be
outlined by
the
reader);
supporting
evidence
given
for generalizations;
Conclusion
logical and
complete.
Essay
2. Logical
Develop- addresses
the assigned
ment of
topic; the
Ideas:
ideas are
Content
concrete and
thoroughly
developed;

17-15
Good to
Adequate
Adequate
title, introduction,
body and
conclusion
of essay are
acceptable
but some
evidence
may be
lacking,
some ideas
are not fully
developed;
sequence is
logical but
transitional
expressions
may be sent
or misused

14-12
Adequate
to fair
Mediocre or
scant introduction or
conclusion;
problems
with the
order of
ideas in
body; the
generalization may not
be fully
supported
by the evidence given;
problems of
organization
interfere.

11-6
Unacceptable
-not
Shaky or
minimally
recognizable
introduction;
organization
can barely be
seen; severe
problems
with ordering
of ideas; lack
of supporting
evidence;
conclusion
weak or
illogical;
inadequate
effort at
organization.

6-1
Collegelevel work
Absence of
introduction
or conclusion; no
apparent
organization
of body;
severe lack
of
supporting
evidence,
writer has
not made
any effort to
organize the
composition
(could not
be outlined
by the
reader).

Essay
addresses
the issues
but misses
some
points;
Ideas could
be more

Development of
ideas is not
complete or
essay is
somewhat
off the topic;
paragraphs

Ideas incomeplete; essay

doesnt
reflect careful
thinking or
was hurried
written;
inadequate

Essay is
completely
inadequate
and doesnt
reflect
college level
work; no
apparent

24

3. Grammar

4. Punctu-

ation,
spelling,
and
mechanics

5. Style and
quality of
expression

20-18
Excellent to
Good
no extraneous materials; essay
reflect
thought

17-15
Good to
Adequate
fully developed; some
extraneous
material is
present

20-18
Excellent to
Good
Native-like
fluency in
English
grammar;
correct use
of relative
clauses, prepositions,
modals,
articles,
verb forms,
and tense
sequencing;
no fragments
or run-on
sentences
Correct use
of English
writing
conventions:
left and right
margins, all
needed
capitals,
paragraphs
intended,
punctuation
and spelling;
very neat.

17-15
Good to
Adequate
Advanced
proficiency
in English
grammar;
some
grammar
problems
dont
influence
communica
tion; no
fragments
or run-on
sentences

14-12
Adequate
to fair
Ideas are
getting
trough to the
reader, but
grammar
problems
are apparent
and have a
negative
effect on
communication; runon sentences
or fragments
presents

11-6
Unacceptable
-not
Numerous
serious
grammar
problems
interfere with
communicateon of the
writers ideas;
grammar
review of
some area
clearly needed;
difficult to
read sentences

6-1
Collegelevel work
Severe
grammar
problems
interfere
greatly with
the message,
reader cant
understand
what the
writer was
trying to say;
unintelligible
sentence
structure

Some
problems
with
writing
conventions or
punctuations;
occasional
spelling
errors; left
margin
correct;
paper is
neat and
legible
Attempts
variety;
good
vocabulary;
not wordy;

Uses general
writing
conventions
but has
errors;
spelling
problems
distract
reader;
punctuation
errors
interfere
with ideas

Serious
problems with
format of
paper; parts of
essay not
legible; errors
in sentence
punctuation
and final
punctuation;
unacceptable
to educated
reader

Complete
disregard for
English
conventions;
paper
illegible;
obvious
capitals
missing, no
margins,
severe
spelling
problems

Some
vocabulary
misused;
lack
awareness

Poor
expression of
ideas;
problems in
vocabulary;

Inappropriate
use of
vocabulary;
no concept

Precise
vocabulary
usage; use of
parallel
structures;

14-12
Adequate
to fair
arent
devided
exactly right

11-6
6-1
Unacceptable
College-not
level work
effort in the
effort to
area of
consider the
content
topic
carefully

25
20-18
Excellent to
Good
concise;
register
good

17-15
Good to
Adequate
register
OK;
style fairly
concise

14-12
Adequate
to fair
of register;
may be too
wordy

11-6
Unacceptable
-not
lack variety of
structure

6-1
Collegelevel work
of
register or
sentence
variety

This scoring has its advantages, but it is complicated to be

applied because it is too detail, so it may be difficult for Junior High
School students to fulfill the requirements in writing report text as
stated on the criteria.
In this study, the researcher will use the scoring guidance taken
from Boardman and Frydenberg. This guidance is simpler than the
analytic scoring, but it can be used to score the students writing in
detail. Based on this guidance, teachers should score the students
composition on the aspect of content, organization, grammar, word
choice, and mechanic. The following scheme of rating scale is the
scoring guidance taken from Boardman and Frydenberg (2002: 180):
SCORING
Exceptional : 25-23
Very good : 22-20
Average
: 19-17
Needs work : 16-0
Score:
Exceptional : 25-23
Very good : 22-20
Average : 19-17
Needs work : 16-0

ASPECTS OF GOOD WRITING

Content/ Ideas

Has excellent support

Is interesting to read
Has unity and completeness
Adheres to assignment parameters

Organization
Paragraph
Essay
Has topic sentence
Has introductory
with clear
paragraph with

26

Score:

controlling idea
Has supporting
sentences
Has concluding
sentence
Has coherence
and cohesion

SCORING
Exceptional : 25-23
Very good : 22-20
Average : 19-17
Needs work : 16-0

ASPECTS OF GOOD WRITING

Grammar/ Structure

Score:
Exceptional : 15-14
Very good : 13-12
Average : 11-10
Needs work : 9-0

Score:
Exceptional : 10
Very good : 9-8
Average : 7-6
Needs work : 5-0

clear thesis statement

Has body
paragraphs with
good organization
Has concluding
paragraph
Has coherence and
cohesion

Demonstrates control of basic grammar (e.g.

tenses, verb forms, noun forms, preposition,
articles)
Shows sophistication of sentence structure
with complex and compound sentences

Word Choice/ Word Form

Demonstrates sophisticated choice of
vocabulary items
Has correct idiomatic use of vocabulary
Has correct word forms

Mechanics

Has good paragraph format

Demonstrates good control over use of capital
letters, periods, commas, and semicolons
Demonstrates control over spelling
Doesnt have fragments, comma splices, or
run-on sentences

Score:

TOTAL SCORE:

Comments

4. Teaching Writing Based on 2006 Curriculum

According to School Based Curriculum (2007:1) the 2006
Curriculum or KTSP is the operational curriculum made and done

27
by each unit of education. KTSP is arranged based on the students
potential development needs for now and for the future with the
consideration of the local and national interests, and the global
requirements with the spirit of Management on the basis of the school
(MBS) (2007:4).
The main goal in reforming the curriculum is to increase the
quality of education. The standard achievement should have the
capabilities, knowledge and manners that can be useful for the next,
either when they apply for a job or when they want to continue their
studies. Thus, the main focus of English teaching in 2006 curriculum is
to develop students ability to communicate in the context of discourse
competence that is the ability to express written and oral which are
realized in four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
a. Listening:

understanding

various

meanings

(interpersonal,

ideational, textual) in various interactional spoken texts and

monologue especially in form of descriptive, narrative, recount,
procedure, report, and anecdote.
b. Speaking: telling various meanings (interpersonal, ideational,
textual) in various interactional spoken texts and monologue
especially in form of descriptive, narrative, recount, procedure,
report, and anecdote text.
c. Reading:

understanding

various

meanings

(interpersonal,

ideational, textual) in various interactional written texts and

28
monologue especially in form of descriptive, narrative, recount,
procedure, report, and anecdote.
d. Writing: expressing various meanings (interpersonal, ideational,
textual) using rhetorical development of various written text in
especially in form of descriptive, narrative, recount, procedure,
report, and anecdote.
Writing is one way to communicate with other people besides
speaking, reading, and listening. The word writing seems to be very
easy and simple to understand. However, it cannot be ignored when a
student write a paragraph, he/she should write not only semantically
correct but he/she should also use correct grammar.
Teaching writing is not an easy task so that teachers have to
apply some techniques or guidelines to be success i.e. the curriculum.
By knowing the curriculum, English teachers are to manage the
teaching and learning processes to reach the basic competences or
objectives of teaching English especially writing skills.
Based on the 2006 curriculum, the eighth grade students have
to master basic competences of writing skill, such as:
a. Students are able to complete a short essay in form of descriptive
text.
b. Students are able to complete a short essay in form of recount text.
c. Students are able to arrange jumbled sentences into a good
paragraph in form of descriptive text.

29
d. Students are able to arrange jumbled sentences into a good
paragraph in form of recount text.
e. Students are able to create a simple text in form of descriptive text.
f. Students are able to create a simple text in form of recount text.
D. The

Description

of

COMMUNICATIVE

&

INTERACTIVE

ENGLISH for the Year VIII of Junior High School

The researcher used the compulsory textbook used in the year VIII
of SMP that is COMMUNICATIVE & INTERACTIVE ENGLISH published
by Yrama widya. Based on the Otong Setiawans book (2007: 05), this
Communicative & Interactive English book, Competence and content
based Approach for the Eighth Grade of Junior High School is a
compulsory book that refers to the KTSP Curriculum that consider the
students as the most important point to be the main character in the
teaching and learning process so that the students are involved completely
in inquiry learning situation where the students have to explore and create
their idea and give their innovation in learning process.
This book is created for the class activity and many various
learning situation in order to make the students are in direct involved in
language interaction. So, the students will get many experiences and
English Language Comprehensive in their life. In this book, English
teacher is placed as a facilitator, guidance and counselor for the students.
E. Type of Analysis

30
Best (1981: 221-222) states that there are two types of analysis.
They are:
1. Descriptive analysis
Descriptive analysis limits generalization to the particular
group of individual/data observed. No conclusions are extended
beyond this group and any similarity to those outside the group cannot
be assumed. It means that the result of analyzing data by using
descriptive analysis is completely based on the data analyzed without
any influence from other data.
According to Surakhmad (2004: 139), descriptive method is a
kind of research method using the technique of searching, collecting,
classifying, analyzing the data, interpreting them and finally drawing
conclusion. Furthermore, in this research, the conclusion only applies
for the collected data, not for general conclusion.
2. Inferential analysis
Inferential analysis involves the process of sampling, and the
selection of a small group that is assumed to be related to a larger
group from which it is drawn. It can be said that the conclusion about
population of this analysis is based upon observations of samples.
From the two types of analysis above, the researcher choose the
descriptive analysis since the aim of the investigation is to analyze the
writing exercises of Communicative & Interactive English For The
Grade VIII of Junior High School book Published ByYrama Widya.

31

III. Research Methodology

A. Research Design
This research is a qualitative research. The researcher used the
descriptive method in which the data were analyzed and the analysis
result was formed descriptively or as phenomenon, not investigating the
numerals or about the inter-variable relationship. Nawawi (1993: 63)
points out that descriptive method is a solving-procedure which is
searched by describing/drawing the condition of the investigating
subject/object (i.e.: someone, institution, community, etc) at present time
according to the visible facts or as the way it is.
This study, therefore, is an effort to solve problems by comparing
the similarities and the differences found in the symptoms, measuring
the symptoms found, and so on. In other words, the descriptive method
is steps to objectively represent the symptoms existed in the research
problems.
Nawawi (1993: 64) also explains that the descriptive method
should focus on the following characteristics:
(1) Focusing on the current or the actual problems, and
(2) Describing facts about the problems using the rational adequate
interpretation.
By using this method, the researcher takes some steps such as
observing, collecting, documenting and analyzing the data, and finally
drawing a conclusion. In obtaining the purpose above, the writer applies

32
descriptive qualitative method in carrying out his research. It is in order
to describe, analysis, and interpretation on the writing exercises of
Communicative & Interactive English For The Grade VIII of Junior
High School Published ByYrama Widya.

B. Data Source
The data source of this research is the writing exercises that are
presented in the Communicative & Interactive English for the Grade
VIII of Junior High School book Published byYrama Widya and the
objective of writing exercises in 2006 curriculum for the eighth grade
students.
C. Object of the Study
In

this

study, the

researcher

choose

book

untitled

Communicative & Interactive English 2006 for the Grade VIII of

Junior High School Published by Yrama Widya, as the object of the
study. He wanted to know the relevance of writing exercises in the
textbook and the curriculum in terms of clear direction, presence of
examples, and the type of writing (guided and free writing).
D. Technique of Data Collection
The purpose of this study is to analyze the relevance of writing
exercises in Communicative & Interactive English for the Grade VIII
of Junior High School book Published by Yrama Widya and the 2006
curriculum or KTSP in terms of clear direction, presence of examples,

33
and type of writing, the researcher applied some steps in collecting data.
They are reading book, collecting the writing exercises and then
analyzing the writing exercises.

E. Technique of Data Analysis

In analyzing the data, I used a qualitative data analysis. I take
four steps of analyzing. They are: selecting, comparing, categorizing and
interpreting.
1. Selecting the data
The researcher selected the data by choosing all kinds of
writing exercises in every unit of Communicative & Interactive
English For The Grade VIII of Junior High School book Published
byYrama Widya.
2. Comparing the data
The researcher compared the writing exercises in the
textbook and the writing skills demanded by the curriculum. Then,
he take the writing exercises which are in line with the curriculum.
3. Categorizing the data
In categorizing the data, the researcher prepared a table to
classify the writing exercises in terms of its relevance, clear
direction, presence of examples, and type of writing (guided and free
writing).

34
In doing the table, he gave check ( ) in the right column.
This symbol shows whether the writing exercises is relevant or
irrelevant to the writing skills demanded by the 2006 Curriculum or
not, it has clear or unclear direction, it has an example or not, and it
is guided or free writing. The criteria are as follows:
a. Relevance
1) It is relevant to the curriculum if all six basics competences
of writing skill demanded by the curriculum are included in
the writing exercises of the textbook.
2) It is irrelevant if one or more writing skills demanded are not
included in the writing exercises of the textbook.
b. Clear Direction
1) It is clear if the writing exercises in the textbook have all
three characteristics of clear direction (brief, simple to
understand, and free from possible ambiguities).
2) It is unclear if the writing exercises in the textbook have less
than three characteristics of clear direction (brief, simple to
understand, and free from possible ambiguities).
c. Presence of examples
The presence of examples is to compensate for unclear exercises.
d. Type of Writing
The researcher divided the type of writing into two categories.
They are guided and free writing. It is guided if it is completed

35
with clues, guidelines, etc. In other words, the text is used for
students as guidelines in answering the questions. And it is free if
the exercises could be done freely (without clues or guidelines).
For example making free paragraphs.

4. Interpreting
Finally, the researcher analyzed the data by giving such
interpretation of writing exercises in the textbook whether they are
relevant to the curriculum or not.

36
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