IMPROVING STUDENTS’ DESCRIPTIVE PA RAGRAPH WRITING ABILITY THROUGH RAFT TECHNIQUE AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPA RTMENT OF MANADO STATE UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This research was conducted to find out whether RAFT technique can improve students’ writing
ability and to explain how RAFT technique can improve students’ writing ability. This research used
Classroom Action Research with the combination of Quantitative data (scores of pre-test and posttest
) and Qualitative data in the form of observation, field notes, journal and documentations. The
number of students involved in this research was 20 students. The implementation of this research
was conducted in two cycles, every cycle consisted of three meetings with the steps of planning,
acting, observing and reflecting. The findings through quantitative data of this research displayed an
improvement with the percentage of the mean scores from pre-test and post-test. The mean score of
pre-test was 50.75 and the mean score of post-test in cycle 2 was 81.9. The percentage of the students
who could pass the standard score was 10 % and 100 % from pre-test to post-test cycle 2. It means
that there was 31.5 increased from pre-test to post-test and 90 % students could reach the standard
score (minimum criterion) since pre-test to post-test cycle 2. While in qualitative data, the results
through observation checklist, field notes, the researcher’s journal, and documentations showed that
the use of the RAFT technique could improve students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph. The
students became active, initiative, and responsible to their writing. Additionally, the students were
interested in the use of RAFT technique due to the RAFT aspects in helping them to write descriptive
paragraph orderly. Based on the findings, it could be concluded that RAFT technique was effective
to be used in improving university students’ ability in writing descriptive paragraph. Regarding on
the conclusion, this research is recommended to English Lecturers or Teachers in teaching writing to
improve students’ ability.
Keywords: Writing, Writing ability, University Student, Descriptive Paragraph, RAFT (Role,
Action, Format, Topic), Classroom Action Research