THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

ON WRITING ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

AT SMPN 1 BOYOLANGU IN THE
ACADEMIC YEAR OF
2013/2014
By
RIAN NAFIAH
NPM: 10188203002862
Advisors

: (1) LULUT WIDYANINGRUM, [Link]

(2) WILLY ANUGRAH GUMILANG, [Link]

ABSTRACT
Writing is one of important skills which is useful to the students. However,
many students have difficulties in writing. Authentic Materials proved to be
helpful to improve the students ability in writing descriptive text. The problem of
the research is to know how the effect of using authentic materials on writing
ability. The research objective is to find out whether or not there is an effect of
using authentic materials on writing ability of the first year students at SMPN 1
Boyolangu in the academic year of 2013/2014.
The research design is pre-experimental design. The population of this
research was 363 students. The subject of the research was among the first year
students and the researcher took two classes (G class and H class). The researcher
used cluster sampling as a sampling technique. Data collecting method in this
research was test. The researcher used subjective test. To analyze data, the
researcher used t-test as a statistical analysis.
The result showed that t-score was 7.9822 and df = 64 with the significant
of 5% was 2.000. It was found that the result of computation which statics using ttest formula was greater than the score on the t-table (7.9822 > 2.000). It meant
that Ho was rejected and Ha was accepted. So, an authentic material was effective
in teaching writing descriptive text.
Based on the result of study, it can be concluded that using authentic
material in teaching writing, especially in teaching writing descriptive text, can
help the students to express and improve their ideas in writing. Authentic
materials stimulate the students interest in writing descriptive text. Authentic
material can be used for the English teachers to improve their knowledge in
teaching English, especially in teaching writing descriptive text. To the future
researchers, this study can give some experiences and the researcher suggests
1

them to conduct the same research to see how far authentic materials can be used
to develop students ability in English competency, especially in writing.
Keywords: Effectiveness, Authentic Materials, and Writing Ability.
Writing is one of important skills which useful to the students, however
many students have difficulties in writing. According to Nunan (2003: 88), the
purpose of writing is both to express and impress through writing, a person is able
to express an idea or feeling and impress the readers the express their ideas in
certain way. Even if there are difficulties in writing, it is still a useful, essential,
integral and enjoyable skill (Scott, 1990: 69). It lets students express their
personalities. In learning process, it becomes a very difficult part because the
students have to express their ideas which they have into written form. In this
case, the students are usually bored to get this skill in learning process. It is the
reason why the teachers have to be creative to make an enjoyable situation when
teaching and learning process, especially in writing skill.
Based on the explanation above, we can conclude that the teachers have to
be creative. The method, technique and media used by teachers will influence the
success of developing the students skill in writing. The researcher tries to give a
solution in order to make the students become more interested and get the
motivation to study writing by using authentic materials. For instance; by using
authentic materials on real object. Teaching English through authentic materials
makes the students feel that they learn in a real context. According to Maroko
(2010: 9), authentic materials will make the teaching and assessment to focus on
skills rather than the facts of language. According to Beckham and Klinghammer
(2006: 84), authentic materials are materials used in the target language culture for
actual communicative needs. It will make the students more interested in writing
process. They can express their ideas easily.
There are some problems in the first year students of SMPN 1 Boyolangu
in writing process. The value of writing is not too good. The students think that
writing is the most difficult ability. They are not be able to express their ideas
well.
2

Based on the explanation above, the researcher is interested to conduct

research

entitled

THE

EFFECTIVENESS

OF

USING

AUTHENTIC

MATERIALS ON WRITING ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT

SMPN 1 BOYOLANGU IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2013/2014 .
Based on the background, the researcher formulates the statement of the
problem as follows: Is there any significant effect of using authentic materials on
writing ability of the first year students at SMPN 1 Boyolangu in the academic
year of 2013/2014? According to statement of the problem above, the research
objectives as follow: to find out whether there is or not significant effect of using
authentic materials on writing ability of the first year students at SMPN 1
Boyolangu in the academic year of 2013/2014.
The study is focused on the effectiveness of using authentic materials on
writing ability. The subjects of the research are limited to the first year students at
SMPN 1 Boyolangu in the academic year of 2013/2014.
RESEARCH METHOD
Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to
increase our understanding of a topic or issue (Creswell, 2008: 3). Creswell
(2008:1) also states that research is a process in which you engage in a small set
of logical steps. At a general level, research consists of three steps: pose a
question; collect data to answer the question; present an answer to the question.
From explanation above, it is clear that that research method is the way to
conduct a research. So, research method can be defined as a method to look for
and discover the scientific truth, which is done in valid and reliable work.
According to Ary (2002: 22), educational research is typically divided into
two broad categories: quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative research
uses objective measurement and statistical analysis of numeric data to understand
and explain phenomena. On the other hand, qualitative research focuses on
understanding social phenomena from the perspective of the human participants in
the study.
Quantitative research may be further classified as either experimental or
non-experimental (Ary, 2002: 24). Furthermore, he also divides the kinds of
3

research based on the significance of experiments i.e.: pre experimental design

and true experimental design. Pre experimental design consists of one-group
pretest-posttest design, static group comparison. And true experimental design
consist of control group pre test post test, randomize to subject, matched group
design, randomize pre test and post test design, randomize subject with pre test
group control post test group experimental, three types of experimental group and
control, four groups, group with three group control, time design.
Based on explanation above, the researcher uses pre-experimental design
because they provide little or no control of extraneous variables. During the
experiment, the two intact class in this research are given different treatments. The
first class, the experimental class (E) is treated using authentic materials, while the
second class, the control class (C) is treated without using authentic materials.
Below is the illustration of this research design.
Figure 3.1 Two Groups, Static Design
Group
Independent Variable
Post-test
E
X
Y2
C
Y2
(Adapted from Ary in Introduction to Research in Education, 2006: 305)
Where:
E: class refers to the experimental class which is given the experimental
treatment: using authentic materials.
C: class refers to the control class that is a class which is given without authentic
materials.
X: represents the independent variable, which is manipulated by the researcher. It
will also be referred to as experimental variable or treatment.
Y2: represents the dependent variable after the manipulation of the independent
variable X.
In this research, the researcher uses cluster sampling, because the unit
chosen is not an individual but a group of individuals who are naturally together
(Ary, 2002:168). The researcher takes two classes, because the teacher supervises
two classes in the first year students of SMPN 1 Boyolangu.
4

The researcher gives a pre-test to all the two classes. Pre-test is used to
know the homogeneity of the two classes. Based on the test, the researcher got a
score in every class. It showed that all of the two classes almost have the
similarity score, so the researcher takes the VII H class that has low score to get
treatments.
According to Creswell (2008:10), collecting data means identifying and
selecting individuals for a study, obtaining their permission to study them, and
gathering information by asking people questions or observing their behaviors. It
means collecting data is important to know the result or the research activity. Data
collecting method in this study is test.
The researcher uses subjective test. It is a teachers made test. There is a
question in this test. The test is conducted through writing test to make a
descriptive text using authentic materials. The researcher gives 30 minutes for the
students to do their writing test. The researcher gives a picture for the students and
they have to make a descriptive text based on the picture. The text is not more
than 10 sentences. They have to explain what kinds of things in the picture.
Data analysis is the process of looking at and summarizing data with the
intent to extract useful information and develop conclusions. In this study, the
researcher uses static group comparison. For the first, the reseacher gives a
treatment. After giving a treatment, the reseacher gives post-test. In order to see
the final result of the experiment, all gained data are treated and analyzed. The
students scores obtained from the post-test, would be analyzed statistically using
the independent t-Test. The analysis of the data used Ary (2006: 184-186) formula
which proceeded with the following stages:
1. The researcher computes each mean of two sets of data
2. Then, the researcher computes the value of standart error of the difference
between two means. The formula for this case is:
Sx1-x2 =

x 21 + x 22 1 1
+
n1+ n 2 n1 n 2
2

Ary (2006: 171-173)

5

Where:
Sx1-x2

= the standar error of the difference between two means

n1

= the number of cases in group 1

n2

= the number of cases in group 2

x 21

= the sum of the squared deviation score in group 1

x 22

= the sum of the squared deviation score in group 2

3. The researcher, moreover, applies a new formula to compare two values using
t-ratio. The formula is:

t=

X 1X 2
s x 1x 2

Where:
X 1 X 2
s x 1 x2

= the observed difference between two means

= the standard error of the difference between two means

4. Then, the researcher looked up in the degrees of freedom. The formula is:
df = n1 + n2 2
Where:
df = degrees of freedom
n1= the number of the students of the Group 1
n2 = the number of the students of the Group 2
The level of significance = 0.05
The norms:
The t-score must be compared to t-table to decision the significant. The writer
uses the following norms:

If t-score t-table of the significance level of 5 %, it means that Ho is

rejected and consequently the Ha is accepted.

If t-score < t-table at the significance level of 5 %, it means that Ho is

accepted.
6

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this research, the researcher did an experimental research about the
effectiveness of using authentic materials to improve writing ability of the first
year students at SMP Negeri 1 Boyolangu in the academic year 2013/2014. The
researcher held the research by teaching learning process that was done at two
classes that are VII H as experimental group and VII G as control group.
Experimental group was taught by using authentic materials and control
group was taught without using authentic materials. So, the researcher just taught
by the theory and gave the example of descriptive text composition to the
students. The researcher used three steps: pre- test, treatment and post- test for the
experimental group. Pre-test was done to get writing score of the students of the
two classes to know which class that needed to give a treatment. After doing pretest, the researcher gave treatment to experimental group. In the end, the students
of two classes did the same post test. It was used to know whether there was any
significant effect of their writing ability or not. These are the students score
during post-test in Control Group and Experimental Group :

Table 4.1: The Scoring Distribution of Students Post-Test score of

Control Group
N
o

Name

Aspect
Content

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

AA
AZ
AN
AD
AP
AK
AF
AB
DG
DE
DA
ER
EJ
GP
HA
IN
IO
IK
KD
LA
MT
MR
MP
MA
MH
MM
NN
RP
RA
RN
RB
SL
SH

4
3
4
4
4
3
4
4
3
4
3
4
3
3
4
4
3
4
3
3
4
4
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
4
4
3
4

For
m
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
3
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
4
2
3
3
3
4
3
3
3

Gramma
r
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
3
3
2
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
2

Total Grade
score
Style
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
4
3
3
4
3
4
4
4
3
3
3
4
3
2
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
3

Mechanic
s
3
3
4
3
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
4
2
2
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
4
3
3

17
15
18
17
18
15
18
17
15
15
15
17
16
18
17
15
14
15
17
15
14
15
17
15
18
14
15
14
17
17
18
15
15

68
60
72
68
72
60
72
68
60
60
60
68
64
72
68
60
56
60
68
60
56
60
68
60
72
56
60
56
68
68
72
60
60
2112

From the data of post-test score of control group above, there are 4
students get grade (56 58), 13 students get grade (59 61), 1 student gets grade
(62 64), 9 students get grade (65 67), and 6 students get grade (71 73).
Scoring guidance:
'

Students grade =

student s gain score

1 00
maximum score

The Calculation of Mean Score of Control Group

X2
X 2=
n2

2112
33

= 64

Table 4.2: The Scoring Distribution of Students Post-Test Score of

Experimental Group
N
o

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

Name

AP
AA
AM
AD
AW
AN
AS
AF
AR
AY
AJ
AC
DE
DT
DC
ET
EP
GA
HC
KI
LM
MN
ME
PM
RA
SR
SA
WK
WN
YA
YS
YD
ZA

Aspect
Conten
t
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
5
4
4
4
4
4
5
5
4
5
5
4
5
5
4
4

For
m
5
5
5
4
3
4
4
3
5
4
4
4
5
4
4
4
5
4
4
5
4
3
4
5
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
4
4

Gramma
r
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
5
3
3
3
4
3
3
3
4
4
3
4
3
3
3
4
3
2
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
10

Styl
e
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
4
5
4
3
4
4
4
4
3
4
4
3
4
3
4
3
5
4
3
4
5
4
5
5
3
3

Mechanic
s
5
5
5
4
4
3
4
3
4
4
3
4
4
3
4
3
5
4
4
5
4
3
4
5
3
4
5
5
5
4
3
3
4

Total
scor
e

Grade

24
23
23
20
19
17
18
17
23
19
17
19
21
18
19
17
22
21
18
22
18
17
18
24
19
17
22
24
22
23
22
17
18

96
92
92
80
76
68
72
68
92
76
68
76
84
72
76
68
88
84
72
88
72
68
72
96
76
68
88
96
88
92
88
68
72
2632

From the data of post-test score of experimental group above, there are 13
students get grade (68 72), 5 students get grade (73 - 77), 1 student gets grade
(78 82), 2 students get grade (83 87), 9 students get grade (88 - 92) and 3
students get grade (93 97).
Scoring guidance:
Students grade =

student ' s gain score

1 00
maximum score

The Calculation of Mean Score of Experimental Group

X1
X 1=
n1

2632
33

= 79.76

The first class as experimental group was taught by using authentic

materials. The highest score in this group was 96 and the lowest score was 68. The
mean score in this group was 79.76. While the highest score in the control group
was 72 and the lowest score was 56. The mean of this group was 64. The index
used to find the significance of the difference between the means of the two
classes in this case is called the t-test for independent samples. The samples are
reffered to independent because they are drawn indepently from a population
without any pair or other relationship between two classes. The researcher
compared the final score between G class and H class. The data were tabulated in
statistical computation.
11

There were some steps in analyzing the t-test value. First, researcher
evaluated the mean score of each class. From appendix, it was found that the

mean scores of experimental class ( X 1

control class ( X 2

) was 79.76 and the mean score of

) was 64. Then, the reseacher calculated the value of standart

error of the difference between two means (S). Before calculating value of S, it
2
2
was needed to look for this value of x 1 , x 2 ,

found that the value of x 1

n2

and

was 3166.0608 and the value of x 2

And the researcher stated previously, the value of

n2

n1

n1

. It was
was 992.

was 33 and the value of

was 33.
After finding the value of standard error of the difference between two

means (S) which was 1.4845, the next step was analyzing t-value of t-test. The
value of t-test was 7.9822. Then researcher looked up the degrees of freedom (df).
The formula is df =
was 33 and

n2

n1

n2

2. As stated previously, the value of

n1

was 33. So that the value of df was 64. At the level of

significance 0.05 and degree of freedom 64 was 2.000. It can be seen tscore > ttable =
t score

7.9822 > 2.000. As stated above that if

that the

t score

is higher than score of

t table

is higher than

t table

, it shows

at significance 0.05, 2.000 with

df = 64. In other words, it can be written 7.9822 > 2.000. It shows that H0 is
rejected and Ha is accepted, so the alternative hypothesis is accepted.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

There is conclusion can be drawn from the result of the post-test.
12

1. The computation result of the students writing test taught by using

authentic material shows that the mean score is 79.76.
2. The computation result of the students writing test taught without using
authentic material shows that the mean score is 64.
3.

It can be seen from t-test computation. The t-test computation shows that t
= 7.9822. It is higher than t-table 2.000 at the degree of significant 5 %
and 2.660 at the degree of significant 1 %. Theoritically, the Ho is rejected
and the Ha is accepted. And from t computation, it shows that the t-score
is 7.9822 and based on the significant level of 0.05 and df = 64, it shows
that t-table is 2.000. From the calculation between the t-score and t-table,
it can be known that t-score > t-table or 7.9822 > 2.000.
Based on the data, it means that the null hypothesis was rejected and the

alternative hypothesis was accepted. So, there was a significant difference in the
achievement of students taught by using authentic material and the students taught
without using authentic material.
Authentic materials bring the students writing skill development. It makes
the students more active in learning process. The students can motivate
themselves to be more active in learning process, especially in writing. The
students should be motivated to know the importance of studying English.
Authentic materials can be used for the English teachers to improve their
knowledge in teaching English, especially in the teaching writing descriptive text
by using authentic materials. The English teachers should be creative in teaching
learning process and motivate the students to develop their English. The
researcher hopes that this research will be useful for the future researchers as the
reference to make a further research. The researcher suggests them to conduct the
same research to see how far authentic materials can be used to develop students
ability in English competency, especially in writing.
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