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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Writing

1. Definition of Writing

Writing is one of the four language skills besides listening,

speaking and reading in language teaching. Writing can be defined as a

process of transforming thought into written language (Tiwari, 2005:120).

In other words, writing is the process of expressing ideas, thinking or

feeling in words on the piece of paper. In the process of writing, the

students need to have enough ideas, organize them well and express them

in appropriate style. Nunan (2003: 88) states that writing is the mental

work of inventing ideas, thinking how about to express them, and

organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a

reader.

Gaith (2002) states that writing is a complex process that allows

writers to explore thought and ideas, and make them visible and concrete

on the piece of paper. Writing gives a unique opportunity to explore ideas

and acquire information. By writing, someone can express his thoughts

more communicable to other.

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that writing is

complex process of transforming thought and ideas, thinking how to

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express them and organizing them into statement and paragraph to make

them visible and concrete on the piece of paper.

2. The Importance of Writing

Writing is a complex process, it means that in writing the

students have to consider many things to build a good writing. Harmer

(2004: 31-33) states that there are many importance of learning writing:

a. Writing is not often time-bound in the way conversation.

In writing activities, the students have more time to think than they do

in speaking activities. They can express what they know in their mind,

and even the students use dictionaries, grammar books or other

reference material to help them.

b. Writing encourages students to focus on accurate language use.

It is a good way for the students to develop their language when they

write down what they think or express their ideas with the accurate

language.

c. Writing is often used as a means of reinforcing language that has been

thought.

In teaching writing, the teacher often ask the student to write sentence

or paragraph using recently learnt grammar. The students should make

a note about what they have learnt while learning process happens. It

makes the students able to understand about the language that has

been thought.

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d. Writing is frequently useful as preparation for some others activity.

e. Writing can be used as an integral part of a larger activity where the

focus is on something else such as language practice, acting out or

speaking.

When the students write a short dialogue, the students can also

practice and act out their dialogue in oral activities.

f. Writing is also use in question and answer activities.

In teaching writing, the teacher often gives questions to the students.

For example about their knowledge or about the previous material.

The students prepare first to find the answer and they also write down

the answer then report the answer in front of the class. In the

examination also the students are asked their answer in the form of

written.

From the explanation above the writer can conclude that writing

skill is very important to be learnt. Writing helps someone to explore

their ideas, feelings and thoughts in a written form. Besides that

writing helps someone in solving and improving other skill in learning

language.

3. The Steps of Writing

Harmer (2004: 4-5) states that there are four steps in writing

process. They are:

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a. Planning

Planning is an important step in the writing process. In planning

process, the writer has to think about three main issues. First, the

writers have to consider about:

1. The purpose of writing. It is important to know the purpose of

writing since this will influence to a good writing result. By

knowing the purpose of writing, someone can decide the most

appropriate style of the language, therefore, the result will be

effective to reach the purpose.

2. The audiences they are writing for. The audience here is the readers

of writing. The audience will influence language style, diction,

paragraph structure, etc.

3. The content structure of the writing, how best the sequence facts,

ideas, or arguments which they have decide to include.

b. Drafting

Drafting means getting ideas on the paper in sentences and

paragraph. In the writing process, drafting is necessary for helping the

writer to write ideas and decide what should come first, second, third

and so on, until the last.

c. Editing

In editing process, the writer read again what they have written

as a draft. Another reader’s comment will help the author to make

appropriate revision. Here, the writer may change what the writer have

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written if they find something bad. For example, the information is not

clear, the grammar is wrong, the diction is not appropriate, etc. The

writers are able to change or correct it if they find those conditions.

d. Final Versions

Final versions is the last step of writing. This may look different

fromthe first draft that has been made before due to there are many

changes in editing processes. However, the writer is ready to send the

written text to the readers.

From the explanation above,it can be concluded that there are

four steps in writing. They are: planning, drafting, editing and final

versions.

4. Components of Writing

To make a good writing the student needs a lot of vocabulary,

correct grammar and good comprehension. Adapted from Nurgiantoro

(2001: 306-308), there are some components of writing:

a. Content

Content is refers to a set of information that support the specific

topic talked about. In the content aspect, the writer can develop the

details idea to describe the main topic.

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b. Organization

Organization means how the students arrange their ideas. The

organization of the text isclear ideas, good organization, logic

sequence and cohesive.

c. Vocabulary

Appropriateness in choosing and using vocabulary in each

sentence is an important thing in writing.

d. Grammar

Grammar is the rule of language in combining the words. The

use of grammar can be applied in all the kinds of sentence structure so

that it make writing more meaningful.

e. Mechanic

Mechanic means how the students write. Paragraph is a

combination of some sentences which need good spelling and

punctuation. If the use of punctuation is not appropriate, the paragraph

will be unreadable.

All of the aspects above for instance organization, content,

vocabulary and mechanic are the components of writing.

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5. Purpose of Writing

Tarigan (1994: 24) summarize the purpose of writing as follows:

a. Assignment Purpose

The writer writes since he is asked by someone. The idea to write does

not come from the writer himself.

b. Altruistic Purpose

The writer writes to entertain the readers, to reduce the reader’s

sadness and make their lives much easier by using his writing.

c. Persuasive Purpose

It has purpose to ensure the readers about the truth of the idea given

by teacher.

d. Informational Purpose

The purpose of this writing is to give information to the readers.

e. Self-expressive Purpose

The purpose is to introduce the writer to the reader.

f. Creative Purpose

It tends to get the artistic values.

g. Problem Solving Purpose

This writing is used to solve problem faced by the writer.

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6. Criteria of Good Writing

Tarigan (1994: 6) explain some criteria of good writing:

a. A good writing result shows the abilities of the writer in arranging the

materials to be a good structure.

b. A good writing result shows the abilities of the writer to write clearly

(unambiguous), to use the sentence structure well, language, and

examples, therefore, it make the readers easy to understanding the

explicit and implicit meaning.

c. A good writing result shows the ability of the writer to write surely: it

can take the readers’s interest to the main idea of the writing; it can

describe the main idea clearly and logically.

d. A good writing shows the ability of the writer to criticize his draft of

writing and then revise it to get the better one. The key of the

successfulness in writing is the willingness and the abilities of the

writer in revising his draft.

e. A good writing result shows the proud of the writer to his writing.

7. Problem of Learning Writing

Learning to write English in foreign language is not easy for the

students of junior high school, especially at seventh grade students. There

are some problems faced by the students in learning writing according to

Nurgiantoro (2001: 298-299), those are organizing idea, lack of vocabulary,

and grammar accuracy.

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a. Organizing Ideas

Generally the student’s problem in writing process is how to organize the

idea into sentences. Nation (2009: 119) states that some learners are able

to say what they want to write but have difficulty in putting it into written

form. It is because the students get difficulties in developing idea and

sometimes they do not know what they will to write. When writing, the

students usually write contents that are not suitable with the theme.

b. Lack of Vocabulary

Vocabulary also becomes an important part in writing composition. Lack

of vocabulary makes the students write uncommunicative sentences.

They will get difficulties in expressing their ideas, especially in writing if

the students do not master the vocabularies well. They also usually

choose incorrect words.

c. Grammar Accuracy

When the students are trying to writing, they are usually confused in

whether their sentence or grammatical correct or not.

Based on the explanation above, it is important for the students and

the teacher to know about problems in learning writing so they can find

the best way to anticipate it and students can learn writing easier.

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8. The Task of Teacher in Writing

Harmer (2004: 41-42) declares that there are some teacher tasks in

writing process:

a. Demonstrating

The teacher has to be able to make the students aware of the language

used or others to know writing function by using whatever the ways.

b. Motivating and Provoking

Teacher has to motivate and provoke their students to start writing and

help them to find out their motivation. The students sometimes lost their

idea, motivate and confidence. The teacher as the presenter of material

has to help them to find their motivate back.

c. Supporting

The teacher has to support the students when they get problem and need

teacher’s help to solve the problem.

d. Responding

The teacher has to give reaction or suggestion to the student’s writing

draft.

e. Evaluating

The teacher has to evaluate the student’s task in order to know the

student’s understanding.

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9. Types of Text

Based on the School Based Curriculum that used in junior high school, here

are types of text which is taught at seventh grade students in SMP N 2

Banyumas:

a. Descriptive Text

Wardiman (2008: 122) states that descriptive text is a kind of text which

describe particular thing, animal, person, or others, for instance: our pets

or a person that is known well.

b. Procedure Text

Anderson (1997:50) says that procedure is a piece of text that gives us

instruction for doing something. The purpose of procedure text is to

explain how something can be done.

In this research, the writer only focuse on descriptive text material.

B. Descriptive Text

1. Definition of Descriptive Text

Descriptive text is a kind of text which describes particular thing,

animal, person, or others, for instance: our pets or a person that is known

well (Wardiman, 2008: 122).

Meanwhile according to Purwanti (2013: 44) descriptive text is

text that contains of description of a person, animal, place or object

physically.

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In short, descriptive text is text that give description about

something. It can be person, animal, place or object physically.

2. Example of Descriptive Text

My Brother
Hello, everyone. My name is Riri. I would like to tell you about
my brother. His name is Bambang Pamungkas. Identification
My brother is thirty-five years old. He is anathlete. He is
football player. He joins with Indonesian football team.
My brother is handsome and tall. His height is about 180
centimeters. He has moustache and beard. He has slanted eyes and
pointed nose. His hair is straight. He also has brown skin.
My brother likes playing football. He plays football with his Description
friends three times a week, on Sunday, Thursday and Saturday. My
brother is smart and kind. Everyone loves and respects him. I am
3.
proud of him.
4. That’s my brother. Thank you.

3. Social Function of Descriptive Text

The specific function of descriptive text is to give description about an

object (human or non-human) (Pardiyono, 2007: 34).

4. The Generic Structure of Descriptive Text

Generic structure are the special characteristic of language in the text. The

generic structure of descriptive text are as follow:

a. Identification

It is part of paragraph which introduces or identifies the character to be

described. It can be called general description of the subject. Usually it

contains object’s name, kind of the object, etc.

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b. Description

It is part of paragraph which describes parts and characteristics of the

person or something that will be described in detail, so the readers can

get clear description of the subject.

5. The Language Features of Descriptive Text

According to Wardiman (2008: 122) the language features of descriptive

text are as follow:

a. Focus on one specific object

b. The Use of Simple Present Tense

Pattern:

(+) S + V1 s/es

Example: They write a letter

(-) S + do/does + not + V1

Example: I do not bring money.

(?) Do/does + S + V1

Example: Does she go to campus?

c. The Use of Adjectives

Example: thick, long, funny, love

C. Monopoly Game

1. Definition of Monopoly Game

Monopoly Game is a board game played with a dice and board by

two or four players in which they throw the dice in turns.

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(http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoli_%28permainan%29).

Before the students play the game, teacher distributes the

equipments of the game such as monopoly board, a dice, token, 10 cards

of chance, picture, and a blank of paper for one group.

Firstly, the student places the token in the start square, then they

begin to roll the dice. From the dice, student can know the number they

get. For example if the dice show four dots, it means the student has to

step forward four squares. In the monopoly board, there are 24 squares. 1

square is contained “start” sign, 17 squares is contained questions about

the material, 2 squares is picture “Jail”, 2 squares is “Just Visiting”, and 2

squares is “Chance”. There is possibility for the player to land on the

question squares, “Jail”, “Just Visiting”, and “Chance” squares. If the

student land on the question square, it means the student has to answer

questions provided in the square on the monopoly board (for example:

What is the color of her/his hair?). All of the questions in squares are

related to the picture given by teacher. The students answer are based on

the picture. Then the students write their answeron the blank of paper

provided. If they land on the “Jail” square, they are blocked in the next

turn. The student do not get opportunity to throw the dice in the next

turn, but in the following turn after they are blocked they are able to

throw the dice again. Then if the student land on the “Just Visiting”

square, it means that they only visit in the square without getting question

to answer.If they land on the “Chance” square, they can take one card of

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chance and follow the instruction or the clue which is written on the

card.The instruction in the card of chance for example: Throw the dice

once again.

The next student do the same thing as the first student do before.

All the students in group use the same paper to write the answer, so in the

end of game there are some informations that students get with their

group. From the informations, the students are asked to make full text

individually.

2. The Rules of Monopoly Game

The rules for playing Monopoly Game are:

a. This game is played by four players.

b. Student starts the game from “Start” square.

c. The first student take turns rolling the dice. Every time they roll the

dice, they count the number of spaces in the game.

d. The second student then do the same thing as the first student do,

he/she take turns rolling the dice.

e. If the student land on the question square, it means the student has to

answer the question provided in the square on the monopoly board.

f. If they land on the “Jail” square, they are blocked in the next turn. The

student do not get chance to throw the dice in the next turn, but in the

following turn after they are blocked they are able to throw the dice

again.

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g. If the student land on the “Just Visiting” square, it means that they

only visit in the square without getting question to answer.

h. If they land on the “Chance” square, they can take one card of chance

and follow the instruction or the clue which is written on the card.

i. Teacher gives the time about 25 minutes in every group for one game.

j. Each group is allowed to have some turns.

k. As many the students get the turn, the group will get more information

about the picture.

l. Each group is able to add the other information based on the picture

that there is not in the square.

m. The game is played by group, but in the end of game the student write

descriptive text individually.

3. The Strength and the Weakness of Monopoly Game

The strength of monopoly game are:

a. Monopoly game is a simple game and easy to play.

b. Monopoly game has the advantage of helping players develop

important social and interpersonal skill such as waiting, taking turns,

and enjoying interaction with others.

(http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/creativity-

play/benefits-board-games)

c. Game gives chance for students to do real communication between the

classroom and the real world.

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d. Learning process will be effective if teacher uses Monopoly Game,

because the students will feel happy and enthusiastic duringthe lesson.

e. It can make the students easy to remember the material.

The weakness of Monopoly Game is the teacher need extra work

because they have to manage the students when the students playing the

game in order to do not make noisy.

4. Teaching Descriptive Writing Using Monopoly Game

Here is the procedure of how to teach writing descriptive text using

Monopoly Game:

a. First, teacher makes sure that the students clearly understand about

what they have to do and understand about what they learn about

descriptive text material.

b. Second, teacher shows the example of Monopoly Game and tell the

students how to play the game.

c. Third, teacher divides the classroom into group working; every group

consists of 4 students. It helps the teacher to make correction for

students’ production in writing.

d. Fourth, teacher starts to distribute a monopoly board, 1 dice, 10 cards

of chance, token, picture of the person and a blank of paper. Every

group gets different picture.

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e. Fifth,teacher gives time-restriction for the students to play and write

full descriptive text in the end of the lesson. The teacher can give the

time to play around 25minutes.

f. When all the groups play the game, teacher guides the students if there

is problem in playing the game.

g. After 25 minutes, teacher asks to all groups to end the game.

h. Teacher gives the time 20 minutes for the students in group to make

full descriptive text based on the information that the students get

when they play the game in group.

i. Teacher asks to the students in group to deliver their writing in front

of the class.

j. Teacher with the students make evaluation related to the student’s

production in writing if there is mistake or not so that the students can

know the correct one.

k. The last, all of the students have to write the correct one descriptive

text based on the revision that the teacher and the students made

before.

D. Basic Assumption

In teaching writing teacher should create a good atmosphere in order to

make the student more interesred in writing activity. Based on the literature

review, game is one of entertaining waysto be applied in teaching learning

process. Monopoly Game is suitable way for teaching writing descriptive

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text. By using Monopoly Game, the students will enjoy in learning and

mastering the material. It is because they play the game and also learn

material unconsciously. This game will help the students to get clue to answer

the question and motivate their competence to construct the good sentence

when playing the game. The students will practice to write then they

demanded to answer the question on Monopoly Game board. The students in

experimental group which is taught using Monopoly Game will be motivated

and enjoy in following the lesson to learn descriptive text. Using game in the

teaching learning process can bring comfortable situation for students.

From the explanation in the previous section, the writer assumes that

Monopoly Game is effective to teach writing descriptive text.

E. Hypothesis

Based on the assumption above, it is hypothesized that there is possitive

effect of using Monopoly Game for teaching writing descriptive text at the

Seventh Grade Students of SMP Negeri 2 Banyumas in the Academic Year

2014/2015.

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