Employing cartoon animation clips and picture series to improve the narrative writing ability of the eleventh graders of SMAN 7 Malang / Dhinar Arienintya

Thesis, Department of English, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Dr. Johannes A. Prayogo, M. Pd., M. Ed. Key Words: writing, cartoon animation clips, picture seriesWriting is as important as speaking for communicating with others. It is done by expressing ideas, messages or information through written form. However, based on the results of the Preliminary Study in the eleventh graders of SMAN 7 Malang, they had some problems in writing activity. The results show that their writing ability stayed on “fair” level. This was due to the monotonous way of the teaching and learning process and their low motivation in English class, especially in writing activity. Employing cartoon animation clips and picture series was chosen to overcome the students’ problems in writing activity. This study adapted the Classroom Action Research (CAR) by Kemmis and Taggart. This research conducted in two cycles and seven meetings, 3 meetings in Cycle 1 and 4 meetings in Cycle 2. The subject of this research was the students of XI IS 4 of SMAN 7 Malang academic year 2010/2011. The focus of this research was about the students’ writing performance, students’ attitude during the employment of cartoon animation clips and picture series, and students’ response toward the employment of the cartoon animation clips and picture series. The instruments of this research were writing scoring rubric, field notes, observation checklists, interview guide, and questionnaires. The data taken was analyzed by using qualitative methods, interpreted based on the criteria of success, and presented descriptively.The results of this research showed that the employment of cartoon animation clips and picture series in writing activity reached the criteria of success. The mean score of writing increased from Cycle 1 to Cycle 2. Based on the class mean of writing scores, the level of the students’ writing ability changed from “fair” level to “very good” level. The media used in this research was the cartoon animation clip and picture series that contained narrative stories.Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that the employment of cartoon animation clips and picture series in writing activity could improve the students writing ability in term of Content and Organization. The students also showed their positive attitudes toward the employment of the cartoon animation clips and picture series in writing activity. In addition, the employment of the cartoon animation clips and picture series in writing activity also got good responses from the students and the English class teacher.It is suggested that the English teachers employ cartoon animation clips and picture series to improve the students’ writing ability. The school principal is suggested to improve the English teaching and learning process and to improve the facilities of the school in order that this strategy could be well applied. In addition, further researchers are suggested to employ the cartoon animation clips and picture series in different grades or level of education and in different English text types to see whether this strategy can be employed more effectively.