THE STUDY ON THE USE OF ABSTRACT

PAINTING TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’

CREATIVENESS IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE

TEXTS

Mawar Megasari Siahaan

1121019

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Among the four language skills taught in schools, writing is the most

difficult skill to learn. It needs specialized skills that include the ability to express

the writer’s opinions or thoughts clearly and efficiently. These abilities can be

achieved only if a learner masters some techniques of writing such as how to

obtain ideas about what she/he will write on, how to express them in a sequence

of sentences, how to organize them chronologically and coherently, and how to

review and then to revise the composition until the writing is well-built

(Ratnasari, 2004). The skill is even more complex due to its “distancing”

characteristic (Samuel, 1989, p. 1). That is, the writer is required to be able to

balance between what can be assumed to be the audience’s private background

knowledge of the communicative intent of the text and the audience’s ability to

make inferences, which depends on both knowledge of language and knowledge

of the real world. The complicated process that a learner should go through must

be learned.

However, many students think that writing is the most difficult skill to

master. Alwasilah (2001) believes that, compared to other skills, writing is

perceived as the most difficult to acquire for some reasons. One of the reason that

make writing becomes the most difficult skill to learn is there is no idea to be

developed. Additionally, it is a difficult subject because in writing we not only

have to share ideas from our brain but also we have to be clever to choose and

combine the vocabulary to create something that is meaningful. It is not easy to

translate concepts in our brain to be a written text. In line with this reason; Nation

(2009) states that students may have no difficulties in gathering ideas but ay

experience great difficulty in turning these ideas into a written text. Furthermore,

Hyland (2003) claims that writing is the most important skill that second language

students need to develop.

As a result, teachers have to provide more interesting method or effective

media to encourage students’ interest and build their self confidence in writing.

Lynne (2001) admits that students’ interest is one of the main factors to achieve

the goal of teaching learning English. Therefore abstract painting is used as a

medium to help the teacher to increase student’s creativity in writing. The primary

purpose of descriptive writing is to describe a person, place or thing in such a way

that a picture is formed in the reader's mind. Capturing an event through

descriptive writing involves paying close attention to the details by using all of

your five senses. Teaching students to write more descriptively will improve their

writing by making it more interesting and engaging to read. Many researchers

said that painting or picture can improve the students’ writing skill.

Based on the explanation above, this study tries to investigate the benefits

of the use of abstract painting in teaching descriptive text and find out students’

responses about the use of abstract painting. Further, this study is expected to

have some contribution for language teaching especially in teaching writing. And

based on the background of the study, the writer takes the title “The Study on The

Use of Abstract Painting to Enhance Students’ Creativeness in Writing

Descriptive Text”

B. Statement of the Problem

This study is conducted in order to answer the following questions:

1. Is the use of Abstract Painting can improve student’s creativeness in

writing descriptive texts?

2. What are the students’ responses toward the use of abstract painting in

teaching writing descriptive text?

B. Purposes of the Study

The purposes of the study are as follows:

1. To identify the benefits of the use of abstract painting in teaching

writing descriptive texts.

2. To find out students’ responses toward the use of abstract painting

in teaching writing descriptive texts.

C. Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant difference of using Abstract Painting in

improving students’ creativeness in writing descriptive text.

Ha: There is a significant difference of using Abstract Painting in

improving students’ creativeness in writing descriptive text.

H0: There is no response of student toward the use of abstract painting in

teaching writing descriptive text

Ha: There is no response of student toward the use of abstract painting in

teaching writing descriptive text

D. Significant Of the Study

The result of this study are expected to contribute and give some benefits

to students, teachers and for other researchers. Here are the benefits:

1. Students

It can help them to make a good descriptive text since it can lead the students

to build many ideas and imaginations.

2. Teachers of English

This study can be helpful for them to choose a certain new technique in

teaching writing descriptive texts. Beside this study also can be one of references

for them to teach writing descriptive texts in enjoyable ways.

3. Other researchers

To be the source of information for other researchers who are also

investigating the use of abstract painting to enhance students’ creativeness in

writing descriptive texts.

4. The writer herself

The result of this study can be useful to enlarge her knowledge about

enhancing the students’ creativeness in writing descriptive text through art or

abstract painting.

E. Scope and Limitation of the Study

The writer limits this study by the following limitation:

1. The subject of researcher in this research is the eleventh grade student of senior

high school

2. The implementation of Abstract Painting to improve the student’s creativeness in

writing descriptive texts. The researcher will only focus on the benefits of the use

of abstract painting in teaching writing descriptive texts and students’ responses

toward the use of abstract painting in teaching writing descriptive texts.

G. The Definition of Key Term

In order to clarify what variables are involves in the study some definition

are put forwards:

1. Abstract Painting

- Abstract painting is a painting or sculpture (includingassemblage ) that

does not depict a person, place or thing in the natural world -- even in an

extremely distorted or exaggerated way.

2. Descriptive Texts

Descriptive texts is a kind of text that describes a particular person, place,

or thing.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents some reviews of relevant theories related to the

issues in this study. In detail, this chapter explains the nature of writing, the

process of teaching writing, descriptive texts, the definition of descriptive texts,

generic structures of descriptive texts, language features of descriptive texts, the

use of abstract painting, the definition of abstract painting, history of abstract

painting, the implementation of abstract painting as teaching media in the

classroom, abstract painting in teaching descriptive writing, and related studies to

those issues.

Art

The use of arts in learning

2.1 Writing

2.1.1 The nature of writing

Writing plays an important role in our lives. Nagin (2006) argues that

effective writing skills are important in all stages of life from early education to

future employment. Most of information is presented in written language such as

manual books, newspaper, magazines, internet, etc. Lamb (2000) reveals that

writing is the expression of language in the form of letters, symbols, or words.

The primary purpose of writing is communication. According to Tabor (2004)

writing is one of the main to asses students’ knowledge, skills and understanding.

In the wider society writing is often used as a metaphor for the process of

education, or even being educated. Therefore, many teachers push their students

with a lot of assignments in writing to make them feel familiar with writing and

develop their writing skill.

Although writing tends to be important for us, it is a difficult subject

especially for the students in the schools since they have to produce texts by using

English. They have to write about what they think in their mind and state it on a

piece of paper by using the correct procedures. Moreover, Nagin (2006) admits

that writing is hard because it is a struggle of thoughts, feelings, and imaginations

to find expression clear enough for the task at hand. Furthermore, Brookes and

Grundy (1998) state that the skill of writing in second language is important and

needs separate and special attention. Hence (2004) reveals that written texts have

number of conventions which separate it out from speaking. Apart from

differences in grammar and vocabulary, there are issues of letter, word, and text

information, manifested by handwriting, spelling, and layout and punctuation.

2.1.2 The process of teaching writing

The writing process involves teaching students to write in a variety of

genres, encouraging creativity, and incorporating writing conventions. This

process can be used in all areas of the curriculum and provides an excellent way

to connect instruction with state writing standards.

Cooper (2000) explains that process writing is an approach to teaching writing

that allows students to take charge of their own writing and learning. Badger and

White (2000) asserts that process writing approach sees writing primarily as the

exercise of linguistic skills, and writing development as an unconscious process

which happens when the teacher facilitates the exercise of writing skills. The

process writing approach includes four steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and

editing. It enables the students to complete their writing step by step until they

come to the final draft through four stages namely: prewriting, drafting, revising,

and editing (Seow, 2002). As the term suggests, the teaching of writing focuses on

what goes on when students write and what the teacher can do to help students get

into natural writing.

Additionally, Brown (2001) says that the process of writing requires an

entirely different set of competencies and is fundamentally different from

speaking. He adds more that written products are often the result of thinking,

drafting, and revising procedures that require specialized skill, skills that not

every speaker develops naturally.

2.2 Descriptive texts

2.2.1 Definition of descriptive text

Descriptive text is a text which says what a person or a thing is like. Its

purpose is to describe and reveal a particular person, place, or thing. Stanley

(1988) mentions that description presents the appearance of things that occupy

space, whether they are objects, people, buildings or cities. In this kind of text, the

students are required to list the characteristics of something and usually deal with

the physical appearance of the described thing (Smalley et. al., 2001). In other

words, a particular person, place or thing is described in details in this

composition. The description tells the object as the way it is without being

affected by the writers’ personal opinion. Before telling what they have caught

through their sensory system, a mental activity is involved. They firstly identify

certain imagery or real object which is located somewhere. Through the words,

then they describe the thing they have in mind. In short, writing a descriptive

text is “a way of picturing images verbally in speech or writing and of arranging

those images in some kind of logical or association pattern” (D’Angelo,

1980).Meanwhile, according to Corbett (1983) that descriptive text is one of the

expository writing. The description draws a picture, tries to convey the sound,

taste, and smell of things or objects. Tompkins (1994) and Stanley (1988) defined

descriptive text as painting pictures with words. By reading a descriptive text,

readers feel that they see the description just like they see pictures. Descriptive

text has the purpose to describe an object or a person that the writer is interested

in. Thus, in writing a descriptive text the writers should know well what they want

to describe. They describe their ideas and thought vividly based on what they see,

hear, taste, smell, or touch. Anderson & Anderson (2003) add that descriptive text

is different from information reports because they described a specific subject

rather than general group.

In addition, Temple et al. (1998) stated. “Description is discourse that helps us

visualize. It focuses upon the appearance or the nature of an object. In description,

we see vividly and concretely, we perceive the object with a kind of fullness for

which exposition does not strive”. In Library of Congress (2008) it is stated that

we use descriptive text to describe a person, place or thing. For example, we

might want to describe what a crab looks like, or how he moves. Be sure to

include details that describe sounds, color, smells, setting and so on. According to

Friedman (2010) descriptive details mean to grab the reader’s attention.

A descriptive text is considered as the simplest and easiest writing form

compared to narrative, recount, or procedure, particularly for the beginning

writers (Ellis et. al., 1989). In addition, it allows students to share interesting

impressions of a person, a place, or an object surrounding them (Troyka, 1987).

The purpose of writing description is to describe a person, place, or thing

in such vivid detail that the reader can easily form a precise mental picture of

what is being written about, or can feel that they are part of the experience

(KangGuru in the Classroom: Teacher’s Guide SMA Package, 2005). Stanley

(1988) asserts that the aim of description is to convey to the reader what

something looks like. Furthermore, Johnston & Morrow (1981) states that the

purpose of descriptive text is to describe objects or persons in which the writer is

interested. Therefore, the writer should know well what he wants to describe,

starts by observing the objects carefully to take the significant details and brings

clear picture to the readers and avoid ambiguities.

Wardiman, et. al. (2008) specify the generic structure of descriptive text

into two parts, that is 1) introduction is the part of paragraph that introduces the

character; and 2) description is the part of paragraph that describes the character.

This indicates that a descriptive text has two elements – an element to identify

phenomenon (identification) and another one (description) to portray parts,

qualities, or characteristics. In terms of significant lexico grammatical features,

the text focuses on specific participants, contains attribute and identifying process,

comprises epithets and classifiers in nominal groups as well as uses simple

present tense (Sutardi & Sukhrian, 2004).

2.2. 2.The Generic Structure of Descriptive Text

According to Kane (2000:352), the generic structures of descriptive text is

identification and description. Moreover, Seyler (2004:81), descriptive text has

some characteristics as follow:

a. Generic structure consist of identification and description

b. Focus a specific participant

c. Use attributive and identifying processes

d. Frequent use of epithets and classifiers in nominal group

e. Use of simple present tense

Meanwhile, Pardiyono (2007:34) states in descriptive text there are generic

structure such as:

a. Identification is identifying phenomenon to be described (person, thing,

object or place).

b. Description is describing parts, qualities, characteristics, etc.

Based on explanation above the writer concludes that descriptive text consists of

two generic structures. They are identification and description. Descriptive texts

use present tense as the grammatical pattern.

2.2.3 The Language Feature of Descriptive Text

- The characteristic or language feature of descriptive text is as follows:

- Focus on specific participants

- Use attributive and identifying processes.

- Use adjective and classifier in nominal group.

- Using simple present tense

2.3 Abstract Painting

2.3.1 The use of abstract painting

The use of art helped access feelings. To express our feelings can be by

using art. Abstract paintings or we commonly known as an abstract object that is

not clear or realist who does not resemble the actual shape but a form or a

painter's imagination in accordance with the shadows resulting in a unique picture

of elegant and very rarely understood by others unless the painter himself and a

few people who understand the art of painting.

We will know whether or not it is an abstract painting, we can see it from

the painting itself in which a painting was not shaped or resemble a living thing or

a natural landscape, but as the graffiti artists hand painting eventually draw

something unique and different from the others. in terms of color, shape in

imagined making an elegant painting unique. if we want to paint an abstract

painting:

1. We can start from our imagination, what we imagine

2. When we imagine what is thought by our imagination, then start preparing

media painting materials, ranging from paper or canvas, colored pencils or paint

painting. Her regular painter would use 2 paint acrylic paint and paint that is oil

3. The following materials prepared then begin to paint according to your

imagination.

One characteristic of abstract art is that which forms never form, abstract

form are not associated with any form that we've seen, but if observed would look

like something. Colors and shapes as well as additional material in abstract

painting is the subject for a more unique look. In income abstract works, abstract

painting is quite sensitive to the composition and uses more color watercolor

Abstract art using water color techniques are also commonly classified as

figurative and abstract art paintings are the things that are not visual, such as

emotion, sound, or spiritual experience. Figurative abstraction is an abstraction or

simplification realistic.

2.3.2 The definition of abstract painting

Houghton Mifflin Company (2005) said that a trend in painting and

sculpture in the twentieth century. Abstract art seeks to break away from

traditional representation of physical objects. It explores the relationships of

forms and colors, whereas more traditional art represents the world in

recognizable images.

According to the Wikipedia Abstract art can be a painting or sculpture

(including assemblage ) that does not depict a person, place or thing in the natural

world -- even in an extremely distorted or exaggerated way.

Therefore, the subject of the work is based on what you see: color, shapes,

brushstrokes, size, scale and, in some cases, the process (see action painting).

Abstract art began in 1911 with such works as Picture with a Circle(1911) by the

Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944).

Kandinsky believed that colors provoke emotions. Red was lively and confident;

Green was peaceful with inner strength; Blue was deep and supernatural; Yellow

could be warm, exciting, disturbing or totally bonkers; and White seemed silent

but full of possibilities. All these color can express feelings and emotions.

Especially for writing, It can help our imaginations grow.

He also assigned instrument tones to go with each color: Red sounded like

a trumpet; Green sounded like a middle-position violin; Light Blue sounded like

flute; Dark Blue sounded like a cello, Yellow sounded like a fanfare of trumpets;

and White sounded like the pause in a harmonious melody. It proves that Abstract

art not only for building creativeness in making descriptive writing, but also for

instrument tones or music.

According to Revista Nova Escola-setembro (1997) one of the techniques

that can stimulate the right side of the brain is consist of making some given

drawings, in a non conventional way. By painting can stimulate the creativeness

and emotion in making descriptive text.

2.3.3 History of abstract painting

This type of painting can be defined in various ways. Unlike traditional

paintings, abstract painting does not portray reality. Before, painting was all about

depicting a realistic or photographic expression of something or someone.

However, abstract paintings are a lot different. The painting itself does not

illustrate real objects. The shapes and colors shown in abstract paintings are non-

objective and non-representing. The painting may refer to a person or to any other

individual, anything, or even nothing. If you can't understand the meaning of a

particular painting, you can ask the experts or even the painter about its meaning.

Natural art lovers on the other hand, do not need explanations because if they love

abstract paintings, they will understand clearly the significance of the painting.

When people say abstract painting, not many appreciate it probably because of its

different style and not so ordinary appearance. But despite the oddness of such

painting style, you should not judge it at first sight. Instead, you should try to

understand why it was painted.

Abstract painting started hundreds of years ago. There are famous abstract

paintings housed in museums. Private collectors who love abstract painting also

have some of them. Abstract paintings are good investments as well as collection

items. You'll never know how much a certain painting would cost in the future

and with the great awareness and appreciation of people nowadays for abstract

painting, even you can't tell a paintings value. Some of the famous abstract

painters were Picasso, Van Gogh, and Modigliani. Because of these artist's

beautiful works, abstract painting became even more famous.

Try to look at an abstract painting. You will see bright, vivid, and bold

colors. Aside from the colors, you will also note that the painting has biometric

shapes. For art lovers, this is a beautiful and strange piece.

Way back in 1940, Abstract Expressionism is a movement pushed through

by the artists. The artists and painters supported abstract painting and they wanted

the freedom of expression through the paintings they made. This made abstract

painting more popular. The movement began in a particular school in New York

and the movement was also called Action Painting. Among the American schools

that joined the movement declared their independence from the artworks of

European style. After this, abstract painting was pushed forward.

2.3.5 Abstract painting in teaching descriptive writing related studies to those

issues.

By painting the abstract painting the students is expected to have Ideas in making

descriptive text. Many researchers make a research about teaching descriptive text

by using picture, but at this time the researcher want to see whether there is the

advantageous by using this method.

Many researchers have been successful in conducting their research by using

picture.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This Chapter will give an overview of the research design and

methodology that are used in the research including, sampling, population,

establish certain standard during and after data collection, ethical considerations

and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

According to Donald R. Cooper (2011), a research design is “the research

design constitutes the blue-print for collection, measurement and analysis of

data.” And according to David J Luck and Ronald S Rubin (2010), a research

design is the determination and statement of the general research approach or

strategy adopted for the particular project. It is the heart of planning. A research

design is also a well-structured plan that describes how, when and where data are

to be collected and analyzed, and whether it answers the research question or

testing the research hypothesis (Parahoo, 1997; Polit et al 2011).

The research design was described in the following table:

Table 3.1

Groups Pre-test Treatment Post-test

Experimental A1 X A1

Control A1 O A1

Note:

A1 : Students’ writing descriptive text scores in pre-test

X : English language learning using abstract painting

O : Conventional method

A2 : Students’ writing descriptive text scores in pre-test and post-test

3.2 Population and Sampling Technique

According to Sugiono (2010) population is the generalization areas that

consist of object or subject that has quality and certain characteristic that carried

out by researcher to learn and to draw conclusion. Based on the theories above,

the researcher conclude that population is a group of person or individual having

quality and characteristics in general from which a researcher may get the data

needed. The population of this research is the students from SMAN 1

Parongpong, Bandung.

According to Arikunto (2006) sample is a part or representative population

of the research. Sugiono (2010) stated that sample is a part of the total and

characteristic which has the population. The samples which are taken must be

representative of the population. The samples that were used in this research are

taken randomly because the researcher was accepted to do the research in SMAN

1 Parongpong, Kabupaten Bandung Barat. This school has earned an A for the

accreditation from the government evaluation. The participants for this research

are sixty and they were the eleventh grade from Social science Classes. This

particular age which is between sixteen and seventeen was chosen because of

their enthusiasm to hear and learn new things, they are far from inhibition, and

they are expressive. This study focused on the use of abstract painting to enhance

students’ creativeness in writing descriptive text. The eleventh grades are divided

into two groups; Class X-1 as Control Group and X-2 as Experiment Group, each

group consist of 30 participants.

3.3 Variables

Sugiono (2006) stated that variable is everything which is in every

form which is settled by the researcher to be learnt as the purpose to get

the information about these, and then get the conclusion. In this research,

the researcher uses two variables, they are:

3.2.1. Independent Variable

According to Sugiyono (2010) independent variable is a variable that

influence the dependent variable. It is usually symbolized by “X”. In this

research, independent variable is the use of abstract painting method.

3.2.2. Dependent Variable

Sugiyono (2010) stated that dependent variable is the variable that is

influenced by the independent variable. It is symbolized by “Y”. Dependent

Variable in this research is the enhancement of students’ creativeness in

descriptive texts.

3.3 Instrument of the Research

Sugiyono (2006) stated that research instrument is a tool which is used to

measure the natural phenomenon and social phenomenon that is observed. The

main part of this research based on the quantitative approach: certain material for

testing to see the improvement of the students. (pre-test, treatment, and post-test)

3.4 Data Gathering and Procedures

In gathering the data, the researcher employed these following steps:

3.5.1 Organizing Teaching Procedures

In this research, the researcher prepared the lesson plan and

different material for every meeting. The materials were taken from text book

for grade VIII and internet.

3.5.2. Pre-test

Pre-test is conducted to diagnose the students’ prior ability in writing

descriptive text and it is conducted before the researcher gives the treatment. Pre-

test instrument was in a paragraph descriptive text tests form and it was designed

in paragraph test form. Pre-test was made by the researcher. It consists of two

paragraphs only.

3.5.3. Treatments

After administering the pre-test, the treatments will give to experimental

class. But in the controlled class will give conventional method, using text book

of the school. The following are several steps in using the abstract painting

technique, for experimental class:

1. The researcher instill in her respondents a passion for arts in leaerning

English and later introduces Abstract Painting techniques.

2. The researcher will show an example of Abstract Painting to her

respondents in order for them to get the idea of drawing an abstract

painting.

3. The researcher will prepare all the painting tools for each respondent.

They will role as painter in this research.

4. All respondents will be given around 30 minutes to paint.

5. Respondents should write a simple descriptive text based on what they

painted.

3.5.4. Post-Test

After the treatments, post-test was conducted to find out whether the use

of abstract Painting made impact for the students writing descriptive text ability.

The post-test instrument was in paragraph test forms and it consisted of two

paragraphs.

3.6. Data Analysis

Since this is a quantitative research, therefore the researcher aimed to

prove whether the alternative hypothesis was accepted or rejected. This research

aims to investigate the effective size of using abstract painting in teaching descriptive text

writing skill

To analyze the data, the researcher uses the formula of Standard Deviation

which is measure of the dispersion of a set of scores from the mean of the scores,

to find the result whether the null hypothesis was accepted or rejected:

Standard Deviation: SD = √∑(𝑋𝑖−𝑋)̅̅̅̅ 2

𝑛−1

Where:

SD: Standard deviation

Xi: Individual grade

�̅�: Individual grade

n: Sample size

3.6.1. Data Analysis on Pilot Test

The pilot-test is conducted to measure the validity, reliability,

discrimination, and difficulty level of the instrument. The valid and reliable items

are used as the research instrument

3.6.2. Validity Test

Validity test was intended to find out whether the instrument test is

appropriate to be used in this research or not. The following formula is used to

measure the validity of the instrument:

(Arikunto 2009)

where :

rxy: correlation coefficient

n: number of subject

x: item score

y: total score

. The criteria of validity is shown in the following table 3.1

Table 3.1 Coefficient Correlation (Validity)

3.6.3 Reliability Test

Reliability is the constant of a test when the test is done in the same

subject Arikunto (2009) wrote an instrument is regarded as reliable if the result of

the test is the same although the test is done many times in other words the

instrument is reliable if it is reliable to collect the data required. The formula that

is used to find the reliability of the instrument is alpha’s formula:

. . . . . . . . . . . (Arikunto, 2009)

note:

: Reliability

n: number of questions

rxy Interpretation

≤0.00 Not Valid

0.00 -0.20 Very Low

0.21 – 0.40 Low

0.41 – 0.60 Moderate

0.61 – 0.80 High

0.81 – 1.00 Very High

: Total score of each question variance

V : variance total score

Classification reliability coefficient, according to Guilford (Russefendi, 2009),

is shown in the following table:

Table 3.3 Classification Reliability

Amount of 11r Interpretation

11r 0,20 Very Low

0,21 11r < 0,40 Low

0,41 11r < 0,70 Moderate

0,71 11r < 0,90 High

0,91 11r 1,00 Very high

3.5.4. Discrimination

The discrimination index of item is the ability to distinguish

between good students (high ability) and the students who are less

in intelligent (low ability).The following formula is used to calculate the

item:

D = 𝐵𝐴

𝐽𝐴 -

𝐵𝐵

𝐽𝐵 = 𝑃𝐴 - 𝑃𝐵 (Arikunto, 2009)

Where:

J: Number of the test participants

JA: Number of upper group participants

JB: number of lower group participant

BA: number of upper group participants who answered the question

correctly

BB: number of lower group participants who answered the question

correctly

PA =

𝐵𝐴

𝐽𝐴 : Proportion of upper group participants who answered

correctly

(Where, P is discrimination index)

PB =

𝐵𝐵

𝐽𝐵∶ Proportion of lower group participants who answered

correctly

To interpret the value of discrimination index use of distinguishing

clarification from Arikunto (2009). The criteria of discrimination index were

shown in table below:

Table 3.4 Criteria of Discrimination Index

Discrimination Index (D) Interpretation

< 0.00 Very Bad

0.00 -0.20 Poor

0.21 – 0.40 Satisfactory

0.41 – 0.70 Good

0.71 -1.00 Excellent

3.5.5. Level of Difficulty

Good question is a question that is used to determine difficulty level of

that question. Test items of a wide range of difficulty levels are needed to test the

entire range of candidates’ achievement levels. Tests that contain too many easy

or too many difficult test items would result in skewed mark distributions. The

following formula was used to calculate the index of an item:

P = 𝐵

𝐽𝑆 (Arikunto 2009)

Where:

P: Difficulty level

B: The number of students who answered the question with correct answer

JS: Number of students’ participant in the test

Calculating the result is interpreted to the classification according to

Arikunto

(2009):

Table 3.5 Criteria of Difficulty Level

Index of Difficulty (P) Difficulty Degree

0.00 - 0.30 Difficult Item

0.31 - 0.70 Moderate Item

0.71 -1.00 Easy Item

3.7. Statistical Treatment Data

The researcher used Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to

calculate the data. SPSS is a kind of computer program for statistically

computation. The level of significance is 5%.

3.7.1. Normalized Gain

Gain is the result of the test which is achieved by a student in an

examination in certain subject through deduction process of pre-test and post-test,

(Arikunto, 2009).

So, this formula is used to find whether an improvement of students’ creativeness

in writing descriptive text was in both experimental group and control group from

the result of the pre-test and post-test.

(g) = % 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 − % 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡

100 %−% 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡

Where:

(g) : Normalized gain

% pre-test: Percentage of pre-test scores

% post-test: Percentage of post-test

Clarification of Gain Score

Table 3.2 Clarification of Gain Score

3.7.2. Test of Normality

Normality test is done to see whether the normalized gain score are

normally distributed or not. In this normality test, normalized gain may be

considered normally distributed if the significance (Sig) > α 0.05. Kolmogorov-

Smirnov test is the most powerful normality test. (Razail and Wah, 2011).

Gain Score Value Interpretation

0.00-0.30 Low

0.31- 0.70 Moderate

0.71- 0.100 High

Criteria of Normality test:

1. Data is normal if p-Value (Sig.) ≥α = 0.05, means the normalized gain score is

normally distributed

2. Data is normal if p-Value (Sig.) ≤ α = 0.05, means the normalized gain score is

not normally distributed

3.7.3. Homogeneity Test

Homogeneity test is a test to discover whether the variances of the two groups is

distributed homogeneously to one another or not.

Criteria of Homogeneity:

1. Data is homogeny if p Value (Sig.) ≥ α= 0.05, means the variance is

homogeny

2. Data is homogeny if p Value (Sig.) ≤α= 0.05, means the variance is not

homogeny

The researcher used this test formula (Suprapto, 2013):

F = 𝑆2𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

𝑆2 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

Where:

F : F value (variance variable data)

𝑆12 : The variance of experimental class

𝑆22 : The variance of control group class

3.7.4. Hypothesis Testing

The researcher use this formula to find the differences between scores of

pre-test and post-test from both experimental group and control group after being

given the treatment.

The hypothesis to be tested:

Ho: µ1 = µ2

Ha: µ1 ≠ µ2

Where:

µ1: Average normalized gain of the Experimental group of students’ writing

creativeness improvement in descriptive text

µ2: Average normalized gain of the Control group of students’ writing

creativeness improvement in descriptive text

Then, the formula will be used is t-test:

t = �̅�1− �̅�2

𝑆𝐷 √

1𝑛1

+ 1

𝑛2

With: SD = √(𝑛1−1)𝑆1

2+(𝑛2−1)𝑆22

𝑛1 + 𝑛2 −2

Where:

�̅�1: Mean of Control group

�̅�2: Mean of Experimental group

N1: Number of Control group

N2: Number of Experimental group

S1: Standard deviation of Control group

S2: Standard deviation of Experimental

Criteria of t-test:

1. If, pValue (Sig.) ≤ α (.050): Ha is not rejected, Ho is rejected. It means

there is a significant improvement in Listening Comprehension after being

given the treatment using ELL software technique.

2. If, pValue (Sig.) ≥ α (.050): Ha is rejected, Ho is not rejected. It means

there is a no significant improvement in writing descriptive text after

being given the treatment using Abstract Painting technique.

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