IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS ON DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Abstract

This research paper is entitled "Improving Students' Writing Skills in Descriptive Texts Through Collaborative Learning”. This research is a pre-experimental study conducted on class VII students of SMP KP Baros. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the Collaborative Learning strategy in improving descriptive text writing skills and to find out the response to the use of collaborative learning in improving writing skills at SMP KP BAROS. The sample of this research was 28 students of class VII B. The instruments used were pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire. The pre-test is given to determine students' ability to write descriptive texts using collaborative learning before being given treatment and the post-test is given to students to measure whether there is progress in their skills in writing descriptive texts using collaborative learning. This is proven by the t-test calculation, the calculation results with df = N-1 = 28-1 = 27, at p = 0.05 with two tails, the critical value of t is 2.052, because the calculated t is 13, 8 is greater or higher than the critical t table value of 2.052 (13.8 > 2.052). Therefore (Ha) is accepted and (Ho) is rejected. This means that the use of Collaborative Learning is effective in improving the writing skills of grade 7 students at KP Baros Middle School. Then, from the results of the questionnaire, students felt happy and enthusiastic when learning to write using collaborative learning. It means, students give a positive response to the use of collaborative learning