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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem

English is one of international languages that is used by many people in many

countries over the world. It is used as a means of communication among nations in

the world for many fields, such as international trade, tourism, and other important

international affairs. Thus, it is not surprising that the teaching of English is carried

out in many parts of the world. In Indonesia for example, English is treated as one of

the foreign languages at schools.

In teaching English there are four language skills which should be trained to

students. The skills are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The students must

master these language skills, so they can use and communicate in English well. They

must master listening and speaking skills to understand what other people say. To

express their feeling, need, and desire, the students need speaking and writing skills.

Thus, writing as a part of the language skills must be taught optimally by teacher to

the students. Through writing students can exchange their ideas, thoughts, and

experiences.

Based on Curriculum 2013, current educational Curriculum in Indonesia,

there are two genres of monolog text that have to be taught in teaching writing for

second grade of Junior High School students. These genres of text are descriptive and

recount (Depdiknas, 2013:70). The students must be able to understand and create
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two kinds of these monolog texts. Each genre of text has different function and

features which may give difficulties to the students. This paper will only discuss

about the issues in teaching descriptive text and the solution to overcome it.

Descriptive text is a text which describes a specific person, animal, place or

object. It gives information about characteristics of the thing to readers. The function

of descriptive text is to portray something in such a way that the reader can visualize

the topic and enter into the writer’s experience. In writing descriptive text, students

are expected to describe something so that reader can imagine that object.

Based on the writer’s experience as a trainee teacher at SMP N 2 Solok in

2012, many Junior High School students were not interested in writing because it

seems difficult for them. They found some problems in writing such as difficulties in

organizing ideas, vocabularies, spelling, cohesion, and coherence of the essay or

paragraph. One of students’ problems in writing descriptive text is lack of

vocabularies. In descriptive text, students have to describe the characteristics of a

thing (it can be person, animal, or place). The students may have ideas about what

they want to describe but they do not have enough vocabularies to write down their

ideas. In other words the students have already had the ideas in their mind, but they

do not know how to express it in written form. Another problem in writing

descriptive text is students’ low motivation. Thus, students need something that can

motivate them in writing.

Based on some problems above, teacher needs to find an alternative medium

to help students in teaching writing descriptive text. Media are the means for
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transmitting or delivering messages and in teaching-learning perspective delivering

content to the learners, to achieve effective instruction (Naz, 2010:1). In this case, the

use of media in teaching- learning process is needed to attract students’ attention and

to make teaching-learning activities more interesting and also effective.

The use of media in teaching-learning process is not a new thing. Many

teachers know that media will be helpful. Media can help in teaching learning

process, but not all of teachers know how to use it correctly. However, media can

sometimes disturb learning process instead of helping students in learning process.

Another problem is that teacher difficult to find appropriate and interesting media in

teaching writing. Thus, the use of media in teaching learning process is not optimal

yet; therefore there are some problems that have to be solved.

Furthermore, there are some researches about teaching writing descriptive

text. These researches offer variety of media or strategies that can be used in teaching

learning process. The first one is that using descriptive video to enhance writing. This

medium is introduced by Helen Hoffner and friends (2008). They state that “the

descriptive video in teaching writing is developed to give visual image to students.”

By giving the visual image about a thing, students are hoped to be able to write down

a description of the scene they watched. The second one is that improving students’

ability in writing descriptive text by using picture series. This medium is introduced

by Sa’diyah (2011). According to her, picture can increase students’ interest and

make writing activity more interesting. The picture also enhanced the students’

participation and interaction during the learning activities. The third one is that
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writing descriptive essays using tree diagram. This strategy is researched by Sekharan

Nair and friends (2012). They introduce the writing lesson process by using tree

diagram that was developed by Chien and Ching, (2004) from the Nanyang

Technological University in Singapore. By showing tree diagram, students can get

motivation in writing descriptive text. Further, tree diagram also improves the overall

writing score and the learners’ grammar in writing.

Moreover, English teacher frequently uses picture or video as a medium to

help her in teaching writing descriptive text. Teacher finds out the picture or video of

thing that will be described by students and shows it in front of class. The use of this

medium of course can help students in exploring their idea, but this media can not

help students to solve vocabulary problem. As a result, the teacher needs alternative

media to solve this problem.

One of alternative media is Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP). Crossword

puzzle is a well- known game that can be easily integrated in class. According to

Claire (2010:6) crossword puzzle is a word puzzle in a grid of black and white

squares and the goal of this game is to write one letter in each white square to make

the words given by clues. By using Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP), teacher will

show the vocabularies that will be used in descriptive text. The vocabularies that

students find have characteristics of things that will be described. These words will

help students in writing descriptive text because it can solve students’ problem in

finding appropriate vocabularies.

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This paper discusses the use of DCP as an alternative medium in teaching

writing descriptive text. DCP will be useful to solve students’ problem in

vocabularies that is related to descriptive text. Moreover, it can be used in the

learning process to increase the students’ interest and motivation in writing.

B. Identification of the Problem

As mentioned in the background of the problem, there are some problems of

students that make descriptive text difficult to be written. The problems are: students’

limited vocabularies, low ability in grammar and spelling, difficulty in exploring

ideas and students’ lack of motivation.

C. Limitation of the Problem

From the problems above, writer will focus on students’ lack of vocabularies

problem. Writer thinks that vocabulary is the important element in writing that has to

be mastered by students. Lack of vocabularies causes students’ difficulties in writing,

especially in writing descriptive text.

D. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the background of the problem above, the writer formulates

some questions as follow:

1. How can the English teacher use DCP as an alternative medium in teaching

descriptive text for second grade of Junior High School students?

2. How does DCP help students in writing descriptive text?

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E. Purpose of the Paper

The purposes of this paper are:

1. To explain how teacher uses DCP as a media in teaching descriptive text for

second grade of Junior High School students.

2. To explain how DCP helps students in writing descriptive text.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. The Concept of Writing

There are some definitions of writing. According to Valencia (2010:80)

writing is a kind of synthesis activity where writer puts words and ideas together in

new ways to create paragraphs, compositions, essays, and articles. In arranging the

words, writer has to follow grammar roles and pay attention to coherence and

cohesion. Read (2013:10) says, “Writing is a complex act that varies according to

situation, audience, and purpose”.

Furthermore, writing is one of the communicative activities. It means that

writing is an activity to express ideas, issues, feeling or thinking to the others through

written form. Moreover, through writing someone will not only be able to form

language and spell words; but they also can learn how to make logical argument.

Writing differs from speaking in process. In speaking process, someone can

communicate with other people directly and get the feedback soon. The speaker

immediately knows whether the listeners understand or not. On the other hand, in

writing a message cannot be described directly because the writer cannot get

feedback directly and it tends to make mistakes.

Trong in Hamp and Heasly (2010:1) state that writing frequently being the

last language skill that must be acquired by foreign or second language learner. It

becomes the last language skill because writing seems difficult than another skills.
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According to Sun (2010:1) writing skill is difficult because students are hard to

express their ideas and feeling freely and fluently. Furthermore, in writing students

often make many mistakes in vocabularies and grammar. Additionally, Smit (2010:1)

says that writing becomes difficult skill because students receive a limited amount of

instruction in writing.

Oshima and Hogue (2007:15-18) state that there are four steps of writing. The

first step is called Pre-writing. Pre-writing is a way to get ideas. In this step, writer

chooses a topic and collects ideas to explain the topic. The next step in the writing

process is organizing. In organizing, writer organizes the ideas into a simple outline.

The third step is writing. In this step writer starts to write a rough draft by using

outline as a guide. The last step is called polishing. In this last step, writer revises and

does editing to grammar, punctuation and mechanics.

In writing, a writer also has a purpose. According to Stead and Hoyt,

(2011:13) people write for five purposes. The first purpose is to inform. The writer,

through text gives information to the reader. The information can be description,

explanation, or summary about something. The second purpose is to instruct. The

writer writes the text to tell the reader how to do something. The next purpose is to

narrate. It means that the writer’s purpose is to draw the reader into a life event of a

person or other living thing. Another purpose is to persuade. By writing text, a writer

can influence the reader to take an action or to subscribe to a belief. The last purpose

of writing is to respond. A writer writes to express ideas about a text or topic, and to

engage in analytical, critical and evaluative thinking.

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

communicative activity that is different from other language skills. It is a way to

produce language that comes from our thought. By using writing, we can share our

idea, feeling or anything that exist in our mind. Writing is a complex activity and

includes certain stages; pre-writing, writing and rewriting or revising, editing and

publishing.

B. The concept of Teaching Writing at Junior High School

Based on Curriculum 2013 in teaching English for Junior High School,

students are expected to be able to communicate in oral and written form. It implies

that besides speaking, the students of Junior High School are expected to be capable

in English writing. So, writing skill be the one of English language skills that teacher

must concern about.

To achieve the informational level, Graham (2008:2) suggests teacher to

follow some of recommendations in teaching writing. First, teacher has to dedicate

time to writing; writing occurring across the curriculum; and involve students in

various forms of writing over time. Second, teacher has to increase students’

knowledge about writing. Third, teacher has to foster students’ interest; enjoyment;

and motivation to write. Fourth, teacher has to help students become strategic writers.

Fifth, teacher has to teach basic writing skills to mastery. Sixth, teacher has to take

advantage of technological writing tools. The last one is teacher has to use assessment

to gauge students’ progress and need.

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Writing has important roles for students at schools. Graham and Perin

(2007:23) explain that writing is a strategy as well as mean to extend knowledge.

“First, it is a skill that draws on the use of strategies (such as planning,

evaluating, and revising text) to accomplish a variety of goals, such as writing
a report or expressing an opinion with the support evidence. Second, writing
is a means of extending and deepening students’ knowledge; it acts as a tool
for learning subject matter”.

Teaching process in the Junior High School is based on regulations stated by

Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan in Permendiknas No.41 Tahun 2007 (Standar

Proses) that there are three phases for teaching activities. The first phase is Pre-

teaching activities. In pre-teaching activities, the teacher has to motivate the students

in learning, build basic knowledge students of the lesson, and introduce the teaching

objective. Second phase is whilst-teaching activities. In whilst-teaching activities,

teacher gives models or simulations to students about the lesson. The last phase is

Post-teaching activities. In this phase teacher lets the students to reflect all the

language and ideas that they got from whilst activity. In other word, this phase is

focused on practicing language which integrated in English skills.

From the explanation above we can conclude that teaching writing is really

important for Junior High School student. Therefore, teacher needs to teach writing

optimally. In addition, teacher has to follow the three phases in teaching process in

order to assist the students to raise the lesson objectives.

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C. The Concept of Descriptive Text

Descriptive text is a kind of text that presents the characteristics of something

in order to make clear impression of a person, place, object or event. Through

descriptive text, writer can describe an image about something that is experienced.

Furthermore, through descriptive text; the writer tries to move the messages of

observations and feelings to the reader by explaining the nature of the object. A good

description is a word picture. It means that the reader can imagine the object, place,

or person in her mind. According Droga and Humphrey (2005:148) the social

function of descriptive text is to describe the distinctive nature of people, places or

objects that are usually accompanied with an imaginative story.

There are many forms of descriptive text. The first type is description about

person. In describing a person, writer needs to describe the person's physical

appearance, behavior, and inner thoughts. A person's appearance can be described in

many ways. It is possible to tell about the person's style of clothing, manner of

walking, color and style of hair, facial appearance, body shape, and expression or

even the person's way of talking. The second type is description about place. In

description about place, writer describes what specific place looks like. The writer

can describe about locations, destinations, the functions, and the appearances of a

place. From the description, readers can image the place that is described by the

writer. The third type is description about an object or specific animal. In description

about animal, writer describes about the classification, the physical appearances,

habitats, behavior, life cycles, and the function of specific animal.

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Descriptive text requires the using of specific details and vocabularies that

carry a strong meaning. The vocabularies that are often used in a descriptive text are

the words which are related to description of place, person, or animal. Descriptive

text often uses the form of simple present or simple past tense. The present tense is

often used in this kind of text, but sometimes we can also use the past tense to

describe a certain thing which is extinct or not available nowadays. The passive form

is also often used in descriptive text.

According to Droga and Humphrey (2005: 148), the generic structure of

descriptive text includes identification and description. In identification, writer

mentions the special participant or subject which will be described. Further, in

description writer describes the characteristics of the person, place, or thing.

There are three main language features of descriptive text. The first one is that

descriptive text focus on specific participant. As mention above, in descriptive text

writer describes of specific person, place, object or event. The second one is that

descriptive text uses simple present tense. The last one is that descriptive text uses

adjective and adverb.

Thus, descriptive text is a kind of text that presents the characteristics of

something. It paints a picture in the reader's mind to describe a specific person, place

or animal. Examples of descriptive text are the description about writer’s house,

writer’s classmate, or writer’s pet.

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D. The Concept of Media

Media are the channel of communication. According to Meigz (2006:19), the

term refers to anything that carries information between a source and a receiver.

People use media as means to transfer information and data. Media focus on the use

of technologies plus concepts and contexts.

Media can be used in education. They are used to deliver content to the

learners and to achieve effective instruction in teaching-learning process.

Instructional media provide the tools to engage learners powerfully in the learning

process. It greatly enhances the effectiveness of communication.

Naz and Akbar (2010:1) state that there are some advantages the use of media

in teaching and learning process. First, media can save learning and teaching time.

Second, media can help teacher in teaching learning process. Third, media can help to

hold students’ attention. Fourth, media can reinforce learning concepts. Fifth, media

can prove a point. The last, media can aid students’ memory.

Based on Commonwealth of Learning Book (1999), there are some of

characteristics that teacher has to concern about in using media. The first characteristic is

accessibility. Accessibility can be viewed as the ability to access. It means that a

good media can be accessed easily by students. The second characteristic is teaching

functions. Media that are used by teacher must have contribution in helping teacher in

teaching process. Media help teacher to catch students’ interest and attention. Beside

of that, media can also reinforce students’ understanding about lesson concept. The

last characteristic is interactivity. Interactivity means the ability for the learner to
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respond in some way to the teaching material and obtain comment or feedback on the

response. Thus, good media can increase students’ interaction with teacher or

material.

Naz and Akbar (2010:1) also state that “The different authors give

classification of media in different ways”. From those classifications, a common

grouping/types of media may be made. The types of media are print media, graphic

media, photographic media, and audio media.

Through media teacher can deliver learning materials to students. The use of

media in teaching learning process is needed to attract students’ attention and to make

teaching learning activities more interesting and attractive. As a final point, teacher

should develop the use of media in teaching and learning activities in order to achieve

the purpose of learning.

E. The Concept of Crossword Puzzle

Crossword puzzle is a kind of game. Claire (2010:6) defines the crossword

puzzle as a word puzzle in a grid of black and white squares. The goal is to write one

letter in each white square to make the words given by clues. The black squares tell

where the word ends.

Serna and Azor (2011:2) say that crossword puzzle that has been shown in

learning activities has several advantages. In teaching vocabulary, crossword puzzle

is used to introduce new vocabularies to students. Further, teacher sometime uses

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crossword puzzle in teaching pronunciation. By using crossword puzzle teacher

teaches spelling of the words.

Serna and Azor (2011:2) also say that the main advantage of using crossword

puzzle is creating fun learning activity. By using crossword puzzle, teacher can make

a subject more fun. It creates relax class condition and student can play while

learning. Teacher can also associate crossword puzzle with games playing and

recreation. Thus, this condition decrease stress level of students in classroom and

make them more interesting in learning.

Another advantage of using crossword puzzle is to stimulate the mind and

encouraging logical thinking. A crossword puzzle is good media for stimulating

students’ mind because it provides word processing game. Students are stimulated to

work out with the clue and find appropriate vocabularies to fill the grid. It is a simple

game, but trains students to think logically.

According to Weyer (2013), crossword puzzle has several styles. They are

American crossword puzzle, Japan Crossword Puzzle, Free-Form Crossword Puzzle

(Criss-Cross or Vocabulary Puzzle), Sweden Crossword Puzzle, Circular Designs

Crossword Puzzle, Random Crossword Puzzle, and Horizontal Crossword Puzzle.

The first type is American Crossword Puzzle. These crossword grids feature

solid areas of white squares. Additionally, every letter is checked, and usually each

answer is required to contain at least three letters.

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The second type is Japan Crossword Puzzle. The design of japan crossword

grids often follows two additional rules: (1) the shaded cells may not share a side and;

(2) the corner squares must be white.

The third type is Free-Form Crossword Puzzle (Criss-Cross or Vocabulary

Puzzle). This crossword puzzle has some characteristics such as simple and non-

symmetric designs. Grids forming shapes other than squares are also occasionally

used.

The fourth type is Sweden Crossword Puzzle. The Sweden Crossword Puzzle

has no clue numbers. Shaded cells are often replaced by boxes with clues.

The fifth type is Circular Designs Crossword Puzzle. This crossword puzzle

has circular form. In Circular Crossword puzzle the answers are entered either

radially or in concentric circles.

The sixth type is Random Crossword Puzzle. In this crossword puzzle, the

answers are chosen from many random letters. The reader can solve the puzzle by

finding out the words from random letters.

The last type of crossword puzzle is Horizontal Crossword Puzzle. In

horizontal crossword puzzle, the reader fills the horizontal answer. From all the

answers there is one vertical key word.

American crossword puzzle Japan Crossword Puzzle

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Free-Form Crossword Puzzle Sweden Crossword Puzzle

Circular Crossword Puzzle Random Crossword Puzzle

Horizontal Crossword Puzzle

Source: Steve Weyer

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Based on explanation above, the crossword puzzle is a kind of interesting

games that appropriate for many grades of students. The more important thing the

crossword puzzle gives many benefits in teaching learning process. It can be used to

enhance students’ vocabularies, pronunciation, and spelling. To summarize, it is

important to teacher to use crossword puzzle as a media in teaching learning process.

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CHAPTER III

DISCUSSION

A. The Implementation of Teaching Writing Descriptive Text by Using

Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP)

1. Preparation

Teacher has to prepare everything that is related to the process of teaching

learning before coming into classroom. By having good preparation, the teacher can

make the teaching learning process run well. The teacher who has a good preparation

will be able to manage the classroom activity. Moreover, by having good preparation,

the teacher can achieve lesson indicator.

The first preparation that has to be done by the teacher is to organize the

suitable materials based on syllabus and a familiar topic that is interesting for

students. The teacher needs to find lesson materials about descriptive text. The

materials are such as the explanation about descriptive text. It can be descriptive

text’s definition, social function, generic structure, and language features. These

materials can be found in English text book for second grade students of Junior High

School. Another lesson material is examples of descriptive text. The examples of

descriptive text that have to be prepared by teacher must appropriate to students’

ability and grade. It means that the teacher has to consider how long the text is and

how difficult of vocabularies that are used in the text. The example of descriptive
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text can be found in English text book for second grade of Junior High School

students or from internet.

The second preparation is to find appropriate media. In teaching writing

descriptive text, the teacher needs a crossword puzzle as a teaching medium. The

crossword puzzle that will be used is not the common crossword puzzle that can be

easily found in games book or internet. The teacher needs a crossword puzzle that has

a specific content. It means that the content in this crossword puzzle has to be related

with descriptive text that will be written by students. The crossword puzzle’s content

is about the characteristics or condition of things that will be described. From the

content the students will get guideline to write descriptive text. Thus, the teacher has

to create her own crossword puzzle which is called Descriptive Crossword Puzzle

(DCP).

In creating DCP, there are two rules that have to be followed by the teacher.

The first rule is that the teacher has to decide the main and supporting vocabularies

that will be used in puzzle. She has to a make list of those vocabularies based on the

characteristics of the thing that will be described. The second rule is the teacher

creates the form of DCP based on the list of vocabularies that have been created

before. If one puzzle can not cover all those vocabularies, the teacher can create

another crossword puzzle. In other word, the teacher can use two or more DCP in

describing a thing.

Based on the rules above, there are two main differences between

Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP) and Common Crossword Puzzle (CCP). The
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first one is DCP only contains one content. The content is that about the thing that is

described. In contrast, CCP has many kinds of contents. It means that CCP can

contain many things. The second one is in creating DCP, the form of puzzle follows

the list of vocabularies. Thus, writer has to create the list of vocabularies firstly. In

contrast, in CCP, the vocabularies that are used follow the form of crossword puzzle.

At the first, writer creates the form of crossword puzzle, after that writer adjusts the

vocabularies that will be used with the form of puzzle.

The other media that have to be prepared by teacher are the pictures of

object. The pictures will be used in exploration and elaboration part in whilst-

teaching activity. The function of pictures is to explore students’ knowledge about

descriptive text. By showing the picture, the students are asked to describe the

characteristics of the object. The teacher may choose the pictures of people, animals,

plants, buildings, etc.

The third preparation is to formulate the lesson plan (see appendix 1). The

teacher has to prepare lesson plan as guidance in teaching learning process. By using

lesson plan, the teacher will decide the steps that will be done in classroom activity.

In addition, without lesson plan the teaching learning process can not be organized

well.

The teaching learning process is divided into three parts. They are pre-

teaching, whilst-teaching and post-teaching. In pre-teaching activity, teacher will do

brainstorming activity to activate students’ memory about descriptive text. The next

process is whilst-teaching activity. In this step, the teacher will explain about
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descriptive text and she will use the crossword puzzle as a media. In this step, the

students also are asked to write descriptive text. The last step is post-teaching. In this

step, teacher will do closing activity. In formulate lesson plan, the teacher also

determinates duration of each activity to manage the time of learning process

effectively.

2. Teaching Procedures

At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher greets the students and checks

students’ attendance list. For example she says “Good morning students. How are

you?” Then the teacher can call the students’ name one by one. After checking

students’ attendance, the teacher begins teaching activity.

2.1 Pre -Teaching Activity

In pre-teaching activity, the teacher does brainstorming activities that can

activate students’ background knowledge about descriptive text. She asks some

questions to the students about the condition of the class. By asking the students

about the classroom condition, they are hoped to be able to describe what the

classroom looks like briefly.

This is the example of dialog between the teacher and the students in pre

teaching activity:

Teacher : Okay students, please you look at our class condition. How does our
class look like?
Student A : It is big.
Teacher : Okay, It is good. Do you have another opinion?
Student B : Our class is clean.
Teacher : So, Our class is clean and big. What can you find in our class?
Student C : There are some tables and chairs
Teacher : Good, there are some tables and chairs. What do the tables and
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chairs look like?

Student D : They are neat.
Teacher : Do you find another object?
Student E : There is a whiteboard in front of the class.
Teacher : What does the white board look like?
Students F : It is square mam.
Student G : The whiteboard is clean, mam.
Teacher : That is right; the whiteboard is square and clean. So, we can conclude that
our class is big and clean. There are some tables and chairs in our class.
The tables and chairs are neat. In front of the class there is a whiteboard. It
is square and clean. That is the description of our class. Today, we are
going to learn about descriptive text.

By giving the questions above, the teacher also introduces the topic of the

lesson that will be learned today. Then, she gives a brief explanation about

descriptive text. This is the example of teacher’s explanation:

Teacher : Descriptive text is a kind of text that describe a particular person, animal, or
other things. So, when you want to describe the characteristics of person
such as your friend, your parent, or your sister you can use descriptive
text. Furthermore, you can use this text to describe how your pet or your
bedroom looks like.

2.2 Whilst-Teaching Activity

In whilst-teaching activity, students are thought about writing and trained to

use the skill that has been learned. Moreover, the students are guided to participate in

discussing the topic. The teacher lets the students to think and act creatively. Whilst-

teaching activity is divided into three parts:

a. Exploration Activity

In exploration activity, the teacher builds students’ knowledge about

descriptive text. First, the teacher shows a picture of person, animal or thing to the

students. For saving the time, it is better for her to choose one category of pictures

that will be described. For example, she chooses to describe about a person. If the
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teacher wants to describe about an animal or a place, she can see appendix 2 and 3.

The teacher asks students to describe the picture by giving some questions.

This is the example of picture that teacher shows to students:

Picture 1. Person

After showing the picture, the teacher asks some questions that are related to

that picture to students.

Teacher : What picture is this?

Students A : A man
Teacher : What does he look like?
Students B : He is bald
Students C : he is tall,
Students D : he has black skin
Students E : and he has many tattoos

After asking some questions, then the teacher writes the students’ answers on

white board. The teacher and students discuss together about the answers. Then, she

tells that the answers are the characteristics of person that students describe.

After discussing about the picture, the teacher explains about the concept of

descriptive text. She explains about what the descriptive text is, social function of

descriptive text, generic structure of descriptive text, and language features of

descriptive text. This is the example of teacher’s explanation about descriptive text:
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Teacher : Descriptive text is a kind of text that describe a particular person, animal, or
thing. It presents the characteristics of things that are described.

Social function of descriptive text is to give information to the reader about

characteristics features of a thing, person, or animal.

Generic structure of descriptive text has two contents, identification and

description. Identification is the part of descriptive text where the writer
mentions the special participant or subject which will be described. We
can find the identification part in the first paragraph. Description is a part
where writer describes the characteristics of the person, place, or thing.
We can find description part in second paragraph.
Language features of descriptive text are:
 It focuses on specific participant, such as a specific cat or Eifel
tower.
 It uses simple present tense
 It uses adjective and adverb.

After that, the teacher makes an example of descriptive text by using the

picture description. She writes the example of this descriptive text in whiteboard.

Picture 2. Example of Descriptive Text

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b. Elaboration Activity

In this part, the teacher uses DCP as an alternative medium. Before showing

crossword puzzle to students, the teacher shows a picture about a person that will be

described in the crossword puzzle.

Picture 3. Person

After showing the picture, the teacher asks the students to find out the

characteristics of that person. To get more challenge, the using of the picture in this

part can be done students solve the crossword puzzle.

The next activity is that the teacher shows the big size of DCP in front of the

class. The size of this big crossword puzzle is about 79 x 109 cm. The teacher

explains about the DCP and what students have to do. After the teacher explains

about the DCP, she distributes the copied of crossword puzzle that will be filled by

students.
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Picture 4. Example of Descriptive Crossword Puzzle about Person

 28

DCP above has contents about things that will be described by students. The

students have to fill the blank box by read the clues. From the clues that are shown,

the students try to find the answers. Teacher gives the students 15 minutes to find the

answers of this crossword puzzle. The students are allowed to see dictionary. After

the students write the answer, then the teacher and students will discuss about the

answer together. The teacher asks the students to fill the big crossword puzzle in front

of the class.

Picture 5. Example of Crossword Puzzle’s Key Answers

 29

DCP above is the kind of American style crossword puzzle. If teacher wants

to use another style of crossword puzzle, she can find it in appendix 4 and 5.

After discussing about the answers from this DCP, teacher and students

discuss about the characteristic thing that will be described. The teacher guides the

students to mention characteristics of things one by one. After the students mention

the characteristics, the teacher writes these characteristics in white board.

Picture 6. Example of Vocabularies for Descriptive Text

That is the example of DCP that has contents about person’s characteristics.

This crossword puzzle shows some person’s appearances, feelings and characteristics.
 30

If the teacher wants to teach descriptive text about animal and place, we can find

another model of DCP in appendix 6, 7, 8 and 9.

c. Confirmation Activity

In confirmation activity teacher asks students to write descriptive paragraph

based on person’s characteristics in DCP above. For identification part, students

create paragraph by their own creativities. They can decide the name of person they

describe and use the characteristics from the DCP. This is the example of descriptive

text that can be written by the students:

Picture 7. Example of Descriptive text which may be produced by students

 31

From activities that students do, teacher can decide time allocation in

whilst-teaching part.

No. Steps in using Descriptive Crossword Puzzle Time Allocation

(minutes)
Discussing about the picture 5
1.
Teacher’s explanation about descriptive text 15
2.
Solving the puzzle 15
3.
Discussing the puzzle 15
4.
Writing the text 20
5.
Total duration 70

Table 1. Time Allocation for Whilst-Teaching of Descriptive Text

To conclude, in whilst-teaching activity students get clear explanation about

descriptive text. After getting the clear explanation, the students will solve the DCP

and discuss the vocabularies that are related to descriptive text. In this activity, the

students are asked to be able to write descriptive text.

2.3 Post-Teaching Activity

After students finish their description text, teacher asks the difficulties which

may be faced by students. By asking their difficulties, the teacher will know about the

students’ problem in writing and teacher can solve it for the next teaching learning

activity. In this case, the teacher can also know whether the students understand with

the lesson or not. The teacher also asks about students’ feeling in writing descriptive

text by using DCP.

 32

In post-teaching activities, teacher evaluates the descriptive text that is written

by students. She can evaluate the students’ writing based on writing’s rubric below.

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING RUBRIC - GRADES 6, 7, 8

Student_____________________________Teacher_________________________
SCORE_______

Score Traits Comments

___4 CLEAR, WELL ORGANIZED, WELL
(Excellent) DEVELOPED IDEAS
 Main idea (thesis) is clear.
___3  Topic sentences in body paragraphs
(Acceptable) clearly relate to main idea (thesis).
 Descriptive supporting details clearly
___2 relate to topic sentences.
(Below average)  Transitions are used.
 Introduction, body, conclusion provide
___1 logical sequencing of ideas, leading to
(Unacceptable) understandable description.

___4 SENTENCE VARIATION IN PARAGRAPHS

(Excellent)  Lead sentence captures the reader's
attention.
___3  Intro. participial phrase (Running with
(Acceptable) great speed, she won . . .)
 (Surprised by the party, she . . .)
___2  2 independent clauses separated by
(Below average) semicolon
 (Sam won the race; he is an excellent
___1 runner.)
(Unacceptable)  Compound sentence (Marti won the
race, and Sam came in third.)
 Appositive phrase (Marti, the best
sprinter on the team, won . . .)
 Intro. prepositional phrase (With a burst
of speed, Sam . . .)
 Intro. adverb clause (When Marti won
the race, she . . .)
___4 WORD CHOICE
(Excellent)  Vivid, lively verbs are used.
 Precise, accurate nouns are used.
 33

___3  Imaginative, unusual adjectives are

(Acceptable) used.
 No vague, overused, repetitive
___2 language is used.
(Below average)  Striking words/phrases linger in the
reader's mind.
___1  Word choice gives the writer a
(Unacceptable) personality, or "voice." The writer is
individualistic and writes to be read.
___4 FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
(Excellent)  Metaphor (My room is a dumpster.)
 Simile (My room is as clean as an
___3 operating room.)
(Acceptable)  Personification (My room whispers to
me, "Come in; take
___2  a nap; do your homework later!")
(Below average)  "Picture frame" word choice invites

___1
(Unacceptable)

___4 GRAMMAR, USAGE, MECHANICS

(Excellent)  No run-on sentences
 No sentence fragments
___3  Subject/verb agreement
(Acceptable)  Correct verb tense usage
 Punctuation is correct.
___2  Capitalization is correct.
(Below average)  Spelling is correct.

___1
(Unacceptable)

Table 2. Descriptive Text’s Rubric

Source: Patty Foster
 34

In the post teaching part, the teacher also asks students to fill the self-assessment

rubric. This is the example of self-assessment rubric that may be filled by students.

RUBRIC OF SELF ASSESMENT

Note:

This rubric is filled by all of students in post teaching activity.

Name :

Class :

Date :

How well did I do?

I need to I did this I did this

I did well.
work on this! OK. very well!

1. I did my best in learning

descriptive text today
2. I listened to the teacher and to
other students in order to learn
3. I understood about the teacher’s
explanation
4. I answered teacher’s questions

5. I asked questions to the teacher

6. I could describe orally the picture
that were shown by teacher
7. I could answer all the words in
DCP
8. I could find the characteristics
thing that would be described
through DCP
9. My grammar was good

10. I had many vocabularies

 35

11. My spelling was good

12. I could understand the meaning
of the vocabularies in DCP
13. I used the vocabularies in DCP
to build sentence in describing a
thing
14. I could express my idea and
arrange sentences into good
paragraphs
15. I could write an excellent
descriptive paragraph today
Table 3. Rubric of Self-Assessment

Comments:

1. I did well on:

__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________

2. My favorite activity in studying descriptive text was:

__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________

3. One thing I didn’t like was:

__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________

4. I need help with:

__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________

5. I need to learn more about:

__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
 36

6. Next time I will:

__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________

I could improve on...........................................................................................................

The self-assessment rubric has two main functions. The first one is the

function for the students. By filling the self-assessment rubric, students will know

their ability in writing descriptive text by using DCP. The second one is function for

the teacher. The teacher will use the self-assessment that be filled by students to

evaluate the effectiveness of medium that she uses in teaching writing descriptive

text. If the using of DCP is effective, teacher can use this medium in teaching

descriptive text for the next time. However, if the medium is not effective, teacher

can find another medium in teaching writing descriptive text.

The last activity in post-teaching is concluding the teaching and learning

process of the day. The teacher guides the students to conclude the definitions of

descriptive text, social function, language feature and its generic structure. Before the

teacher closes the teaching activity, she allows the students to ask about everything

that is related to descriptive text.

 37

B. Discussion of Teaching Writing Descriptive Text by Using Descriptive

Crossword Puzzle (DCP)

Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP) that is known as a kind of game actually

offers something new in teaching writing. DCP can be used especially in teaching

writing descriptive text. In general DCP has a role to introduce vocabularies.

However, the use of DCP in teaching writing is not only limited in introducing

vocabularies. DCP also is used as a guideline that can develop students’ ideas in

describing a thing. By using the clues and vocabularies from DCP, students can get

ideas to make description text. Moreover, by using DCP the students also get

guidelines to write in right spelling. If students can solve the crossword well, they

also can write in right spelling for specific vocabularies.

Additionally, Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP) which is used in this

activity is not like the Common Crossword Puzzle (CCP). It is a different crossword

puzzle that can help students in writing. One main difference between Descriptive

DCP and CCP is the DCP has special contents. The contents have to be related to

vocabularies that will be used in teaching descriptive text. The teacher may create

many kinds of crossword puzzle, but she has to be aware of words or vocabularies

which are related by the students.

There are two main advantages of using DCP in teaching writing descriptive

text for Junior High School students. The first advantage is that Descriptive

Crossword Puzzle helps students to solve lack of vocabularies problem. As

 38

mentioned above, one of students’ problems in writing is lack of vocabularies. By

using DCP, the students will be introduced with new vocabularies that are related

with descriptive text. All puzzles contain one-word clues that call for another word

meaning the same thing. At the same time, students just learned the meaning of new

words. After doing numerous puzzles, students will become familiar with the words.

Thus, DCP will enhance students’ vocabularies.

The second advantage of DCP is that it helps teacher to encourage students’

motivation to study. As mentioned, DCP is a kind of game. One of game functions in

teaching learning process is to catch students’ interest. The students will find an

interesting activity by answering the puzzle. This interesting learning activity of

course can motivate the students in learning. Correspondingly, DCP also motivates

students because it facilitates students in writing. In summary, by using DCP the

teacher can create fun activity and it can motivate students in writing.

However, the use of DCP in teaching writing descriptive text also has a few

weaknesses. The Descriptive Crossword Puzzle that is used in teaching writing

process may not be found in internet, book or other sources. The teacher has to create

their own DCP. To emphasize, she has to use her creativity to create DCP that has

specific content. Another weakness of DCP is that not all the characteristics of things

can be provided in DCP because in creating DCP, the teacher has to adjust one word

with other words. As the result, the words that are needed to make description text are

not totally covered.

 39

To overcome, teacher needs to search more information about the kinds of

crossword puzzle in internet or puzzle books. The teacher can find another model of

crossword puzzles. Actually, crossword puzzle has many forms, but the forms are not

common for people. By searching many forms of crossword puzzle, the teacher can

create her own DCP. She can also combine many kinds of puzzle so that these

puzzles can contain the contents for writing descriptive text.

In addition, to overcome limited of vocabularies, teacher has to learn about

the rules in creating DCP. She has to make a list of main words and supporting words

as contents in the crossword puzzle. The form of puzzle has to adjust with the words.

In summary, the use of DCP media in teaching writing descriptive text encourages

the teacher to be more creative in creating the puzzle and managing the classroom

activity.
 40

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

Descriptive Crossword Puzzle (DCP) is an alternative medium in developing

students’ writing ability. It is very useful and applicable to be used in writing

descriptive text. By using DCP, teacher can create fun activity that can motivate

students to write. Besides, the students will easily to develop their idea into good

paragraphs. The main benefit of DCP in descriptive text is to help students to solve

the lack of vocabularies problem in writing descriptive text.

Teaching writing descriptive in the classroom by using DCP is done through

in three phases. They are pre-teaching, whilst-teaching, and post-teaching. In pre-

teaching, the teacher prepares students to get involved actively in learning process. In

this phase teacher also discusses a topic to build students’ knowledge. In whilst-

teaching, teacher explains about descriptive text and introduces DCP as an alternative

medium in teaching descriptive text. The students then are asked to solve the puzzle.

By solving the puzzle, students will get help in writing descriptive text. The students

write the descriptive text based on the key words from DCP. Finally, in post-teaching,

the teacher solves the difficulties that are faced by the students, beside teacher guides

students to conclude the lesson and make self-assessment.

 41

B. Suggestions

Teaching writing in the classroom will be interesting when the teacher use

alternative medium such as DCP. In teaching English by using Descriptive DCP, the

teacher is suggested to do three things.

Firstly, the teacher has to prepare the appropriate DCP for the students. In

addition, the teacher has to adjust the difficulties of DCP with ability and grade of

students. If the DCP is too complicated and have unfamiliar vocabularies, the

students will get many difficulties to solve it. This condition will bother teaching

learning activity.

Secondly, the teacher has to explain and guide the students how to solve DCP

before the students work with the puzzle. The clear explanation is needed for solving

the puzzle because not all of students are familiar with DCP. By listening explanation

from the teacher, students will get guideline. This is very useful in solving the DCP.

After solving the puzzle, teacher still has to give guideline in determine

characteristics of thing that will be described.

Thirdly, the teacher needs to apply this DCP in classroom as an early study

descriptive text for students. Moreover, teacher needs to conduct with a further

research to proof the effectiveness of DCP in teaching descriptive text.

 42

References

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Print.
Claire, Elizabeth. Easy English Crossword Puzzles. USA: Eardley Publications, 2010.
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Commonwealth of Learning Book. Use and Integration of Media. 1999. Canada.
1999. Print.

Droga, Louise and Humphrey, Sally. Grammar and Meaning. Australia: Target
Texts, 2005. Print.
Foster, Patty. Middle School Writing Rubrics. Web. 6 October 2013. Online:
http://www.edmondschools.net/AboutUs/Curriculum/CurriculumSpecialt
ies/TheWritingCenter/MiddleSchoolHome/MidSchWritingRubrics.aspx
Graham, Steve and Perin, Doloris.. Writing Next. New York: The Alliance for
Excellent Education, 2007. Print.
Graham, Steve. Effective Writing Instruction for All Students. USA: Renaissance
Learning, 2008. Print.
Hoffner, Helen and friends. Lights, Cameras, Pencils! Using Descriptive Video to
Enhance Writing.2008. Print

Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. Kurikulum 2013 Untuk Sekolah Menengah

Pertama/Madrasah Tsanawiyah. 2013. Print.
Meigz, Divina-Frau. Media Education.Paris : L’exprimeur, 2010. Print.
Nair, Sekharan and friends. (2012). “Writing Descriptive Essays Using the Tree
Diagram as a Tool”. Vol. 8, No. 7, pp.40-44. Online:
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/view/17601/0.
Naz, Ahsan Akhtar. (2010). “Use of Media for Effective Instruction its Importance:
Some Consideration” Vol. 18 (1-2), pp. 35-40. Online:
http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/JEE/PDF-Files/JEE-18(1-2)%20No_3.pdf.
Oshima, Alica. Introduction to Academic Writing. USA: Longman, 2007. Print.
Read, Silvia. (2013). “The Knowing/Doing Gap: Challenges of Effective Writing
Instruction in High School.” Vol. 2, Issues 2, pp. 6-13. Online:
 43

http://www.academia.edu/4478739/The_Knowing_Doing_Gap_Challenges_o
f_Effective_Writing_Instruction_in_High_School

Sa’diyah, Halimatus (2011). “Improving Students’ Ability in Writing Though a

Picture Series-Aided Learning Strategy”. Vol XL: 164-182. Online:
http://www.melta.org.my/ET/2011/164_182_Halimatus.pdf.
Serna, Isabel Martinez. (2011). “Active Learning: Creating Interactive Crossword
Puzzles”.Paper.Online:
http://repositorio.bib.upct.es/dspace/bitstream/10317/2237/1/c189.pdf
Smit, David. Strategies to Improve Students Writing: Kansas State University, 2010.
Print.
Stead, Tony and Hoyt, Linda. A Guide to Teaching Nonfiction Writing. USA:
Firsthand, 2011. Print
Sun, Fushan. (2010). “Pedagogical Implication to Teaching English Writing:
Qingdao University of Science and Technology China”. Vol. 1, No.6, pp.
867-870.Online:
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2285
Tuan, Luu Trong. (2010). “Enhancing EFL Learners’ Writing Skill Via Jurnal
Writing”.Vol. 3 No 3, pp.81. Online:
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/view/7217/0

Valencia, Luis Alberto. Teaching Technical English Writing. Mexico: CENIDET,

2002. Print.

Weyer, Steve. Crossword: Terminology and Types. WebMD. 26 April 2013.

Web. 28 September 2013. Online:
http://communicrossings.com/crosswords-terminology-types
 44

Appendix 1

LESSON PLAN

School : Junior High School

Grade : 2ndgrade

Semester : 2ndsemester

Time : 2 x 40 minutes

Standard of Competence Basic Competence

12. Mengungkapkan makna dalam teks 12.2 Mengungkapkan makna dan langkah
tulis fungsional dan esai pendek retorika dalam esai pendek sederhana
sederhana berbentuk descriptive dan dengan menggunakan ragam bahasa
recount untuk berinteraksi dengan tulis secara akurat, lancar dan
lingkungan sekitar. berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan
lingkungan sekitar berbentuk
descriptive dan recount.

Achievement indicators Objectives

1. Explore students’ knowledge about 1. Students can understand some kinds

narrative text. of narrative text.
2. Determine the generic structure of the 2. Students can determine the generic
text. structure of narrative text.
3. Determine the purpose of the text. 3. Students can determine the purpose
of the text.

Activities:

Activities Time
I. Pre Teaching 5 minutes
1. Teacher prepares the class and media that is used
2. Teacher greets the students and makes sure that
they are ready to study
3. Teacher checks the attendance list
4. Teacher does brainstorming activity by asking
students about the condition of class.
5. Teacher introduces the topic.
 45

II. Whilst-Teaching 70 minutes

1. Exploration
b. Teacher shows the picture about person, animal
or thing to students.
c. Teacher asks students to describe picture orally.
d. Teacher writes the students’ answers on
whiteboard.
e. Teacher and students discuss about the answers.
f. Teacher gives clear explanation about
descriptive text.
g. Teacher writes the example of descriptive text
on white board.
2. Elaboration
a. Teacher shows the picture that will be
described in front of the class

b. Teacher shows the crossword puzzle in front

of the class

c. Teacher explains about this crossword puzzle

and what students should do.
 46

d. Teacher distributes the copied of crossword

puzzles to students and asks students to fill
the blank boxes.

e. Teacher and students discuss about the

answers.

f. Teacher and students discuss about the clues

and the answers from crossword puzzle.

3. Confirmation
From the clues that are discussed, teacher
asks students to write descriptive text. Here
the example of descriptive text that may be
produced by students
 47

III. Post-teaching 5 minutes

i. The teacher asks the students’ difficulties about
the lesson.
ii. The teacher let the students to say their feeling.
iii. The teacher concludes the lesson together with
the students.
 48

Appendix 2

Picture .2
The Picture of Animal (cat) Which is Used in Exploration Step
(Source:http;//animal.cat.funny.catloverspicture.org)
 49

Appendix 3

Picture 3.
The Picture of a House Which is Used in Exploration Step
(Source: www.picture.housemakerelegandesign.com)
 50

Appendix 4

Picture 8.
Example of Random Crossword Puzzle about Person
 51

Appendix 5

Picture 9.
Example of Crossword Puzzle’s Key Answers about Person
 52

Appendix 6

Picture 10.
Example of Horizontal Crossword Puzzle about Animal
 53

Appendix 7

Picture 11.

Example of Horizontal Crossword Puzzle’s Key Answers about Animal

 54

Appendix 8

Picture 12.

Example of Free From Crossword Puzzle about House

 55

Appendix 9

Picture 13.

Example of Free From Crossword Puzzle’s Key Answers about House