Problem of the Study

1. What types of written corrective feedback used by teacher in teaching descriptive text?
2. What types of error

Background of the Study

Writing Problems faced by junior high school students (

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter discusses about writing (the definition of writing, the process of writing, the
purposes of writing, problem in teaching and learning of writing), written corrective feedback
(the definition of written corrective feedback, the types of written corrective feedback, the
purpose of written corrective feedback, the timing and frequency of giving written corrective
feedback, and the amount of written corrective feedback to provide), and descriptive text (the
definition of descriptive text, the general structures of descriptive text, and the language features
of descriptive text).
1. Writing
Writing is one of four English skills that must be mastered by English learners. In this chapter,
the researcher will discuss about writing, such as the definition of writing, the processes of
writing, the purposes of writing, and the problems in teaching and learning writing.
a. The Definition of Writing
Writing is a process which is undertaken by people. It can be teachers, students, writers,
authors or others to write and to share what they think. Writing is a productive skill that creates
written and printed works. Students write some important words which has been explained by
the teacher in the class. Students usually write something when they have assignments, make a
note of teacher’s explanation, summarize the lesson, or write their ideas in diary. Writing can
help students to communicate their thoughts and ideas to others. The students are taught how to
write something, and they have to pay attention in some aspects, such as coherence, acceptable
spellings, and appropriate grammar stucture (Freedman et al., 2014 as cited in Hussain, 2017).
According to Harmer (2010), when we think about writing, there will be two distinctions
between writing for learning and writing for writing. It means that in writing for learning,
writing is used by students as a tool to practise and work with language that they have been
studying. Students also write some sentences as their preparation before they have activity in
classroom. However, writing for writing means that it is used for developing students’ ability to
be writers. Students must be better to write all of kinds of text, such as emails, letters and
reports. In writing for writing, it will be looked at the whole text. The aspects of the text should
have appropriate language use, text construction, layout, style and effectiveness. The way to
teach both distinctions will be different.
Writing becomes a significant predictor of university achievement over time, because when
they get announcement about writing assignment, they mostly show unhappy face (Setyowati,
& Sukmawan, 2016). Because of that, before writing something, students should know and
think the processes and the characteristics of good writing. It will help them easier to write.
There are three the characteristics of good writing.
The first characteristic is coherence. Coherence in writing is the logical bridge among words,
sentences, and paragraphs. The movement from one sentence to the next sentence must be
logical and smooth. There are four ways to get coherence, they are using repetition of key
nouns, using transition signals, using pronouns, and using logical order.
The second characteristic of good writing is cohesion. It means that when a paragraph has
cohesion, all the supporting sentences will connect each other. Cohesion is important in writing
because it can help readers to capture the meaning or the purposes of writing easily.
The last characteristic is unity. Unity in writing is the connection of all ideas to a single topic.
All sentences in a paragraph should state on the one thing in the topic sentence. All of the
sentences stick together.
b. The Process of Writing

Writing process is several steps to write something. Writing is not an instant process, so it will
take time to write. Sometimes writers need more time to recheck their writing. There are four
steps to write a paragraph or an essay.
The first step is prewriting. Prewriting means that before we start writing, we have to think
about our ideas that we will write. The activities in prewriting are brainstorming, free writing,
collecting data, note taking, and outlining.
The second step is drafting. Drafting means that we write down some important things related
to our topic. We can make our writing in this step. In first draft, it is usually called rough draft
because it is still rough.
The next step is revising. Revising means that we revise our writing or we re-write our rough
draft into to get it in shape. We revise our writing in the content and organization, including
unity, coherence, and cohesion. In the first revising, we can change, re-arrange, add, or delete
for the goal of communicating thought more clearly, effectively and in more interesting way.
The last step is editing. Editing is the final step of writing. We should hunt for the errors,
especially in grammatical errors. We must edit our writing more than once in order to create a
good writing.
c. The Purposes of Writing
When people write something, they have purpose why they have written something. People can
know the purpose of the writing when they read something. According to Stead and Hoyt
(2011), there are five common purposes of writing.
The first purpose is to inform the readers. It means that the writer provides some information
(describe, explain, give the reader facts, tell what something looks like, summarize). The
charateristics of this purpose are topic-centered structure or expository, title, opening statement,
information organized in logical clusters, conclusion or summary.
The second purpose is to instruct the readers. It means that the writer tells the readers how to do
something or to outline a process. The characteristics of this purpose are title and/or goal,
materials or equipment list, steps are numbered with verb-first sentence or presented in a
specific order using time order-order words (first, second, third; now, next, then, finally).
The third purpose is to narrate the readers. It means that the writer draws the readers into an
event or sequence of events to provide insights into a situation or the life of a person or other
living thing. The characteristics of this purpose are well-developed setting, sensory imagining,
sequential (usually time-ordered) structure, relevant details situate events in a time and place,
significance/ importance of situation is established, distinct ending.
The fourth purpose is to persuade the readers. It means that the writer influences the readers to
take action or to subscribe to a belief. The characterictics of this purpose are the overview of
the topic, statement of author’s position/ argument, supporting facts/ evidence, appeal to
readers, conclusion or summary.
The last purpose is to respond something. It means that the writer expresses ideas about a text
or topic, or to engage in analytical, critical, evaluative thinking. It may include a specific
propmt or format. The characteristics of this purpose are the clear reference to a text or prompt
created by an outside agent, citing specific examples and including analysis.
In teaching writing for students, there are many kinds of text, such as narrative text, descriptive
text, and recount text. Those three kinds of text have purpose to narrate the readers because the
readers can feel the situation or the life of a person or other living thing.
d. Problems in Teaching and Learning of Writing

Writing is a productive skill that produces a sentence, a paragraph, an essay and others. Many
students get difficulties in writing because sometimes they do not have idea to write something.
The error of students’ writing is also a problem because they will not know their errors if they
do not get feedback from their teacher.
Nosratinia and Razavi (2016) stated that writing is the most difficult skill to be mastered by
students because students thought that writing is full of complexity. Students need more time if
they want to start writing. Writing described as an annoying activity because students have to
write something. It can be when they have idea or not (Widdowson, 1978 as cited in
Alimohammadi, & Nejadansari, 2014).
 2. Written Corrective Feedback

Feedback is divided into two parts, namely written corrective feedback and oral corrective
feedback. In this part, the researcher focuses on discussing the definition of written corrective
feedback and some types of written corrective feedback that adopted from Rod Ellis.
a. Definition of Written Corrective Feedback
Written Corrective Feedback is the response from readers. It can be the form of comments that
are given by writers. Written corrective feedback is feedback that is given by the teacher to the
students in their writing. The aim is to improve the students’ writing ability. According to
Shirota (2016), written corrective feedback has proven to be a key tool to improve students’
writing. It means that written corrective feedback gives positive effect both to the teacher or to
the students.
Written corrective feedback is the correction from the teacher to the students’ writing. Most of
students feel happy when they get written corrective feedback in their work. They need and
want to be corrected by their teacher (Goksoy, & Nazli, 2016). Students’ desire for written
corrective feedback could be attributed to their cultural belief because they want to see their
writing as error free which is seen as a good command of language (Hyland, & Anan, 2006 as
cited in Ajmi, 2014).
b. Types of Written Corrective Feedback
There are seven types of written corrective feedback according to Sheen (2011) that was
modified from Ellis (2009). Every type has its own characteristic. These are seven types of
written corrective feedback that mentioned by Sheen (2011):
1) Direct non-metalinguistic written correction.
This correction option simply provides the learner with the correct form. This can be
achieved in a number of different ways – crossing out an unnecessary word, phrase or
morpheme, inserting a missing word or morpheme, and writing the correct form above or
near the erroneous form.

2) Direct metalinguistic written correction.

 This refers to the provision of the correct form with an accompanying explanation of some
sort. One way of doing this is to number specific types of errors and then provide a brief
metalinguistic comment on them below the written text, as in this example.

3) Indirect written correction (not located)

This involves indicating that the student has made an error without either locating or
correcting it. The indication appears only in the margin. With this type of correction
learners have to locate the errors they have made themselves.

4) Indirect written correction (located)

This correction type differs from the previous one in that it actually indicates where the
errors are while still not providing the correct form. Errors can be indicated in a variety of
ways – underlining the errors, using cursors to show omissions in the student’s text or by
placing a cross ‘X’ in the margin next to the line containing the error (as in the example
below).
5) Indirect written correction using error codes
This type of correction provides learners with some form of explicit comment about the
nature of the errors they have made by way of error codes. Error codes consist of labels that
are placed over the location of the error in the margin of the text to signal the specific type
of error. This still constitutes an indirect form of CF because the learners are made
responsible for making the actual corrections themselves.

6) Indirect metalinguistic written correction

This is very similar to the second previous category (direct metalinguistic written
correction). That is, the CF involves the provision of metalinguistic clues about the errors.
However, whereas the actual correction is provided in (2) it is withheld indirectly in
metalinguistic correction. For example, if the learner has omitted the indefinite article the
clue might be ‘What word do you need before a noun when the person/thing is referred to
for the first time?’
7) Reformulation
This option reformulates the entire sentence or paragraph that contains erroneous forms in
order to provide learners with positive input, which they can make use of to identify their
errors. Reformulation can be considered a form of direct CF in that it provides learners with
the corrections. However, learners have to carry out a comparison of their own and the
reformulated text, which places the burden of locating specific errors on them.
Reformulation typically involves more than just addressing the linguistic errors that
learners make. It also addresses stylistic problems and aims to improve coherence.

3. Descriptive Text
Recount text is one of kinds of text which is studied in school. In this part, the researcher
focuses on discussing the definition of recount text, the generic structures of recount text, and
the language features used in recount text.
1. The Definition of Recount Text

In learning English, there are many types of text which must be mastered by the students in
their school. Those texts are descriptive, narrative, recount, and procedure text. They have
different purposes, language features, and generic structures. In this case, recount text is one of
text types which is studied in the first grade of Senior High School. Recount is defined as a
piece of text which retells events aimed at giving the description of what happened and when it
happened to the audiences or the readers (Anderson, 1997 as cited in Yunianto, 2014). Recount
is written to retell event, and it has some purposes either informing or entertaining the
audiences or readers (Coogan, 2006 as cited in Siswita, & Al Hafizh, 2014). According to
Azhar (2015), recount text can entertain the readers by dealing with a sequence of events that
establish a relationship between the writer and the readers. It can be summarized that recount
text is a text which tells the readers about a story, or retells events or experiences in the past.

2. Generic Structures of Recount Text

In writing a recount text, students must know and understand the purposes of the text, the
components of the text, and the language features used in recount text. The purposes of recount
text are to inform and to entertain the audiences or the readers about past events. In this case,
the components of recount text can be called as generic structures. Structures sometimes re-
organise the chronology of events using techniques. Those techniques are flashbacks, and
moving the focus backwards and forwards in time. There are three generic structures which
should be known by the students in a recount text.
The first generic structure is orientation. In this part, the readers will find the background
information of the event. The writer of a recount text will present the background information
needed to be understood by the readers, such as who was involved, where it occured, and when
it occured. Orientation is a scene-setting or establishing context.
The second generic structure is event. In this case, the writer writes the story chronologically. It
is also the series of events, and ordered in a chronological sequence. According to Azhar
(2015), the readers will find some events which the writer wants to talk about. It begins from
the first event to the last event.
The third generic structure is reorientation. Reorientation is a closing statement that may
include elaboration. The writer will present the conclusion of the events. Reorientation
concludes the event by providing summary, and giving personal comment about the event, or
what happened in the end. The writer will show the readers what he or she felt when the event
occured.
3. Language Features of Recount Text

Language features are needed to write a recount text. A recount text focuses on what a person
or a group of people were doing. The language features used in recount text are focusing on the
specific participants, using the past tenses (simple past tense, past continuous tense, past perfect
tense, and past perfect continuous tense), focusing on temporal sequences of event (on
Saturday, on Monday, or last year), using the conjunctions (then, before, after, and so on), and
using action verbs ( went, stayed, walked, and others).
Definition of Written Corrective Feedback
Purpose and Goals of Written Corrective Feedback
Feedback plays important role in teaching and learning process, thus providing written corrective
feedback is a response to students’ error in their writing compositions. As Bitchener and Ferris
(2012) stated that written corrective feedback is understood to be effective as a form of
instruction because it is provided at a time when students are most likely to notice it, understand
it, and internalize it. Therefore, written corrective feedback can help students identify their errors
in writing and provide them information about why their writing was inccorect and how they can
correct it.
Timing and Frequency of Giving Written Corrective Feedback
There are several key factors to consider by teacher when to provide written corrective feedback
(Bitchener and Ferris, 2012). The first factor is to consider the proficiency level of students. In
English classes, providing corrective feedback (both oral and written) is given to lower
profieciency learners that higher profieciency learners. Lower proficiency learners expect their
teachers to provide regular feedback on the accuracy of their writing but, in doing this, teachers
need to be sensitive to the amount of corrective feedback they provide at any one time. Failure to
do so could be discouraging, detrimental to self-esteem and de-motivating for those who
experience difficulty in making progress and it could also be counter-productive if their
attentional capacity is overloaded. Higher proficiency learners, on the other hand, may need less
corrective feedback but more feedback on other aspects of their writing.
Next factor to be considered in giving written corrective feedback is the teacher’s purpose in
assigning tast for students. Sometimes, the piece of writing may be a short exercise that focuses
the learner’s attention on a particular linguistic form or structure. Feedback on the accuracy with
which learners have used the targeted form or structure is given orally would be more immediate
than written feedback. Writing tasks, on the other hand, are often characterized by a particular
communicative purpose and, as such, often provide learners with opportunities to use targeted
forms and structures. For example, if the task involves the writing of a narrative (e.g., about a
series of events that happened last week), it is likely that the teacher is targeting the use of the
past simple tense and maybe the use of adverbs and their placement. Additionally, the teacher
may want to see if his/her learners can produce a fluent piece of narrative writing, or if they can
clearly and effectively create a narrative structure. If the teacher’s main focus is on fluency and
narrative structure, it would not be appropriate for the learner’s attention to be given to issues of
accuracy. On the other hand, if the main focus is on the accurate use of the past simple tense
and/or the accurate placement of adverbs of time, written CF would be appropriate.
Another decision that teachers need to make is the frequency with which written CF is to be
given. Assuming that it is being provided on partially acquired linguistic forms and structures,
some learners may increase the accuracy with which they use them after receiving only one
feedback treatment. However, the extent to which this occurs is likely to depend on how well the
targeted form has been acquired. Other learners may require more regular feedback, especially
on recurrent error categories. Short writing exercises and tasks could be given on a daily basis
for a certain period of time (e.g., a week) to see if intensive feedback is helpful. Some of the
factors or variables that might determine whether a learner benefits sufficiently from a single
feedback session might include his/her proficiency level, the type of linguistic error category
being targeted, and the type of feedback provided.
The Amount of Written Corrective Feedback to Provide