AN ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING EXPLANATION TEXT FOCUSSING GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LANGUAGE FEATURES AFTER WATCHING VIDEO ON YOUTUBE AT SMAN 13 PADANG

Abstrak

INTRODUCTION Writing is considered the most important skill. It is used extensively in higher education and workplace so that someone can share information that is easier for the reader to understand. In addition, writing can develop thinking skills, provide or receive feedback and prepare for school and employment [1]. Writing is a complex procedure. It means that during writing the students need to remember many things to build an excellent writing. There are some aspects of writing. There are components of writing; they are content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. In other words, it contains about how the ideas are composed by the writer until the writing has unity, coherence, and organized idea. [2] There are several kinds of texts, recount text, narrative text, descriptive text, hortatory exposition, explanation text, etc. Explanation is a text which tells processes relating to forming of natural, social, scientific and cultural phenomena. Explanation text is to say ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the forming of the phenomena. It is often found in science, geography and history text books.[3] Explanation text has its social function, generic structure, and language features that make it different from the other text.[4] Therefore, a slightly unique material was needed such as natural phenomena in writing explanation text. Because of the pandemic situation, teachers used YouTube in teaching writing explanation text. YouTube is a viral video sharing and social media platform in Indonesia’s social media landscape can be described as a significant contribution to social media platform around the world. The most popular social media platform in Indonesia is YouTube. Youtube has a 94% penetration rate among the 61.8% of social media platform users in Indonesia.[5] There are several researchers who have conducted a research about an analysis of students’ ability in writing the explanation text. Students’ ability, Problems and Causes of Problem in Writing Explanation Text at the First Grade of SMAN 1 Batusangkar”. It was conducted by Meladina (2019). From the result of the research, it was found that the students' ability and problems in writing explanation text was good categorizes (67.74). However, the students still found some problems especially related textual language (grammar). Moreover, this research also found that some factors which caused the student’ problems in writing explanation text. They were interference of first language, complexity of target language and lack of knowledge about writing components. [6] Furthermore, Aritonang (2018) conducted a research entitled “The Effect of Visual Media on Students’ Writing Explanation Text Ability at Eleventh Grade SMAN 1 Siabu 2017/2018 Academic Year”. It used the experimental research. The result showed that there is any significant effect of using Visual Media on students’ writing explanation text ability at eleventh grade SMA Negeri 1 Siabu 2017/2018 Academic Year. [7]. Relating to this, the researcher conducted the study on students’ ability in writing explanation text focussiing on generic structure and language features after watching video on YouTube faced by the second grade students at SMAN 13 Padang. METHOD This researcher used descriptive research design. Descriptive research involves collecting the data in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions concerning the current status of the subject of the study. [8] The population in this research was second grade students of SMAN 13 Padang. Since, they had studied explanation after watching video on YouTube. The population in this study is 293 students and they are distributed into 7 classes. The researcher used cluster random sampling technique in selecting the sample. In this research, the writer used writing test as the instrument. To make sure the test is reliable, the researcher used inter-rater method because it is a subjective test. In this method there are two scorers who gave scores on students writing tests (scorer 1 and scorer 2). The reliability correlation index of the text was 0.82 which means index of the test was very high. It means the test was reliable. To collect the data, the researcher administered the writing test offline to the students. The researcher asked the students to do the test in 90 minutes. Next, the researcher counted the raw score of each student. Then, the researcher converted score for each aspect of writing by using the formula. Finally, the researcher classified the students’ writing ability based on minimum mastery level (KKM). FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Based on the results of data analysis, the students’ ability in writing explanation text after watching video on YouTube is low (73.53%). It means that the students have not been able to write the explanation text after watching a video on YouTube. They also have not been able to write the general statement, sequenced of explanation, closing, and to use appropriate language features. Table 1 Students’ Ability in Writing Explanation Text after Watching a Video on YouTube KKM Ability Number of Students The Percentage ≥ 75 High Ability 9 26.27% < 75 Low Ability 25 73.53% Total Number of Students 34 100% Second, the students had low ability in writing the general statement of explanation text after watching video on YouTube. It was supported by the fact that 18 students (52.94%) had low ability. Table 2 Students’ Ability in Writing the General Statement of Explanation Text after Watching a Video on YouTube KKM Ability Number of Students The Percentage ≥ 70 High Ability 16 47.06% < 70 Low Ability 18 52.94% Total Number of Students 34 100% Third, the students had high ability in writing the sequence explanation of explanation text after watching video on YouTube. It was supported by the fact that 23 students (67.65%) had high ability in writing the sequence explanation of explanation text after watching video on YouTube. Table 3 Students’ Ability in Writing the Sequence Explanation of Explanation Text after Watching a Video on YouTube KKM Ability Number of Students The Percentage ≥ 70 High Ability 23 67.65% < 70 Low Ability 11 32.35% Total Number of Students 34 100% Fourth, the students had low ability in writing the closing of explanation text after watching video on YouTube. It was supported by the fact that 30 students (88.23%) had low ability. Table 4 Students’ Ability in Writing the Closing of Explanation Text after Watching a Video YouTube KKM Ability Number of Students The Percentage ≥ 70 High Ability 4 11.77% < 70 Low Ability 30 88.23% Total Number of Students 34 100% Fifth, the students had high ability to use appropriate the language features in writing explanation text after watching video on YouTube. It was supported by the fact that 32 students (94.12%) had high ability. KKM Ability Number of Students The Percentage ≥ 70 High Ability 32 94.12% < 70 Low Ability 2 5.88% Total Number of Students 34 100% CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION In line with the results of data analysis above, it can be concluded that the students’ ability in writing explanation text after watching video on YouTube is low ability. It showed that there were 9 (26.27%) students who had high ability, and 25 (73.53) students who had low ability. Dealing with such conclusion, it is suggested to the teachers should explain again how to write explanation text and give more exercises to students. Then the teachers should use varies media other than YouTube because there are still many media that can be used to improve students’ ability in writing the explanation text. Last, the teacher should play a video use infocus and ask the students to watch the video that the teacher show. The students are suggested to keep paying attention to what the teachers’ planation and do more exercises in writing explanation and learn more how to write a good explanation text. Other researchers are suggested to study other aspects of writing which are composed of five aspects. They are content, vocabulary, language use, organization, and mechanics.