IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT BY USING CROSSWORD PUZZLE AT EIGHT GRADE OF SMP NEGERI 8 TANJUNGPINANG

Abstract

This research was conducted to find out how good the students’ability  in writing descriptive text was. This Classroom Action Reseach was conducted in SMP Negeri 8 Tanjungpinang to give solusion toward the students problem in writing descriptive text. The teaching learning process were carried out by using “crossword puzzle†as the media to help the students to overcome their problem. It was conducted in two cycles with the consideration that by using crossword puzzle, the students could improve their ability in writing descriptive text. The kinds of data were analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative data were obtained from the observation sheet. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were from pre-test, post-test I, and post-test II. In the pre-test, the students who got the score 60 or more were 7 of 24 students  (29.1%). In the post-test of the cycle I, the students who got the score 60 or more were 11 of 24 students (45.83%). Meanwhile, in the post-test of cycle II, the students who got the score 60 or more were 21 of 24 students (83.33%). Based on the quantitative data above, the students’ scores showed improvement from the first to the last test. Furthermore, the qualitative data showed that the use of crossword puzzle  can improve students’ writing skill.