The Use of Project-Based Writing in Developing Writing Skill of Hortatory Exposition Text (An Experimental Study of the Year Eleventh Students of SMA Negeri 9 Semarang in the Academic Year of 2011/2012)

Project-based writing is a good way to motivate students to write because it offers the opportunity to match tasks with interesting topics that are relevant to the students. The objectives of this study were to describe the use of project-based writing, to describe the effectiveness of using project-based writing, and to describe the significant difference of students’ achievement in the improvement of students’ writing ability between those who were taught by using project-based writing and those who were taught by using conventional method. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, an experimental research was conducted. The population of the study was the year eleventh students of SMA Negeri 9 Semarang. The sample was taken based on purposive random sampling, students of XI-IPA-4 as the experimental group taught by using project-based writing and students of XI-IPA-5 as the control group taught by using conventional method. The data were collected through a writing test. t-test formula was applied to determine whether or not there was a significant difference between the means of score of the experimental and the control group. The mean of post-test of the experimental group (80.75) was higher than the mean of post-test of the control group (70.75). There was a significant difference in the students’ score between students who were taught writing a hortatory exposition text by using project-based writing and those who were taught by using a conventional method since the t-test result (3.382) was higher than the t-table (1.67). Based on the result of study, it is concluded that using project-based writing as a project work in teaching writing hortatory exposition text is effective to improve the students’ achievement since the method can motivate them to improve their writing skill. Referring to the experiences of this study, it is suggested for English teachers to use project-based writing as an additional method to motivate students to develop and train their writing skill of hortatory exposition text, interest, and creativities