THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GUIDED WRITING IN IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMP N 2 TEMON IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2012/2013

This study is aimed at finding out whether there is a significant difference in the writing ability between grade eight students of SMP Negeri 2 Temon who are taught by using guided writing technique and those who are taught by using a conventional technique in the academic year of 2012/2013. \nThis research was classified as a quasi-experimental study. It involved 61 students from two groups, Class VIII C (30 students) as the control group and Class VIII D (31 students) as the experimental group. The experimental group was taught by using guided writing technique whereas the control group was taught by using a conventional technique. The data were obtained by using two writing tests: pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was given to both groups before the treatment and the post-test was given after the treatment. The data of the pre-test and post-test of both groups were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. After the data were tested and found to be homogeneous and normal, the hypothesis was tested using Ancova. \nThe result of the research shows that there is a significant difference in the writing ability between the students who are taught by using guided writing technique and those who are taught by using a conventional technique. It can be seen from the mean score in the post-test of the experimental class and the control class. The mean score of the experimental class is higher than that of the control class (15.38 > 11.36). Besides, it is proved by the result of the hypothesis testing through Ancova. The significance value of 0.002 is less than the significance level of 0.05 (0.002 < 0.05), which means that the result of this study are considered to have a significant difference. Therefore, the hypothesis of this study is accepted. It means that the use of guided writing technique significantly improves the students’ writing ability in the English teaching and learning process at SMP Negeri 2 Temon.