Taufiq Darmawan, 2201407201 (2011) The Effectiveness of Using Four-Square Writing Method to Improve Students’ Writing Skill of Descriptive Texts (An Experimental Research at the Tenth Graders of SMK N 1 Bukateja in the Academic Year of 2010/2011). Under Graduates thesis, Universitas Negeri Semarang.

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Abstract

The Four-Square Writing Method is a simplified graphic organizer for teaching writing to children in school. Four-Square Writing Method is a method of teaching basic writing skills that is applicable across grade levels and curriculum areas. It can be applied for the narrative, descriptive, expository and persuasive forms of writing. The method was developed by Judith S. Gould and Evan Jay Gould in 1999. The problems that had been discussed in this study were whether teaching writing of descriptive text by using Four-Square Writing Method was effective or not for students of vocational high school and how Four-Square Writing Method affected the students in writing descriptive texts. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to find out whether teaching writing of descriptive text by using Four-Square Writing Method was effective or not for students of vocational high school and to analyze how Four-Square Writing Method affected the students in writing descriptive texts. The subject of the study was 40 students of the tenth graders of SMK N 1 Bukateja, which were chosen randomly. The writer took two groups of the students as the samples using simple random sampling, one as the experimental group and another one as the control group. The data were collected by using essay test. Posttest only control group design was chosen as the design of this study. In order to determine whether there was a significant difference between the means of the experimental and the control groups, the writer used t-test formula. The result of the study showed that after the treatment, there was a difference in the students’ achievement in writing descriptive texts between students taught using Four-Square Writing Method and those without using Four-Square Writing Method. Having analyzed the data, the writer found that the students’ achievement of experiment class was better than that of the control class. It could be seen from the final result of t-test analysis which stated that the t-value was higher than the t-table (3.64 > 2.02). The writer also found that aspects of writing composition of the descriptive texts (task, organization, content, style, and lexicon) in the experimental group were more structured than the control group. Consequently, it can be justified that there was a significant difference in the students’ achievement in writing descriptive texts between students taught using Four-Square Writing Method and those without using Four-Square Writing Method.

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