CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem

There are four skills in English language that students need to learn. These

four skills are divided into two types. They are receptive and productive skills.

According to Harmer (2001. p.199) receptive skills, reading and listening, are the

ways in which people extract meaning from the discourse they see or hear. Means

we read and listen to get something. Productive skills on the other hand, writing

and speaking, are about producing something in the written and oral form.

Receptive and productive correlates to each others, in order to master productive

skills you will need to master the receptive skill first. Receptive skills are the

input and productive skills are the output.

Reading as a receptive skill is important in language learning because most of

the information including school material is gotten from reading. According to

harmer (2001.p.200), there are two reasons we do reading and listening, those are

instrumental and pleasurable. Instrumental is a large amount of reading and

listening that takes place because it will help us to achieve some clear aim while

pleasurable is another kind of reading and listening that takes place largely for

pleasure.

Reading for pleasure, also known as recreational reading, leisure reading, free

voluntary reading, and independent reading, as stated in the international reading

association (2014. p.2), it is also called with ludic reading by Stephenson in Nell

(1988. p. 7). Reading for pleasure is a reading activity that is done willingly

1
without any demand. According to Clark and Rumbold (2006. p. 6) they say

reading for pleasure refers to reading that we do of our own free will anticipating

the satisfaction that we will get from the act of reading. They also refer reading

for pleasure to reading that having begun at someone elses request we continue

because we are interested in it. It typically involves materials that reflect our own

choice, at a time and place that suits us. According to Nell (1988. p. 7) reading for

pleasure is a form of play that allows us to experience other worlds and roles in

our imagination. Clark and Rumbold (2006.p.6) also state that students are

accumulating that emphasise the importance of reading for pleasure for both

aducational as well as personal development.

Writing is one of the important skills in language learning, beside speaking,

listening, and writing. Some students may find that writing is a difficult task to do,

because the students should know how to express their idea and how to convey

their message in their writing. Nunan (2003, p.88) says that writing is both a

physical and a mental act. At the most basic level, writing is the physical act of

commiting words or ideas to some medium. Whether it is written on the paper or

typed into a computer. Byrne (1988, p.4) states that there are problems which are

caused by writing under three headings, they are psychological, linguistics, and

cognitive. She also says writing is clearly much more than the production of

graphic symbols, just as speech is more than the production of sounds.

There are some kinds of text that the students can write, one of them is

descriptive text. According to McCarty (P.5.1998), she says that descriptive

writing is that domain of writing that develops images through the use of precise

2
sensory words and phrases, and through devices such as metaphor and the sound

of words. In line with the statement above Syafii (P.42.2014) says that

descriptive paragraph is used to tell what subject looks, sound, feels, tastes, and/or

smells like. A descriptive paragraph describes idea and examples focused on a

particular subject. It attempts neither to argue nor persuade. Rather, it presents an

impression- your impression- of something.

Reading is vital for the students to expand their language skills. It is generally

agreed that the development of good reading habits can improve students ability

in writing. There is a well-established link between reading and writing basically,

the m,ore we read, the better we write (Kroll, 2003). Common sense will indicate

that as we meet more language, moreoften, through reading, our language

acquisition mechanism is primed ro produce it in writing or speech when it is

needed.

When children or less literate adults start reading for pleasure,their reading

comprehension will improve and they will find difficult, academic-style text

easier to read. Their writing style will improve, and they will be able to write

prose in a style that is acceptable to schools, including writing descriptive text.

Their vocabulary will improve. In other words, those who do pleasure reading will

have a bigger chance in literacy achievement, however those who do not develop

the pleasure reading habit simply having less chance. They will have a very

difficult time reading and writing at a level high enough to deal with the demands

of todays world. In addition to improve reading skill, pleasure reading has been

found to be associated with writing ability improvement.

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 SMPN 1 Siak Hulu is one of formal school in Pekanbaru. As a formal

educational institution this junior high school is also offering the english subject

to the students, especially in term of writing skills. Based on the curriculum 13

(K13) that is used at the eight grade students in state junior high school 1 Siak

Hulu, the core competency is comparing the social function, text structure, and

information about short and simple description of person, animal, and

thinglanguage aspects in some of written and oral dscriptive by giving and asking

in , the students are required to be able to write many kinds of genres, such as

narrative, descriptive, and procedure text which are .

In this research, the researcher focuses on students pleasure reading habit

both that is done in the classroom and outside the classroom. Based on the

preliminary observation in SMPN 1 Siak Hulu, According to one of the English

teacher, their school is provided with some of bilingual story books in their library

and also books that are written in Bahasa Indonesia, so that the students familiar

with book reading .The teacher who is in charge to the second grade glass said

that some of the students have low interest in writing activity, and also the score

of writing test is a little low compare to the other skills. These happen because

when it comes to writing, specially writing descriptive test, many students still

have difficulties in writing it, these problems can be seen into the symptoms

below:

1. The students find it difficult to develop their idea in descriptive writing.

2. Most of the students still have lack vocabulary knowledge that they can

use in writing.

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 3. The students make mistakes in grammatical devices, such as the use of

present tense, punctuation, conjunction, etc.

4. The students spend a lot of time to write a descriptive text.

From the problems above, since the teacher at the second grade of State junior

high school 1 Siak Hulu had taught the students by using good lesson plan and

text book which were relevant to the curriculum and even she used different

methods, technique and strategies creatively while teaching writing, the researcher

concludes that the factors involved in affecting the students writing ability were

students exposure on literacy reading.

Based on those problems above researcher felt interested in investigating

whether reading for pleasure had positive correlation to writing ability of the

Indonesian students of english, especially in SMPN 1 Siak Hulu into a reseach

project entitled: The Relationship Between Reading For Pleasure and

Students Ability in Writing Descriptive Text at The Second Year of SMPN 1

Siak Hulu

B. The Problem

1. Identification of The Problem

Based on the background and phenomena of this research, the problems

were identified into the following identifications:

a. What make some students find it difficult to develop their idea in

descriptive writing?

b. Why do some students still have lack vocabulary knowledge that they

can use in writing descriptive text?

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 c. What make some students make mistakes in grammatical devices,

such as the use of present tense, punctuation, conjunction?

d. Why do some students spend a lot of time to write a descriptive text?

2. Limitation of The Problem

Regarding to the identification of the problem stated above, the

researchers needed to limit the problem in order to make the research easily.

There were many interesting aspects to study, but the researcher focused the

problems of the research on the relationship between students activities in

reading for pleasure and their writing ability. Besides, the researcher also

limited the writing ability to ability in writing descriptive text.

3. Formulation of The Problem

The researcher formulates the research problem as follows:

a. How is students reading for pleasure habit at the second year of

SMPN 1 Siak Hulu?

b. How is students ability in writing descriptive text at the second year

of SMPN 1 Siak Hulu?

c. Is there any significant correlation between reading for pleasure habit

and students ability in writing descriptive text at the second year of

SMPN 1 Siak Hulu?

C. Objective and Significance of the Research

1. Objective of the Research

a. To know students reading for pleasure habit at the second year of

SMPN 1 Siak Hulu?

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 b. To know students ability in writing descriptive text at the second year

of SMPN 1 Siak Hulu?

c. To know the relationship between reading for pleasure and students

ability in writing descriptive text at the second year of SMPN 1 Siak

Hulu?

2. Significance of the Research

a. Hopefully, the findings of this research were able to benefit the

researcher as a novice researcher in learning how to conduct a

research.

b. The findings of this research were expected to be valuable and useful

for both teachers of English and students of Junior High School 01

Siak Hulu.

c. Besides, the results of this research were also expected to be used as

a reference for those who wanted to conduct a research in the world

of teaching and learning English as a second or foreign language.

d. Finally, the findings of this research were expected to be able to

enrich the theory of teaching reading.

D. The reason for Choosing the Title

There were some reasons why the researcher was interested in conducting this

research as follows:

1. The title of this research was not yet investigated by other previous

researchers.

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 2. The title of this research was relevant with the researchers status as an

English Education Department student.

3. Finally, the location of the research supported and facilitated the

researcher in carrying out the research.

E. Definition of the Terms

There were many terms which were involved in this research. In order to

avoid misunderstanding to the terms used in this research, the following terms

were necessarily defined as follows:

1. Relationship

Relationship is how two or more things, groups, or concepts are

connected. In other words, it can be defined as the state of being connected.

In this sense, there is a connection or mutual relationship that covers two or

more variables. Besides, changes in one variable are also connected with

changes in the other variable.

In this research, the researcher would like to find the relationship

between students habit in reading for pleasure and their writing ability.

Reading for pleasure habit was the variable X and students writing ability at

Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu was the variable Y. Variable X was

independent variable while Y was dependent variable.

2. Reading For Pleasure habit

Reading is an essential competency in the 21st Century. The importance

of reading undertaken in childhood cannot be underestimated, since it

provides a foundation for the acquisition of knowledge as well as for love of

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reading for pleasure. Reading for pleasure refers to reading that is done out

of the readers own freewill anticipating the satisfaction that he will get from

the act of reading and it typically involves materials that reflect the readers

own choice, at a time and place that suits him (Clark and Rumbold, 2006).

3. Writing Ability

Writing ability is a complex process that involves thinking and

composing, the consideration of audience and purpose, the use of standard

written forms, and the use of conventions of written language. Students will

have numerous opportunities to write in a variety of modes with relevant and

varied purposes for real audiences and occasionally for themselves alone.

4. Descriptive Text

Description is writing about characteristic features of a particular thing.

According to Oshima and Hogue (1997,p.50), descriptive writing appeals to

the senses, so it tells how something looks, feels, smells, tastes, and/ or

sounds. In additon, a good description is like a word picture; the reader can

imagine the object, place, or person in his or her mind. A writer of a good

description is like an artist who paints a picture that can be seen clearly in

the mind of the reader.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Theoretical Framework

1. Nature of Reading for Pleasure

a. The Concept of Reading for Pleasure

According to Clark and Rumbold (2006, p.6) Reading for pleasure

refers to reading that we do on our own free will by anticipating the

satisfaction that we will get from the act of reading. It also refers to

reading that having begun at someone elses request, we continue because

we are interested in it. It typically involves materials that reflect our own

choice, at a time and place that suits us. According to Nell (1988), reading

for pleasure is a form of play that allows us to experience other worlds and

roles in our imagination. In brief we know that reading that we do because

10
we like it, there is no any obligation in the process. Reading for pleasure is

known with several names. They are ludic reading, free voluntary reading,

and leisure reading.

But reading for pleasure is so much more than just a form of play it

is also a way connecting with text. According to Pullman (2004), writing

on the features that make reading pleasurable:

Consider the nature of what happens when we read a book it isnt

like a lecture: it is like a conversation. Theres a back-and-forthness

about it. The book propose ,the reader questions, the book responds,

the reader considers.

And we are active about the process We can skim or we can read it

slowly; we can read every word, or we can skip long passages; we can

read it in the order it presents itself, or we can read it in any order we

please; we can look at the last page first, or decide to wait for it; we

can put the book down and we can assent or we can disagree.

There are some indicators that can identify what reading for pleasure

is:

1) Reading Habit Is A Repeated Performance

Pleasure readers are good readers because of pleasure reading that

is becoming a habit, makes the reader read consistently, so not only

their knowledge will increase but also their reading ability. There are

some evidence that pleasure reader or ludic readers are good readers,

there are indirect and direct evidence.

11
 Indirect evidence that ludic readers are good readers, defined by

Carroll (1981,p 18) as "those who have attained high levels of

automaticity in a large proportion of [the] components of reading

skill", derives from time some data, which indicate that leisure reading

of books increases sharply with increasing education, and furthermore,

that as book reading increases, newspaper reading time declines as a

proportion of total leisure reading time. Similarly, Cole and Gold

(1979) report that book readers are better educated than newspaper

and magazine readers, who do not read books. One interpretation

(there are others) of this latter finding is that better educated readers

are faster readers; thus, one may speculate that the smaller reading

"parcels" provided by newspapers and magazines could be the refuge

of slower and less fluent readers, to whom reading an entire book may

appear a daunting task.

Direct evidence is anecdotal, like the reports in the literature that

slow readers do not read for pleasure (Fisher, 1961; Hilgard, 1979),

and observational, like the speed with which ludic readers of one's

acquaintance appear to "devour" books. More compelling

observational evidence comes from the experience of learning a

second language and settling down at some point to read what looks to

be an exciting book in this newly acquired tongue: One then becomes

forcefully aware of the difference between the technical literacy that

12
allows one to decipher a menu or a newspaper headline and the

effortless fluency that opens the way to pleasure reading.

2) Motivational Analysis Of Reading

One of the goals toward which reading instruction strives is

spontaneous ludic reading. A legitimate goal of reading research,

therefore, is to specify the motivational structure of this complex

activity -the needs it promises to satisfy and the rewards it mediates.

This is a daunting task. The reader's reinforcements are to be found

not in the words and phrases of the book, but in the cognitive events

that result from the interaction between book and reader. This

interaction, in turn, is modulated by the social value system and by

personality variables. In the face of these complexities and

inconstancies, if one is to attempt a comprehensive specification of the

needs leading to and the gratifications arising from ludic reading, one

must consider a large number of related domains. These include the

domains of aesthetic value formation, narrative structure and the

nature of storytelling, the component skills of reading and the

determination of reading ability, the nature of comprehension and its

relation to readability measures, the attentional mechanisms that

change the quality and content of consciousness in dreaming, in

trance, and in some kinds of reading, and physiological arousal as a

reward system during reading.

3) The Frustration Index

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 The Frustration Index is strongly correlated with book reading

time, but quite unrelated to magazine and newspaper reading time.

This may be interpreted to mean that newspaper and magazine readers

are less dependent on their reading matter than book readers, who feel

reading deprivation more keenly and take more vigorous action to end

it. Perhaps the eighteenth-century critics were correct when they

compared novel reading to tippling: Novels are addictive, whereas

newspapers are not. The fact that both the Frustration Index and

reading span are most strongly related to book reading time suggests

that these variables may be indirectly tapping the strength of the

motives to engage in and to continue ludic reading, which is most

often book reading.

4) Reading Span

Reading span can be seen as an indirect measure of motive

strength during reading. This was measured by asking subjects to say

how long they would continue reading a book they very much enjoyed

if they were able to continue reading without interruption for as long

as they liked. An estimate of book choice decision time was derived

from answers to the following question:

You're in the public library looking for some light reading. You

pick up a book, look it over. And decide whether to take it out or

put it back on the shelf. How long on average does it take you to

decide?

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 An analogous measure, derived from the reading preference test is

sorting time. This is the time taken for the first part only of the reading

preference test. This requires subjects to scan 30 brief anonymous

extracts from a wide variety of books, and allocate each to one of four

categories ("most like," "quite like," "quite dislike," "most dislike").

Instructions emphasized that although this procedure was being timed,

it was not a speed test, and subjects should "work at a comfortable

pace." sorting reading matter into broad "like dislike" categories is an

analog of everyday book selection: at a library or bookshop, the ludic

reader picks a book or passes it over by rapidly scanning one or two

randomly selected pages. Ludic readers could therefore be expected to

have the skills needed to perform this part of the reading preference

test more rapidly than non-ludic readers.

5) Vehicle of Reading Habit

Any kind of reading matter can serve as the vehicle for ludic

reading: a torn scrap of newsprint, a magazine, a novel, or a textbook

on a subject the reader finds engrossing. However, it is light fiction

that is the focus of the five studies reported here. The reading of light

fiction, most usually in book form, is of special interest for at least

three reasons: First, fiction reading accounts for most ludic reading

(Nell, 1985). Second, the experience of being lost in a book, in

absorption or entrancement, is most strongly associated with the

reading of fiction and of "narrative nonfiction" (Wolfe, 1975). Third,

15
 since the eighteenth century the reading of fiction, unlike other kinds

of reading, has been the target of merciless critical asceticism and has

even been regarded as addictive: The circulating libraries were

"tuppenny dram shops,'' and "to read novels, as to drink wine, in the

morning, was far into the [nineteenth] century a sign of vice".

6) Reading as A form of play

Pleasure reading is a form of play. It is free activity standing

outside ordinary life; it absorbs the players completely, is

unproductive and takes place within circumscribed limits of place and

time (caillois, 1961). Reading habit is therefore a useful descriptor of

pleasure reading, reminding one that it is at root a play activity and

usually paratelic, that is, pursued for its own sake (Apter, 1979).

b. Types of Reading materials for reading for pleasure

Types of reading materials that are used for reading for pleasure are

not merely always in a book form. As stated by Clark and Douglas in

reading evidence journal for reading for pleasure (2012, p.16), they found

that text messages, magazines, websites, and emails were the most

common reading choice and fiction is read outside of class by over two-

fifths young people.

One of the biggest benefits of reading for pleasure is the enrichment

of vocabulary. The students who read for pleasure tend to recognize the

meaning of text better than who do not. Which means theyll get even

16
familiarize with the context when they should use the word and when

they should not.

Common and Uncommon Words in Speech and Writing

Frequent words Rare words

Adults talking to
95.6 9.9
children

Adults talking to adults

93.3 17.3
(college grads)

Prime-time TV: adult 94 22.7

Childrens books 92.3 30.9

Comic books 88.6 53.5

Books 88.4 52.7

Popular magazines 85.0 65.7

Newspapers 84.3 68.3

Abstracts of scientific
70.3 128.2
papers

c. The Benefits of Reading for Pleasure

There is no doubt that reading for pleasure is of an utmost importance

in the development of a culture of literacy. Not only can it nurture the

habit of reading from a very young age, it has concrete and deep impact

on childrens and adults ability to understand and make sense of

different written messages in a host of different contexts, including the

17
ability to participate in social debates by understanding their implications

better.

Reading for pleasure or leisure reading is called free Voluntary

reading (FVR) by Stephen Krashen. According to Krashen, FVR means

reading because you want to. He stresses the point that no constraints,

such as book reports for example, are to be attached to this kind of

reading. He also puts forward the idea that all FVR is valuable and that

no sort of reading should be frowned upon, including comic books,

paperback romances and other genres that have been condemned in the

past by parents, educators and even librarians. He argues that children

who read for pleasureand therefore practice FVRare more likely to

succeed in school because

[] their reading comprehension skills will improve, and

they will find difficult, academic-style texts more

comprehensible. Their writing style will improve and they will

be better able to write prose in a style acceptable to schools,

business, and the scientific community. Their vocabulary will

improve and will improve at a better rate than if they took one

of the well-advertised vocabulary building courses. Also, their

spelling and control of grammar will improve.

According to Research with children in Clark and Rumbold

(2006.p.9) has shown that reading for pleasure is positively linked with

the following literacy-related benefits:

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 1) reading attainment and writing ability for reading that is done

both in school and out of school

2) text comprehension and grammar even after a variety of health,

wealth and school factors were statistically controlled for

3) breadth of vocabulary even after other relevant abilities such as

IQ or text-decoding skills are controlled for

4) positive reading attitudes which are linked to achievement in

reading

5) greater self-confidence as a reader

6) pleasure reading in later life

There is also evidence that reading for pleasure not only impacts on

reading achievement but also increases:

1) general knowledge (e.g. Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998);

2) a better understanding of other cultures (Meek, 1991);

3) community participation (e.g. Bus, van Ijzendoorm & Pellegrini,

1995);

4) a greater insight into human nature and decision-making (Bruner,

1996)

2. Nature of Writing Descriptive text

a. Definition of writing

There are four basic skills of the English language learning, i.e.

listening, speaking, reading, writing. Those skills are divided into

receptive skills and productive skills. The receptive skills are reading and

19
listening, because learners do not need to produce language to do these,

they receive and understand it. They can be contrasted with the productive

skills of speaking and writing. In the process of learning new language,

learners begin with receptive understanding of the new items, then later

move on to productive use. Learners usually learn to listen first, then to

speak, then to read, and finally to write.

There are some definitions of writing stated by experts. According to

Nunan (2003, p.88), writing can be defined by a series of contrast. The

first, writing is both a physical and a mental act. At the most basic level,

writing is the physical act of commiting words or ideas to some medium.

On the other hand, writing is the mental work of investing ideas, thinking

about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and

paragraphs that will be clear to a reader. The second, its purpose is both to

express and impress. Writers typically serve two masters: themselves, and

their own desires to express an idea or feeling, and readers also called the

audience, who need to have ideas expressed in certain ways. Writers must

then choose the best form for their writing, depending on its purpose. The

third, it is both a process and a product. The writer imagines, organizes,

drafts, edits, reads, and rereads. This process of writing is often cyclical,

and sometimes disorderly. Ultimately, what the audience sees, whether it

is an instructor or a wider audience is a product.

Writing is how to produce a written product. The process involves a

series of thinking activities in which the writers have to transform their

20
ideas coherently and cohesively into written text. According to Elbow (in

Brown 2001, p.337), writing is a transaction with words whereby you free

yourself from what you presently think, feel, and perceive. Writers are not

only required to transmit a message but also to grow and cook a message.

From the descriptions above, it can be concluded that writing is a

process of organizing ideas in which the writer is demanded to perform

creativity in using the language skills to produce a written text.

According Boardman (2002: p.11) states that writing is a continuous

process of thinking and organizing, rethinking, and reorganizing. It can

be concluded that writing is a way to produce language that comes from

our thought. It does not need only once time, but it needs a lot of time to

do the editing process and rewrite the text.

Writing is a way of sharing personal meanings and writing courses

emphasize the power of individual to construct his or her views on a

topic (Hyland, 2003: p.9). Writing is a way to produce language and

communicate with other on a written way. It is an action for writers to

express their opinions, ideas, and feelings and organize them in a written

form. The purpose of writing is to give some information to other people

by writing it down. Thus, writing is one of the important skills in learning

English, which has to be mastered.

b. Writing Process

Writing is a complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required

to demonstrate control of a number of variables simultaneously. At the

21
sentence level those include control of content, format, sentence structure,

vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, and letter formation. Beyond the

sentence, the writer must be able to structure and integrate information

into cohesive and coherent paragraphs and texts.

Writing process, further, incorporates some stages structurally.

Harmer (2007, p.326) states that the stages on writing are planning,

drafting, revising, and final drafting. Writing process as a classroom

activity that incorporates those four basic stages is seen as a recursive

process. It has cycle which integrates among stages. It can be seen as a

process wheel in which it clearly shows the directions that the writers

may take during their process in writing.

In addition, Oshima and Hogue (1997, p.2) state that writing is a

progressive activity. This means that when you first write something

down, you have already been thinking about what you are going to say

and how you are going to say it. Then after you have finished writing,

you read over what you have written and make changes and corrections.

Therefore, writing is never a one-step-action; it is a process that has

several steps. According to Blanchard and Root (2003: 41), there are at

least three steps involved in a writing process.

1) Step one: Prewriting

Thinking about your topic and organizing your ideas.

2) Step two: Writing

Use your ideas to write a first draft.

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 3) Step Three: Revising

Improving what you have written.

In writing, students will rely on at least four types of knowledge:

knowledge of the content, procedural knowledge to organize the content,

knowledge of conventions of writing, and procedural knowledge required

to apply the three other types of knowledge in composing a written

product (Hillocks in OMalley, 1996: 136). It is also supported by

Tribble (1996:43) that in order to understand a specific task in writing, a

writer requires the range of knowledge which can be summarize as

follows:

1) Content knowledge : Knowledge of the concepts

involved in the subject area.

2) Context knowledge : knowledge of the context in

which the text will be read.

3) Language system knowledge : knowledge of those aspects

of the language system necessary for the completion of the task.

4) Writing process knowledge : knowledge of the most

appropriate way of preparing for a specific writing task.

Therefore, in order to be able to produce a good written text, a writter

should require the range of knowledge. Besides, the writer also focuses

on the macro and micro skills of writing. In addition, Nunan (1998:37)

states successful writing involves:

1) Mastering the mechanics of letter formation;

23
 2) Mastering and obeying conventions of spelling punctuations;

3) Organizing content at the level of the paragraph and the complete

text to reflect given/ new information and topic/ comment

structures;

4) Polishing and revising ones initial efforts; and

5) Selecting an appropriate style for ones audience.

Based on the definition above, the researcher concludes that writing is

a process in which the writer is required to use some variables of writing,

such as content, format, sentence structure, vocabulary, punctuation,

spelling, and letter formation at the same time in order to demonstrate

knowledge and express the ideas, feelings, and thought in the written

form so that other people can understand the message. There are some

steps in writing that can be done recursively, i. e. planning, drafting,

editing, final product. The writers may loop backwards and move

forward between those various stages. Since writing is a complex

process, the teacher should consider facilitating the students with

appropriate learning experience of writing so that they are encouraged to

explore and experiment their ways of writing.

c. Assessing Descriptive Text Writing

Experience has shown testing practice in English are not static but

dynamic and changing. One controversial area in testing writing requires

that test construction and evaluation criteria be based on course objectives

and teaching methodologies. In the English language classroom,

24
especially at the junior high school, teachers are always challenged by

how reliably and validly evaluate students writing skill, so that the

students will be better prepared for internal and external proficiency and

achievement examinations.

There are many reasons for testing writing in the English language

classroom, including to meet diagnostic, proficiency, placement,

achievement, and performance. Each purpose requires different test

construction. Referring to this, there are two kinds of assessment, which

can be used in assessing students writing. they are process assessment

and product assessment. Thus, a teacher will indicate that it is not only the

product that is assessable, but that commitment to the process is also

expected.

Process assessment is a kind of on going assessment used to keep tract

of students progress in writing or to monitor the students progress in

writing in which counting the number (score) of the composition is not

regarded. The process assessment is designed to probe how the studens

write, the decision they make as they write, and the strategies they use.

Therefore, the aim of process assessment is to give information about the

students performance such as how far the students progress in writing is

and whether any change is needed in the way of teaching strategy or not.

Brown (2001, p.335) says product assessment focuses on assessing the

students final composition, while Hyland (2003,p.226) states that writing

product can be assessed through employing some methods of scoring.

25
There are three types of rating scales generally used in scoring writing.

They are holistic, analytic, and trait-based scoring.

Hyland states that a holistic scale is based on single, integrated score

of writing behavior. A holistic judgement may be built into an analytic

scoring rubric as one of the score categories. One difficulty with this

approach is that overlap between the criteria that is set for the holistic

judgement and the other evaluated factors cannot be avoided. When one

of the purposes of the evaluation is to assign a grade, this overlap should

be carefully consider and controlled. Holistic scoring would appear to be

more subjective as it depends on the impression formed by the markers. It

is obviously to be preferred where the primary concern is with evaluating

the communicative effectiveness of candidates in writing. the evaluator

should determine whether the overlap resulting in certain criteria is being

weighted more than what is originally intended. In other words, the

evaluator needs to be careful that the student is not unintentionally

severely penalize for a given mistake.

An analytic scoring rubric, much like the checklist, allows for the

separate evaluation of each of these factors. Each criterion is scored on a

different descriptive scale and assigned a numerical value. Analytic

marking schemes are devised in an attempt to make the testing more

objective, insofar as they encourage examiners to be more explicit about

their impressions. It uses criteria of the items measured. The item

measured are: relevance and adequacy of content, compositional

26
 organization, cohesion, adequacy of vocabulary for purposes, accuracy of

grammar, and mechanical accuracy for spelling and punctuation.

Different from analytic and holistic scoring, trait-based scoring

focuses on whether or not each paper shows evidence of the particular

trait or feature you want students to demonstrate in writing. Trait-based

instruments are designed to clearly define the specific topic and genre

features of the task being judged (Hyland, 2003: 229). Therefore, the

advantage of this approach is in focusing on specific aspects of instruction

that most reflect the objectives being covered when the writing

assignment given. Based on the theories above, the scoring rubric applied

in this thesis is as follow.

3. Relationship Between Reading for Pleasure and Writing Ability

Reading for pleasure as stated above is a form of play that the students do

on their own choice. Things that are done willingly and without any burden,

specially reading, will help the reader unconsciously, whether it is their

cognitive or their literacy awareness. Reading for pleasure is beneficial to

improve writing ability in vocabulary knowledge, text structure, and idea

development, as stated in Clark and Rumbold (2006, p.9), reading for

pleasure is positively linked to literacy-related benefits, such us writing

ability improvement, vocabulary, and general knowledge which are really

beneficial in writing, especially descriptive text writing.

B. The Relevant Research

27
 There are some relevant researches which have relevancy toward this

research. the first title is The Correlation between Students Reading Habit

and Their Ability of Writing Narrative Text by Inayatul Maula (2015). Her

research design is correlational research. Inayatul Maulas final project discussed

the correlation between the students reading habit and students ability of writing

narrative text. The basic problem the writer wanted to discuss in this final project

was the importance of reading habit which impacts the ability of writing narrative

text of the eleventh graders of SMAN 1 Kajen Pekalongan. The research was

aimed at finding out the level of reading habit of the eleventh graders of SMAN 1

Kajen in the academic year of 2014/2015, examining their writing ability, and

finding out whether there is a correlation between students reading habit and

their ability of writing narrative text. A questionnaire was used to measure how

good the students reading habit and guided writing test to measure students

ability of writing narrative text. Based on the research findings, it is suggested that

the teachers should find a new way of teaching writing because writing style does

not come from actual writing experience, but from reading. Many researches

strongly suggest that learning to write is by reading, to be more precise in

acquiring writing style, the special language of writing, by reading.

The second title is Improving The Ability In Writing Descriptive Texts

Through Brainstorming Technique For Grade VIII Students At Smpn 1

Piyungan by Tossi Ana Ari Utami (2014). Her research design is experimental

research. Her research was intended to improve the ability in writing descriptive

28
texts through brainstorming technique for grade VIII students at SMP N 1

Piyungan in the academic year of 2013/2014.

The results of her study showed that the implementation of brainstorming

technique in the writing classes was believed to be effective to improve students

ability in writing descriptive texts. Brainstorming technique helped the students to

generate ideas and organize them into paragraphs. They could manage the time for

writing more effectively and perform the writing task more maximally. The

students also perceived that brainstorming technique helps them to improve their

writing ability. This implies that the implementation of brainstorming technique in

the writing instructions gives positive effects on improving students performance

and achievement in writing descriptive text.

C. The Operational Concept

Richards and Schmidt (2010) have pointed out that operational definition

refers to a definition of a concept for terms which is measurable and observable.

Syafii, (2015: p.103) stated that operational concept is acquired from related

theoretical concept on all of the variables used in which this concept should be

applied in an academic writing practically and empirically. It means that

operational concept is the concept used to give an explanation of theoretical

framework in order to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the

research. The explanation is to describe the concept used by the writer. The

operational concept is needed to avoid misinterpreting about the thesis content by

other readers. The main technical terms of the special sense that exist are

necessarily operated in this research.

29
 There are two variables used in this research. They are reading for pleasure as

X variable which is independent and descriptive writing ability as Y variable

which is dependent.

The indicators of reading for pleasure as in Nell, Victor can be seen as

follows:

1. Reading habit is a repeated performance

a) Unthinking routines that form the bedrock of everyday life

b) Automated response disposition that are cued by aspect of the

performance context (i.e., environment, preceding actions). They are

learned through a process in which repetition incrementally tunes

cognitive processors in procedural memory.

2. Motivational analysis of reading

a) A spontaneous reading is a legitimate goal of reading research,

therefore, is to specify the motivational structure of this complex

activitythe needs it promises to satisfy and the rewards it mediates.

The readers reinforcement are to be found not in the word and

phrases of the book, but un the cognitive events that result from the

interaction between book and reader.

3. The frustration index

a) This index can be seen as an indirect measure of motive strength to

engage in reading habit at the inception of reading. An uncomfortable

feeling of finding that there is no book to read.

30
4. Reading Span can be seen as an indirect measure of motive strength

during reading

a) Time for the reader to spend in reading.

5. Vehicle of reading habit

a) Any kind of reading habit matter can be serve as the vehicle for

reading habit: a torn scarp of news print, a magazine, a novel, or a

text book on a subject that the reader find engrossing. The reading of

light fiction, most usually in book form, is of special interest for at

least three reasons: (1) fiction reading for most of the pleasure readers

(Nell,1985), (2) the experience of being lost in a book, in absorption

or entrancement, is most strongly associated with the reading of

fiction and of narrative nonfiction (Wolfe, 1975). (3) Since the

eighteenth century the reading of fiction, unlike the other kinds of

reading, has been the target of merciless critical asceticism and has

ever been regarded as additive.

6. Reading as the form of play

a) Pleasure reading is a form of play. It is free activity standing outside

ordinary life; it absorbs the players completely, is unproductive and

takes place within circumscribed limits of place and time (caillois,

1961). Reading habit is therefore a useful descriptor of pleasure

reading, reminding one that it is at root a play activity and usually

paratelic, that is, pursued for its own sake (Apter, 1979)

The indicators of descriptive writing ability can be seen as follows:

31
 1. The students are able to develop complete and clear content in writing

descriptive text.

2. The students are able to organize identification and description well in

writing descriptive text.

3. The students are able to use grammatical devices, such as the use of

present tense, punctuation, and conjunction in writing descriptive text.

4. The students are able to use appropriate vocabularies in writing

descriptive text.

5. The students are able to use correct spelling, and capitalization in writing

descriptive text.

D. The Assumption and Hypothesis

1. Assumption

The writer would like to indicate an assumption of the research before she

formulates the hypothesis as temporary answer to the problems. So, the

assumption is that the more students enjoy reading (reading for pleasure) the

better descriptive writing ability the students can get.

2. Hypothesis

Ha : There is a significant correlation between reading for pleasure

and students ability in writing descriptive text.

Ho : There is no significant correlation between reading for pleasure

and students ability in writing descriptive text.

32
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. The Research Design

This research was a quantitative research. It uses correlational method in

which the variables are correlated with each other. According to Hartono (2008)

correlation is a relationship between two or more variables in which this

relationship is called bivariate correlation. Gay et al. (2011) stated that

correlational research is done by collecting data in order to find if, and to what

degree, an existence of relation occurs between two or more variables. In short,

correlational research is to study relationships among variables in which it usually

involves the possibility of cause and effect.

This research involves two variables, the first was reading for pleasure habit

symbolized by X in which it was independent variable and the second was

33
students ability in writing descriptive text symbolized by Y in which it was the

dependent variable.

B. The Time and The Location of the Research

This research was conducted at state junior high school 1 Siak Hulu. It is

located on Kubang Jaya street, Siak Hulu. It was conducted on August 2017.

C. The Subject and Object of The Research

The subject of this research was the eight grade of state junior high school 1

Siak Hulu and the object of this research was students reading for pleasure habit

and their descriptive writing ability.

D. The Population and Sample of The Research

Singh (2006) has stated that population refers to the entire mass of

observation, that is the parent group from which a sample it to be formed. The

population of this research is the eight grade students of State Junior High School

1 Siak Hulu. There are 9 classes and 358 students.

E. The Data Collection Techniques

In order to get some data needed to support this research, the writer applied

the techniques as follows:

1. Questionnaire

Singh (2006, p.200) believed that questionnaire is a form of interview

on paper. Gay et al. (2011) stated that questionnaire is a written form of

survey questions answered by samples or selected group of a research

population. Hence, questionnaire is a form of interview that contains a set of

34
 questions. This questionnaire will be used as data collection technique to

measure whether the students do pleasure reading or not.

2. Writing test

The written test of Descriptive text was intended to find out students

ability in writing descriptive text. There was no specific topic provided, and

the participants were freely to create their own writing and developed into a

short descriptive text composition. The participants were asked to write a

short composition of descriptive text.

F. The Data Analyzing Technique

The data analyzing technique in this study was Chi Square. This technique

was used because the data were containing ordinal data. According to Louis

Cohen (2007,p.525), if the data contains ordinal data, it is suggested to use the

following formula:

( )
=

CHAPTER IV
DATA PRESENTATION AND DATA ANALYSIS

A. Data Presentation

35
 There were two instruments that used in this research. They were

questionnaire and writing test. Each instrument was used in the variable

which had determined. They were students reading for pleasure habit and

their writing ability. The following is the data presentation of this research.

1. Data Presentation of Students reading for pleasure habit

In getting the data of reading pleasure from the eight-grade

students of State Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu, the researcher used

questionnaire. Thus, the total numbers of the items of the questionnaire

were 25 items. The following is the description table:

Table IV.1
Students Reading Pleasure
No Name Score Category
1 Student 1 62 Medium
2 Student 2 66 Medium
3 Student 3 61 Medium
4 Student 4 76 High
5 Student 5 71 High
6 Student 6 62 Medium
7 Student 7 64 Medium
8 Student 8 67 Medium
9 Student 9 66 Medium
10 Student 10 70 High
11 Student 11 86 High
12 Student 12 70 High
13 Student 13 73 High
14 Student 14 68 High
15 Student 15 71 High
16 Student 16 73 High
17 Student 17 79 High
18 Student 18 77 High
19 Student 19 61 Medium
20 Student 20 73 High
21 Student 21 88 High
22 Student 22 82 High
23 Student 23 81 High
24 Student 24 66 Medium
25 Student 25 71 High
26 Student 26 80 High

36
 27 Student 27 75 High
28 Student 28 74 High
29 Student 29 69 High
30 Student 30 74 High
31 Student 31 79 High
32 Student 32 78 High
33 Student 33 66 Medium
34 Student 34 67 Medium
35 Student 35 75 High
36 Student 36 72 High
37 Student 37 74 High

Based on the table above, from 37 students of State Junior High

School 1 Siak Hulu there are 11 (30%) students have medium reading

pleasure, and 26 (70%) students have high reading pleasure.

2. Data Presentation of Students Writing Ability

Based to the students writing ability obtained from writing

test, the followings are presentation of students writing ability:

Table IV.33
Students Writing Ability
No Name Score Category
1 Student 1 62 Enough
2 Student 2 59 Enough
3 Student 3 52 Less
4 Student 4 61 Enough
5 Student 5 51 Less
6 Student 6 63 Enough
7 Student 7 67 Enough
8 Student 8 52 Less
9 Student 9 55 Less
10 Student 10 66 Enough
11 Student 11 64 Enough
12 Student 12 72 Good
13 Student 13 66 Enough
14 Student 14 58 Enough
15 Student 15 67 Enough
16 Student 16 72 Good
17 Student 17 68 Enough

37
 18 Student 18 69 Enough
19 Student 19 72 Good
20 Student 20 70 Enough
21 Student 21 75 Good
22 Student 22 65 Enough
23 Student 23 59 Enough
24 Student 24 55 Less
25 Student 25 70 Enough
26 Student 26 62 Enough
27 Student 27 58 Enough
28 Student 28 68 Enough
29 Student 39 60 Enough
30 Student 30 81 Good
31 Student 31 64 Enough
32 Student 32 67 Enough
33 Student 33 63 Enough
34 Student 34 65 Enough
35 Student 35 65 Enough
36 Student 36 69 Enough
37 Student 37 72 Good
Total 3749
Mean 73.51

In line with the table above, from 37 eight-grade students of State

Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu there are 5 students have less writing

ability, 26 students have enough writing ability and 6 students have good

writing ability.

B. Data Analysis

In analyzing the data, the researcher did three kinds of analysis;

analysis for students reading pleasure habit, analysis for students writing

ability, and analysis for correlation between those two variables. In

analyzing the students reading pleasure and writing ability, the researcher

used Cross-tabulation formula in SPSS 23.0 versions to find out the

categories of learning style and Writing ability.

38
 On the other hand, the researcher used Chi Square test for

independence to find out the correlation between those two variables. It is

because the data of the two variables above were in nominal form. The

chi-square statistic is usually used with nominal data (Cohen, 2007 &

Pallant, 2010). The researcher analyzed it statistically using SPSS 23.0

version.

1. Data Analysis of Correlation between Students reading pleasure

habit and Writing ability

Hypothesis

The procedure of inferential statistics began with the statistical

test on the following hypothesis:

a. Ho : There is no significant correlation between students

reading pleasure habit and their Writing ability of the Eight-

grade students of State Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu.

b. Ha : There is a significant correlation between students

reading pleasure habit and their Writing ability of the Eight-

grade students of State Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu.

Pallant (2005) stated that if the significance 2-tailed value is

bigger than 0.05 (p>0.05) this indicates that there is no violation of the

assumption of equality of variance and that equal variances are

assumed for the variable concerned. Then, if the significance 2-tailed

value is smaller than 0.05 (p<0.05) this indicates that there is violation

39
 of the assumption of equality of variance and that equal variances are

assumed for the variable concerned.

Chi Square test was conducted to determine whether there is

significant correlation between learning style and their Writing ability

at eight-grade students of Junior High School 5 Tapung. In analyzing

the data, the researcher did some steps as follows:

1) Cross-tabulation Analysis

The researcher analyzed the data of learning style and

achievement using Cross tabulation formula in SPSS. This formula

is used in order to find out how many visual, auditory, and

kinesthetic students that have medium, high, and very high score.

Below is the table of Cross tabulation between Learning Style and

Writing ability;

Table IV.35
Reading Pleasure * Writing Ability Crosstabulation
Writing Ability
Less Enough Good Total
Reading Medium Count 4 6 1 11
Pleasure % within Reading Pleasure 36,4% 54,5% 9,1% 100,0%
% within Writing Ability 80,0% 23,1% 16,7% 29,7%
% of Total 10,8% 16,2% 2,7% 29,7%
High Count 1 20 5 26
% within Reading Pleasure 3,8% 76,9% 19,2% 100,0%
% within Writing Ability 20,0% 76,9% 83,3% 70,3%
% of Total 2,7% 54,1% 13,5% 70,3%
Total Count 5 26 6 37
% within Reading Pleasure 13,5% 70,3% 16,2% 100,0%
% within Writing Ability 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
% of Total 13,5% 70,3% 16,2% 100,0%

40
 Based on the table of analysis above, the first column

shows that there are 36.4% students who has medium reading

pleasure categorized into less level on their writing ability, 54.5%

students categorized into enough level on their writing ability and

9.1% students categorized into good level on their writing ability.

While the second column shows that there are 3.8% students who

has high reading pleasure categorized into less level on their

writing ability, 76.9% students categorized into enough level, and

19.2% categorized into good level.

2) Chi Square Test of Independence

The researcher used the Chi square test for independence

formula to analyze the correlation between students reading

pleasure and their Writing ability. Below is the table of Chi square

test;

Table IV.36
Chi-square Test
Asymptotic
Significance (2-
Value df sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 7,089a 2 ,029
Likelihood Ratio 6,532 2 ,038
Linear-by-Linear Association 4,615 1 ,032
N of Valid Cases 37
a. 4 cells (66,7%) have expected count less than 5. The
minimum expected count is 1,49.

Based on the table of Chi square test above, it can be seen

that the value of Sig. (2-sided) = 0.029 is lower than P= 0.05. The

41
 data is significant at 0.05. So, it can be concluded that the data is

correlated.

3) Effect Size

In analyzing the correlation between students reading

pleasure and their writing ability, the researcher also found how

much the variable Y correlate to the variable Y. As Pallant (2010)

pointed out that if the table of chi square analysis is more than 2 by

2, it means that the value to be reported to know the association

between two variables is the Cramers V value. The following is

the table of effect size:

Table IV.37
Symmetric Measures
Approximate
Value Significance
Nominal by Nominal Phi ,438 ,029
Cramer's V ,438 ,029
N of Valid Cases 37

Value Approx. Sig.

Nominal by Nominal Phi .500 .013
Cramer's V .353 .013
N of Valid Cases 51

Based on the table above, it is shown that the value of

Cramers V is 0.438. The result of R-1 or C-1 is equal to 2, so it

can be concluded that the Cramers V value is categorized into

42
large effect. According to Pallant (2010), the higher points indicate

the higher association between two variables. In other words,

students reading pleasure of State Junior High School 1 Siak Hulu

has a large association with their writing ability.

43