IMPROVING STUDENTS WRITING SKILL THROUGH FACEBOOK AT UNIVERSITY OF IQRA BURUSaidna Zulfiqar bin TahirUniversity of Iqra Buru, IndonesiaAminah, AUniversity of Tudolako, IndonesiaToCiteTheArticle: BinTahir,S.Z&Aminah,A.ImprovingStudentsWritingSkillthroughFacebookat University of Iqra Buru. Proceeding ICT for Language Learning 7thEdition. ISBN: 9788862925488. Pp. 235-241.Abstract: ThisresearchaimstofindoutwhetherFacebookwasabletoimprovethestudents achievementinEnglish writingnarrativetext.ThisresearchusedActionResearchdesign.The subjectsoftheresearchwerethesecondsemesterstudentsofEnglishDepartmentofFKIPat University of Iqra Buru. The research consisted of two cycles; each cycle consisted of planning, implementation,observation,andreflection.Thedata-collectingmethodswereobservationand test.Thedatawereanalyzedusingdescriptivecomparativemanner.Theresultoftheresearch shownthatlearningwritingnarrativetextthroughFacebookcan improvethestudentswriting skill. The average score of the initial achievement is 42.07, while at the first cycle is 61.59, and finally,atthesecondcycleis68.11.Inaddition,learningwritingthroughFacebookalso increased the students motivation in writing exercises and learning. Keywords: Teaching Writing, Facebook, Narrative text INTRODUCTION Englishisatooltocommunicateorallyandinwritingtounderstandandexpress information, thoughts and ideas, juice and develop science, technology, and culture are realized inthefourlanguage skillsielistening (Listening),speaking (speaking),reading(reading),and writing(Writing).Allofthesecomponentsmustbetaughttoachievethegoalintergratedto English speaking skill. Ironically students' ability in writing skill is still very poor. Proven by the students test results of the narrative text in which the average student only get score of 42. ThishappensbecausethereisapresumptionthatEnglishwasverydifficultand misleading because of differences in the way the writing and reading. This assumption led to low student motivation with writing lessons indicator whenever they appear apathetic. Student apathy isapparentlyderivedfromboredomatthetimeofwritinglessonsusing learningmethods monotonous without variation. One indicator of the lack of enthusiasm was seen at the time after learning of writing; more than 70% of students who did not complete the competency standards of completeness limit are 60% of the control items that tested. Therefore,thequalityofteachersshouldbeimproved,goodattitude,knowledge,skills and creativity. This means that teachers have to improve the quality of the learning process. The learningprocessissaidtohighqualitywhencoordinatingandharmonizingandintegrating Universityinputs(faculty,students,curriculum,infrastructure,media,andsoon)isdonein harmony, so as to create a fun learning situation (learning enjoyable), to encourage the students interest and motivation , and really able to empower learners. To foster interest and motivation of students, faculty can providestimulationand moral support in learning ofwriting with the help oftheinternettools,thatisFacebookonthelearningprocessthatcanbehelpful inlearning English vocabulary and concepts that support the teaching of writing (writing) narrative text. Facebook isaspectacular fusionbetween e-mails,personal web, and socialnetworking. New virtual world charm is what most users conjured up stunned early in front of the computer; spendalotoftimeinthevirtualworld.IntheendofAugust2011,Facebookusersworldwide recorded as 250millionusers. Note Com Score shows,Facebook visitorsin June2011 reached 232.1 million, higher than other social network visitors. In addition to be a means of interaction in the virtual world,Facebook facility isalso usedas a vehiclefor a wide range of information about the various activities and product promotion tool. Facebook members not just looking for a friend, but can also write a note on the wall (wall FB) and upload pictures that can be read and seen by everyone. ThenumberofFacebookusersinterestsasameansofcommunicationespecially students of Iqra Buru University, the researchers tried to use Facebook as a medium of learning, with the hope, it can increase learning outcomes and students' ability in writing texts in English on the Facebook wall. Another benefit of this media in the learning process of writing (writing) is the student will be easier and free to be creative in learning to write narrative texts without fear and shame because it is done on-line but not face to face. Based on the background of the problem, researchers are encouraged to study on the use of Facebook to Improve Writing Ability Narrative Text Speak English in the second semester of English Department of University of Iqra Buru. The concept of Teaching Writing and Learning Media According to Grade and Robert B. Kaplan (1998: 6) writing is a technique, a set of skill that must be practiced and learned through experience, and writing must be practiced and learned through experience. It can be concluded that the students' writing ability means the ability to act inrealizingorrecordidea,concept,oressayformafter followingthelearningprocesscanbe observed and measured which includes knowledge, skills cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Competence inEnglishwriting narrativetextinthisstudy isdefinedascapabilitiesthat includecognitivebehavioralmastery,affective,andpsychomotorwhichcanbedisplayedasa resultoflearningwritinginEnglishnarrativetext.Cognitivebehaviordisplayedasscientific attitudesandbehaviorsdisplayedaspsychomotorskillsacquiredthroughtheprocessofan interactiveprocessoflearningEnglishamonglearnerswiththeenvironment,canbemeasured directly by the test, and the results can be intangible value numbers. Among theexisting educational media, internetmedia is media that iscurrently became populartrend.Themediaservestochannelmessagesfromthemessagerecipienttoresources. Channels are used regarding the senses of sight and messages poured into visual communication symbols (Sudjana, et al 2005). In addition, the internet is a visual medium that can assist teachers inthedeliveryofmessagesinconcretetermssoastofacilitatestudentsinunderstandingthe concept of learning materials. Internet media is relatively cheap, easy to use, easy to enjoy, and canservetochannelmessagesthroughthesenseofvision.Themessagepouredthrough communication symbols (Sudjana, et al., 2005) and is expected to excite and give confidence and motivation to the students to participate actively in the learning process and internalize. Itcanbesaidthatoneofthefunctionsoflearningmediaisasalearningtool(Arsyad, 2004: 15) that influence a situation, condition, and the learning environment in order to achieve the learning objectivesthat have been createdand designed bythe teacher.Hamalik(1996: 46) arguesthattheuseofmediainthelearningprocesswillbeabletogeneratenewdesiresand interests, and to encourage motivation and stimulation of learning activities. Thus,itcanbeformulatedthatthefunctionofinternetmedia,especiallyFacebookin learningtoraisestudentmotivationtolearnandasacommunicationtoolinconveyingthe message(learningmaterials)tostudentswithmoreconcrete,andeasiertouse.Howtouse Facebook is easy, by clicking http://www.facebook.com site then register by filling the columns of information that is available. Facebook site is also equipped with a user friendly search menu, by city, workplace, school and region. As with other social networking sites, on Facebook there is also a feature add friends; send messages, and update profile. METHOD Thedesignofthisstudyisactionresearch,usingthemodeldevelopedbyKurt(Team Coach Class Action Research, 2000: 11). According to the model, the implementation of action researchincludesfourstages,namely:(1)planning,(2)action,(3)observation,and(4) reflection.Thefourthstageofthecycleisformed.Thesubjectswerestudentsofthesecond semester students of English Department of University of Iqra Buru in academic year 2012-2013 amountedto47students.Researcherstookthesubjectofresearchinthesecondsemester students because the average yield of semester exams with the subject matter of writing (writing) narrative text is the lowest among the other half were there. Theprocedure ofcollectingdatausedobservationandtests(Arikunto,1996). Observationcarried outonallstudentactivitiesduringthesecondhalfoftheteaching-learning process of text written in English. The tools used for observation is the observation sheet which serves to record all activities, both in attitude, behavior, attention, and motivationof students in participatinginthelearningprocess.Testwas conductedtodeterminelearningoutcomes.The formofthetestwastheformofawrittentest.Theassayconsistsofwritingitemstotaling40 items. Each of these items is provided 4 options to choose the most correct answer. Dataanalysisinthisstudyusedacomparativedescriptiveanalysis.Thatis,researchers comparedstudentslearningoutcomesachievedatthebeginningofthelearningoutcomes condition after receiving treatment or at the end of the condition. If the improvement of learning outcomes at the end of the completeness condition has not reached more than 65%, further action will be conducted on the second cycle and third cycle. The purpose of this follow-up to improve thelearning systembetterandovercome allobstacles andweaknesses foundinprevious cycles so that the motivation and interest of students continue to increase. In the data analysis, use the following procedure:(1)analyzingthedatatodeterminewhetherthestudentanswerscorrectly ornot,and(2)ofthestudents'answersarecorrect,giventhescore.Thescorewasusedto measure the learning outcomes of writing used Facebook. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Thisstudywasconductedintwocycles.Thefirstcycleconsistsoffourstages.The second cycle also consists of four stages. I cycle takes 5 hours of lessons (5 x 45 minutes). Each cycle described below. Cycle I a. Planning Inthisstagetheresearchersconductedobservationstodeterminetheresponse,attitude, and motivation of students. Researchers prepare subject matter to write narrative text with daily activities,howtowriteashortarticle.Researcherscompiledlessonplans.Researchersprepare media in the internet cafe of campus and references relating to such materials and then create test format. Cycle I require time of 4 x 45 minutes for delivering of material and 1 x 45 minutes for evaluation. Researchers compared the results obtained from the student test results on the initial conditions with cycle I. b. Implementation The classroom action research conducted on the subject of writing in English Department ofthesecondsemesterwiththesubjectmatter;Howtowritedailyactivitiesandhowtowrite Short Article. The purpose of these activities is to give solution to students who have difficulties in learning writing and improve learning outcomes on narrative text or writing ability. 1) First Meeting ThefirsttimeresearchersintroducehowtowriteanarrativetextinEnglishtothe students.Researchersconductingcollaborativelearningusingnarrativetextandlinkingupthe threegroupsofmaterials(rawmaterials),tools(tools),anddestination(goal)tobeachieved. Researchers gave some key vocabulary related to writing narrative text. 2) The second meeting Basedontheexperienceofthefirstmeeting,researchers provideanopportunity forthe students to ask if they still find difficult about writing narrative text. This opportunity is given to thestudentsafterthelecturerexplainedagainaboutthesequenceofwritingnarrativetextand howtouseconjunctionsandsentencetypes(tenses)wereused.Furthermore,researchersgave about thirty minutes to practice of writing (writing) on Facebook. Furthermore, researchers gave the test to find out how much progress of the ability to write narrative text. c. Observations Lecturersasresearchersobserveandrecordallactivitiesofstudentsinthelearning process forteachingwritingnarrativetextthrough Facebook.Lecturers alsonotedthesituation andconditionofthestudentsastheyworkontestsandtestresults.Theresultsofthese observations can be expressed as follows. 1) The first meeting At the first meeting, researchers started to teach writing narrative text, some students are still very crowded and many students speak for themselves and it is also evident that students do not pay attention. There are also students who pay attention. They find it difficult at the moment tobeginpracticewritingnarrativetext.Thatis,theydonotknowwhattowriteabout, tostart writing a narrative text article. 2) The second meeting Researchers find most of the students are very concerned at the time the lecturer tried to explain again to deepen understanding of how to write a narrative text. They keep records of new things thathavenotbeenobtainedatthefirstmeetingandrespondtowhatisexplainedbythe lecturer. Most of the students have taken the initiative to try to write narrative texts with the title ofthedailyactivitiesare different.Atthattimealsothelecturergivestheopportunitytowrite whattheywant.Afterthat,thelecturersheldasurveyonstudents'writing.Theresearchers assumed to the conclusion that most of the students almost have been improvements in terms of writing narrative text. 3) The third meeting Atthethirdmeeting,thelecturergivesthetestandthetestresultswereanalyzedto determine whether there was an increase in the ability of students to write text when compared to the test results on the initial conditions. d. Reflection Thisactivityanalyzesthedataobtained,eitherintheformofquantitativedataand qualitativedatafromobservationstoexistinginstruments.Theresultsofthisanalysisformthe basisforplanninglearningbetterandattractivetoarouse,newmotivation,andfosterself-confidence is high. Reflection for each meeting can be explained as follows. 1) The first meeting Researchers as teachers should pay more attention and encouragement to the students to motivate, interest and confidence is growing so difficult and they were afraid to practice writing narrativetext.Lecturersalsomustcontinuetogiveencouragementandmotivationtoconvince them that the students can and are able to write a narrative text correctly. 2) The second meeting Basedontheresultsoftestsonthefirstcycle, studentsbegintounderstandanddareto writenarrativetext,buttheirtestresultwas notmaximized.Inconnectionwiththematter, according to the results of the discussion, the researcher must be careful in choosing the subject matter inwriting narrativetextthatstudentsare more interested and enjoyed thelessonwriting narrative text. Because, the purpose of this action research is to improve students' ability to write narrativetextandthequalityofthelearningprocess.Researchersshouldimplementabetter learningandmotivationandappealingtohigherstudentmotivation inthesecondcycle. Researchers still encounter many problems faced by students. The weaknesses found in the first cycle must be solved in cycle 2, therefore, necessary for the implementation of cycle 2 to repair cycle I. Reflectionof thefirstcyclecanbestatedthattheteachingofwriting(writing)through themediumofFacebookindicatesachange.Thechangesinquestionwasoriginallymostly apathetic and very low student motivation has been no changes are very encouraging, i.e., there isincreasinginterestandattitudesofstudents.Changeisknownbylookingatthefollowing indicators:thelearningtimeofwriting,thestudentsareveryconcernedandareracingtoask whentherearenewwords(newvocabulary)theydonotknowitsmeaning,theyarevery responsivetoaskthe lecturers,theybegantogrowconfidentattitude,andincreasedlearning outcomesoftheirwriting.Studentlearningoutcomeswereobtainedanaverageof61.59,the highestvalueof77.50,thelowestvalueof40,thenumberofstudentswhocompletedare30 studentsor63.82%,andtheunfinishedwere17studentsor38.17%.Becausethecompleteness limit set, i.e. 65% has not been reached, the study continued with the second cycle. Cycle II a. Planning Based on the test results and reflections on the first cycle, there are students who have not beenabletowriteanarrativetext,theresearchermustbemorecreativeandbetteratlearning writingnarrativetextwithsubjectmatteraboutday-to-dayactivities"howtowritedaily activities". b. Implementation Researchers explain how to describe daily activities. In the first stage, researchers say the words (phrases) and a phrase that is required (vocabularies needed) then explained the procedure. Furthermore,theresearchersexplainhowtouse theconnectoraswhen,then,first,before that, after that. Linguistic characteristics are to use the simple present and focused on the subject you. The verb is an action that is widely used verbs and imperative sentence. Towards the end of the lesson, the researchers gave the example of writing a narrative text based on these explanations. Inthesecondmeeting, researcherscorrectedsomemistakesmadebythestudents, especially thegrammar problems andconnectors suchas when, then,afterthat, before thatand finally.Furthermore,researchersconductedtests.Thetestresultswereanalyzedandcompared with the results of test on a cycle I. Basedonthecomparison,theresearchercanconcludewhetheritstillneedstobe followedupinthenextcycleornot.Iftheresultsofthecomparisonalreadyshowsmorethan 65% of the number of students who completed there is no need to continue on the next cycle. c. ObservationObservations continue to be done to get the data, both of attitude, interest and motivation as well as the progress of students' ability in writing narrative textsin English. The observation of the second cycle is as follows. 1) The first meeting Thestudentsbegantorespondfavorablytoagiven workout.Theyseemedenthusiastic for practice writing narrativetext and even wanted to continue practicing with the various titles theywant.Phrasesandvocabularytheyusevarywidely.Somecommonwordswerealready applied correctly. 2) The second meeting Studentresponsehasbeenverygoodlooksandself-confidencehadalreadyappeared. Thisisevidentfrommostofthestudentshadnotafraidanymoretoshowtheresultsofthe exercise of their own without orders from lecturers in their Facebook wall. They are very active toaskthevariousprocedurestomakesomethingandawiderangeofvocabularythatisoften used in narrative text. The students also practice writing narrative text. They also seem courage toexplainsomethingthatisacquiredthroughoralprocedures.Theresultsofthetestonthe second cycle turn out to be better when compared with the results of the test cycle I. d. Reflection Basedonobservationsandtests,researchersevaluatedthestudents'abilityinwriting narrativetextandatthesametimethelearningprocessframeworkispresentedtoshowan increase. The result of this phase indicated that students gain better progress than on advances in cycle I. Moststudentshaveabetterconditionwhenthelearningprocesstakesplace.They seemed very excited and confident. The results achieved in the second cycle have shown 82.97% ofstudentsachievingmasterylearninglimit.Therefore,follow-upstudiesarenotrequired because the indicator has been reached. Beforecarryingoutactionresearch,theresearcherastheteacherneverusedthe techniqueofteachingwriting(writingnarrativetext)withthehelpofinternetmediathatis Facebook.Techniquesofteachingandteacher'sroleearlierinthelearningoutcomeinwritingwere needed. The increase can be seen in Table 1, after an understanding of the action research wasobtained,andpracticedinthelearningprocess.Researchersusedateachingtechniqueof writingusingFacebook.Explanationeitherverballyorinwritingisalwaysgivenincluding writing and vocabulary pronunciation repeatedly. The technique usedbyresearchers togive enoughimprovementtowrite narrative texts, bothinthefirstcycle,andonthesecondcycle.Asevidence,itcanbeseencomparisonsof learning outcomes ranging from the initial conditions, the first cycle and second cycle. Table 1. Results of Learning and Boundary Conditions Initial Mastery by studentsNo DESCRIPTION VALUEScoreInitial ConditionCycle I Cycle II1234Highest ScoreLowest ScoreAveragePercentageof completeness6022.5042.07(12.76%)77.504061.59(63.82%)855068.11(82.97%)Note:Scores wellonrepetitionmaximuminitial conditions,CycleI andCycleII is100witha score of 60 completeness limit.In theinitialconditions, before thelecturerget anoverview oftheresearchact ofclass, hetendstoteachwritingwithwhatis,intheabsenceofcarefulplanning,observation,and reflection. As a result of it all, motivation and student apathy continues to grow which led to low learningoutcomes.Provenby12.76%ofthelearningoutcomesofstudentswhoachievea passing grade boundary, the highest value reached only 60 and the lowest score 22:50. Inlearningprocessofwriting throughthemediumof Facebook whichwasoriginally mostly apathetic and very lowof student motivation, there has been a very encouraging change bylookingatthefollowingindicators.Theindicatorsare:anywritinglessons,studentswere very attentiveand there is a race to askeach new word they do not knowits meaning, theyare veryresponsivetothequestionsoflecturers,theybegantogrowconfidentattitude,andthe learningoutcomesoftheirwritingincreased.Theaverageyieldobtainedbythestudentswas 63.19, the highest value of 77.50, the lowest value of 40 students who completed 63.82%. Based on the results of the study in the first cycle to be increased, in the second cycle to the need for improvementof the learning system. Weaknesses that exist in the first cycle to the second cycle resolved so that the motivation and attitude of confidence of students growing. This success can be seen by several indicators: student readiness for writing narrative text, the better, andthethoroughnessoftheexamresultsreach82.97%.Averagelearningoutcomesinthe secondcyclewere 68.11,withthe85highestandlowestvalues of50,thenumberofstudents who completed were 39or (82.97%) and the unfinished8 student or(17:02%).It can be stated thattheteachingwriting through Facebookcanimprovelearningoutcomesofsecondsemester students of English Department of University of Iqra Buru. CONCLUSION Basedontheresults anddiscussion,theresearchers canbesummarizedasfollows: teachingwritingthrough Facebook canimprovelearningoutcomesofstudentsinwriting narrative text. In addition, learning writing through Facebook can increase students enthusiastic, motivated, and active in learning. REFERENCES Arikunto, Suharsimi. Research Procedure 1996. Jakarta: PT Earth Literacy. Arsyad Anwar. 2004 Learning Media. Jakarta: PT King Grafindo Persada. 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