p–ISSN 0000-0000

Volume X, No. X, XXXX 2017 e–ISSN 0000-0000

COMPARISON BETWEEN COOPERATIVE LEARNING

METHODS AND PROBLEM BASED LEARNING USING
PERSONAL LETTER IN TEACHING STUDENTS’ ABILITY
IN WRITING AT SMA SEBELAS MARET BANDUNG
Verawati1, Wawan Kuswandi2
1
IKIP Siliwangi
2
IKIP Siliwangi
1
selia.yorri13@gmail.com, 2 wawankuswandi520@gmail.com,

Abstract
The paper explains about the comparison between cooperative learning methods and problem based
learning using personal letter in teaching students’ ability in writing skill. Experiment study at SMA
Sebelas Maret Bandung. The method of this research is experiment quasi concerning experiment class
was given learning treatment by using cocoperative learning methods meanwhile control class was
given learning by using problem based learning. Student ability in writing sklill is measure by
questionnaire or test. Result of the research said that student ability in writing who teach by
cooperative learning methods is same with student who teach problem based learning. The T’test
means that the null hypothesis accepted, there is no difference in the ability of the initial writing of the
experimental class and the control class. Some difficulties of students; lack of vocabulary, can’t write
content is well, hard to understand the topic, hard to answer the question, and still nervous during
discussion. To solve the problems like that the teacher can be a solution.
Keywords: Cooperative Learning Methods, Problem Based Learning, Writing, Personal Letter

INTRODUCTION
Language is used by the people to make a communication. Without a language the people
cannot communicate with other because language is an asset to communicate cannot be
separate in our live. In modern Era as right now, students are expected to be able to
communicate in English. One of ways of communication is writing, the students asked to
master this skill as a tool to assess their knowledge. There are four skills which are necessary
to be mastered by the learners of English. Those skills are listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. Writing is one of the most difficult skills to be mastered. It is because writing
involves some components (spelling, language in use, vocabulary and punctuation). Writing
needs hard thinking to produce ideas, words, sentences and paragraph. Some students still
have difficulties to write in English especially write about their experience. Personal letter is a
communication tool to express ideas in written form. Personal letter become the
communication tool to convey information or ides in written form by one person to another.
Furthermore, communication can be delivered by using at least two ways, they are speech and
written. In conclusion, writing skill is a skill that combine some language competence, such
as grammar and vocabulary. This cooperative learning system can also be called similar to
conventional learning methods. In cooperative learning methods the teacher provides

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information in the same direction, but the difference is after the teacher explains the material,
students are asked to discuss by forming a junior high school group. Information is obtained
not only from the teacher but also from material and also discussions with friends.
Cooperative Learning Method is a learning method with junior high school groups of students
and builds conducive learning conditions. The purpose of this cooperative learning method,
namely, to improve academic learning outcomes, teach students to accept diversity and
diversity, Develop social skills. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in
which complex real-world problems are used as the vehicle to promote student learning of
concepts and principles as opposed to direct presentation of facts and concepts. In addition to
course content, PBL can promote the development of critical thinking skills, problem-solving
abilities, and communication skills. According to Tricia in Putri (2015: 7), “writing is about
expressing idea that writer is unable to express what a speaker able to express, such as
gesture, body movement, facial expression, pitch and tone of voice, stress and hesitation”.
Thus, the writer has to able to write an effective writing in order to make a reader understand
by developing and organizing ideas, a careful vocabulary choice, grammatical pattern and
sentence structure. In conclusion, writing skill is a skill that combine some language
competence, such as grammar and vocabulary. According to Haeton (1988: 135), “the writing
skills are complex and sometimes difficult to teach, requiring m 20 judgments elements”.
Writing as one of four language skills is considered as a difficult skill because the researcher
should make some aspects in writing such as content, organization, purpose, vocabulary,
punctuation, and spelling in a balance way. Based on the explanation above, it can be
concluded that writing is a tool of communication to express feelings and thoughts. According
to Oshima and Hogue (2007: 16-20) the steps of writing are Pre- writing, Organizing,
Writing, and Publishing: Revising and Editing. Pre- writing, In this step the researcher
chooses a topic and collect ideas to explain the topic. Organizing, The next step in writing
process is organizing the ideas into the simple outline. Writing, In this step the researcher
writes a rough draft, using the outline as a guide. Publishing, In this step the researcher revise
and edit what have been written. Normally, this step consists of editing and revising.
Cooperative learning is the one of the best researches of all teaching strategies. According to
Johnson and Johnson as cited by Grainger (2004:138) states that cooperative learning is not
having students to sit side by side at the same table and then talk with each other as they do
their individual assignment, it is also not having students do a task individually with
instructions that the ones who finish first are to help the slower students and not assigning a
report to a group where one student does all the work and others put their name to it. There
are many kinds of cooperative learning which are can be applied to teach students, they are:
Jigsaw, Team,Pair,Solo, Numbered Head, Small Group Discussion, Think-Pair-Share.
Problem-based learning is a technique of learning where the students learn about the subjects
through conceptual problem solving mechanisms. It is open ended in nature, and can be used
by a wide number of students at the same time. According to Gulibert, problem-based
learning is a process whereby a student learns by using a problem as astimulus to discover
what information is needed to understand and facilitate the resolutionof the problem. The
problem is encountered right at the beginning of the learning process”. According to Barrow,
problem based learning is the learning that results from the process of working towards the

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understanding of a resolution of aproblem. The problem is encountered first in the learning

process. According to Duch, PBL is an instructional method that challenges students to "learn
to learn," working cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems. These
problems are used to engage students' curiosity and initiate learning the subject matter. PBL
prepares students to think critically andanalytically, and to find and use appropriate learning
resources. Based on the some definition above, can concluded that problem based learning is
a learning method which stimulate the students how to get information and solve the problem.
The problem is encountered first in the learning process. According to Adlan & Tanzili in
Helmi (2012: 9-10) “letter is a piece of paper or more that used as communication tool to
deliver the statement or information in written form, from one person to another”. According
to Harni dkk, (2016: 3) they said that “a personal letter is also called as a private letter and
contains of private information about experience in the written form to be sent in a certain
people”. According to farid (2012:10) he said that there are many types of personal letters,
and they are written for a wide variety of reason. And personal letters also known as friendly
letters. Letter is a statement, which is written on a piece of paper or more. It contains feeling
expression, private thing, and important thing. According to Farid (2012: 10) personal letters
has function as written form communication, documentation, historical, reminder, 30
guidelines to take decision, safety information, vice of organization, as a way to easy the
archival matters work and announcement, the main parts of personal letter consist of heading,
salutation, body of letter, closing and signature.

METHOD
This research used pre-experimental research design by using pretest and posttest with
quatitative approach. Quantitative approaches are usually used to test one theory, to present a
fact or describe statistics, to show relationships between variables, and some are developing
concepts. In quantitative research is divided into experimental research, descriptive
correlational, evaluation and so forth. The researchers may use methods of data collection
such as, questionnaire or test. It should be noted that all the methods of data collection should
objective. In this investigation, an objective test was used to obtain the scores of writing using
personal letter. Instrument is a kind of tool used by researcher to collect the answer of getting
data. The researcher uses test as an instrument to collect the data in this research. Arikunto
(2013:193) states that tests is the way to measure the ability, knowledge and intelligences
from an individual or group. In this research, the researcher uses pre-test and post-test in
getting the data. Population (target group) used in a questionnaire or interview study is that
group about which the researcher is interested in gaining information and drawing conclusion
(Tuckman, 1978:227). Saleh (2001: 50) states that population is a group of people or objects
whose conditions are going to be discovered through the investigation.In this study, the writer
decided to choose the eleventh graders of SMA Sebelas Maret, Bandung in the academic year
of 2018/2019 as the population. They are three classes each class consists 30-32, so the total
population is 92 students. “Sample is the smaller group which is a portion of a population”
(Tavakoli, 2012:471) in Kaswan (2016). The writer choose one class, namely class XI IIS.1
(30 students), so the sample is 30 students. As stated above, the total populations of this
research are 92 students. Thus, a conclusion is drawn that the sample are 30 students.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results
The following is a table of the result of the acquisition of the pretest and posttest score were
performed on :
Table 4.1 The Score Result of Pretest and Posttest
Score
NO Student’s Name
Pretest Posttest
1 Student 1 60 70
2 Student 2 45 75
3 Student 3 45 60
4 Student 4 80 95
5 Student 5 75 85
6 Student 6 75 100
7 Student 7 60 75
8 Student 8 50 65
9 Student 9 50 90
10 Student 10 75 80
11 Student 11 55 80
12 Student 12 50 75
13 Student 13 40 75
14 Student 14 45 65
15 Student 15 35 60
16 Student 16 55 60
17 Student 17 55 70
18 Student 18 45 70
19 Student 19 50 80
20 Student 20 60 85
21 Student 21 65 80
22 Student 22 50 60
23 Student 23 60 75
24 Student 24 55 75
25 Student 25 45 90
26 Student 26 45 70
27 Student 27 50 60
28 Student 28 40 60
29 Student 29 75 80
30 Student 30 70 95
The pretest was conducted when the first researcher come in the class. While the posttest was
conducted the last.
Tests of Normality
Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
Pretest Statisti
Writing c Df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Pretest Experimen .170 30 .026 .927 30 .041

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kemampua Control
.174 32 .015 .937 32 .062
n writing
The table above shows the pretest ability in writing for the experiment that the
kolmogorov-smirnov test pretest value (Sig) is 0.026 and for control pretest value
(Sig) is 0.015. Both of the results are more than 0.05. so the data can be called normal,
and data the next homogenity varians test.
1. Homogenity Varians Test of Experiment Group and Control Group
Table 4.5
Test of Homogeneity of Variance
Levene
Statistic df1 df2 Sig.
Pretest Based on Mean .461 1 60 .500
kemampuan Based on Median .354 1 60 .554
writing Based on Median and
.354 1 58.707 .554
with adjusted df
Based on trimmed mean .405 1 60 .527
The table above shows that the writing ability pretest contained in the experimental
class and the control class both had homogeneous variances because the value of p (or
sig = 0.500) was greater than 0.05. after the data is declared homogeneous, then the
data requires a t-test.
2. T-Test of Experiment Group and Control Group
Table 4.6
Independent Samples Test

Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95%
Sig. Std. Confidence
(2- Mean Error Interval of the
tailed Differe Differen Difference
F Sig. t df ) nce ce Lower Upper
Pretest Equal
.50 5.94 17.364 11.51 23.212
kemam variances .461 60 .000 2.92338
0 0 58 696 21
puan assumed
writing Equal
5.92 58.3 17.364 11.49 23.235
variances not .000 2.93325
0 52 58 379 38
assumed
Sig = .0500 > 0.05 then Ho = Accepted
That means :
There is no difference in the ability of the initial writing of the experimental class and
the control class.

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Table 4.2
The Score Result of the Sample Control Group
Score
NO Student’s Name
Pretest Posttest
1 Student 1 55 65
2 Student 2 30 65
3 Student 3 15 30
4 Student 4 45 65
5 Student 5 35 70
6 Student 6 55 75
7 Student 7 70 75
8 Student 8 40 80
9 Student 9 50 65
10 Student 10 30 75
11 Student 11 35 60
12 Student 12 30 50
13 Student 13 30 40
14 Student 14 40 50
15 Student 15 35 50
16 Student 16 40 55
17 Student 17 30 55
18 Student 18 25 55
19 Student 19 40 55
20 Student 20 45 50
21 Student 21 45 60
22 Student 22 45 65
23 Student 23 50 65
24 Student 24 30 50
25 Student 25 30 50
26 Student 26 40 65
27 Student 27 30 60
28 Student 28 45 55
29 Student 29 30 40
30 Student 30 30 45
31 Student 31 40 50
32 Student 32 25 55

Tests of Normality
Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
Posttest Statisti
Writing c df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Posttest Experimen .112 30 .200* .938 30 .081
kemampua Control
.124 32 .200* .967 32 .414
n writing

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The table above shows the posttest ability in writing for the experiment that the
kolmogorov-smirnov test posttest value (Sig) is 0.200 and for control posttest value
(Sig) is 0.200. Both of the results are more than 0.05. so the data can be called normal,
and data the next homogenity varians test.

1. Homogenity Varians Test of Experiment Group and Control Group

Table 4.9
Test of Homogeneity of Variance
Levene
Statistic df1 df2 Sig.
Posttest Based on Mean .000 1 60 .997
kemampuan Based on Median .003 1 60 .959
writing Based on Median and
.003 1 59.915 .959
with adjusted df
Based on trimmed mean .001 1 60 .970
The table above shows that the writing ability posttest contained in the experimental
class and the control class both had homogeneous variances because the value of p (or
sig = 0.997) was greater than 0.05. after the data requires a t-test.

2. T-Test of Experiment Group and Control Group

Table 4.10
Independent Samples Test
Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. 95% Confidence
(2- Interval of the
taile Mean Std. Error Difference
F Sig. t df d) Difference Difference Lower Upper
Posttest Equal
kemam variances .000 .997 6.102 60 .000 17.67708 2.89679 11.88264 23.47153
puan assumed
writing Equal
59.5
variances not 6.098 .000 17.67708 2.89871 11.87792 23.47625
62
assumed
Sig = .0997 > 0.05 then Ho = Accepted
That means :
There is no difference in the ability of the initial writing of the experimental class and the
control class.

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CONCLUSION

The result pretest above shows that cooperative learning methods better than problem based
learning. The data from this study has been shown quantitatively. The activities of this study
were done, there are pretest, the teaching, and learning using cooperative learning methods
and problem based learning (the treatments), the posttest, the analysis of the result from the
test. The students were asked 11 questions, 10 multiple choice and 1 essay, at the first
meeting related to the main idea, statements, word meaning, and inferences before any
treatment being done. After the questions have been answered the pretest began. Then, in the
next meeting after conducting the pretest the next was talked and explained clearly by the
teacher and researcher as the treatment. The teacher used the problem based learning to
students in control group for teaching writing personal letter. To know the achievement and
improvement of both groups, the writer was analyzed the score posttest from experiment class
and control class. The means score of the posttest result for both the experiment class and
control class were also calculated. The procedure analysis was the same as the pretest. The
posttest score for the experiment is 0,200 and control class with the same of the result, class
was 0,200. The variances in the result were tested and presented that the result of both groups
was normally distributed. The T-test presented there was not difference in the ability of the
initial writing of the experimental class and the control class. Thus the cooperative learning
methods helped the slower students. It is supported by Grainger (2004:138 in Johnson and
Johnson), cooperative learning is not having students to sit side by side at the same table and
then talk with each other as they do their individual assignment, it is also not having students
do a task individually with instructions that the ones who finish first are to help the slower
students and not assigning a report to a group where one student does all the work and others
put their name to it. Furthermore, Frank Lyman (1981) says, that in think-pair-share, a team is
created during the last step instead of sharing with the entire class. From the data was
analyzed above we know that most students response positively and gave good feedback
during the treatment. However, some students still got the difficult during the treatments such
as some students said that “I’m understand what do you say, but I’m not the answer again”, in
other words students lack of confidence. The others share their problem on lack vocabulary,
can’t write the content well, hard to understand the topic, hard to answer the question, and still
anxiety or nervous during discussing. Another problem there were several students which
active during discussion and the others just keep quite. To solve the problems like that the
teacher can be a solution. The teacher will lead, and guide the learning process by using
cooperative learning methods and problem based learning.

REFERENCES

Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2013. Prosedur penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Jakarta :

Rineka Cipta.
Harni, dkk. 2016. Developing Writing Skill Of Grade VIII Students Through Personal
Letter. E-Journal of ELTS. Bol. 4. No. 1.
Helmi, Farid. 2012. Improving Students ‘Skill in Writing Recount Text by Using a
PersonalLletter.

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Tavakoli, P. & Howard, M.J. (2012). TESOL teachers’ views on the relationship
between research and practice. European Journal of Teacher Education. 35 (2):229-243.
Tuckman, Bruce W. (1978). Conducting educational research. San Diego: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich
Saleh, Abdul Rahman. (2001). Pemberdayaan Perpustakaan Perguruan Tinggi.
Makalah lepas. Tidak dipublikasi

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