CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Problem
English is a foreign language which plays a great role in human daily life. As a
foreign language, it is almost used in the all kinds of human’s activities, such
as education, technology, business and economy. Because of its usefulness, Engli
sh must be learnt hard by human in the world include Indonesian. In Indonesia, E
nglish is one of the lessons which are learnt by the students who are studying i
n formal education.
English as a lesson, it has four basic skills. The basic skills, namely: listeni
ng, speaking, writing and reading. These four basic skills must be taught by the
teachers to the students in order that the students master and communicate the
English well.
Writing is one of the basic skills above. It must be taught to the students in o
rder that it can be communicated and mastered. Writing is the process of conveyi
ng idea, thinking, experience and desire. As White (1987: 1) asserts, “Writing is
a thinking process”
The opinions above show that writing is very important to be learnt by the stude
nts in order that the students are able to express feelings, ideas and able to t
ell experience in written form. One of writings which is necessary to be known b
y the students in junior high school is writing the dialog. According to Gulen (
2010: 2) a written composition in which two or more characters are represented a
s conversing. It means dialog is written composition.
In writing skill the students should able to write short functional text. It is
also hoped in competence standard. The competence standard hopes the students ar
e able communicating the meaning of short functional text and simple essay in wr
itten form of descriptive and recount items to interact with environment around.
Furthermore, the hope above is not achieved well. The all students who are sitti
ng at eighth grade are not able to write a dialog. These statements are based by
the researcher observation during doing PPL II at the eighth grade class of SMP
Negeri 1 Toma. The students did not have good score when the researcher evaluat
es their ability in writing and their score could not achieve the minimum compet
ence criteria. The information related to the students’ weaknesses in writing espe
cially in writing dialog is also informed by the English teacher of this school.
The students’ weaknesses in writing are caused by many factors, such as the teachi
ng technique is not suitable in teaching writing, the teaching method is not sui
table and interesting in teaching and learning process of writing, the students
have lack of vocabulary, the students are not motivated well, and the students a
re not able to arrange sentences. Teaching method is one of the factors above sh
ould be solved. The way to solve it is by implementing the alternative teaching
method. The teaching method is called assignment method.
Surya (2007: 16) states that assignment method is not the same as homework, but
broader than that. Assignment method stimulates children to learn active individ
ually or group. Assignment can be done at home, at school, in libraries and else
where.
Regarding the problem above, the researcher in interested to solve it. The resea
rcher chooses title “IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ ABILITY in WRITING DIALOG through ASSIG
NMENT METHOD at the EIGHTH GRADE CLASS of SMP NEGERI 1 TOMA IN 2010/2011”.
B. The Identification of the Problems
The problems may be identified as follows:
1. The teaching method is not suitable and interesting in teaching-learning
process of writing
2. The students have lack of vocabulary
3. The students are not motivated well
4. The students are not able to arrange sentence
C. The Limitation of the Problems
The problem encountered by the students in writing is wide. Therefore, the resea
rcher tries to limit him self on “Improving the students’ ability in writing dialog
through assignment method”
D. The Formulation of the Problem
The formulation of the problem in this research is as follows: “how does assignmen
t method improve the students’ ability in writing dialog at the eighht grade of SM
P Negeri 1 Toma which consist of one class.”
E. The Purpose of the Research
The purpose of this research is to get or search whether or not the students’ abil
ity can be improved through the using of Assignment Method.
F. The Significances of the Research
It is hoped that:
1. The result of this research can overcome the students’ weakness in writing
dialog by implementing Assignment Method.
2. The result of this research can be a guide for teachers in teaching writ
ing dialog.
3. The result of this research can enrich readers’ knowledge.
G. The Assumptions of the research
The assumptions of this research are as follows:
1. Assignment method is the method to be tried in teaching writing dialog.
2. Writing dialog is one of learning materials of writing skill.
H. Research Limitation
In this research there are some limitations such as:
1. The subject of this research is the students at the eight grade of SMP N
egeri 1 Toma-Nias Selatan.”
2. The phenomenon of observation is about the improving of the students ab
ility in writing dialog through Assignment Method.

I. The Operational Definition

There are some operational definitions in this research, as followings:
1. Writing is the way of communicating some information which has been caug
ht from a dialog.
2. Dialog is a conversation among some characters in written form.
3. Writing dialog is an activity to arrange a conversation in written form.
4. Assignment method makes the big involvement of the students in doing tas
k or exercise.
5. Method is a way to achieve the aim of learning.