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Devy Angga Gunantar, Tatas Transinata: Writing Caption on Instagram as Media
for Student’s Motivation and Writing Skill Improvement
30
Writing Caption on Instagram as Media for Student’s Motivation and
Writing Skill Improvement
1Devy Angga Gunantar , 2Tatas Transinata
Universitas Semarang (USM) , Semarang
Abstract. This study aims to describe the use of caption on Instagram to improve students'
writing skill and motivation. This research is a classroom action research (CAR). The research
subject was class VIII SMP N 3 Mranggen Demak with a total of 31 students. This study was
conducted in two cycles. The Pre-Test was held before the first cycle was implemented. The
researcher used descriptive qualitative method to describe the use of caption on Instagram for
student’s motivation and writing skill improvement. The results showed that the use of
caption on Instagram can improve student’s motivation and writing skill. In the first cicle of
the pre-tests that have been conducted, it was known that only 2 students (6,5%) got scores
between 60 - 64. While 28 students (93%) got scores below 60. The number of students who
scored above 60 increased in in the post-test I, there were 19 students with an average score of
69,5. The score of students rose significantly in the post-test II, it was found that there was a
satisfactory increase in scores with the highest score of 87 and the lowest score of 66 (1
student)
Keywords: instagram, writing skill, motivation
1. Introduction
Current technology is growing very rapidly
along with the advancement of technological
growth in Indonesia, especially in the field
of education. The use of technology in
education is one indicator that can assist
students in improving skills and learning.
The rapid development of technology has
made the internet continue to develop and
spread to various layers of society. Based on
information from the United Nations
telecommunications agency, internet users
in the world from 1972 until the end of 2014
have increased to 3 billion (VOA, 2014).
Social networking sites are the most popular
sites in the world today, one of which is
Instagram.
Instagram is a communication tool that can
be used in the form of advertisements and
news. On Instagram we can express feelings
and situations where we are. Many
Instagram accounts share quotes that use
English about romance, biblical quotes,
humor, motivation, and medical, there are
also accounts that share various forms of
language grammar, English. Instagram is a
media to upload and share photos to fellow
Instagram users. Instagram users are able to
communicate by giving comment on photos.
The researcher is interested in conducting
research on the use of caption on Instagram
to improve students' writing skill and
motivation because in general Instagram has
become a phenomenal social network to
ETERNAL (English Teaching Journal)
http://journal.upgris.ac.id/index.php/eternal/index
Volume 10, No. 1, February 2019
ISSN: 2086-5473 (Print); ISSN: 2614-1639 (Online)
Devy Angga Gunantar, Tatas Transinata: Writing Caption on Instagram as Media
for Student’s Motivation and Writing Skill Improvement
31
communicate with friends, as well as
teachers. By looking at social network users
in the school environment, researcher is very
interested in finding out how Instagram can
help students improve their English skills.
In learning English, the technique of
composing, describing, and answering
questions is considered to unable to motivate
and develop students' skills in writing
because the material and topics provided are
very limited so that they cannot develop
their ideas, opinion, and feelings broadly.
Therefore, the use of Instagram as a social
media is expected to be able to help students
in improving their English writing skills.
This media will also make students
motivated to express their ideas.
Based on this fact, the researcher would like
to identify, analyze, and explain how the
students of SMP Negeri 3 Mranggen
Demak, Semarang in improving their
English writing skills by using Instagram.
According to Wijaya (2012:4) theory of
learning that underlies the learning process
that uses site-based media on the internet
(web), namely: behaviorism learning theory,
this theory sees learning as observable
behavior change caused by external stimuli.
The study of the basic concepts of learning
in Behaviorism Theory is based on the idea
that learning is one type of behavior
(behavior) of individuals or learners who are
carried out consciously. Individuals behave
when there are stimuli, so that it can be said
that students will learn if they receive
stimuli from the teacher. The more precise
and intensive stimulation provided by the
teacher, it will be more precise and intensive
learning activities carried out by students.
In learning, the environmental conditions act
as stimulants (stimulators) that should be
responded by individuals with certain
consequences. The consequences faced by
students are positive (for example, feelings
of satisfaction, joy, praise, etc.) but some are
negative (such as feelings of failure,
sadness, etc.). The positive and negative
consequences function as reinforcement
(reinforce) in the learning activities of
students.
The word of media comes from Latin which
literally means intermediary or introduction
(Arief, 2009: 6). The definition of media as
quoted in the Big Indonesian Dictionary
(2001: 726) is (1) tools, (2) communication
facilities, such as newspaper, magazines,
television, radio, films, posters, and banners,
(3) located between two parties, (4)
intermediary, liaison. While in the
dictionary of absorption words, media are
objects / tools / facilities, which are
intermediaries to deliver something
(Martinus, 2001:359-360). As according to
Arif (2009:7) media is something that is
used to deliver the message from the sender
to the receiver so that it can stimulate
thoughts, feelings, interests, and attention to
students in learning process. In education,
the giver of the message is the teacher, the
recipient of the message is the student, while
the message is the subject matter that must
be delivered by the teacher to students. This
opinion is in accordance with what is
described by the communication model
proposed by Shannon and Weaver
(2007:183) states that the process starts from
the sender of the message who has the desire
to communicate information messages to the
recipient of the message. Information should
be designed before carrying out
communication (encoding), then transmitted
through the medium, and the message is
received (decoding). From this
communication model it can be concluded
that the media acts as an intermediary for the
sender (teacher) and the recipient (student)
Devy Angga Gunantar, Tatas Transinata: Writing Caption on Instagram as Media
for Student’s Motivation and Writing Skill Improvement
32
in the process of exchanging information
(learning).
Figure 1 Figure 1 The communication
process of Encoding-Decoding by
Shannon and Weaver
From the definition of media, it can be
concluded that the media of learning is
something that can be used to help the
teaching and learning process in order to
deliver messages effectively from the
instructor to the learners. It is also used as
communication and interaction between
teachers and students in the process of
teaching. In addition, instructional media
helps teachers to make variations in teaching
the learning materials so that students will
not feel bored and tired.
Writing is essentially a series of words that
are prepared as well as possible so it can be
easily read and understood. In language
learning, writing is one of four language
skills, by writing a person can express
thoughts and ideas to achieve their goals and
objectives.
Writing is one of the language skills that
must be mastered by language learners.
Writing becomes the highest level and the
most difficult skill in mastering language. In
accordance with the opinion of
Nurgiyantoro (2001:296) "writing is a form
of manifestation of the ability and language
skills that are most recently mastered by
language learners after listening, speaking,
and reading skill".
2. Method
In this study, the researchers used
descriptive qualitative method to analyze the
use of caption on Instagram to improve
students' writing skill and motivation. This
research is a classroom action research
(CAR). The subjects of
this study were eighth
grade students of SMP
Negeri 3 Mranggen,
Demak in the even semester of the
2018/2019 academic year with a total of 31
students. While the object of this research is
writing caption on Instagram as a medium to
improve writing skills and student
motivation. The data analyzed in this study
consisted of two types, the data were student
learning motivation and student learning
outcomes data. Students' learning motivation
data were obtained from the results of
students observation during learning process
and the questionnaire filled by eighth grade
students of SMP Negeri 3 Mranggen,
Demak. Meanwhile, student learning
outcomes data were in the form of scores
obtained from the test.
In the process of acquiring data, researchers
used several methods, namely: Observation
of Student Activities, This observation aims
to collect data by observing student
activities in the classroom. This was done to
obtain data about the activeness and
involvement of students during the learning
process takes place. Test, it was conducted
ENCODING
Media
DECODING
Message
Teacher
Student
s
Devy Angga Gunantar, Tatas Transinata: Writing Caption on Instagram as Media
for Student’s Motivation and Writing Skill Improvement
33
to determine the students' understanding of
English learning material. The test was in
the form of photos. This test method was
used as a research instrument in collecting
data to determine student learning
achievements after following the learning
process. Student motivation data were
obtained through questionnaire sheet
distributed to all students.
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The results of the pre-test that have been
carried out, it is known that 2 students
(6,5%) get scores between 60 - 64. While 28
students (93%) score below 60. Distribution
of pre-test scores for English writing skills
of class VIII SMP N 3 Mranggen Demak
can be seen in the table below:
Table 1 Distribution of pre-test scores for
Writing Caption
Score
Number of
student
Percentage
(%)
75 - 79
70 - 74
65 - 69
`
60 - 64
2
6,5
55 - 59
2
6,5
50 - 54
3
10
45 - 49
5
17
40 - 44
8
27
35 - 39
10
33
Questionnaire Analysis
Based on the pre-test conducted by
researchers using photo-based media on
Instagram, the researcher also conducted an
evaluation by distributing questionnaires
related to learning English and social media
Instagram. The following is a summary of
the results of the questionnaire:
1) Are you interested in applying photo-
based media on social media instagram,
especially in learning writing? Why?
From the question above, around 20 students
from a total of 30 students answered very
interested in the application of photo-based
media on Instagram in learning writing.
They argued that with English learning
based on photos on Instagram, besides being
fun, it could also trigger and encourage
enthusiasm students in learning writing.
While the remaining 10 students thought
that they were not interested in learning
related to photos on Instagram, because they
had never known about photo-based
learning.
2) What problems do you encounter when
learning by using photo-based media on
Instagram especially in learning writing?
The question in the second questionnaire can
be concluded that some of the students had
difficulties (problems) to write words in
English.
3) Can photo-based media use on social
media instagram help to improve learning
writing?
From this question, only 5 students argued
that learning using photo-based media on
Instagram could not help to improve
students' writing skills. While about 25
students answered learning by using photo-
based media on social media instagram
could help to improve students' writing
skills, because according to them, it made
fun and motivating in learning process,
learning English with photo-based media on
Devy Angga Gunantar, Tatas Transinata: Writing Caption on Instagram as Media
for Student’s Motivation and Writing Skill Improvement
34
Instagram helps to bring ideas to be
described.
4) In your opinion, what are the advantages
and disadvantages of using photo-based
media on social media Instagram in
learning writing?
Some of them expressed their opinion about
the advantages of using photo-based media
on Instagram, which can make it easier for
students to describe the activities carried out
(describing the photos displayed by writing
them in English captions).
5)Do you think it is necessary or not photo-
based media on social media Instagram in
learning writing?
About 14 students thought that it was very
necessary, at least it was occasionally
needed photo-based media learning on
Instagram so that it could help to facilitate in
understanding the learning and also to
improve writing skills in English.
In the post-test I, it was found that students
who reached the value of 60 and above were
19 students and there were 11 students who
got a score below 60.
Table 2 Value Distribution of Post-Test I
Writing English Caption
Based on the table above, it can be seen that
the results of the student's post-test I
increased from 2 students from the pre-test
to be 19 students who get the score ≥ 60.
In this post-test II, it was found that there
was a satisfactory increase in scores with the
highest score of 87 and the lowest score of
66.
Table 3 Value distribution of post-test
Writing English Caption
Score
Number of
student
Percentage
(%)
85 - 89
4
13
80 - 84
8
27
75 - 79
12
40
70 - 74
5
17
65 - 69
1
3
Based on the table above, when it is
compared to the pre-test and post-test I, the
number of students who achieved grades
above 60 experienced a significant increase.
Students who achieved grades above 60
increase from 2 students in the pre-test to be
19 students in the post-test I and 30 students
in the post-test II from the overall students
who participated in this study, overall 31
students but because 1 student is sick so
only 30 students were recorded in the results
of the assessment.
4. Conclusion
Based on the description of the results of the
research in the previous chapter, it can be
concluded that the use of photo-based media
on Instagram can improve the quality of
students' English writing skills. By using
photo-based media on Instagram, students
can understand the material well, besides
Score
Number of
student
Percentage
(%)
75 - 79
70 - 74
2
6,5
65 - 69
6
20
60 - 64
11
37
55 - 59
8
26,5
50 - 54
3
10
45 - 49
40 - 44
35 - 39
Devy Angga Gunantar, Tatas Transinata: Writing Caption on Instagram as Media
for Student’s Motivation and Writing Skill Improvement
35
that the use of direct examples of photos on
Instagram in learning can help students to
express ideas broadly because students can
immediately see the photos displayed.
Photos on Instagram can also make it easier
for students to understand the material
provided. Evaluation and discussion in each
answer from the material that has been given
after the application of photo-based media
on Instagram can stimulate students to find
solutions to their problems and can improve
students in expressing their ideas.
The success of photo-based media usage on
Instagram can be seen from the quality
improvement of the learning process in
writing. Overall the use of photo-based
media on social media Instagram can
improve English writing skills and also
increase their motivation in using English.
This can be seen from the average score of
the English writing test from the pre-action
stage until the end of the second cycle which
has improved quite well.
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