The Effectiveness of Using Facebook in Writing Skill Learning Process

among Indonesian Secondary School Students

Setiya Cahya Ningsih
setyacahyan1898@@gmail.com
Muhammadiyah University of Purworejo

Abstract. In modern times so many developments that occur in our lives such as technology, science, and
politics. technology is an important aspect for humans to facilitate all their activities. Information technology
continues to evolve over time. One of them is its role in the field of school education. Considering that writing
is the most difficult to master. In this study, the researcher will try to apply a media (Facebook Group) to
improve students writing skill learning process. This study was an action research study. This research was
carried out on 31st January 2014. Each cycle consisted of three meetings. The steps of the research were
reconnaissance, planning, action and observation, and reflection. The subjects of this research were 32 students
of VIII E class, the English teacher, and the researcher. The data were in the form of qualitative data and also
supported by quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained by observing the teaching and learning
process, interviewing the students and collaborators, holding discussions with the collaborators, and taking
pictures of the teaching and learning process. while the quantitative method uses essay tests on students. The
results of the research indicated that the use of Facebook group, handouts, group quiz, and rewards effectively
improved the writing learning process. The students had more chances to practice writing in the Facebook
group than in the English class, they also had discussion room to share their knowledge or problems in the
teaching and learning and their motivation also increased because they assumes that writing in the Facebook
group was exciting activities.

Keywords: Effectiveness, Facebook, Writing Skill

Introduction

English Language has an important role in several occupations, so several educational studies
have confirmed the effective way to attain progress and advancement in language fluency and
accuracy through reading and writing to improve these skills upon which the whole learning process
depends (Haider and AKhter, 2012). Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four main
language skills. Of all language skills, writing seems a little difficult for students as a language ability
which requires a high ability to express ideas, thoughts, feelings and make written text. Amongst all
skills in learning the English language, writing skills are the most strenuous skill to achieve by
Malaysian pupils where teachers and pupils agreed that to accomplish the teaching and learning of
writing is demanding (Chandran et al., 2019). Pupils in the new generation are having problems in
writing formally. As Majid & Stapa (2017). Students usually find difficulties in getting an idea to
write or finding vocabularies. That make they need more time to think what they want to say in their
writing than to speak. school, many pupils find it difficult to write a good essay in English. This is
because learners have to conduct unrequited communication with the text with unfamiliar audiences
and need to guess the feedbacks of the readers (Majid & Stapa, 2017).
For that reason, a teacher must have a solution to overcome this one of them by utilizing
technology in education. Social media is a great place for pupils to express themselves because it
encourages distinctiveness. The integration of gadgets and social media helps a lot. These technology
enactments can be used for the allocation of information, communication platform and the vital
use of educational reason (Hashim et al., 2018). It helps pupils to develop their confidence level
by uploading status, voicing out opinions and writing in English on social media. Pupils are more
into writing and show their interests when they write their essays out of the normality (Chandran
et al., 2019). Writing rules on social media platforms are informal, thus it is undemanding for users
who are not consummate in the English language to deliver their thoughts and ideas (Vikneswaran &
Krish, 2016). teaching and learning strategies for proper English is to use facebook. this media tool
can be used to teach students based on the material or potential possessed by students.
Based on what has been explained previously, the researcher will learn this method to
overcome problems in the students' writing ability by using Facebook. Pungky (2018) states that some
internet technologies, like social media can be used as the media to teach English, especially writing
skill. English teachers have to use a new teaching method to get students’ interest in learning
writing, such as by using Facebook. It is expected that students will be more creative and be able to
develop all their abilities. The use of Facebook is expected to be more effective and visible.

Technology in Language Learning

Technology is an effective tool for learners. Learners must use technology as a significant
part of their learning process. Teachers should model the use of technology to support the curriculum
so that learners can increase the true use of technology in learning their language skills (Costley,
2014). Through using technology, many authentic materials can be provided to learners and they can
be motivated in learning language. Technology has always been an important part of teaching and
learning environment. It is anessential part of the teachers’ profession through which they can use it to
facilitate learners’ learning. When we talk about technology in teaching and learning, the word
‘integration’ is used. With technology being part of our everyday lives, it is time to rethink the idea of
integrating technology into the curriculum and aim to embed technology into teaching to support the
learning process. That is to say, technology becomes an integral part of the learning experience and a
significant issue for teachers, from the beginning of preparing learning experiences through to
teaching and learning process (Eady & Lockyer, 2013).

Facebook in Language Learning

Facebook is almost universally-used among higher education students. These students
consider Facebook astheir main social media choice and therefore spend a great part of their time in
its use in their normal day (Ellefsen, L, 2015). In a study conducted in one of Malaysia’s large public
Universities, the researchers found that, among 105 students, only three students stated that they did
not use Facebook (with only 2.8 percent) (Alhazmi, A. and Rahman, A, 2013). The findings use
facebook in english learning to students have a positive perception regarding interaction with their
peers for learning purposes via Facebook. Asking questions in order to share information, conduct
discussions or other investigated acts among peers can help students to better understand the course
content and, as a result, enhance academic performance. Therefore, the findings of this study show the
positive and significant relationship between students’ interaction via Facebook and their academic
performance. Similarly, previous studies found that academic use of Facebook is related to students’
better academic performance (Junco, 2012).
The uniqueness of learning facebook as a supporter of new learning methods for students will
get a different interaction than direct interaction. Students can share information through Facebook
and information that has an impact in helping them to understand course content. Then students will
experience using a Facebook group to share various kinds of information in various forms. Therefore,
students can share information in the form of text, photos and videos. In addition, students can share
course events, announcements, and even their learning material on Facebook pages. Therefore,
students tend to give the type of student interaction through Facebook more important than the other
types investigated. This finding is compatible with previous findings which show that 70.2% is used
by Facebook to exchange information (Wesseling, 2012). Students believe that comments on learning
posts can really help them to understand the course content or material being discussed. So the study
argues that accepting other people's perspectives, and also disagreements, reflects the level of respect
and building trust among students (Kehrwald, 2010). Therefore students are willing to be given the
opportunity to work more independently and have more control over their online learning
environment.The writer writes this research by presenting a title “The Effectiveness of Using
Facebook in WritingSkill Learning Process among Indonesian Secondary School Students” The study
question formulated, thus, are the following :
1. How does the significant influence of using Facebook improve writing skills?
2. Does the writing skill increase in secondary school students compared to before using Facebook?
Method

Participants
This research used two methods, qualitative and quantitative methods. This research involved students
of SMPN 4 Purworejo class VIII. Researchers conducted research on seventh grade students of SMP
N 4 Purworejo in the second semester of the 2013/2014 academic year. This study aims to observed
the effectiveness of using Facebook in the learning process of writing skills in Indonesian Middle
School students.
Instrument
Quantitative research, is research by obtaining data in the form of numbers or quantitative data raised
(Mujiyono 2012). while the qualitative method is a method used to analyze and interpret data in the
form of picture words rather than numbers Bogdan and Biklen in Sugiyono (2010: 21). The research
instrument was a written test. Tests are gived for students to focus on writing desxriptive text. The
purpose of this test is to measure students' writing ability in writing descriptive text.
Procedure
Place and Time of This research was held from January 31st to April 25th, 2014. The research was
conducted at SMP N 4 Purworejo. It is located in Urip Sumoharjo Street number 62 of Purworejo.
The researcher conducted the research at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in second
semester in the academic year of 2013/2014.This research method is quantitative which consists of
pree test, treatment and post test. Collecting data is the process of getting primary data in a study.
Good research builds on adequate data and correct procedures. This test was a free essay on
descriptive text and students get 45 minutes to take the test.
          Sugiyono (2010: 61), the population of objects or subjects that have been settled by researchers
to be studied is a generalization of certain qualities and then drawn Based on the above theory, it can
be concluded that the population is the whole research subject that has certain qualities and
characteristics. That's interesting for research. The population in this study were eighth grade students
of SMP N 4 Purworejo consisting of 8 classes. Each class consists of 32 students. The total number
were 256 students. The researcher then takes a sample on the object. The researcher takes two
samples. This study uses purposive sampling, because of time constraints. It is said that purposive
sampling is a sample image that is based on a specific purpose taking into account the time consumed
by the class. Another reason is that both classes have the same ability.

Data Analysis
The technique used in this study consists of pre-test, treatment, and post-test.Pre-test is a testarranged
and used to measure the student's ability before the learning program started. Then, in the
experimental class, the students were provide the treatment by peer feedback through group
facebook, and the control class is only given the conventional method. Finally, the post-test is
conducted to know the ability of students in writing recount text after teaching-learning process has
implemented. The scores of pre-test and post-test are used to find out the differences appeared
between the test conducted at the begining of the learning and the test conducted at the end of the
lesson. This research is quantitative research that needs data analysis. In this analysis, the researcher
applies an appropriate descriptive analysis and Inferential analysis.Descriptive analysis is used to
describe variable of this research that is the use of Facebook Group as teaching and learning media for
improving English writing skill. The researcher also used statistics to compute the students’ ability.
The statistics used are mean analysis and standard deviation analysis. Additionally, the mean, mode,
median, standard deviation, the lowest score, and the highest score are also used to analyze the data.
And Inferential analysis This analysis is done by inferring the effectiveness of teaching descriptive
text on Facebook Group to improve students’ writing skill.Sugiyono (2010:172) said that test of
normality is intended to determine the distribution of the minimum and maximum values as well as
the variability of research data.

Findings
The result of normality test was the used to see whether the distribution of the data was normal or not.
To test the normality,researcher used SPSS program. The table of normality test was following :
 Table 1 One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

Postcontrol PostExper

N 32 32

a
Normal Parameters Mean 74.0000 78.5625

Std. Deviation 6.47078 7.83679

Most Extreme Differences Absolute .124 .096

Positive .124 .056

Negative -.066 -.096

Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .701 .545

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .710 .927

Based on the post-test data, the normality test of the control group and the experimental group, the
researcher found that the data distribution of the two groups, the experimental and control groups was
normal. Judging from the SPSS calculation table, the Asymp.Sig (2-tailed) value is 0.710 in the post-
test control group. and the Asymp.Sig (2-tailed) value in the experimental group post-test was 0.927.
Good, in the post-test the control group and the experimental group were higher than 0.05. This shows
that the data in the control and experimental groups are normal.
And the calculation findings from this table are the average of the experimental group and the control
group are 78.6 and 74. Show clearly the comparison of the average experimental group is higher than
the control group. The difference between the two methods, the experimental group and the control
group, is 4.6. This shows that the treatment is effective.

The data were analyzed by SPSS program. The results of data analysis ere presented in the following
table 2.
Table 2 Test of Homogeneity of Variance

Levene Statistic df1 df2 Sig.

From the table Nilai Based on Mean 3.402 1 62 .070
result of SPSS
computation, the Based on Median 3.331 1 62 .073
value of
Based on Median and with
significane was 3.331 1 58.725 .073
0.07. This from adjusted df
the value of based
Based on trimmed mean 3.384 1 62 .071
on mean. at the
beginning of the levene statistic 3,402. df 1 and df second become 62. The value of significane was
higher than 0.05 (0.07>0.05). It showed that the variance of two samples were homogenous.

The findings from table 3 is to knowed the effect of facebook group on students’writing skill,the
following table indicate the data analysis based on the past test scores.
Table 3 Writing Skill Result of Experimental Group and Control Group
Group M SD H L T
Experimental 78.6 7.8 91 62 2514
Control 74 6.5 87 62 2368

The previous analysis showed that the result of the computation of the t-value is 2.56. it reveal that
facebook group was effective in teaching writing skill.

Discussion
In this study there would be two research questions to answer. the first question aims to find
out how it affects the improvement of students' writing skills. with the use of facebook groups as a
supported for student learning. Meanwhile, the second question wants to know the effectiveness of
facebook groups in writing skills. By using Facebook groups as something that can support student
learning. The result of parametic analysis revealed that learners taking classes with facebook group
strategy had better writing scores learners taking clasesreaditional language teaching strategy. the
findings were shown by the results of the t-test using the experimenal group and the control group
where t-value 2.56 washigher than t-table 1.99. Also it could be seen froin the descriptive test results
where the mean score of facebook gorup was higher than that of traditional language teaching
79.6>74. this finding suppoerted previous literature (Fitriani.Dewi,Daulay,Salmiah and
Fransiska,2019) exploring the effect of facebook group on Writing Skill. This study indicated that
Facebook Group was effective for enhancing writing skill
How this could affects the improvement of students' writing skills with the used of facebook
groups as a supported for student learning. First the result might be due to the fact that the
experimental group was given many opportunities to collaborate with their classmates used the
Facebook group and as a result, participated in the various activities including posts, comments, and
discussions. Such view agrees with that of Walsh (2012) who maintained that Facebook group is a
great way todistribute learning content and create a central place for communicationfor a course or
class and also agrees with Wong (2011) who found that Facebook could enhance communication and
collaborative learning between learners. Both learners and tutors can share their experiences and can
record their conversations or produce their own oral essays and file them or share them with others.
And the second reason was from the results of pre-test and post-test scores that have been done at the
beginning of learning and tests conducted at the end of the lesson. which contains the appropriated
descriptive analysis and Inferential analysis. Descriptive analysis is used to described this research
variable, namely the used of Facebook Group as a learning medium and to improved English writing
skills.Like whose study revealed (Shraim 2014) that learning via Facebook provided students with
more opportunities to engage personally, communicate and work collaboratively and develop the 21st
century skills for life and learning through social interaction.the third reason by using Facebook
groups as something that can support student learning. The findings of this study indicated that
students have been positive perceptions regarding interactions with their peers for learning purposes
via Facebook. It was clear that student interaction through Facebook is considered importantstudents,
because it connects students with each other outside their class time. Student interaction via Facebook
can allows them to discuss course content whenever they need.
Facebook Group as media to improved writing skill at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4
Purworejo in the academic year of 2013/2014 is effective.The writing ability at the seventh grade
students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the academic year of 2013/2014 can be seen by the mean score of
post-test both experimental and control group. The mean score of post-test of experimental group was
78.60 and it can be categorized as good. Meanwhile, the mean score of post-test of control group was
74.00 and it can be categorized as sufficient. we can seen it From the computation, the result of t-
value is 2.56. Then researcher consulted the critical value on t-table using 5% (0.05) alpha level
significant and the degree of freedom 62 was 2.56. It shows that t-value was higher than t-table. So,
researchers’ hypothesis with 0.95 or 95% of significant level was accepted and consequently the null
hypothesis (Ho) is rejected. It means that the media used by the researcher is effective to used
Facebook Group to improved writing skill at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the
academic year of 2013/2014.

Conclusion
The conclusion can be drawned that teaching descriptive text using Facebook Group as media
to improved writing skill at the seventh grade students of SMP N 4 Purworejo in the academic year of
2013/2014 is effective. the conclusion is effective at Facebook-integrated blended learning for the
Language Use course was very effective since students used facebook group materials at their own
pace in their leisure time outside the classroom.While participating in the Facebook activities,
members of the Fcebook group showed great interest in what their classmates and instructor were
posting to the group; therefore, they tended to log in daily to check what others had posted to the
discussions.
Such use, as a consequence, lead students to be more active and more responsible for the their
own learning and to move forward towards student-centered approach rather than teacher-centered
approach. Some researchers examined the impact of Facebook in the academy and argued that
students mainly use the social network to keep in touch with other individuals, with a minimal
informal academic use of Facebook for learning purposes (Hew,2011).Facebook group discussions
are very helpful for students in writing skills in addition to vocabulary the quality of grammar mastery
will begin to increase.
Students, as revealed on the Facebook group , found this experience interesting and helpful
since they were able to practice English as a foreign language when the group allowed them to be
socially and academically connected with their classmates and instructor through sharing media
resources such as news links, photos, videos, discussions, brainstorming, sharing interesting websites
that added fun and knowledge to the class.Students' posts and contributions helped the group to
enlarge vocabulary, to be familiar with previous exam questions, to practice a variety writing skill of
topics.

Recommendations
In the light of the above results, this study makes a number of useful recommendations for
incorporating Facebook into the academic context.First, since Facebook usage was effective in
improving students'communication skills, teachers should make effort to integrate Facebook in
students’ learning process, such as asking students to use Facebook for connecting to peers and
learning materials from different resources. This necessitates the need for learning activities which
enhance information acquisition through Facebook. In this regard to teachers must provide
opportunities for students to express their difficulties about the material, and teachers must provide
feedback such as communication to keep them motivated in learning.The second Students must have
high motivation to learn descriptive and practice what they have learned from their teacher anywhere
and anytime. and third the researchers hope to other researchers that this research can make a valuable
contribution to improve their knowledge and explore their minds to do their best and will be useful to
improve the teaching and learning process of English especially in writing English.further research
can be done to compare the results achieved by students with other students to investigate possible
differences and allow the generalization of the results achieved. More research is needed to
replicate the study in different subject areas or skills and at different populations.To make valid
assessment of students posts and participation, there is a need to create a comprehensively defined
framework that can achieve this objective. This can be done by using clear communication protocols
and requirements (rubrics) for evaluating all types of posts.
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