E NGLISH T EACHER ' S S TRATEGY IN T EACHING W RITING

One of the English language skills needed by junior high school students to master is writing. The objective of this research is to find out the English teacher’s teaching strategies for teaching writing to seventh graders in SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang and to describe the responses of students toward the strategy of writing skill of the seventh graders at SMP Miftahul Ulum. The design of the research is qualitative research. The population and sample of this study are English teachers at SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang. The data collection methods for this study are observation and questioning Based on observation there were four meetings for learning to write, all teaching processes in class used PowerPoint and video as learning media to make the students easier to learn writing. English teachers used strategy in teaching writing by Cox teory (2012). This strategy made students more enthusiastic in learning; there were many good responses from the students. The material taught by the teacher is regarding Descriptive Text (people) and lyrics song; while the media used by the teacher are handbooks, lesson plans, PowerPoint, and videos. Furthermore, the activities in teaching writing consist of opening activities, core activities, and closing activities


INTRODUCTION
English is one of the most widely used languages worldwide.Mappiasse and Ahmad (2014) stated that English has become the most spoken language in the world today.Thus, the ability to use English is very important for everyone.In Indonesia, English has been learned by Indonesian learners from middle schools into university as their compulsory lesson and must be mastered by them (Haerazi, Vikasari, & Prayati, 2019).Thus, the Ministry of Education and Culture makes English as a compulsory subject to be taught in Indonesian schools (Widyasworo, 2019:533) Teaching English involves four core skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing.Among these skills, writing is considered as one of the skills that must be taught in order to improve other abilities.Writing is also considered as a useful talent.Generally, writing aims to help students express their creative thoughts and motivations and incorporate them into writing.The emergence of these imaginative strategies is often referred to as "articles" or "manifestations."Both terms were examined with the same results, although, in fact, it can be said that both terms have very strong recommendations.Thus, writing perhaps is an important language skill that requires most of the help teachers can offer in order to form it (Vakili & Ebadi, 2019;Xie, 2017:233).
In addition, writing has become the most difficult skill for both students to learn and teachers to teach for a variety of reasons (Alkomidi, 2021).Writing is an integrated communication skill that calls for effort and time.Moreover, writing requires more careful planning and organization than speaking, because writing is inherently lacking in intuitive and impromptu speech production options, including the use of fillers, pauses, and gestures.On the other hand, Ningthias and Mulyana (2018:39) said that students face several obstacles in composing English writing, and one of them is that they do not understand the basic language structure.They tend to apply the rules of using Indonesian to their English.Their findings prove that Indonesian language learners are still confused when compiling English because the rules of Indonesian language structure are well embedded in their minds.Given that, the use of linguistics should be an important part of learning to write and speak English.
Meanwhile, Wigati (2014) claims three things that make writing skills difficult to master: phonetic, cognitive, and thought problems.The first problem is phonetics, which is related to the speed with which a person is in the right mindset so that the sentences that are formed will mix with each other.In addition, the second problem is a cognitive problem related to the form, structure, and grammar of language.The third problem is related to the mind.The content is anything that can be composed.This third problem is one of the biggest obstacles to writing activities.One's thinking becomes one of the most highlighted factors in creating the basic thinking of the arrangement.As a result, this affects the writing results In accordance to the writing problems mentioned above, the researcher found some information about teaching writing from an English teacher at SMP Miftahul Ulum.There are several problems faced by students, including the lack of vocabulary, lack of knowledge about good writing procedures, and lack of grammar mastery.These problems are the cause to how English teacher face many obstacles in the teaching of writing.
According to Anjayani (2016), every teacher-especially those who teach writing-needs a plan in order to help them with their writing-related issues.Since there are not many resources available for learning, strategy is regarded as one of the most crucial components.The method employed usually has to do with establishing objectives and choosing the course of action necessary to reach those objectives.It will be simpler for teachers and students to provide and receive information if methods are used.Additionally, the technique improved the effectiveness, enjoyment, and comprehension of the teaching and learning process (Prabantoro 2018:8).Furthermore, according to Wayan (2014), writing is a teaching and learning process that incorporates two elements: writing strategies and products.This strategy also made the teaching and learning process more enjoyable, more effective, and easier to understand (Prabantoro 2018:8).Moreover, Wayan (2014) claims that writing as a process of teaching and learning, actually combines two things: writing products and strategies for how these products are produced.This process is related to the current curriculum applied in most of Indonesian schools.
Recently, the curriculum used by most schools is a curriculum called Kurikulum 2013; therefore, the learning strategies in SMP Miftahul Ulum were applied by using Kurikulum 2013.The curriculum only strengthens the implementation of authentic assessments in each subject and strengthens the implementation of authentic assessments, especially in projects to strengthen the profile of Pancasila at the end of the learning process.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher chose the class of seventh graders (VII-B) as the subject of this research, because this seventh-grade student is an early grader or beginner who still needs to know a lot about procedures for good writing.Grade seven is also considered to have many problems in terms of writing, because they felt that writing skills are a basic skill, so it was necessary for them to master writing as supplementary for their next class.The researcher focuses on writing skills, because writing is a basic seventh-grade lesson, and learning to write can improve a student's achievement and talent in producing good work.The researcher chooses SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang as a place to do the research, because the school has received accreditation A, which is categorized as "very good."Besides that, SMP Miftahul Ulum has evenly spread-out facilities and infrastructure as well as the potential and creativity to implement learning strategies.
The purpose of this research is to analyze and find out the writing learning strategies that have been applied in teaching writing.The writer also wants to know what are the teachers' strategies used in teaching writing skills to the seventh graders at SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang; and what are the responses of students toward strategies for writing skills among the seventh graders at SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang.

CONCEPTS
According to Suminar & Putri (2015), writing is the process of telling anything possible or true to express ideas and opinions in simple sentences and brief paragraphs.Writing is a skill that must be mastered in order to learn English.Writing may also be described as a method of communication that involves putting thoughts, observations, and ideas into written form so that they can be shared with others (Jusman, et al, 2014).
Writing is not just about putting words into sentences, connecting sentences into paragraphs, but it also requires grammatical and lexical knowledge.As one of the four language skills, writing is very important for students to learn at school.This skill aims to make students able to convey their ideas, feelings, and opinions on paper in written form through a good structure.Experts differ greatly on what constitutes writing.According to Wingersky, writing is a process of communicating with others, in which the writer sends his ideas and thoughts in written form to the reader (Haidyati, 2018, p. 23).To ensure that the reader comprehends what the author is trying to say in this situation, the writer must construct a coherent flow of phrases and statements.According to Mandal (cited in Molla, 2016, p. 11), children can express their emotions and convey ideas through writing, which is in line with Wingersky.
Writing is an ongoing, never-ending creative activity.Before they begin writing, people have thought out what they want to say and how to communicate it.Composing is a task.A person must be familiar with the writing process if they hope to write something and produce flawless writing (Oshima, 2007).This is how the writing process looks like.The writing process consists of a number of interconnected iterative steps, including drafting, structuring (organizing information, experimenting with settings), reviewing (checking context, connections, assessing impact, editing), focusing (ensuring that you get the message you want to get across) generating ideas, and evaluating (grading future drafts and/or drafts).One of the downsides of getting students to focus on the writing process is that it takes time: time to brainstorm ideas or gather them in other ways; time to draft a piece of writing and then, perhaps with a teacher's help, review and edit it in various ways before, perhaps, changing focus, generating more ideas, rearranging, re-editing, and so on.It is possible to diagrammatically illustrate the White and Arndt models.That is not how long it takes to do this.But when writing is well-managed, it flows across the curriculum since many phases entail discussion, investigation, language learning, and a great deal of interaction between students and teachers (Harmer, 2001).

METHOD
The process or guide used to develop strategies that result in research methodologies is known as the research design.According to Sugiyono (2018: 37), research designs must be specific, clear, and detailed, determined steadily from the start, becoming a step-by-step guide.The research method is a means of gathering reliable data for analysis in the course of a study that seeks to resolve or foresee an issue.Sugiyono (2015: 6) makes the following argument in support of this: Research methods were defined as a scientific way to obtain valid data with the aim of being able to find, develops, and proves certain knowledge so that in turn it could be used to understand, solve, and anticipate problems... Since qualitative research places an emphasis on meaning rather than generalizations, the researcher used qualitative methods in this study with the aim of gathering detailed data.According to Moleong (2017:6), qualitative research aims to comprehend phenomena related to the experiences of research subjects, including behaviour, perceptions, motivations, actions, and others, holistically.It does this by using language and written descriptions in a unique, natural context, as well as a variety of natural methods.Qualitative research is a naturalistic inquiry approach that seeks a comprehensive understanding of social phenomena through natural means, according to Hendryadi et al. (2019:218).
During the academic year of 2022-2023, the research was conducted in SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang, which was located on Jalan Raya Melirang Bungah Gresik.The researcher chose this school, SMP Miftahul Ulum Melirang, because it was considered a well-known private junior high school in Melirang and also a school that was under the Yayasan of Taman Pendidikan Islam.The emphasis of this research was on writing instruction strategies.
The technique of collecting data is using three techniques, they are observation, documentation and questionnaire.In this research finding, the researcher collected data by using observations and questionnaires.The activity was carried out from 31 January 2023 to 28 February 2023.The researcher gives questionnaires to the students on 22 February 2023.Details of class observations and questionnaire results were listed in the field noted and observation sheets, while data obtained by the researcher from the results of documentation are teacher's lesson plan and students work results (which was given by the English teacher).In addition, the researcher includes a questionnaire.The researcher collected all the data related to the strategies that have not been used by the seventh-grade English teacher.The researcher explains the implementation used in teaching writing strategies in class.From the observation in meeting one to meeting four, it was found that the English teacher used PowerPoint.Afterwards, a scientific approach was used in the methods of teaching process, while another component was the English teacher's strategy in using question-answer and writing vocabulary that students can hear in the form of songs.However, teaching and learning resources for English teachers was used and taken from the Enrichment Book published by Mela Meta Marharika, S.Pd and author Priyono Darmanto, S.Pd.Based on the observations, teaching and learning activities of the writing skills were in accordance with the syllabus.To prove the originality of this study, the researcher presents three previous studies that are specifically related to teaching writing.Istiqomah (2019) that analyzed english teachers' strategies in teaching descriptive writing at the second grade of junior high school, Iqlima Isnaini (2021) that analyzed teaching strategies used by the English teacher in teaching writing at SMP Muhammadiyah plus Salatiga in the 2020/2021 academic year, as well as Iskandar ( 2017) that conducted research on teaching descriptive writing by using cubing strategy to the eighth-grade students of SMPN 22 Palembang.From their researches, the difference lies in the objects and implementations mentioned in the research objectives.The similarities were about teaching writing and qualitative descriptive research.

III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The questionnaire described the application of English teacher teaching strategies for writing skills in the class.Students responded the same as in the questionnaire section 1, answering with agreement or disagreement.In part 2 of the questionnaire, there are 12 questions, but there were only 2 that were more specific because, from these 2 questions, the writer could find out what strategies the students like and don't like.The results of the questionnaire would be explained as follows: From the table above, it can be concluded that all the students responded positively towards the teacher's strategies in teaching writing.The result of second questionnaire number 1 -10 also showed that from 10 strategies in teaching writing proposed by Cox (2012), all of the students answered that the teacher applied all of the strategies including (1) find inspiration for writing through social media or books, (2) make a mind mapping before students write, (3) make important points that students should write, (4) practice writing through audio transcripts, (5) do peer talks or share material with friends, (6) give an introductory sentence as an example in writing, (7) write a description of someone through a profile photo, (8) give a spin wheel game to choose a topic to write, (9) held a writing competition by selecting the best writer, (10) find ideas for writing through pictures.Therefore, it can be concluded that the students had experiences in all of the writing strategies implemented by the teacher in the classroom.
Meanwhile, the result of the second questionnaire number 11 and 12 revealed the students' enthusiasm towards the strategies.Question number 11 was about students' most favourite strategies applied by the teacher in teaching writing; whereas question number 12 was about the students' least favourite strategies applied by the teacher in teaching writing.The detailed result on students' most and least favourite strategies applied by the students in teaching writing described in the pie charts below: Based on figure 4.10, we could see that out of the 10 strategies listed in the questionnaire, students only chose 3 numbers that they preferred on averageother strategies had no answers (empty results).So, the researcher only entered three numbers, which was the answers to the students' statement.In the 10 strategies in teaching writing applied by English teachers, there were 3 that they preferred, namely the writing strategy of finding inspiration for writing through social media or books, the teacher's strategy of asking students to make important points to be written, and finally the strategy of writing a description of someone through a profile photo.Three strategies that have been chosen by students have their own reasons, namely that, on average, they found that these strategies enable them to write a lot easier; i.e., when looking for inspiration from social media sources and through someone's profile photo.From the results above, the researcher could see that the good response from all the options was when the teacher applied strategies numbers 1, 3, and 7. When the English teacher applied these strategies, the students are very enthusiastic about learning writing.

Figure 3. Students' least favorite strategies applied by teacher in Teaching Writing
Based on figure 4.11, we see that for strategy numbers 1 to 10, all students only chose 3 numbers, which they did not like on averageother strategies do not have an answer (empty result).So, the researcher only includes three numbers, which were the answers to the students' statements.There were 10 strategies for learning to write that the English teacher applied, and there were 3 strategies that students did not like.The first one, using the best writer competition method.Second one, asking students to practice writing through audio transcripts.Third one, asking students to make a main map (framework) before writing paragraphs.They did not like this strategy for a number of reasons: they did not like competition, because only the best writer would be chosen for sure; that they did not like the writing method using audio transcripts, because they needed quite a lot of time to do it; they did not like the writing method using main mapping, because they did not really understand it and needed a lot of time before writing.
Based on these data findings, the implementation of strategies in class VII-B learning has been carried out very well.This implementation includes learning materials, strategies, and methods.The learning materials taught to class VII-B students in semester 2 of SMP Miftahul Ulum were using descriptive text and lyric songs.The strategy used in the classroom was a problem based learning strategy, explaining videos and pictures, the methods in class VII-B used were the lecture method, the question-and-answer method and the discussion method.

IV CONCLUSION
Based on this research, it can be concluded that in class VII-B, the teachers of seventh grade in SMP Miftahul ulum melirang was able to carry out the writing process well, by making the lesson plan prior to the teaching learning process.In the learning activities, the students were mostly active and enthusiastic.The strategy used by the teacher in teaching writing was by Cox (2012).The teacher's goal of using 10-strategy writing by Cox enable the students to develop critical thinking in solving problem.There were many steps for implementing the teacher's strategy in teaching writing: the first one, guided and evaluated the problem-solving process; the second one, developed and presented students work; the third one, organizes students.By applying this strategy, students can understand writing material a lot easier.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Students' most favorite strategies applied by teacher in Teaching Writing