IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING ESSAY SKILL THROUGH PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING… -

This research aims to determine the improving the skill of writing essays for students of SMAN 5 Makassar through problem-based learning approach. This kind of research was CAR (Classroom Action Research) using four stages, planning, action, observation, and reflection, which are implemented in two cycles, namely cycle I and cycle II. The instrument used in this research was test and observation. with a qualitative approach that is done by calculating the class average namely calculating the percentage of student completeness classically, students are declared passed if obtained a value of more than 80. The number of samples was 26 students, namely 12 boys and 14 girls in class XI IPA 1. The results of the research showed that the skills writing essays on students' texts after applying the problem-based learning approach through the actions of the first cycle, the average value is 68.79 or 39.50% in the less category. Action cycle II average value of 86.20 or 91.69% in the good category. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that the application of a problem-based learning approach can improve the quality of the process and learning outcomes of essay writing for class XI students of SMAN 5 Makassar. In accordance with the conclusions, the researcher suggests Indonesian teachers to used problem-based learning approach in learning to write essays, because the problem-based learning approach is proven to improve the quality of the process and learning outcomes.


INTRODUCTION
Learning is essentially a process characterized by changes in a person, and changes as a result of the learning process can be indicated in various forms such as knowledge, understanding, attitudes and behavior, skills and abilities as well as changes in other existing aspects in individuals who learn (Trianto, 2009:9). Learning is a systematic effort by the teacher to make the learning process run effectively and efficiently starting from planning, implementation, and evaluation (Aqib, 2014:66). In learning Indonesian language there are four aspects of skills that must be mastered in a balanced way by students, namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Of the four language skills, writing is in last place, meaning that if someone can master writing skills, it means that the person has mastered listening, speaking and reading skills. There are many writing materials that must be mastered by students in high school, one of it is writing essays. Essay is writing that discusses a problem in passing, always from the author's personal point of view. In essay writing, the author's opinion is written briefly and clearly. The personal characteristic in essay writing is the disclosure of the author himself about his self, his views, attitudes, thoughts and expectations to the reader. An essay must fulfill the integrity of writing, starting from the introduction, content or body to the ending or closing.
In writing essay, students also have to pay attention to the language rules of essays starting from the use of opinion sentence markers, the use of unambiguous effective sentences and the use of standard words. Writing an essay is not easy, there must be synchronization of the topic, suitability of the content with the theme, accuracy of ideas and arguments, everything must be cohesive so that the essay becomes a proper piece of writing. When researchers interviewed Indonesian language teachers about students' essay writing skills, students often complained when asked to write, students' difficulties in writing, namely students felt confused about what they were going to write first, found it difficult to arrange sentences so that the writing they produced did not meet the expected criteria, usually very short, can't be systematic in conveying ideas, has difficulty in arguing when writing essay texts. The students' difficulties in writing essays were also seen in the results of tests conducted on March 13, 2023. From the tests, it was found that the results of the students' essay writing were not perfect because there were still many students who had not been able to write the opening, content, and closing parts of the essay. It was found that writing only consisted of one paragraph, even if there were more than one paragraph it did not support the integrity of an essay, the writing was not supported by proper arguments, and the use of sentences was still not systematically arranged. This inability must find a way to solve it.
The skill of students to write an essay that are not perfect is related to the learning process that is carried out inappropriately. Some of the weaknesses that are the cause are that learning places more emphasis on theoretical aspects related to linguistics, the ability to develop knowledge, thinking power, student experience, and student imagination is still lacking in emphasis. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that students in class XI IPA 1 at SMAN 5 Makassar still lack of mastery writing material, especially writing essays, besides that the learning process carried out by the teacher also still has some weaknesses. For that it is necessary to make efforts which can aim to further refine the learning process so as to improve students' skills. Efforts to overcome this problem are by improve the process of learning activities in the classroom, so that the quality of the process and learning outcomes can be improved. Improvement in the learning process can be done by using an effective learning approach and has the potential to improve learning to write essays.
In this case a learning approach is needed that emphasizes student activity and is presented with pleasant situations and conditions so that the learning process is more meaningful for students. In line with the 2013 curriculum students are expected to think more critically, creatively, be able to work together and be able to communicate to improve students' skill to write an essay, students need to be motivated by using a learning approach that is able to stimulate students to think critically. According to Yulandari, E. S., & Suryadi, H. entitled "Analysis of Spoof Text Production Ability of Class XI High School Students with Problem-Based Learning (PBL)" concluded that problem-based learning can increase students' enthusiasm and creativity in developing problems. There is cooperation, seriousness, and persistence of students in revising the text that has been written.
Based on the results of the research above, it can be seen that the problem-based learning approach can improve the learning process and improve students' writing skills. The problem-based learning approach has several advantages (Suryanto and Jihad, 2013), including challenging students' abilities and providing satisfaction to discover new knowledge for students, increasing motivation and student learning activities, assisting students in transferring student knowledge to understand real world problems. Thus, problem-based learning approach is learning that is able to motivate students to be active in learning so that students have meaningful learning experiences and can improve writing skills of students' writing essay. In problem-based learning, students' thinking skills really optimized so that students can empower, hone, test, and develop their thinking skills on an ongoing basis. Problem-based learning presents contextual problems as a means to stimulate students learn to find solutions to real-world problems. Early learning in this approach begins by giving a problem as a stimulus and in the end students learn concepts or material related to the problem to be solved.
The problem-based learning model is thought to be appropriate for use in the process of learning to write essays for the following reasons: 1. Essay writing is writing that discusses a problem in passing from the author's personal point of view. There are so many problems that occur in life people and various solutions. Thus problem-based learning can be implemented without having to worry about a lack of learning resources. 2. The problem-based learning approach involves students both mentally, emotionally and physically so that it can reduce boredom. 3. Problem-based learning involves a communication process to share knowledge between students so that there is good communication between students. 4. Problembased learning presents a more real learning concept, so students can feel, see, and be directly involved with the material studied. Learning activities like this are thought to be more meaningful for students. Based on the conditions above, the researcher intends to conduct a study entitled "Improving students' essay writing skills through problem-based learning approach in Second Grade Students' of SMAN 5 Makassar".

METHOD
This research was conducted using classroom action research approach (CAR). The subjects of this study were 26 students of class XI IPA 1 consisting of 12 male students and 14 female students. The research instrument used in this research consisted of observation sheets and test. Assessment is carried out on two aspects, namely the structure of the essay and the language of the essay. Quantitative data analysis techniques are used to analyze data in the form of numbers. This data was obtained from the results of essay writing tests conducted at the end of each cycle. The formula used in this study is the average formula written by Ridwan (2006:78), namely: = Description: = Grade point average Σx = Total student scores N = Number of students

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The presentation of the data and findings of this research are presented based on recording and observing the implementation of learning how to write essay text in class in 2 cycles. The data presented consists of process data and results of students' writing activities obtained through notes researchers, observations of how the students' write their essay text. The learning conditions in cycle I show that students have not developed critical thinking skills. Students are expected to be able to understand writing essays with the themes that have been given. Each group that has obtained their essay text material and has not been able to solve the problem solving. In class, students are still experiencing difficulties in solving the problems of each group. Students have difficulty solving or completing essay writing problems because they are less able to change a theme question into essay text. Aspects of the observations observed by the observer on the activities of students in learning process there are several stages, namely 1) Preliminary stage, orienting participants students on the problem, Stage 2): organize students to learn, Stage 3): guide individual and group investigations, Stage 4), presentation of the work, Stage 5) analyze and evaluate the process and results of the work. Each stage of the student has not been able finish it well, so that the stages of learning by applying the problem-based learning model has not been successful, this can be seen from the average test results class average. The following are the results of the evaluation in cycle I, During the first cycle, the results of the writing skills test of students' writing essay text of class XI IPA I students of SMAN 5 Makasar. Based on the test results on the worksheet students essay writing texts during the implementation of learning it can be concluded that skills students are included in the good category with a percentage of 39.50%, and students who are not complete 61,50 %. In cycle II based on test results on worksheets students write essay text there was a significant increase with a class average value of 86.20%. Student more enthusiastic and active in discussions so that the learning process goes well so that each stage of learning by applying the problem-based learning approach can be solved well, this can be seen from the results of the writing essay test, the following are the results of the evaluation in cycle II. During the second cycle the results of the writing skills test of essay text on five group. Based on the results of each group's discussion written on the discussion worksheet and during the implementation of learning and test results students can write essay texts it can be concluded that students writing expository texts are included in the good category with percentage of 91.72%. While the test results of writing essay text in class XI IPA 1 of SMAN 5 Makasar who did not complete only two students, meaning only 8.28%, meaning totally individual and classical have met the minimum criteria of completeness.
During cycle II, learning activities by applying the problem-based learning approach running smoothly. Cycle II was followed by all students of class XI IPA 1 SMAN 5 Makasar. Implementation of mathematics learning with essay text material using problem-based learning approach in cycle II is increasing compared to cycle I. Implementation of the discussion went smoothly and all groups can present work. Students have understood the implementation of learning so that the learning atmosphere takes place more conducive and students are more enthusiastic. Student collaboration activities during discussions began to increase. Students are able to exchange ideas with colleagues to solve problems given by researchers. Students was able to explore various learning resources such as textbooks and other modules which is relevant. This can be seen from the results of group discussions which are more complex and neater. Student present the results of the discussion with more confidence. presentation of cycle II students, the number of students who expressed opinions and asked questions increased. Questions and opinions from students during the discussion took place more relevant to the material learning. Appreciation of other students when the presentation began to increase with listen more seriously.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of this research can be concluded that improving the quality of learning to write essays in the form of processes and results using problem-based learning approach actually produces good results. The use of problem-based learning approach can improve the students' writing skill to write essays in class XI IPA 1 of SMAN 5 Makassar.