DEVELOPING PICTURES AS VISUAL MEDIA IN TEACHING WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS FOR GRADE VIII STUDENTS OF SMP PAHLAWAN NASIONAL

This research was aimed at develops pictures as visual media in teaching writing descriptive texts. This study was conducted using R & D method by Borg & Gall (2003). The research took place at SMP PahlawanNasional. The sample consisted of class 8-VI. The evaluators of the media were two experts. The instruments employed in this study were questionnaire, interview, and test. The findings of the study were the quality of the developed pictures as visual media viewed from the experts is very good (88 %). The final product of the pictures as media was assessed by gave questionnaires to the students to know the students’ responses about the media. Most students gave positive responses. Most students said that the media was interesting and it could help them to understand descriptive texts easily. The results of the test show that the pictures as media improved their ability in writing descriptive texts (average score: 83, 10).The scoring system was based on five aspects; namely content, organization, vocabulary, language use, mechanics. Therefore, the writer suggests that English teachers develop pictures as one of the creative media to improve the students’ ability in writing descriptive texts.