THE EFFECT OF INQUIRY METHOD ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

This study was focused on the investigation of the effect of Inquiry method on students’ achievement in writing descriptive text. It was conducted by using experimental research design. The population of this research was grade X students of SMA St. Thomas 3 Medan in the academic year 2015/2016, there were 5 parallel classes and there were two classes were selected as the sample by applying random sampling. The sample was divided into two groups, namely experimental (X-5) and control group (X-1). The experimental was taught by using Inquiry Method, while the control group was taught by using Lecture method. The instrument used to collect the data was essay test. To determine the reability of the test, the researcher used Pearson Moment Product formula. The data calculation showed that the coefficient of reliability of the test was 0.88. It showed that the test was reliable and the test was categorized as the test which has high to very high reliability. There were two data used in this study. They were pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed by using t-test formula. After the data were analyzed, it was found that the value of t-observed was 4,95 with the degree of freedom (df)= 58 at the level of significance 0,05. It means that t-observed was higher than t-table (4,95 > 2.000). The result of this study shows that teaching writing by using Inquiry method was higher than by using Lecture method. Therefore, the null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and the hypothesis alternative (Ha) is accepted. It implies that Inquiry Method is appropriate to be applied for writing.