STUDENTS’ ESSAY WRITING THROUGH VIRTUAL WRITING TUTOR FOR ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMA SWASTA BINA BERSAUDARA MEDAN

The aim of this study was to find out the use of Virtual Writing Tutor as an online
tool in enhancing students’ essay writing skills, identify the students’ difficulties
in using the Virtual Writing Tutor for enhancing their essay writing skills and then
identify the students’ perceptions of using the Virtual Writing Tutor in enhancing
their essay writing skills for eleventh grade students at SMA Swasta Bina
Bersaudara Medan. This research was conducted using the descriptive-qualitative
design of Bogdan and Biklen (1998). The subjects of this study were 26 grade XI
students at SMA Swasta Bina Bersaudara Medan. Data were collected through
observation, questionnaire and documentation. The results showed that Virtual
Writing Tutor tool was effective to enhance the students’ writing skill in terms of
writing quality, structure and content. It can be indicated from the students’
writing quality, structure and content score where in post-test score was greater
than in pre-test score. Then, the students had no difficulty understanding the
material provided, they only had difficulties using Virtual Writing Tutor due to an
inadequate connection or network. Overall, students were very interested in using
this medium. Most students agreed that learning English in class is easier by using
Virtual Writing Tutor.