Blended Learning Approach in Teaching English Writing Skill at Senior High School

Online educational resources are combined with platforms or locations that simulate traditional classroom settings to create blended learning. Utilizing technology with the intention of achieving the learning process' objective is blended learning implementation. The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of the blended learning approach and to find out the students’ perception on the use of blended learning approach in English writing skill at senior high school the eleventh-grade students of SMA Negeri 13 Makassar, which consists of 6 classes with an average class size of 35 to 36 students, comprised the population of this study. After that, the researcher used the cluster random sampling approach to select 71 students from two classes as the study's subject. Based on the findings of this research, SPSS output for independent sample t-tests, t-test 4,426 is higher than t-table 1,995. The t-test's outcome demonstrates that there is a significant difference between the t-test's score and the t-table's score. This suggests that the treatment has a big impact on how well students can write. According to the questionnaire results, students at SMA Negeri 13 Makassar's eleventh grade have a positive perception of the behavior on the use of blended learning approach to teach English writing in senior high school. . In conclusion, SMA Negeri 13 Makassar's eleventh grade students' writing skills are considerably affected by the use of a blended learning approach.


INTRODUCTION
Learning English, or any other foreign language, is not a simple feat.Many students still struggle greatly to understand or communicate in English even after several years of study in elementary and high school.This fact motivates English teachers, especially those who are teaching at a higher level, to strive hard to increase their student's proficiency in acquiring the language so that they can more easily progress their studies after they enter institutions.
However, the students still encounter some challenges when trying to learn English.This is due to the syntactic, morphological, and phonetic differences between English and Indonesian.
When teaching English, the teacher should take into consideration a number of factors, including the students' interests, the course material, and the students' needs, as well as what they can do to assist them (Larsen-Freeman 2000).The Grammar-Translation technique, Direct method, Audio-Lingual technique, Silent way, Desuggestopedia, community Language studying, total physical response, communication Language teaching, content-based totally, task-based, and Participatory methods are the nine teaching methodologies recognized by Larsen-Freeman (2000).These approaches are utilized while instructing students in English as a foreign language.Students indicate that they typically feel bored because of the repeated activities they complete, according to the researcher, who has conducted preliminary research on the approaches employed in learning English.Because of the advancement of technology, teachers must be more inventive, which necessitates the use of technology in the classroom.
Our daily lives were significantly impacted via technology, including training.It significantly improves the e-learning or online learning teaching method, which uses technology to facilitate and promote students' learning.Utilizing technology in the classroom requires creative integration of teaching and learning strategies.Naidu (2003).E-learning is a have a look at supplied with the aid of a laptop, such as a CD-ROM, the net, or an intranet, this is supposed to help and fulfil learning objectives, in line with Clark and Mayer (2016).Online education has given us a more organic method to study.As long as we've an internet connection, we are able to do it whenever and wherever.Therefore, blended learning is a modern instructional approach that mixes traditional and online teaching methodologies Bersin (2004).Students who are becoming tired of the monotonous face-to-face teaching and learning process can gain from this instructional method.As a result, the phrase "blended learning" has come to consult the mixing of conventional classroom practice with online or e-learning.
According to Marsh (2012), blended learning mixes conventional and technologically assisted teaching methods.Online learning's innovative and technological advancements can be combined with conventional learning's emphasis on participation and collaboration through blended learning.In order to achieve learning objectives, blended learning often uses two or more methodologies or strategies (Wilson and Smilanich, 2005).This means that any educational learning that makes use of the worldwide internet and an internet connection as a tool to help student learning can be called blended learning.The use of the internet as a teaching and assessment device provides students with novel difficulties and opportunities.This can be applied to build up students' motivation and interest in the subject matter so that information retention is facilitated.However, the teacher should know the approach is worth to apply receive the learning targets.PeerWise, Edmodo, Schoology, and English Discovery are just a few of the web sites that could serve as blended learning support resources.
A few researches on blended learning have been done to determine whether it is beneficial or how it might be used in a classroom.Adas and Bakir (2013) used a blended learning strategy to help students write better, and they discovered a substantial difference in the experimental group's writing achievement levels compared to the control group.The usage of a topic sentence in writing, as well as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, all saw significant improvements from the pre-test, and the students also created more logical paragraphs.The main discussion of this research is based on Sofiana (2015)'s use of blended learning in an intensive listening course and the students' perspectives on it.The study's findings show that online communication and face-to-face learning are ongoing activities for both students and professors.While, the students have a positive perception of the educational process.Azmi (2016) conducted a study on the implementation of blended learning and students' attitudes towards it.In this study, it was discussed how to analyze blended learning method in Language Testing Course.The students in the Department of English Education's Language Testing Course are the focus of this study.According to the study's findings, the course used a communicative and cooperative approach, with jigsaw puzzles serving as the primary activity.PeerWise was also used as a web-based learning tool for the online course.The kids also demonstrated the benefits and drawbacks of blended learning.

METHOD
In this research, the researcher applied a quasi-experimental design to collect the data.The purpose of this research is to find out the effect of blended learning approach in the students' writing skill at Senior High School and the students' perception on the use of blended learning approach in writing skill at Senior High School.The subject of this was the second-grade students at SMA Negeri 13 Makassar that consisted of 71 students.The subject of this research was chosen by the researcher using cluster random sampling technique.
In collecting the data, the researcher used writing test and questionnaire.This research consisted of 6 meetings which was carried out twice in a week.The researcher applied face to face learning and online learning (blended learning) in experimental class.

FINDINGS Students' Writing Skill
The primary writing test (Pre-test) was given to seventy-one (71) students one day earlier than teaching the students the usage of the blended learning approach and post-check was given within the last meeting after treatment.The scores range from 1-100 given to the students' writing skills consist of five writing components i.e mechanics, style, organization, vocabulary, as well as grammar/language use which are analyzed and resulted in the information shown in the following table:  1 shows that in experimental group of pre-tests the researcher found that there are 11 students (31%) categorized into 'Good', 6 students (17%) categorized into 'fairly good', 6 students (17%) categorized into 'poor' and 12 students (47.2%) categorized into 'very poor'.In control group of pre-tests there are 6 students (16.6%) categorized into 'good', 8 students (22.2%).categorized into 'fairly good', 5 students (13.8%) categorized into 'poor' and 17 students (47.2%) categorized into 'very poor'.
The result of post-test in experimental group the researcher found that there are 4 students (11.4%), categorized into 'very good', 16 students (47.7%) categorized into 'good', 11 students (31.4%) categorized into 'fairly good', and 3 students (8.5%).Meanwhile, in control group there are 2 students (5.7%) categorized into 'very good', 9 students (25.7%) categorized into 'good', 3 students (8.5%) categorized into 'fairly good', 19 students (54.2) categorized into 'poor', and 3 students (8.7%) Comparing participants' Pre-test scores to their post-test scores enables the researcher to know whether the treatment was successful in improving participants' writing skills.The pre-test and post-test were processed and analyzed by using SPSS.Table 2 shows that the students from experimental group in pre-test achieved 62.85 as the mean score and controlled group achieved 60.66 as the mean score for their writing skills which means that the quality of the students' writing skills in both classes are only fair before the treatment.In short, the researcher believed that the students in each classes almost has the same ability in writing descriptive writing.Beside that in post-test shows that the students in experimental group have achieved 77.3 as the total mean score and the students in controlled class achieved 67.16 as the total mean score which means that the quality of the students in experimental is better than the students in controlled group in writing skills after receiving the treatment by using blended learning approach Table 3. Independent Samples T-Test .
In independent sample test shows that value of sig.(2-tailed) of 0.000 <0.05. it means that the treatment has significant effect on the students' writing skills the null (Ho) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H1) is accepted.Therefore it can be concluded that there is significant difference between experimental group who taught by blended learning approach and controlled group who not taught by blended learning approach, which means that there is an influence on the use blended learning approach in teaching students' writing skills in writing descriptive writing.

Students Perception
Questionnaires were distributed to 35 participants through Google Form.Then, the researcher analyzed by liker scale.The result of the questionnaires was analyzed statement by statement.The statement consists of 15 with two main categories.They were followed by the explanation and category.The first category is English learning process through blended learning (6 statements), and the second is Students' Perceptions of Learning English both Face-to-Face class and online class that consist of 3 categories behavior (3 statements), emotional (3 statements) and the last cognitive (3 statements).The raw data of the questionnaire can be seen in appendix.In order to understand the category of liker scale score, the interval category.

76.57% Agree
Table 4 shows that the response of 35 students/respondents toward 6 statements regarding the English learning process through blended learning.As we can see most of the students' responses were in the agree category except for the last statement 2 that in the strongly agree category with mean score 3.68.It means the students agree and enjoy the learning proses by using blended learning approach and also it can make the students understand and active in participating learning process.It indicates that the students have positive perception on the use blended learning approach.
Learning English both Face-to-Face class and online class a. Behavior

94.85% Strongly Agree
Table 5 shows the response of 35 students/respondents toward 3 statements regarding the students' behavior during the treatment phase.The data revealed that most of the students' responses were in the strongly agree category and neutral for statement number 7 with mean score 3.77.It means that the students felt and agree that blended learning make them active in attending the class and following the teacher instruction during the treatment.It indicates that the students have positive perception toward blended learning approach.In my opinion learning English by using blended learning does not make me feel bored, whether it's done online class or face to face class.

68.57% Agree
Table 6 shows the response of 23 students/respondents toward 3 statements regarding the students' emotional with the use of blended learning during the treatment phase.The data revealed that most of the students' responses were in the agree category for each statement except for statement number 11 was in the neutral category with mean score 3.43.The data means that the students feel happy and enjoy the learning process during the treatment phase.It indicates that the students have fair positive perception toward blended learning approach.Studying by using blended learning in face-to-face class and online class which is done twice a week, make me feel more diligent in learning English.

14
I think learning by using online which is done twice a week, makes me more active in learning English.

66.85% Agree 15
In my opinion learning English face-to-face, which is done twice a week, makes me study with enthusiasm.

72.57% Agree
Table 7 shows that the response of 35 students/respondents toward 3 statements regarding the students' cognitive with the use of blended learning during the treatment phase.As we can see all of the students' responses were in the agree category.It means the students agree and fell more active and comfortable during the treatment phase that was by using blended learning approach 3.40.Therefor it indicates that the students have fair positive perception toward blended learning approach.
Based on the data table of perception above the researcher find the total mean score is 3.59.Therefor the researcher concludes that the students in the eleventh grade at SMA Negeri 13 Makassar have positive perception toward blended learning approach in teaching English writing skill.

DISCUSSIONS The use of Blended learning approach on the writing skill
The first objective of this research is to understand whether blended learning approach affect the students' writing skills in making descriptive writing or not.As the way to answer and to find out this objective, the researcher had done the experimental research and used writing test as the instrument.
The findings of this study were supported by earlier studies, including Oweis (2018).Oweis (2018) explored how blended learning affected students' academic success and desire to learn English.This demonstrates how blended learning influences student learning outcomes and inspires them to engage in more real language practice.Learners will have plenty of time and space to practice their language both inside and outside of the classes via blended learning.This flexibility in learning will give students a dynamic language input and advance their language skills.
The primary emphasis on writing abilities in the study's English courses is descriptive writing.Students are expected to be able to write descriptive essays that range from three to five paragraphs.In other studies, it has been shown that using a mixed learning method can enhance writing abilities (Muhtia, Suparno, & Sumardi, 2018).They asserted that the use of a blended learning strategy encourages students to recognize and produce paragraph writing that is appropriate for writing skill evaluation rubrics.
To sum up, the finding on the quantitative analysis cited above and the other empirical evidence reveals the conclusion of this research.The researcher asserts that blended learning approach was effective in teaching English writing in descriptive writing especially for the eleventh grade of SMA Negeri 13 Makassar.In another word, Blended learning approach can be applied to teach English writing skill.

The Students' Perception on the Use of Blended Learning Approach in Teaching English Writing
The result of the questionnaire with 3 categories, they are behavioral aspect, emotional aspect and cognitive aspect showed that most of the students have positive perception to blended learning approach in teaching English writing.itcan be used for independent learning.
According to the behavioral aspect, students behave well, are courteous, consistently participate, finish tasks even the students sometimes are late in collecting the task, and also the students present during the learning process.The students' excitement for learning does not appear to be diminished by the offline (face-to-face) learning process, which has been conducted twice a week, specifically on Tuesday and Thursday.They engaged in the learning process and continued to be active.For instance, students can participate in classroom activities like presentations, adhere to group directions, and other teacher directives.Students always pay close attention to the learning process and complete the assignments that are provided by the teacher, whether they are in-person or online (through the WhatsApp programme).According to Pietarinen et al. (2014), behavioral engagement calls for students to actively participate in classroom interactions, social groups and in the learning process at school and at home, such as extracurricular activities that they do.
According to table 5 statements 7 to 9, the majority of students support the use of blended learning, that is used in the online and face-to-face (via WhatsApp) learning.According to those statement in the questionnaire, students exhibit good behavior in terms of involvement, attendance, and task completion.It shows that by using a blended learning approach, students become more engaged and active participants in the English learning process.
The second category is emotional aspect.The students participate in the online class (via the WhatsApp application/group) and offline class (face-to-face learning) learning processes make them feeling happy and enthusiastic, and they are no bored during the English learning process.This is proved by table 6 statements numbers 10 to 12.They still find learning to be enjoyable and are interested in the blended learning form of instruction.In line with previous researcher Anderson et al. (2017), emotional participation is a good thing for a class overall since it fosters satisfaction and a sense of community.Students reacted well to the learning process and became more interested as a result.
The last aspect is cognitive.The Students demonstrated positive perceptions and active participation in the learning process during the most recent assessment of the cognitive element.Additionally, they had a strong sense of passion when engaging in the blended learning process.Additionally, pupils acquire fresh learning experiences.Because they have the option of learning both offline (in person) and online (via a WhatsApp group or application).Students find it very simple to understand the activities in the online learning process (through the WhatsApp application/group).On the other side, cognitive participation, according to Pietarinen et al. (2014), describes the information that students have about themselves in learning activities, including self-regulation.
The students who expressed their thoughts base on the statements on the cognitive aspect of the English learning process both online (through the WhatsApp application) and offline class (face-to-face) are described in Table 7 Statements 13-15.They demonstrate their positive perception in order to inspire themselves when taking part in the teaching and learning process by using the blended learning approach, both offline class (face to face) and online class (using the WhatsApp application).This is also consistent with Ali and Sofa (2018), who believe that this blended learning approach might inspire students to take control of their learning.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on research finding, and discussion in the previous chapter, the researcher concludes that: 1.The use of blended learning approach affects the students writing skill especially in descriptive writing.It is proved by the students' writing test, the students' writing skill in descriptive writing was average before the treatment but after the treatment with blended learning approach, the students' writing skills in descriptive writing was in good classification.2. The students at the eleventh grade of SMA Negeri 13 Makassar have positive perception on the use of blended learning approach in teaching English writing at senior high school.The students show positive perception in behavior aspect in English writing learning process by using blended learning approach

Table 1 .
The Classification of the Results in Pre-test and Post-test of Experimental and Controlled Group

Table 2 .
Statistics Experimental Group and Control Group

Table 4 .
Category and Percentage Tableof Statement 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 6By face-to-face learning in class, I able to ask the teacher and friends about material or assignments that I don't understand that have previously been shared in online class via the WhatsApp group.

Table 5 .
Category and percentage table of Statement 7,8, and 9 9I always follow the teacher's instruction to participate in English learning both in class and online class which is done twice a week.

Table 6 .
Category and percentage table of Statement 10, 11 and 12

Table 7 .
Category and percentage table of Statement 13, 14 and 15