Developing Writing Skill of the Eighth-Grade Students through the Use of Genre Based Approach

Background: The objective of writing instruction is to equip students with the ability to proficiently comprehend and produce various types of texts, such as monologues, paragraphs, or essays. So, finding and applying appropriate teaching methods to teach writing skills is necessary. Methods: The subjects of this research were the students at grade VIII of SMP Negeri 3 Bambalamotu that consisted of 22 students. This research was Classroom Action Research (CAR) covering plan, action, observation, and reflection. This research was carried out in two cycles. The first meeting focused on explanation of the materials through the syntax of Genre-Based Approach; 1. BKOF (Building Knowledge of the Field), 2. MCOT (Modeling Construction of the Text), 3. JCOT (Join construction of the Text) and 4. ICOT (Independent Construction of the Text). And the second meeting focused on evaluation. Results: The data of this research were obtained from observation, field notes, and writing test. In the initial test of cycle 1, it was evident that the students did not meet the success standards as they struggled to write descriptive paragraphs. However, the test results in cycle 2 revealed that the introduction of the GBA (Guided-By-Approach) effectively enhanced the students' writing abilities. By following the stages outlined in the GBA, the challenges faced by students in writing can be reduced. Conclusion: three key elements of the GBA, namely collaboration, joint construction, and independent construction, contribute to the potential for improvement in students' writing skills.