THE EFFECT OF CLUSTERING TECHNIQUE ON STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY: A QUASI EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AT SMA N 2 SLAWI

Abstract

his study aimed to investigate the effect of using the clustering technique on students’ writing ability in recount texts, focusing on five components: content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. A quantitative quasi-experimental design was employed with two intact tenth-grade classes at SMA Negeri 2 Slawi in the academic year 2024/2025. Class X-2 served as the experimental group taught using clustering, while Class X-1 acted as the control group taught using conventional methods. Data were collected through pre-test and post-test writing tasks and analysed using descriptive statistics, normality and homogeneity tests, paired sample t-tests, and independent sample t-tests via SPSS 26. The findings revealed significant improvement in the experimental group’s mean score (59.94 to 79.74) compared to the control group (50.57 to 66.43). The paired sample t-test for the experimental group yielded p =0.000<0.05, indicating a significant improvement after treatment. The independent t-test confirmed a significant difference between post-test scores (p = 0.000 < 0.05), demonstrating the clustering technique’s effectiveness in improving recount text writing. This study concludes that clustering is an effective prewriting strategy to enhance EFL students’ writing ability