The Use of Inquiry Instructional Model to Improve News Text Writing

Writing is a part of language skill. Writing can help someone express their thoughts to others. According to Flyinn Stainthor (2006), writers utilize writing to communicate their thoughts to others [1]. It means that the writer can express his ideas to others by writing them down. In this era of information technology, educated people will utilize writing as a strategy to introduce themselves to the world. Thus, ongoing training in writing is required in this modern day. Students must be able to write news material as one of their writing skills. However, pupils’ ability to write news material remains low. An interview with Indonesian language teachers at State Junior High School 3 Pancur Batu revealed that pupils’ ability to write news material is characterized as good. But news writing skills are still lacking. Bangun (2013) claims that students at State Junior High School 1 Tiganderket can write news text for 70, 65, and do not meet Minimal Completeness Criteria (MCC) [2]. Students in Class VIII at Beringin State Junior High School can write news material on average at 54, 68 words per sentence, according to Suwarti (2011). The phenomenon is caused by lack of desire, interest, and physical health.
The news can be explained conceptually as follows. The news is a synonym for new. In this situation, they are entirely new and can be used as information material by anyone. Wirasutisna (1995) defines “news” as “something remarkable or special” [4]. This view is shared by Shahab (2008), who believes that news is a report on facts or recent ideas picked by writers officials to print for public consumption with the purpose of attracting viewers [5]. Based on the information, news is a report about facts or key ideas, prepared by journalists and then extensively distributed to audiences. The facts can be in the form of an occurrence or a condition. Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet are examples of periodic mass media that offer news regularly. 5W + 1H, i.e., What, Who, Where, When, Why, and How, are considered complete.
In relation to the foregoing, pupils’ capacity to write news text should be improved. Thus, teachers must pay attention to instructional model as a component of learning. Teachers must select and apply the appropriate instructional approach when authoring news text. One answer to this difficulty is to adopt an inquiry instructional model. According to Kunandar (2009), active interaction with concepts and principles motivates pupils to study more. Also, professors encourage pupils to gain experience and trial to discover the principles that they need. Teachers in this instructional model play the roles of motivator, facilitator, asker, administrator, influencer, manager, and manager of learning. In this inquiry instructional, Shoimin (2014) says six steps: (a) preserving responsive setting, (b) conveying the problem questioned through narrative, video, picture, and others by asking questions to seek, develop, and explain the formula, c) teachers and students generating hypotheses/estimates from issue data, e) testing the hypotheses, and f) drawing conclusions. [7]. The application of this instructional stages in creating news material reveals its student-centered approach. Its teaching methods prioritize student engagement over teacher explanation.
This research should address the following issues. How did students write news articles before adopting this inquiry instructional model? How do students write news stories after using this inquiry instructional model? Can the inquiry teaching model help students write news text? Based on the issues, the research seeks to determine students’ ability to write news text before and after using an inquiry instructional model, and if using an inquiry instructional model can improve students’ capacity to write news text.