The Effect of Blended Learning Model with Moodle on the Students’ Writing Achievement

Article History Received: 4 Revised: Accepted: Published:


INTRODUCTION
Writing is an important capability. Writing is also an excellent communication tool. Through writing, someone can freely express ideas, thoughts, and experiences through the writer's language. It shows that writing is a 'process of thinking' (Rukayah, 2014). According to Sanjaya (2011), writing is an opportunity. It allows students to express something about themselves, explore, and explain ideas. Students can convey their ideas in their mind by organizing them into good writing so that the other people understand the text and get the idea. Students considered writing is important for expressing ideas, inspiration, creativity, and feeling as well as making reference (Adiwijaya, Purnami, & Arsana, 2019). Good writing skills are needed for all the students to accomplish their educational and employable requirements (Durga & Rao, 2018).
Based on the researcher's preliminary observations at the SMK Tritech Informatika Medan, information was obtained that the students had a writing problem. In this school, the students got difficulty writing because they did not know what they should write, and most did not understand the generic structure, function, and lexicogrammatical feature. It can also bring an atmosphere that did not attract attention in the learning process. It can affect the achievement of writing abilities, and learning outcomes are not optimal.
For students to achieve good writing abilities in the learning process, the teacher needs to choose a learning method that can encourage the learning process to achieve optimally. The teachers keep trying to compile and apply various learning models that able to pay attention to each of the abilities possess by their students. One of them is the Blended Learning model. Blended learning appears as an alternative teaching practice that should be embraced by teachers to assist students in improving their performance (Vernadakis, Giannousi, Derri, Michalopoulos, & Kioumourtzoglou, 2012). According to Mosa, Yoo, & Sheets (2011), mixed learning patterns were the two main elements, namely learning in the classroom and online learning. It combines online and classroom learning activities and optimally uses resources to improve students' learning outcomes and to address the important institutional issues (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004). Blended learning is a combination of multimedia technology, CDROM, video streaming, virtual classrooms, e-mail, voicemail, and others with traditional forms of classroom training and training for whatever they need. The point is the mixing of two learning approachesto create e new learning model to increase students' participation.
Implementing a blended learning model required a special effort. Learning media needed as a means of organizing online learning activities. Besides, if the the english teachers apply blended learning model, the teaching photo ISSN(e): 2715-985x DOI: © 2020 IJEMS@UMSU. All Rights Reserved. 2 media should facilitate various activities of online English learning. Of the many types of learning media, there was one media that facilitates various online learning activities, and it is the Learning Management System (LMS). LMS is a software that use to facilitate learning activities online and connect to the internet. Until now, there are various types of LMS products that can select and utilize. Blended learning can reduce time, effort, and cost, through the delivery of information to learners as quickly as possible. It enables management and control of the educational process, the measurement and evaluation of learners' performance, and the improvement of the overall level of educational attainment while providing an attractive learning environment (Shomali, 2007).
One of the most popular LMS is Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). Moodle includes internet-based technology media and makes it easy for teachers to organize and organizing online learning. Moodle presents an excellent platform for resources and communication tools (Chourishi, Buttan, Chaurasia, & Soni, 2011). It facilitates student-centered and anytime-anywhere learning. Martín-Blas & Serrano-Fernández (2009) used Moodle for their course and made more attractive activities, making the learning process friendlier and more interesting for their students. Moreover, it makes course administration easier and helps to reduce the cost and time of delivering instruction (Suppasetseree & Dennis, 2010).

Achievement
Mifflin (2000) states that "The word 'achievement' derives from a verb 'achieve,' which means something accomplished, especially using skill, practice, or perseverance. Achievement is finishing successfully, especially for something, anything to get the result as an action to gain something. Additionally, achievement is the success of an individual. Based on the opinions above, achievement was the result, the success, the extent or ability, and the progress in learning education experiences that the individual indicates relation with his/her educational learning. Achievement concerns with what someone has learned. While aptitude is the potential for learning something. In other words, an achievement is a success in reaching a particular goal/status or standard, especially by effort, skill, courage, and so on.
Furthermore, in Bloom's taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001), there are three aspects of learning achievement: cognition, affection, and psychomotor. Cognition is having a basis in or reducible to empirical factual knowledge that consists of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Affection is the changing of behavior that affects someone willing to do something. It is an acceptance, sign with the acceptance by using their sense and responds. Psychomotor is the skill to do something, ready to do it based on physic and emotion self-control and become a habit.
In terms of school, there is school achievement, which refers to cognitive learning outcomes that are products of instruction or aimed at by instruction within a school context. Cognitive and motivational determinants of school achievement is a part of a complex model comprising individual, parental, school-related factors, and cultural background (Helmke & Schrader, 2001). Indicators of learning achievement can be seen on each institution's standard value and changes in the level of achievement of each student from year to year in all academic subjects in tests and assessments (Firmender, Gavin, & McCoach, 2014). student achievement can describe students' level of achievement in terms of knowledge, skills, and experience of learning formulated by learning objectives for the school curriculum (Nemeth & Long, 2012). The motivation built and developed in the lecture, the competence of lecturers, student interest, and learning environments have a close relationship in maximizing student achievement (Riswanto & Aryani, 2017).

Writing
Writing is an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer has to demonstrate control of variables simultaneously. At the sentence level, these include control of contents, format, sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling, and letter formation. Beyond the sentence, the writer must be able to structure and integrate information into a cohesive and coherent paragraph and text (Nunan, 1991). Heaton (1975) stated writing skills are complex and difficult to teach, requiring mastery not only the grammatical and rhetorical devices but also conceptual and judgments elements. According to him, there are five main areas of writing skill that the students must master: a. Language use: the ability to write correct and appropriate sentences. b. Mechanical skill: the ability to use those conventions peculiar to the written language correctly, such as punctuation and spelling. c. Treatment of Content: the ability to think creatively and develop thoughts, including all the relevant information.
d. Stylistic skill: the ability to manipulate sentences and use language effectively. e. Judgment skill: the ability to write appropriately for a particular audience in mind and to select, organize, and order relevant information. Furthermore, Brown (2000) describes that writing is a way to end up thinking of something. Writing is a psychological activity of the language used to put information in written text. Based on the discussion above, writing is the way of expressing ideas, feelings, and opinions in writing text to put information on paper to the readers. Writing is written form in expressing ideas, feelings, and opinions. Writing is a very important ability for students. It is also an excellent communication tool because writing is a process of communicating something (content) on paper to read.
In writing, the writer should do some processes to produce good writing According to Harmer (2004), the processes of writing involve planning, drafting, revising, editing, and final draft. Many kinds of writing have their characteristics. Pardiyono (2006) classifies that there are eleven genres of writing: narrative, descriptive, explanation, procedure, recount, discussion, report, news item, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, and review. There are six benefits of writing such as 1) it could trigger curiosity and train sensitivity to see the surrounding, 2) the writer is triggered to find references which could broaden his insights, 3) the writer is trained to organize the thought and argument orderly, systematically, and logically, 4) it could decrease the level of stress and tension, 5) writer would have self-satisfaction when the writing is published or considered beneficial for others, and 6) writer would gain popularity when the writing is read by many people (Komaidi, 2007).
Writing Assessment, Hancock (1994) argues that "assessment should be viewed as an interactive process that engages both teacher and student in monitoring the student's performance." To know the students' writing achievement, a writing assessment is needed. As a productive skill, writing is perhaps the most difficult language skill to teach, and the most delicate to assess (Nodoushan, 2014). According to Dalton-Puffer, Nikula, & Smit (2010), students' writing competence can be identified based on five scales. The scales are used for a general evaluation of the students' proficiency level. The researcher used five scales to score the students' writing: a. Content: This category considers the development and comprehension of the topic as well as the adequacy of the content of the text. b. Organization: several factors are considered here: the organization of ideas, the structure, and cohesion of the paragraph and the clarity of exposition of the main secondary ideas. c. Vocabulary: this category deals with the selection of words, expressions, and their usage. The appropriateness of the register used is also taken into account. d. Language use: the use of grammar categories is taken into account, e.g., tense, number, subject-verb agreement, word order and the use of complex syntactic structure. e. Mechanics: this category includes the evaluation of punctuation, spelling, and the use of capitalization.
Writing ability is perhaps best conceptualized as the ability to compose texts in a variety of genres that are appropriate for their audience and purpose. It is difficult, if not impossible, to generalize from a single text on a single topic composed under time constraints to this broader universe of writing. Thus, many individual teachers and writing programs have adopted portfolio assessment as a (potentially) more valid approach writing assessment (Weigle, 2007). A very new development for writing assessment is the possibility of assessing writing online. At least, theoretically, online writing assessment allows the development of tests that fit the levels, purposes, and needs of test-takers, as well as of future employers, admissions officers, etc. (Hamp-Lyons, 2002).

Blended Learning
Blended learning emerged as one of the most popular pedagogical concepts at the beginning of 2000 (Güzer & Caner, 2014). Mortera-Gutierrez (2006) mentions that this learning method is a combination of several different methods, such as the use of textbooks, Web sites, LMS, video, and other communication media. Blended learning is a term derived from English, which consists of two syllables, blended and learning. Blended means a mixture or a good combination. Blended learning is a combination of the advantages of learning that is done face-to-face and virtually. Three main models, namely, skill-driven, attitude-driven, and competency-driven models, can be applied in blended learning (Oweis, 2018). Blended learning becomes an important alternative approach to resolve the limitations of face-to-face methods and online learning (Graham, Henrie, & Gibbons, 2014). According to Bersin (2004), blended learning is the combination of different training "media" (technologies, natural process, and the case of upshot) to ISSN(e): 2715-985x DOI: © 2020 create an optimum training program for a specific audience. The condition "blended" means that traditional instructor-led training is supplement with other electronic formats. Thus, blended learning combines different delivery media to promote meaningful and motivating learning (Singh, 2003). There are three components of blended learning: learning environment, media, and instructional (Kaur, 2013).
The blended learning is proven consistent with traditional higher education institutions' values and enhances both the effectiveness and efficiency of meaningful learning experiences (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004). It is versatile, so it is down to the instructor's decision regarding selecting from a variety of choices, depending on the learning context, and determining the target skills that students should master by the end of the term (Okaz, 2015). Blended learning approaches may help students learn information so that they can then translate to novel situations they will encounter in their academic and professional careers, which is the hallmark of effective learning (Stockwell, Stockwell, Cennamo, & Jiang, 2015). A successful blended learning program requires the alignment of institutional, faculty, and student goals (Moskal, Dziuban, & Hartman, 2013). Besides the quality of the course and the virtual environment, students' readiness to work in their virtual study environment, and their ability to make themselves organized in a given background and use all the given tools determine the success of its implementation (Hubackova & Semradova, 2016).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Blended Learning
A learning model must have advantages and disadvantages (Dwiyogo, 2018). The advantages and disadvantages of blended learning are: a. Advantages 1. Increase a learning activity 2. Improve access and flexibility in learning 3. Relatively cheap costs and more effective learning 4. Increase active self-learning by students and reduce the amount of face-to-face time in class.

Help class experience by developing information and communication technology innovations.
b. Disadvantages 1. Requires a variety of technology-based media that is appropriate 2. Limit facilities 3. The minimal potential of knowledge use technology 4. Potential for plagiarism According to the students, the main advantage of the blended-learning method is easier access to educational materials (Szadziewska & Kujawski, 2017). Besides that, the first three of the mentioned advantages of the blendedlearning method (Szadziewska & Kujawski, 2016), i.e., easier access to the teaching material, better attention paid during the lectures, and faster and better communication with the lecturer, resulting in quicker and more efficient mastering of the scope of the required material both during the course as well as just before the exams.
Other challenges of implementing blended learning are self-regulation challenges and challenges in using learning technology as the key challenges that students face. Meanwhile, teachers' challenges are mainly in using technology for teaching (Rasheed, Kamsin, & Abdullah, 2020). Besides that, the connection problem is the biggest limitation faced by the students (Yağci, Çinarbaş, & Hoş, 2016). Instructions given for online tasks should be clear enough; otherwise, learners might feel lost and have difficulties in getting used to blended learning (Hisham, Che Su, & Hasan, 2006).

Moodle
Martin Dougiamas (1998) said that Moodle is the first course management system (CMS), that he has developed. Moodle is an open source-based CMS currently used by universities, educational institutions, K-13 schools, businesses, and individual instructors who want to use web technology to manage their courses (Cole, 2005). Moodle is a website-based application package with support for PHP and MySQL languages and can obtain publicly (open source). That is, Moodle can use and will adapt to the wishes of the user. The Moodle installation package is download through the official page http://moodle.org. This platform allows the exchange of information among users geographically dispersed, through mechanisms of synchronous (chats) and asynchronous communication (discussion forums) (Costa, Alvelos, & Teixeira, 2012). Moodle is a fairly compatible tool for changes and the implementation of new features. It is possible to add processes without direct changes in the core (Zacarias, et al., 2016).
Before using it, it is necessary to install the Moodle into the webserver. Installing Moodle requires a domain and web hosting that can obtain through hosting services. The installation process requires IT staff who understand ISSN(e): 2715-985x DOI: © 2020 the webserver and have the ability of website management to become an administrator. Furthermore, Moodle will adjust by the administrator by setting up a user, role, and course (a type of lesson) at the Moodle site administration. Besides, adjustments will make in the form of installing additional plugins and Moodle views.
The Moodle application feature presents learning activities such as managing membership administration, material presentation, quizzes, exercises, and assessments. Moodle includes internet-based media technology and makes it easy for teachers to organize and organize online learning with many opportunities to interact and join students. It makes Moodle suitable for the Blended Learning model because it requires online learning on it.
Organizing blended learning can take advantage of facilities in Moodle. The main facilities contain in Moodle are course management, namely creating learning resources, presenting material, and various learning activities. Moodle presents learning activities, including (1) Assignment is used to provide assignments to students online. Students can access assignment material and collect assignments by sending files to the results of their work. (2) Chat can be used by teachers and students to interact and communicate online. (3) Forums are online discussion forums between teachers and students that discuss topics relating to learning material. (4) A quiz can be used by teachers to conduct online test exams. (5) The survey can be used to conduct polls.
Students have identified some of the benefits of using Moodle (Oproiu, 2015), as follows: 1) They get the course and the topics, a virtual library they can access any time, according to their study availability; 2) They can collaborate with their colleagues in doing homework; 3) As they are familiar with the electronic environment, they find this learning method easy, at hand; 4) They can create information and post it on the forum or blog; 5) They can contact the professor directly; 6) The online assessment is more objective than the traditional one; and 7) Self-assessment can be easily completed.

METHODOLOGY
The researcher conducted this study at SMK Tritech Informatika Medan on Jalan Bhayangkara No. 484 Kecamatan Medan Tembung. The samples in this study were the students in class XII AK with 36 Students in the 2019/2020 academic year. The researcher divided the samples into two groups. The first group is the experimental class, it consists of 18 students from the XII AK 1 class, and the other one is a control class that consists of 18 students from the XII AK 2 class. This study is experimental research. Experimental research is effective in establishing a cause-effect relationship and making manipulations and providing control over the variables (Koksal, 2013). It follows the two group pre-test and post-test design. Those two groups were the experiment and the control groups. The experimental group obtained treatment, i.e., studying writing through Blended Learning Model.
On the contrary, the control group was taught using the conventional method. The test consisted of two sections. The first is pre-test before treatment, and the second is post-test after the treatment in the experimental class and control class. The tests measured students' initial writing abilities and their writing abilities after the treatment.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The location for this research is a traditional and modern market that sells lettuce, cabbage, leeks, spinach and mustard greens in the traditional market and modern market in the city of Medan. There are 5 traditional markets namely johor market, Setiabudi market, lemonade intersection market, Juanda market, ginting guarantee market and 5 modern markets namely Carefour, Hypermart, going forward together, supermarket berastagi, Suzuya. Whereas the location of sample inspection was carried out in the microbiology laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine, UISU located on Sisingamangaraja Street no. 2A.

Characteristics of Research Samples Description of
The data were the students' scores in the pre-test and post-test. Both the experimental and control groups were given pre-test and post-test in from of writing news item text. Table 1 shows the result of the pre-test and post-test for the two groups.  Table 1 shows that the mean score from the experimental group during the pre-test was 65.5, and the mean score in the post-test was 76.05. The highest score for the pre-test was 76, and the lowest score for the pre-test was 55. The highest score for the post-test was 85, and the lowest score for the post-test was 66. The data show students' scores increase from the pre-test to the post-test in the Experimental group.  Table 2 shows that the mean score from the control group that the mean score for the pre-test was 64.5, and the mean score in the post-test was 73.27. The highest score for the pre-test was 76, and the lowest score for the pre-test was 55. The highest score for the post-test was 85, and the lowest score for the post-test was 64. Based on the data, there was an increase in students' scores from pre-test to post-test in the control group. ISSN(e): 2715-985x DOI: © 2020

Normality Test
The normality test is a test to determine whether the data are dependent, normally distributed, or close to zero. The researcher used SPSS 21.0 to check the normality of the collected data. Data will be accepted as normal if the significance value is greater than 0.05 or the calculated z value (Kolmogorov Smirnov Z). The data above shows that all significance values are greater than 0.05. All data are normally distributed.

Homogeneity Test
The homogeneity test is to determine whether the data are homogeneous or not. To determine the homogeneity of the data, the researcher used SPSS 21.0 program. 1. Homogeneity Data in the Experimental Group  The output in Table 6 shows that the significance is 0.846. So, it means that the variants of the two data from control groups, namely, pre-test and pos test, were homogeneous.
Based on the calculation, the result of the t-test was 3.12, and it was higher than the t-cv (1.690). In hypothesis testing, it shows the alternative hypothesis was accepted. It meant that the Blended Learning Model has a significant effect on the students'writing achievement. The score of experimental groups (using Blended Learning) was higher than that of the control group (using the conventional method).
This research finding is in line with previous studies. The previous study found that blended learning was significantly better than traditional learning in all domains of the educational environment in clinical medicine (Facharzt, Abos, Algaidi, Heissam, & Zolaly, 2013). Besides, the students' attitudes were more positive towards the use of blended learning compared to the control group, which was not treated with blended learning (Alsalhi, Eltahir, & Al-Qatawneh, 2019). Another finding shows that there was complete unanimity (100%) of the students in approval of a specific type of blended learning which is realized in the course, i.e., a combination of theoretical study and practical skills to apply it and the majority (96%) of the students are positive about the blended format of the course (Nazarenko, 2015). Escobar-Rodriguez & Monge-Lozano (2012) also showed that the learning-teaching process is improved, and students obtain better skills and grades by using Moodle. The most promising thing students underlined is the availability and ease of access of the available teaching materials, exercises and updated information regarding their course from effectively anywhere outside of the classroom and collection of all the learning material in one place, rapid feedback on the course website of their e-communications (through online chat sessions and exchange of E-mails) (Ahmad & Al-Khanjari, 2011). In terms of language teaching, students' writing, spelling, and grammar skills are at least proven could be improved by the implementation of blended learning (Adas & Bakir, 2013). In addition, the use of technology in the classroom is a must in this digital era because today's children cannot be separated with technology (Dalle, et al., 2015). Furthermore, using mobile technology will help the students to be an active learner, who are ready to study anytime and anywhere (Muthalib, Abdelsatar, Salameh, & Dalle, 2011).

CONCLUSION
Based on the data analysis and the findings, this study concludes: 1. The data show a significant difference in students' writing achievement between those who were taught by Blended Learning Model and those taught by the conventional method. From the calculation, the researcher found the value of the t-test was higher than the value of t-cv (3.12> 1.690). Which are the Ho was accepted, and Ha was rejected. There was a significant effect using the Blended Learning model with Moodle on the students' writing achievement. 2. Blended Learning Model has a significant effect on students' writing achievement. Using Blended Learning Model gave a positive effect on students' writing achievement, especially in the form of news item text. The Blended Learning Model guided and motivated the students to gather information and to develop it into good writing.
This study is limited on the implementation of blended learning to improve students' writing skills. Thus, further studies to determine blended learning model effects towards other language skills should be conducted. ISSN(e): 2715-985x DOI: © 2020