Students’ Perception toward the Use of Pair Work Strategy in Writing Descriptive Text at Senior High School Level

Learning difficulties become one of inhibiting factors in the learning process, to produce a good quality of writing, students have various options of writing strategies. This study aims to find out “Students’ Perception Toward the Use of Pair Work Strategy in Writing Descriptive Text at SMA Smart Indonesia”. The method of this research was descriptive quantitative research with survey design. This research was conducted from December 2021 to January 2022. The instruments used in this research were questionnaire which consisted of 16 items. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics in the form of summation of scores, mean, standard deviation and then interpreted descriptively. The result of the findings revealed that the students have high level perception. It was proved by the mean score, benefit gained 4.23. Learning Improvement gained 4.26, and motivation gained 4.37. Overall, students’ perception toward the use of pair work strategy in writing descriptive text have a positive and categorized into very high average score was 4.27. In conclusion, pair work strategy in the writing learning process provided more opportunities for students to be more active in the learning process and pair work can develop students’ writing skills because pair work provided significant benefits for students, especially in the learning process in SMA Smart Indonesia.


INTRODUCTION
English is one of the international languages used by humans as a means of daily communication.English is also widely used as a second language in many countries, so they can communicate with other people.As a foreign language, English is also included in education in Indonesia.There are four basic skills in English, namely speaking, listening, reading and writing.To get perfect language skills, these four skills must be mastered.If one of them is ignored, it will affect the other skills, because all these skills are interrelated.Most people think learning English is difficult, especially in writing.Writing is the process of designing and organizing ideas in the right words used to convey a purpose on a piece of paper.Writing is the process of designing and organizing ideas in the right words that are used to convey goals on piece of paper.Writing is also a great instrument for students to express their thoughts, feelings, and judgments about what they have read, seen, or experienced Tuanany, (2019).Writing is one of the important skills that must be mastered by students.They use it to communicate with each other or as their means to express something through stories on paper.
In addition , Trismayanti, (2021) defines writing is an interesting activity, it can give students some advantages although basically there are difficulties in writing but it is still a useful, essential, integral and enjoyable part of the foreign language lesson.Writing is an interesting activity, it can give some advantages to students even though basically there are difficulties in writing but it will be easy if you use the right method.Students' skills are important in writing activity because when students are given the opportunity to interact, communicate, and collaborate with others, they tend to produce good writing as a result of their collaboration.
There are several theories that state the importance of learning methods.Methods are one of the most important components in the teaching and learning process.One of them is Nasution, (2018), the use of appropriate learning methods with student needs in the learning process can provide students with a good understanding and understanding of learning materials.so that the learning method can train students to develop writing skills.There are several learning methods that can be used.However, of all these methods, there is one method used in SMA Smart Indonesia, namely the pair work method.According to Styati & Rodliyah, (2021), Pair work is an activity that combines students to work together in learning a language, especially in the writing class.Pair work should be divided into two people to do activity together.Pair work students can practice language together, study texts, research language or take part in information activities.
Furthermore, the pair work strategy in the writing learning process provides more opportunities for students to be more active in the learning process because pair work provides significant benefits for student learning development in the classroom.According to Styati & Rodliyah, (2021) pair work has been widely used in language learning, especially in writing classes.Many studies have reported the effectiveness of this technique in improving students' writing skills.Pair work can help students improve their writing skills because in pair work they can combine ideas in a piece of writing.Pair work can provide opportunities for students to gather knowledge about grammar use, sentence structure, word choice, and spelling in writing.
Several researchers use a pair work strategy to support learning in the classroom as done by Styati, (2021).From the results of previous studies indicate that there is a positive influence of students in using the pair work strategy.However, it is important to study students' perceptions of the use pair work strategy because teachers need to know students' preferences in writing.

Perception
Perception is a person's thought process so that he is able to giving an impression, opinion or feeling towards something based on observation or reasoning.Perception is a process of receiving a stimulus by someone through the senses or also called a sensory process.The stimulus will be continued and the next process is the perception process (Walgito, 2010).In addition, according Tarmiji, (2016) Perception is a process that involves the entry of messages or information into the human brain.Furthermore, Slameto argued that the basic principle of perception that a teacher needs to know is that in order to know his students better and become an effective communicator, perception is relative, not absolute.The response given as a result of perception can be taken by individuals in various forms.Which stimulus will get a response from the individual depends on the attention of the individual concerned.Based on this, if the feelings, thinking abilities, experiences of the individual are not the same, then in perceiving a stimulus, the perception results may differ from one individual to another.Everyone has a tendency to see the same thing in different ways.These differences can be influenced by many factors, including knowledge, experience and point of view.
The process of perception begins with the presence of an object that causes a stimulus, and a stimulus regarding the senses.The stimulus received by the sense organs is transmitted by the sensory nerves to the brain.Then there is a process in the oyak as the center of consciousness so that individuals realize what they see, or what they hear or what they feel Walgito, (2010).According to Qiong, (2017) The perception process consists of three stages: First is selection.Selection is the first stage in the process of perception, during which we convert the environment stimuli into meaningful experience.In daily life we are bombarded constantly by such a large variety of information that at a blink moment we may encounter these stimuli: the words we are hearing, the witness of an accident, the ticking of a clock, to name but a few.Since our world embraces everything, these are countless stimuli arriving at our sensory organs simultaneously and waiting to be processed.However, we can not perceive all the information available to us, because in doing so we would experience information overload and disorder.Second, organization.The second stage in perception process is organization.After selecting information from the outside world, we need to organize it in some way by finding certain meaningful patterns.This organization stage is accomplished by putting things or people into categories, and that is why it is also termed categorization by some researchers.In this stage of perception, the social and physical events or objects we encounter will immediately have shape, color, texture, size, etc.For instance, when asked what a human being is, some people may describe it from the perspective of skin color, others from that of race or nationality.If someone closes his eyes and think what his university library is, he experiences an organized environment with an internal and external structure.Third is interpretation.The third stage in perception is interpretation, which refers to the process of attaching meaning to the selected stimuli.Once the selected stimuli have been categorized into structured and stable patterns, we try to make sense of these patterns by assigning meanings to them.But different people may give different interpretations of the same stimulus.

Writing
Acoording to Putri, (2015) Writing is a process of expressing feelings, thoughts, and ideas in the form of graphic language and have a good influence.Writing is one of the four language skills that are taught after speaking, listening and reading.Writing is one of the four language skills, which is used as a medium to communicate with others, in academics, as well as in everyday life.Mettaningrum & Dantes (2013).
According to Abbas (2019) Writing is a productive skill where everyone is able to deliver and share the idea in a written product.Writing activities have an important role for students so students must improve their writing skills.Writing will give more time for writers to think and express their ideas.There are five writing processes.A brief description of each stage follows.First is pre-writing.At this stage, students are asked to provide ideas and plan what they will write.This step includes brainstorming, gathering information, and thinking, planning, and listing.The purpose of brainstorming is to develop ideas that support the topic.Second is writing.At this stage, students can compose the first draft of the text, include ideas and supporting facts in their writing.Students was given the opportunity to revise and edit their texts later.Language accuracy, punctuation, and vocabulary are not important at this point.Third is revising.At this stage, students have the opportunity to review their text and rearrange ideas, add, change or delete sentences and adjust their word choices to ensure ideas are conveyed clearly.Students can exchange ideas and comment on each other's work.Fourth is editing.This stage is the most important stage to correct errors.After students have written a few drafts, it's time to proofread, checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation.Fifth is publishing.After going through all the stages, at the last stage students can share the final result of the writing to the readers and the reader reads the message from the written text given by the author.

Descriptive Text
Descriptive text is a type of text that explains or describes people, animals or an object in terms of its shape, characteristics, and number and so on.Masitoh & Suprijadi, (2015).Descriptive text is a text that is used to describe a person, place or thing by visual experience.The purpose of descriptive text is to explain, describe, or reveal a person or thing.With descriptive sentences, readers seem to see, hear, and feel for themselves about what is conveyed in a text.

Pair Work
According to Yulitrinisya & Narius, (2018) a teacher should choose the best technique that can encourage students and increase their motivation to learn.Teachers can use "Pair Work" to teach English classes.Pair work is a way to increase student participation so that students can exchange ideas or ideas with other students and can also practice self-confidence Rosmawar, (2018) .Pair work is a collaborative learning strategy for students to transfer and receive ideas or information in pairs.Pair work can be done by two or more people to carry out a process of learning activity, both outside and inside the classroom, involving teachers and students.
In this paired activity the teacher acts as an instruction or explanation so that students can understand the orders given to students.Based on Millah, (2019), pair work is a strategy that requires students to complete work in pairs.Pair work can also be used by English teachers because this strategy requires students to be more effective in completing their assignments.Baleghizadeh & Rahimi (2011).Saying that students prefer to work in pairs because they feel comfortable doing the assignments given by the teacher and students choose their partners pay attention to factors, such as age, level of proficiency, familiarity, and motivation to learn English.Pair work is a learning activity which involves learners to work together in pairs.It means that every students works with his or her partner and all the pairs work at the same time.In teaching writing by using pair work can create the new idea and the procedure for writing descriptive text using the pair work strategy are seen in Table 1. Teachers give constructive feedback and sometimes correction after students" performance  Students discuss their performance where necessary In pair work, students are divided into pairs to make a text.It is used as a method for students to consolidate their understanding when they are writing about a text.Also, it is able to review class material and help students practice and develop their writing skills in the classroom.The use of pair work can be an effective way to help students improve their writing skills and help them to generate ideas easily.Pair work can provide opportunities for students to work together so that students can be more confident and motivated in learning English and provide opportunities for students to discuss and practice in pair work (Rosmawar, 2018).The use of pair work can be an effective way to help students improve their writing skills and help them to generate ideas easily.
According to Almanafi, AOS, & Alghatani, RH (2020 students said that pair work has a positive impact on their English.This activity is very helpful in improving their English and the effectiveness of pair work shows that pair work is one of the best communicative activities to improve English learners.Baleghizadeh & Rahimi (2011) mentioned a list of advantages for pair work.Pair work gives a chance to speak with student rather than teacher and the whole class.Students will learn from one another in a natural way that approximates more to the world outside and gets away from someone of the constraints of the classroom.Pair-work strategy are students-centered rather than teacher-centered.Once an activity has been explained, the students work independently of the teacher and at their own pace.This means the students really have an opportunity to see how well they can communicate in English.The language produced during pair work is generally more natural and authentic than in teacher led sessions.It is also more personalized and more memorable for the students.Pair work activities encourage cooperation between students since, in order to complete a task successfully, they have to work together and help create a very positive learning atmosphere in classone where they genuinely want to work with others.It also normally leads to students being less afraid of making mistakes.In addition, most students grow in confidence as they discover that they can complete a task successfully without constant help from the teacher.

METHOD
This research was a descriptive quantitative.This research was purely quantitative with questionnaire as the main instrument to obtain the data.According to Rukajat, ( 2018), descriptive research is research that seeks to describe phenomena that occur in a real, realistic, actual and real way.Because this research makes a systematic, factual, accurate description, description of the facts, nature and relationships between the phenomena being investigated.This study analysed explained students' perception toward the use of pair work strategy in writing descriptive text at SMA Smart Indonesia.According to Maidiana, (2021).The research design of this study was a survey research.Survey research is research that collects information from a sample by asking through a questionnaire or interview so that later it describes various aspects of the population and uses a questionnaire as a means of collecting basic data.The population of this research were all the students at the twelfth grade of SMA Smart Indonesia Pekanbaru.Total sampling was used by the researchers as the total sampling technique.The total of the samples in this research 30 students.

FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This chapter present the findings of this research.It present the answer of research question, they are "How is the students' perception toward the use of pair work strategy in writing descriptive text?"This questions is answered base on the data obtained from questionnaire.

Benefit Indicators
In this indicator, there are 7 statement out of 16 items that were asked to the respondents of this research to support perception of the respondents, it can be seen clearly on the summary of tabulation as follow.16) is the lowest students' perception in term of benefit.In addition, the researchers used SPSS 23 to analyse the data to get the scores of descriptive statistics.The scores of it can be seen as follows.Based on the result of descriptive statistics above, it can be seen that generally, benefit strategy pair work in students SMA Smart Indonesia, in term benefit indicator is categorized into very high .In addition, the table above shows that the total of students' score in term of benefit of 889, mode of students' score is 4, median of students' score 4, variance of students score is 0.48, and for standard deviation is 0.69.In addition, for average of students' score is 4.23, it means that students' preferences in term of students frequency option is categorize into Very High.Therefore, it can be said that most of the students', had answered all of the items very good.

Learning Improvement
In this indicator, there are 5 statement out of 16 items that were asked to the respondents.This research to support perception of the respondents, it can be seen clearly on the summary of tabulation as follows.Based on the result of descriptive statistics above, it can be seen that generally, benefit strategy pair work in students SMA Smart Indonesia, in term benefit indicator is categorized into high level.In addition, the table above shows that the total of students' score in term of benefit of 639, mode of students' score is 4, median of students' score 4, variance of students score is 0.54, and for standard deviation is 0.73.In addition, for average of students' score is 4.26, it means that students' preferences in term of students frequency option is categorize into very high.Therefore, it can be said that most of the students', had answered all of the items in range of very good.

Motivation
In this indicator, there are 4 statement out of 16 items that were asked to the respondents.This research to support perception of the respondents, it can be seen clearly on the summary of tabulation as follows.Based on the result of descriptive statistics above, it can be seen that generally, benefit strategy pair work in students SMA Smart Indonesia, in term benefit indicator is categorized into high level.In addition, the table above shows that the total of students' score in term of benefit of 525, mode of students' score is 4, median of students' score 4, variance of students score is 0.45, and for standar deviation is 0.67.In addation, for average of students' score is 4.37, it means that students' preferences in term of students frequency option is categorize into Very High.Therefore, it can be said that most of the students', answered all of the items in range of very good.Overall, based on the result of descriptive statistics above, it can be seen that generally the mean score of students' perception on the use strategy pair work in writing descriptive text at SMA Smart Indonesia reached 2053.In addition, the table above show that the total of students' score in students' perception on the used strategy pair work in writing descriptive text at SMA Smart Indonesia 4.27, median of students' 4 and standard deviation is 0.70.The score of standard deviation means that all of the answers from respondents is the same or homogeneous.In addition, for average of students' score is 4.27, it means that the students" perception on the use strategy pair work in writing descriptive text at SMA Smart Indonesia is categorized into Very High.Therefore, it can be said that most of the students, had answered all of the items in the range of positive perception.

CONCLUSION
Based on the presentation in findings, the researchers found the level of students' perception toward the use of pair work strategy in writing descriptive text at SMA Smart Indonesia have a positive perception.The benefit comes from the use of pair work can be an effective way to help students improve their writing skills and help them to generate ideas easily.Pair work can provide opportunities for students to work together so that students can be more confident and motivated in learning English and provide opportunities for students to discuss and practice in pair work.It can be generalized for the next researcher to conduct a research for the other kinds of text, another skills in language learning.
Students' Perception toward the Use of Pair Work Strategy in Writing Descriptive Text at SMA Smart Indonesia

Table 1 :
procedure for writing descriptive text using the pair work strategy

Table 2 :
data tabulation of benefit the use of pair work strategy Table shows the data that indicates benefit.It show that statement "Pair work teaches how to respect other people's opinions" (M=4.30),"Pair work can train me to exchange ideas in writing descriptive text" (M=4.30,"Pair work can help me express ideas in writing" (M=4.26) are the three top students' perception in this indicator.For the lowest perception, statement "Pair work help me to understand more about lesson in the class" (M=4.

Table 4
Table shows the data that indicates learning improvement.It show that statement "By doing pair work can increase my motivation to write descriptive text" (M=4.40),"I am sure that my score will increase if I do the descriptive text in pair work" (M=4.40)," Pair work can increase my confidence when writing descriptive text" (M=4.33), are the three top benefit.For the lowest preferences, statement "I better understand the generic structure and function of descriptive text if I study in pair work" (M=3.96) is the lowest.Learning improvement the scores of descriptive statistics.The scores of it can be seen as follows.

Table 6
Table the data that indicates motivation.It showed that statement "I am happy to receive feedback/comments when writing descriptive text in pair work" (M=4.56),"I like to share ideas with my partner when writing descriptive text" (M=4.36),"I'm excited if I do the descriptive text in pair work" (M=4.30), are the three top benefit.For the lowest preferences, statement "Pair work can support my confidence to write descriptive text" (M=4.26) is the lowest Learning Improvement the scores of descriptive statistics.The scores of it can be seen as follows.

Table 8 :
data description of overall students' perception of pair work strategy