TEACHERS’ STRATEGIES IN IMPLEMENTING BRAINSTORMING IN DESCRIPTIVE WRITING CLASS: A CASE STUDY AT SMAN 1 BLITAR

Many students struggle to write descriptive texts due to difficulties in generating
ideas, organizing paragraphs coherently, and using appropriate vocabulary. One solution
that has shown potential is the use of brainstorming strategies implemented by teachers to
guide students through the writing process. This study aims to explore teachers’ strategies
in applying brainstorming techniques in descriptive writing classes and to investigate
students’ responses to these strategies.
This study employed a qualitative research method using a single case study
design. The research was conducted at SMAN 1 Blitar and involved one English teacher
and five eleventh-grade students selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data
were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and
documentation such as student writing samples and teaching materials. Data analysis used
the interactive model by Miles and Huberman, involving data condensation, display, and
conclusion drawing. The research stages included preliminary study, data collection, data
analysis, and interpretation.
The findings revealed that the teacher implemented brainstorming through a
structured five-step process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
Students showed significant improvement in idea generation, paragraph coherence, and
vocabulary use after the application of brainstorming strategies. Their descriptive texts
became more structured, and they showed increased motivation and engagement. Teacher
observations and student feedback confirmed that brainstorming helped students write with
more confidence and clarity.
In conclusion, brainstorming is an effective strategy for improving students’ ability
to write descriptive texts. It provides a systematic way to generate and organize ideas,
which leads to better writing outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to adopt brainstorming in
their writing instruction, students are advised to engage actively in the pre-writing process,
and future researchers may explore the long-term impact of brainstorming across different
genres and educational levels.