THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GAMIFIED THINK-PAIR-SHARE THROUGH COLORFUL PLANE MEDIA ON STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS

Abstract

Writing is one of the productive skills that Indonesian vocational high school students still find challenging, especially when composing narrative texts that require content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. This study investigated the effectiveness of Gamified Think-Pair-Share (TPS) through Colorful Plane Media in enhancing the narrative writing skills of tenth-grade students at SMKN 1 Mojoanyar. A quantitative approach using a pre-experimental One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design was applied, involving 72 students selected through purposive sampling from two classes. Students’ writing was assessed analytically across five aspects: content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, a paired-sample t-test, and Cohen’s d. The mean score increased from 59.62 in the pretest to 80.87 in the posttest, representing an average gain of 23.25 points. The paired-sample t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between the two scores, t(71) = -25.375, p < .001, while the effect size was d = 2.99, which was categorized as large. These findings suggest that combining a structured cooperative strategy with a simple game-based medium can provide meaningful support for narrative writing instruction in vocational classrooms. However, because the study did not include a control group, the findings should be interpreted as evidence of within-group improvement rather than proof of superiority over other instructional methods.