English Extracurricular Activities: Improving Students' Writing Skills at PB Soedirman 2 Islamic Vocational School

Abstract

This community service program aimed to enhance the writing skills of vocational high school students through English extracurricular activities. The background of this activity lies in students’ low writing proficiency, as reflected in their difficulties in constructing sentences, limited vocabulary, and lack of confidence in expressing ideas. The training was conducted in four sessions involving 30 students from grades X and XI. The method employed a workshop-based learning approach that combined theoretical input, model texts, step-by-step writing practice, and peer review activities. The training materials included paragraph writing, descriptive texts, recount texts, and creative writing based on students’ interests. The results indicate improvements in students’ ability to write more coherent paragraphs, employ a wider range of vocabulary, and understand text structures appropriate to different genres. In addition, students’ motivation and confidence in writing increased due to the interactive approach and supportive feedback from facilitators. The main challenges encountered were limited vocabulary and inconsistent grammar use. Nevertheless, guided writing strategies and direct feedback enabled students to recognize and correct their mistakes. Overall, this program had a positive impact on improving students’ writing skills and strengthened the role of English extracurricular activities as a platform for fostering students’ interests and talents. For sustainability, it is recommended to implement regular weekly writing activities and initiate writing competitions at the school level.