INTRODUCTION
Writing is a skill that needs extra works to be mastered. Therefore students need a lot of practices to apply their writing  ability. Based on the writer’s experience in teaching, students’ achievement in writing is still very low, especially in writing recount text. There are some factors that cause this, they are : (1) students rarely practice writing both in the class and at home, even in their native language, so it becomes a more difficult challenge to write in English, (2) the students are still confused how to start writing, how to write systematically, and how to make the sentence be coherence and cohesive between the main idea and the first sentence and the supporting sentences. (3) the strategy that the teacher used to teach the students writing does not motivate and encourage them, even, many of the teachers get trouble to teach this skill to the students. (4) teachers are not able to create interesting media, so the students can not enjoy their lesson. How to motivate and support students developing their writing skill to write in English is one of  teacher’s responsibilities. Hence, the teacher must be able to apply an appropriate teaching technique and activity  to solve the students’ problem.
The psycholinguist Eric Lenneberg (1967) stated that writing is related with someone’s behavior. Thus, because writing is related with someone’s behavior, he or she can start his or her writing by using something done as a habit
One condition that makes students write freely is, when they are writing about their own personal experiences such as, writing on a journal or a diary. Diary is related to students’ real lives. They need not think about others beyond their lives. It helps them to be confident and they will realize that they can write.
A diary itself has contents that are similar to a recount text. As a recount text, a diary or journal also tells about past events and sequences of events. So, students writing through his or her own diary can help them to develop their achievement in writing especially writing recount text.
THEORIES ON WRITING
A. Â The Nature of Writing.
According to Linderman (1983:11), writing is a process of communication that uses conventional graphic system to convey a message to readers. Byrne (1995: 7) stated that writing is clearly much more than the production of graphic symbols,  just as speech is more than the production of sounds. The symbols have to be arranged, according to certain conventions ,to form words, and words have to be arranged to form sentences. Writing skill deals with the ability to arrange the graphic system such as letter, words, and sentences of certain language being used in written communication in order that the reader can understand the message or the information. This also means that writing is used for communicating one’s idea in written form to the readers. Furthermore, (Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, 1997: 11) says that writing is a complex process that involves a range of skills and tasks. Although writing is often used to clarify and express personal thoughts and feelings, it is used primarily to communicate with others. Students need to become disciplined thinkers in order to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. They need to learn to select and organize their ideas, keeping in mind the purpose for which they are writing and the audience they are addressing.
From these statements, it can be inferred that writing is a complex process about how the writer conveys his or her ideas, thoughts, feelings, without ignoring the grammatical rules, spellings and punctuation, to combine the writer’s ideas as a means of communication. In conclusion, writing is one of language skill and indirect communication that conveys meaningful and expressive information from the writer to the readers in form of written language.
For many reasons, writing becomes the most difficult skill to learn. It is confirmed by Brown (2001:335), that  the writers should pass several of the writing process which are not easy. There are some reasons that make students do not enjoy writing activity , as follows; 1) they consider that writing is a task; 2) there is less interaction between them and writing activity; 3) it needs extra skill to write (Byrne, 1995).
Thus, according to the theories, writing is one of the four language skills. It is considered to be difficult skill for learners because it requires effort in the process of thinking to produce not only context but also symbols. Producing context in a written form is required for delivering the message to the reader.
B. The Aspects of Writing
In writing process, the writer can be said successful if their writing contains some aspects of writing. According to Jacob et al (1981: 90), there are five aspects of writing. They are:
Content refers to substance of writing, the experience of the main idea (unity), i.e., groups of related statements that a writer presents as unit in developing a subject. Content paragraph do the work of conveying ideas rather than fulfilling special function of transition, restatement, and emphasis.
Organization refers to the logical organization of the content (coherence). It is scarcely more than an attempt to piece together all collection of facts and jumble ideas. Even in early drafts it may still be searching for order, trying to make out patterns in its material and working to bring the particulars of his subject in line with what is still only a half-formed notion of purpose.
Vocabulary refers to the selection of words those are suitable with the content. It begins with the assumption that the writer want to express the ideas as clearly and directly as he can. As a general rule, clarity should be his prime objective. Choosing words that express his meaning is precisely rather than skew it or blur it.
Language use refers to the use of the correct grammatical and syntactic pattern on separating, combining, and grouping ideas in words, phrases, clauses, and sentences to bring out logical relationships in paragraph writing.
Mechanic refers to the use graphic conventional of the language, i.e., the steps of arranging letters, words sentences, paragraphs by using knowledge  of structure and some others related to one another.
Based on the definition above, the writer can conclude that writing is important means of indirect communication that referred to the productive and expressive activity. In this case, students are expected to be able to express their ideas, feeling, and thought in written language.
C. The Process of Writing
According to Walter (2004:78), these are number of stages of writing process such as:
Pre-Writing
Pre-Writing experience helps students tap into background knowledge and experience and develop the need to desire to write. Pre-writing activities involve students in collecting a resource pool of posible writing ideas, vocabulary, and language structure.
Drafting
In drafting, the students can jot down their thoughts using scribbles, drawing, letters, or more conventional writing. The purpose here is to get ideas and thougts down on paper .
Sharing and responding to writing
Student share their writing with a partner, group, or teacher. They can do so informally, collaboratively, or as a part of writer’s conference. Students respond to writing in supportive and helpful ways by modeling positive responses and thoughful questions.
Revising writing
Student incorporate feedback from responses and make corrections, additions to their writing. This stage concerns itself with both content the flow and communication of thought and mechanics.
Publishing
Publishing is the culmination of significant work which presents the outcome of writing activity to the readers. There are numerous ways in which students can publish their works. In this stage, the writer can add pictures, make a book, or read the writing aloud.
In brief, writing is not a simple activity. Based on the explanations, there are some processes that should be passed by the writer. The processes of writing are prewriting (planning and shaping), drafting, sharing, revising or editing, and publishing.
GENRE
Pardiyono (2007: 2) says Genre can be defined as a type of text (text type) that serves as a reference pattern (frame of reference) so that a text can be made effective; effective than the precision of purpose, selection and preparation of text elements, and precision in the use of grammar. There are many kinds of genre. Namely:
Descriptive has function to describe a particular person, place or thing.
Reports have function to describe the way things are with reference to a range of natural man made and phenomena in our environment.
Procedure has function to describe how something is accomplished through a sequence or action or steps.
Recount has function to retell events for purposes or informing or entertaining.
Narrative has function to amuse, entertain and deals with actual or various experience in different ways. Narrative deal with problematic event which lead to a crisis or turning points of kind, which in turn finds a resolution.
Explanation has to explain the purpose involved in the formation or working of natural or socio-cultural phenomena.
Discussion has function to present information and opinion about issues in more one of issues.
Anecdote has function to share with others and account of an unusual amusing incident.
Spoof has function to tell an event with a humorous twist and entertain the readers.
News items have function to give information and the events.
Analytical exposition has function to reveal the readers that something is the important case.
Review  has function to critique or evaluate an art work or event for a public audience.
From the variety of genres above, the writer choose the genre of recount to be applied in writing a diary.
A. Â Recount Text
1. Â Definition of Recount Text
There are some text types taught in Junior High School: descriptive text, procedural text, recount text and narrative text. Based on standard and basic competency, recount text is taught to the eighth year students of  Junior High School. According to Pardiyono (2007:63), recount text tells an event or experience that have already happened in the past.  In addition, a recount is the unfolding of a sequence of events overtimes. It is used to retell past events for the purpose of informing or entertaining. Its focus is on a sequence of events. Some recounts will be purely informative, while others will aim to both inform and entertain.
All recounts reconstruct the past, but the purpose, audience and focus will vary according to the form used. Many reluctant readers or writers find this text type accessible and manageable because it is generally based on fact rather than fiction..
2. Generic Structure of  Recount
According to Pardiyono (2007: 70), there are three generic structures of recount text namely, orientation, record of events and re-orientation. First, orientation is an introduction of events or experiences. It provides basic information about the story such as who was involved, what happened, where this event took place, and when it happened, so the readers understand the text easily. In addition, settings and characters are introduced.
Second, record of events is called as the body of  text. The record of events is usually written in chronological order of sequences. It begins from the first event, followed by the second event to the last event. The sum of events depend on the creativity of the writer. This stage includes how problem deals with, how characters within the text feels about the events, and how the events told in detail.
Third, re-orientation is stating a personal comment of the writer to the story or concluding the texts. In this stage, the writer summarizes the events but it is optional based on the writer. In this stage, the sequence of events is ended and any issues and problems are completely resolved by characters.
4. Â Language Features of Recount Text
Beside the generic structures or rhetorical features of a recount text, as Pardiyono(2007: 97) states, there are also the language features which are usually found in a recount text, they are:
1) a specific participant to identify who is involved in the text; 2) the use of past tense to retell the events; 3) the use of action verbs; 4) the use of linking items or descriptive words to give details about who, when, what, where and how.
WRITING A DIARY
