writing assignment (Ayik Puspa Yunita/IIIC)

IMPROVING SPEAKING ABILITY BY USING SERIES OF PICTURE

By: Erwin Hari Kurniawan

The problems of this research were how to improve speaking ability using series of picture and how to motivate the students to speak English. The research was guided by a conceptual framework leading to the using series of pictures through pair work to improve their motivation to speak English during the process of classroom communication interaction. The research type was an action research. The subject consisted of 20 students of the third special class of SMP Ar Risalah Kediri in 2007-2008 academic years. The research data were collected using test (test after first treatment and test after the second treatment), observation for collecting data on the students’ motivation in improving speaking ability using series pictures. Data on speaking ability using series of picture were analyzed using the descriptive and statistic analysis, using the increasing of mean after the first and the second treatment. The study concluded that using series of pictures through pair work as a teaching strategy variation has brought a new nuance in English language teaching in improving their ability to speak English.

Students’ learning outcome, which is still considered as unsuccessful, has always been the focus of criticism towards the failure of teaching of English in Indonesia. As a consequence English teachers are demanded to be responsible for the failure in making the students capable of using English for communication both productively and receptively. To alleviate this ordeal, educators, practitioners, and policy makers quite often pay very much attention to research dealing with the curriculum, methodology and teachers excluding such significant variables as the learner perspective. They have rarely taken the learner perspective into consideration as a very important contribution to the learning process.

Does the failure have any relations to these factors? Some English textbooks written for young learners seem to neglect these factors. As a matter of fact, many research findings have shown the powerful role of the students in improving their learning outcome.

The result of this research is expected to be useful information to: (1) increase the teachers’ knowledge of English and share experiences in improving speaking ability using series of picture; (2) encourage the teachers’ colleagues in doing action research in improving their teaching as the professional practices; (3) give any contribution to the general public in increasing knowledge concerning about classroom action research and get any reflection for being perfection.

Speaking function is the productive and interactive skill. (1) What is productive skill? With reference to usage, it is then perfectly true to say that speaking is productive and makes use of the aural medium. Widdowson (2003) described that the act of communication through speaking is commonly performed in face-to-face interaction and occurs as part dialogue or other forms of verbal exchange. What is said, therefore, is dependent on an understanding of what else has been said, whether by the speaker or the interlocutor in the interaction; (2) What is an interactive skill? Richards et al. (2000) stated that speaking is rarely done in one direction or in the form of monologue. It involves the participation of the listener. In an interactive communication, a speaker, and therefore the speaker also becomes a listener. Why series of pictures? A wise statement says ‘I hear I forget, I see I know, and I do I understand. This means that if we have learning experiences by observing, drawing, doing and also what our eyes see and catch most of the time will stay long in our memory. Therefore, the statement strengthens to improve speaking ability by using series of pictures as media to teach English. Pictures as visual aids will attract students’ attention, and motivate them to learn. In addition, using series of picture means that the students try to connect the plot in the picture to be a link of story.

The resources of pictures may be from: newspapers, magazines, internet, and the teacher and students’ own drawing. As teaching English based on meaning-based approach has to achieve the goal of teaching that is communicative competence in which students are encourage to negotiate the meaning.

The method used in this research was classroom action research focused on improving speaking ability using series of picture.

The subject of the research consisted of 20 students of the third class of SMP Ar Risalah Kediri in 2007-2008 academic year.

To collect data, the instruments to be used: (1) test consisted of pre-test, post-test, and formative test; (2) observation. Test after the first treatment and test after the second treatment administered to find out the improvement of the students’ speaking ability, the formative test was administered to measure about the improvement of their speaking ability from the cycle 1 and cycle 2. The observation was administered to measure the characteristics of the students towards the application of using series of pictures through pair work, and questionnaire was administered to support the data of the students’ improvement in speaking English ability.

Based on the findings and discussion in the previous parts, the following conclusions are:

(1)    The implementation of teaching English in this action research using series of pictures through pair work as teaching strategy could nurture the students’ motivation in improving their ability to speak English both at the first cycle and second cycle;

(2) The use of series of pictures through pair work as teaching strategy could improve speaking ability significantly. This led to the conclusion that using of series of pictures through pair work as a teaching strategy is a need in English language teaching and learning in improving their ability to speak English in the term of vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and their performance based on the context of situation. It has brought a good nuance and variation in English language teaching particularly in teaching speaking ability.