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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Research

One of the language skills that must be mastered by language learners is the

ability to speak or communicate in the target language fluently. The mastery of

speaking skills in English is a priority for many second-language or foreign-language

learners. Consequently, learners often evaluate their success in language learning as

well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how much they feel

they have improved in their spoken language proficiency.

Furthermore, speaking is one of the most difficult aspects for students to

master. This is hardly surprising when one considers everything that is involved

when speaking: ideas, what to say, language, how to use grammar and vocabulary,

pronunciation as well as listening to and reacting to the person you are

communicating with. Any learner of a foreign language can confirm how difficult

speaking is. It is important to give students as many opportunities as possible to

speak in a supportive environment. Gaining confidence will help students speak

more easily. You can achieve this by: setting controlled speaking tasks and moving

gradually towards freer speaking tasks; setting tasks that are at the right level for the

students or at a level lower than their receptive skills; setting tasks that are easily

achievable and gradually moving towards more challenging tasks; praising students’

efforts; using error correction sensitively; creating an atmosphere where students

don’t laugh at other people’s efforts (Pollard: 2008:33).

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It has long been recognized that speaking skill is very important in learning a

language, since the success of using a language especially second and foreign

language in real life situation can be measured through speaking. For example,

someone can be told that he or she is capable of speaking English if he or she is able

to show his or her English by practicing it through speaking.

In Addition, Richards (2002:204) says: “learning to speak a language requires

more than knowing its grammatical and semantic rules. Knowledge of how native

speakers use the language in the context of structured interpersonal exchange in

which many factors interact. Therefore it is difficult for EFL learners, especially

adults, to speak the target language fluently and appropriately”.

Realizing how complex speaking is, the researcher has undergone some

difficulties when he taught English speaking at third year students’ class of MTsN

Dewantara whose speaking skill is still considered very low. Again, they are less

motivated and reluctant to get involved actively in the English teaching and learning

process. Some techniques and approaches have been employed by the teachers in the

school in teaching them English, nevertheless it is still less to give interest to the

students in learning English. This problem is found by the researcher during teaching

practicum (PPL) for about 2 months.

Actually, Richards (2002:206) explains:

There are many factors cause students reluctant to communicate in English some of those are cultural factors, linguistic factors, effective factors etc. Here the researcher only provides you a little detail explanation of effective factors since it is related so much with the research being done by the researcher. The effective factors include culture shock, previous negative social and political experiences, lack of motivation, anxiety and shyness in class, especially if their previous learning experiences were negative.

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However many studies have shown that most of the students of the English

as a Foreign Language frequently get difficulties in improving their English speaking

ability since they are accustomed to use their native language in their daily life and

primarily he activity that they have in English class does not make and force them to

use English. Consequently the students are not motivated and reluctant to learn and

use English.

Furthermore, concerning with the speaking activities, as a matter of fact, in

teaching English, most students are reluctant to speak. As we know that that the most

difficult part of the task of teachers in teaching English especially in speaking class

lies on how to encourage students to speak. The student seems often reluctant to

speak when they involved in speaking class activities. These problems appear at the

Therefore based on that condition, the researcher in this research tried to

solve the problems by offering one teaching technique; improving students’ speaking

ability through pair works. This effort is believed that it can give positive effect and

joyful learning to English students in developing their speaking skill (Watcyn,

1997:4).

Finally, the researcher concludes that mastery of speaking skills in English is

a priority for many second-language or foreign-language learners and English

Students often get difficulties in learning to improving their speaking ability. Besides

that pair works is a good technique to be used in teaching English to improve

students’ speaking ability.

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1.2 Problem of the Research.

In this part of the proposal, the researcher draws the problem explained above

through the questions below:

1. Can pair work improve the students’ speaking ability?

2. Can pair work encourage the students in learning English in class?

3. What are the advantages of applying pair work in teaching speaking?

1.3 Purpose of the Research

1. To know if pair works can improve the students’ speaking ability.

2. To find out if pair work encourage the students in learning English in class.

3. To find out what are the advantages of applying pair work in teaching speaking.

1.4 Significance of the Research

In this part of the research, the researcher describes some significances of the

research as the following:

1. Theorically, this research can be a good input either for the students or the

teachers in the school as an attempt to improve the students’ speaking ability and

gives good contribution either for the researcher or the readers in developing

speaking skill.

2. Practically, it can be used by the teachers in the school as a model in teaching

English to improve the students’ speaking ability and improve the students

speaking ability.

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1.5 Scope of the Research

Since there are many components lie in speaking skill like, fluency, grammar,

pronunciation and etc. the researcher only focused the research on improving the

students’ speaking skill in getting to know each other by giving them an appropriate

speaking material through pair works technique

1.6 Definition of the Key Terms.

In this study, the researcher gave some explanation of some key terms that

predominantly used in it. These key terms explanation’s function is to get the readers

understand accurately about the words or phrases.

1. Speaking ability is the ability of students in conveying information or expressing

thoughts, ideas and feelings in spoken language.

2. Pair works is a technique in teaching English to increase students’ opportunities

to use English as many as possible in class.

3. Classroom Action Research is a form of reflective research that is conducted by

teacher which its result can be used as a tool to improve the teaching and learning

(Asrori, 2008:4).

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Speaking

2.1.1 Definition of Speaking

Burns and Joyce in Selvi (2004:15) begin their discussion on the nature of

speaking by distinguishing between spoken and written language. They point out that

when speech is written down; it appears far more disorganized and chaotic than

written language. Yet, in real spoken interactions, speakers are readily able to

understand and respond to each other. This suggests that speech, far from being

disorganized, has its own systematic patterns and structures. Written language, on the

other hand is characterized by well-formed sentences which are integrated into

highly structured paragraph.

Burns and Joyce in Selvi (2004:15) also draw a useful distinction in terms of

the situation in which spoken and written texts are produced. As written texts are not

tied to the immediate context, they can be drafted and redrafted until the researcher

produces a final and polished version. In contrast, spoken texts must be produced as

the speaker proceeds, and as a result that speech is full of hesitations, repetitions

overlaps and incomplete clauses.

Based on the descriptions above, it seems that the feature of speech that

underlies the view that speaking is ungrammatical. However, it is not so much the

case that speech is ungrammatical but that speech and writing are grammatical in

different ways.

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Furthermore, speaking is an essential tool for communicating, thinking, and

learning. Oral language is a powerful learning tool. It shapes, modifies, extends and

organizes thought. Oral language is a foundation of all language development.

Therefore it is the foundation of all learning. Through speaking and listening,

students learn concepts, develop vocabulary, and perceive the structure of the

English language which is essential components of learning. Students who have a

strong oral language base have an academic advantage. School achievement depends

on students' ability to display knowledge in a clear and acceptable form in speaking

as well as writing (Hayriye: 2000:1). It means that the students who have good

speaking ability would find many advantages at school or at university.

Additionally, speaking is a vehicle to link individuals to society. Exchanges

students and excellent teachers can help them to know the world in more personal

and socially responsible ways. When students talk about their ideas, they clarify their

thinking. They can figure out what they believe and where they stand on issues

(Hayriye, 2000:1). This means that speaking is like a transport to link someone to his

community. Without having good speaking skill, people just cannot communicate

each other.

According to Hybel (2001:45), “speaking is any process in which people

share information, ideas and feeling, it involves all of body language mannerism and

style-anything that adds meaning to a message”. This paragraph means speaking is a

tool to delivery ideas or message.

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2.1.2 The Importance of Speaking Skill

Speaking is an interactive process in constructing meaning that involves

producing, receiving, and processing information orally (florez, 1999:22). Besides

Gatenby (1972:76) argues that what is essential in learning a language is that the

language being studied should be, as far as possible, the sole medium of

communication in any given environment. He further states that in order to be learnt,

a language must be used. This implies that whenever communication takes place, it

involves speaking and whenever speaking takes place, it must belong to a certain

language. To make clear about the nature of speaking, we refer to definition of

speaking itself. Speaking refers to the act of expressing thought, ideas and feelings

by using audible symbol or visible bodily action so that we can expect listeners to

understand the meaning of the message that we convey.

The speaker can ask questions, answer questions, influence others, give

directions, and generalization. What do we need to know and be able to speak in

another language? One to know how to articulate the sounds in a comprehensible

manner, have adequate vocabulary and master syntax of the language. Hymes in

Nunan (1999:26) proposed the notion of communicative competence as an

alternative Chomsky’s linguistic competence. Communicative competence includes

not only linguistic competence, but also range of other sociolinguistic and

conversational skills that enable the speaker to know how to say what to whom, and

when.

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2.1.3 The Purpose of Speaking

The basic assumption in any oral interaction is that the speakers want to

communicate ideas, feelings, attitudes, and information to the listener. Rivers (1981)

in Selvi (2004:18) explicitly states that through speaking one expresses emotions,

communicates intentions, reacts to other persons and situations, or influences other

human being.

Stating opinion clearly in speaking supported by sufficient reasons will

enable the speaker to reach the goal of his/her speech to satisfy others. Speaking can

also generate four abilities on the part of the learners when they are fully involved in

speaking instruction to think creatively, to communicate thought, to make relevant

judgment, and to discriminate among values (Balcer and Seabury, l965) in Selvi

(2004:18).

The ability to speak a second or foreign language well is a very complex task

if we try to understand the nature of what appears to be involved. To begin with,

speaking is used for many different purposes, and each purpose involves different

skills. When we use casual conversation, for example our purposes may be to make

social contact with people, to establish rapport, or to engage in the harmless chitchat

that occupies much of the time we spend with friends. Each of these different

purposes for speaking implies knowledge of the rules that account for how spoken

language reflects the context or situation in which speech occurs, the participants and

their specific roles and relationships, and the kind of activity the speakers are

involved in.

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2.1.4 Learners’ Typical Problem and Its Reasons in Learning English

In this case, Richard (1990: 222) explains the typical learner problems in

speaking as follows:

1. Speaks slowly and takes too long to compose utterances

2. Cannot participate actively in conversation

3. Spoken English doesn’t sound natural

4. Poor grammar

5. Poor pronunciation

Also Richard (1990: 233) says that there are many reasons cause English

learners poor in speaking skills. There are as follows:

1. Lack of curriculum emphasis on speaking skills

2. Teachers’ limited English proficiency

3. Class conditions do not favor oral activities

4. Limited opportunities outside of class to practice

5. Examination system does not emphasize oral skills

Hawes (1994:45) reveals that most of EFL teachers have often complained

about their learners, because they often do not pay attention to the instruction even

reluctant to participate actively in speaking class. Actually there are some factors

influenced, one of them is the activities which are provided by teachers in classroom.

Brown (1994:266), states that the activities which are given by teachers may attract

students’ motivation to involve in speaking class.

2.1.5 Teaching Speaking

Nunan (2003: 23) in this case formulates what is meant by teaching speaking:

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1. Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

2. Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second

language.

3. Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting,

audience, situation and subject matter.

4. Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.

5. Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.

6. Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is

called as fluency.

In addition, Hayriye (2006:1) provides some Suggestions for English teachers

in teaching speaking. As you see in the following:

1. Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by

providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic

materials and tasks, and shared knowledge.

2. Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice

different ways of student participation.

3. Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time.

Step back and observe students.

4. Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.

5. Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that

conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.

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6. Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great. It was a good

job. I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use

of your voice…"

7. Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are

speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.

8. Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents

and other people who can help.

9. Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see

whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs.

10. Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.

11. Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing

themselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the

spoken language.

2.16 Key Elements in Teaching Speaking Skill

Speaking is one of the most difficult aspects for students to master. This is

hardly surprising when one considers everything that is involved when speaking:

ideas, what to say, language, how to use grammar and vocabulary, pronunciation as

well as listening to and reacting to the person you are communicating with. Any

learner of a foreign language can confirm how difficult speaking is. It is important to

give students as many opportunities as possible to speak in a supportive environment.

Gaining confidence will help students speak more easily. An English teacher can

achieve this by:

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- Setting controlled speaking tasks and moving gradually towards freer speaking

tasks.

- Setting tasks that are at the right level for the students or at a level lower than

their receptive skills.

- Setting tasks that are easily achievable and gradually moving towards more

challenging tasks.

- Praising students’ efforts.

- Using error correction sensitively.

- Creating an atmosphere where students don’t laugh at other people’s efforts.

There are three key elements to remember when planning and setting up

speaking activities:

1. Language used

2. Preparation

3. Why are the students speaking? (Pollard, 2008:33).

2.1.6.1 Language Used

When planning any speaking activity with students, a teacher should analyse

carefully the language they will be using to carry out the activity. If the teacher uses

an activity from an EFL book, he will probably find comments on the language. If

not, he should think about what he would say when doing the activity and consider

whether his students have learnt the language items yet.

The teacher should not make any assumptions about students’ knowledge. He

should spend some time in class reviewing the language that will be used. If students

don’t have the language required to carry out the task, the results will be

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demotivation and frustration. Students might even resort to doing the task in their

own language. Of course, the teacher can work on the language in one lesson and

review it very quickly in the following lesson before doing the speaking work

(Pollard, 2008:34).

2.1.6.2 Preparation

Preparation is vital as it will help students to speak more easily. One aspect of

preparation is warming students up to the subject matter. If they are to communicate

well, it’s important to engage them in the topic. This can be done by checking their

prior knowledge and experience of the topic for example if the speaking task is based

on driving in big cities, ask them about their experiences of driving in big cities, what

they think about it, the teacher should ask the students to have any anecdotes or

unpleasant experiences they could share with the class and so on.

It’s also important to give students time to prepare what they are going to say

and how they’re going to say it. This preparation can be done in pairs or groups.

Give them time to consider their ideas and think about the language they will use.

They can also do mini-rehearsals, which will build up their confidence and improve

the end result (Pollard, 2008:34).

2.1.6.3 Reason for Speaking

Students need to feel that there is a real reason for speaking. This is often

referred to as the communicative element. Make sure there is a reason for speaking;

as that the students are communicating something the others don’t know or that the

others would like to hear about. Examples of tasks involving real communication

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include: information gap, tasks involving an element of persuasion, problem solving

and role play ((Pollard, 2008:34).

2.1.7 Assessing Speaking Skill

Speaking is probably the most difficult skill to assess. As it is a complex skill

that includes many aspects of language, and influenced by many factors, the accurate

measurement of that ability is not easy. Heaton (1988:43) stated that are some

difficulties (challenges) in testing speaking skill. They are the subjective factors in

making judgment, the administration of time in oral testing especially on a large

number of students, the difficulties in setting up the criteria for measuring the

speaking skill and the selection of the activities or the format of speaking test.

Another problem in assessing oral language in the classroom as O’Malley

(1996) in Selvi (2004:23) states is its lack of authenticity. Authenticity in oral

language assessment means here, relates to both the type of language used and the

task to which that language is applied Assessment of oral languages supposed to

focus on a student’s ability to interpret and convey meaning for authentic purposes in

interactive contexts.

Furthermore O’Malley in Selvi (2004:23) said:

Teachers need to use assessment tasks that are as authentic as possible in a classroom setting. This means: (1) using authentic language in listening/speaking activities; (2) setting real-world tasks, such as getting the gist of a message, listening selectively, describing, giving directions, and giving opinions; and (3) giving students opportunities to use language in situations based on everyday life.

When a teacher assesses spoken language, actually, she is interested in two

things. The first is how the students are likely to use language in social situations.

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The second is how well they have learnt what the teacher has taught them (Burns and

Joyce, 1997, O’Malley, 1996) in (Selvi, 2004:23). In order to get the answers, most

assessment situations used by the teacher is by asking students to participate in an

interview or an activity that will enable them to produce spoken language. In this

case, cooperative learning that present students with opportunities to use oral

language to interact with others whether for social or academic purpose, as O’Malley

suggests, are optimal for assessing oral Language.

2.1.8 Several Techniques of Teaching Speaking

Teacher needs to give their students many opportunities to practice speaking.

They will need to use their imaginations in devising situation which provoke the use

of language in expression of the students’ own meaning, even when student have

very limited resources on which to draw, From the very beginning levels of language

learning students need to: (1) experiences various kinds of spoken texts, (2) develop

knowledge about how Social and culture contexts affect the type of spoken language

used, (3) learn how to participate in spoken interaction, (4) expend their language

resources and learn to use a range of spoken language strategies, (5) learn how

different spoken texts are constructed, (6) develop greater control of the systems of

vocabulary, grammar, phonology and intonation, (7) develop skills which will enable

them to predict what will occur in a conversation, and (improve their accuracy and

fluency (Rizal, 2008:10)

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2.2 Pair Work

These will be essential tools as a teacher. Pair work involves students

working together in pairs; so, in a group of 18 students, you’d have 9 pairs working

independently. Group work involves students working together in groups of 3, 4, 5

etc. You can ask students to work in pairs or groups to complete a course book

exercise, to produce a piece of writing, to prepare what they will present to the class,

to carry out a speaking activity or to check their answers to homework. In fact the

possibilities are endless.

There are many advantages to having your students working in groups or in

pairs: First of all, it provides variety. It gives a different focus by taking the attention

away from the teacher; when working in pairs or groups, students go at the speed that

suits them. When working as a whole class, the pace is set by the teacher or by other

students.

Working at their own pace, students can spend more time on points that cause

them difficulties and less time on points that they find easy. Thus using time more

Efficiently; Students are more actively involved in their work: no snoozing at the

back of the classroom!; Students can share their knowledge, explain things to each

other; this is an advantage over having students work individually; It increases STT

(Student’s Talking Time) whilst reducing TTT (Teacher’s Talking Time); Students

learn to work autonomously; they learn to do things without the teacher. This will

help them in their learning outside the classroom. Of course, the teacher is on hand if

required; every student has the opportunity to contribute; this is almost impossible

when conducting teacher-led activities. Consider a 20-minute speaking activity. If

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you choose to perform it as a whole-class activity with a group of 20 students, each

student will speak for an average of 1 minute. If your students do the same activity in

pairs for 20 minutes, each student gets the chance to speak for 10 minutes (Pollard:

2008:8-9).

2.2.1 The Way to Organize Group and Pair Work

At the beginning, it’s probably easiest if a teacher just asks the students to

work with whoever is sitting next to them. The teacher can go around the class

saying, “you two work together”, “you two work together” etc. Have students work

with their neighbors for a few lessons. This allows students to get used to pair work

and group work; it might be completely new to them. Always working with the same

person will provide a comforting routine until they are used to this way of working.

If they work with a familiar person, it will be easier for them.

You can start grouping students differently when they are used to that way of

working. In fact, it’s advisable to change the make-up of groups to help avoid over-

familiarity. By working with others, students can discover other ways of working and

speaking. Dividing students in different ways helps you to separate the noisy students

and also to see which students work well together. It also contributes to a sense of

cooperation in the classroom.

If you have a group of students of mixed-level, you might ask all the strong

students to work together which allows them to do a more challenging task whilst the

students who are not so strong do a less challenging task. Alternatively, you could

put stronger students to work with weaker students, which allows strong students to

explain difficult points to the weaker ones.

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If the class is discussing a gender-related topic, it might be interesting to ask

all females to work together and all males to work together. Alternatively, you could

mix males and females. The same might be applied to age-related topics, city and

suburb dwellers, etc. Think about how you would like groups to be formed before

going into class. Always remember that if you are asking students to move to form a

group (rather than just asking them to work with their closest neighbors), it will take

a few minutes to organize. You will need to factor this into your lesson plan (Pollard:

2008:9).

2.2.2 What does the Teacher Do during Pair and Group Work?

A teacher can quite simply let students get on with the task. However, this

doesn’t mean ignoring them and letting the task disintegrate. He can allow them to

work at their pace and in a way that suits them. The teacher offers help when

necessary and answer students’ questions.

A teacher can let them know that time is closing in example “just five

minutes to complete what you’re doing”. Then the teacher monitor what is going on.

Whilst monitoring, the teacher notes down mistakes and examples of good work.

There are two ways of monitoring: walk around the class, hover over every pair or

group for a minute or so to listen to what they are doing. This allows the teacher to

focus intensively on each group or pair. There is a disadvantage here, however:

students sometimes freeze up and look to the teacher for assistance, which defeats

the purpose of group and pair work. Personally, the researcher prefers a different

approach in a classroom where the size permits. The researcher arranges the groups

or pairs in a horseshoe around the room and the researcher sits in the middle of that

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horseshoe. The researcher then concentrates his attention on each pair or group in

turn without moving. The teacher would be amazed at how much he can hear. This

approach also means that a teacher does not have to go back to some of the students.

After pair work or group work, ask students what they discussed, check answers, and

ask them what decisions they came to, and so on (depending on the task you set).

During this stage the teacher can also clear up any questions the students may have

and review errors and examples of good work (Pollard: 2008:10).

2.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Pair Works

Pair work and group work give the students far more chances to speak

English in the classroom. Students participate in the lesson much more actively

because they are involved in talking to their friends exchanging opinions, practicing

new structures more than listening to their teacher talking. This is important in our

Polish schools when English lessons usually take place three times a week, teachers

have to practice, develop all the language skills and it happens that there is no time

left for speaking. So if a teacher has ten minutes left during the lesson it is better to

divide the class into groups and pairs and to give the learners opportunity to really

use the language to communicate with each other.

According to Long and his colleagues who investigated differences in the

quantity and quality of student language in pair work versus teacher centered

activities the language produced by students working in groups is more varied and

greater in quantity. Learners take the initiative to express themselves, they are more

spontaneous. Asking questions and responding they use more language functions.

(Aneta, 2008:1)

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By dividing the classes into group’s students get more opportunities to talk

than in full class organization and each student can say something. Penny Ur

recommends that teachers working with large classes should divide them into five

groups which is the most effective organization for practicing speaking (Aneta,

2008:1).

It is advisable for teachers to spend at least one lesson a month devoted only

to speaking. If the topics are adequate to the learners' interests and level such a lesson

can be really effective and give a lot of satisfaction both to the learner and the

teacher. We should always remember how important the ability to communicate is

and provide enough communicative practice while working with the whole class.

That is why oral practice in small groups and pairs is essential.

Working in pairs and groups, children are more engaged not only

intellectually but emotionally as well. They have to think, contribute to the group,

evaluate what other members of the group say, share information, ask friends for

clarification, and prepare a presentation together. "Pair work gives learners exposure

to a range of language items and language functions" (Aneta, 2008:1).

Brumfit says that pair work and group work are the most effective techniques

of classroom organization which combine aspects of communication learning and

natural interaction in a stress free environment (Aneta, 2008:2). Some teachers

are reluctant to introduce pair work and group work being afraid of noise or

discipline problems which might occur particularly with children. Indeed students

make noise while working on the task; they discuss things, check words, and

communicate with one another. However, this is so- called "positive noise" and it

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does not disturb the students. They are concentrated on the task and they do not hear

it. If an activity goes on for too long students, especially the poor ones make noise

because they become bored, they want to get the teacher's attention and they may

become disruptive. Such noise may become disruptive for the whole activity and

class behavior because misbehavior is contagious. To avoid a danger of this

happening the teacher should plan his/her activity very carefully. Assuming that the

learners are familiar with the code of conduct discussed at the beginning of the

school year the teacher should give them clear instructions about what to do, when to

start and when to stop. The task should be clearly defined and not go for too long. At

first students may be confused but once a routine has been set up they should know

what is expected from them. This should prevent excessive noise and prevent the

class from getting out of control (Aneta, 2008:2).

Another disadvantage of pair work and group work is the use of the mother

tongue. When students get excited working in pairs or groups they sometimes use

their mother tongue to express something they are not able to express in a foreign

language. Such a situation is normal because they want to communicate. It is

teacher's responsibility to plan activities at the level of the students and to encourage

them to use the little of the language they know as best as they can because speaking

their own language during an oral activity is a waste of time. However, we should

not be bothered too much if students use their mother tongue while doing a reading

comprehension task or vocabulary exercises because the outcome of their discussion

will be presented in English. It may also be necessary to ask students to translate

instructions into mother tongue to check if they understand what we want them to do

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because giving instructions of a complicated activity may be a waste of time. To

avoid the use of mother tongue during the lesson the teacher can discuss this problem

with the students who should understand that during oral activities the use of the

mother tongue is a real problem. During the activity the teacher should encourage the

students to use English by going round the classroom helping and prompting students

who do not know how to express some ideas (Aneta, 2008:2).

Haines (1995:57) claims that "being forced to speak a second language to

someone who shares your first language is artificial". However, if the teacher sets

certain standards, addresses the pupils in English only and insists on them using the

language it may become quite natural.

When learners work in pairs or groups it is impossible for the teacher to listen

and correct all the mistakes they make and this is not the purpose of the activity.

However, s/he can reduce the number of mistakes before the students start working

by demonstrating the activity to the class first and by asking pairs or groups to

perform in front of the class afterwards and discussing what they said and pointing

out the most common mistakes (Doff, 1988 in Aneta, 2008:1).

Another way of reducing mistakes is to appoint a very good student to correct

the mistakes of his friends. Such a student is responsible for checking the correctness

of others' utterances when the teacher helps another group. It may be a problem to

put students into groups. There is the danger that if the teacher divided the class into

mixed ability groups the best students in the group will have to do the task while the

weakest ones switch off and become disruptive. To overcome this problem the

teacher may put students into groups according to their abilities and each group is

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given a task right for their level of difficulty. Then the teacher may monitor the

whole class; devote more time to the students who need his/her assistance or even

work with individual students (Aneta, 2008:3)

After having taken into consideration all the pros and cons of pair work

technique, it is advisable to use it during English language lessons especially in

speaking class.

2.2.4 Teaching Hints during Pair Work Activity

1. Classroom organization

Since the activities in Pair Work, the researcher involved the students

working in pairs, a certain amount of classroom reorganization may be necessary. If

it is at all possible, the room should be arranged in such a way that pairs face one

another across a desk or a table. This is to give them eye-contact which made

communication a lot easier. Again, if possible, some sort of screen (e.g. a bag)

should be placed between them so that they cannot see one another's books.

However, there may be practical reasons why such a classroom arrangement may not

be possible. In which case, the teacher could adapt the working methods accordingly

to suit his or her particular circumstances (Watcyn, 1997: 5).

2. Working in pairs

Since the students will be working in pairs, there is the inevitable problem of

what happens when there are an odd number of students in the class. Here are one or

two possible solutions (although they are by no means the only ones):

a. The teacher forms the 'extra' partner, in which case he or she should choose a

different student to work with each time.

25

b. The 'odd' student monitors another pair. The student chosen to monitor

another pair should be changed each time an activity is done.

c. Three students work together instead of two. Two of the students form a team

to partner the third one, taking it in turns to talk to him or her. Again, the

group of three should be changed frequently.

One final consideration regarding pair work is that partners should be

changed frequently to ensure that everyone really gets an opportunity to work with

and to get to know as many different members of the class as possible (Watcyn,

1997:5).

3. Introducing an activity

Clear instructions are given for all the activities, so in most cases it should be

sufficient for the teacher simply to ask the students to turn to a particular activity and

to let them read through the instructions. While they do this, the teacher goes around

the class checking that they have fully understood what they have to do before they

begin. If, on the other hand, the class lacks confidence or is not used to

communicative work, the teacher could, on the first few occasions when the book is

used, demonstrate briefly with two students (A and B) while the class monitors them.

Alternatively, the teacher could set up the situation with the whole class then, by

prompting the students, get suggestions as to what A and B might say to each other.

Whichever method is chosen, it is essential that the students know exactly what they

have to do before they are allowed to begin (Watcyn, 1997:5).

26

4. Working through activity

It is probably better if all pairs start working at the same time rather than

working one after the other. During the activity, the teacher moves from pair to pair,

as a passive observer, noting problems or mistakes which can be taken up with the

whole group afterwards. The length of the activities varies from approximately five

to twenty minutes. It is up to the teacher and the class to decide whether to spend a

whole lesson on the activities or else to make them a part of the normal lesson.

(Perhaps a combination of these two is a good idea.)

Finally, since not all groups will finish at exactly the same time, it may be

necessary for the teacher to have a definite 'finishing time' in mind for some of the

more open-ended activities (Watcyn, 1997:5).

5. Following up an activity

The teacher should always spend a few minutes after an activity discussing it

with the class. The discussion could include talking about what the students found

difficult as well as finding out if anyone wanted to say something but didn't have the

necessary language skills to express himself or herself. This is also the time when

any mistakes can be pointed out and, if necessary, revision practice given. Finally, it

is a good idea occasionally to ask one of the pairs to practise the activity again while

the rest of the class listen and monitor their performance (Watcyn, 1997:6).

6. Activity 1 and Activity 2

Although these two activities practice asking and answering questions, the

chief reason for putting them first in the book is that they are a useful way of

27

breaking the ice when the class is a new one-although they are still useful even when

the class has been together for some time (Watchyn, 1997:6).

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

This research employed qualitative approach because the design of the is

classroom action research. Classroom action is classified into qualitative research

because classroom action research has some qualitative research’s characteristics.

They are as explained below:

1. It is natural

2. Human as an instrument.

3. The collected data are in form of word or picture.

4. Process is considered more important than the result.

5. Its design is temporal (Sukayati, 2008: 4-8).

On the other hand there are some experts’ say that classroom action research

is the combination of qualitative and quantitative research because it has quantitative

data and qualitative data. Furthermore, Kasihani (1999:45) defines classroom action

research is a practical research which is done to rectify the weaknesses in teaching

learning process in class through actions. The actions are done as the efforts to find

solution toward the problems faced by teacher in his daily teaching process.

There are many kinds of classroom action research like individual teacher as

researcher classroom action research, collaborative classroom action research and

etc. But in this research, the researcher used collaborative classroom action research.

Collaborative classroom action research is Collaborative Classroom Action Research

is kind of a Classroom Action Research that involves some people like the principal,

29

teacher, lectures, or etc simultaneously. It aims at improving teaching practical

quality, contribute teaching theoretical development or educational and teacher

career progression. This kind of research is usually designed by a team which

consists of teacher, researcher from educational university and principal of school.

The relation between researcher and collaborator teacher are considered as co-

workers (Asrori, 2008:105).

3.2 Setting and Subject of the Research

The research was conducted at MTsN Dewantara. The subject of the research

was the third year students of MTsN Dewantara. There are five classes of the third

grade students. The Subject of this research was class IX/B which consisted of 25

students. The researcher chose the class as the subject of the research because the

students in the class were poor in speaking skill. They were less motivated and

reluctant to get involved actively in the English teaching and learning process. Many

techniques and approaches have been employed by the teachers in the class in

teaching them English, nevertheless it was still less to give interest to the students in

learning English.

3.3 Research Procedure

Classroom action research is done through many repeated cycles and there

are at least two cycles in action research. Each cycle consists of four steps; planning,

action, observation and reflection (Subyantoro, 2009:27). The activities done in each

step of cycles were based on Kemmis and Taggert guidance. The activities are

described in the following figure:

30

Planning the Action Preparing suitable strategy Designing lesson program Developing research

instruments. Setting up the criteria of

success of the study. .

Implementing the Action

Implementing the proposed teaching technique to teach speaking.

Observing the Action

Observing and collecting the data about the effect of the implementation of the action using observation checklist and field

The students find difficulties in learning speaking.

How can information gap improve the student’s speaking ability?

Preliminary Study Interviewing the English teachers,

observing the class, administering speaking test, and identifying problems.

Facts and findings The teachers had not found effective

techniques to teach speaking.. The students’ ability in speaking skill is

very low The students are not motivated in learning

speaking.

31

Analysis and Reflection The researcher and the

collaborator analyze the result of the observation. If the result has met the criteria of success, the action will be stopped. If not the action will be continued to the next cycle.

Unsuccessful Successful

32

Figure 3.1 Classroom Action Research Procedures

Regarding to the procedures of Classroom Action Research above, this

research is done through cycles which consist of planning action, implementing

action, observing action and reflecting action.

3.3.1 Planning

In this step, the researcher and the collaborator prepared a suitable strategy in

teaching speaking through pair work teaching technique. This step also included

preparing a suitable teaching strategy, designing lesson plan, preparing pre-test and

post-test, setting the criteria of success and schedule of action.

3.3.1.1 Preparing a Suitable Strategy

Having done the preliminary study at MTsN Dewantara, the researcher chose

pair work technique as the teaching technique to be implemented in teaching

speaking to class IX/B students of MTsN Dewantara to solve the problems found at

the class. The reason chose pair work technique because pair work technique gives

the students far more chances to speak English in the classroom. Students participate

in the lesson much more actively because they are involved in talking to their friends

Conclusion ReportRevise Plan

33

exchanging opinions, practicing new structures more than listening to their teacher

talking. This is important in our Polish schools when English lessons usually take

place three times a week, teachers have to practice, develop all the language skills

and it happens that there is no time left for speaking. So if a teacher has ten minutes

left during the lesson it is better to divide the class into groups and pairs and to give

the learners opportunity to really use the language to communicate with each other.

3.3.1.2 Designing Lesson Plan

Before implementing the action, the researcher and his collaborator needed to

design lesson plan as the guide for the teacher in conducting the teaching especially

in teaching speaking through pair work. This was a very important part in this study

in implementing the action. The lesson plan was developed based on the school

Based Curriculum.

The teaching procedure in the lesson plan was divided into three stages

consisting of pre-activity, main activity, and post-activity. In the pre-activity, the

students are brainstormed to prepare their schemata and to dig their prior knowledge

about the topic they are dealing with. Meanwhile in the main activity, the students

deal with some tasks leading to reach the objectives of the lesson plan. Especially in

speaking skill, the researcher and his collaborator designed interesting pair work

activity that were considered to be able to make the students speak in the form of

group activities. Finally, the last fifteen minutes were planned for the post-activity.

The post-activity was conducted by giving certain tasks for the students to see the

students’ mastery of the lesson.

34

3.3.1.3 Developing Research Instruments

Instruments are the tools in collecting data. So, in this sub part of cycle, the

researcher developed some instruments that are used in this research. The

instruments that are used in this research are as follows:

1. Observation checklists

Observation checklist is a list of things that an observer is going to look at

when observing a class. This list may have been prepared by the observer or the

teacher or both (Sukayati, 2008:29). Observation checklists give an observer a

structure and framework for an observation to get specific information on aspects of

the class. In this research observation checklist is used to obtain data about how the

practitioner implement the action and gather data about the students’ activity during

the teaching learning process. Observation checklist will be distributed to the teacher

and the students.

2. Questionnaires

Questionnaire is list of a research or survey questions asked to respondents,

and designed to extract specific information (Sukayati, 2008:30). In this research,

questionnaires are administered to the students to complete the information that

cannot be attained from observation checklist.

3. Test

Test is sequence or list of questions to measure, skill, ability, intelligence,

owned by individual or group (Anwar, 2009:30). In this research, the researcher used

speaking test to measure the students speaking ability. The test is done to measure

the development of the students’ speaking ability after implementing the action.

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4. Field Note

Field note is used as a means of recording facts where the information can not

be found in the observation checklist.

3.3.1.4 Designing the Criteria of Success

The criteria of success of the research are as follows:

1. The teacher has a good performance in implementing pair work technique in

teaching speaking the third year students of class IX/B MTsN Dewantara and

carries out the teaching procedures as previously planned.

2. The students are enthusiastic and actively involved during the learning and

teaching process. The indicator is that 65 % of the students do commenting,

responding and questioning.

3. 75 % of the students get 70 in the speaking assessment test.

In assessing the student’s speaking test, the researcher used the following

speaking rubric adapted from (Heaton, 1989:100). The speaking rubric can be seen

in the table below:

36

Table 3.1 Speaking Rubric Score.

Level Accuracy Fluency Comprehensibility

4

Pronunciation is only very slightly influenced by the mother-tongue. Two or three minor grammatical and

lexical errors

Speaks without too great an effort with fairly wide range of expression. Searchers for words occasionally but only one or two unnatural pa uses.

Easy for the listener to understand the speaker’s intention and general meaning. Very few interruption or clarifications required.

3

Pronunciation is slightly influenced by the mother-tongue. A few minor

grammatical and lexical errors but most utterances are correct

Has to make an effort at times to search for words. Nevertheless, smooth delivery on the whole and only a few unnatural pauses.

The speaker’s intension and general meaning are fairly clear. A few interruptions by the listener for the sake of clarification are necessary.

2

Pronunciation is still moderately influenced by the mother-tongue but no seriously phonological errors. A few grammatical lexical errors but only one or two major errors causing confusion.

Although he has to make an effort and search for words, there are no many unnatural pauses. Fairly smooth delivery mostly, occasionally, fragmentary but succeeds in conveying the general meaning fair range of expression.

Most of what the speaker says is easy to follow. His intentions are necessary to help him to convey the message or to seek clarification n.

1 Pronunciation is influenced by the mother-tongue but only a few phonological errors. Several grammatical

Has to make an effort for much of the time. Often has to search for the desired meaning, rather halting delivery and fragmentary

The listener can understand a lot of what is said. But he must constantly seek clarification. Cannot understand many of the

37

and lexical errors, some of which cause confusion.

range of expression often limited.

speaker’s more complex or longer sentences.

Also the researcher explained the interpretation of the levels in the table of

the rubric speaking above. It is shown in the following simple table:

Table 3.2 the Criteria of Speaking Mastery Scale

Level Score Interpretation

4 90 - 100 Excellent

3 80 - 89 Very Good

2 70 - 79 Good

1 < 60 Fair

3.3.2 Implementing

Implementing is applying teaching technique that is proposed in this research.

The proposed teaching technique in this research is pair work technique. In this

research, the one who implemented the action is the teacher who teaches English in

the class.

3.3.2.1 Modeling Session

Before doing the real implementation in the class, the teacher was firstly

trained so that she could perform well in implementing the real action in every

meeting of speaking teaching and learning process through pair work technique. In

38

this research, there were 3 meeting done in each cycle and the last meeting was used

to do the assessment test.

3.3.3 Observing

Actually observing and implementing were done at the same time. Here the

researcher acted as the observer and the selected teacher acted as practitioner who

carried out the lesson plan. The observation is based on and referring to the criteria

of success.

3.3.3.1 Data and Source of Data

In conducting this research, the researcher used qualitative and quantitative

data. The qualitative data were taken from the students’ participation in speaking

activities, comments, opinions, behaviors and suggestions which obtained from

interview, observation and field note during the teaching and learning process in each

cycle. Meanwhile, the quantitative data are taken from the speaking assessment test

to measure the improvement of the students’ ability on speaking skill.

3.3.3.2 Instruments and Techniques for Data Collection

To collect the required data, the researcher used observation sheet, field note,

questioner and interview guide form as the instruments. The observation sheet was

directed to see the reaction showed by the students toward the technique applied

when the process of teaching and learning speaking was in session. Meanwhile, some

important data which related to and support the study but could not be covered in the

observation sheet were noted in the field note. The next instrument is interview guide

form. Through questioner, the researcher noted the students’ comments, opinions and

39

suggestions concerning the activities they in implementing the action. These data are

meaningful in analyzing the success of the activities and in revising the activities for

the next cycle.

3.3.4 Reflection

This part of cycle, the researcher dealt with analyzing the implementation of

the actions through the collected data. It included the discussion of how far the

developed technique solved the problem and the factors that might be the causes of

the unsuccessful technique applied. In this research, the researcher reflected the

things that have been done in the activities of learning and the impact of the activities

as well toward the improvement of the students’ ability in speaking. The data were

compared with the criteria of success to see whether the data have met the criteria.

The result of this reflection was, then, used as the basic consideration to revise the

model to be applied in the next cycle to get a better result of learning.

40

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IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY THOUGH PAIR WORK

TECHNIQUE

(A Collaborative Action Research to the Third Year Students of

MTsN Dewantara)

Thesis

45

Submitted to the Faculty of Teacher

Training and Education of Almuslim University

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

By

ISKA HERIZAL

NIM: 040202062

THE FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF ALMUSLIM

MATANGGLUMPANG DUA, BIREUEN

46

(2009)

Pretest

47

Posttest

48