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blackboard, 18 student tables, 32 student chairs, a teacher table, a calendar, a clock, a cupboard used to store Qurans and student cell phones during the class.
The ventilation system was quite good with 2 doors and 6 windows on left side of the class. The class was comfortable with a fan and a dispenser.
B. Research Participants
The participants of this research were 32 students of class XI AK 1 Accounting Program, the English teacher of class XI AK 1, and me.
The students were from the families belong to middle social economy status. They were chosen as the subjects of the research based on the
recommendation of the teacher in charge of teaching them the English lesson. Another consideration was that they would use English to facilitate themselves
in the future career. Moreover, based on the observation, the students had difficulties related to their speaking skills.
I took charge as the researcher by doing the observation, planning the lessons, teaching the students, and analyzing the teaching and learning process
during the research. The teacher of class XI AK 1 was my collaborator. The teacher helped me in doing the class observation, scoring students’ speaking
performances, and evaluating the actions I implemented in the classroom.
C. Research Design and Procedure
This research was action research in nature. The English teacher of SMKN 1 Depok and I conducted some investigations regarding the process of teaching
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and learning in the English classroom. From the investigation, it was found that the students needed and wanted to improve their speaking skills. The English
teacher wanted to do something to improve the students’ speaking skill.
Therefore we worked collab oratively in improving students’ speaking skill using
one of the cooperative learning forms STAD. In conducting this research, the action research steps which were based on
the action research concept proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart 1988 in Burns 1999 in Madya 2006:67 were used. In conducting this action research
four phases in a cycle of research might become a continuing until the researcher has achieved his goals. Those steps were plan, action, observation, reflection. In
the following figure the cycle 2 were conducted because there was no significant improvement of the students’ speaking skills performance and there were some
problems needed to be solved in cycle 1. As the results of the actions in cycle 2 showed some positive improvements, another cycle
—the cycle 3—was conducted in order to confirm the consistency of the effective actions
contributing to the positive results.
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Figure 2.Action research concept proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart 1988 in Burns 1999
1. Reconnaissance
Before conducting this study, I observed the English teaching and learning to find out the real problems existing in the classroom. I also interviewed the
English teacher identify the real condition of the students’ speaking skill. The
The students think that speaking is important
yet they do not practice it actively. How can I
stimulate students to improve their speaking
skills actively in the classroom?
Design STAD to encourage students to
practice their speaking skills.
Invite students to practice speaking skills
with a partner or within a group using STAD.
Design a new plan implementing STAD
with revised action based on the reflection
of the previous cycle. Make an evaluation of
the implemented actions. Make a list of
problems happen during the teaching and
learning process.
Record the students’
participation in the classroom by making
vignettes.
Implement STAD with revised action based on
the problems found in the previous cycle.
Make an evaluation of the implemented
actions. Evaluate how students’ behaviour
changes after 2 cycles of teaching.
Record the students’
participation in the classroom by making
vignettes.
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observations and the interviews revealed some problems in the field related to the students
’ speaking skills. 2.
Plan Based on the problem selected in the reconnaissance step, I made a plan of
actions to solve the problems in the field related to the students’ speaking skills.
The English teacher and I decided to implement STAD to solve the problems related to the students’ speaking skills. I made a course grid and lesson plans to be
implemented in the actions. After each cycle, the planning step was done based on the reflection of the previous cycle. The course grid and lesson plans were revised
and improved to fit the needs of the students in the previous cycle. 3.
Action STAD was implemented during the English teaching and learning process
in all the three cycles. Each cycle was carried out in three meetings: two meetings for teaching and learning activities, and the third one for a quiz. The implemented
actions followed the plans that had been formulated before. During the teaching and learning process in the classroom, I performed as the teacher and the English
teacher acted as the collaborator who observed the teaching and learning process. 4.
Observation The observation was conducted while I was teaching the students and after
the class. The documentation and classroom observation were carried out by the collaborator and me. We gathered all information and everything happened in the
class especially the process and the effects of the action through the observation.
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The data was obtained in each cycle using observation checklists and in the form of vignettes.
5. Reflection
After all actions were applied in a cycle, the collaborator and I reflected the implementation of my action plans. I interviewed some students and the
collaborator to review the actions I implemented during the teaching and learning process and the results after the actions. The interviews and the class observation
showed that there was no significant improvement in cycle 1. Therefore, I decided to conduct cycle 2.
The action plans were revised and improved based on the results and obstacles found in the cycle 1. After the cycle 2, it was showed that there was
significant improvement on the students speaking skills. Therefore, the actions were successful. However, I needed to check the consistency of the results in the
classroom, whether or not the same changes and improvements on students speaking skills were consistent. For that reason, I decided to conduct one more
cycle. The results of cycle 3 showed that the actions were successfully enhancing students speaking skills. With some consideration, I decided to end the research.
D. Data Collection
