that the students act out their stories in class. After that, they could continue it as a role-play activity.
Fourth, the students work together to complete some missing information in a written story based on a comic strip given to them. The first thing the groups
should do is discussing what might be missing from the text. After getting a comic strip version of the text from the teacher, they must fill in the blanks in the written
story by describing what they see in the pictures. Like the previous one, the students can act it out and continue the story as a role-play later.
B. Review of Related Studies
There have been a growing number of studies in recent years about the value of comics as educational media. Yang 2008 states that comic is a powerful
educational tool. When he questioned his students why comic lectures were so effective, two strengths of the comics as educational tools emerged. First, they are
visual and the students love visual media so they are immersed in them. Second, in contrast to other visual media like films and animations, comics are permanent.
As we know, language and actions in film and animation are on screen one minute and gone
the next, while in comics, time progresses only as quickly as the reader‟s eyes move across the page. It can be said that the rate of information-transfer is in
the reader‟s control. Next, Cary‟s study 2004 study proposes that images found in comics were beneficial to English language learners. They support texts and
give them significant contextual clues to word meanings. Comics also include
authentic dialogues that can help English language learners comprehend everyday English.
C. Conceptual Framework
Mastering the art of speaking is a very important aspect of learning a foreign language since people communicate with others mostly in the spoken form. For
this reason, teachers should concern in teaching speaking without neglecting other aspects. In learning process, it is important for the teacher to facilitate the students
using media which are appropriate with the activity in order to achieve the objectives in language learning process.
One of the media that can be used to teach speaking is a comic strip. Comic strips will help students to aid comprehension, memorize and recall words,
improve grammatical competence, and increase engagement and motivation. Based on the advantages offered by comic strips as instructional media in the
English teaching and learning process, the researcher believes that the use of comic strips can improve the speaking skills of grade VIII students of SMP N 15
Yogyakarta.
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the methods used in this research. They consist of type of the research, setting of the research, subjects of the research, techniques and
instruments of data collection, techniques of data analysis, validity and reliability, and the research procedure. Each and all of them will be presented below.
A. Type of the Research
This study is an action research. According to Carr and Kemmis in Burns 2010:5, action research is a form of self- reflective enquiry undertaken by
participants in social situations in order to improve their own practices and the situations in which the practices are carried out. In agreement with Carr and
Kemmis, Richards and Farrell 2005: 171 defines action research as a classroom research conducted by a teacher in his or her own classroom in order to resolve
practical teaching issues and problems. Bringing about improvements is not the only benefit gained from undertaking this kind of research. Through the process
of planning and carrying out action research, the teacher can get a deeper insight of many issues in teaching and learning as well as become more expert in
investigating his or her own practice.
B. Setting of the Research
This research was carried out in SMP N 15 Yogyakarta. It is located at Jl. Tegal Lempuyangan No 61 Yogyakarta. The school consists of 30 classrooms, a
