The effectiveness of classroom debate to improve students' speaking skilll (a quasi-experimental study at the elevent year student of SMAN 3 south Tangerang)

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CLASSROOM DEBATE TO IMPROVE
STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL
(A Quasi-Experimental Study at the Eleventh Year Students of SMAN 3 South Tangerang)

SITI NURAENI
109014000104

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING
‘SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH’ STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY JAKARTA
2014

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CLASSROOM DEBATE TO IMPROVE
STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL
(A Quasi-Experimental Study at the Eleventh Year Students of SMAN 3 South Tangerang)

A Skripsi
Presented to the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata-1
(Bachelor of Art) in the Department of English Education


By:
SITI NURAENI
109014000104

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING
‘SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH’ STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY JAKARTA
2014

ABSTRACT
Nuraeni, Siti (109014000104). The Effectiveness of Classroom Debate to
Improve Students’ Speaking Skill (A Quasi-Experimental Study at the Eleventh
Year Students of SMAN 3 South Tangerang). Skripsi, Department of English
Education, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State
Islamic University Jakarta, 2014.
This research was aimed to see the effectiveness of classroom debate to
improve students’ speaking skill. The samples were the eleventh year students of
SMAN 3 South Tangerang with 28 students for each class. The students of XI
IPA6 were as the control class and XI IPA5 as the experimental class. The
effectiveness of classroom debate can be seen from the students’ speaking scores.

The writer used quantitative method and quasi-experimental design as the
research methodology with convenience sampling as the sampling technique. The
research instrument was an oral test that used rubric of ‘The Students Oral
Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM)’ to score the students’speaking skill.
The result of this research was shown by the statistical hypothesis test that
found on significance level 5%, tvalue was 4.37 and ttable was 1.68 so tvalue > ttable.
Thus, the H0 was rejected and the H1 was accepted that means there was a
significant difference in the main gains between the students’ speaking score
tought by classroom debate and students taught without it. The implementation of
classroom debate increased the students’ speaking scores so there was a positive
effect of classroom debate towards the students’ speaking skill. Classroom debate
is effective towards students’ speaking skill.
.
Keywords: Classroom Debate, Speaking Skill.

iv

ABSTRAK

Nuraeni, Siti (109014000104). Keefektifan Debat Kelas untuk Meningkatkan

Kemampuan Berbicara Siswa (Penelitian Kuasi-Experimen terhadap Siswa
Kelas Sebelas SMAN 3 Tangerang Selatan). Skripsi jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa
Inggris, Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif
Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2014.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat keefektifan debat kelas untuk
meningkatkan kemampuan berbicara siswa. Sample penelitian ini adalah siswa
kelas sebelas SMAN 3 Tangerang Selatan dengan jumlah 28 siswa setiap
kelasnya. Siswa kelas XI IPA6 sebagai kelas kontrol dan XI IPA5 sebagai kelas
eksperimen. Keefektifan debat kelas dapat dilihat dari nilai kompetensi berbicara
bahasa Inggris siswa.
Penulis menggunakan metode kuantitatif dan disain kuasi-eksperimen
sebagai metode penelitiannya dengan convenience sampling sebagai teknik
pengambilan sample. Instrumen penelitian ini adalah tes lisan yang menggunakan
rubrik The Students Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) untuk menilai
kompetensi berbicara bahasa Inggris siswa.
Hasil penelitian ini ditunjukan oleh penghitungan tes hipotesis statistik
dimana pada signifikasi 5%, tvalue yaitu 4.37 dan ttable yaitu 1.68 sehingga tvalue >
ttable. Oleh karena itu, H0 ditolak dan H1 diterima yang berarti bahwa terdapat
perbedaan sigifikan pada pencapaian nilai kompetensi berbicara bahasa Inggris
siswa yang mendapat perlakuan debat kelas dan tidak mendapat perlakuan debat

kelas. Penerapan debat kelas dapat meningkatkan nilai kompetensi berbicara
bahasa Inggris siswa sehingga terdapat efek positif dari debat kelas terhadap
kemampuan berbicara siswa. Debat kelas terbukti efektif terhadap kemapuan
berbicara siswa.

Kata kunci: Debate Kelas, Kemampuan Berbicara

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, The Beneficent and The Merciful

All praises be to Allah for the blessing, the strength, and the guidance given to
the writer in completion this research. peace and blessing be upon to the prophet
Muhammad SAW, his family, his companion, and his adherence.
It is an honor that the writer could finally accomplish a skripsi entitled “The
Effectiveness of Debate to Improve Students’ Speaking Skill (A Quasi-Experimental
Study at the Eleventh Year Students of SMAN 3 South Tangerang)”. She dedicated
this skripsi to her beloved parents and sisters for the eternal love, pray and support.

Furthermore, the writer would particularly thank to her wonderful advisors Dr.
Fahriany, M.Pd. and Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum, for the guidance, patience, knowledge,
and motivation in helping the writer to accomplish this skripsi. In this occasion, the
writer would like to give the deepest gratitude and salute to:
1. Dra. Nurlena Rifa’i, MA, P.hD. as the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers
Training Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.
2. The Head of Department of English Education, Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. and the
Secretary of Department of English Education, Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum.
3. All lectures in Department of English Education for the precious knowledge,
motivation, and patience during the writer’s study.
4. The Headmaster of SMAN 3 South Tangerang who has given permission of doing
research at the school, Mrs. Tati Erayati, M. Pd. as the English teacher who has
given permission and helped to the writer in conducting a research in her classes,
and the students of XI IPA5 and XI IPA6 as the objects of research who have
been very brilliant.

vi

5. Mr. Juwarso (beloved father) and Mrs. Setianingrum (beloved mother) who
always pray the best, devote an everlasting love, give priceless motivation,

wonderful strenght and trust to the writer. You are the reason of my life.
6. Families, especially the writer’s lovely younger sisters, Siti Amaliyah and Rizki
Mubarokah, who always be the reason of the writer’s struggle. In addition, special
thanks to Mr. Jarukhi, Mr. Sahuri, Mr. Suhaji, Mr. Waridin (beloved uncles),
Mrs. Waimah, Mrs. Subiah (beloved grandmothers), and Mr. Kusen, Mr.
Dulmuin (beloved grandfathers).
7. All of lovely friends of “C2C (Class of PBI C 2009)” in Department of English
Education, thanks for sharing the lovable moments both in sadness and
happiness. My special warm thanks to Arief Rahman and Viona Rosalina who
have become the best friends ever.
8. The big family of UKM BAHASA-FLAT UIN Jakarta especially for the
committee board of 2013-2014 who have been the second family of the writer.
FLAT is one of the best parts of her life.
9. To anyone who gives contribution to the writer that cannot be mentioned one by
one.
Finally the writer truly realizes that this skripsi cannot be considered as a perfect
masterpiece. Therefore, it is an honor for her to get suggestion and criticism for good.

Jakarta, July 7th 2014


Siti Nuraeni

vii

TABLE OF CONTENT

APPROVAL LETTER ..................................................................................

i

ENDORSEMENT SHEET ............................................................................

ii

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY …………………………….. .......

iii

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................


iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................

vi

TABLE OF CONTENT .................................................................................

viii

LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................

x

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................

xi

LIST OF APPENDICES ...............................................................................


xii

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study .............................................

1

B. Identification of the Problem .......................................

4

C. Limitation of the Problem ...........................................

4

D. Formulation of the Problem ........................................


4

E. Objective of the Study .................................................

5

F. Significance of the Study ............................................

5

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Classroom Debate........................................................

6

1. The Understanding of Classroom Debate .............

6


2. The Objective of Classroom Debate .....................

8

3. The Components of Classroom Debate .................

10

4. Format and Steps to Run Classroom Debate .........

14

5. Rules of Classroom Debate ...................................

17

B. Speaking ......................................................................

19

1. The Understanding of Speaking ............................

20

2. The Objectives of Speaking ..................................

22

viii

3. The Elements of Speaking .....................................

22

4. Teaching Speaking and Speaking Activities in the

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

Classroom ..............................................................

23

5. Types of Speaking Test .........................................

25

6. Scoring Speaking Test ...........................................

28

C. Relevant Study……………………………………….

33

D. Conceptual Framework ...............................................

34

E. Hypothesis ...................................................................

35

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Place and Time of the Study........................................

36

B. Method and Research Design ......................................

36

C. The Population and Sample .........................................

37

D. The Research Intrument ..............................................

37

E. The Techniques of Data Collecting .............................

43

F. The Techniques of Data Analysis ...............................

45

RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. The Data Description...................................................

49

B. The Data Analysis .......................................................

57

C. Discussion ...................................................................

67

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion ...................................................................

71

B. Suggestion ...................................................................

72

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................

73

APPENDICES ................................................................................................

76

ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1

The National Certificate Descriptive Scale .............................. 29

Table 2.2

The Students Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) .. 31

Table 3.1

Blueprint of the Research Instrument ....................................... 39

Table 4.1

The Average Score of Five Speaking Components of
Experimental Class ................................................................... 52

Table 4.2

The Final Score of Pre-test and Post-test of Experimental Class
.................................................................................................. 53

Table 4.3

The Average Score of Five Speaking Components of Control
Class ......................................................................................... 55

Table 4.4

The Final Score of Pre-test and Post-test of Control CLass .... 56

Table 4.5

The Frequency Distribution of Pre-test Score of Experimental
Class ......................................................................................... 57

Table 4.6

The Frequency Distribution of Pre-test Score of Control Class
.................................................................................................. 59

Table 4.7

The Frequency Distribution of Post-test Score of Experimental
Class ......................................................................................... 60

Table 4.8

The Frequency Distribution of Post-test Score of Control Class
.................................................................................................. 62

Table 4.9

The Normality Test of Pre-test ................................................. 63

Table 4.10

The Normality Test of Post-test ............................................... 64

Table 4.11

The Homogenity Test of Pre-test ............................................. 64

Table 4.12

The Homogenity Test of Post-test ............................................ 65

Table 4.13

The Result of Statistical Hypothesis of Post-test of Experimental
Class and Control Class............................................................ 66

x

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1

The Physical Layout of Classroom Debate .............................. 10

Figure 2.2

The Format of Classrom Debate .............................................. 15

Figure 4.1

The Diagram of Frequency Distribution of Pre-test Score for
Experimental Class .................................................................. 58

Figure 4.2

The Diagram of Frequency Distribution of Pre-test Score for
Control Class ............................................................................ 59

Figure 4.3

The Diagram of Frequency Distribution of Post-test Score for
Experimental Class ................................................................... 61

Figure 4.4

The Diagram of Frequency Distribution of Post-test Score for
Control Class ............................................................................ 62

xi

LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1

The Students Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) .. 76

Appendix 2

The Students’ Scores ................................................................ 78

Appendix 3

The Frequency Distribution Calculation of Pre-test................. 92

Appendix 4

The Frequency Distribution Calculation of Post-test ............... 96

Appendix 5

The Normality of Pre-test ......................................................... 100

Appendix 6

The Normality of Post-test ....................................................... 103

Appendix 7

The Homogenity of Pre-test ..................................................... 106

Appendix 8

The Homogenity of Post-test .................................................... 108

Appendix 9

The Statistical Hypothesis Test Calculation ............................. 110

Appendix 10

The Instrument of Pre-test and Post-test .................................. 113

xii

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the Study
English has become the most common foreign language used for
communication among people who do not speak the same first language.
According to Anderson, Maclean and Lynch that “English is now by far the most
frequently used language in International conference. Increasingly, it is the only
official language.”1 It means that English is important to learn because it is very
needed as the medium of communication. Learning English will facilitate people
to get through the world information. In order to participate in international
communnities, the need of English learning has increased in many countries
included in Indonesia. That is why English has been taught as a compulsory
subject of education level in Indonesia
In English learning, students have to master four language skills. Those
are listening, speaking, reading and writing. The four skills are important but
speaking seems intuitively the most important one because speaking skill
represents a real challenge to most language learners.2 Speaking skill serves the
students to be able to commuicate their opinion, feeling and expression with no
limitation of different native language, culture or country. Students can express
themselves and learn how to follow social and cultural rules appropriate in any
communicative circumstance. In addition, they can prepare themselves to gain
more challange for applying better job, enrolling competitive university, or
participating in international communities. By those reasons, the writer assumed
that speaking is crucial for English learning.
Students like to evaluate their English ability as they see how well they
improve their spoken proficiency. The condition is related to the objective of
1

Kenneth Anderson, Joan Maclean and Tony Lynch, Study Speaking A course is Spoken
English for Academic Purposes (Second Edition), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004), p. 18
2
Scott Thornbury, How to Teach Speaking, (Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited,
2005), p. iv

1

2

English learning for students. The obejctives of English learning in Indonesia is
based on curriculum of KTSP 2006 (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan). The
objective of English learning is stated on competence standard and based
competence of KTSP. One of learning objectives of English subject in KTSP is to
improve communicative competence including spoken communication.3 It means
that speaking skill is needed to measure students’ ability for English subject. The
objectives of speaking skill for senior high school can be seen at the indicators of
English syllabus. Based on the English syllabus, the objectives of speaking skills
are enabling students in:
1. Using and responding expressing of attitude, love, sadness, embarassment,
anger.
2. Identifying and responding expressiong of annoyance.
3. Using past continous tense in extending narrative and spoof.
4. Doing monolog in narrative form.
5. Using modals auxiliaries “should” in giving suggestion.
6. Debating.4
The objectives above allow students to learn expressing of attitude, love,
sadness, embarassment, anger, annoyance, functional texts in their daily
conversation, and debating.
Based on the writer’s experience in teaching senior high school, the writer
found that students have problem to learn English subject. Especially for speaking
skill, students have problem in performing speech. Because most of students show
less scores for speaking, it is important to fix the problem. The writer classified
the

problem

into

pronunciation,

grammar,

vocabulary,

fluency,

and

comprehension because those are indicators of assessing speaking based on the
Students Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM).5 First is comprehension;
Students are not able to comprehend the message clearly, even in the simple
3

Badan Standar National Pendidikan, Kurikulum, Standar isi untuk satuan Pendidikan
Dasar dan Menengah, (Jakarta:2006), p.14
4
MGMP Bahasa Inggris, English Syllabus, (South Tangerang: SMAN 3 South
Tangerang, 2013), pp. 1 – 19
5
San Jose U.S.D., Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, (California: Bilingual
Education Office of the California Department of Education, 2013), p. 2

3

English conversation. Second is fluency; Students found that their speech is
halting when they speak English. They cannot handle the situation and they find
hard to grope the next words to speak. Third is vocabulary; Students feel difficult
to chose the correct words to express their mind because English contains many
words with differerent usage. Fourth is pronunciation; Students feel difficult to
pronounce many English words since English has alot of words with no clear
rules to pronounce them in one kind. Fifth is grammar; Students feel difficult to
use correct English grammatical rules directly when they speak. Since our first
language does not have grammatical rules for different situation so it makes
students feel confused to use English grammar.
After clasifying the problem, the writer looked for the solution. Based on
the writer’s experience as a debater, students who joined English debate club
would produce better speech and actively involved in discussion. It is because
students get more practices, peers, exposures and activities that encourage them to
speak up. Classroom debate trains students to have pairs in speaking, group and
individual work. It allows students to form groups of two or four in which they
will share the responsibility of getting the job done and doing the planning,
preparation and presentation of their accumulated information as a team. Students
can give the better speech when they can organize their presentation sequentially,
chronologically and thematically. Through classrooom debare, students will
practice to organize their speech including their comprehension, fluency,
vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar around problems and solutions, causes
and results, and similarities and differences.
Concerning the problems above and the advantages of classroom debate,
the writer decided to bring the idea of classroom debate as a treatment to improve
the students’ speaking skill. The writer only focuses on the five areas of assessing
speaking skill that are comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation and
grammar because those areas contain indicators of students speaking progress.

4

B. Identification of the Problem
Based on the English syllabus for eleventh year students of senior high
school, the writer identified the students’ problems in speaking skill in as follows:
1. Pronunciation; Students feel difficult to produce the right pronunciation in
learning some English expression such as attitude, love, anger, annoyance.
2. Grammar; Students feel difficult to use grammatical rules based on the
situations such as telling the case in narrative using simple past tense,
using the right article or preposition, etc.
3. Vocabulary; Students admit that they have limits vocabulary to produce
speech such as monolog in narrative form or debate with peers. Since
English contains many words with differerent usage, the students should
use the appropriate words to support their message.
4. Fluency; Students found that their speech is halting when they speak
English. It may happen when students are telling long speech such as
extending the case in narrative. They still have to grope words to speak
more.
5. Comprehension; Students cannot understand the message well such as
being difficult to understand the meaning of some English expression and
to differ the meaning from another expression. Students also need more
repetition to get the message when they communicate.

C. Limitation of the Problem
To clarify the problem, it is necessary to make limitation of the problem. The
writer limits the problem in the effectiveness of classroom debate towards
students’ speaking skill. In this case, the writer focused on the areas of
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension that affect to
speaking skill.

D. Formulation of the Problem
The writer has formulated the problem as follow:
“Is classroom debate effective to improve students’ speaking skill in the eleventh
year of SMAN 3 South Tangerang”

5

E. The Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is to find out the empirical evidence whether or not
classroom debate is effective to improve students’ speaking skill.

F. The Significance of the Study
By doing the research, the writer expected to give valuable contributions
to teacher, students, school and other readers. For teachers, the writer hopes this
research will help to solve the students’ problem in their pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension so teacher can raise the speaking ability
and achieve the English standard (KKM). For students, this study will help to
improve their speaking ability. Besides, the students can find the ways to end the
difficulties in their English learning. It will help to know their speaking skill after
taught by applying debate. For the school, this study will help to improve the
implementation of KTSP curriculum and elaboration of students’ competence,
help to improve and solve problems of students’ education.

CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Classroom Debate
1. The Understanding of Classroom Debate
The idea of classroom debate is basically from the concept of debate
competition among schools. Debate is well enough known as arguing ideas
between two opposite sides. In school environment, debate is well known as an
English competition among students in which the students are representatives
from their schools. Debate demands students to be able to defend their opinions so
it requires good ability to speak English well.
As Quinn said in his book, Debating, debating gives you the chance to
meet new people and new ideas. Best of all, you have the opportunity to stand up
and argue with someone in public, in a stimulating and organized dispute about
real issues.1 It means that debate facilitates students to discuss their ideas and try
to convince people. Debating is an important and interesting way to discuss issues
facing our society. Students have to speak with some evidences and defend their
opinions to win the debate. Debate allows students to know many different people
with different ideas.
Another opinion comes from Mulholland that in a formal debate, a strong
developed personal need and strong social preference are presented for
manageable agreement and disagreement. The two are intertwined and affect the
formulation of a very high proportion of speech behaviors produced in
interaction.2 It means that debate has a huge amount of interaction role among
people because people want a confession of ideas about agreement or
diagreement. In presenting the confession, the deabaters will strongly show their
characteristic of speech behaviors during interaction.

1

2005) p.1
2

Simon R. Quinn, Debating, (Brisbane: International Debate Education Association,
Joan Mulholland, The Language of Negotiation, (London: Routledge, 2002), pp.67 – 68

6

7

Hooley stated that debate is a course for future and an investment in our
children as productive and strong world citizens. Debate is an advanced civics and
political science class because the debaters must learn exactly how our
governance system can help us in securing and maintaining a better life.3 It means
that debate can help the students to learn how to be critical and productive citizens
in society. As the goverment side, the positive team is frequently asked to
advocate federal action in solving a problem. The students should give their
arguments, defend their opinions, and show the evidence to support the solution
given. It needs logical and critical consideration to decide in what ways they solve
the problem.
Last opinion comes from Osborne. She stated that classroom debate is a
particularly effective way of working toward the goals of personal development
and preparation for citizenship. It helps students learn to participate in the
academic conversation and in turn in the public discourse of our democratic
society as well.4 It means that debate effectively helps students to develop their
personal characteristic to be better students in the classroom and better prepared
citizens. They learn how to be respectful by giving appropriate judgements
towards around issues. This statement abviously support the previous opinion
from Hooley that debate naturally develop the students’ personal ability to be
better and strong citizens.
Based on opinions above, the writer assumes that debate is a more
commmunicative interaction that involves opposite point of views and builds
critical and strong characteristics. Debate can be an arguing, presenting, and
defending point of view and evidence. In the form of classroom debate, it presents
opportunities for students to engage and use extended chunks of language for a
purpose to convincingly defend one side of an issue. Debate helps students to
enrich their vocabulary through criticizing and comprehending the issues. In
convicing their ideas, students need to present it fluently and grammatically
3

Diana Hooley, Speaking My Mind: The Importance of High School Debate, The English
Journal, 96, 2007, pp. 18 – 19
4
Anne Osborne, Debate and Student Development in the History Classroom, New
Directios for Teaching and Learning, 103, 2005, p.40

8

correct so people can strongly believe and support their ideas. Besides that,
presenting the ideas with clear pronunciation is also important to deliver the
message correctly. Classroom debate helps students to develop their personal oral
production and teamwork ability. If we can speak publicly and convey our ideas
and thoughts coherently and passionately, we will hold a valuable tool for our
public, private and future life.
2. The Objective of Classroom Debate
Some people believe in debate as training for law or politics. Actually for
the vast majority of debaters, participating in debate is about training for everyday
life. Debating can be the ultimate multi-task school activity since it involves
research, writing, speaking, listening, and teamwork. Adapted from a journal by
Kennedy, debate as an active instructional strategy is aimed to enhance learning
particularly in the areas of mastering the content and active engagement,
developing critical thinking skills, oral communication skills, and empathy.
a. Mastering the content and active engagement. Students learn more
effectively by actively analyzing, discussing, and applying content in
meaningful ways rather than by passively absorbing information. Students
learn best when applying what they are learning. Teachers need to use a
variety of instructional strategies since students learn in different ways. In
the class, debate cultivates active engagement of students and placing the
responsibility of comprehension for individual and teamwork. Debate
encourages students to re-read and re-think both their own and the
opposing position more intensely than is necessary to repeat lecture
material. The students’ approach dramatically changes from a passive
approach to an active one. Through debate, students can improve their
comprehension toward the issues.
b. Developing critical thinking skills. Because debate requires listeners and
participants to evaluate ideas, it develops higher-order psychological
functions as well as critical thinking skills. The lower order thinking skills
of knowledge, comprehension, and application focus on rote learning or
what students should think, whereas the higher order thinking skills of

9

analysis, synthesis, and evaluation focus on how to think. The short-term
objective of acquiring knowledge should be tempered with the long term
goal of training. Critical thinking skills used in a debate include defining
the problem, assessing the credibility of sources, identifying and
challenging assumptions, recognizing inconsistencies, and prioritizing the
relevance and salience of various points within the overall argument.
These skills require more vocabulary mastery so students are encouraged
to enrich their vocabulary of related issues.
c. Oral communication skills. Students with debate experience are
significantly better at employing the three communication skills (analysis,
delivery, and organization) utilized in this study than students without
experience. Participants also must hone their listening skills in order to
give effective rebuttals. There are many apparent reasons for the success
of debate as a method of teaching oral communication. First, the debater
has access to a trained and experienced communication professional coach
in preparing their speeches. Second, each speech that he or she gives is
judged by a communication professional in the forensics community. The
students receive extensive criticism and feedback and are measured against
established educational standards so they have to show fluent explanation,
exact pronunciation and use correct grammar. Implementing classroom
debate can help students to achieve over the standards.
d. Developing empathy. Debate opens opportunities for development of
empathy. When students go to debate they listen to both sides of the
argument. They do see both sides, rather than just seeing it from one point
of view. Lecturers tend to have their own opinion, so in this way students
hear both sides of the argument. Debate is one way to minimize instructor
bias. When students defend a position they oppose, they must at least
temporarily transcend their own bias. By learning both sides of a
controversial topic, students are more open-minded and better able to see

10

another person’s view debate also provides opportunities for developing
empathy as students give consideration to various viewpoints.5
3. Components of Classroom Debate
Classroom debate has some components. There are common components
of classroom debate such

as, the venue, the motion, the team members,

chairperson, speaking times and time keeper, interjections, adjudication, and the
audience.
a) The venue. The venue should seat the audience. It is recommend to have
two tables at the front for each of the two teams, and one for the
chairperson. The timekeeper should sit next to the chairperson. The
participants who become chairperson, timekeeper, adjudicators and team
members should be all from the students in order to make them know
different positions and jobs in classroom debate. Simple layout of
classroom debate can be apparently seen in following figure.
Figure 2.1. The Physical Layout of Classroom Debate
(adapted from Step by Step Guide to Debate and modified by the writer )6
6
2

Details:
1: Teacher

3

2: Positive Team
3: Negative Team

4: Adjudicators (students)
1

4

5

5: Time keeper and
Chairperson
6: Speech point

7

5

7: Audience

Ruth Kennedy, In-Class Debates: Fertile Ground for Active Learning and the
Cultivation of Critical Thinking and Oral Communication Skills, International Journal of
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 19, 2007, pp. 183 – 185
6
Karen Davidson, Pat Thalheimer, and Rolf Pritchard, Guide to Introducing Speech and
Debate in the Classroom, (Alberta: Alberta Debate and Speech Association, 2012), p.18

11

b) The Motion. The topic of debate called motion. Motions may also be
referred as a proposition or resolution. Motions are statement that can be
agreed with or disagreed with (debatable). They can be fun, interesting,
local, national or international importance. The team that wins is the team
that manages to persuade the adjudicators and audience that the arguments
of their side are better. If the affirmative wins, we say that the motion
stands. When the negative wins, we say that the motion is over-ruled. A
motion should be The examples of motions are:
-

This House Believe That (THBT) National Examination Should be
Deleted as Graduation Standard.

-

This House Would (THW) ban school uniform.

c) The Speakers. Classroom debate uses 2 speakers for each team. After
being assigned the motion, the team should discuss together to prepare for
debate. During their meetings, they should analyze the motion, brainstorm
and divide points of arguments so the speakers must work out together as a
team. Each speaker has different jobs for each stage in a classroom debate
(presentation, rebuttal, response, and summary stage). The following
points are the jobs of speakers in a classrom debate, adapted from
Debating: Introduction for Beginners. For detail descriptions, see
appendix 10.
a. Presentation
-

1st speaker of positive team: introduction, definition and
interpretation, introduction of speakers (also called team split),
Giving argument, reasons and evidence, summary of own case, and
conclusion.

-

1st speaker of negative team: introduction, definition of motion:
agree, amend, or reject definition of positive. If reject then justify,
Rebuttal for 1st speaker, introduction of speakers (also called team
split). Giving argument, reasons and evidence. Summary of own
case.Conclusion.

12

b. Rebuttal
-

2nd speaker of positive team: introduction, response the rebuttal
from 1st speaker of negative team, rebuttal for 1st speaker of
negative team, summary of own first speaker (optional), giving
arguments, reasons, and evidence, summary of team case and
conclusion.

-

2nd speaker of negative team: introduction, response for rebuttal
from 2nd speaker of positive team, rebuttal for 1st or/and 2nd speaker
of positive team, summary of own first speaker (optional), giving
arguments, reasons, and evidence, summary of team case, and
conclusion.

c. Response
-

1st speaker of positive team: give response of rebuttal from negative
team, give rebuttal the 1st and 2nd speakers of negative team,
rebuild the case of the team, and no new argument.

-

1st speaker of negative team: give response of rebuttal from
positive team, give rebuttal the 1st and 2nd speakers of positive
team, rebuild the case of the team, and no new argument.

d. Summary
-

2nd speaker of positive team: summarize the whole team case,
convince the adjudicator why positive should win the debate by
summarizing the debate without bringing any new argument, and
no rebuttal in summary

-

2nd speaker of negative team: summarize the whole team case,
convince the adjudicator why negative team should win the debate
by summarizing the debate without bringing any new argument, no
rebuttal in summary.

d) Chairperson. The Chairperson of a debate, otherwise known as the Chair,
takes control of a debate. He/she will call the meeting to order, announce
the motion and speaking times, ask for a demonstration of “the timing
sign” from the time keeper, introduce the speakers and be responsible for

13

ensuring that the rules of a debate are followed. Example of chairperson’s
script:
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to today's debate.
The topic for this debate is "................". For the positive this evening
we have (team name) and for the negative this evening we have (team
name). Our adjudictor for this evening is (adjudicator's name)."
"The speaking times this evening will be (minimum speaking time) to
(maximum speaking time). There will be a knock at (minimum
speaking time) minutes [timekeeper demonstrates the knock] and a
second knock at (maximum speaking time) minutes [timekeeper
demonstrates the knock]."
"I would now like to call the first speaker of the affirmative (speaker's
name) to open the debate."
"I would now like to call the first speaker of the negative (speaker's
name) to open the case for the negative."
[continue in a similar manner throughout the debate]
[at the end of the debate]
"I would now like to call the adjudicator (adjudicator's name) to give
the decision on tonight's debate."
On behalf of the debating organization, I thank the Judges and the
Timekeeper for their assistance; I congratulate all of the debaters on
their performances; and I hope that all spectators enjoyed the event. I
declare this debate officially concluded
e) Speaking Times and Timekeeper. Speaking times vary from debate to
debate. It is usually maximum of 4-minutes speeches and a minimum of 2minute speeches. The length of all the speeches need not be the
same. There is a timekeeper at each debate with a stopwatch and a bell or
sign (knock). Single knock after 1 minute, double knock in 30 seconds
before the end of time and triple knoks when time is up. Note that marks
are deducted if there is an overtime, which the timekeeper should
announce right after the speaker’s delivery, in order to inform the

14

adjudicators. For an example, a time keeper says “The first speaker from
positive team spent 3 minutes and 30 seconds”.
f) Interjections. We recommend to allow interjections, or floor questions. If
interjections are permitted, the chairperson should make it clear that
interjections should be short, sharp and to the point. Speakers are required
to answer the questions immediately, with a time limit of 15 seconds.
While questions may be directed specifically to a speaker, anyone in the
team may answer the question. It is commonly known as POI (Point of
Information) and it starts after 1 minute speech (after the time keeper
knocked once).
g) Adjudication. Adjudicators keep the debate focused and give it a
conclusion. It is advisable to have a panel of adjudicators with an odd
number of adjudicators. At the end of the debate, a representative from the
adjudication panel will give a brief description of the debate, and some
valuable comments for the debaters. Before the debate starts, adjudicator
usually announces the classroom debate rules to the speakers.
h) The audience. The role of the audience is to enjoy the debate. They should
applaud after the debater has made a speech. They should participate as
any polite audience would, applauding, laughing, and so on at appropriate
times. In this classroom debate, the audiences also have to be convinced
by the speakers’ arguments. In the classroom debate, the audience can be
adjudicators.7
4. Format and Steps to Run Classroom Debate
To run classroom debate, teachers and students need to understand the
essential steps and also the format of debate itself in order to make an effective
debate between opposite teams. Below is the format of classroom debate by
Leuser.

7

, The Debating SA Team, Debating: A Brief Introduction for Beginners (Australia:
Debating SA Incorporated, 2008), pp. 10 – 11

15

Figure 2.2. The Format of Classroom Debate
(This format is adapted from Classroom Debate and modified by the writer)8
1st Speaker of Positive Team

1st Speaker of Negative
Team

2nd Speaker of Positive Team

2nd Speaker of Negative
Team

The order of speaker’s shift in sequence are:
4 minutes Position Presentation – Pro (1st speaker of positive team)
4 minutes Position Presentation – Con (1st speaker of negative team)
1 minute Work Period
4 minutes Rebuttal – Pro (2nd speaker of positive team)
4 minutes Rebuttal – Con (2nd speaker of negative team)
1 minute Work Period
2 minutes Response – Pro (1st speaker of positive team)
2 minutes Response – Con (1st speaker of negative team)
1 minute Work Period
2 minutes Position Summary – Con (2nd speaker of negative team)
2

minutes Position Summary – Pro (2nd speaker of positive team)
3 minutes Tallying of Ballots/Announcement of Winner

Apparently, there are some serial steps to run a classroom debate that need
to be done by the teacher.
1) Prepare guidelines and a set of rules to assist students as they prepare for
the debate.
2) Include a time frame in which they have to prepare for the debate and how
they are to present their material.

8

David M. Leuser, Classroom Debate, (New Hampshire: Plymouth State University,
2003), p. 14

16

3) Allow non-debate students to be adjudicators to help them learn how to be
objective in rating their peers’ performance.
4) Determine if non-debating students will be allowed to vote.
5) Provide resources which will help students learn about debates and their
structure. Consider holding a practice debate to help students understand
the process.
6) Consider having students prepare brief “position papers” which also
includes their reaction to the debate process and how they were able to
reach consensus in their team’s arguments.
7) Select the format you plan to use: teams, individual students, all students
(see format above).
8) Research controversial, news-breaking and stimulating topics to encourage
dynamic and energized classroom discussion. Students are more likely to
be authentic when they debate a subject to which they can relate.
9) Review the debate process previously established and ask for questions
and clarifications on the day of the debate,
10) Prepare rating rubrics and distribute to adjudicators before the debate
begins.
11) Begin the debate, giving students as much autonomy as possible
12) Facilitate classroom discussion and debrief the process at the end of the
debate.
13) Distribute both student and instructor evaluations to the teams.
14) Have a plan in place if the debate gets “hot” and students argue instead of
debate. Review guidelines before the debate begins to minimize
inappropriate discussion and behavior. Also, getting to know your students
through observation and actively listening to their classroom conversations
can provide helpful information when selecting topics for debate.

17

15) Debates can be video-taped for students (can be used for self-assessment,
peer-assessment of the performance among students, and for teachers to
give some feedback to students). 9
5. Rules of Classroom Debate
There are some rules for debaters during the classroom debate. Teachers
are demanded to make clear the rules to the students before the debate. These
following rules are adapted from English Debate Sonic Linguistic 2010 and
considered with the terms of classroom debate.
a) Classroom debate consists of debate teams (positive and negative team),
jury, chairperson, audience and time keeper.
b) The topic is called motion and it will be decided after the teams settled
c) The debate will run:
-

Presentation (1st speaker) : 4 minutes

-

Rebuttal (2nd speaker)

: 4 minutes

-

Response (1st speaker)

: 2 minutes

-

Summary (2nd speaker)

: 2 minutes

d) The teams have to write their team members and speaker position in a
paper then give it to the chairperson
e) Time keeper will catch the time of speaker and announce it after the
speaker done the speech
f) The debaters have 10 minutes for case building (actually they are also
already know the motion several days before the debate)
g) Any Print material, data, newspaper, books are allowed during the case
building but these are not allowed to be brought with while the debaters
are speaking
h) Any kind of communication tools should be turned off or in silent mode
i) Debaters are not allowed to use their cell phones during the debate
j) POI (Point of Information) is allowed after 1 minute speech and it has 15
minutes length.
9

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Organize-a-Classroom-Debate&id=4132815, accessed
on March 31st 2012, 18:04

18

k) POI is only allowed during presentation, rebuttal and response stages, by
raising hands.
l) Debaters have to give response to POI given whether rejecting or
accepting.
m) Note that no new information may be introduced during the summary.
Doing so, may result in disqualification of the offending group.
n) Debaters are not allowed to humiliate or producing bad words in their
speech.
o) The winner will be determined by voting from the audience and decision
from jury.
p) Every student in the class is pleased to be cooperated to flow the debate well.
q) The debate should sportively run a friendly competition. 10

10

Students Council of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri Insan Cendekia Serpong, English Debate:
Sonic Linguistic 2010, (South Tangerang: Madrasah Aliyah Insan Cendekia, 2010), p. 3

19

B. Speaking
1. The Understanding of Speaking
People produce their speech to express their ideas to build communication.
Mostly by speaking, people are engaged to discuss, criticize, and other possible
ways of interaction. A good speaking will bring the speaker and the listener to
process the message clearly. Since speaking skill becomes that significant, this
skill has been considered as one of main skills in learning English.
Louma stated that “Speaking in a foreign language is very difficult........to
speak in a foreign language learners must master the sound system of the
language, have almost instant access to appropriate vocabulary and be able to put
words together intelligibly with minimal hesitation. In addition, they must also
understand what is being said to them, and be able to respond appropriately to
maintain amicable relations or to achieve their communicative goals”.11 Students
have difficulties to speak English well because they have problem to achieve
speaking components (comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation, and
grammar). The message cannot be achieved and the communication cannot be
maintained if students make mistake in producing speech. In other words, students
need to get more exposure and practices to train their speech production.
According to Brown, “Speaking is a productive skill that can be directly
and empirically observed”.12 Students produce their speech to communicate.
When students produce their speech, there are some points can be measured.
Using some scales of assessing speaking, those points can be interpreted in the
form of empirical data. Observing students’ speech can be done directly that is by
face to face between the observer and the students. For additional tools, some
observers use tape recorder to record students’ speech during the assessment. This
recording is used to make sure whether or not the scoring is effective.
Based on some definitions above, it can be summarized that speaking is a
verbal communication that involved oral production of language to share or

11

Sari Louma, Assessing Speaking, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). p. ix
H. Douglas Brown, Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices, (New
York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2004). p. 140.
12

20

express ideas, to negotiate, or establish social relationship and friendship.
Speaking has particular goals and components so people can maintain the
communication. Speaking can be measured empirically when the process of
transferring information is effectively done.
2. The Objectives of Speaking
Speaking is the main part in which people communicate in their daily life.
The main goal of speaking is definitely to express their feelings. The objectives of
teaching speaking for senior high school in Indonesia are enabling students t

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