Correlation between Students’ Learning Style x

111 correlation is high. Supported by the scatter plot, the direction of the plots is positive because it goes up to the right side. From the previous result, then H is rejected and H 1 is accepted. The degree of correlation is high meaning that English speaking abilities play significant role in supporting the result of academic performance. The correlation indicates that the circumstance, materials, and activities of English speaking ability and academic performance should be organized in similar framework considering the comfortable situation of the students. Students’ understanding in English learning plays important role to have effective English learning process to support oral communication. Shumin 2002 states that learning English as the second or foreign language depends in how and when the language is used for different situation of communication. In this case, the students have to understand the culture of the language use in order not to only understand the language form but also the language practice. The role of teacher to manage English speaking activities so that the students are able to deliver the messages o f their speaking relates to degree of students’ understanding in English speaking. The teacher should also provide adequate learning materials so that the students have variations to improve their speaking abilities Richards 1990. The situation of English speaking activities and academic performance determines how the students face their physical condition. Cambridge Academic Reporter 2003 states that academic performance is identical with examination performance. At school, academic performance takes the biggest percentage in composing the final score of students’ academic achievement report. Therefore, the English teachers need to give thorough explanation that there is no big 112 difference of situation between English speaking activities and academic performance. In addition, since academic performance test is conducted after the speaking activities, then the English teacher need to condition their students to face the format of academic performance test in the English speaking activities. Based on the students’ lived-experiences, as shown in Table 4.14, AR, BA, and DA realize their level of English speaking abilities. AR stated that he could not follow the English speaking activities well so that he did not expect for high result of academic performance I11032014P74P75P76P83AR-LA. BA stated that she just started to like English since she just found the fun in English speaking activities therefore she could not define her academic performance score I11032014P47P59P61BA-LA. DA stated that she liked English so much so that she had fun in English speaking activities and she expected for high score in academic performance I11032014P60P67P73DA-LA. Byrne 1986 states that in order to achieve good speaking competence, the speakers need to be active talking with other speakers. The speakers have to be, at first, good listeners in order to gain the core of the conversation. DA is active at the English lesson so that she can get good academic performance score. AR and BA are not quite active in English lesson so they are not able to get high score in academic performance. The English teacher should coordinate the process of academic performance test with the help of school management by preparing and arranging the clear scoring sheet based on the level of students’ English speaking ability and the learning outcome in the syllabus Cambridge Academic Reporter 2003 113

3. Correlation between Students’ Learning Style x

1 and Speaking Ability x 2 The third problem formulation was whether there was a correlation between s tudents’ learning style x 1 and English speaking ability x 2 . By using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, the result of correlation of students’ learning style x 1 and English speaking ability x 2 was they had correlation because the coefficient of correlation was more than 0,00. With N=30, the correlation coefficient is 0,48 meaning the positive correlation. The degree of correlation is medium. Supported by the scatter plot, the direction of the plots is positive because it goes up. From the previous result, then H is rejected and H 1 is accepted. The degree of correlation is medium meaning there are other aspects determining the result of English speaking ability. The awareness of viewing English as an important subject to learn to support the students’ communication need to be emphasized. Learning experience and learning style are interrelated since they complete each other Harmer 1983; Kolb 1984; Dunn and Dunn 1979. Once the students have various learning experiences, they will be able to formulate their preferred learning style to achie ve better learning achievement. On the other hand, students’ learning style can become the students’ learning experience since the students may change their learning styles when they have to face different learning materials. Burns 1995 states that the level of learning experiences relates to the level of learners’ behavior. In this case, the learners are prosecuted to behave as they are educated people or not. English as the international language, hence, should be learnt contextually based on the culture of the language. Once the 114 students are able to apply English in their daily lives, they will be able to establish wider network or communication. The English teacher should organize English speaking activities based on the students’ need considering the students’ capability in English speaking. Speaking consists of 2 two elements, knowledge and skill Bygate 1987. Both elements relate to the stud ents’ learning experience. If the students face many learning materials and interact with other learners, automatically they gain more knowledge and skill. At first, the students should be able to listen to the explanation of their teachers related to English lesson in order to define the knowledge and skill. Brown 2004 states that speaking ability is observable based on the listening skills of the listeners. It means that being good listeners is the start of good speakers. The way the students learn, then, should pay attention to their English teachers or other learners before they practice their English speaking ability. The shared themes on the interview on section relate to the previous section of the correlation between students’ learning style x 1 and academic performance y since academic performance and English speaking ability cover the same outcome that is achievement score. Therefore, high interest in English study considering the importance of English for global communication is emphasized. After the students are interested with the study of English, then they will formulate the best way to learn English and consequently, they will follow the English speaking activities and gain good results in the activities showing that they have good English speaking abilities.