52 Program, UNY. Their jobs were to record the teaching and learning activity
and also to observe the students’ learning behaviors and improvement. Practically, my first collaborator observed everything happening in the class
by watching the videos taken by my other collaborators. She did not enter the class when I was conducting my research since based on our discussion in a
democratic atmosphere, if she entered the class, she would influence the atmosphere of learning. The students might feel threatened thus their speaking
improvement would be impeded.
B. Research Setting
This action research study was conducted in SMP Negeri 1 Muntilan. This is a Junior High School located at Jalan Pemuda No. 161 Muntilan,
Central Java. Since it was located on the main road, the situation of the classes located on the front part of the school was rather noisy. The school had been
implementing the newest curriculum i.e. the Curriculum 2013. Regarding the facilities provided in the classroom, there were one whiteboard and one
blackboard in every class. Besides, in order to support the teaching and learning process, each class in the school also had board markers, chalks, LCD
projector, and LCD screen. There was one wooden table and one chair for the teacher, and there were also mobile wooden tables and chairs for the students.
In the class in which I conducted my research, all of the facilities but the LCD were in a good condition. In addition to this, a language laboratory with
53 computers, LCD projectors and speakers was available to support the language
learning. Besides, dictionaries were also provided in the school library.
C. Research Subjects
The subjects of this action research study were the students of grade VIII particularly class VIII E of SMP Negeri 1 Muntilan in the Academic Year
20152016. The class consisted of 23 students. Among those 23 students, there were 14 females and 9 males. Their ages were around 13 to 14 years old.
Most of the students in the class were from Central Java particularly Magelang and Muntilan. All of them were native speakers of Bahasa Indonesia.
They learned English as their foreign language. It meant that there was not much exposure of English in their daily life. However, they needed English as
a means to communicate internationally. Based on the interview I had done, the students were interested in
learning English particularly in speaking. They said that they wanted to be able to speak in English fluently because they needed it in their future work field
and international communication in order for them to develop themselves. Therefore, in this action research study, I facilitated the students to improve
their speaking skill.
D. Time of the Research
