the English teacheridentified the existing p roblems related to students’ speaking
ability and select the feasible problems that were possible to be solved.
2. Planning for the action
Before conducting the research, the researcher carried out observations in the classroom and interviews in order to obtain information and description of the
teaching and learning process of reading. Then, the researcher and English teacher identified the existing problems related to the teaching and learning process of
speaking and select the most feasible problems which possible to be solved. After the researcher identified the problem, the researcher and the English
teacher prepared some possible plans covering other research members’ opinion,
suggestion, expectation, and test result to solve the problems. The teacher ’s
opinion and suggestion were obtained through interview, whereas the students’ expectation and test result were obtained through interviews and documents. The
plans are aimed to improve the students’ speaking skills through Talking Chips strategy.
The plans included implementing elements in Talking Chips which are determining a question or topic that will be discussed in a group discussion, and
also bring poker chips, playing cards, or simply gathering a sufficient number of paper clips, pencils, chalk, or other available items to serve as token. In
implementing those elements, this research was conducted in two cycles. Each cycle represented some Talking Chips activities which aimed to help the students
improving their abilities in speaking.
3. Actions and Observation
After planning the actions, the English teacher and the researcher carried out the actions in the classroom. During the implementation of the action research,
the English teacher became the collaborator and observer who observe and help the researcher in the teaching and learning process. Besides, the researcher
became the teacher who conducts the processes of English teaching and learning in order to know the success of the actions to i
mprove students’ speaking ability and also the problems occur during the implementation process. The actions were
implemented in two cycles. Cycle I was conducted in three meetings while Cycle II was also carried out in three meetings.
4. Reflecting
With regard to the implementation processes, the team members evaluated the result of the implementation. The researcher made a depth conclusion about
the effectiveness of the action and the problems occured while the action was being implemented. This evaluation was aimed to write the report of the research.
This was also useful to show the effectiveness of the actions conducted in the learning processes. If the actions were considered successful, they would be
continued to the next action. However, if the actions were unsuccessful, the next cycle would be implemented considering the previous reflection.
5. Developing new plan and cycle
After conducting the first cycle and evaluating the result, some ideas as what to do next began to be clear. Then, researcher and the English teacher
developed new plan and actions to be implemented in the next cycle, so that the changes can be noted systematically over periods.
Figure 1. Cyclical Action Research Model by Kemmis and McTaggart 1988
C. Research Subjects
The subjects of the study were grade VIIA students of SMPN 1 Trucuk, the English teacher who acted as the collaborator and the researcher. There were
18 male students and 10 female students who took part in the research. The reason of taking the students is because they were the first grade students who have low
