Type of the Research Setting of the Research Subjects of the Research

40

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter presents the methods used in this research. They consist of type of the research, research setting, subjects of the research, type of data, instruments and data collection techniques, 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

The research conducted was Action Research. According to Burns 2010, action research is a self-reflective, systematic and critical approach to enquiry by participants who are at the same time members of the research community. The aim is to identify problematic situations or issues considered by the participants to be worthy of investigation in order to bring about critically informed changes in practice. Action research is underpinned by democratic principles in that ownership of change is invested in those who conduct the research. In other words, the central idea of Action Research is to solve the problematic situation and to bring about changes and better improvements in practice. In this research study, the researcher directly participated in the research in order to solve the problems existed in the teaching and learning process of speaking and to bring improvements to the students’ speaking skills of grade VIII students of SMP Negeri 2 Godean through pictures.

B. Setting of the Research

The research took place in SMP Negeri 2 Godean. SMP Negeri 2 Godean is located in Sidomoyo, Godean, Sleman, Yogyakarta. The school has 12 classes and each class consists of 30 to 36 students who come from the low to middle-class economic backgrounds. The total number of the students are 398. Grade VII consists of 128 students, grade VIII consists of 129 students, and grade IX consists of 141 students. The school has employed 31 teachers and 2 counselling teachers. The research study was conducted in the first semester of the academic year of 2013 2014. It was done from September to October, 2013, starting from the preliminary observation to the implementation of the use of pictures to improve the speaking skills of Grade VIII students of SMP Negeri 2 Godean.

C. Subjects of the Research

The research study involved students of VIII C class as the subjects of the research. The class consisted of 32 students 16 male students and 16 female students. They were about 13 - 14 years old.

D. Types of Data