Based on the observations, there was no problem with the media which were available in the classroom because there were the LCD and sound systems to
support English learning process. The only problem was that the media were rarely used. In fact, the LCD was really useful to present materials and to give
language inputs like movies and pictures. Therefore, the students asked the researcher to make use the LCD. They also asked the researcher to play movies or
video. The use of the LCD would become a variation of language input besides using English course book that they used every single meeting. It would also be
used for lessen the students’ boredom.
3. Research Problems
Solving the problems was figured out after finding and learning the field problems. In this case, improving students’ speaking ability was the focus of this
research study. The low speaking ability was perceived by the difficulty of students trying to express their ideas in English and trying to give response. The
problem dealing with the difficulty expressing their idea into English was probably caused by the lack of practice. Meanwhile, the difficulty in giving
response was caused by the lack of English comprehension, the ability to understand what the speaker says, or the ability to interpret the speaker’s ideas.
Therefore, they got difficulty in answering the question or doing instruction. In addition, the students seemed very nervous when they were asked to
speak in English. The researcher concluded that it was caused by the lack of confidence, afraid of making mistake, and lack of English performance since they
were not accustomed to speak English.
The other problem dealing with speaking was the pronunciation. They made many pronunciation errors when they tried to speak in English. This case
was not merely found in the observation. The students themselves in an interview confessed that their pronunciation skill was low.
Furthermore, the allocation time for teaching speaking was very little. The English class mainly focused on reading and writing. The teaching and learning
activities were not taught integrated. They was done separately and focused on the textbook without creating the interesting activities. Those problems hindered the
English teaching and learning process from running effectively and successfully so that the researcher needed to solve them.
4. Determining the Actions to Solve the Field Problems
There were many problems which were found during the observations and interviews. Therefore, the actions to solve the problems were discussed and
planned by the researcher and the other research members. The actions focused on the students’ speaking ability considering the fact that students’ speaking ability
was low and it was an important ability to be mastered in learning language. After discussing with the teacher and the research collaborators, the
researcher decided to apply interactive group work activities for the actions in this research. The group work activities were applied to encourage students to interact
each other in the class using English after they got materials in the teaching and learning activities. The interactions were based on the activities that the teacher
delivered. The interactive group work activities were applied during the English
teaching and learning activities from the beginning of the class to the end of the class.
Besides the interactive group work activities, the research also applied some accompanying actions like the use of media and games to support the group
work activities and to encourage the students carrying out the activity. Besides, the media were also used to present the materials which attempted to attract
students’ attention. The implementation of interactive group work activities came up from the
fact that the students’ interaction was very low. Therefore it was aimed at creating interaction in the classroom and to create possibility of using English. The
implementation of media and game came up from the fact that the teacher rarely used the media and games. In an interview, Yulianti, the student of X PM 1,
hoped that the researcher could apply games to make the class interesting and enjoyable. Furthermore, she said that games could also be used for lowering
students’ anxiety without forgetting the essential of learning. The other student, Dinda Monica, said that the use of the LCD also could make the class interesting.
She added that pictures could also be used as an input. Furthermore, to improve the students speaking ability, the researcher also
determined pronunciation drilling as an effort to improve students’ pronunciation. This decision was made because many students mispronounced words both the
familiar words and the unfamiliar ones. The other plan was the use of classroom English during the teaching and learning process. It was aimed at improving the
students’ comprehension. The researcher also planned to use English when
explaining the materials by translating the words in Indonesian language. The use of English in the class was not merely based on the low ability of students’
comprehension perceived by the researcher but it implemented based on the interview with the students. In an interview, a student of X PM 1 named Desi was
willing to be taught English through English with translation. Her statement was supported by Diah, the other student of X PM 1, she said that by listening to
English, she could gradually improve her English proficiency. In terms of applying the English language in English class, Diah suggested that the researcher
should speak loudly and not too fast so that the students could understand what the researcher said.
In short, the problems that found in the class were: the lack of using classroom English, the lack of students’ comprehension in understanding spoken
English, the lack of students’ confidence to speak in English, the lack of classroom interaction, the lack of using media, and the lack of applying interesting
activities. After applying the actions, it was expected that the researcher used classroom English, the students achieved spoken English comprehension, the
students were confident to use English, the students could interact and practice the target language in the teaching and learning activities, the various media were
used to support English class, and interactive group work activities were applied to encourage students in using English.
