49 enthusiastic on debate activities. The researcher gave five out of five points for
this statement. The students were enthusiastic to build some background knowledge from many sources and gave their opinion while debating with other
group. The third statement is students have improvements during the activities. The researcher gave 4.3 out of five points to this statement. The researcher
observed the extracurricular for three times. The students always attended the meetings and make some improvements. They enriched their vocabularies and
spoke more fluently.
B. Discussion
The researcher had explained the findings in the previous section. After getting the findings, the researcher answered the research questions. This session
showed the discussions to answer the research questions.
1. The eleventh grade students’ perception on the use of debate to improve
students’ speaking skills
The data presentation showed that students in SMAN 8 Yogyakarta had positive perceptions on the use of debate to improve students’ speaking skills. All
of the members of debate extracurricular had already experienced debate activities for some months. The
researcher found that the students’ perception on the use of debate activities were same. All of them agreed that debate activities helped them
to improve their speaking skills. It can be seen from questionnaire, interview, and also observations. The students believed that the use of debate activities caused
some benefits. There are some benefits of debate activities that the students could
50 gain.
a. Debate activities taught the students to open their mind about issues One of the reasons why the students decided to join this extracurricular was
they wanted to open their mind to something which were taboo for some people. They wanted to be open-minded students. Kennedy 2007 said that debate
develop empathy, even though the debaters have different perspectives in an issue, they still listen each other. They wanted to discuss some topics which are
taboo and sensitive for most people. They said that some people would be mad to them if they brought up some sensitive topics, such as: LGBT, religions, etc. They
like to discuss many things to other people because they can gain new knowledge from the conversation. The students had opinions that people who like debate are
not conservative, so that they can get something new from them. b.
Debate activities helped the students to develop their attitude while speaking in front public
The students said that they learnt how to speak in front of public. They should deliver their messages to the audience. Also, they paid attention to their
attitudes also because their body language had its own role. Speakers should have competence, integrity, and good will Freely, 1969, p. 240. To lead the audience
that the speakers have those three elements, they should speak properly. In this section, the students should achieve two principles in public speaking. The first
principle is the speech must be well-prepared. The second is all the aspects of
51 public speech content, organization, and delivery should affect the audience
Grice Skinner, 1994, p. 16. The students were trained to prepare their speech’s contents, organize the key ideas, and deliver the message clearly, so that
those two principles can be achieved. c.
Debate activities made the students to follow new issues Debate also forced them to follow new issues. The instructor asked them to
read every day. Read many articles also made them to develop their critical thinking. According to Kennedy 2007 debate develops critical thinking. They
could not absorb the information without reaffirm it. The instructor thought that the students could get much information through many media, such as news
websites, television programs, or social media. However, the students should be selective to read the news because there is much hoax news. Speakers use
supporting materials to get three purpose: clarity, vividness, and credibility Grice Skinner, 1995, p. 154. They should read the news which is from the incredible
sources. The students said that trust-worthy information could help them to support their opinion later. The other reason why they should know the world’s
development was because the topics which are used are parliament topics. Of course, knowing about the new issues was important.
Besides, debate also made the students to repeat the material at home. Five out of eight students repeated the debate materials at home. They reflected their
previous performance and instructor’s evaluation at home. Also, they read any articles that related to the topic, so that they gain new information about the issue.
The students said that repeat the materials at home was important because they
52 got something new about the issue. The knowledge that they got was really useful
in their daily life. They had opinion that everyone should have enough knowledge to survive in this world. The themes which are used in the school debate
competitions are parliamentary themes, so they should follow the world news.
2. Debate activities help students to improve their speaking skills
The students said that they could not speak fluently before joining the extracurricular. The members of debate extracurricular in SMAN 8 Yogyakarta
said that all of them gained some benefits to improve their speaking skills. They said that the debate activities helped them to improve their speaking skills.
a. Debate activities taught the students to make outline before speaking. According to Kennedy 2007, debate gives many experiences for students
to analyze, deliver, and organize speeches quickly and correctly p. 43. Five out of eight students checked strongly agree column and three out of eight students
checked agree column in the questionnaire. All of them agreed that debate activities helped them to improve their speaking skills. Besides, the students said
that debate forced the students to think before speaking. All of students said that they made outlines before speaking. In the interview, students said that it was
impossible to talk in front of public without outline. Nicholls 1990 said that a speaker could start by writing an outline to generate the ideas p. 66.
Debate also forced them to follow new issues. The instructor asked them to read every day. Read many articles also made them to develop their critical
thinking. According to Kennedy 2007 debate develops critical thinking. They
53 could not absorb the information without reaffirm it. The instructor thought that
the students could get much information through many media, such as news websites, television programs, or social media. However, the students should be
selective to read the news because there is much hoax news. According to Grice and Skinner 1994, speakers use supporting materials to get three purpose:
clarity, vividness, and credibility p. 154. They should read the news which is from the incredible sources. The students said that trust-worthy information could
help them to support their opinion later. The other reason why they should know the world’s development was because the topics which are used are parliament
topics. Of course, knowing about the new issues was important. Beside force students to follow the world’s development, debate also made
the students to repeat the material at home. Five out of eight students repeated the debate materials at home. They reflected their previous performance and
instructor’s evaluation at home. Also, they read any articles that related to the topic, so that they gain new information about the issue. The students said that
repeat the materials at home was important because they got something new about the issue. The knowledge that they got was really useful in their daily life. They
had opinion that everyone should have enough knowledge to survive in this world. The themes which are used in the school debate competitions are
parliamentary themes, so they should follow the world news. Those facts made the students to make outlines before speaking. All of
members in debate extracurricular SMAN 8 Yogyakarta said that they made outlines before speaking in front of people. They wrote their main ideas on their
54 outline to help them speak. After they wrote the main ideas, they said that they
could develop the ideas while speaking. According to Grice and Skinner 1994, to help organizing the body speech, there is a four-step sequence which is called
the 4 S’s – signpost, state, support, summarize - p. 18. The debate members did the similar strategy. Their each main idea had a signpost. Also, they stated their
ideas clearly, so that the audience got their points. To make the audience believe to their statements, they supported their statement with some proves. Last, they
made the summary for their ideas. b.
Debate activities helped the students to enrich English vocabulary items All of the students agreed that Debate activities helped the students to enrich
English vocabulary items, two out of eight students strongly agree and six out of eight students agree. Lepper 1988 indicated teachers could help students develop
speaking ability by making them aware of the scripts for different situations so that they can predict what they will hear and what they will need to say in
response p. 13. The debate extracurricular helped students to speak English more because during of activities they spoke English to each other.
In an act of communication, the students are influenced by their environment. It is proved by the members of debate extracurricular of SMA 8
Yogyakarta. The students had opinion, if they talked English each other, they could enrich their English vocabulary items, fix their pronunciation, and reduce
the pauses while speaking. They agreed on the society supported them to improve their speaking skills. Also, feedback from the listeners facial expression, tension,
interruption gave the speakers indicators of the meaning the listeners are
55 extracting as a result the speakers may adapt the messages. The students also
made mistake while speaking English. However, the instructor and other students did not mock himher but corrected the mistakes respectfully, so the speaker did
not annoyed to the comments. c.
Debate activities made the students confident to speak English in front of other people
Seven out of eight students 87.5 chose “agree” and one out of eight students 12.5
chose “disagree” column when the researcher asked them about their confidences to speak English in front of other people. Teachers develop
control of various clarification strategies, students will gain confidence in their ability to manage the various communication situations that they may encounter
outside the classroom British Journal, 2014, p. 2. Goh and Burns 2012 stated that speaking is “a combinatorial skill” p. 13.
To speak clearly, students should have many vocabulary items, fluency, and m
aster in grammar. According to Hammer 2002 “If students want to be able to speak fluently in English, they need to be able pronounce phonemes correctly, use
appropriate stress and intonation pattern and speak in connected speech” p. 343. Without those components, the messages cannot be delivered to the audience.
Debate members in SMAN 8 Yogyakarta were trained to improve those components. In the questionnaire, one student 12.5 chose “strongly agree”, six
students 75 chose “agree”, and one student 12.5 chose “disagree” when the researcher asked them about their improvements in debate extracurricular. It
meant that most of the students have improvements in each debate extra
56 extracurricular meeting. As the time goes by, the students found their confidences
to speak English in front of other people.
57
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
