181 the students, the discussion with the collaborators, the students’ learning
reflection, and the questionnaire results. The qualitative findings on the students learning behavior change above
were supported by the quantitative assessment they got before and after the research was carried out. The results of the assessment I had with the students’
English teacher as my first research collaborator show that all students had some improvements at different rates. The lowest quantitative improvement
was 1.5 while the highest one was 4.5. The students’ speaking skill improvements were mainly on their speaking fluency, interactive skill and
vocabulary mastery. Meanwhile, their speaking accuracy on the grammar rules to express their intended meaning and the pronunciation still needed an
incremental process to be improved more. Following the main results of t
he research which were the students’ speaking skill improvements, there were some changes as the effects of the
action research implementation. Those changes were related to 1 the English teaching and learning process in the research setting, 2 the stude
nts’ learning behavior, 3 the English teacher, 4 my colleagues, and 5 myself. The changes
will be elaborated in the following points.
1. The English Teaching and Learning in the Research Setting
Related to the English teaching and learning process in the research setting, there were several changes mainly regarding the learning materials, use
of classroom English, learning activities, and the learning atmosphere.
182 Before the research was carried out, the learning materials were from the
textbooks and worksheets which sometimes contained errors. In the research, I provided the students with more materials I developed by myself. By having
these materials, the students’ process of learning was enhanced. Besides, during the research, English classroom was used as much as
possible to make the students more familiar with the use of English in daily communication. As a result, the students were motivated to be able to speak in
English well. In addition to this, the learning activities were more various. The students
were engaged in both pre-communicative activities and communicative activities. Both kinds of activities were successful to engage the students’
interest in the teaching and learning process. Finally yet importantly, there was a significant change in the teaching
and learning atmosphere that affected the students learning behavior. The stars given to the students to be pasted on the achievement board as an appreciation
for their participation andor achievement successfully raised a competition atmosphere in learning among the students. Each of the students were
motivated to be better than the others. Other than this, the jokes frequently made during the teaching and learning process made the students enjoy the
process. This then made the teaching and learning process livelier.
183
2. The Students’ Learning Behavior
Regarding the students’ learning behavior, there were some changes related to the students’ response to the teaching and learning process, habit to
bring dictionaries, the students’ motivation to enlarge their vocabulary mastery, the students’ interest in learning English pronunciation, the students’
enthusiasm in practicing to speak in English, and the students’ concern to help each other in learning.
The students stated that they found the teaching and learning process was a lot of fun. This then made them enjoy the process more. Before the research
was carried out, the students felt threatened to try to do something in the teaching and learning process. They were more passive than willing to be
actively engaged in the process. During the research, since the learning atmosphere was fun, the students found their learning process livelier.
Gradually, they were willing to volunteer and contribute something to the teaching and learning process such as to respond the classical oral stimuli and
to come in front to write their answers to some exercise to be discussed together.
In addition to this, the students’ were used to bringing dictionaries and employing them to enhance the learning process. As the encouragement to
employ the dictionaries was always given to them, they then increased their awareness of the importance of dictionaries to support their leaning process.
The students’ motivation to enlarge their vocabulary also increased. This was supported by the vocabulary exercises that were designed interestingly.
184 Besides, as the students needed a sufficient vocabulary mastery while they
were communicating, they sometimes looked for words they needed then immediately used the words to deliver their meanings.
In addition to this, the students were more interested in learning English pronunciation. At the first time I drilled them with some words, they were
surprised by some pronunciation they had never met before. During the teaching and learning process, several students sometimes suddenly
pronounced words whose pronunciation they had just found. They sometimes copied what I said with the same pronunciation and intonation.
Furthermore, the students changed their behavior in practicing to speak in English. Before the research was carried out, they used to memorize what
they wanted to say to their friends. When they were asked to practice to speak, they felt nervous and worried about being laughed if they made mistakes.
During the research, the students were more confident to speak without any preparation before. By being involved in the information-gap activities, the
students improved their speaking fluency as well as their interactive skill. In general, all students were able to interact spontaneously in English. More
importantly, they were fond of the speaking practice they had. The last but not least, the students improved their concern to help each
other in learning. This was enhanced by the grouping techniques. Since the active students were always spread out and assigned to be captains of the
groups, they then felt to be in charge of helping their friends in learning. Whenever their friends ran out of ideas, they proposed ideas or asked questions
185 to stimulate their friends. Whenever their friends did not know the English
word of something, they told them or helped them to find it in the dictionaries. Since the grouping technique was implemented repeatedly, and the captains
were different from one activity to another activity, as a result, this behavior change happened to most of the students.
3. The English Teacher’s
