xiv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The Cycle of PPP Alternative Approach by Byrne in Harmer 2007………………………………………………………….
26 Figure 2: The Conceptual Framework of the Research………………….
35 Figure 3: Action Research Cycle by Kemmis and McTaggart…………..
37
xv
IMPROVING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY OF GRADE XI STUDENTS OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF SMK PGRI 1 SENTOLO THROUGH PLAYING DETECTIVE GAMES
Ismi Indarti 11202241054
ABSTRACT
This research aimed to improve the speaking skill of Grade XI students of Office Administration Department of SMK PGRI I Sentolo, in the 20152016
academic year. The problem was that they had low speaking ability. This was an action research study. The actions were implemented in two
cycles based on the class schedule. The study involved 13 students of Grade XI of Office Administration Department of SMK PGRI I Sentolo, in the 20152016
academic year and the English teacher as the collaborator. The data were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained through the
observations during the teaching and learning process of speaking, the interviews with Grade XI students of Office Administration Department and English teacher,
the discussions with the collaborator, the pictures taken during the implementation, and the videos taken during the implementation. Meanwhile, the quantitative data
were collected through a pre-test and two post-tests.
The results showed that the use of Detective Games as a teaching method was proven to be effective to improve the students’ speaking ability. It
successfully grabbed students’ interest and increased their enthusiasm. They could have better understanding of the use of English in real situations as they played
the games. They also got adequate opportunities to practice speaking in order to speak fluently and confidently. The students’ mean score of the pre-test was 69.8.
The mean score improved during Post-test 1 up to 77.2 and in Post-test 2 up to 82.8. It indicated that there was an improvement in their speaking skill.
Keywords: speaking, games, detective games
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Teachers in general usually face some difficulties to make the students understand and acknowledge the information or materials conveyed in a
classroom. This concern also happens to teachers who teach foreign language, including those who teach English in non-English speaking countries like
Indonesia. The obstacles that they encounter may vary from the students’
intelligence to the difficulties of students in understanding the new language. To solve the problems that happen in the second language teaching realm, the
attitudes concerning language teaching have changed from the traditional grammar translation and audio-lingual methods and have drifted to
communicative language teaching CLT during the past three decades. However, despite the use of CLT technique, most of the English
students in Indonesia still lack of speaking ability. This is a bit of an enigma in reality, for teaching with CLT technique is ought to teach students about
English or other languages through communicating with it. The fact that most of Indonesian students are not good in speaking English shows that finding an
appropriate way to help students improve their speaking ability is highly needed.
As the researcher has stated before, improving students’ speaking
ability is very significant. The incapability of Indonesian students in speaking English has become a problem because speaking is an important part of any
second language acquisition, no exception in English. The ability of speaking indicates the capability of someone towards a language. It has been
emphasized by Brown 2000: 267 that the standard of fruitful language acquisition is nearly always the accomplishment of pragmatic goals ability
demonstration through interactive discourse with other speakers of the language. It means that speaking is an indicator whether or not a learner has
accomplished the foreign language ability that he or she learns. At school, students have to fulfil the goals of learning process which
are stated in basic competencies and competency standards of the curriculum. The score to pass the standards has also been decided by the government.
They must fulfil some criteria to achieve the already set minimum score. However, the students often find themselves some barriers in
achieving the goals of speaking. They are not confident enough in practicing their speaking skill because they are afraid of making mistakes. The necessity
to perform speaking directly in front of their teacher also does not help them to ease their anxiety. Moreover, the teaching technique applied in classroom
is monotonous and lack of variation so that they are not interested in learning. Thus, a certain teaching technique or method that has a relaxing and
fun atmosphere to make the students more confident and less afraid to practice their speaking is definitely needed. Detective games are considered as a
suitable method to achieve that need. In this game, the students are free to practice their speaking skill in a fun activity with relaxing atmosphere. They
feel more relaxed because they will learn and practice speaking with their classmates, not with their teacher, through a fun game.
B. Problem Identification
In a non-English speaking country like Indonesia, the difficulties faced by teachers in teaching English are very diverse. It is because the
problems found in the field come from various aspects. However, in this research, the researcher will only focusing on discussing the problems
faced by English teachers when doing a teaching and learning process of speaking.
As the researcher has stated above, there are also problems in teaching English related to speaking. Hence, English teachers have to be
innovative in finding the most suitable and appropriate technique to teach their students as the condition required. In this research, the researcher is
going to analyse how playing detective games can make students’
speaking ability improved. The researcher decided to conduct this research because there are
some supporting issues concerning this matter. These issues will further be analysed and narrowed to find the major case related to speaking ability.
Then, an appropriate technique or method will be used to overcome the
problem. Problems that were found that support the importance of this research are on the following explanations.
The first one is that there are some problems of
G
rade XI students of Office Administration Department of SMK PGRI 1 Sentolo in
mastering speaking ability. The researcher found that the students in this class lacked speaking ability. The cause of their difficulties in improving
their speaking ability comes from various reasons. It either comes from the lack of exposure, students’ reluctance to learn speaking, their anxiety
about speaking, the fear of making foolish mistakes, their lack of confidence in showing their ability in oral language, etc.
The second problem is that the method to teach speaking is monotonous and not varied. The method that was used to teach speaking
in this class wa s only using students’ worksheets or
LKS
and there is not any other variation. Usually, students will easily get bored when the
monotonous method of teaching and learning is repeated every single day. It makes them reluctant to deepen their speaking skill.
The next problem is that the students are nervous when they are asked to practice speaking by the teacher. The nervousness comes from
various reasons. They are usually not confident enough with their speaking skill. They also feel anxious when they have to face their teacher directly.
Usually, they are afraid of making mistakes and upsetting the teacher.
