111 ... yes, because it provides vocabulary learned in the classroom if we want
to study, we just simply open the application. We can search the vocabulary that we do not know. We can also find the grammatical rules there. The
application is provided with automatic feedbacks so we can check whether we pronounce words correctly or not. So, we are motivated to learn English
better. Appendix 11, S1
On the other hand, the students also mentioned the weaknesses of the application. Most of the students mentioned that the speech recognizer does not
work well and some of the students still unsatisfied with the design of the application. In spite of the speech recognizer and the design, the students are
satisfied with the application because the application helped them practice their speaking skill both inside and outside the classroom.
5. Evaluation
Based on the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the implementation stage, the writer evaluated the application. In the evaluation, the writer did not
conduct major revision toward the application. In the implementation, it was found that the speech recognizer did not work well. However, the writer could not
revise it because the speech recognizer works based on stable signal. If the signal was stable, the students would not have any problem with the speech recognizer
during the implementation. The writer also did not do major revision on the design of the application. The writer only changed some of the font color to make
it clearer and more interesting for the students.
B. The Presentation of e-talk
This part is the presentation of the final product of the application. As stated in the previous part, the application is named ETALK, electronic talk,
112 which means an electronic device which can be used as a media to talk. This
application is focused on pronunciation and conversation drill. It demands the students to practice their pronunciation and conversation through the features
provided in the application. This application was also designed to help the students improve the
students‟‟ vocabulary and grammatical skill. This is a supplementary material for the tenth grade of Senior High School which is
designed to facilitate the students to practice their speaking. The design of each feature of the application is based on the principles stated by Ellias 2010. They
are equitable use, flexible use, simple and intuitive, perceptible information, tolerance or error, low physical and technical error, community of learners and
support and instructional climate. E-talk is designed as simple as possible in order to ease the users using the
application. The simplicity of the design can be seen from the colors, fonts and also the navigation of the application. The simple navigation will minimize the
error in the operation of the application. Even though the design is simple, this appication provides clear contents for the users.
Below is the media expert‟s opinion about the design of the application. The design is consistent, simple and understandable for the users even for
those who haven’t used it before. The provided audio is clear and the instruction can help the users in using the application. Apendix 9, Q2V3
The expert‟s opinion is appropriate with Egbert and Hanson-Smith‟s 1999 principles on a well designed software. It is stated that a well designed of
software must have a consistent layout, provide easy navigation and clear instructions. In order to have clearer information about each feature of the
113 application, the writer provides the description of the interface of each part of the
application that is presented as follows. 1.
Home page of the Application The home page contains the name of the application, the motto of the
application, start button and the exit button. As stated in the previous section, e- talk was chosen as the name of the application.
In addition, “make you talk” was chosen as the motto of the application to give a short overview about the
application. The motto was intended to motivate the students to use the application as their learning media to practice speaking. The start button was
created to start the application, while the exit button was created to close the application. This home page is designed simple in order to provide the users a
good use of space to avoid complicatedness in a screen Handson and Smith, 1999. It is aimed to provide an easy access of application for the users. The
figure below shows the home page of the application.
Figure 4.1Home page of E-talk
114 2.
Introductory page of the Application The introductory page of the application contains a short description about
the features provided in the application, enter button, home button and exit button. The short description of the application was provided to give an overview to the
students about the features provided in the application. Based on Elias 2010, an application must be perceptible. It means that the content of the application must
be clear. This introductory page is aimed to give a brief information to the students about the content of the application that can help them know what they
are going to learn using the application. Here, the writer explains each feature briefly to give the students information
on what is provided in it. The enter button leads to students to go to the menu of the application. If the home button is clicked, it will lead the students back to the
home page of the application. Meanwhile, the exit button leads the students to close the application. The figure below shows the introductory page of the
application.
Figure 4.2 E-talk Introductory Page 1 Figure 4.3 E-talk Introductory Page 2
115 3.
The menu of the Application The next description is about the menu of the application. There are five
main features in the application; vocabulary, grammar, expression, conversation and project which are symbolized by buttons. The names of the features were
chosen based on the theory of speaking by Harmer 2001 which states that there are five aspects of speaking; pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, fluency and
comprehension. Besides, those important speaking aspects are also stated in the microskills of oral communication proposed by Richards 1978 which can be
seen in table 2. 1 in the previous chapter. The vocabulary button leads the students to the screens containing lists of
vocabulary learned which are separated in units. The grammar button leads the students to the screens containing the short grammar explanations and two
different exercises in each grammatical rule. The expression button leads to the screens which are provided with some expressions and exercises based on the
topics. The conversation button leads the students to the screens which contains some incomplete conversations which enable the students to do the exercises as if
they talk to their phone. The project button leads the students to the screen which contains an assignment for the students. The other two buttons in the menu button
are home button and exit button. The home button will lead the students back to the home page of the application. Meanwhile, the exit button leads the students to
close the application. The figure below shows the menu of the application. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Figure 4.4 The Menu Screen of E-talk
4. The Vocabulary Feature
The vocabulary feature contains two main activities; mini dictionary and vocabulary quiz. These activities are designed to provide the students with lists of
vocabulary and pronunciation drill. Those activities are symbolized with buttons. The figure below shows the description of the vocabulary screen.
Figure 4.5 The Vocabulary Screen of E-talk
117 The mini dictionary button leads the students to the vocabulary lists which
are presented based on topics which were selected based on the students‟ learning objectives. The names of the topics are introduction, invitation, instruction,
gratitude and surprise. The figure below shows the description of the topics provided in the mini dictionary.
Figure 4.6 The Vocabulary Topic Screen of E-talk
Each of the topic in the mini dictionary is provided with lists of vocabulary. The vocabulary lists provided in this activity can be picked up based
on the students‟ needs. Each of the vocabulary enables the students to listen to the
pronunciation model of the vocabulary and to practice pronouncing the voca
bulary. The students only need to click the “listen button” to the model of pronunciation of the vocabulary. In order to practice how to pronounce the
vocabulary, the students need to click the “try button”. After the students clicking the “try button”, the Google voice figure appears and the students can directly
pronounce the vocabulary. After the students finished pronouncing the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
118 vocabulary, there is an automatic feedback which indicates whether the
pronunciation is correct of not. The design of the activities on the vocabulary feature is based on some reasons. First, vocabulary and pronunciation are
important aspects that should be developed Harmer, 2001. Second, drilling offers limited practice through repetition of certain strings of language with some
lingustic difficulties either phonological or grammatical Browm, 2000. Third, giving the learners what they are going to do or say and how they will say is
important for learners Goh and Burns, 2000. At last, voice recognition is a helpful tool in language learning because it let the learners listen to language
learners practicing pronunciation and repeat back the spoken pronunciation Godwin and Jones, 2009. The figure below shows the description of the
vocabulary lists and pronunciation drill provided in mini dictionary.
Figure 4.7 The Vocabulary List Figure 4.8 The Pronunciation Practice
119
Figure 4.9 The Pronunciation Drill Feedback
The vocabulary quiz button leads the students to the vocabulary quiz activity. In this activity, the students are to do a pronunciation quiz by guessing
the vocabulary. There is a picture and some hints of each vocabulary. To do the exercise, the students need to click the record button. Once the record button is
clicked, the Google voice feature appears and the students can directly record their answer. After the students finished recording the vocabulary, there is an automatic
feedback which indicates whether the answer is correct or wrong. The score automatically appears at the same time with the feedback. Once the students have
finished doing the first number, the students need to click next button for the next vocabulary and do the same thing as what they did in the first question. Goh and
Burns 2012 state that giving repetitions are recommended. For example by giving the learners a new task that is similar to the task that the learners have
done. This vocabulary quiz is aimed to give the learners a chance to analyze and practice the vocabulary and pronunciation they have learned in the previous
120 activity. The figure below shows the description of the list of vocabulary quiz
screen.
Figure 4.10 Vocabulary Quiz Screen Figure 4.11 The Feedback and Score
5. The Grammar Feature
According to Richards 1978 in Brown 2000 the grammatical skill includes the use of grammatical word classes, systems, word order, patterns, rules
and elliptical forms. The grammar feature is designed to improve the students‟ grammatical accuracy. It provides the students with some grammatical rules
related to the topics learned. There are five grammar rules that were chosen based on the learning objectives; simple past tense, imperative, going to and will,
passive voice and present and past perfect. Those grammatical rules are listed using list view which can be chosen by the students by clicking the list. The figure
below shows the grammar feature of the application. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Figure 4.12 The Grammar Topic Figure 4.13 The Grammar Activity
Each grammatical rule is provided with three buttons; explanation button, exercise 1 button and exercise 2 buttons. The explanation button leads the
students to the explanation of the grammatical rule. Here, the students are provided with both explanation and example of the grammatical rule learned. The
figure below shows the explanation of the grammatical rule provided in the grammar feature.
Figure 4.14 The Grammar Explanation Screen
122 The exercise 1 button leads the students to the exercise 1. Exercise 1 is
designed in the form of filling the blanks. In this exercise, the students are to fill in the blanks based on the grammatical rules learned. In this type of exercise, the
students only need to type their answers in the textbox provided. After the students finished doing the exercise, the students can check their answers by
clicking the check button. The textbox will turn into green if the answers are correct. Meanwhile, if the answers are wrong, the textbox will turn into red. The
score of the quiz will appear at the same time as the feedback appears. The figure below shows the description of the exercise 1.
Figure 4.15 Grammar Exercise 1a Figure 4.16 Grammar Exercise 1b
123
Figure 4.17 Grammar Exercise 1 Score
The exercise 2 button leads the students to exercise 2. Exercise 2 is designed in the form of true-false questions. In this activity, the students are
provided with some correct and incorrect sentences related to the grammatical rules learned. Here, the students only need to click the T button if the sentence is
true and click the button F if the sentence is wrong. After the students click the T or F button, the next question will automatically appear. In the last question, the
check button will appear. The check button enables the students to check whether the answers are correct or not. Besides, the students will also get the feedback and
also the score of the quiz they have done. The figure below shows the description of the exercise 2.
124
Figure 4.18 Grammar Exercise 2a Figure 4.19 Grammar Exercise 2b
Figure 4.20 Grammar Exercise 2 Feedback and Score
6. The Expression Feature
Basically, the expression feature is designed similar to the vocabulary feature; however, it contains the lists of expressions and how to pronounce them.
The same as vocabulary feature, the activites provided in the expression feature are focused on drilling. According to Brown 2000, drilling offers limited
practice through repetition of certain strings of language with some linguistics PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
125 difficulties either phonological or grammatical. The drilling activities are provided
by giving list of expressions to the students and let them practice the pronunciation using the voice recognition. The voice recognition enables learners
to practice pronunciation by repeating the spoken words Godwin and James, 1999. The main activities in this feature are expression list and speak up which
are symbolized with buttons. The figure below shows the description of the expression screen.
Figure 4. 21 The Expression Screen of E-talk
The expression list button leads the students to the expression lists which are presented based on topics which were selected based on the students‟ learning
objectives. The names of the topics are introduction, invitation, instruction, gratitude and surprise. The figure below shows the description of the topics
provided in the expression list. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
126
Figure 4.22 The Expression Topic Screen of E-talk
Each of the topic in the expression quiz is provided with lists of expressions. The expression lists provided in this activity can be picked up based
on the students‟ needs. Each of the expression enables the students to listen to the
model of pronunciation of the expressions and to practice pronouncing the expressions
. The students only need to click the “listen button” to the model of pronunciation of the expressions. In order to practice how to pronounce the
expressions , the students need to click the “try button”. After the students clicking
the “try button”, the Google voice figure appears and the students can directly pronounce the expressions. After the students finished pronouncing the
expressions, there is an automatic feedback which indicates whether the pronunciation is correct or not. The figure below shows the description of the list
of expressions and pronunciation drill provided in expression list. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
127
Figure 4.23 Expression List Figure 4.24 Pronunciation Practice Screen
Figure 4.25 The Pronunciation Drill Feedback
The speak up button leads the students to the expression quiz activity. This activity is designed to train the students to reply to a short questions or comments.
According to Brown 2000, responsive is one of six categories of oral communication that learners are expected to perform in the classroom. Brown
128 2000 describes responsive as a short replies to teacher or student-initiated
questions or comments. The theory is made as the basic idea of the “speak up” activity since it is designed as an interactive learning media for the students to
develop their speaking skill. According to Shumin in Richard and Renandya 2012, interactive activity can maintain the students‟ communicative behavior. It
is stated that interactive activity can be done by providing learners with extensive exposure and opportunities to use the language.
In “speak up” activity, the students are to response to a question with two choices of answers. . The students
are to read the choices before they click the listen button. After reading the choices, the students are to click the listen button to listen to the
statementquestion. To answer the question, the students are to click the record button. Once the record button is clicked, the Google voice feature appears and
the students can directly record their answer. After the students finished recording the answer, there is an automatic feedback which indicates whether the answer is
correct or wrong. The score automatically appears at the same time with the feedback. Once the students have finished doing the first number, the students
need to click next button for the next statementquestion and do the same thing as what they did in the first question. The total score is the accumulation of all the
questions. The figure below shows the descriptions of the expression list of speak up screen.
129
Figure 4.26 The Speak Up Screen Figure 4.27 The Feedback and Score
7. The Conversation Feature
This feature is the development of the speak up activity provided in the expression feature. Therefore, the conversation feature provides a complex
activity which let the students complete a conversation which some parts of it are omitted by choosing the choices of answers provided. This activity is designed
based on the idea of transactional language. According to Brown 2000, transactional language is the extended form of responsive language. In this case,
the learners are provided with a situation as if they are exchanging information with a partner. The same as speak up feature, the conversation feature is
interactive. It is designed as an interactive activity because an interactive activity can help learners develop their communicative behavior. The aim of this activity
is to drill the students with some English conversations to make them practice their speaking before they have a real conversation with their friends or in the real
130 situation. To do the activity, the students are to read the choices before they click
the listen button. After reading the choices, the students are to click the listen button to listen to the statementquestion. To answer the question, the students are
to click the record button. Once the record button is clicked, the Google voice feature appears and the students can directly record their answer. After the
students finished recording the answer, there is an automatic feedback which indicates whether the answer is correct or wrong. The score automatically appears
at the same time with the feedback. Once the students have finished with the activity, the total score appears. The figure below shows the description of the
conversation screen.
Figure 4.28 Conversation Screen a Figure 4.29 Conversation Screen b
131
Figure 4.30 The Feedback and Score
8. The Project Feature
The project feature is the simplest feature in this application because it only consists one button which leads to a screen containing a label which is used
to write the instruction. This feature is called project because it only contains an instruction for the students to create a video of conversation. In this activity, the
students are to choose the topic they have learned and they have to work in groups. After the students have finished doing their assignment, they have to
submit their work to the teacher and upload it on YouTube. The figure below shows the description of the project screen.
132
Figure 4.31 The Project Screen
This activity is aimed to to bring the students to the real situation. The students are asked to interact with their partner with a certain context. Louma
2004 states that interaction can encourage the students to communicate to one another. In this activity, the communication among the students is developed by
giving opportunities to use the language in the real situation.
C. How E-talk Improves Senior High School Students’ Speaking Skill
