DIFFICULTIES FACED BY STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA IN DOING GROUP DISCUSSION

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DIFFICULTIES FACED BY STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA
IN DOING GROUP DISCUSSION

A Skripsi
Submitted to the faculty of Language Education
In a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan

Written by:
Oryza Septaviana
20110540079

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION
UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA
2016

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DIFFICULTIES FACED BY STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA
IN DOING GROUP DISCUSSION

A Skripsi
Submitted to the faculty of Language Education
In a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan

Written by:
Oryza Septaviana
20110540079

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION
UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA
2016

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Approval Sheet
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
Faculty of Language Education
Department of English Education
Difficulties Faced by Students of English Education Department of Universitas
Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in Doing Group Discussion
We hereby approve the Skripsi of
Oryza Septaviana
20110540079
Candidate for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

May 26th 2016

_______________________
Ika Wahyuni Lestari, S.Pd, M.Hum.
The Skripsi Supervisor

May 26th 2016

_______________________
Sri Sudarsi, S. S., M.InTM.
Examiner 1

May 26th 2016

_______________________
Puput A, S.Pd. M. A.M.
Examiner 2

Accepted

Yogyakarta, May 26th 2016

_______________________
Gendroyono, M.Pd.
Dean Faculty of Language Education

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Statement of Authenticity
I am a student of English Education Department, Faculty of Language
Education, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta with the following identity:

Name

: Oryza Septaviana

NIM

: 20110540079

Program Study

: English Education Department

Faculty

: Language Education

University

: Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

Certify that the skripsi with the title “Difficulties faced by Students of
English Education Department of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in
Doing Group Discussion” is unquestionably my own work. I am completely
responsible for the content of this paper. Others’ opinions or findings included in
this skripsi are quoted in accordance with the ethical standards.
Yogyakarta, May 26th 2016

Oryza Septaviana
NIM. 20110540079

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Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to express my greatest and deepest praise to Allah
SWT for giving me mercy, health, opportunity and who has always been my
companion especially in the hard times during my study and my skripsi writing. I

would like to express my second appreciate to my beloved parents and brothers
for endless love, pray and patient. Therefore, I can finish my final course report in
English Education Department of Universitas Muhammdiyah Yogyakarta.
My appreciations are also addressed to my best supervisor Miss Ika
Wahyuni Lestari, S.Pd, M.Hum. For the patiently guiding, suggesting and
supporting me in writing proposal until the completion of this skripsi. My
gratitude is also addressed to all PBI lecturers who have given me useful
knowledge, advices, and motivations. I express my thanks to all staff of EED
UMY who helped me complete the information and requirements.
My deepest appreciation is addressed to all of my friends, students of 2011
especially for class C (MUBE) thank you for the friendship and wonderful
moments during the study at PBI UMY. I address my gratitude to my close
friends Sofi, Emi, Mbak Hus, Mas Ari and Mas Janan thanks for friendship and
kindness. The last, thankfulness also goes to all my friends who cannot be
mentioned here one by one.
Yogyakarta, May 26th 2016

Oryza Septaviana

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER………. ………………………………………………………………… i
APPROVAL SHEET...………………………………………………………..... ii
STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY ……………………………………...... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMEN………………………………………………………. iv
TABLE OF CONTENT .........................................................................................v
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………….. ix
Chapter One
Introduction
Background of the Research ......................................................................1
Identification and Limitation of the Problem ............................................4
Research Questions ....................................................................................4
Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................5
Significances of the Study .........................................................................5
Chapter Two
Literature Review
Speaking ....................................................................................................6
Definition of Speaking .........................................................................6
Component of Speaking ......................................................................8

Characteristics of Spoken Language .................................................10
Difficulties in Speaking .....................................................................12
Group Discussion ...................................................................................13
Definition of Group Discussion .........................................................13
Types of group
Discussion………………………………………………………….. 16
Difficulties in Group Discussion .......................................................19
Review of Related Studies .......................................................................22
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................23

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Chapter Three
Methodology
Research Design ......................................................................................26
Research Setting ......................................................................................27
Research Participants ...............................................................................27
Instruments of the Study ..........................................................................28
Techniques of Data Collection ................................................................28
Data Analysis ...........................................................................................29

Chapter four
Finding and Discussion
Difficulties faced by EED Students in Group Discussion .......................31
Lack of Vocabulary………………………………………………... 31
Pronunciation Mistake…………………………………………….. 33
Grammar Mistake………………………………………………….. 33
Shyness……………………………………………………………... 35
Fear of Making Mistake…………………………………………… 36
Chapter Five
Conclusion and Recommendation
Conclusion ...............................................................................................38
Recommendation .....................................................................................39
Lecturers…………………………………………………………… 39
Students……………………………………………………………. 40
Researcher…………………………………………………………. 40
Other Researchers………………………………………………..... 40
References ............................................................................................................41
Appendices……………………………………………………………………... 44

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Abstract
Speaking skill is an important skill that students should master when they
learn language. The ability of speaking can measure the success of learning
language. To develop student speaking ability student need a technique to
improve their speaking skill. One of technique to develop speaking skills is group
discussion. Group discussion is one of the method has been implemented at
English Education Department of UMY in language teaching and learning
processes. Through discussion, the students practice to communicate with others
in groups. Despite the benefit provided in group discussion, students commonly
face some difficulties in doing group discussion. The purpose of this research is to
find out the difficulties faced by students of EED of UMY in doing group
discussion. This research used descriptive qualitative research design and used
interview as the research instrument. The research was conducted in December
2015 at English Education Department of UMY. The participants of this research
consisted of three female students of English Education Department of UMY
batch 2014 who had experience in group discussion based on criteria. In analyzing
the data, the researcher used open, axial and selective coding. The result of this
research showed that, there were five types of difficulties faced by students of
English Education Department of UMY in doing group discussion. The

difficulties were lack of vocabulary, grammar mistake, pronunciations mistake,
shyness and fear of making mistake.
Keywords: Speaking, Group Discussion, Difficulties.

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Chapter One
Introduction
This research is to investigate students’ difficulties in doing group discussion. This
chapter consists of five parts. They are background of the research, identification and limitation
of the problem, formulation of the problem, objective of the study, and significance of the study.
Background of the Research
Speaking is a language skill that must be mastered by students. This skill is an important
indicator for the success of students, especially in learning English. By mastering speaking skill
well, students can communicate what they feel and think about something, express their ideas
and also maintain good relations with others. Beside that, speaking skills is one of the four
language skill that should be taught and mastered by students. This is because the speaking skill
is used to improve the ability to have good communication and to develop students' skills in
speaking.
Bashir (2011, p.38) states that, “speaking is a productive skill in the oral mode. It is like
the other skills, it is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just
pronouncing words”. It means that speaking is a productive activity which does not only involve
producing words, but also thinking and cultivating ideas. Speaker must have an ability to convey
an idea or opinion, so that the idea that their have in their mind can be understood by other
people. Therefore, mastering speaking skill is important because by mastering speaking skill,
people can carry out conversation with other, give the ideas and exchange the information with
others.
Speaking is one of the main purposes of language learning in that it is ability to transfer
some ideas to other people clearly and correctly. The purpose of speaking here may be to

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communicate, to express opinion and to persuade someone about something or clarify
information. In other words, he or she can communicate his or her ideas well to other people. In
speaking, students should master the elements of speaking, such as vocabularies, pronunciation,
grammar, and fluency. In line with this, according to Nunan (1999), speaking requires learners
to not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or
vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also understand when, why, and in what ways to produce
language (sociolinguistic competence). So, speaking is very important because by mastering
speaking skill the students can carry out conversation with others, give the ideas, and exchange
the information. Therefore, by speaking in the classroom, the learners should work as much as
possible on their own, talk the information to another directly.
Based on the explanations above, students need a technique to increase their speaking to
be more effective. There are many activities used by the teacher for teaching speaking to increase
students’ speaking skill. One of the techniques that can be used to develop students’ speaking
ability is group discussion activity. Group discussion is seen as an active learning process so that
group discussion is one of the best methods of learning speaking in foreign language (Argawati,
2014). This method can help the students to improve their speaking skill. Through group
discussion, the students will be able to express, to exchange about opinion and share their ideas
on what they learn with their friends in group. This activity makes the student become more
confident and be able to participate actively and also give useful feedback to explain more about
something.
According to Subroto (2002, p.179), “discussion is a strategy in teaching in which
the teacher gives great opportunity to the students for having scientific dialogue in
gathering opinions, making conclusion, or giving an alternative solution to a certain

3

issue”. He states that discussion technique provides opportunities for students’ thoughtfulness
about the information received in class so that they are able to solve the problem in
discussed. The discussion means a group of student discusses some problems based on the topic
given to solve the problem together. The students will have more attention and interesting
speaking learning process using this technique because they have more opportunity to share their
ideas and work collaboratively in a group. Then, they can imagine the real and certain object
based on their mind as creative as possible.
English Education Department (EED) of Universitas Muhamadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY)
is one of departments which applies group discussion in language teaching and learning
processes. Many lecturers in EED of UMY always use group discussion in the process of
teaching and learning in the classroom. However, based on the researcher’s experience, in the
process of learning in doing group discussion, some students often mentioned some difficulties
when they were doing a group discussion. They frequently use their native languages because
they found it difficult to use the foreign language. They also mentioned that they were also too
shy and afraid to take part in the conversation with their friend when they had discussion in the
classroom. As a result, most students still use Indonesian Language when they joined the in class
discussion.
From the explanation above, the researcher is interested to investigate the students’
difficulties in doing group discussion at EED of UMY. Therefore, the researcher wants to find
more information about their difficulties in doing group discussion when it is implemented in the
process of group discussion.
Identification and Limitation of the Problem

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In this research, the researcher found some problems in the process of group discussion in
the classroom faced by the students of EED of UMY. The problems could be caused by internal
factor that the students have difficulties when they are doing group discussion; for example, they
are difficult to convey their ideas in group discussion. They are shy and lack of self confidence,
scared of making mistakes and also students have no confidence which could make student feel
ashamed to speak. So the researcher would like to explore more information about students
difficulties faced in doing group discussion.
Research Questions
Based on the explanations above, the problems of the research could be formulated as
follow: What are the difficulties faced by the students of EED of UMY in doing group
discussion?

Purposes of the Study
The purpose of the study is to investigate the difficulties faced by students of EED of
UMY in doing group discussion at EED of UMY.
Significances of the study
The researcher expects that this research will be useful for;
Teachers. The researcher hopes that this research can be used as a reference for teachers
to overcome the problems the student deal with when they are doing in group discussion. the
result of this research can help to find out new ideas and solve the problems in teaching
speaking.

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Students. This research gives the students knowledge to develop and increase their
speaking skills in doing group discussion. It will help students to overcome the difficulties in
doing group discussion and to motivate students to be more active and confident when they are
giving ideas in group discussion, especially when they learn speaking skills in the classroom.
Other researchers. The result of this research can be used as the reference for those
who want to conduct a research about group discussion or speak skills. By reading this research,
the readers are expected to gain much information in order to develop and improve their
knowledge and experience in teaching group discussion in the classroom.

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Chapter Two
Review of Related Literature
This chapter deals with the literature related to the research. This chapter consists of
explanation about the theory of group discussion and the theory of speaking. There are several
theories related to the group discussion such as definition of group discussion, types of group
discussion, advantages and disadvantages of group discussion, difficulties in doing group
discussion. Meanwhile, related to the theory of speaking, there are also several theories, namely
the definition of speaking, the component of speaking, the characteristic of spoken language and
the difficulties of speaking. Besides, the review of related study and conceptual framework are
also explained in this chapter.
Speaking
Speaking is the basic of language abilities because speaking is a verbal communication. It
is the way people communicate to each other. When people speak, they can interact and use the
language to express their ideas, feelings and thoughts. Speaking skill must be mastered by
students because it is very important for them to communicate in the class or outside class. There
are many definitions of speaking proposed by some experts in language learning.
Definition of speaking. Chaney (1998) said that, “Speaking is the process of building
and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts”.
So, by using this technique the students can memorize vocabulary easily and learn
attractively, by seeing or hearing their friends and doing many activities by themselves,
gradually, students can improve their speaking skill. Besides, Chaney (1998) also stated that
Speaking is a spoken communication that uses words to convey the meaning. According to
Alderman (1993), the function of speaking is to communicate using language. When student

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speak, we are constantly estimating the hearer’s knowledge and assumptions, in order to select
language that will be interpreted in appropriate with student intended meaning (Littlewood,
1984). In studying speaking, the students must master the knowledge of the language concerning
choosing the right forms, putting them in the correct order. In the use of language, speaking
skills refers to what to say, how to say it and how to develop ideas. From the above definitions, it
can be inferred that speaking ability is a skill, which is communicating the speech sound for
expressing and conveying messages or ideas.
Skills in speaking should always be improved for learners. So, that they can do good
communication, and deliver the ideas fluently. Fluently means that the learners are required to
use the correct vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. In line with that, speaking requires
learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, or
pronunciation, but they also understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language
(Nunan, 1999).
Brown (2004, p.140) also “defines speaking as “a productive skill that can be directly and
empirically observed, those observations are invariably colored by the accuracy and
effectiveness of a test- taker’s listening skill, which necessarily compromises the reliability and
validity of an oral production test”. This necessarily compromises the reliability and validity of
an oral product test. So, student should master several speaking components, such as:
comprehension, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency.
In addition, related to speaking ability, Tarigan (1981) states that speaking ability is a
skill to communicate a speech articulation or to speak a talk for expressing an idea and a
message. Lado (1961) points out that speaking ability is described as the ability to report acts or
situation, in precise words, or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently.

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It can be concluded that speaking ability is a skill, which is communicating the speech sound for
expressing and conveying a messages or ideas
Burkart (1998) says that speaking is an activity which involves the areas of knowledge,
they are the mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary); it is the use of the right words
in the right order with the right pronunciation. The functions (transaction and interaction); it is
knowing that the clarity of message is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when
precise understanding is not required (interaction/relationship building).
Components of speaking. Speaking is also one of the language arts that is most
frequently used by people all over the world. The art of speaking is very complex. It requires the
simultaneous use of the number of abilities which often develop at different rates. Here is the
component of speaking skill. According to Syakur (1987), speaking is a complex skill because
at least it is concerned with components of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency.
Grammar. Grammar is the rules that show how words are combined, arranged or
changed to show certain kinds of meaning. It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence

in conversation. It is in line with explanation suggested by Heaton (1978) that it is the students’
ability to manipulate structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical form in appropriate
one. The utility of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral
and written form.
Vocabulary. Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication.
Without having a sufficient vocabulary, ones cannot communicate effectively or express their
ideas in both oral and written form. Having limited vocabulary is the obstacle that obstructs
learners in studying a language. Language teachers, therefore should process considerable
knowledge on how to manage an interesting classroom so that the learners can gain a great

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success in their vocabulary learning. Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. (Willid, 1990)
Pronunciations. Pronunciation is the way for students to produce clearer language when
they are speaking. It deals with the phonological process that refers to the components of a
grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine how sounds vary and pattern in a
language. There are two features of pronunciation; phonemes and supra segmental features. A
speaker who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a
speaker from another language community to understand (Gerard, 2000).
Fluency. Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately. Fluency
in speaking is the aim of many language learners. Signs of fluency include a reasonably fast
speed of speaking and only a small number of pauses and “ums” or “ers”. These signs indicate
that the speaker does not have to spend a lot of time searching for the language items needed to
express the message (Brown, 1997).
Characteristics of spoken language. There are some problems with speaking.
According to Brown (1994), the characteristics of spoken language can make oral performance
easy as well as in some cases difficult. There are several problems with the characteristic of
spoken language.
Clustering. Fluent speech is phrasal, not word by word. Learners can organize their
output both cognitively and physically through such clustering.
Redundancy. Sometimes it is used to make meaning clearer. It means the speaker has an
opportunity to make clearer through the redundancy of language. Learner can capitalize on this
featured of spoken language

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Reduced forms. Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels, etc are special problem in
teaching spoken English. Learners who never learn colloquial contractions sometime speak too
formal in causal context. They become bookish and stilted.
Performance variables. In spoken language there is a process called thinking time.
During this thinking time, learners can employ a certain number of performance, pauses,
backtracking, and correction. Some example of thinking time in English such as like uh, um,
well, you know, I mean.
Colloquial language. The learners should also know about the words, idioms and
phrases of colloquial language and that they get practice in producing these forms.
Rate of delivery. It is one of the characteristics of fluency. The teacher should help
learners to achieve an acceptable speed along with other attributes of fluency.
Stress, rhythm, and intonation. This is the most important characteristic of English
pronunciation because the stress-timed rhythm of spoken English and its intonation patterns
convey important massages. But the fact that learners of English often find it difficult to
pronounce English words, to stress the right syllables, to follow the stress- timed rhythm and
intonation patterns of spoken English.
Interaction. The greatest difficulty that the students face in learning to speak originates
from the interactive nature of most communication. Engaged in the process of negotiation of
meaning with many discourse constraints, learners have to do the complex task of choosing what
to say, how to say, when to say, etc. Learners are also affected by their interlocutors’
performance.

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Affective factors. In the process of learning speaking, students often encounter the risk of
saying out things that may be wrong, stupid and incomprehensible. At those times, they tend to
be anxious because they do not want to be judged by other learners.
Meanwhile, the elements of speaking according to Harmer (2007) are a) different
speaking event– various dimensions of different speaking events are suggested in order to
describe different speaking genres; b) conversational strategies—the successful face-to-face
interaction depended on knowledge of turn-taking; c) functional language, adjacency pairs
and fixed phrases— when teaching speaking, we need to make students aware of fixed
phrases, functional sequences and adjacency pairs.
Difficulties in speaking. According to Zhang (2009), speaking remains the most difficult
skill to master for the majority of English learners, and they are still incompetent in
communicating orally in English. According to Ur (1996), there are many factors that cause
difficulty in speaking, and they are as follows:
Inhibition. Students are worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism, or simply
shy. Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires some degree of real time
exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign
language.
Nothing to say. Students have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling.
And they cannot think of anything to say.
Low or uneven participation. Only one participant can talk at a time because of
large classes and the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not
at all. If he or she is to hear; and in a large group this means that each one will have only very

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little talking time. This problem is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate,
while others speak very little or not at all.
Mother-tongue use. In classes, all or a number of the learners share the same mother
tongue for many reasons. Firstly, they may tend to use it because it is easier. Secondly, they feel
unnatural to speak to one another in a foreign language and lastly because they feel less
“exposed” if they are speaking their mother tongue. If they are talking in a small group it can be
quite difficult to get some class- particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones to keep to the
target language.
Through the kind of difficulties in speaking sections above, we can know most of the
difficulties that students often encounter in learning speaking skill. Based on these views, this
research intends to investigate what difficulties that the students encounter in teaching and
learning speaking skill with the purpose of giving solutions to the identified problems and
improving the students’ speaking skill.
Group Discussion
The implementation of group discussion is as one variety of teaching techniques in
improving students speaking competency. Before defining what group discussion is, it is
necessary to understand each term in it.
Definition of group discussion. According to Gulley (1960), a group is a collection of
people coming together in the same place that interact with each other to talk and exchange
information about something. Cattel in Gulley (1960) has defined a group as a collection of
organism in which the existence of all is necessary to the satisfaction of certain individual needs
in each.

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Schmuck (2001) also gives another definition about what a group is. According to him,
group may be defined as a group of people interact and exchange ideas to solve the problem
based on the topic that they are discussing. Hoover (1964) says that a group may be described as
a group of people seeking to satisfy individual needs through the exchange of ideas with other.
Based on the definitions above, it could be summarized that a group is a collection of
individuals in the same place in which there are interactions among the members. A collection of
students in a classroom itself is actually referred to as a group. However the group is a big one.
One of the important components of learning is the opportunity for active practice and feedback.
As classes get larger and larger, the survival of such opportunities grows less and less. In this
case small group plays role.
An additional definition comes from Hoover (1997) that discussion is the process of
talking things over among two or more persons, preferably face to face. He adds that the total
discussion process ideally is a cooperative effort on the part of a number of individuals to
work together as a group, through the exchange of thought orally, toward some group
objectives. Risk (1991) states that discussion means thoughtful consideration of the
relationship involved in the topic or problem under study. Ur (1997) says that thinking out
some problems and situations together through verbal interchange of ideas is simply
called as to discuss. From those definitions, it can be concluded that discussion is the exchange
of information, opinion, and ideas.
According to Yamin (2006) discussion method is an interaction between the student and
student or students and teachers to analyze, problems solving, hire or debating a particular topic
or issue. It can be concluded group discussion is very important in teaching speaking because the
teacher can give students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts

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and in different social roles. In addition, it also allows students to be creative and to put
themselves in another person place for a while.
Moreover, Subroto (2002) also highlights that discussion is a strategy in teaching in
which the teacher gives great opportunity to the students for having scientific dialogue in
gathering opinions, making conclusion, or giving an alternative solution to a certain issue.
He asserts that discussion technique provides opportunities for students’ thoughtfulness about
information received in class so that they are able to solve the problem discussed. By
regarding the strengths and logical reasons described above, it is obvious that discussion
technique encourages students to communicate in English
According to Long and Porter (1985), using group discussion in second language
learning is increasing the potential of group work for increasing the quantity of language practice
opportunities, for improving the quality of student talk, for individualizing instruction, for
creating a positive affective climate in the classroom, and for increasing student motivation.
According to Nation (1988), group work can help learning in the following ways:
learning the content matter in the activity, learning new language items from other participants in
the activity, development of fluency in the use of previously met language items, learning
communication strategies, and development of skill in the production of comprehensible spoken
discourse. All these serve as the learning goals which can only be achieved through speaking
activities in group work.
From description above it could be concluded that the discussion have a goal to solve the
problems that involve a lot of people, which eventually the audience is expected to have the
views and the ideas together about a problem that became the subject of the discussion.
Discussing the circumstances is quite a pleasant situation because in this discussion the

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participants are free to express their own opinion on a specific topic. Also, it can provide a
discussion or exchange of information, opinions, ideas, and elements of experience with the
intention to get a clearer understanding together.
The positive effect of doing a group discussion is explained by Ornstein (2000). He
states that dividing students into small groups seems to provide an opportunity for
students to become more actively engaged in learning and for teacher to monitor students’
progress better. It can also enhance students’ cooperation and social skills. Group discussion is
an important activity at college level for students because it helps students to train their self to
discuss and argue about the topic given. It helps students to express their views on serious
subjects and in formal situations. It improves their thinking, as well as their listening and
speaking skills. It also promotes their confidence level. It is an effective tool in problem solving,
decision making and personality assessment. Participants should know how to speak with
confidence, how to exhibit leadership skills and how to make the group achieve the goals.
Types of group discussion. According to Deptan (2001) as cited on Billik (2013), the
point of group discussion is to exchange ideas or experiences which are that excavated directly
from the participant. In this process, students are obliged to get involved actively, by providing
greater opportunities to express feelings and thought without any sense of pressure. According to
Raharja (2002), to give students discretion to participate actively, teacher is expected to provide
various type of group discussion. Here are some types to organize group discussion.
Fishbowl. In this type all student of the class sit in a big circle. In the middle of circle
there are five chairs for a group. Three students who have controversial opinion about the topic
sit in three chairs. The three of five students start the discussion than the other student who have

16

different opinion join them. Student from the other circle can replace speaker in the inner circle
by tapping them on the shoulder if they feel confident that they can present the topic better.
Buzz group. In this buzz group, participants are separated to small groups that consist of
2-3 people and they talk rapidly about one certain topic to give comment or feedback which will
be included in plenary discussion. Each group discusses a problem for a few minutes before the
solution are reported to the whole class.
Panel. A small group consists of three to six learners discuss a certain topic viewed from
many aspects. The members sit in a half – circle and are led by a moderator. Physically, panel
can face to audience, but the audience is not involved in the discussion.
Syndicate Group. The class is divided into several groups consist of 3 -6 student. The
teacher gives the problem to discuss in each group. Then each group has a task to discuss, read
references and arrange report in the conclusion form. The conclusion of each group is given to
the teacher to be discussed further.
Brainstorming Group. Every group gives idea or opinion freely. Each member also has
chance to give opinion. The purpose is that each group member can respect other opinion
whatever it is, develop self-confidence and encourage each member to give idea or opinion
Plenary discussion. In plenary discussion, all participants can join to explain a topic or
particular concept so all the participants’ understanding are expected to be the same. In here, the
discussion will be based on the result from small discussion like buzz group.
Whole Group. Class is one group discussion. Whole group deals if the member of the
learners is not more than fifteen.
Colloquium. Some experts are invited to answer questions from the audience about a
certain topic. The experts do not give speech. They only answer the question.

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Symposium. Some experts are inviting to give speech about various aspects of certain
subject in front of the audience for five twenty minutes. A leader controls the process of
discussion. Afterwards, the audience asks some question or opposes and then the experts answer
the question of give further explanation.
Those are some types or models in discussion. By choosing between these models, it is
realized that small group discussion gives a good learning process in the classroom. Surely, this
model can be conducted in the classroom or smaller groups. So, the discussion can be influential
in improving student achievement.
Difficulties in group discussion. Thornbury (2005) states that “being skillful assumes
having some knowledge that is relevant to speaking can be categorized either as knowledge of
feature of language (linguistic knowledge) or knowledge that is independent of language (extra
linguistic knowledge) ” (p. 11). He emphasizes that linguistic knowledge plays an essential role
in speaking skill. If any feature from this knowledge is lacking or poorly performed, students can
find problems within their speaking development. There are some psychological factors that
hinder students from practicing their speaking in doing group discussion. These difficulties are
due to lack of vocabulary, pronunciation mistakes, grammar mistakes, lack of self-confidence,
shyness and anxiety.
Lack of vocabulary. To achieve oral proficiency, students need the appropriate selection
of words when they are speaking, and using these words and expression accurately. Thornbury
(2005) states that “spoken language also has a relatively high proportion of words and
expression” (p.22). Thus, learning foreign languages requires a great knowledge of
vocabulary. The phenomenon in our EFL classes is that many students often find some
difficulties when they try to express what they want to say because they find themselves

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struggling with their limited words and expression. Therefore, these limitations of vocabulary
affect the amount of their participation in speaking activities.
Pronunciation mistakes. Bada, Genc and Ozkan (2011) assert the importance of
pronunciation in speaking skill that “in speaking, they compete with limited time to recall words,
and also take care of their pronunciation speaking is often dealt with at pronunciation level” (p.
122). Usually students have unpronounced speech that reflects the lack of experience with
English sounds, rhythms and words stress and student’s poor listening to native speakers or
because of teacher’s miss pronunciation as non-native speaker. Therefore, pronunciation
mistakes are one of the main factors that impede the students from doing their speaking activities
freely and without any stress. This is the reason that leads to the students’ difficulty participate in
group discussions. of participation.
Grammar mistakes. In fact, grammar knowledge is one of the most important aspects of
being a professional in speaking skill. EFL learners have to achieve this knowledge to improve
their oral ability without any obstacles. However, students often prefer to keep silent rather than
producing grammatically- incorrect structure of expression because they are scared about being
ridiculer behind their teachers and classmates. According to Davies and Pearse (2000), “many
people do not like speaking in front of large groups of people. This is especially true in a foreign
language, because we may worry about producing utterances with many errors or oddities in
them.” (p.10)
Lack of self–confidence. In many classes, some students prefer to keep their ideas and
opinion to themselves because they are not sure about the strength of their abilities or being
hesitate to participate in the oral tasks. Kurtus (2001) stated, EFL students are hardly believing in
their skill to speak English or even facing their teachers and classmates or simply they have not

19

the confidence in themselves. Thus, lacking self-confidence leads them to say a few words to
avoid making mistakes and embarrassment.
Shyness. Shyness is purely psychological problem that EFL student are suffering from.
According to Harmer (1992), Shyness is the most obstacles that students of English as a foreign
language face because they feel uncomfortable to speak in front of their classmates and their
teachers. Students often do not participate in EFL classroom in natural manner because of
shyness, so they are not able to perform in their tasks and achieve their goals. This will affect
obviously their participation and lead them to a low participation or even to none.
Fear of making mistakes. In group discussion class, students cannot express themselves
in foreign language and do not participate appropriately in the oral lessons for the reason that
they are worried about making mistakes, fearful about public correction. As Ur (2000) states,
“learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom,
worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or loosing face, or simply shy of the
attention that their speech attracts). Therefore, fear of making mistakes can considered as another
obstacle for students’ participations.
Anxiety. It is one of the main obstacles for many EFL learners. Anxiety is the negative
emotion that creates trouble in learning process for the students. Anxious student do not learn
well as well as do no communicate effectively in classroom situation. According to Wrench,
Gorham, and Virginia (2009), “many students do not learn when they are fearful, anxious,
apprehensive, or scared. Students do not communicate effectively with us [teachers] when
they are fearful, anxious, apprehensive, or scared to communicate with us. Students do not
complete tests well when they are fearful, anxious, apprehensive, or scared of testing situations.
Simply put, students do not do well in the classroom environment when they are fearful, anxious,

20

apprehensive, or scared” (p.12). Anxiety reveals more when students try to participate in the
classroom, so that they feel uncomfortable about speaking English in front of their classmates as
Review of Related Studies
Some research in line with this current research also had been conducted by several
researchers. Menggo, et al. Made (2013) (English Language Education Postgraduate Program
Ganesha University of Education Singaraja, Indonesia) researched “The Effect of discussion
Technique and English Learning Motivation toward Students Speaking Ability”. In this research,
the researchers used the quantitative method, by using the study used a 2 x 2 factorial design,
which involved a sample of 96 students. The data were collected using questionnaire and a
speaking test that were analyzed by Two-way ANOVA. The results of the study indicated that
(1) there was a significant difference in speaking ability between the students who were
taught by using discussion technique and those taught by using the conventional
technique; (2) there was a significant interactional effect between the teaching techniques
applied and students’ motivation toward their speaking ability; (3) there was a significant
difference in speaking ability between students with high English learning motivation who
were taught by using discussion technique and those taught with the conventional
technique; and (4) there was significant difference in speaking ability between the students
with low English learning motivation who were taught by using discussion technique and
those taught with the conventional technique.
Another research was successfully done by Aziz (2013). It was entitled “Improving
Speaking Skill by Using Group Discussion”. The researchers use the quantitative and qualitative
method in this research; meanwhile, the design of this research is using Classroom Action
Research (CAR). The instruments used to collect the data were: observation checklist,

21

filed-notes, questionnaire and speaking test. The result of this study showed that the students’
speaking ability improved from 55 in average to 75.85 after the researcher implemented the
group discussion in the classroom. Moreover, the researcher found that the students
communicated actively in their groups through oral interaction. It indicates that the research was
successful.
Other research was conducted by Billik (2013) with the title “Student Perception on The
Role of Group Discussion in Interpersonal Speaking Class”. This is qualitative research and the
data were obtained through direct interview to the subjects. This research revealed that the use of
group discussion was effective in giving more opportunity to student to practice speaking
English.
Conceptual Framework
Group discussion is one of the methods which can be applied in class activity, especially
in speaking class. It can improve the speaking ability of students by making group in discussion
material given. The advantages of this method are doing together in learning activity, and
demands students to give the strong arguments and also defend them. Some students of EED of
UMY had difficulties in doing group discussion. The students were shy and not confident when
they were giving opinion in group. According to Thornbury (2005) there are seven factors that
cause students’ difficulties faced in doing group discussion. They are lack of vocabulary,
pronunciation mistake, grammar mistake, lack of self confidence, fear of making mistake, and
anxiety

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Conceptual Framework
Lack of vocabulary

Pronunciation mistakes

Student difficulties
in group discussion

Grammar mistakes

Lack of self-confidence

Shyness

Fear of making mistake

Anxiety

Figure1. Students’ difficulties in doing group discussion (Thornbury, 2005)

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Chapter Three
Research Methodology
In this chapter, the researcher would like to discuss the method of this research in order to
answer the research questions as mentioned in chapter one. This chapter consists of research
design, research setting, research participants, instrument of the study, technique of data
collection and data analysis.
Research Design
In this research, the method that researcher used was the descriptive qualitative method to
analyze the data, which was aimed to find out the student difficulties faced in doing group
discussion. According to Bogdan and Taylor (2004), qualitative method is a research procedure
that obtains descriptive data in written or spoken form from the people and their behavior which
is being observed. This approach was used to seek the understanding of a phenomenon or other
certain problem by focusing on the total picture rather than breaking it down into variables. So,
qualitative research is considered to get the data and information in depth based on the
experiences and feelings the participant in this research. The researcher used this method because
she wanted to know the difficulties faced by student in doing group discussion. It was
appropriate with the topic of the research. Furthermore, qualitative method was an appropriate
method to make simple the research question based on the reality of some social phenomenon
like group discussion.

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Research Setting
This research was conducted at English Education Department of Muhammadiyah
University of Yogyakarta. The researcher chose this place to be the research setting because the
researcher found some problems related to the study of this research. Besides, the place was not
too far from the researcher’s home as the researcher was also studying in EED of UMY.
Therefore, the researcher will be easier to gather the data. It would help the researcher to the data
collection from respondents. This research was conducted in December 2015.
Research Participants
The participants of this research were the students of English Education Department of
Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta. The researcher chose three female students of EED
of UMY in batch 2014 as the participants of the research to conduct the interview. Female
students were chosen because they were more experienced and cooperative in making
appointment for the interview. Besides, these students also had experience in group discussion
when they were in the first and second semester. The sampling technique of this research was
purposive sampl