IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY THROUGH DRAMA
Euis Susi Susilawati,SS
English Education Study Program Language and Arts Department of Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (STKIP) Siliwangi Bandung
ABSTRACT
English has been an important subject in every school, especially in junior high school. In learning English the students have to master four skills. Those are listening, speaking, reading and writing. For some students, speaking has been the hard element in English class because of many factors, so the teachers have to give some approaches in their learning teaching.One of the learning approaches is drama technique. The main objective of this research is to identify whether or not using drama is effective to improve student’s speaking ability. The research method used is quantitative method, or more spesifically pre-experimental design using pre-test and post test. It consists of 20 students as the sample and the test as the instrument. The result showed that the score of posttest is higher than pretest and has increased in 4.4 point. In other words, drama can be an alternative in teaching English speaking.
Keyword : teaching, speaking, drama
A.INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, English subject has been taught in every school especially in junior high school and it becomes the most important subject to learn.When learning English students must master four skills, those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing.Then, speaking skill is very important to be mastered because it can help us to communicate with others well. Therefore, the speaking skill is totally required. On the other hand, speaking skill is hard to be mastered by the students because of many factors. Some factors is because the lack of teachers' ability to improve their students' speaking ability. Besides that, when teaching english many teachers use local language and Bahasa Indonesia. Some teachers also teach speaking only by reading some dialogues and asking their students to read and make some dialogues. Those methods can make the students not interested to use English actively and assume that learning English is not important.From those phenomenon, a teacher have to find effective technique on how to teach English easily and encourage students brave to speak English.
According to Hughes (2011:6),
“ when the spoken language is the focus of classroom activity, there are often other aims which the teacher might have. For instance, a task may be carried out to help the student gain awareness of, or to practise, some aspect of lingustic kowledge (whether a grammatical rule, or application of a phonnemic regularity to which they have been intoduced), or to develop productive skill ( for example rhythm, intonation or vowel to vowel linking), or to raise awareness of some socio linguistic or pragmatic point ( for instance how to interrupt politely, respond to a compliment appropts or moments to paper, commiting evenly, or show that one has understood)” .
One of an attractive techniques, in teaching speaking is drama. Drama is one of effective ways to teach speaking and make students fun in learning English. Students can explore their ability in acting and learn how to pronounce English words well. According to Rastelli (2006:82), he believes “drama is written dialogue which involves a wide range of responses and gives stimuli for the development of speaking, listening and writing activities”. Related to that desription, the writer proposes to assumes that drama is an influential and beneficial teaching strategy can be used to provide opportunities for the student as a flexible method. It can be well worth it if the control time is set properly and regularly not only in the classroom but also outside.Having some information about that issues the writers interested to make a research in junior high school on how drama can make speakings’ students ability improved. The writer is conducting this study at the students of SMP N 1 Campaka Cianjur at 7th grade, entitled “Improving Students’ Speaking ability Through Drama “.
B.LITERATURE REVIEW
There are many experts who state the definition of speaking. Brown (1994) and Burns & Joyce ( 1997) say that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving. However, speech is not always unpredictable. Language functions (or patterns) that tend to recur in certain discourse situations (for example declining an invitation or requesting time off from work), can be identified and charted (Burns &Joyce, 1997). Finally, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language (Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995; Cohen, 1996). A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act.Acccording to Thornburry (2005:1) speaking is so much a part of daily life that teacher take it for granted. It means that human activities is helped by speaking, without speaking maybe human can not do anything well. Nevertheless, according to Chaney (1998:13) speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" . It can be said that speaking is a symbols for communication with verbal and non verbal.Based on the definitions above,it can be concluded that speaking is an interactive ways to express humaSpeaking has some elements for learning; here are the components of speaking skill. According to Syakur (1987:5), speaking is a complex skill because at least it is concerned with components of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency.
1)Grammar
It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation. It is in line with explanation suggested by Heaton (1978:5). He says student’s ability to manipulate structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical form. The utility of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form.
2)Vocabulary
Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication. Without having a sufficient vocabulary, one cannot communicate effectively or express their ideas in both oral and written form. Having limited vocabulary is also a barrier that precludes learners from learning a language. Language teachers, therefore should process considerable knowledge on how to manage an interesting classroom so that the learners can gain a great success in their vocabulary learning. Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.
3)Proununciation
Proununciation is the way for students to produce clearer language when they speak. 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, 2000:11). n life’s mind and as an one of symbols in communication.
The writer takes some definitions of drama by experts to fulfill this research in order to make this research valid and reliable.
According to Aston(2005:3) “Drama is highly regarded as an effective and valuable teaching strategy because of its unique ability to engage reflective, constructivist and active learning in the classroom as well as enhancing oral skills development.”Rastelli (2006:82) states “Drama is written dialogue which involves a wide range of responses and gives stimuli for the development of speaking, listening and writing activities”. The teacher can distinguish between drama which is a process of activity and theatre which is more interested in the product, that is to say the performance.According to Gardner (2005:3) “Drama is benefit for schools which use multiple intelligences to incorporate authentic learning. Drama has the capacity to provide authentic learning as most of the intelligences are utilized in learning activities”.
C. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Design
The writer uses quantitative research in this researcher. According to Creswell (2003 : 18), a quantitative approach is one in which the investigator primarily uses postpositivist claims for developing knowledge (i.e.,cause and effect thinking, reduction to specific variables and hypotheses and questions, use of measurement and observation, and the test of theories), employs strategies of inquiry such as experiments and surveys, and collects data on predetermined instruments that yield statistical data. By using this approach the writer can process all the data and through this approach the result of research is easy to comprehend.
B. Research Method
Suprijadi and Kaswan (2013:34) state that experimental research or experiment refers to “reserach in which at least one independent variable is manipulated,other relevant variables are observed (Fraenkel:2013). Experimental design itself has three types, they are
1.Pre-experimental design,
2.Quasi-experimental design
3.True-experimental design
Moreover, pre-experimental design itself has three forms as below :
1.One-shoot case study
According to Suprijadi and Kaswan (2013:34)“ experimental design is research which is at least one independent variable is manipulated, other relevant vaariable are controlled and the effect on one more dependent variables is observed”. It consist of three forms , those are :
2.Pretest-postest design
3.Inact-group comparison
For this research , the writer briefly use pre-experimental design with pretest- postest design. Through this design the writer is able to know the result of experiment accurately because in this design the writer as a teacher held pre-test before giving the treatment then post-test after teatment itself.
C. Instrument
Suprijadi and Kaswan(2013:160) state that according to Tavakoli (2012), instrument is any device which is used to collect the data. Instrument can be presented in written, audio, or visual format. It means research instrument is a device which used by the researcher to collect the data. In addition, pretest, postest and role play were used to support the data. In this research the writer uses test and interview as an instrument. Those instrument are used to measure the effectiveness of using drama in improving students’ speaking ability. The question in pretest and posttest were the same.
D.RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The pre-test was conducted to find out if the use of drama can improve student’s speaking significantly. It would be the prove that there was significant differences in the student’s scores before and after treatment using drama. The scores criterion based on some indicatorsand such as accuracy, fluency, comprehensibility which had score 1-6. The pretest was conducted to find out the result before treatment and the postest to find out the result after the treatment by using drama in improving student speaking ability.The following is the detail calculation:
1.Mean
The mean is another average of all the scores in a distribution. It is determined by adding up all the scores and that dividing this sum by the total number of scores (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1990:51). To calculate the mean score from the preest that was given to the sample, the writer used the formula as follow (Crowl, 1996:140):Mean = X = ∑x
n
Pretest=X = ∑x= 276 Post Test=X = ∑x= 311
n = 20 n= 20
= 14 = 16
The score of pretest is 14 and the score of posttest is 16. It means the mean of posttest is higher than pretest score.
Having analyzed the data of pre-test and post-test above by using t-test formula, the result indicated that the t-observed is 4.4. It could be told that there is a significant increase in teaching learning using drama .
The mean score of pre-test x1 = 14
The mean score of post-test x2= 16
The result = 4.4
In order to fullfill the result of this research, the writer found out the degree of freedom (df) as below:
df= N-1
df=20-1
df=19 ( see the table of “t” value of the degree of significance 5% and 1 %)
At the degree of significance 5% = 2.093
At the degree of significance 1% = 2.861
So the result is 2.093<4.4>2.861
Based on the result of the data analysis, it is proven that student get high score in speaking class when using drama technique. It makes student brave to begin some dialogue and act as a script. The scores were acquired from the pre-test and post-test. Students after accepting the treatment was better than before, hence it can be concluded that teaching speaking through drama is effective in improving students’ speaking ability.
Having some explanation above it is in line with some research finding in previous studies they are : by Aston and Rastelli. First, Aston(2005:3) found drama is highly regarded as an effective and valuable teaching strategy because of its unique ability to engage reflective, constructivist and active learning in the classroom as well as enhancing oral skills development. Second, Rastelli (2006:82) states “Drama is written dialogue which involves a wide range of responses and gives stimuli for the development of speaking, listening and writing activities”. Hence, it can be concluded from both studies that drama was effective in improving students’ speaking ability.
5.CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
Based on the research finding, it can be concluded that drama was an effective to improve students’ speaking ability at first grade at SMPN 1 Campaka Cianjur. It was supported by the result of this reserach in chapter 4. The result of T-test showed that coefficient is 4.4, it means that drama technique is effective to be used by junior high school level.
B.Suggestions
Having conducted the research, the writer would like to purpose suggestion as follows:
1.For the students, drama is one of fun techniques in learning teaching to avoid bored situation in class. When the drama held, they should be enjoyed with the music to supporting the story.
2.For the teacher, drama is an alternative technique using in speaking class not only in indoor but also outdoor.
3.For futher research, to know how far drama technique can improve the students’ speaking ability, the writer suggest that this technique should be conducted in other school with same or different grades.
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