A STUDY OF THINK-PAIR-SHARE TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS

Abstract

This research aims to improve students’ speaking skill by using the technique of Think-Pair-Share (TPS) for the eighth grade students of SMPK Santa Familia Kupang in the school year of 2017/2018. Based on the objectives, the researcher provides three problem statements regarding this research. They are how the TPS technique is used to improve speaking skill, the advantages and disadvantages of the TPS technique during the research, and does the TPS technique improve students’ speaking skill.

This research was categorized as classroom action research. Based on the schedule, the actions were implemented in two cycles. There was only one meeting in each cycle. This research involved 20 students of class VIII A of SMPK Santa Familia Kupang in the school year of 2017/2018. The English teachers acted as the observer and rater for the test conducted. The data of this study were gained by qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained by observing, interviewing both the students and English teachers. Meantime, the quantitative data were acquired through the result of pre-test, progress test, and post-test in each cycle. The procedure of the research are planning, implementing, observing and reflecting.

The results of this research showed that the use of Think-Pair-Share (TPS) technique was able to improve the speaking skill of the eight grade students of SMPK Santa Familia Kupang in the school year of 2017/2018. Based on the qualitative data, applying the Think-Pair-Share technique gave the student more opportunities to speak up in English. The student did participate actively during the teaching and learning process. The activity such as classroom English, vocabulary pronunciation, giving feedback, and pronunciation drill were used to support this technique. It can be seen that the students were able to improve their capability in speaking English. These findings were also supported by the result of the students’ scores in the test. The mean scores of pre-test in the first cycle were 55,175. In the second cycle, the mean scores were 74,625. In short, the students had made some improvements in some aspects of speaking skills like pronunciation, intonation, comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, gesture, and expression.