Improving Students’ Speaking Skill of Grade VII A at SMP Negeri 1 Kasihan Bantul Through The Use of Cue Cards in The 2016/2017 Academic Year

Abstract

This action research aimed to improve the students’ speaking skill of grade VII A at SMP Negeri 1 Kasihan Bantul through the use of cue cards in the 2016/2017 academic year. The qualitative data were collected through observing the teaching and learning process, having interviews with the students, the English teacher and the research collaborator, and distributing open-ended questionnaires to the students. The quantitative data were collected through assessing the students’ speaking performances by using an assessment rubric. The qualitative data were analyzed by assembling the data, coding the data, building interpretations and reporting the outcomes. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive quantitative analysis. The qualitative improvement could be seen from the students’ active participation in discussing the inputs texts, doing the interview game, and performing the situational cue cards. The cue cards supported the students’ speaking skill improvement as it enabled the students to stimulate each other to speak English. Another improvement of the students’ speaking skill also could be seen from the students’ ability to generate their ideas in speaking. The qualitative findings were supported by the quantitative data results. The mean of the students’ speaking scores improved from 6 in the pre-test to 14 in the progress test and to 17 in the post-test.

Keywords: action research, speaking, cue cards