IMPROVING SPEAKING USING SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

Abstract

This research is aimed at identifying how the use of small group discussion can improve the speaking skill of the tenth-grade students of a state senior high school in Surakarta and the classroom situations when small group discussion is implemented in speaking class. A classroom research was carried out from March until June 2013 in the X-4 class of a state senior high school in Surakarta. The data were collected through observation, interview, questionnaire, and tests (pre-test and post-test). The qualitative data were analyzed by assembling the data, coding the data, comparing the data, building interpretation, and reporting the outcomes. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings show that small group discussion improved students’ speaking skill and classroom situation. Considering the research finding, it is suggested that other teachers use small group discussion to overcome the students’ problem in learning speaking.