Improving Students’ Speaking Skill Through Think-Pair-Share (TPS) Method

Oleh :
Indah Nurul Izzati - K2207031 - Fak. KIP

In the earlier stage of the research, several problems of speaking skill are found in the XI IS 1 students of SMA N 3 Surakarta in the academic year 2010/2011. The first problem is that the students’ speaking skill is in low level. It is indicated by the low score of speaking test. The second problem is that the students’ motivation in speaking is also low. Many students are nervous and do not have any courage to practice their speaking. The class is noisy and the students do not pay attention to the teacher. Then, to solve the problems, an action research is conducted by using Think-Pair-Share (TPS) method to improve students’ speaking skill. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate whether or not TPS method can improve the speaking skill and the motivation problems. This action research is conducted from May to June 2011. The subjects of this research are the XI IS 1 students of SMA N 3 Surakarta in the academic year 2010/2011. There are two cycles of action. In each cycle, the procedure of the research consists of planning, action, observation, and reflection. In collecting the data, the researcher uses field notes, observation sheets, photograph, documents, interview transcript, questionnaire and tests. The field notes are made by the researcher, while the observation sheet is done by the observer. The interview is held by the writer to the students and the teacher. The tests consist of pre-test, post-test 1 in cycle 1, and post-test 2 in cycle 2. The researcher analyzes the test result by counting the mean score in the pre-test and in the post-test. The result of the research shows that the implementation of TPS method can improve the students’ speaking skill. The result shows the difference between the students’ ability before and after the action. Based on the research observation sheet, field notes, photograph, documents, interview transcript, questionnaire analysis, and tests result, there are improvements in the students’ speaking skill and in the students’ motivation. They are also interested in improving their speaking. The tests result shows the improvement of the students’ achievement before and after the implementation of action in cycle 1 and cycle 2. The students’ mean score in the pre-test is 71.70. The students’ mean score in post-test 1 is 81.39 and the mean score in the post-test 2 is 85.37. It means that there is a difference between the students’ speaking skill before and after the research. It can be concluded that teaching speaking by using Think-Pair-Share (TPS) method can improve the students’ speaking skill.