Improving students’ english speaking skill through content-based instruction (A Classroom Action Research in the Second Grade Students of Business English Department of CsV&TC, China in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)

Oleh :
Li Hui - S890809216 - Sekolah Pascasarjana

The research is aimed at (1) finding whether and to what extent content-based instruction improved the students’ speaking skill; and (2) describing the teaching and learning situation when content-based instruction was applied in the speaking class. This study applied action research technique to conduct the research to improve students’ speaking ability through Content-based Instruction (CBI). Hopkins mentions that action research is a research which combines as substantive act with a research procedure; it is an action disciplined by enquiry, a personal attempt at understanding while engaged in process of improvement and reform. This research consisted of two cycles, with four meetings in each cycle; while each cycle consists planning, action, observation, and reflection. The research was conducted at CsV&TC, China; the subjects of the research were the students of second grade in the academic year of 2010-2011. In this research, there were two types of data: quantitative data and qualitative data. The quantitative data were collected through test, namely pre-test and post-test. The qualitative data were collected through observation, questionnaire, and interview to the students. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics; find out the mean of the scores in the test and the significant improvement of the scores using t-test of non-independent variable. The qualitative data were analyzed using Constant-Comparative Method suggested by Glaser and Strauss consisting of the following steps: (1) comparing incidents applicable to each category; (2) integrating categories and their properties; (3) delimiting the theory; and (4) writing the theory. The research findings indicated that CBI was effective in two aspects: (1) in improving students’ speaking ability: students’ speaking level increased; students could answer the teacher’s questions; students could fluently communicate with their friends by using correct grammatical forms and appropriate vocabulary with good pronunciation; the use of mother tongue was reduced; (2) in improving class situation: the atmosphere in the whole class became alive; students enjoyed the speaking activities; there were many chances for students to practice their speaking skill; students had great motivation to learn speaking; speaking became easy and fun to the students. The results of this study showed that CBI was effective and beneficial to improve the students’ speaking competency and the classroom situation. Key words: Content-based Instruction, Speaking Skill