Improving Students’ Speaking Skill Using Computer Assisted Language Learning (Call) (A Classroom Action Research In The Third Semester Students Of Stmik Amikom Purwokerto In The Academic Year Of 2011/2012)

Oleh :
Puspita Mayaratri - S89020912 - Sekolah Pascasarjana

This research was conducted to the third semester students of STMIK AMIKOM Purwokerto in the 2011/ 2012 Academic Year. The aims of this research are: (1) to find out whether the use of CALL could improve the speaking skills of the students; and (2) to find out the strengths and the weaknesses of the implementation of CALL in improving the students’ skills in speaking. The action research was conducted in two cycles. First cycle was held in four meetings and the second was in three meetings. The research procedures were divided into four stages: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. In collecting the data, the writer used observation, interview, questionnaire, and test. The writer as the teacher was helped by a collaborator as observer while the writer was implementing the research. The result of the observation was presented in the form of field- notes and checklists. The tests consisted of a pre-test and post-tests. The result of the research showed that: (1) CALL could improve the students’ speaking skills which comprise with accent, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension aspects. The students’ skills in speaking improved in good result and could gain the minimum score after having been taught using CALL (2) The strength of CALL method in teaching speaking in this research are: students had new experiences of learning speaking which they’ve never done before and CALL gives students the interesting atmosphere of learning by using internet and computer. Besides that, CALL creates fun in students’ learning since they learn using internet and computer, two things that are commonly used in their daily living. CALL also invites students’ responsibility, calls for students’ activeness and builds communicative relation to the students since the activities were designed for group which needs teamwork and activeness to finish the task given by the lecturer. Meanwhile, the weaknesses of CALL method are: lack of computer applications which provide the computer feedback of students’ activities. Feedback was done manually by the lecturer and students themselves. Based on the result of the study, the implementation of CALL in teaching speaking improves the products and process of learning speaking. It can be concluded that students’ speaking skills could be improved through CALL. Therefore, it is suggested that the English teachers should apply CALL in their teaching and learning activity.