Abstrak

The main objectives of this research are to find out whether: (1) AIR method is more effective than ALM to teach speaking at the tenth grade of SMA Negeri 7
Surakarta in the academic year of 2016/2017; (2) students with high risk-taking have better speaking skill than those with low risk-taking; and (3) there is an interaction between teaching methods and students’ risk-taking in teaching speaking.
The present study is an experimental research. The population is all of the MIPA students of the tenth grade of SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta. Sample was taken by using cluster random sampling and it yielded two classes: class A as the experimental group and class B as the control group in which each consists of 26 students for the sample of the study. The instruments used in collecting the data are test on speaking skill and a questionnaire on risk-taking. The data were analyzed using ANOVA with.95 level of significance and Tukey test. Liliefors is used to find out the normality of the data, while Barlett’s test is used to find out the homogeneity of the data.
The results of the hypotheses testing show that: (1) Auditory Intellectually Repetition (AIR) method is more effective than Audio Lingual Method (ALM) to teach speaking at the tenth-grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta of the 2016/2017 academic year; (2) Students who have high risk-taking have better speaking skill than those who have low risk-taking; (3) There is an interaction between teaching methods and risk-taking in teaching speaking. In other words, it can be summed up that the effect of teaching methods on students’ speaking skill depends on the students’ risk- taking. Students who have high risk-taking are more appropriate to be taught using the AIR method, while the students who have low risk-taking are more appropriate to be taught using ALM.
From the result above, the present study implies that teaching methods have a strong influence on students’ speaking skill. The application of AIR method gives greater effect than ALM in teaching speaking. It can be seen that students are encouraged to be actively involved in every speaking learning activity. In order to get maximum result and effect on student’s speaking skill, the writer suggests English teachers  to  apply  AIR  method  by  considering  students’  psychological  aspects especially their risk-taking.

Keywords : Speaking, Auditory Intellectualy Repetition, ALM, Risk-taking