DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL OF GRADE VIII STUDENTS THROUGH SHORT CONVERSATION

The purpose of this research was to find out whether or not the grade VIII students’ speaking skill at SMP Negeri 19 Palu can be developed by applying short conversation. This research employed pre-experimental design. The sample of this research was the grade VIII students at SMP Negeri 19 Palu consisting of 20 students and selected by using cluster sampling technique. The instrument of data collection was a test; pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was used to measure the students’ speaking skill before treatment; and the post-test was used to measure the students’ speaking skill after the treatment was given. The data was analyzed statistically. The result of data analysis showed that the hypothesis was accepted by regarding to the analysis that t-counted (8.04) is higher than the t-table (1.729). The degree of freedom (df) of the table is 20-1 = 19. The level of significance is set up at 0.05. It means that the application of short conversation can significantly develop the grade VIII students’ speaking skill at SMP Negeri 19 palu