Improving the Speaking Ability of Tenth Graders of SMK Negeri 3 Malang Using Problem Based-Learning

ABSTRACT Rohmah, Miftachul. 2014. Improving the Speaking Ability of Tenth Graders of SMK Negeri 3 Malang Using Problem-Based Learning. Thesis, English Language Teaching Program, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Dr. EkaningDewantiLaksmi, M.Pd, M.A. Keywords: problem-based learning, speaking, classroom action research Based on the result of the preliminary study, it was found that the speaking ability of the students of class X JB 3 at SMKN 3 Malang was unsatisfactory. The students were not confident and lacked of motivation during the classroom speaking activities. Moreover, teacher rarely conducted speaking activities in the English class. The teacher mostly focused on reading and writing. As a result, the students were passive and rarely talked during the teaching and learning process. This study used classroom action research design conducted in two cycles, each of which consisted of four stages i.e. planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The subject was 35 students of class X JB 3 at SMK Negeri 3 Malang during the 2013/2014 academic year. The instruments used to collect data were interview guides, questionnaire, observation checklists, field notes, and the speaking scoring rubric. The criteria of success in this study were 50% of the students got the minimum score of 3 out of 4 in three aspects, i.e. content, fluency and accuracy, and the students' participation increased in both cycle. The findings showed that Problem-Based Learning successfully improved the students' speaking skill. The result of Cycle 1 was 85.7% of the students reached the score of 3 or above in terms of content. In terms of fluency, there were 48.5% of the students reached the minimum score of 3. In terms of accuracy, 60% of the students still had not reached the minimum score of 3. Although some students got the average score of 3 or above, but it was not in all three aspect being measured. The students still lacked in one or two aspects. Therefore, the researcher conducted another cycle with a different strategy in presenting the problem. In Cycle 2, the students improved their speaking ability in all three aspects. Also, in this cycle, the researcher changed her strategy by giving guiding questions for the students to help them improve their fluency and accuracy. The last result showed that more than 50% of the students could reach the minimum score set by the researcher. Furthermore, the students' attitude towards speaking activity was better after the implementation of the study. Most of the students showed their active participation and good motivation during the implementation of the strategy. It could be concluded that the use of Problem-Based Learning was successful to improve students speaking ability as well as their participation during the speaking activities. Therefore, English teachers are encouraged to implement Problem-Based Learning in teaching speaking. English teachers are also recommended to provide problems that are closely related to the students' environment. In addition, future researchers are suggested to apply this strategy for different materials, i.e. text with various genres on different grades and levels of education, to find out whether the strategy can be used to help students in general improve their speaking ability