IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH THE USE OF ALTERNATIVE ROCK SONGS OF THE XI GRADE AT SMA NEGERI 1 PLERET IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2013/2014

The objective of the research was to improve the grade students‘ English speaking skill of SMA N 1 Pleret in the academic year of 2013/2014 through alternative rock songs. It was expected that alternative rock songs can improve the students‘ speaking English skill. Based on the observation, there were some problems in the teaching and learning of speaking. To solve those problems, the researcher used alternative rock songs as support for speaking activity. The research was carried out through action research that consisted of two cycles. The data were in the forms of qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were in the forms of field notes, interview transcripts, questionnaire and photographs. The quantitative data were obtained from the test results of pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2, and also questionnaire data. The procedures of the research were reconnaissance, planning, actions, and reflection. The validity of the data was obtained by applying the democratic validity, process validity and outcome validity, catalytic validity and dialogic validity. Meanwhile, the reliability, in this research was using interrater reliability. In addition, the researcher used time triangulation, research triangulation and investigation triangulation. The research shows that: (1) the use of alternative rock songs improved the students speaking skill and help them to speak confidently, (2) the use of alternative rock songs improved the students‘ enthusiasm in the teaching and learning process and became more actively involved in the teaching and learning process, (3) the use of alternative rock songs improved the students‘ fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary and accuracy, it was proved by the improvement of students‘ mean score in the pre-test by 5.94, improved to 6.93 or 16.3% in the cycle 1 and 7.73 (11.6%) in the cycle 2