A study on "Using cooperative learning to improve the speaking ability of SMP students in extra-curricular"

Speaking is considered an important skill in language teaching. One of the chief characteristics of a human being is the ability to communicate to his fellows complicated messages concerning every aspect of his activity to carry out his daily activity of human life. According to Jr. Hall, every man and woman, even though a member of an illiterate peasant society or a primitive tribe is none less human if he or she cannot read or write; what makes us human is our ability to speak and to react to speech. It seems that the oral communication is needed more and considered more valuable than the written one. Due the consideration that speaking is important, the writer suggests a new speaking material for teaching speaking to Junior High students in extra-curricular program. The selected material is picture stories. It is expected to motivate students to speak simple English and make the learning situation lively. To apply this material successfully, the writer gives suggestions using Cooperative learning. Cooperative Learning is a teaching strategy that enables students to work collaboratively together in structured heterogeneous groups toward a common goal while being held individually accountable. She chooses STAD technique to present the materials by following appropriate procedure and evaluate her student's mastery of what she has taught. The suggested technique stresses the communicative values of language, which give the students a chance to speak freely with the help of picture stories to motivate them. Since this study is a library research, the writer obtained the information needed from books to support her study. Hopefully, this study will be of some help to English teachers to teach speaking skill. Finally, the writer hopes that there will be other thesis writing students who are eager to do experimental study concerning this topic to see whether or not this idea is efficient and useful to develop students' speaking ability