1 ELT FORUM 4 (1) (2015) Journal of English Language Teaching http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt THE USE OF BAMBOO DANCING TECHNIQUE TO IMRPOVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL IN INTERPERSONAL CONVERSATION (A Classroom Action Research at Grade VII Students of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang in the Academic Year of 2014/2015) Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni English Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Semarang Aticle Info ________________ Article History: Received in Juni 2015 Approved in Juli 2015 Published in Agustus 2015 ________________ Keywords: Bamboo-dancing technique, speaking skill, interpersonal conversation, action research. ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ Mostly students of Junior High School have difficulties in their speaking skill, especially in interpersonal conversation. It is because they have to concern with the material and also the practice of the conversation itself. So, some techniques should be carried out to make speaking easier and interesting. One of the techniques to teach speaking is bamboo-dancing technique which is one of cooperative learning technique, in which students are placed in two lines to see each other and make conversation (Suprijono (2009:98)). The aim of this study is to find out how bamboo-dancing technique can be implemented in improving students’ skill to master interpersonal conversation. In order to achieve the objectives, an action research was designed and carried out in this study. The participants of this study were 28 students of class VII B of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang in the academic year of 2014/2015. Questionnaires, observation guide, and speaking tests were used as the instruments for collecting the data. The analysis results of the first and second questionnaires showed that bamboo-dancing technique was useful to most of students of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang to improve their learning motivation and interesting in interpersonal conversation. Their perception was changed positively after having the treatment. It meant that the use of bmboo-dancing technique could ease their problem in speaking in English especially interpersonal conversation. The results of the study showed significant improvement of the students’ achievement in mastering interpersonal conversation. It is proven by the average results in every test; pre cycle test (67), cycle 1 test (73), and post cycle test (79). Moreover, the result of the observation guide showed that bamboo-dancing technique changed the students’ learning behaviour being better than before. Based on the results of those research instruments, it can be concluded that the use of bamboo-dancing technique as learning technique gives the improvement of students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation in terms of motivation, attitude and mastery. © 2015 Universitas Negeri Semarang  Correspondent Address: B3 Building FBS Unnes Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 E-mail: linnaendah@yahoo.com ISSN 2252-6706 Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 2 INTRODUCTION Speaking is regarded as a skill which is difficult to learn because people have to know how to pronounce, how to deliver the message of the speech when they speak to someone. Besides, they have to know how to use the rules of speaking. Speaking has some activities, and conversation is one of them. As we know, conversation is when two people or more talk to each other in a formal and informal situation. Based on the current curriculum in our country that is 2013 curriculum especially for the seventh grader students of junior high school, they learn about one kind of conversation that is interpersonal conversation. In interpersonal conversation, the students learn how to socialize by using spoken language to interact with surrounding. Brown (2001: 274) says that “interpersonal conversation is carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of facts and information”. Interpersonal conversation includes the materials for example suggestions and offers, greeting and leave taking, asking and giving opinion, giving compliments and congratulations, etc. For this interpersonal conversation material, the students have to concentrate to the teacher explanation about the material and also the ways to practice it. In reality, the seventh graders students of junior high school get some problems in learning interpersonal conversation. There are two common problems faced by the students in doing interpersonal conversation. First is they don’t know the expressions used for stating, asking, giving, and also responding to the conversation, and the second they also get confused in the turn taking, when their turn to ask/ state and when their turn to answer/ give responses. The fact that students in the seventh graders get difficulties in interpersonal conversation is experienced by the researcher while doing teaching practice in the SMP IT INSAN CENDEKIA Semarang. When the researcher asked the students to practice interpersonal conversation in pairs by the theme introducing to others, the students did not know who started the conversation first, what should be said at the first time, and what expressions must be used. By seeing these problems, the teachers should find other techniques in teaching interpersonal conversation. As we know that in speaking activities it will make the students always practice the conversation, so to make them practice the conversation easily, it will be better to place the students in a group work/ pairs work as elaborated by cooperative learning technique in which students learn the material in a group work. Related to the difficulties faced by the students in interpersonal conversation, we need a cooperative technique which will make students really active and participate in the learning process as stated by Slavin (1995) that cooperative learning is an instructional method in which students are put in small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning. Due to the reasons above, the writer intended to carry out a research on the use of bamboo-dancing technique to improve the students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation. The objectives of this study are, the first to describe how bamboo dancing technique applied in teaching interpersonal conversation material, and Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 3 the second, to describe how the students’ improvement in their speaking skill after bamboo-dancing had been applied. METHOD OF INVESTIGATION The writer uses action research in this study. Action research defines as a systematic study that combines action and reflection with the intention of improving practiced (Ebbutt 1985:156 in Cohen 1994:297). Action Research means the researcher does his or her research by teaching real students in the real class, using steps which were designed by him or herself. Besides, one of the characteristic of action research is problem solving oriented. Then, Wallace (1998) said that action research is different from this in that it nearly always arises from some specific problem or issue arising out of our professional practiced, but it is very problem focused in its approach and every practical in its intended out comes. It means that researcher should discover something if he or she finds one or more problems in the learning activity in the class. In this action research there were four phases in one cycle for doing classroom, there were planning, acting, observing, and reflecting (Hopkin1985:50). Research design which will be done in this study will be applying two cycles. Each cycle consists of two meetings. Then, each meeting consists of four activities; planning, acting, observing, and reflecting as Hopkin to said above. It means that if the target was not achieved yet in cycle 1, the next cycle must be conducted after revising plan. Continuing the definition of action research, here, I apply the four components; planning, acting, observing, and reflecting in each cycle. Then, this research has two cycles. Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 4 The description will be drawn in graphic below: Figure 3.1: Design of Classroom Action Research (Adapted from Kemmis and McTaggart in Arikunto, 2006) a. Planning In this step, the writer explains about what, why, when, where, and how the action will be done. In planning step of the study, the writer prepares everything that will be needed and used in the study. The writer prepares such as the lesson plan, teaching material, attendance list, observation guide, exercises, and also scoring technique (scoring sheet). b. Acting This step is the implementation of the planning. This step must follow the plant hat had been planned in the planning steps. The writer as the teacher may do modification but may not deviate from the planning. In this study, the writer conducts 2 cycles which each cycle consists of 4 meetings. The writer used the same technique of teaching interpersonal conversation that is using Bamboo dancing technique for those cycles, but as stated before that the writer had to do modification in it when the writer conduct cycle 2. It purposes to improve the students’ achievement. c. Observing Observing is execution of observation which is done by the observer. In this study, the person who acts as the observers is the real teacher of the subject study. The observer had to note what is happened when the writer does the action. d. Reflecting In this step, the observer had to reflect the action which had been done to the writer who acts as the teacher in this action research. If the result of the first cycle is not good enough, the writer should do the second cycle. To support the research, the writer used questionnaire and test to gather the data. Hopefully, this research could be Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 5 conducted well and could achieve the objective of this research. In this study, the researcher used random sampling technique. As stated by Huck, Cormier, and Bounds that the accuracy of the researcher’s inference depends on how representative the sample is. Thus, to make the sample more representatives, most researchers select the sample from the population randomly. In random sample, each member of population that you were sampling had an equal chance or probability of being selected as a subject. In this study, the researcher took one class from two classes that became the member of population. It is done by the researcher because the school had applied the randomization in students’ acceptance. The learning experience background of the students is different between one and other students since they were from many different elementary schools. From the explanation above, that is why the writer does not need to hold the random sampling again, and the writer is brave enough to choose the class 7A as the sample of this study. The first instrument in this study used by the writer is a test based on Murcia (2001) said that perhaps the most difficult aspect of spoken English was that it was almost always accomplished via interaction with at least one other speaker. There were three tests which had been conducted during research; they were pre- test, treatment I test/ cycle1 test, and post test. The pre-test given by giving the researcher made some oral test; they were interaction test and comprehension test about interpersonal conversation. After doing pre-test, the writer did the cycle 1. In the end of cycle 1, students were given simple evaluation to check students’ improvement. The form of cycle 1 was the same with the pre- test form. Then the last test that had to be conducted was post-test. The form of post- test was just the same with pre-test and cycle 1 test. In this action research, the writer also used the second instrument that was observation guide as one of research instruments. The observation guide was filled by the writer to know the students’ behavior changes as used in 2013 curriculum when they were taught before and after using bamboo- dancing technique in interpersonal conversation competence. RESULTS OF THE STUDY Then, the result of each test showed that there was a good improvement of students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation competence. Then, the improvement of them could be seen in the chart below: Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 6 The average score of pretest was only 67. It showed that the average in pretest was lower than the criterion of the passing assessment of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang that had high criterion or KKM that is 75. In pretest, almost of them were still confused in doing interpersonal conversation, especially about what response to give and the turn taking. In detail, the writer also found that almost students of 7B did not have good grammar, proper pronunciation, good comprehension, vocabularies, and fluency in speaking. Then, in cycle 1 the average score was 73. Although it showed that the average was still lower than the criterion of the passing assessment of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang which is 75, the writer found that many of the students got improvement in speaking skill in this first cycle. They seemed more confident, more talk active, and more attractive in practicing the conversation. The students who got improvement could be seen for example C-1. In the pretest C-1 got 68,75 and in the cycle 1 got 81,25. The other example C-21 who got significance score from 62,5 to 81,25. Even though, in the first cycle we had been able to see the students’ improvement, the writer still had a responsibility to make some of students who still got lower score than 75 to pass the KKM. The average score of post test was 79. It showed that the average had passed the passing assessment of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang which is 75. The improvement from cycle 1 to cycle 2 was 6,0 and there were eleven students got 75 and 14 students got 81,25, and even though only three students got the highest score 87,5. It was a good improvement, and the average score of them was considered to be successful, and the comparison M pretest: M post test = 67 : 79. Then, it showed that the use of bamboo-dancing technique gave a good contribution to improve students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation especially about spoken introduction, greeting and leave taking, and also apologizing material. The result of the post test also showed that using bamboo-dancing technique in teaching interpersonal conversation gave many good impacts. First, English speaking class being attractive, interesting, fun, and not boring. Second, the students got easy to memorize and 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 Pretest Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 7 understand the expressions used and the turn taking. Third, the students seemed more active, more confidence, and attractive in practicing interpersonal conversation with their friends. Test was not the only proof to say that the use of bamboo- dancing technique improved students’ speaking skill. There were also observation guides in this study. The observation guide (to know students’ learning behavior) showed that the students’ behavior from pretest, cycle 1, and post test had improved well. In pretest, the writer still found so many students were busy by themselves. Most of them did not pay attention to the teacher when explained the materials, and friends who performed the dialog. In cycle 1 the students were more respect to the teacher and friends. The students liked to pay attention when the writer explained the material. Then, when the writer asked them to practice the expression using bamboo- dancing technique they were very enthusiastic. Not only improved their respect, applying bamboo- dancing technique in interpersonal conversation also improved their confidence, honesty, and responsibility. The improvement of students’ behavior changes also appeared in the cycle 2. In cycle 2, all students seemed to be nice and good students. They always paid attention to the teacher when the teacher explained the materials, they always did the task very well and on time, and they were much more active in questioning, active in answering questions, and confident in performing dialog in front of the class. The other proof which showed that using of bamboo-dancing technique in teaching interpersonal conversation gave a good contribution in interpersonal conversation competence was the result of questionnaire that was filled by the students as the subject of the study. This questionnaire had 8 questions based on certain categories; they were about students’ interest, the advantage of using bamboo-dancing technique in teaching leaning process, students’ motivation, the relevancy of using bamboo- dancing technique in teaching interpersonal conversation, and its sustainability. Then, the result showed that the students thought that the use of bamboo-dancing technique in teaching learning process helped them very much. Based on the result above, the writer concluded that the improvement of the students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversations not only proved by the result of the test, but also proved by the result of the observation guide that was done by the writer, and the result of the questionnaire. In short, the writer concluded that bamboo-dancing technique really gave a good contribution to improve students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation competence; besides, it also changed the students’ learning behavior to be better. CONCLUSSION Then, the aim of this study was to investigate the use of bamboo-dancing technique in improving students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation at seventh grade students of SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang. The students’ achievement could be seen from the analysis in the test including pre test, cycle 1 test, and post test. The result showed that the implementation of bamboo-dancing technique could improve students’ speaking skill, especially in interpersonal conversation competence. The students’ improvement in speaking skill is including some aspect of speaking (pronunciation, fluency, grammar, and vocabularies). The mean of students’ score from pre test to cycle 1 test was improved from 67 to 73. The next improvement was showed by the mean of the student’s result from cycle 1 to post test, which is 73 to 79. Both cycles showed good result and positive progress which indicated that bamboo-dancing technique improved very much students’ speaking skill in interpersonal conversation competence at seventh grade students in SMP IT Insan Cendekia Semarang. And the last aim of this study was to investigate the students’ learning behaviour before and after bamboo-dancing technique was Linna Endah Nur Wahyuni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 8 implemented. The first evidence could be seen from the questionnaire. From the questionnaire, the students showed what being expected in this study. Based on the questionnaire, it showed that, the students’ interest in learning English was improved, bamboo-dancing technique improved the students’ motivation in learning interpersonal conversation materials, the use of bamboo- dancing technique helped the students very much to improve their interpersonal conversation, students felt many differences in their speaking ability before and after bamboo-dancing technique had been implemented, the technique was very important to the students so that they wanted it to be done continuously. Second evidence, students’ behaviour changes was showed by the observation guide. Students’ learning behaviour had been changed from pre test to cycle 1, and from cycle 1 to cycle 2/ post- test. The students’ behaviour had changed including their honesty, discipline, responsibility, and also their confidence. In pre test most of the students got C in their behaviour score, and in cycle 1, most of them improved their attitude in B score. Not only in cycle 1, in cycle 2/ post test, students also showed their behaviour improvement from B to A score. The students’ behaviour improvement was concluded very good improvement. BIBLIOGRAPHY Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2006. Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktik. Jakarta: PT Asdi Mahasatya. Brown, H. Douglas. 2001. Teaching by Principle: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (Second Edition). New York: Longman. Paul, D. 2007. Teaching English to Children in Asia. Hong Kong: Pearson Education Asia Limited. Bailey. 2005. Practical English Language Teaching Speaking. New York: Mc. Graw Hill. Design of Classroom Action Research (Adapted from Kemmis and McTaggart in Arikunto, 2006) Suprijono.2009. Cooperative Learning. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Bealajar. Hopkins, D. 1985. A Teachers Guide to Classroom Research. Philadelpia: Open University Press. 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