1 EEJ 5 (1) (2015) English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej IMPROVING STUDENTS’ PERSONAL SELF CONCEPT THROUGH ROLE PLAY TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL Milchatun  Dwi Anggani LB, Rudi Hartono Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Program Pascasarjana, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Info Artikel ________________ Sejarah Artikel: Diterima Juni 2015 Disetujui Juli 2015 Dipublikasikan Agustus 2015 ________________ Keywords: Role Play Technique, Self Concept, Speaking Skill ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ The purpose of the research is to investigate whether role play technique can improve students‟ personal self concept in teaching speaking. The method of this research was classroom action research (CAR). It was conducted in three cycles where the students of the State Institute Islamic Studies Syekh Nurjati Cirebon in the Fourth Semester of the Academic year of 2013/2014 as subjects of research consisted of 30 students. There are four kinds of instrument used in collecting the data; those are observation sheets, field notes, questionnaire and speaking prompt. The findings of the research showed that role play technique can improve students‟ personal self concept in teaching speaking significantly from first cycle to the next cycle. The other finding can be seen from classroom situations, i.e.: during the speaking class the students has courage to express their idea freely, good attention in speaking class, well in discussion term, well in team work, they feel confident with their ability in solving problem, and more creative. © 2015 Universitas Negeri Semarang  Alamat korespondensi: Kampus Unnes Bendan Ngisor, Semarang, 50233 E-mail: pps@unnes.ac.id ISSN 2087-0108 Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 2 INTRODUCTION Speaking is an important aspect in language learning. By speaking, we can convey information and ideas, and maintain social relationship by communicating with others. In addition, some people often think that the ability to speak a language is the reflection of their mastery of the language. It can be proved by the statements of many experts. As Brown (2000: 217) writes that speaking skill required two aspects, namely linguistic and non-linguistic aspect; First, linguistic aspect is the main requirement that the English learner should possess in order to speak it well. It involves pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, structure and comprehension; second, Non-linguistic aspect is an aspect to support learners to achieve a success in acquiring speaking skill. This aspect involves personality dimensions, such as self- esteem, self concept and extroversion. Meanwhile another definition comes from Horn (1980) in Andriany (2004:7) states that speaking also means to use a language in ordinary, not in singing. Bygate (1997: 8) states that speaking is a skill which deserves attention every bit as much as literary skills, in both first and second language. Donough and Shaw (2003:134) write that there are some reasons for speaking involved expressing idea and opinions, expressing a wish or a desire to do something, negotiating or solving a particular problem, or establishing or maintaining social relationship and friendship. In addition, Burn and Joyce (1997: 54-55) state that one of the aims of most language programs is to develop spoken language skills and most programs aim to integrate both spoken and written language. Lado (1964: 51) states that to know the language is to use it. He further states that students do not know a sentence until he can speak it. Harmer (2001:348) states that six classroom speaking activities. They are acting from script, communication games, discussion, prepared talks, questionnaires, simulation, and role play. Heaton (1990: 70-71) writes that there are five components generally recognized in analyzing the speech process. Those are pronunciation, vocabulary, structure, fluency, comprehension. From the experts‟ statements above, it can conclude that in order to be success in English speaking, students should master the linguistic aspect and possess the non-linguistic aspect. They both correlate each other. So, English speaking ability here not only focuses on the knowledge of language that the learners have, but also focuses on the personality dimension that will affect them in presenting their knowledge of English and they know how and when to present it. Based on the preliminary research conducted using a questionnaire and the student‟s progress report obtained from 30 students of the State Institute Islamic Studies Syekh Nurjati Cirebon in the Fourth Semester of the Academic year of 2013/2014. The researcher found that her students had the difficulties in speaking skill. First, the students had problem in speaking performance. The researcher found that students‟ fluency is very hesitant and sometimes difficult to understand and may be little or no communication. Then most of them are poor vocabulary, mistakes in basic grammar and may be little or no language produce. The second, researcher found the students‟ had problem in self concept. They think that english is so difficult and they are lazy to speak and sometimes do not have enough bravery to speak in front of class in their own language. They always feel nervous when they speak up in public. They are afraid of making mistakes because they are worry if other students will laugh him/her. Cooley (1902) in Burns (1976:13), introduces the theory of the “looking glass self”, reasoning that one self concept is significantly influenced by what the individual believes others think of him. Rogers (1959) in Burns (1976:37) defines that self-concept as the organized concept that composed of perceptions of the characteristics of „I‟ or „me‟ and the perception of the relationships of the „I‟ or „me‟ to others and to various aspects of life, together with the values attached to these perceptions. Brooks Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 3 (1974) in Rakhmat (2003:99) defines that self- concept is those physical, social, and psychological perception of ourselves that we have derived from experiences and our interaction with others. Then he adds his explanation that the aspect of self-concept is divided into three. They are as follows: academic self concept, social self concept and personal self concept. Mead (1934) in Rakhmat (2003:101) states that significant others – Orang lain yang sangat penting. Dewey and Humber (1966) in Rakhmat (2003:101) says that the affective others – Orang lain yang dengan mereka mempunyai ikatan emosional. The last reason was the common situation which happened in general speaking class. Most of students are often not interesting in speaking class because of technique and method that teacher used in the class. Revell (1994: 60-61) defines that role play is as an individual‟s spontaneous behavior reacting to other in a hypothetical situation. Ur P. (1981:9-11) states that role play is giving students a suitable topic provides interest and subject matter for discussion, dividing them into groups, involves in a mount and quality of verbal interaction. Gower (2005: 105) adds that a role play is when the students take the part of a particular person like a costumer, a manager, a shop assistant etc, then they take a part in the situation and acting out in conversation. It is unscripted, although general idea about what are they going to say might be prepared before. Gebhard (2000:176) writes that role play activities are similar to skits in that students are expected to act. Savage (1996:210) in Erasma (2013:4) states that 3 popular approaches to group learning, one of them is role play. Huang (2008) applies six major steps in the procedure for the role play activities in her classes. Those are 1) Deciding on the Teaching Materials, 2) Selecting Situations and Create Dialogs, 3) Teaching the Dialogs for Role Plays, 4) Having Students Practice the Role Plays, 5) Having Students Modify the Situations and Dialogs, and 6) Evaluating and Checking Students' Comprehension. Nation and Thomas (1988:21) said that the reasons for using role play are: 1) Role play allows a wider range of language function and language varieties. 2) Role play allows exploration of culture issues in particular appropriate way. 3) Role play can add interest to an activity. 4) Role play can result repetition of speaking activity by providing a change. Richards (1985) in Xu Liu (2010: 2-3) stated that they are some characteristics of role play as follows: They provide opportunities to practice strategies for opening, developing, and terminating conversational encounters, they require learners to develop meanings collaboratively, they necessitate the use of turn- taking rules, they practice use of conversational routines and expressions, they involve learners in different kinds of roles. METHOD The design of this research was classroom action research (CAR). As Hopkins (2008:47) suggests that action research combines a substantive act with a research procedure; it is action disciplined by inquire, a personal attempt at understanding while engaged in a process of improvement and reform. Furthermore, Kemmis and McTaggart (1998) explain that to do action research is to plan, act, observe and reflect more carefully, more systematically, and more rigorously than one usually does in everyday life. The action research consists of four steps namely: planning, action, observation and reflection. This research was conducted at IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon Perjuangan street Sunyaragi Cirebon. The researcher chose the students of the State Institute Islamic Studies Syekh Nurjati Cirebon in the Fourth Semester of the Academic year of 2013/2014 as a subject of research. The class consisted of 30 students (13 males and 17 females). There were four kinds of instrument used in collecting the data; those were observation sheets, field notes, questionnaire and speaking prompt. RESULT AND DISCUSION Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 4 Findings on the Students’ Speaking Performance in Cycle 1 The data analysis showed that the students‟ speaking performance in Cycle 1, there were 17 students (57%) who reached the level good or met in criteria success, 13 students (43%) who reached the level fair or had not met in criteria success. While the students‟ speaking performance in preliminary, there were 33% (10 students) who reached the level good or met criteria success, 67% who reached the level fair or had not met criteria Success. Table 1. The Comparison of the Students‟ Speaking Score in Preliminary Research and Cycle 1 Students‟ Speaking Score Pre Cycle 1 33% (10 Students) who met criteria success. 57% (17 Students) who met criteria success. The data analysis was found the percentage comparison between the students‟ speaking score in preliminary research and cycle 1 that there was improvement 14% (7 students) who got level fair in preliminary research to be level good or passed criteria in cycle 1. The students‟ improvement was based on the final score of each speaking aspects; such as grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and pronunciation. Figure below showed the descriptions of students‟ improvement in speaking aspects; such as grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and pronunciation. Figure 1. The Students‟ Speaking Progress in Cycle 1 Findings on the Students’ Personal Self Concept in Cycle 1 The data analysis showed that the students‟ personal self concept is still low. It was found that only half of students who respond and participate when they are during activities teaching and learning process. The other words, it can be said only 50% (15 students) who did the activities learning in the class in meeting 1 and 63 % (19 students) who did the activities learning in the class in meeting 2. Half of them were found that they were passive and afraid to make mistakes and they didn‟t know what and how should they express their ideas in English. The table below is the percentage comparison between the students‟ personal self concept in preliminary research and cycle 1. Poor Fair Good Very good Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 5 Table 2. The Comparison of Students‟ Personal Self Concept in Preliminary Research and Cycle 1 Students‟ Personal Self Concept Pre Cycle 1 Meeting 1 Meeting 2 44% 50% 63% It was found the comparison between the students‟ personal self concept in preliminary research and cycle 1 that there was improvement 19% from 44% in preliminary research to be 63% in cycle 1. It showed that the students‟ personal self concept was still low, in order to make students understand the lesson and to improve their personal self concept in the concept of process role play technique in teaching speaking, she explained to the students more clearly on the slides and gave the example of dialogue in the next cycle. Findings on the Students’ Speaking Performance in Cycle 2 As in Cycle 1, the data of the students‟ speaking performance were also obtained from the analysis of the students‟ speaking performance. The scoring was still based on the scoring rubric adapted from Brown. The data analysis showed that the students‟ speaking performance in Cycle 1, there were 17 students (57%) who reached the level good or met in criteria success, 13 students (43%) who reached the level fair or had not met in criteria success . while the students‟ speaking performance in cycle 2 that there were 70% (21 students) who reached the level good or met criteria success, 30% (9 Students) who reached the level fair or had not met criteria Success. Table 3. The Comparison of Students‟ Speaking Score in Cycle 1 and 2 Students‟ Speaking Score Cycle 1 Cycle 2 57% (17 Students) who met criteria success. 70% (21 Students) who met criteria success. The data analysis was found the percentage comparison between the students‟ speaking performance in cycle 1 and 2 that there was increased 13% (7 students) passed criteria success in cycle 2. It can be said that the implementation of role-playing technique is better than cycle I but hasn‟t been successful and met the criteria of success. So the study should be continued to the next cycle. The students‟ improvement was based on the final score of each speaking aspects; such as grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and pronunciation. Figure below showed the descriptions of students‟ improvement in speaking aspects; such as grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and pronunciation. Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 6 Figure 2. The Students‟ Speaking Progress in Cycle II Findings on the Students’ Personal Self Concept in Cycle 2 From the data of observation above showed that the students‟ personal self concept is near to meet the criteria success. It was found that most of students who responded and participated when they were during activities teaching and learning process. The other words, it can be said only 66% (20 students) who did the activities learning in the class in meeting 1 and 75 % (23 students) who did the activities learning in the class in meeting 2 or only few of them were found that they were passive and afraid to make mistakes and they didn‟t know what and how should they express their ideas in English. The table below is the percentage comparison between the students‟ personal self concept in cycle 1 and 2. Table 4. The Comparison of Students‟ Personal Self Concept in Cycle 1 and 2 Students‟ Personal Self Concept Cycle 1 Cycle 1 Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 1 Meeting 2 50% 63% 66% 75% It was found the comparison between the students‟ personal self concept in cycle 1 and 2 that there was increased 12% from 63% in cycle 1 to be 75% in cycle 2. It showed that the students‟ personal self concept near met criteria success. In order to make students understand the lesson and to can improve their personal self concept in the concept of process role play technique in teaching speaking, she explained to the students more clearly and patiently and gave more time to practice in the next cycle. Findings on the Students’ Speaking Performance in Cycle 3 As in Cycle 1 and 2, the data of the students‟ speaking performance were also obtained from the analysis of the students‟ speaking performance. The scoring itself was still based on the scoring rubric adapted from Brown. The data analysis showed that the students‟ speaking performance in Cycle 2 that there were 70% (21 students) who reached the level good or met criteria success, 30% (9 Students) who reached the level fair or had not met criteria Success. While the students‟ speaking performance in Cycle 3 was found that there were 1 students (3%) who reached the level very good or met criteria success, 24 students (80%) who reached the level good or met criteria success, 4 students (13%) already reached the level fair had not met criteria Success. Very Good Good Fair Poor Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 7 Table 5. The Comparison of the Students‟ Speaking Score in Cycle 1, 2 and 3 Students‟ Speaking Score Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 57% (17 Students) who met criteria success. 70% (21 Students) who met criteria success. 87% (25 Students) who met criteria success. The data analysis was found the percentage comparison the students‟ speaking performance in cycle 1until3 was increased 30% (10 students). It showed that it had met criteria success, so the research stopped. Findings on the Students’ Personal Self Concept in Cycle 3 From the data of observation above showed that the students‟ personal self concept had met the criteria success. It was found that most of students who responded and participated when they were during activities teaching and learning process. The other words, it can be said only 78% (22 students) who did the activities learning in the class in meeting 1 and 81 % (24 students) who did the activities learning in the class in meeting 2. Only few of them were found that they didn‟t know what and how should they express their ideas in English. Table 6. The Comparison of the Students‟ Personal Self Concept in Cycle 1, 2 and 3 Students‟ Personal Self Concept Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 1 Meeting 2 50% 63% 66% 75% 78% 81% It was found the comparison between the students‟ personal self concept in cycle 1until 3 was increased 31%. It showed that the students‟ personal self concept had met criteria success and there was a significant improvement concerning the students‟ personal self concept in teaching speaking using role play technique from each cycles. So the research was stopped here. Reflection and Revision From the data that were gathered during the implementation of role play technique in process teaching speaking in Cycle I, 2 and 3, namely; students‟ speaking performance in cycle 1 there were 17 students (57%) passed the criteria of success, 19 students (63%) passed in personal self concept, and the students‟ response in teaching speaking process using role play technique, 21 students (71%) give positive response. And students‟ speaking performance in cycle 2, there were 21 students (70 %) passed the criteria of success, students‟ personal self concept in cycle 2, there were 23 students (75%) who passed criteria success, and the students‟ response in teaching speaking process using role play technique (81%) or 24 students who responded positive. And students‟ speaking performance in cycle 3, there were (80 %) 24 students passed the criteria of success. Students‟ personal self concept in cycle 3 that there were (81%) 24 students passed the criteria of success, and the students‟ response in teaching speaking process using role play technique in cycle 3 (95%) 29 students gave positive response. Table below is the percentage comparison between the students‟ speaking performance and personal self concept in cycle 1, 2 and 3. Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 8 Table 7. The Comparison between the Students‟ Speaking Skill and Personal Self Concept in Cycle 1, 2 and 3 Percentage Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Students‟ Speaking Skill 53% 70% 80% Student‟ Personal Self Concept 63% 75% 81% The researcher concluded that the implementation of role-playing technique was successful and the result of students‟ final draft had met the criteria of success determined by the researcher. Then the action research was stopped. As stated earlier from the progress test in preliminary research, it was found that the students had problems in speaking. The students had a problems in almost all aspects of speaking such as in pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, grammar and comprehension. Based on the result of the research, it showed that by implementing the role play technique in teaching speaking, the students could solve the problem in their speaking performance significantly from first cycle to the last cycle. This can be seen from the result of each cycle. The students‟ speaking performance improved 17 students (57%) in first cycle, 21 students (70%) in second cycle, 24 students (80%) in third cycle, already reached the level good. Another finding shows that the students‟ personal self concept also improved significantly from first meeting to the last meeting. The students‟ personal self concept improved 18 students (61%) in the first cycle, 23 students (75%) in the second cycle, 24 students (81%) in the last cycle, already reach level good. Next finding that the students had courage to express their idea freely, good attention in speaking class, well in discussion term, well in team work, they feel confident with his/her ability in solving problem, feel in the same level with other people, receive praise without being shy, and more creative. CONCLUSIONS Based on the research conducted in the fourth semester of students the State Institute Islamic Studies Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, the researcher concluded that the implementation of role play technique in teaching speaking could solve the students‟ problem in their personal self concept and speaking performance. The students‟ personal self concept is significantly increased from each cycle. The observation data wrote that the students‟ response and participant during teaching and learning in the classroom are good and the students are be active, creative, confident, and high motivation. It is proved by the analysis data shows that there are 63% students who response and participate the lesson in the classroom in cycle 1, 75 % students who response and participate the lesson in the classroom in cycle 2 and 81% students who response and participate the lesson in the classroom in cycle 3. In speaking performance, the data showed that there are 17 students (57%) who reached the level good in first cycle, 21 students (70%) who reached the level good in second cycle, 24 students (80%) who reached the level good in the third cycle. It shows that the implementation of role-playing technique was successful and had met the criteria of success determined by the researcher. Role play technique can improve students‟ personal self concept in teaching speaking at the fourth semester of students the State Institute Islamic Studies Syekh Nurjati Cirebon REFERENCES Andriany, D. (2004). The Study on Speaking Class of Tourism Program of the Third Year Students of SMKN 1 Samarinda. Unpublished Thesis. Samarinda: College of English Education of Mulawarman University. Brown (2000). Principles of Language Learning. New York: Addision Wesley Longman,inc. Milchatun / English Education Journal 5 (1) (2015) 9 Burns, A. & Joyce, H. (1997). Focus on Speaking. Sydney: Macquire University Press. 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