The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code 1842 Copyright © 2024 The Author IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo IDEAS Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Volume 13, Number 1, June 2025 pp. 1842 - 1850 Development of a Speaking Skills Assessment Rubric Through the English Reporting News Project for High School Students in Kampung Inggris Purbalingga Novanda Alim Setya Nugraha1, Ninuk Lustyantie2, Fathiaty Murtadho3 1Teknik Informatika, Telkom University Kampus Purwokerto 2,3Sekolah Pascasarjana, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Jakarta Timur Corresponding E-Mail: novandan@telkomuniversity.ac.id Received: 2025-06-15 Accepted: 2025-06-29 DOI: 10.24256/ideas. v13i1.7039 Abstract This study aims to develop a valid, reliable, and practical speaking skills assessment rubric in the context of project-based learning, specifically through the English Reporting News Project for senior high school students at Kampung Inggris Purbalingga. The research method used is research and development (R&D) with stages including needs analysis, rubric design, expert validation, limited trial, and data analysis using a Likert scale involving 30 students. The results show that the developed rubric accommodates five main aspects of speaking skills: fluency, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary mastery, and communication ability. Reliability analysis yielded a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.83, indicating a high level of internal consistency. Assessment data indicate that vocabulary mastery and fluency have the highest average scores, while pronunciation remains the main challenge for students. Furthermore, the rubric received positive feedback from teachers and students regarding its practicality and clarity of use. This study recommends the use of the rubric as an effective evaluation tool in project-based speaking learning and further development, particularly focusing on pronunciation aspects. The findings contribute significantly to the development of communicative and contextual English language assessment in the Indonesian educational context. Keywords: Speaking, Skill, English Reporting News, Kampung Inggris Purbalingga http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302 mailto:novandan@telkomuniversity.ac.id IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1843 Introduction Speaking skill is one of the primary competencies in English language learning and plays a crucial role in effective communication. Speaking enables students to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings orally in real-life contexts. However, speaking skills in English remain a challenge for many students, especially in Indonesia, where English is not a native language (Harmer, 2017). This is due to limited opportunities for intensive speaking practice, inappropriate teaching methods, and the lack of effective and objective assessment tools to evaluate speaking skills. In the context of English language learning in Indonesia, especially at the senior high school level, communicative and project-based learning methods are increasingly implemented to enhance students’ motivation and abilities. One innovative method gaining attention is the English Reporting News Project, a learning project that encourages students to report news in English either live or through video recordings. This project not only hones students’ speaking skills but also develops critical thinking, creativity, as well as mastery of relevant vocabulary and language structures (Richards & Rodgers, 2018). Nevertheless, assessment of speaking skills within this project-based context still faces challenges, particularly regarding consistency, objectivity, and clarity of assessment criteria. Unstructured assessment may lead to unfairness and lack of constructive feedback for students (Brown, 2018). Therefore, developing a valid, reliable, and user-friendly assessment rubric becomes an essential need in the effective teaching of speaking skills. Such a rubric helps teachers provide clear and transparent evaluations and makes it easier for students to understand the aspects of their speaking that require improvement. According to Andrade (2019), an assessment rubric is an evaluative tool that integrates criteria and performance standards, thus enhancing clarity and objectivity in assessing language skills. Furthermore, McNamara (2020) emphasizes that a rubric specifically designed for project-based speaking learning contexts will provide a comprehensive depiction of students’ abilities across various dimensions such as fluency, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and communication skills. With a well-structured rubric, the process of teaching speaking through news reporting projects is expected to run more optimally and produce significant improvements in students’ speaking abilities. Kampung Inggris Purbalingga, as one of the English learning centers in Indonesia that applies innovative teaching methods, also requires assessment instruments suited to the unique characteristics of its learning environment. This study focuses on developing a rubric for assessing English speaking skills through the English Reporting News Project specifically for senior high school students at Kampung Inggris Purbalingga, aiming to provide an effective, relevant, and supportive evaluation tool to enhance students’ language proficiency comprehensively. Novanda Alim Setya Nugraha, Ninuk Lustyantie, Fathiaty Murtadho Development Of a Speaking Skills Assessment Rubric Through the English Reporting News Project for High School Students in Kampung Inggris Purbalingga 1844 Method This study employs a research and development (R&D) method aimed at designing, developing, and testing an instrument in the form of an English-speaking skills assessment rubric. The main focus of the research is to create a rubric that is valid, reliable, and aligned with the context of project-based learning, particularly the English Reporting News Project implemented for high school students in Kampung Inggris, Purbalingga. The R&D method was chosen because it enables the researcher not only to examine theoretical and practical needs but also to directly test the developed product through a series of systematic stages (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2020). The rubric development process in this study refers to the model proposed by Borg and Gall (1983), which has been widely adapted in educational research, with adjustments made as needed. The process begins with a needs analysis conducted through an in-depth literature review and direct observation of the English Reporting News Project learning practices in Kampung Inggris, Purbalingga. This stage is crucial for identifying the aspects of speaking skills to be assessed, such as fluency, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, as well as communication skills and the effectiveness of message delivery. Based on the needs analysis and theoretical insights from recent literature, the researcher then designed an initial draft of the assessment rubric. This draft includes detailed indicators along with descriptions of performance criteria and weighting for each aspect of speaking skills. The rubric was developed in accordance with the principles of fair, objective, and easily understandable assessment for both teachers and students (Andrade, 2019). Once the draft was complete, the next stage involved content validation by experts (expert judgment). The validators consisted of applied linguistics lecturers, experienced English teachers, and experts in educational evaluation. They provided feedback on the completeness of indicators, clarity of the criteria descriptions, and the relevance of the rubric to the goals of project-based speaking instruction. This validation served as the basis for revising and refining the rubric to meet the standards of a high-quality assessment instrument. The following stage was a limited pilot test conducted with high school students in Kampung Inggris, Purbalingga. The purpose of this test was to examine the practicality of the rubric in real assessment settings and to gather assessment data from the English Reporting News Project activities. During this phase, teachers used the rubric to evaluate students’ speaking performances during their news presentations in English. In addition, students were given the opportunity to provide feedback on their understanding and clarity of the rubric. Data from the pilot test were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative analysis used descriptive statistics to examine score distributions and the rubric’s performance in assessment. Furthermore, the reliability of the rubric was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha to measure the internal consistency across assessment indicators. If the reliability coefficient shows a high level of consistency IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1845 (Cronbach’s Alpha ≥ 0.7), the rubric is deemed reliable and suitable for use. Qualitative analysis was also conducted using teacher and student feedback to identify areas that needed improvement in terms of usability and clarity. Additionally, the study assessed the practicality of the rubric through direct observation of the assessment process by teachers and the level of acceptance by users (teachers and students). This was done to ensure that the rubric is not only theoretically valid but also applicable, easy to use, and adds value to the learning process. Through a systematic series of steps—from needs analysis, design, validation, and pilot testing to data analysis—this study aims to produce a comprehensive, effective, and reliable English speaking skills assessment rubric. This rubric is intended to serve as a useful evaluation tool for improving the quality of speaking instruction at the high school level, particularly within the context of the English Reporting News Project in Kampung Inggris, Purbalingga. Results This study involved 30 high school students in Kampung Inggris Purbalingga who enrolled in a course package during the May 2025 period and participated in the practical session of the English Reporting News Project. The students’ English- speaking skills were assessed using an evaluation rubric that had been previously developed and validated. This rubric consists of five main assessment aspects: 1. Fluency 2. Pronunciation 3. Grammar Usage 4. Vocabulary Mastery 5. Communication Ability and Message Delivery Each aspect was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 = very poor, 2 = poor, 3 = fair, 4 = good, and 5 = excellent. Average Student Scores by Aspect The following are the average assessment scores for each aspect based on the rubric trial conducted with the 30 students: Assessment Aspect Average Score (1–5) Assessment Category Fluency 3.87 Fair – Good Pronunciation 3.53 Fair Grammar Usage 3.67 Fair – Good Vocabulary Mastery 3.90 Good Communication Ability 3.80 Fair – Good From the table, it can be seen that the students’ average assessment scores range between 3.5 and nearly 4.0, indicating that, overall, their speaking skills are at a fair to good level. The vocabulary mastery aspect received the highest score, showing that students are fairly proficient in using appropriate vocabulary when Novanda Alim Setya Nugraha, Ninuk Lustyantie, Fathiaty Murtadho Development Of a Speaking Skills Assessment Rubric Through the English Reporting News Project for High School Students in Kampung Inggris Purbalingga 1846 reporting the news. Pronunciation received the lowest score, although it still falls within the fair category, making it a key area for improvement moving forward. To illustrate the distribution of scores and the trend in student performance more clearly, the following is a graph showing the average score distribution for each assessment aspect: To test the internal consistency of the assessment rubric, a reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach’s Alpha, yielding the following result: Cronbach’s Alpha Interpretation 0.83 Highly Reliable A Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.83 indicates that the assessment rubric used has high reliability and consistency in evaluating students’ speaking skills across various aspects. From the evaluation results, pronunciation was identified as the aspect with the lowest average score. This suggests that although students are fairly proficient in vocabulary and grammar, they still face difficulties with pronunciation, which affects their overall fluency and communication. This aligns with the findings of Richards & Rodgers (2018), who noted that pronunciation is often one of the main challenges in teaching English speaking skills to non-native speakers. In addition to the quantitative assessment, the study also collected qualitative data regarding teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the rubric. Most teachers stated that the rubric significantly helped them provide more objective and systematic assessments compared to previous subjective evaluation methods. Students also felt that the rubric made it easier for them to understand which aspects they need to improve in their speaking skills. IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1847 Discussion The results of the study show that the speaking skills assessment rubric developed has a significant contribution in comprehensively and systematically measuring students’ speaking abilities. The use of this rubric provides a clear picture of the important aspects in English speaking that students need to master, such as fluency, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary mastery, and communication skills. Based on the average scores obtained, it is evident that students have relatively good vocabulary mastery, achieving the highest score among the assessed aspects. This indicates that the English Reporting News Project encourages students to actively search for and use a variety of context-appropriate vocabulary, thereby enriching their linguistic competence. This strong vocabulary mastery also positively impacts their ability to construct sentences and convey ideas more effectively, as reflected in the communication ability aspect which also received a fairly high score. However, pronunciation remains the main challenge that requires serious attention. The lowest score in this aspect suggests that although students are able to master vocabulary and grammar well, they still struggle to pronounce words correctly and naturally. This is a common phenomenon in foreign language learning, especially in environments where interaction with native speakers is limited. Difficulties in pronunciation can affect fluency and students’ confidence in speaking, potentially reducing the effectiveness of communication. Therefore, this comprehensive assessment rubric greatly assists teachers in identifying these specific weaknesses and providing targeted feedback to improve students’ speaking skills. The high reliability value of the rubric (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.83) strengthens confidence in the consistency of this assessment instrument. With good consistency, the rubric can be widely applied and yield stable results across different assessment sessions and different teachers. This consistency is also crucial to ensure that assessments serve as a valid basis for learning decisions and evaluation of student progress. Furthermore, a reliable rubric helps students clearly understand the standards expected of them and how they can gradually improve their speaking skills. The practicality of this rubric is also a significant added value in its implementation. Both teachers and students report that the rubric is easy to understand and use within the context of the English Reporting News Project activities. This ease of use ensures that the assessment process does not become an additional burden for teachers or students, thereby encouraging consistent and optimal use of the rubric in the learning process. Project-based learning approaches in speaking instruction, such as the English Reporting News Project, are increasingly relevant in modern language education because they allow students to practice speaking authentically and meaningfully. The developed rubric is able to accommodate the characteristics of project-based learning by integrating Novanda Alim Setya Nugraha, Ninuk Lustyantie, Fathiaty Murtadho Development Of a Speaking Skills Assessment Rubric Through the English Reporting News Project for High School Students in Kampung Inggris Purbalingga 1848 various relevant aspects of speaking skills. Moreover, using the English Reporting News Project as a speaking learning medium offers many benefits for students. This project not only sharpens language skills but also develops critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. In this context, the comprehensive assessment rubric functions not only as an evaluation tool but also as a learning tool that gives students a clear picture of the aspects they need to improve. This can enhance student motivation because they receive constructive and focused feedback, making the learning process more effective and enjoyable. In addition to these advantages, the study also reveals some limitations that should be considered in further rubric development. First, the sample used was limited to 30 students in one learning location, so the results need to be retested with a larger and more diverse sample to strengthen the rubric’s external validity. Second, the pronunciation aspect, which remains a major challenge for students, requires more specific and intensive learning interventions that may not yet be fully accommodated in this rubric. Therefore, future rubric development could consider adding more detailed subcriteria related to pronunciation and other phonetic aspects. Overall, this study confirms the importance of developing a valid, reliable, and practical rubric-based assessment instrument to support project-based English- speaking learning. With an appropriate rubric, teachers can conduct objective and comprehensive assessments, while students gain a clear understanding of the competencies they need to achieve. The implementation of the English Reporting News Project supported by this assessment rubric provides an effective learning model to enhance students’ speaking skills in the Kampung Inggris Purbalingga environment, and it can serve as a reference for other educational institutions wishing to adopt project-based learning. Conclusion Based on the results of the research and discussion conducted, it can be concluded that the English-speaking skills assessment rubric developed through the English Reporting News Project is proven to be valid, reliable, and practical for use in the learning context of high school students in Kampung Inggris Purbalingga. This rubric accommodates various essential aspects of speaking ability, such as fluency, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary mastery, and communication skills comprehensively, thus providing a thorough and objective evaluation framework. The use of this rubric supports the project-based speaking learning process by offering clear and measurable assessment standards, making it easier for teachers to conduct evaluations and provide constructive feedback to students. Additionally, the rubric helps students understand their specific strengths and weaknesses, ultimately enhancing their motivation and the effectiveness of learning English speaking skills in real-life situations such as news reporting. IDEAS, Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2025 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 1849 The findings, which show the highest scores in vocabulary mastery and the lowest in pronunciation, emphasize the importance of paying special attention to developing phonetic skills in speaking instruction, which can become a focus for improving the rubric and teaching strategies in the future. Overall, the assessment rubric developed in this study offers practical and theoretical contributions to the development of English-speaking skills evaluation in Indonesia, particularly within the context of project-based learning such as the English Reporting News Project at Kampung Inggris Purbalingga. The success of this rubric opens opportunities for applying similar assessment models in other educational institutions that implement communicative and contextual English language learning. For further development, it is recommended to conduct rubric trials with larger and more diverse samples, as well as to integrate pronunciation learning aspects more intensively, so that the rubric can become more comprehensive and applicable in improving the quality of English-speaking instruction in Indonesia. References Andrade, H. (2019). A critical review of rubrics. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 38(1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12185 Brown, H. D. (2018). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (5th ed.). Pearson. Furwana, D., Muin, F. R., Zainuddin, A. A., & Mulyani, A. G. (2024). Unlocking the Potential: Exploring the Impact of Online Assessment in English Language Teaching. 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