10 

 

THE APPLICATION OF THE LEARNING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE 

THE SPEAKING SKILL OF THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS AT SMA 

UII  YOGYAKARTA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012 

Dira Permana
 

Faculty of Language Teaching and Arts (FPBS) IKIP Mataram 

email: dira_permana@yahoo.com 

ABSTRACT 

 The objectives of this study were to identify the problems of the second 

grade students in speaking English and to discover the effective steps of the 

learning strategy to improve the speaking skill of the second grade students at 

SMA UII in the academic year 2011/2012. This study applied a classroom action 

research and was conducted in two cycles consisting of planning, acting, 

observing, evaluating, and reflecting. Subjects of the research were the second 

grade students of SMA UII in the academic year 2011/2012. Data collecting 

techniques used were observation, interview, diary and speaking test. Data 

analysis techniques used were descriptive analysis. Based on the research, there 

were four strategies applied in cycle I, i.e., the strategies of asking for clarification 

or verification, grouping, repeating and placing new words into a context. The 

result of strategies application in cycle I gave positive and negative responses that 

it did not give much significance to the students‟ speaking skill. The highest 

speaking score of the students in cycle I was 18. Therefore, revision was done. 

There were two strategies that must be revised in cycle II, which were the 

strategies of grouping and repeating. As the revision was done in cycle II, students 

showed positive response and gave significant improvement to the students‟ 

speaking skill. The highest speaking score of the students in cycle II was 27. 

Thus, it can be concluded that the learning strategy is successfully implemented 

and improves the speaking skill of the second grade students at SMA UII in the 

academic year 2011/2012.   

Keyword: Learning Strategy, speaking ability, students, significance, and 

response. 

   



11 

 

Introduction 

One of the English skills required 

to master by the English learners is 

speaking. Speaking becomes the most 

important skill of English since it 

differs from other skills. Speaking is 

quite necessitated by the students as 

the tool to communicate among them. 

The existence of speaking as one of 

the English skills then obliges the 

students to learn it consciously. 

However, learning speaking is 

considered difficult. It absolutely 

needs preparation either mental 

strength or sufficient curiosity to be 

well-known of speaking which must 

be fulfilled by the higher schools 

students. 

As one of the higher schools 

which give concern on the students‟ 

ability of speaking, SMA UII require 

their students to have good ability in 

speaking English. The school assumes 

that by having good speaking ability, 

their students can compete in every 

area of competition with other 

schools. Yet, in the process of 

learning to speak, students still find 

many difficulties. Those difficulties 

are that the students cannot arrange 

words into English sentences 

optimally at anytime they want to 

speak English, the students often do 

not concentrate when they are 

required to speak English in front of 

their classmates, the students cannot 

pronounce the English words well and 

clearly when speaking that they often 

make their hearers can not understand 

them. Students are often also 

confused of what to speak because of 

not having enough English 

vocabulary, and the students even 

have no bravery to come to the front 

of the class to speak. These 

difficulties can be generated by some 

factors. They are internal and external 

factors. 

Internal factors involve any 

difficulties which are coming from 

the students themselves such as the 

students‟ self confidence, 

introversion, extroversion and 

anxiety. Self confidence is the 

bravery of expressing the students 

themselves to public. Without self 

confidence it is impossible for the 

students to attain good ability of 

speaking. Brown (2000) stated that 

one of the major obstacles for the 

learners to overcome in learning to 

speak is self confidence. Introversion 

can be very problematic to the 

students since they are not open-

minded with any other people to do 

many things such as to share and to 

socialize. We know that socialization 

can be a very practical medium to 

communicate with others. Besides, 

the students‟ anxiety has not also 

made the students feel free to speak 

for they are many times obsessed by 

anxious feeling of making mistakes 

while speaking. 

External factors comprise any 

difficulties which appear from out of 

the students themselves, such as the 

students‟ environment. The 

environment is one of the very 

affecting factors. The students seldom 

want to speak and even are ashamed 

of speaking when they are with non 

English speakers. The students often 

consider that they do not need to 



12 

 

speak up because they do not have an 

equal partner to speak with. It is 

believed or not, that the success of the 

learners in learning to speak a 

language is based on the situation 

where they are. Having seen those all 

above, it is important that the students 

must be given a lot of practice. 

Practice of speaking is needed for the 

students if they need to be skillful 

speakers. The aims of practice are to 

make the students accustomed of 

saying the English words in well 

organized, reach fluency in speaking 

and have good ability of speaking 

English whenever it is needed for 

communication. Without practice, the 

students will never be successful for 

being good English speakers. Practice 

makes perfects as it is said by the 

proverb experts. And for practice, the 

students ought to be given learning 

strategies.  

Learning strategy, according to 

Brown (2001), is specific method of 

approaching a problem or task, mode 

of operation for achieving a particular 

end, or planned design for controlling 

and manipulating information. From 

Brown‟s definition of learning 

strategy above, it can be concluded 

that learning strategy is very 

important approach to be included in 

learning to speak. Through learning 

strategy, the students will get many 

advantages such as to help students 

learn to speak English effectively and 

to improve their speaking skill. Thus, 

to improve the students‟ speaking 

skill, giving the learning strategies 

will be the best answer to the students 

and important by the students to 

know and to apply. 

Based on the background above, 

there are two main questions used by 

the researcher as the problem 

formulations of the research as 

follows: 

1. What are the problems of the 

students of the second grade in 

speaking English at SMA UII 

Yogyakarta in the academic year 

2011/2012? 

2. What are the effective steps of the 

learning strategy to improve the 

English speaking skill of the 

second grade students at SMA UII 

Yogyakarta in the academic year 

2011/2012? 

 

Review of Related Literature 

a. Definition of Speaking  

Speaking is a productive skill. It 

involves using speech to express 

meanings to other people (Pulverness, 

2005). Speaking is therefore 

identified as an activity to express 

meanings through a language. The 

language reveals meanings which can 

be absorbed by people interacting to 

one another.  It means that speaking 

is an activity to express things in the 

communication process among 

members of society in which people 

are then supposed to absorb the 

meanings. Meanings are assumed as 

manifestation of one‟s language 

competence systematically. The 

language competence is divided into 

understanding and using language in 

which called receptive and productive 

(Bygate, 1987: 5). Productive skill is 

the ability of making decisions about 



13 

 

speaking, such as what to say, how to 

say and so on. Meanwhile, receptive 

skill requires the ability of receiving 

and articulating the order sounds and 

structures of the language.  

Lado (1961: 240) defines that 

speaking skills are the ability to 

express oneself in life situation, or the 

ability to report act or situation in 

precise words, the ability to converse, 

or to express a sequence of ideas 

fluently. A remark expression leads to 

anyone is involved in the process of a 

talk. Harmer (2001: 46) states that 

speaking happens when two people 

are engaged in talking to each other. 

Clark and Clark (1997: 4) state that 

speaking and listening are of 

particular important to psychologist 

for they are mental activities that hold 

clue to every nature of human mind. 

In speaking, people put their ideas 

into words, talking about perception, 

feelings, and intentions what they 

want other people to grasp. In their 

complicated inter relationship from 

the memory store and adapting them 

to new requirements as meanings are 

expressed with more and more finesse 

and nuance. Brown & Yule (1983:1-

5) state that speaking is one of the 

four basic language skills. Some 

people say that speaking is the most 

difficult of the others skills (listening, 

reading and writing). Through 

speaking people can convey their 

ideas, thoughts and opinions, 

rhetorical utterances.  

Based on the stated theories above, 

speaking can be concluded as putting 

ideas in the form of words about 

perception, feelings and intentions to 

make other people absorb the 

messages conveyed. 

Brown (2001: 272) writes some 

micro-skills that are found in 

speaking as follows: 

1. Producing chunks of language of 

different lengths. 

2. Orally producing differences 

among the English phonemes and 

allophonic variants. 

3. Producing English stress patterns, 

words stressed and unstressed 

positions, rhythmic structure and 

intentional contours. 

4. Producing reduced forms of the 

words and phrases. 

5. Using an adequate number of 

lexical units (words) in order to 

accomplish pragmatic purposes.  

6. Producing fluent speech at 

different rates of delivery.  

7. Using grammatical word classes 

(nouns, verbs, etc), system (e.g. 

tense, agreement pluralization), 

word order, patterns, rules, and 

elliptical forms. 

8. Producing speech in natural 

constituent-in appropriate phrase, 

pause groups, breath groups, and 

sentences. 

9. Express particular meaning in 

different grammatical forms. 

10. Accomplishing appropriately 

communicative functions 

according to situations, 

participants and goals. 

11. Using appropriate register 

implicature, pragmatic, 

conventions, and other socio 

linguistics features in face-to-face 

conversations. 



14 

 

12. Developing and using battery 

of speaking strategies, such as 

emphasizing key words, 

rephrasing, providing, a context for 

interpreting the meaning of the 

words appealing for help, and 

accurately assessing how well your 

interculator is understanding you. 

 

However, the micro-skills of oral 

communication mentioned above still 

show complexity and considered 

wide; therefore, some indicators of 

the five sub-skills can be developed to 

accomplish the speaking, and they 

are:  

a. Pronunciation 

Pronunciation refers to the micro 

skills of number 3: producing English 

stress patterns, words stressed and 

unstressed positions, rhythmic 

structure, and intonational contours. 

Cook (1996: 41) considers that 

pronunciation is a set of habits for 

producing sound. It includes the 

segmental feature, vowel, consonant, 

stress, and the intonation patterns. All 

those are supposed to be applied by 

the speakers. 

b. Fluency 

Fluency refers to the micro skill of 

number 6: producing fluent speech at 

different rates of delivery. It has 

relation with the ability to talk with 

normal level of continuity, rate, and 

effort to link the ideas and language 

to speak from coherence, a connected 

speech. Someone is said able to speak 

English or fluent when he speaks it 

smoothly and readily. 

c. Vocabulary 

It refers to the micro skills of number 

5: using an adequate number of 

lexical units (words) in order to 

accomplish pragmatic purposes. The 

ability of someone‟s language 

depends on one‟s knowledge of 

vocabulary. The richer vocabulary is 

mastered, the better skill of 

communicating can be attained.  

Rivers as quoted in Nunan 

(1991:117) has also argued that the 

acquisition of an adequate vocabulary 

is essential for successful foreign 

language because the use of language 

structures and its functions may have 

affected on comprehensible 

communication. 

d. Grammar 

Grammar refers to the micro skill of 

number 7: using grammatical word 

clauses (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems 

(e.g. tense, agreement, pluralization), 

word order, patterns, rules, and 

elliptical forms. Also number 9: 

expressing particular meaning in 

different grammatical forms. 

Grammar refers to the study or 

science of rules for the combination 

of words into sentences (syntax), and 

the form of word (morphology), 

(Hornby, 2000: 375). Lado (1961: 90) 

says that anyone using a language 

must use its grammar. It shows that 

grammar plays an important role in 

speaking skill. 

e. Intelligibility or comprehension 

Intelligibility or comprehension refers 

to the micro skill of number 12: 

developing and using battery of 

speaking strategies such as 

emphasizing the meaning of words, 

appealing for help, and accurately 



15 

 

assessing how well your interculator 

understanding you. Intelligibility or 

comprehension means 

understandable. In speaking, the 

speaker and the partner must have 

good understanding in oral 

communication. 

  

b. Language Learning Strategy 

According to Oxford (1990:8), 

learning strategy is specific action 

taken by the learners to make the 

learning easier, faster, more 

enjoyable, more self-directed, more 

effective and more transferable to 

new situation. Brown (2001) states 

that learning strategies are specific 

methods of approaching a problem or 

task, modes of operation for 

achieving a particular end, or planned 

design for controlling and 

manipulating information. The 

language learners seem will not be in 

doubt to have involved directly in the 

language learning in case that the 

learning strategy is always followed 

behind their existence.  

Rubin and Thomson (1982) state 

that language learning strategies are 

strategies which contribute to the 

development of the language system 

which the learner construct and affect 

learning directly. The development of 

the strategy will create new situation 

in which the language learners can 

learn a second language well and in 

systematic ways. The development of 

strategy will also presents the 

language learners to produce an oral 

communication accurately. Weinstein 

and Mayer (1986) in Ellis (1996: 531) 

state that learning strategies are the 

behaviors and thoughts that a learner 

engages in during learning that are 

intended to influence the learner‟s 

encoding process. As learning 

strategies introduced with behaviors 

and thoughts, it seems that learning is 

absolutely followed by behavioral 

activity of the language learners.  

Ellis (1996: 529) establishes the 

statement mentioned above with a 

view that a strategy consisted of 

mental or behavioral activity related 

to some specific stage in the overall 

process of language acquisition or 

language use. 

O‟Malley (1992) states that 

learning strategies are techniques, 

approaches, or deliberate actions that 

take in order to facilitate the learning, 

recall of both linguistics and content 

are information. Stern (1983) in Ellis 

(1996: 531) states that in our view 

strategy is best reserved for general 

tendencies or overall characteristics 

of the approach employed by the 

language learner, leaving the 

techniques as the term to refer to 

particular forms of observable 

learning behavior.  

From the definition of the learning 

strategies above, the researcher 

concludes that learning strategies are 

concrete actions, approaches 

involving behavioral activities that 

contribute to the development of the 

learning effectively to attain the 

language acquisition systematically 

by the learners. Language learning 

strategies contribute to all parts of the 

learning acquisition continuum. 

Oxford (1990: 9), the features of 

language learning strategies: 



16 

 

1) Contribute to the main goal, 

communicative competence. 

2) Allow learners to become more 

self-directed. 

3) Expand the role of teachers. 

4) Are problem-oriented. 

5) Are specific action taken by the 

learner. 

6) Involve many aspect of the 

learner, not just the cognitive. 

7) Support learning both directly 

and indirectly. 

8) Are not always observable. 

9) Are often conscious. 

10) Can be taught. 

11) Are flexible. 

12) Are influenced by a variety of 

factors. 

 

Thus, learning strategies are not 

just concrete action to be developed 

by the language learners to the 

language acquisition, but also how the 

strategies really contribute to the 

enhancement of the learners‟ 

language based on the features of 

language learning strategies and play 

a significant role in acquisition of the 

language in well order. Social, 

memory and cognitive strategies as 

parts of the learning strategies are 

considered to be very effective 

strategies in the efforts of maximizing 

the speaking competence of the 

learners in the process of language 

acquisition.  

Social strategies as one of the basic 

social interaction give lot of 

advantages to language learners since 

they are active to ask with others that 

a cooperative activity come out in the 

language learning process. Social 

strategies have a set of strategies 

involving asking for clarification or 

verification, asking for correction, 

cooperating with others, cooperating 

with peers, cooperating with 

proficient users of the new language, 

developing cultural understanding 

and becoming aware of others‟ 

thoughts and feelings. 

Memory strategies also called 

„mnemonics‟ are definitely defined as 

ways of learning through a memory 

aid. Memory strategies are frequently 

used by the learners to remember 

practical information found at various 

sources of knowledge. Memory 

strategies can help the language 

learners store and retrieve new 

information wherever it needs for a 

communication through memory aids. 

Oxford (1990: 39) writes that 

memory strategies reflect simple 

principles such as arranging things in 

order, making associations, and 

review. These principles are 

absolutely meaningful. For the 

purpose of learning a new language, 

the arrangement and associations 

must be personally meaningful to the 

language learners, and the material to 

be reviewed must have significance.  

Oxford (1990: 40-43) explores 

memory strategies into a set of 

strategies encompassing the strategy 

of grouping, associating/elaborating 

placing new words into a context, 

using imagery and semantic mapping, 

using keywords and representing 

sounds in memory, reviewing well, 

using physical response or sensation 

and using mechanical techniques. 



17 

 

Rubin (1987) in Ellis (1996) states 

that cognitive strategies refer to the 

steps or operations used in problem 

solving that requires direct analysis, 

transformation or synthesis of 

learning materials. This statement is 

then supported by Piaget (1959); he 

says that the cognitive development 

and language acquisition are closely 

interrelated processes. Without 

cognitive development there can be 

little or no language acquisition. 

Cohen (1998) states that cognitive 

strategies encompass the language 

learning strategies of identification, 

grouping, retention, and storage of 

language material as well as the 

language use strategies of retrieval, 

rehearsal, and comprehension or 

production of words, phrases, and 

other elements of the language.  

From the definition of cognitive 

strategies above, it can concluded that 

cognitive strategies are typically 

found as the outstanding strategies to 

the learners in developing the target 

language through grouping, retention, 

and storage of language material for 

retrieval. Cognitive strategies are 

essential in learning a new language, 

due to its function to manipulate the 

transformation of the target language 

that the learners carry out when 

learning a language. Cognitive 

strategies are strategies used to deal 

with information-processing of the 

second language involving 

identification, grouping, retention, 

and storage of language material as 

well as the language use strategies of 

retrieval that is responsible for all 

form of knowledge and skills 

development. Oxford (1990: 69) in 

her book entitles “Language learning 

strategies” writes a set of cognitive 

strategies, which are practicing, 

repeating, practicing formally with 

sounds and writing systems, 

recognizing and using formulas and 

pattern, recombining, practicing 

naturalistically, getting the main idea 

quickly and using resources for 

receiving and sending massages, 

reasoning deductively, analyzing 

expressions and analyzing 

contrastively (cross language), 

translating and transferring, taking 

notes and summarizing. 

 

c. Teaching Speaking Applying the 

Learning Strategy 

Teaching speaking applying the 

learning strategy is giving strategies 

training to the language learners in 

learning to speak English by applying 

practical strategies in order to give 

practical information. To attain the 

goals of learning a language with the 

strategy, learners essentially should 

have effective learning and 

seriousness in producing the 

language. According to Cohen (1998: 

82) the goals of strategy instruction 

are to help foreign language students 

become aware of: 

1. How they learn more 

effectively. 

2. How they can enhance their 

own comprehension of product 

of the target language. 

3. How they can continue to learn 

on their own and communicate 

in the target language after they 

leave the language classroom. 



18 

 

 

In conducting the teaching process 

of speaking applying the learning 

strategy, the researcher applies some 

strategies mentioned by Oxford 

(1990) in his book entitled: “ 

language learning strategies”, they are 

the strategy of asking for clarification 

or verification, grouping, repeating 

and placing new words into a context. 

These strategies are the combination 

of three main strategies which are 

social, memory and cognitive 

strategeis. The following is the 

detailed explanation of the strategies: 

1. Asking for clarification or 

verification 

The strategy of asking for 

clarification or verification helps the 

learners to utilize someone who is 

more proficient in English (having 

good pronunciation of saying the 

English words) to explain any 

information whether they are in the 

form of words, phrases or sentences. 

When the information explained is 

still not clear to the learners, they may 

ask for clarification by having the 

speaker to slow down and repeat or 

clarify those words or phrases that 

they still consider unclear. 

2. Grouping  

The strategy grouping requires the 

language learners to classify some 

language materials in the form of 

words or phrases into meaningful 

units whether in spoken or written in 

a chart. In this strategy of grouping, 

the language learners classify 

language elements into nouns 

(computer, program, etc), verbs 

(arrange, publish, etc), adjectives 

(fluent, tough, steady, etc) and 

adverbs (well, fluently, etc).  This 

aims at making the materials of the 

language in short elements in order 

that they are then easily remember 

and retrieve by the speakers while 

speaking. 

3. Repeating 

To make the learners accustomed of 

the language materials (words, 

phrases) learned, repetition is quite 

necessitated in learning a second 

language. Therefore, this strategy 

requires learners to repeat the 

language materials of an original 

language unit. This repeating helps 

learners be accustomed of saying the 

words in phonetically sounded 

wherever and whenever it is used for 

communication. 

4. Placing new words into a context 

To complete the learners‟ knowledge 

of a language, they are supposed to 

make the words or phrases which 

have been classified or grouped into a 

complete sentence. To be able to 

make the words or phrases into a 

sentence, it is necessary that the 

learners determine the patterns of the 

sentence to be used in constructing 

the sentences. It is done in order to 

make the learners easier communicate 

the words while it is needed for 

communication. Applying the words 

or phrases in the sentences is needed 

in the rhetoric management of a 

language as the medium for the 

developing action. In conducting the 

teaching process of speaking applying 

the strategies, the researcher applies 

the literacy approach in which this 



19 

 

approach consists of some steps of 

teaching; they are BKOF, modeling 

of text, joint construction of text and 

independent construction of text. 

 

Research Method 

 This research applied an 

action research. Kemmis and Taggart 

(1988: 10) define action research as a 

way of increasing our knowledge of 

classroom and as a tool in teaching. 

The target community setting was 

directed to the second grade students 

of SMA UII Yogyakarta in the 

academic year 2011/2012. The data 

needed in this research were opinions 

resulted from the research members 

about the problems faced by the 

students in learning to speak English. 

Data collecting techniques were 

questionnaires, observation, 

interview, diary and speaking test 

with pre and post-test. Data analysis 

technique used was descriptive 

analysis, which is describing and 

explaining about the existence of 

phenomenon or what occurs explicitly 

and comprehensively to prove that the 

result of the instruments above was 

able to answer the main question 

about the application of the learning 

strategy in improving the students‟ 

speaking skill. 

  

Results and Discussion 

 Based on the observation and 

students‟ pre-test of speaking, it was 

found that the students‟ problems of 

sepaking English were that the 

students cannot arrange words into 

English sentences optimally at 

anytime they want to speak English, 

the students often do not concentrate 

when they are required to speak 

English in front of their classmates, 

the students cannot pronounce the 

English words well and clearly when 

speaking that they often make their 

hearers can not understand them. 

Students are often also confused of 

what to speak because of not having 

enough English vocabulary, and the 

students even have no bravery to 

come to the front of the class to 

speak. This can be seen from the 

students‟ sepaking skill in their pre-

test, in which the highest speaking 

sore of the students was 10. The 

following result showed in table 1 is 

the students‟ speaking skill of pre-

test. 

Tabel.1 

Pre-Test of Students’ Speaking 

Skill 

 

 

N

O 

 

Stud

ents

‟ 

initi

als 

Pre -Test of Students‟ 

Speaking 

Skill 

 

Tot

al 

Indicator and Score 

Pr V

b 

Fl G

m 

Vc E

c 

G

s 

1 Rg 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 9 

2 Fl 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 6 

3 Dn 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 9 

4 Sy 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 8 

5 Rt 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 9 

6 An 2 2 1 2 2 0 1 10 

Note: 

Pr : Pronunciation  Vb : 

Vocabulary 

Fl : Fluency Vc : Voice 

Gm : Grammar Ec : Eye Contact 

  Gs : Gesture 



20 

 

As the students were taught the 

learning strategy they began to show 

better performance where they did not 

feel reluctant to speak English. 

However, their speaking performance 

were still not significant eventhough 

they had given improvement. 

Students‟ not significant speaking 

performance was caused by the use of 

the strategies which were not 

maximal. The students still could not 

implement the strategy of grouping 

and repeating completely because the 

students still had the difficulty to 

explore their words while speaking 

using the words they had grouped 

from the learning source. This can be 

seen from the students‟ score of 

speaking. The data of the students‟ 

speaking skill improvement in cycle I 

can be seen in the following table: 

Tabel.2 

Post-Test of Students’ Speaking 

Skill in Cycle I 

 

 

N

O 

 

Stud

ents

‟ 

initi

als 

Post -Test of Students‟ 

Speaking Skill  

 

Tot

al Indicator and Score 

Pr V

b 

Fl G

m 

Vc E

c 

G

s 

1 Rg 2 3 3 2 3 2 3 18 

2 Fl 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 14 

3 Dn 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 16 

4 Sy 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 15 

5 Rt 3 2 3 2 3 1 2 16 

6 An 3 3 3 3 3 1 2 18 

 

 From the result of the 

students‟ speaking skill in the action 

of cycle I above, it can be concluded 

that the change of the students‟ 

speaking skill was achieved 

compared to that of in the students‟ 

pre-test. The highest speaking score 

of the students in cycle I was 18.  

Here is the explanation of the change 

of score. Ragil, in the pre-test scored 

9 changed into 18 in the post-test. 

Faisal, in pre-test scored 6 changed 

into 14 in the post-test. Danang, in 

pre-test scored 9 changed into 12 in 

the post-test. Sumiyati, in pre-test 

scored 8 became 15 in the post-test. 

Retno, in pre-test scored 9 became 16 

in the post-test and Annisa in pre-test 

scored 10 changed into 18 in the post-

test. 

Thus, it can be interpreted that 

students could implement the strategy 

especially the strategy of grouping 

and the strategy of repeating. The 

students did not have any significant 

difficulties anymore to use the 

strategy. The students could explore 

their words that they had grouped 

from learning source when they 

spoke English. Students also spoke 

their words more clearly that the 

other students (as the audience) were 

able to understand better what were 

said by the speakers. The students‟ 

speaking skill in cycle I had showed 

improvement compared to that of in 

their Pre-Test although noot too 

significant.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



21 

 

Tabel.3 

Post-Test of Students’ Speaking 

Skill in Cycle II 

 

 

N

O 

 

Stud

ents

‟ 

initi

als 

Post -Test of Students‟ 

Speaking Skill  

 

Tot

al Indicator and Score 

Pr V

b 

Fl G

m 

Vc E

c 

G

s 

1 Rg 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 27 

2 Fl 3 4 3 3 3 2 3 21 

3 Dn 3 4 3 3 4 3 3 23 

4 Sy 3 4 3 3 3 3 4 27 

5 Rt 4 3 4 3 4 2 3 23 

6 An 4 4 4 4 4 2 3 27 

 

 From the result of the 

students‟ speaking skill in the action 

of cycle II above, it can be seen that 

improvement of the students‟ 

speaking was successfully achieved. 

The highest speaking score of the 

students in cycle II was 27.  Having 

seen from the score of each of the 

students, it was seen that Ragil‟s 

score improved from 9 to 27, Faisal 

improved from 6 to 21, Danang 

improved from 9 to 23. Sumiyati 

improved from 8 to 27, Retno 

improved from 9 to 23, Annisa 

improved from 10 to 27. Thus, it can 

be concluded that learning strategy 

was considered effective to improve 

the students‟ speaking skill. 

 Thus, the researcher 

concluded that the improvement 

resulted in the action of cycle II 

showed that the application of the 

strategy training to improve the 

students‟ speaking skill of the second 

grade at SMA UII Yogyakarta was 

implemented successfully. 

 

Conclusion, Implication and 

Suggestion 

 The second grade students of 

SMA UII Yogyakarta had many 

problems that they faced in the 

process of learning to speak English. 

These problems involved the students 

cannot arrange words into English 

sentences optimally at anytime they 

want to speak English, the students 

often do not concentrate when they 

are required to speak English in front 

of their classmates, the students 

cannot pronounce the English words 

well and clearly when speaking that 

they often make their hearers can not 

understand them. Students are often 

also confused of what to speak 

because of not having enough English 

vocabulary, and the students even 

have no bravery to come to the front 

of the class to speak.  The application 

of the learning strategy involving 

asking for clarification or 

verification, grouping, repeating and 

placing new words into a context was 

carried on in the efforts of 

overcoming the problems and 

improving students‟ speaking skill 

that they hopely could have better 

speaking skill. There were two cycles 

done in this study. The first cycle 

showed the students‟ speaking kill 

had better achievement, but the 

achievement was not significant. This 

happened because the students did 

not used the strategies maximally. As 

the second cycle conducted, students‟ 

speaking skill had significant 



22 

 

improvement in which the students 

had successfully performed the 

strategeis taught well. Thus, it can be 

concluded that the application of the 

learning strategy can improve 

students‟ speaking skill of the second 

grade students of SMA UII 

Yogyakarta in the academic year 

2011/2012. This research also implies 

that the learners, who are in the 

efforts of learning to speak English, 

surely have problems and difficulties. 

However, these problems and 

difficulties can be solved by various 

methods, techniques or strategies 

including the application of the 

learning strategy. In relation to the 

finding above, the researcher 

honorably proposes some suggestions 

to the students, teachers and other 

researchers. 

1. To the students 

To be good English speakers, the 

students must keep their learning 

spirit as priority; the spirit of 

learning for the English words as 

many as possible, practicing to 

speak the words and using the 

speaking strategies taught by the 

teachers. 

2. To the teachers 

Improving the students‟ speaking 

skill can be reached through many 

ways including applying learning 

strategies. Therefore, the teachers 

are hoped that they will proudly 

have always looked for the best 

strategy in the efforts of improving 

the students‟ speaking proficiency.  

3. To the other researchers 

This research is absolutely still far 

of being complete.  Therefore, it is 

hoped that the other researchers 

can do the same research with the 

same topic and strategies in 

different setting. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



23 

 

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