92 SOLVING THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING DIFFICULTIES THROUGH INTERVIEW AND JOKE AT MTS AL-MUSLIMUN NW TEGAL BATULAYAR Agus Salim (agus.agsurfa@gmail.com) Faculty of Language and Art Education (FPBS) Institute of Teacher Training and Education (IKIP) Mataram ABSTRACT This Action Research has been conducted to see how interview and joke are effective in solving the students‟ speaking difficulties at MTs AL-Muslimun NW Tegal. This research is aimed at conducting an enjoy strategy to teach speaking. This research have been conducted since March 2015, it is done in four procedures in giving the treatment; planning, action, observing and reflecting. Then, pre-test and post-test are also the applied in collecting the data. Meanwhile, the students consists two classes A and B, each class there are 23 students. B class was chosen as the sample. They are chosen because of a reason: the students do not have motivation to learn English. It is proved with the findings in pre-test, most of them in answering and expressing their ideas got a lot of mistaken and do not know what to do. After the treatment done, the significant change happen. It could be seen from the finding at post-test, most of them in understanding and answering the question they got better. It also proved with their pronunciation, vocabularies, fluent and accuracy getting better and better. It means that the interview and joke is one of the method teaching and learning good to be applied. This analyzing is temporarily dealing with the findings; it will be completed at the final report. Key Words: Solving, Speaking difficulties, Interview, Joke 93 INTRODUCTION Language is a means of communication or speaking. In this case, as a human being it must be able to communicate or speaking orally (Akhyak, 2013). He also said, language has a main rule in students intellectual, social and emotional development and it is the key towards the successful studying the entire subject. Speaking is a speech production that becomes a part of our dailies activities Thorn burry (2005:5). In line with Underwood he also stated that speaking means creative process, an active interaction between speaker and listener that involve thought and emotion. A good English communication should be supported with the students‟ intellectual, social and emotional development. In terms of communication, the intellectual means, the students should be able to produce the words and phrases in proper, creative, and active. In general the English learners are expected to be able to communicate fluently and accurately based on the social context. Furthermore, in spoken English, they are hoped to be able to convey meanings and various spoken text that have certain communicative purpose. Thereby, when they are communicating their pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar should be well. As a matter of fact, many English teachers or lecturers are able to communicate well, and apply the various techniques in teaching, but the students simply do not know how to go about learning the language. This is due to the fact that learning a language is often outside their experiences; because learning one‟s native language is simple natural part of growing up and normally the study of English take place only if the goal of passing the entrance exams with focus on grammar. Therefore, lectures or teachers in teaching conversation should first focus on helping the students become better language users. Wong (2004) in his research found that many international students in China accustomed to didactic and teacher-centered environment with less classroom conversation, and he also found that the students‟ acknowledge that their lack of English language proficiency in the classroom. In line with Jdetawy (2011), he conducted his study in Arabic foreign learners. He concluded that, Arab Foreign Learner encounter many serious problem in the four language skills. For all students English is not their mother tongue language, the lack of the exposure as spoken by its native speakers, the Arabic EFL preference for using Arabic in EFL rather than English, the lack and weakness of the input in their language teaching context, the lack of the Arabic EFL learners‟ personal motivation, the inappropriateness and weakness of the English language. 94 The international students in China and Arab are two examples of many students in the world encounter the same problem in mastering English in speaking. MTs NW Almuslimun Tegal students are also one of them, speaking fluently and confidently are two difficult things to do. In speaking they got a huge problem on pronunciation, structure, vocabulary content and fluency. Due to the problems they feel inferior, shy and not confident. Therefore, this research is aimed at examining whether, interview and joke could be two better ways to motivate, improve, the students communicative capabilities. Interview and joke are considered to be effective language learning strategies especially at MTs NW Al Muslimun Tegal . Jokes is closely related to memory, as it is usually to recall an experience that occurred in a humors context, Fahimah (2013) stated Joke is also a device that create linguistics awareness in the classroom understanding and creating humors in a foreign language. Based on the background, the researcher formulates the statement of problem that reads “Do the interview and Joke effective in solving the students‟ difficulties in speaking?” “What kind of problem that promote them encounter the difficulties?” REVIEW OF RELATED LETERATURE The Concept of Speaking Speaking is a speech production that becomes a part of our daily activities, Thornburry (2005:8). While Underwood (1997:11) says that speaking means creative process; an active interaction between speaker and listener that involves thought and emotion. Speaking involves three areas of knowledge. They are mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary). It is the ability to use the right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation, function (transaction and interaction): knowing when clarity of message is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when précised understanding is not required (interaction/relation building) and also social cultural rules and norms. It consists of the knowledge of turn-taking, rate of speech; length of pauses between speakers, relative‟s roles of participants). It is an ability to understand how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what and for what reason. Then Weir defines that there are five aspects have to pay attention in speaking, they are content, vocabulary, grammar, performance, and fluency. Rychman (1983: 91-95) said that there are many requirements for making a good speech, such as speech of speaking, voice and delivery, vocabulary profanity, grammar, and self-improvement suggestions. 95 Speaking Competence According to Oxford Advance Dictionary by Hornby, competence is (of person) having ability, power, authority, skill, knowledge, etc, (to do what is needed). While the meaning of ability or competence according to Chomsky in Brumfit and Johnson (1998: 13) is “the speaker- hearer‟s knowledge and ability thus includes concepts of appropriateness and acceptability. The study of competence will inevitably entail consideration of such variables as attitude, motivation, and a number of socio cultural factors. Speaking ability is not fluent speaking but conversation Nolasco (1997: xii). Speaking competence means conversation ability or conversation skill. It performs mutual interdependent, interactive nature of conversation. It is an awareness activity as well as feedback activity so that a series of tasks is developed to sharpen the students‟ awareness on the activity and assess their own progress performance. When those awareness and feedback activities done gradually, automatic conversation becomes accustomed; speaking ability, in this case, conversation skill, needs gradual practice-controlled, awareness, and finally fluency conversation. Indicators of Speaking Competence Brown (2004: 141-142) indicating that one can be called have speaking competence if he/she is able to: 1) Imitate a word or phrase or possibly a sentence (imitative). 2) Produce short stretches of oral language design to demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological relationship. 3) Respond a very short conversation, standard greetings and small talk, simple requests and comments, and the like (responsive). 4) Take the two forms of either transactional language which has the purpose of exchanging specific information, or interpersonal exchange which have the purpose of maintaining social relationships (interactive). 5) Maintain social relationships with the transmission of facts and information (interpersonal). 6) Develop monologue oral production including speeches, oral presentations, and story- telling, during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listener is either highly limited or ruled out together (extensive). Meanwhile, Ur says (1999:120) that the characteristics of a successful speaking activity are: 1) Learners talk as much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learners‟ talk. 2) Participation is even. Classroom discussion is not determined by a minority of talkative participants; all get chance to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed. 3) Motivation is high, learners are eager to speak; because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it or because they want to contribute to achieving a task 96 objective. 4) Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. Theory of Interview Some definition of the interview by the some experts; Hahn and Channel in downs, Smeyak, and Martin (1980:5) define an interview as “as specialized pattern of verbal interaction, initiated for specific content areas, consequent elimination of extraneous material” Furthermore, Stewart and Cash in Downs, Smeyak, and Mart in (1980) define “interview as a process dyadic communication predetermined and serious purpose designed to interchange behavior and involve the asking and answering question. In addition Gamble (1984:188), states “ interview is derived from the French word, interview, which means to see one another or to meet.” According to Goyer, Redding, and Richey in Gamble (1984:188) “an interview is a form of oral communication involving two parties at least one who has a preconceived and serious purpose both of whom speak and listen from time to time. The other expert states that the students have to compose some questions requiring real answers pertaining to the students own experience. They can ask their question of one another or to vary the exercise, a student could ask his question and would respond with an answer to your own situation (John J. Lee. 1975: 94).Nation (1977:83), states that in interview usually two people or two groups of people meet and ask the questions. When the person wants a job he usually is interviewed by someone to see if he is right for the job. When a person wants to study in abroad, he often has to be interviewed, so that people can see if he is good English and he will be a good student. Furthermore, he explains that when interview are used as ways of practicing conversation into groups of three, one person interviews another and the other answers the question. Interview is a good method to get information and measure the subject through pace to pace, group, and institution. Interview can be designed in five or more participants, (GAO, 1991). Furthermore, Cohen, Motion, and Morrison (2007), state that interview is the best understood theory of stimulation and motivation studying about human behavior, like emotion, unconscious need, and interpersonal influence. In the realm of teaching and learning, questions have become a habit of the teacher on teaching and it became the most important strategy to encourage the interaction with neither the student before nor the end of the class. Interview as necessary sharing features of the daily life such as: role- playing, stereotyping, perception, and understanding (Cohen, Monion, andMorrison, 2007). 97 Procedures of Interview There are numerous practical suggestions in the literature of planning and conducting interview, ranging from the sensible to the self- evidence. The following procedures are recommended by Cohen and Monion (1985), Bell (1987), and sradly (1979) in Nunan (1992). 1. Preparing the interview 2. Schedule the researcher objectives have been established, the researcher has to translate this into interview question. According to Cohen, Monion, and Morrison (2007), they recommended setting the type of question and response perfectly based on the objective of the research. The researcher has to decide what the types of the question will be used such as; opened versus closed, direct or indirect, etc. and what type of the responses will be collected and analyzed. GAO (1991), suggests that the structure interview is better just writing down set of the questions to be asked. Furthermore it states that whether the interview is appropriate or inappropriate may relate with the question, what, how, and when it is said (Cohen, Monion, and Morrison, 2007) 3. Selecting of object Bell in Nunan (1992) point out that effort should be made to secure representative subject, even in a small scale study. This involves selecting appropriate proportion, using whatever variables have been determined to be important. In the selections process, it may be necessary to negotiate access to subjects or data collections sites with individual or situation. 4. Elements of the interview According to Cohen in Monion (1985) and Spradley (1979) in Nunan (1992) that the interview structure will depend on the extent to which the sequence of the question is fixed. However it is possible to delineate number of key elements which may be present. (a) Briefing and explanation. Before the interview begins the researcher explains the nature of the research and the purpose of the interviewing to the interviewee then answer any questions that he or she may has. This includes telling the interviewee how the data are to be used. If the data are recorded and in particular if the data are to be made available to the people, the interviewee‟s permission must be sought (b) Questioning. In the less structured ethnographic interview arrange of question types may be used. In order to encourage the respondent to recount his or her experiences opinions and soon. Spradley, (1979) in Nunan (1992) suggests the researcher to use a variant of the other strategies. (c) The structure of interview There are few structures of interview offered by the expert. Gamble and Gamble (1984) state that the most effective interview can be seen of the structure. Put simply they have a beginner, middle, and an end. (d) The beginning of interview Gamble 98 (1984:190) states that the beginning or the opening is segment of process that provides and orientation to what income. The opening of the interview should be use to help establishing report between interviewer and interviewee. The primary purpose of this phase is to make possible for both participate freely and honestly the purpose and scope of the meeting. (e) The middle or the body of the interview Anderson (1977:489), at the authors of the speakers and his audience, states that the body of interview normally consists of primary questions being asked and responded given. Although we have designed one of the participants is interviewer and the other become interviewee, questions may at times be asked by the respondent and answers given by interviewee. Furthermore Gamble and Gamble (1984:190) state that the middle or the body of interview is the largest. (f) The end or the closing of the interview. In many ways of closing is similar to the opening. Instead of previewing, however, the conclusion is a time for reviewing what is occurred during the interview. This helps to ensure that the interviewer has correctly understood any points that might be unclear and has gotten the general tone of the subjects matter correctly. The closing is also a time to establish. RESEARCH METHOD This is a Classroom Action Research (CAR) design, Kemmis and Taggart (1988). Classroom Action Research is an effective media in improving the quality of English teachers‟ performance in instruction as well as students‟ achievement in learning English in classroom (Latief 2011:144). This research is expected to find out a better way to teach English speaking to all students in MTs NW Almuslimun Tegal. The research was conducted in one cycle through the procedures: planning, action, observing and reflecting. In planning the researcher arranged lesson plan with some components: it should cover the objective of the class process, materials, technique, the steps of classroom activities, learning sources assessment and scoring rubric. The scoring rubric was used to easier the researcher in giving the score to each students. The next step after wrote the lesson plan, the researcher prepared the treatment media and materials. The second step after planning was implementation. It consists of the explanation of data collection scenario such as: the explanation the way of the researcher collecting the data. Then the students were divided into some groups, each groups consists of five students. Third, observing was the process to collect the data correlated in learning English as the way to solve the problem in teaching and learning process. The researcher conducted the test to know students‟ 99 speaking score. They tried to find the weakness process and tried to solve it. The observation of the teaching and learning process activity was about interaction between students and between the teacher and the students and the teacher‟s activity. Because the researcher wanted to know the students improvement in speaking, the researcher only used test to collect the data. Brown (2003: 3) stated that “a test, in simple terms, is a method of measuring a person‟s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain. “In this study, the researcher used test to measure speaking ability of the students. Test was used to observe the students ability and to get the score of the students. Setting and Subject of the Research This research was conducted at MTs NW Almuslimun Tegal It is at Meninting, Batulayar, Lombok Barat consists of 2 classes (A -B) 2 semester, each class consists of 23 students, and the researcher will take B class as the subjects. Research Procedures The procedure of data collection are: planning, action, observing, and reflecting. These procedures was done in one cycle. 1. Planning This first step, the researcher prepared the teaching instruments such as : lesson plan, students worksheet, the teaching materials and the test for pre -test and pot-test. 2. Action The second procedure is action, at this session the researchers gave the students pre-test. This test was done in two steps: the researcher explained them what to do in answering the questions. Next after that they were called one by one for coming forward, and they were asked about their identity and their daily activities. Then, their sounds were recorded as the pre-test data. The next activities, they were given treatment with some academic and funny speaking games. And as a final activity in collecting the data, the researchers gave the students post-test, to examine the students improvement after having the treatment. 3. Observing Observing is the process to collect the data correlated in learning English as the way to solve the problem in teaching and learning process. Observation was conducted before and as long as data collection. In doing the observation the researchers kept attention to : 1) the students‟ speaking ability, classroom, the teacher, and their school examination results. 2) the students‟ motivation as long as the research conducted, their speaking ability, and the result of pre and post-test. 4. Reflecting In this activities the researcher will conduct the reflection from the action in the cycle one. The criteria of students‟ successful if they got 70 - 100 100 Arikunto, 2006, in Nisa 2013). Action the method of the research is classroom action research. Mills (2000: 6) states that action research is any systemic inquiry conducted by teacher, researcher, principals, school counselors, or other stakeholders in the teaching/learning environment, to gather information about the ways that their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how well their students learn. This information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the social environment (and educational practices in general), and improving student outcomes and the lives of those involved. The Technique of Collecting and Analyzing Data The data of the research are qualitative and quantitative. Two of those were collected through; interview, recording, observation and look at documents and test. Then, the results were analyzed The writer needs two kinds of the data, qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were obtained in observation, interview, documentation, and questionnaire. Meanwhile, quantitative data will be collected by test. In this research, the researcher will give a pre-test and post-test to know the students‟ speaking ability before and after teaching speaking. Its aim to know whether interview and joke is effective to improve the students‟ speaking ability. RESEARCH FINDING This is the table for the pre-test result at the beginning of the study. To be noted the students consists of 25 students, but then two of them were not attended the class when the pre-test and post-test taken. So, the subject are 23 students. Table of pre-test result (interview) NO students' name pronunciation 1 Fluency 2 understanding 3 vocabulary 4 accuracy 5 1 Ayu Hardiana 2 2 3 3 3 2 Bayati 2 1 2 1 1 3 Desi Mariana 2 1 2 2 1 4 Diana 2 1 2 3 2 5 Fitrianah 1 2 2 3 2 6 Hidatul Aeni 1 1 2 2 2 7 Indamawati 1 2 3 3 3 8 Irna Ratna Isniati 1 1 2 2 3 9 Isnurany Anastacia 1 1 2 2 1 10 Juli Maryani 1 1 2 2 1 101 11 Julia Ningsih 1 1 1 2 2 12 Laeli Hidayati 1 1 2 1 2 13 Mariam 1 1 2 1 2 14 Mia Kurniawati 1 1 1 2 2 15 Nabila Febrianti 1 1 1 1 1 16 Nurul Hidayah 1 1 1 2 2 17 Saraiyah 1 1 1 2 2 18 Suhartini 1 1 1 1 1 19 Sulastri Dewi 1 1 1 2 1 20 Wardah 1 1 1 2 2 21 Wari'ah 1 1 1 1 2 22 Widia Aprianti 1 1 1 2 2 23 Yuliana 1 1 1 1 1 The pre-test table shows that at pronunciation there are 4 students got 2 and 19 the rest got 1. At fluency there are 3 students got 2 and 21 of others got 1. At understanding there are 10 of students got 1, 10 of students got 2 and 3 of them got 3. Meanwhile at vocabulary there are 8 students got 1, 12 of them got 2, and 3 of them got 3. At accuracy there are 8 students got 1, 12 of them got 2, 3 of them got 3. To understand easier, it could be seen in the table below: The summary of pre-test score (interview) Student s Pronunciation Fluency Understanding Vocabulary Accuracy There 23 students 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 19 4 21 3 10 10 3 8 12 3 8 12 3 The pre-test table tells that from 23 students at pronunciation they are divided into two abilities 19 of them when they are expressing their ideas, they got a lot of mistaken and it is difficult to be understood, then 4 of them got a lot of mistaken and the meaning is not understood. Their fluent in uttering the sentences consists of two abilities, 21 of them not fluent and 3 of them are less fluent. Meanwhile their understanding to the words and the sentences that they are uttering; 10 of them do not understand, 10 of others less understand and 3 of them understand enough. At vocabulary 8 of them got a lot of mistaken in choosing the appropriate and it is difficult to be understood, 12 of them got a lot of mistaken and the meaning is not understand. 3 of them they got 102 a some mistaken and disturbing the meaning. Then at accuracy 8 of students not accurate in choosing the words, 12 of them less accurate, and the last one is accurate enough. Table of post-test result (interview) NO Students' Name Pronunciation 1 Fluency 2 Understanding 3 Vocabulary 4 Accuracy 4 1 Ayu Hardiana 2 4 3 3 4 2 Bayati 3 4 4 4 3 3 Desi Mariana 4 4 5 4 3 4 Diana 3 4 4 4 3 5 Fitrianah 4 4 4 4 3 6 Hidatul Aeni 3 3 5 4 4 7 Indamawati 4 4 5 4 4 8 Irna Ratna 4 4 5 4 3 9 Isnurany .A 4 4 5 4 4 10 Juli Maryani 4 4 5 4 4 11 Julia Ningsih 3 4 4 4 4 12 Laeli Hidayati 4 3 5 4 3 13 Mariam 4 4 4 3 3 14 Mia Kurniawati 4 4 5 4 3 15 Nabila Febrianti 4 3 5 4 4 16 Nurul Hidayah 4 4 5 4 4 17 Saraiyah 4 4 3 4 3 18 Suhartini 3 4 4 3 3 19 Sulastri Dewi 4 4 5 4 3 20 Wardah 4 4 4 4 3 21 Wari'ah 4 3 3 4 3 22 Widia Aprianti 3 3 4 4 4 23 Yuliana 4 4 5 3 3 The table shows that there are very significant change between the result of pre-test and post-test. At the result of post-test ( interview), at the pronunciation term the only 1 student got 1, 6 of them got 3, 16 of others got 4. Then at fluency there is 1 student got 2, and 5 of them got 3 then 18 of them got 4. Meanwhile at understanding the questions, how and what to answer, there are 4 of them got 3, then 8 of them got 4 and 12 of others got 5. These are also followed in choosing and expressing vocabulary, there are 4 of them got 3, and 20 of them got 4. And at accuracy there are 14 students got 3, and 9 of them got 4. These results could summarize as the table below; 103 Students Pronunciation Fluency Understanding Vocabulary Accuracy There 23 students 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 6 16 1 5 18 4 8 12 4 20 14 9 The table shows the differences between pre-test and post-test. At pronunciation only 1 student got many mistakes, then 6 of them gotonly got little mistakes. 16 got mistakes but it is not disturbing the expression meaning. At fluency 1 student did not express fluently, and 6 of them got fluent enough, and 18 of them could be understood. Then, in understanding the question or their statement, there are 3 students understand enough, and 8 of them understand to the question and how to answer, and the 12 of them almost perfect in understanding and answering the questions. Then, in choosing the words there are 4 of them said inappropriate vocabulary and it is disturbing the meaning, and 20 of them got some mistaken but it is not disturbing the meaning. And the last terms is accuracy, at this term there are 14 students accurate enough in choosing, expressing and spelling the words, then 9 of them really accurate in telling and answering the questions. CONCLUSION The finding shows that interview and joke method could improve the students‟ abilities in speaking. It is proved by the test results that collected through interview at the pre-test and post-test. At pre-test, the students‟ score is in between 1-3, it means that the students‟ ability at pronunciation, fluency, understanding, vocabulary and accuracy are not good. They express the sentences inappropriately Meanwhile after the treatment, the students‟ speaking ability change significantly, at the pre-test score is between 1-3, but then at post-test the score change into 3-4, it means that at pronunciation they got mistaken but it could be understood, at fluency they got fluent in uttering the sentences, at understanding they understand how and what to answer the questions, and they are able to choose the vocabularies and answering the question that given. SUGGESTION The interview and joke focuses to solve the students‟ difficulties in speaking, it seems very effective in solving the students‟ difficulties and improving their abilities in speaking. So, there are some suggestions for the readers, teachers, lecturers and students. This method is interesting to be applied for the beginner, because it is learning by joking so the teacher and the students will be happy in the teaching and learning process. 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