Syntax Literate: Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia p�ISSN: 2541-0849

e-ISSN: 2548-1398

Vol. 7, No. 2, Februari 2022

 

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GROUP DISCUSSION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS FOR THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS

 

Ni�ma Amalia

State Institute for Islamic Studies Salatiga, Salatiga, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

Email: [email protected]

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018 and to explain the behavior during the process of the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018. This research used descriptive qualitative research. The techniques of collecting data used observation, interview, and documentation techniques to gather the data. The writer concluded that all students enjoyed every English learning with group discussion, they can be expert students in speaking ability and could directly share their argumentation, opinion, suggestion, and also question, because the group is not too many members. The student�s ability in A, B, and C classes to speak in front of their friends were improved. Through group discussion, they get more vocabulary to speak and more confidence to use English routinely, although they still made grammatical mistakes and their punctuation was not perfect. Surely, in group discussion, the students were more cooperative with their group to share their ideas, even sometimes the situation was crowded because all of the students are active to discuss with their group. During this simple method applied, the students are more enthusiastic because they were not working individually.

 

Keywords: Group Discussion, Speaking Skill

 

Received: 2022-01-20; Accepted: 2022-02-05; Published: 2022-02-20

 

Introduction

Almost all the content on the Internet is written in the English language. Thus, English is needed in the communication process internationally. To have good communication in English language skills, every student needs to practice their speaking both outsides and inside their classroom. Surely, their English will be enhanced and better than before while practicing such activities. It means that English speaking skills are so important this time and English learners who can speak this language well can have some great opportunity to gain many jobs in a big company or in the other places that require English speaking skills. So that, speaking plays an important role in people living in the world.

Moreover, one of the methods to enhance English speaking skills is group discussion. Group discussion is an activity that includes two or more people in a group and will discuss something to share their opinion and also argumentation to each other, so every student can active in speaking skills because they can speak in front of the group to tell or share with each group. The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018 and to explain the behavior during the process of the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018. (Ur, 1996) describes that one of the teachers can help students speaking skills by using groups in teaching.

According to slight observation in the School of Bangkok (when the researcher has teaching-learning practice), learning English has not maximized for students is based on the textbook only. Students need something new that will be more interesting for them. Today, the educational curriculum in Indonesia is based on the revision of the 2013 Curriculum that demand teacher to be more creative to make the students in the classroom while the process of learning is more fun and enjoyable. Thus, they can easily accept the lesson.

(Harmer, 1998) states that by group discussion, the teacher can give feedback for the students to correct while speaking activities because it is often necessary, should do by the teacher sympathetically and sensitively.

The writer takes a review of related literature from another research as a comparison. The first research related to �The Implementation of E-Learning Strategy in Group Discussion Using Nicenet.org toward International Class Program Batch 2012 Student�s writing Ability� is from (Majid, 2015). He finds that based on the interview from the respondents it seems that the implementation of nicenet.org in the discussion group is classified as a good implementation because it helps the students and teacher to make effective learning.

This research is different from the previous research. The researcher will cover the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students. The differences are also at the object, method, and research methodology. The object of this research is the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak. In this research, the researcher only uses group discussion to describe the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students, and the researcher uses qualitative as the method of the research.

The second review is the research of �The Implementation of Cooperative Learning by using Talking Stick Method to Improve Students Speaking Skill� (A Classroom Action Research for the Second Grade Students of SMK PGRI 1 Salatiga in the Academic Year 2015/2016) is from (Rahayu 2017). She presented and analyzed the data about the talking stick method to improve students speaking skills for the second-grade students of SMK PGRI 1 Salatiga. The research showed the students� behavior in the teaching-learning process. In her research, she arranged two cycles. In each cycle, the steps are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Finally, she calculated the test result. She concluded that using the talking stick method can improve the students� speaking skills. This third review helps the researcher to get more information about teaching speaking skills.

 

Research Method

A.    Types of Research

In this research, the researcher used descriptive qualitative research (Sugiyono 2017). The descriptive qualitative research does not show the statistic procedures in the analysis of the result of data, but the result of the data is from the description. It is because the data collected by the researcher is words and the picture, not the numeral data. (Verlag, T. Rowohlt. & Hamburg 2009) states that Qualitative research is oriented towards analyzing concrete cases in their temporal and local particularity and starting from people�s expressions and activities in their local contexts. �Moreover, according to Morse (1994, p. 264) as quoted by Yunita 201 the qualitative data being collected are face-to-face interviewing, observation of participants, and field the research involves a serious commitment to obtaining access, establishing, credibility, developing and maintaining relationships, checking interpretation of data, and validating the eventual conclusion. According to (Creswell and Poth 2016), Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The research builds a complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducted the study in a natural setting.

However, (Creswell and Poth 2016) gave his reasons why to undertake qualitative research:

1.      Qualitative research pursues what and how questions to get a deeper understanding of an observed phenomenon.

2.      Qualitative research explores a topic to develop theories.

3.      Qualitative research is studied in a natural setting.

4.      Qualitative research is interested in writing in a literary style.

5.      Qualitative research needs sufficient time and resources to spend on extensive data collection in the field and detailed data analysis.

6.      The qualitative research audiences are receptive to a qualitative study.

7.      Qualitative research is an emphasis on the researcher�s role as an active learner instead of expert judging research participants.

According to (Creswell 2012), qualitative research has characteristics as follows:

  1. Exploring a problem and developing a detailed understanding of a central phenomenon.
  2. Having the literature review play a minor role but justifies the problem.
  3. Stating the purpose and research question in general and broad way as the participants� experience.
  4. Collecting the data based on words form a small number of individuals, so that the participants� views are obtained.
  5. Analyzing the data for description and themes using text analysis and interpreting the larger meaning of the findings.
  6. Writing the report using flexible, emerging structures and evaluate criteria including the subject of the research.

Well, the researcher only used a primary data. A primary data comes from the sources directly. The primary data obtained from the observation and the interviewing the respondents. The respondents are: The first is students. The students are from MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak at the first grade. The second is an English teacher. His name is Ahmad Slamet Firdaus, S. Pd, the English teacher for students at the first grade with S1 degree.

B.     Research Time and Location

The researcher conducted from May 20th, 2018 until July 20th, 2018. The research location was MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak. The researcher chose this school as a place of this research because MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak had been established since 1987 and the qualifications of educators were linear with the subjects being taught.

The location of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak is located in rural areas and the majority of students are also from there. The researcher wants to know more about the learning approaches, especially the English language in order to improve the quality of learning. Well, there are some steps that were done by the researcher to conduct this research, there are:

1.      Preparation

a.       Proposal Draft Consultation: May 15th, 2018

b.      Application for Research Permission: May 20th, 2018

c.       Research Permission: May 22nd, 2018

2.      Pre-research

a.       The researcher fills the letter for research permission provided by the faculty. Then, if it has been fully completed, the letter for research permission submitted to the faculty as a medium to request research permission that has been signed by the dean of the faculty, after it was handed over to MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak.

b.      The researcher asked permission from the headmaster of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak to conduct the research.

3.      Implementation

a.       After asking for permission, the researcher met the English teacher to explain what the researcher would do at MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak.

b.      The researcher met the English teacher and gave the letter.

c.       The researcher met the English teacher to determine the research schedule.

d.      The researcher met the English teacher to determine the date and the time to start the research.

e.       The researcher met the English teacher took one of the interview results and determined a day for documentation while teaching and learning process.

f.        The researcher met the seventh-grade student to answers the interviews� guidelines.

g.      The researcher did the documentation for three classes in the seventh-grade students.

h.      The researcher asked the English teacher for the curriculum vitae.

i.        The researcher took a research letter signed by H. Mustaghfirin, M.Ag as a headmaster of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak.

C.    Data Resource

In this research, the sources of the data were taken from the observation of teachers in the teaching and learning process in the classes from May until July 2018. However, this research was focused on the student�s and the teacher�s perception of the use of group discussion as a simple method to enhance English speaking skills in the first grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018. The primary source of the research is the teacher�s perception of using group discussion as a simple method to enhance English speaking skills and the secondary sources of the research are the student perceptions that area simple group discussion can enhance their English-speaking skill. It means that the data sources are the interview between the researcher and the students in the classroom and the observation of the researcher in the learning process with the documentation.

D.    Techniques of Data Collection

In this research, the researcher used observation, interview, and documentation techniques to gather the data.

a.       Observation

Guba and Lincoln (1981: 191-193) state in (Moleong 2021) that observation method is one of the important methods because by observation the writer can watch and observe by him, the write the behavior and phenomenon that happen in reality.

In this step, the researcher entered on the first grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak handled by the English teacher to observe the situation and the interaction of students and teacher in the class. During the observation, the researcher took a picture between the students and the teacher in order to get data to analyze.

a.       Interview

Interviews are completed by the interviewer based on what the respondent says. Furthermore, this method was very useful for the researcher to know the teacher and students� perception about the use of group discussion as a simple method to enhance English speaking skills. In short, with this method, the researcher got a qualified answer from interviewees.

b.      Documentation

Documentation is a way to provide documents with accurate evidence. According to KBBI (Big Indonesian Dictionary), the notion of documentation is the collection, selection, processing, and storage of information in the field of knowledge; granting or gathering evidence of information such as drawings, quotations, newspaper clippings, and other reference materials.

E.     Data Analysis

The method of data analysis in this research is a descriptive analysis. There are several steps in conducting the research as follow:

a.       Observing the teacher in the teaching and learning process by using group discussion method. The observation of the research is aimed to obtain the data of how does group discussion as a simple method enhance English speaking skill.

b.      Transcribing the students and the teacher perception from the interview. The data of the students and the teacher perception from the observation are transcribed in form of transcription by the researcher.

c.       Analyzing the students and the teacher perception. The data of the students and the teacher perception that had been collected by the researcher are analyzed based on their answer in the interview�s guideline.

d.      Interpreting the data descriptively.

e.       After the data is categorized completely, the last step of the research are interpreting the data in a brief description.

F.       Validation of Data

For the validation of data, the researcher used triangulation data. According to (Denzin 2017), data triangulation is the use of a variety of data sources, including time, space, space, and person, in a study. Findings can be corroborated and any weaknesses in the data can be compensated for by the strength of other data, thereby increasing the validity and reliability of the results. The approach has been used in many sectors to strengthen conclusions about finding and to reduce the risk of false interpretations. According to (Wiersma 1985) triangulation is qualitative cross-validation. It assesses the sufficiency of the data according to the convergence of multiple data sources or multiple data collection procedures. The data is checked based on the data collection techniques used; those are observation, interview, and documentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview ��������������������������������������������������������������� Observation

 

 

 

 

 

����������������������������������� Documentation

Figure 1 Triangulation with three data collection techniques

�����������

Thus, with triangulation, the researcher can recheck the finding of this research by comparing the data that obtained by the researcher from the multiple techniques.

 

Results and Discussion

A.    Results

The researcher collects the data from interviewing the three classes of the student in the seventh grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018. This chapter assumes the focus of study in chapter I, they are 1. How does the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018? 2. How does the students� behavior during the process of the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018? To answer those questions, the researcher used observation, interview, and documentation techniques.

Observation. On Thursday, 31th of May 2018, from 07.15 p.m. until 11.45 p.m., the researcher entered three classes on the first grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak handled by the English teacher to observe the situation and the interaction of students and teacher. During the observation, the researcher took a picture between the students and the English teacher in order to get the data to analyze.

Interview. Interviews are completed by the interviewer based on what the respondent says. Furthermore, group discussion was very useful to know the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students. In short, with group discussion, the researcher got a qualified answer from interviewees. The interview as the follow up to the observation is conducted with the three classes of the student in the seventh grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak to describe the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018.

Document. The documentation is a way to provide documents with accurate evidence. According to KBBI (Big Indonesian Dictionary), the notion of documentation is the collection, selection, processing, and storage of information in the field of knowledge; granting or gathering evidence of information such as drawings, quotations, newspaper clippings, and other reference materials.

According to Hammerslay and Atkinson in Jane Ritchie and Jane Lewis (2003: 35) �Documentary analysis involves the study of existing documents, either to understand their substantive content or to illuminate deeper meanings which may be revealed by their style and coverage�.

B.     Discussion

This research used some types of documentation, such as interviews� guidelines, pictures, student attendance lists, and curriculum vitae. In the first documentation, the researcher did the data collection by using interviews� guideline result which contains eight questions and answered by the three classes of the seventh grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak. Then the researcher took the documentation by using interviews� guideline results answered by the English teacher of the first grade. The researcher also did the documentation by taking some pictures while teaching and learning process.

1)      Describe the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class for the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018

Based on the result of this research, all students enjoyed every English learning with group discussion, because the student feel the class more enjoyable and they could directly share their argumentation, opinions, suggestions, and also questions. The student feels more enjoyable in every English learning process. Surely, the students can say some words in English without any worry through group discussion to practice each other whether they will say some wrong words or not, because the students can practice speaking immediately during the discussion in front of their friends and their teacher. With the discussion that was conducted continuously, the Students can be expert students in speaking ability, because the group is not too many members, and they have a new vocabulary after the learning process.

In the teaching and learning process, the class condition when using group discussion is very active. Basically, in the implementation of group discussion the students more cooperative with their group and share their ideas in their group, even sometimes the situation was crowded because of all of the students are active to discuss with their group. During this group discussion applied, the students are more enthusiasts because they were not working individually.

Besides that, this method can be enhanced teacher-student interaction in the classroom. It is proven by the student who does not know the mean of the material discussion they can ask to their teacher about it. For the student - student verbal interaction, it can be seen when the student discusses the material in the group. The student can share ideas with each other, not only in their group but also with the other groups.

Furthermore, by the group discussion, the student can promote meaningful to problem-solving in a group. It can be seen when the student gets the responsibility, for the example of a leader in a group, secretary, and others. The students will be responsible for the role. The group discussion also helps the students� confidence. All of the groups performed in front of the class to tell and describe the result of the discussion. However, the English teacher gave some feedback on the student�s performance. It consisted of grammatical errors, the wrong vocabulary, and the right pronunciation. Several times during the lesson, the teacher gives advice, motivations, and question-related to the development of the students� attitude, character, and skill competencies.

In short, there is an improvement in students� speaking skills by using group discussion. They are able to present their assignment after the discussion session with their group without being shy to make mistakes because the teacher always gives the advice that when we are speaking, do not pay attention to the grammatical error. Say everything that is in our minds to train our courage to speak in front of people.

2)      Explain the behavior during the process of the implementation of group discussion in English speaking class the seventh-grade students of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak in the academic year 2017-2018

According to the result of interviewing the respondents, the teacher explains that the group discussion as a simple method enhance English speaking skills and support the teaching and learning process in English classes at the seventh grade of Mts Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak, because the group discussion can make the students active to speak English in front of the people. The teacher can teach the students in junior high school to be more confident to speak in front of people by using group discussions.

Through the group discussion, every student participates in the forum and thinks the idea that expresses through speaking in front of their friend. Therefore, the learning process more interested. For the example in English subject, students will feel bored if they are just listen the teachers� explanation, but with the group discussion, the students more active and can share their knowledge to each group.

It means that the process of discussion was very interested for the students because the discussion was guided by the English teacher as a moderator. The English teacher guided the other group to ask some questions and guided the presenters to answer the question. Then, the English teacher gave some feedbacks of the students� performance. It consisted of the grammatical error, the wrong vocabularies, and the right pronunciation.

Surely, in the teaching and learning process, each group had to present their result of the group discussion in front of the class. The teacher monitors the students and explaining the difficult new words or correcting the wrong pronunciation of the students whiles the discussion. During the discussion, in each group of the students are active to participate in thinking and express their opinion. At the end of the presentation, the other group had to give a feedback by giving a response, question or gave the other opinion.

In addition, by this simple method, the students of the first grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak enhance their speaking skill, especially in vocabulary. They got more vocabulary to speak and more confidence to use English routinely. Although they still used the error grammar and their pronunciation was not correct. Actually, the students� speaking skill is better with the use of group discussion method. Almost all of the students in the first grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak more confident to speak up in the class and also makes the situation of the class are more active.

�����������

Conclusion

The researcher concluded that the group discussion used a problem to develop the student�s creative thinking in a group working whiles the discussion. It means that the teacher and the students make the collaboration work which purposes to get the success of the English teaching-learning. So that group discussion is a simple method to enhance English speaking skills at the The first grade of MTs Nurul Huda Medini Gajah Demak is one of the ways to make students have fun, relax, and be interested in the learning process. The writer concluded that all students enjoyed every English learning with group discussion, they can be an expert student in speaking ability and could directly share their argumentation, opinion, suggestion, and also question, because the group is not too many members. The student�s ability in A, B, and C class to speak in front of their friends were improved. Through group discussion, they get more vocabulary to speak and more confidence to use English routinely, although they still made grammatical mistakes and their punctuation was not perfect. Surely, in group discussion, the students were more cooperative with their group to share their ideas, even sometimes the situation was crowded because all of the students are active to discuss with their group. During this simple method applied, the students are more enthusiastic because they were not work individually.

It has been known that a group discussion is a very simple method in enhancing English speaking skills. Based on this research, The pedagogical implication of this research in English Language Teaching (ELT) is that group discussion is a good alternative for the teacher to attract students� motivation to participate in the class discussion to work together with their friends to generate ideas and make their own words based on the material to speak in front of the group.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Creswell, J. W. 2012. �Educational Research: Planning Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th Ad.).� Google Scholar

 

Creswell, John W., and Cheryl N. Poth. 2016. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Sage publications. Google Scholar

 

Denzin, Norman K. 2017. The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. Routledge. Google Scholar

 

Harmer, Jeremy. 1998. �How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English.� Language Teaching. England: Longman. Google Scholar

 

Majid, Fuad Abdul. 2015. �The Implementation Of E-Learning Strategy In Group Discussion Using Nicenet. Org Toward International Class Program Batch 2012 Students�writing Ability.� Google Scholar

 

Moleong, Lexy J. 2021. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif. PT Remaja Rosdakarya. Google Scholar

 

Rahayu, Indah. 2017. �The Implementation Of Cooperative Learning By Using Talking Stick Method To Improve Students Speaking Skill (A Classroom Action Research for the Second Grade Students of SMK PGRI 1 Salatiga in the Academic Year 2015/2016).� Google Scholar

 

Sugiyono, P. D. 2017. �Metode Penelitian Bisnis: Pendekatan Kuantitatif, Kualitatif, Kombinasi, Dan R&D.� Penerbit CV. Alfabeta: Bandung. Google Scholar

 

Ur, Penny. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar

 

Verlag, T. Rowohlt. & Hamburg, B. Reinbek. 2009. An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London: Sage Publications.

 

Wiersma, William. 1985. Research Methods in Education: An Introduction.

 

Copyright holder:

Ni�ma Amalia (2022)

 

First publication right:

Syntax Literate: Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia

 

This article is licensed under: