RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Hi my beloved friends, welcome back to my blog. In this time, I would like to share "Research Methodology" about journal that I have read before. Happy reading everyone ^^

Research Setting and Subject

This research was conducted at SMAN 1 Suka Makmur, Aceh Besar. The researcher chose this school because she had a lot of information about the achievements and the behavior of her students concerning their English. While doing this research, she used English while teaching the class, including when she presented materials or gave instructions.

Research Instruments

The instruments used in this study were as follows:

Observation Check List and Observation Templates

These instruments are vital in the venture to answer the first research question. The observers observed the researcher using the teacher’s observation sheets during the activities in order to be able to measure the researcher’s ability in the teaching-learning processes of the TeamGames-Tournament technique.

Test

 In an effort to answer the second research question, the teacher used two types of tests, a pretest and a post-test. The teacher tested the initial speaking ability of the students with the pre-test which was given before the students were given the treatment. It was given to find out the speaking abilities i.e. the accuracy, fluency, and comprehensibility of the students before the treatment.

Questionnaires

To get data to answer the third research question, the teacher distributed a questionnaire to the students at the last meeting in order to find out the response of the students toward the TGT activities that they had already followed. The questionnaire had 15 questions that asked about their motivation for learning English before and after the treatment.

Data Analysis

To determine the mean score for each test, the formula below was used (Sudjana, 2002, p. 112): Mx,y = ∑x,y N Where: M = sample mean x = individual scores from pre-test y = individual scores from post-test N = number of participants ∑ = accumulated total Meanwhile, analysis of the results from the questionnaire used the percentage formula suggested by Sugiono (2007, p. 43) as follows: P = 𝐹 𝑁 x 100 % In which: P = Result expressed as a percentage F = the frequency N = number of cases.

That's all about the information, I hope it can be useful for us. Much love, Yevi.

JOURNAL REVIEW

Hello my dearest friends! Welcome back to my blog. In this article I would like to tell you about literature review of journal that I’ve read. Happy reading^^

According to Brown (2004), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Brindley (1994) defines speaking as an oral skill that is used to express a person’s understanding, convey intended meaning accurately with sufficient vocabulary, use language in appropriate contexts, and interact with other speakers fluently. Some of the meanings may be able to be understood automatically while others may need to be processed first. Lewis and Hill (1993) add that speaking is a process that covers many things in addition to the pronunciation of individual sounds. Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that speaking is a complex cognitive skill; speakers produce not only sounds but also a set of meaningful words and body language that can be understood by listeners either explicitly or implicitly.

There are a lot of activities that can be employed in a speaking class to keep the students actively occupied. Indeed, speaking class teachers have to know a lot about this since occasionally, a single activity lasts longer than was previously planned. Some categories are listed below:

1.      Controlled Speaking Activities

·         Interview Activities

·         Picture Activities

·         Playing controlled roles

·         Information-gap Activity

2.      Free Speaking /Free Role Play Activities

·         Simulation Activities

·         Discussion Activities

·         Performance Activities

·         Oral Reports 

The Team-Games-Tournament is one of the cooperative learning techniques that can be used to improve students’ speaking ability. In this technique the students are grouped in heterogeneous teams. According to Slavin (1995), the steps used for the Team-Games-Tournament technique are as follows.

1.      Introductory Class Presentation

In this phase, the researcher delivers the material for the day to the students, i.e. the activities they will be doing plus giving some motivation to ignite the students’ interest to study. This phase is basically teacher-centered but only takes a very short time, around 5-10 minutes.

2.      Team Division

In this step, the researcher divides the students into several teams, each with 4 or 5 heterogeneous students which means that the members of each team will be students with different abilities.

3.      Games

Now, the teacher distributes the prepared task. The student teams have to do the task which is presented in numbered pictures. The task will be to tell the story in the pictures orally. Each team takes a turn to present their story to the class. 

4.      Awards Group

Lastly, the researcher announces the best team i.e. the team with the best score. This should motivate the other students in the following meetings. 

As a teaching and learning technique, the Team-Game-Tournament has some advantages as mentioned by Sdayu (2014, p. 66) since (a) the Team-Games-Tournament technique initiates student-student verbal interactions, (b) it gives the students in each team motivation to solve the problems of their task together, (c) it encourages responsibility amongst students, (d) it increases motivation and desire to learn amongst the teams (e) it motivates the students to compete and (f) it creates a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere in the class.  However, Sdayu (ibid, p. 67) also adds that the Team-GamesTournament also has some disadvantages in teaching-learning, such as it is time consuming since the tournaments can take up a lot of time. Also the  absence of students’ during the tournament sessions may disturb the whole members’ success in the tournament.

Thank you for reading. Much love, Yevi.