A STUDY ON GROUP DISCUSSION IN SPEAKING CLASS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF
MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
THESIS
By:
IKA ISTIA DEWI NIM. 06360032
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahi robbil ‘alamin is the most perfect words that the writer expresses for this successful thesis writing.
The writer would like to express sincere gratitude to Dra. Dwi Poedjiastutie, M.A, her first advisor and Ahmad Thohir Yoga, M.Pd, M.Ed, her second advisor, for their suggestion, invaluable, guidance during the consultation periods, the comments and corrections during the completion of this thesis.
Her deepest gratitude is also extended to Scott Harris, the teacher of Speaking I, who had permitted her to do the research in his class and the Speaking I students for the help during the research and for their cooperation in being the subject of this study.
Next, her deepest thanks should go to her beloved parents, younger sister, ESS and family who always support, motivate and pray for finishing this thesis.
Moreover, she thanks to her friends in UMM who help her to overcome the problems she encountered during writing this thesis. She also expresses her gratitude to Zink and Jaka Tingkir for the help in completing this thesis.
Finally, the writer hopes that this thesis will be useful for readers. May Allah bless them, Amen.
Malang, 30 April 2011 The writer,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page
APPROVAL SHEET ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Background of the Study ... 1
1.2 Statements of the Problem ... 3
1.3 Purposes of the Study ... 3
1.4 Significance of the Study ... 3
1.5 The Scope and Limitation ... 4
1.6 Definition of Key Terms ... 4
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 5
2.1 Approach, Method and Technique ... 5
2.2 Cooperative Language Learning ... 8
2.2.1 Basic Elements of Cooperative Learning ... 9
2.2.2 Objectives of Cooperative Learning ... 10
2.2.3 Strategies in Cooperative Learning ... 11
2.3 Group Discussion ... 14
2.3.1 Characteristics of Group Discussion ... 16
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 18
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 25
4.1 Research Findings ... 25
4.1.1 The Implementation of Group Discussion ... 25
4.1.1.1 Grouping the Students ... 26
4.1.1.2 Deciding the topics ... 26
4.1.1.3 Discussing the Topics ... 26
4.1.1.4 Presenting the Topics ... 29
4.1.1.5 Sharing Ideas ... 30
4.1.2 The Students’ Response toward Group Discussion ... 30
4.2 Discussion ... 31
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 33
REFERENCES
Anderson, Lorin W. 1989. The Effective Teacher: Study, Guide and Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill
Ary, Donald. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education: Sixth Edition. United States of America: Wadsworth Group
Burke, Johnson and Larry Christensen. 2004. Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Approaches. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc.
Clark, Leonard H and Irving S Starr. 1986. Secondary and Middle School Teaching Methods. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company
Febianawati, Restu. 2005. The Problems of Learning speaking for High School Students in Malang. Unpublished Thesis.UMM: Malang
Galanes, Gloria J, Katherine Adams and John K. Brilhart. 2004. Effective Group Discussion: Theory and Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill
Richards, Jack C and Theodore S Rodgers. 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press
Setiyadi, Ag. Bambang. 2006. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Graha Ilmu
Slavin, Robert E. 1995. Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research and Practice. Massachussetts: A Simon & Schuster Company
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter explains about background of the study, statement of the problems, purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation, and definition of key terms.
1.1 Background of the Study
In learning English, especially speaking, Indonesian learners often face difficulties. Those difficulties happen because the teachers do not yet optimize the English teaching. In this case, teachers have to understand three views in teaching foreign language. According to Setyadi (2006: 8), there are three views in teaching foreign language, they are structural, notional, and communicational view. Structural view sees languages system of structurally related elements, while notional view regards language as vehicle of expression and functional meaning. The last is interactional or comunicational view which sees language as a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal relations and social interactions between individuals. It mean that language is tool to disscuss and to interact with others.
Thus, optimizing the teaching is very urgent as it will help the students gain their learning achievement. Also, they will be very excited and enjoy every moment in their class because the teaching-learning process is not boring and very attractive.
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speaking. Research conducted by Febianawati (2000:v) showed that the students had problems with their speaking ability, particularly in term of inhabitation, nothing to say, low or uneven participation, mother tongue use, speech act (pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and oral communication) as the main elements of speaking.
Therefore, to cope with those problems, the English teachers who teach speaking have to do great efforts to make students able in mastering all aspects in speaking activity. The teacher shall try using various approaches and methods in teaching speaking that is convenient to increase speaking ability and find strategy to overcome the problems of speaking.
Since there are some new theories related to teaching learning process, cooperative learning has become an alternative method to overcome the problems that appear during the teaching learning process, especially when the students learn speaking. Cooperative learning has been implemented in University of Muhammadiyah Malang already. It is not a new method in UMM, so the researcher is interested in conducting research on it.
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In addition, the researcher wonders to the implementation of group discussion in speaking class and how the students respond to group discussion. Therefore, this study focuses on the use of the group discussion in speaking class at University of Muhammadiyah Malang, especially at English Department of UMM.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Based on the background above, the writer formulates the problem as follow: 1. How is group discussion conducted in speaking class at English
Department of UMM?
2. How the students respond toward group discussion?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
Based on the statement of the problem above, the writer decides the purpose of the study as follow:
1. To know how is group discussion conducted in speaking class at English Department of UMM.
2. To know how the students respond toward group discussion.
1.4 Significance of the Study
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improve their quality of teaching English generally and teachers’ teaching strategy in speaking especially.
1.5 The Scope and Limitation
The scope of this study is the use of group discussion in speaking class. The writer limits her research on group discussion for first semester students at English Department of UMM.
1.6 Definition of Key Terms
a. Group discussion is an activity involving some people to mutually think in solving problems and sharing ideas of a certain agreed topic.
b. Speaking is the process of using language, both transactional and interactional, as form of expression to communicate with others.