TEACHING SPEAKNG BY COMBINING
PLUS MINUS INTERESTING (PMI) AND PLACEMAT STRATEGY FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Oleh:
Devi Novrianti *)
**) Agusni, S.Pd. Staff Pengajar Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat
ABSTRAK
Bahasa Inggris adalah subjek yang harus dipelajari di Indonesia sejak Sekolah Dasar sampai Perguruan Tinggi. Walaupun Bahasa Inggris telah dipelajari bertahun-tahun, tapi para siswa masih memiliki kesulitan khususnya speaking. Hal ini disebabkan karena para siswa kurang kosa kata, kurang praktek dalam kelas, dan kurangnya percaya diri. Oleh karena itu, guru harus bias menemukan strategi yang menarik dalam proses belajar mengajar sehingga membuat para siswa senang dan tertarik untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris serta mampu untuk speaking. Pengajaran speaking (berbicara) merupakan salah satu keterampilan yang penting dalam Bahasa Inggris yang harus diajarkan oleh seorang guru kepada siswa. Sejalan dengan pentingnya pengajaran speaking maka, seorang guru harus kreatif untuk membuat pembelajaran speaking menjadi lebih menyenangkan. Salah satunya dengan menerapkan strategi yang menarik dan tepat dalam pembelajaran speaking. Sehingga, siswa tertarik dan termotivasi untuk mempelajarinya.
Dalam makalah ini penulis membahas bagaimana mengajarkan speaking dengan menggunakan dua strategy yaitu plus minus interesting (PMI) dan placemat. Dalam aplikasi dua strategi ini, penulis menggunakan strategi pertama yaitu, PMI sebagai awal pembelajaran. Strategi ini membantu sswa dalam mengembangkan ide- idenya. Strategi ini dibantu oleh penggunaan tabel yang berisi Plus, Minus, dan Interesting. Kemudian guru meminta masing-masing siswa untuk menuliskan ide-ide tersebut dengan mengisi tabel PMI tersebut.
Selanjutnya penulis menggunakan strategi yang kedua yaitu placemat yang digunakan pada pertengahan pembelajaran dimana setelah siswa mengisi tabel PMI tersebut, dan guru meminta siswa duduk per grup.
Disinilah akitifitas siswa untuk mengungkapkan opini-opininya di dalam diskusi kelompok dilihat. Setelah itu, siswa diminta untuk berbagi pendapat. Terakhir, guru menyuruh siswa untuk mempraktekkan materi yang dijelaskan lewat tabel PMI berupa percakapan.
Akhirnya, melalui penulisan makalah ini, penulis berharap dengan membaca makalah ini, penulis bisa memperkenalkan cara menggabungkan dua strategi dalam pengajaran speaking. Bagi siswa diharapkan akan lebih termotivasi dan kreatif untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris dalam kehidupan sehari-hari.
Kata Kunci: Teaching Speaking, PMI Strategy, Placemat Strategy
*) Penulis
**) Pembimbing
INTRODUCTION
Speaking is one of English skills that is very essential among listening, reading and writing the students should be have. Speaking is one communication tools that people use to express their thoughts and feelings to others. Speaking is also the process of revealing something fundamental about the mind and how it deals with perception, feeling and intention. Thus, the students should bespeak fluently. The main purpose of learning speaking is to lead students to be able to speak English well. The English teachers allow the students to speak up English in the classroom to explore their ideas. Hopefully, this way can increase the students’ speaking ability.
Based on the curriculum of KTSP or educational unit grade curriculum of Junior High School grade IX, speaking is an important lesson that must be applied in every school. The students should be able to speak English in the classroom and their daily activity. They did not only demanded to explore what they think and feel into their own sentence by speaking English, but also they are able to communicate with others in English.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. The Nature of Speaking
Speaking is one of tool that use by the human to communicate each others.
Speaking is one of the ways for people to communicate with other speaker of other language and culture, and it should be mastered by students. Speaking is also oral ability which express person ideas and feeling by using spoken language. By speaking practice, students at any level are able to ask and answer question in English. It means that speaking is used to send information, news, ideas or opinion.
Dealing with this, Weir (1993) says that speaking is ability to use both receptive and productive skill. Receptive skill is the ability to comprehend or analyze the speaker’s message before the listener give respond or feedback of what the speaker says. On the other hand, productive skill is the ability to deliver the message or meaning well in order that listener can give respond of it.
It was supported by Richard and Renandya (2002), they state that speaking is a difficult for foreign language learners, because speaking is oral communication that requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interaction. It means that speaking activity use for social interaction, therefore when the appropriate
sentences according with the situation where the dialogue happen.
Then, Brown (2004) adds that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. In speaking, the speaker produce a message and receives it to the listener by sending the message. The message can be the information that is needed by the listener. In sending the message, the listener will receive it and process it in order to be able to understand the message.
B. Speaking Activity
In the classroom, the students will do various activities in improving their speaking and hold interaction between learner and teacher. Speaking activities will run well by realizing that English teacher is not transfering the language, but promoting the students’abiity to use the language by using appropriate strategy.
According to Harmer (2001), speaking activity is oral activities in the classroom as follow:
a. Acting from script.
Teacher can ask the students to act out scenes or dialogue that had been written by themselves.
b. Communication Games.
Games which are dessigned to provoke communication between students frequently depend on a information gap, thus, one students has to talk a partner in order to solve a puzzle, draw a picture, put things in the right order (describing and arrange) or find simmilarity and differences between picture.
c. Discussion
One of the reasons that discussion fail is that students are relluctant to give an opinion in front of the whole class, particularly if they can not think of anything to say, anyway, confident of the language they might use to say it.
Furthermore, Macchado (2001) explains that speaking activities occur when students are inside or outside the classroom or when they move. Speaking activity gives chance more advanced students to communicate with language and gets experience, they have already known different situation and on different topics. In addition, the students will be motivated to speak, they will tell their experience or discuss about a topic.
According to Embankment (2009), speaking activities describe to develop
fluency as well as accuracy. They can be used at the production, engaged or activate stage of a class, depending on the needs of the students and aim the lesson. The teacher will ask the students to practice English every time, therefore their English fluently, accuracy, and it can use to interaction with other.
C. Teaching Speaking
Teaching is an activity in the classroom which the teacher teaches the students to master the lesson or understand about the material that will be given. It is a complex and controversial profession, and the education literature is full of teaching models that present varied conceptualizations of the nature of teaching. In addition, teaching speaking is a teaching model that the teacher teaches the students’ ability of speaking. Thus, they can understand how to speak English that appropriate with the rule of English structures and can pronoun the English words correctly.
Moreover, Nunan (2003) states that teaching speaking involved providing students with the components of the language, in hopes that they would eventually put them all together and speak. In this case, teacher has to get students understand all the components of speaking and ask them to apply the components in speaking. In order to make them be able to speak as well as possible.
In addition, Flhor (2006) says that in teaching speaking the focus on four issues. The first, variety of spoken language. It means that, the form of speaking is formal and informal situation. The second, what input and how to provide it. It means that, what they get in the language and they can improve the language in their ability. The third, the interaction between the teacher and the students. If there is a good relationship between them, the students can be easier to understand about teacher explanation. As a result, process of teaching run well. The last, the design and the use of tasks. It means that, how the teacher makes an exercise and how far the students comprehend about the task that given by the teacher. Thus, by focussing on those issues above, the goal of teaching speaking can be reached well. Then, students should also manage their thinking logically in speaking English.
D. Plus Minus Interesting Strategy
A problem can be defined as a situation where there is a gap between reality and situation that we hope. Problem can be viewed as a task where a thinker tries to find solution and think critically to the task.
According toBono (1994) PMI was designed
to help studens focus attention to more than one perspective and opinion. It means that in PMI strategy teacher prosecute students to attention than give opinion based on their point of view. Thus, it makes the students interest to study English.
Bennett (2001) defines that PMI as assist in making wise decision, critical thinking (analysis) and evaluation. It means that, it will help students to give the opiniondepend on critical thinking. When they get problems, they can analyze it and they make decision. After that, the students can make evaluation.
Furthermore, Conklin (2012) states that PMI is a strategy of teaching language, usually a second language, in which the target language is allows students to rate decisions and outcomes as plus, minus, or interesting.In here, the teacher ask the students to definite the plus, minus, or interesting. The students prosecute to use English language. This strategy, with using the PMI chart the students can develop their ideas.
E. Placemat Strategy
Placemat strategy is a strategy in teaching speaking to help improve students’
oral communiction skills. According toSpencer (1994),definition of placemat is a strategy enables students to record their thinking individually, to discuss the topic in an organized way, and then to use cooperative skills to come to consensus. In here, the placemat with cooperative skills, especially oral skills discuss the topic based on consensus. The students can share with others and they can also give opinion.
Furthermore, Bennett (2001) defines that placemat is a form of collaborative learning that combines writing and dialogue to endure accountability and participation of all students. It involves groups of students working both alone and together around a single piece of paper to stimultaneously involve all members. It means that, the students can improve study English individually. With written and oral, students can improve oral communication skills.
Meanwhile, according to Regier (2012), Placemat is an enjoyable activity for students and provides you with information about their current level of understanding. It means that, it can help the students to give information to others based on understanding.
It can also help the students to share information. In here, this strategy can make enjoyable activity in teaching and learning process.
DISCUSSION
The teacher usually use some strategies in studying process in class. It purposes to help the students to be more understand about what they are studying. This strategy in which is used in each school is not some because it should match with condition and of students and teacher and activity to increase the students’ interest in studying. In here, the writer will discuss about teaching speaking by combining two strategies PMI and Placemat strategy.The combining of PMI and Placemat can help students to be more interesting and focus in speaking.
The combining procedures are:
1)Generate/brainstorm information around a topic/issue;2) Create small groupings (four students per group is optimal, however, if necessary groupings can consist of three, five or six students.); 3) Draw a PMI chart on the board or overhead, Above the PMI frame on the board or overhead, write the topic for discussion;4) Label each column and explain the term and its use.
Explain that “plus” comments will show what students see as positives, “minus” what comments will show they see as negatives, and “interesting questions” will show what they would like to know about the topic or its pluses and minuses; 5) Each team draws or is given a placemat on a large piece of paper. (A placemat consist of four boxes with an additional box set in the middle of the page for consensus items.); 6)The teacher provides the teams with a topic for discussion; 7)Instruct students to individually think about a question/topic/prompt and to record their ideas in their own section of the placemat; 8)Have students take turns in sharing their ideas to discover common elements, they then share what they have written or drawn with the other group members, after everyone has finished sharing, students discuss the information and come up with two or three main ideas; 9) Team-mate 1 announces one item he/she has written;10) Team-mates all respond stimultaneously in their individual space, writing as many items as they can in the time alloted; 11) Use a PMI organizer to complete the paper process;
12)Appoint one member to share the group’s ideas with the classAfter minus list time is up, give the opportunity for each group to ask interesting questions; 13) An analysis of the placemats provides you with a glimpse of what the students have learned so far in the unit,these are recorded on butcher paper and shared with the class; 14) After reviewing the procedures, ask students to explain when they might use a PMI, how it can help their thinking in school and outside school, and what the advantages of using a PMI are; 15)The teacher will probably need to share a real life example of how ideas have differential consequences over time, after considering the ides’s PMI, the group prepares
chart which documents and illustrates these and shares this information with the class, the following may be appropriate, or the teacher can draw a more relevant example from the student’s lives/communities.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Generally, speaking is one of the way for people to communicate with other speaker of the other language and culture. Without speaking they cannot express their feeling and opinion about people or things, but speaking is not an easy task in a foreign language, especially for students at Junior High School. Most of them cannot convey their message through speaking due to the limited of time of teaching in the class. Thus, the students have no opportunities to practice their English.English in Indonesia still foreign language, so the student still gets difficult to use it in daily communication. Besides that, it was made by their environment, where someone that use English in their daily activity will be look like crazy people.
Thus, it does in their class, their teacher still use Indonesian language in communication with them and the teacher still use old strategy in learning and teaching process.
In teaching speaking, the teacher should be considered with good teaching strategies in class. There are many kinds of strategy that can be implemented in teaching speaking; two of them are Plus Minus Intersting and Placemat strategy. It is a strategy to explore students’ knowledge in study especially speaking ability. By using this strategy, the students will encourage to increase their speaking because they will be assessed by the teacher when practiced in teaching learning process. Also, the teacher should ask them to perform in front of the class.
Thus, using Plus Minus Intersting and Placemat strategy in teaching speaking can improve students’ motivation to speak English, increase their interest to learning English. Then,in this strategy, the students are enjoy to get the lesson and make them having fun, students become critical to social life around them, they learn and write about something that they use and see in their daily activity and one of actual problems that are faced by the community around them for discussion in the classroom.
Based on the description and discussion that have been given in the previous chapters,the writer gives some suggestions to English teacher in teaching speaking as follow; first, when deliver the material, the teacher tries to use English language.
Second, the teacher should give opportunities as much as possible to each student to try their speaking ability in the classroom. The third, the teacher should pay attention to the students perform without considering about the structure of the
language and pronounciation. Then,the teacher can use this strategy to motivate thestudents to interesting in speaking class.Besides this strategy, many strategies that are used teacher in teaching. In addition, this strategy is not only use in teaching speaking, but it can use in teaching reading, writing and listening.
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