Analysis on the Effectiveness of Speaking Class during Online Learning in COVID-19 Pandemic Period
1Mouna Lidza*
1*English Education Department, The University of Serambi Mekkah, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of learning English speaking skills online during the COVID-19 period, and whether there were any obstacles encountered in the implementation of online speaking skills teaching and learning during the COVID-19 period. This study used mixed method research with explanatory sequential design, in which collecting and analyzing the quantitative data was done in the first stage, followed by the qualitative data collection and analysis in the second stage. A questionnaire was given to 20 English department students of University of Serambi Mekkah from two different batches;
year 2019 and year 2020. An interview was then conducted to verify the data and to validate the data. In general, almost all students stated that learning speaking skills online was not effective, and they experienced obstacles during the learning process which resulted in a decreased interest in learning.
Keywords: Covid-19, Online Learning, Speaking Skills, Effectiveness, Obstacles.
A. Introduction
The Corona virus outbreak has spread throughout the world and has impacted many countries. One of the impacts is the closure of schools and campuses which cause students could not learn face to face in schools and campuses as usual (Purwanto et al., 2020).
In Indonesia, the government has taken many ways to prevent its spread. One of them is through a circular letter from the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Directorate of Higher Education No.1 of 2020 concerning the prevention of the spread of Corona Virus Disease (Covid- 19) in universities. Through this circular, the Ministry of Education and Culture provides instructions for universities to conduct online learning.
According to Isman (2016), online learning is the use of the internet network in the learning process. With online learning, students have time to learn and can learn anytime and anywhere. Nowadays people are familiar with the internet as one of the most helpful information and communication technology revolutions as well as social media which is an online media used to communicate. Several types of social media are quite popular today, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. All teaching and learning activities on campus have shifted to online learning that uses a variety of learning media using the zoom application, google classroom, video conference or live chat. According to Pohan (2020), online learning is also known as distance learning or learning that takes place in a network where teachers and students do not need to meet face to face. So it can be concluded that online learning is learning that utilizes an internet connection can happen anywhere and anytime.
There are several studies related to learning speaking skill online, for example, a study by Limbong and Simarmata (2020) which states that online learning is not always effective and could be complicated.
However, similar study on the effectiveness of learning speaking skill online has never been studied on the English department in the University of Serambi Mekkah yet. Based on the above reason, the researcher is interested in studying effectiveness and obstacles of learning speaking skills online during Covid-19 pandemic at the Serambi Mekkah University.
Mouna Lidza
B. Method
This research used mixed methods with sequential explanatory design. Mixed method is a procedure for collecting, analyzing, and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods in a study or a series of studies to understand the research problem (Creswell, 2014; Sugiyono, 2011)
The implementation of this mixed methods research combines quantitative and qualitative research methods. The sequential explanatory is a design that was applied by collecting and analyzing quantitative data in the first stage, followed by qualitative data collection and analysis in the second stage, which is built on the initial quantitative results.
The population in this study were all English department students of the University of Serambi Mekkah who were taking speaking skills courses online. The sample in this study was 20 English department students year 2019 and 2020 in the University of Serambi Mekkah who would experience learning speaking skill online. The sample consisted of 16 students from the class of 2020, and 4 students from the class of 2019.
They came from various regions, such as Aceh Besar, Simeulue, Labuhanhaji, and Lamno. The participants also had a varied degree of English skills.
C. Research Findings
Student Responses to the Effectiveness of Learning Speaking Skills Online.
The data was obtained from distributing the questionnaire to students. Each question was designed to obtain information and also students’ responses about the effectiveness of learning speaking skill online. The responses of the English students are shown below:
Table 1. Students responses about the effectiveness of learning speaking skills online
Statements Strongly
agree
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree I feel the situation during the
online speaking skill learning process is very effective
- -
14 (70%)
6 (30%) The desire to learn speaking
skill increases during the online learning process
- -
15 (75%)
5 (25%)
I feel encouragement during the 13 7
online speaking skill learning process
- - (65%) (35%)
I always pay attention to learning materials for learning speaking skill online
- -
12 (60%)
8 (40%) I always get encouragement to
learn during the process of learning speaking skill online
-
2 (10%)
12 (60%)
6 (30%)
The table shows that 14 students (70%) answered the situation during the online speaking skill learning process was ineffective, and 6 students (30%) considered it very ineffective. The second statement explained that 15 students (75%) expressed disagreement with the improvement in learning speaking skills during the online learning process, and 5 students (25%) strongly disagreed with the same statement. In addition, 13 (65%) students states they disagreed with the item about the encouragement during the online speaking skill learning process, and 7 students (35%) answered strongly disagree with the same statement. It can be seen that 12 students (60%) answered that they did not always pay attention to learning materials during the online speaking skill learning process, and 8 students (40%) answered strongly agree with the same statement. Then, 2 students (10%) always get encouragement to learn during the online speaking skill learning process, 12 students (60%) did not get encouragement, and 6 students (30%) answered strongly disagree with the same statement.
The above results were also strengthened by interview data. The first question of the interview was related to whether learning speaking skill online is effective. Overall the respondents believe it is not effective because it has several constraints, such as illustrated in Excerpt 1 below:
Excerpt 1:
RR-1: "Tidak efektif, karena belajar tampa tatap muka langsung tidak fokus" [Not effective, because learning without direct face-to-face (make us) not focus]
The second question was related to whether their desire to learn increases during the process of learning speaking skills online. Overall, the participants consider that their learning motivation did not improve, as explained in the following excerpt:
Mouna Lidza
Excerpt 2:
ST-2: "Sama sekali tidak meningkat karena apa yang disampaikan dosen kurang memahami jadi kurang efektif" [Not at all increased because what the lecturers delivered (I) don't understand, (so it) is less effective].
The third question was related to whether there were network disturbances during the online speaking skill learning process, and almost all of them answered problems such as network disturbances:
Excerpt 3:
EN-3: "Sering sekali terjadinya gangguan sinyal, hilangnya sinyal saat kita lagi belajar" [There are often signal disturbances, signal loss when we are studying].
Table 2. Student responses about the obstacles of learning speaking skill online
Statements Strongly
agree
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree I feel the time during online
speaking skill learning is very adequate
-
1 (5%)
13 (65%)
6 (30%) I feel that there are no network
disturbances during online speaking skill learning process
-
1 (5%)
13 (65%)
6 (30%) I feel that friends are always
cooperative during the online speaking skill learning process
-
2 (10%)
15 (75%)
3 (15%) I have adequate electronic tools
during the online speaking skill learning process
-
4 (20%)
13 (65%)
3 (15%) I feel there is no interference
from my family during the online speaking skill learning process
-
2 (10%)
16 (80%)
2 (10%)
The table above shows that 1 student (5%) felt that the time during online speaking skills learning was very adequate, 13 students (65%) felt that the time during learning was inadequate, and 6 students (30%) answered that the time during learning speaking skills was very inadequate. Similarly, 1 student (5%) felt that during the online speaking skill learning process there was no network disturbance, and 13 students (65%) answered that there was a network disturbance during the online speaking skill learning process. Meanwhile, 6 students (30%) answered that during the online speaking skill learning process, they experienced network disturbances. There were 2 students (10%) who felt that their friends were always cooperative during the online speaking skill learning process, but 13 students (75%) answered that some friends were not cooperative during the learning process, and even 3 students (15%) strongly disagreed with the statement. There were 4 students (20%) who felt they had adequate electronic devices during the learning process, and 13 students (65%) felt inadequate. Lastly, 2 students (10%) felt no interference from the family during the learning process, 16 students (80%) felt there was interference from the family during the learning process and 2 students (10%) strongly disagreed with the following statement.
The results of this interview about obstacles in learning speaking skill online also confirmed the questionnaire findings. The question was related to whether learning speaking skills online is effective. Overall is not effective because it has several constraints, such as:
Excerpt 4:
ML-1: "Memadai, karena saya menggunakan HP tidak menggunakan laptop atau tablet" [Adequate, because I'm using a cellphone, not using a laptop or tablet].
For other question, which is related to whether friends or family are cooperative during the online spelling learning process? Almost all of the participants answered that their friends and family were all very cooperative:
Excerpt 5:
Mouna Lidza
ST-5.3: "Sangat Koperatif karena belajar online di kamar tidak ada kebisingan dan keributan" [very cooperative because online learning in the bedroom has no noise].
D. Discussion
Based on the above findings of the effectiveness and obstacles of learning speaking skills online. From the overall results of the questionnaire above, it's clear that almost all of the students think that learning speaking online is less effective and had obstacles, The resulted of the interview also show that the learning speaking skill online was not effective.
Related to the student's perception of the effectiveness of learning speaking skills online. The questionnaire result show that most students think that learning speaking skill online was not effective in terms of internal factors (70%) and external factors (75%). In addition, from the interview, it was found that learning speaking skill online was also not effective. This result was similar to the previous study (Limbong &
Simarmata, 2020), where both studies claimed that learning online is not effective.
Regarding the obstacles of learning speaking skill online, the result showed that most of the English department students felt that they experienced obstacles during the process of learning speaking skill in terms of internal factors (60%) and external factors (75%). From the result of the interview, it was known that most of the students answered that they had problems during the process of learning speaking skills online. These results are almost the same as the previous study (Suryani, 2010).
Suryani (2010) emphasizes the obstacles only in internal factors such as disturbances in psychological processes that involve understanding, some of which are difficulties in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or arithmetic. Meanwhile, in the present study, both internal factors such as increased interest in learning, encouragement, and effective learning process, and the external factors, namely inadequate time, network disturbances, and uncooperative friends were found.
E. Conclusion
Based on the results of the analysis and discussion of the data above, it is concluded that in general, almost all students stated that
learning speaking skills online was not effective and that during the online speaking skills learning process they had obstacles which resulted in decreased student interest in learning. As for the online learning process in the future, the advice that can be given would be that both lecturers and students should be given more learning quotas so that the learning process can run well. In terms of the time, the study time should be following the lesson schedule so that students can follow each lesson without an exchange of time. It is also suggested that before starting the learning process, the lecturer should make learning contract (agreement) in online class so that all students are cooperative during the learning process. However this research is still limited, it is recommended to conduct similar research at various other levels.
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