THE USE OF STICK PUPPETS TO IMPROVE THE SEVENTH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL OF
A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANTARAN
UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Submitted to the State Islamic University of Kh. Achmad Siddiq Jember in partial fulfilment of the Requirement to Obtain
a Bachelor’s Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training
English Education Department
By:
LULUK WAHYUNI SRN. T20186104
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF KH. ACHMAD SIDDIQ JEMBER JUNE 2022
ii
THE USE OF STICK PUPPETS TO IMPROVE THE SEVENTH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL OF
A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANTARAN
UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Submitted to the State Islamic University of Kh. Achmad Siddiq Jember in partial fulfilment of the Requirement to Obtain
a Bachelor’s Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training
English Education Department
By:
Luluk Wahyuni SRN. T20186104
Had been approved by Advisor
Mega Fariziah Nur Humairoh, M.Pd NIP. 199003202019032010
iii
THE USE OF STICK PUPPETS TO IMPROVE THE SEVENTH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL OF
A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN BANTARAN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Has been examined and approved by the board for examiners in partial to fulfilments of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd)
Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training English Education Departement
Day: Thursday Date: 16th of June 2022 The Board of Examiners Chairman
As’ari, M.Pd.I NIP. 197609152005011004
Secretary
Zahratul Maujudatul Mufidah, M.Pd.
NIP. 199201222019032009
Members:
1. H. Moch. Imam Machfudi, Ph.D. ( ) 2. Mega Fariziah Nur Humairoh, M.Pd. ( )
iv MOTTO
“And He taught Adam all the names all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying; inform me of the names of these, if you are truthful.’” (QS. Al- Baqarah [2]:31). *
* Meeftha, Surah Al Baqarah (The Cow) Terjemah Bahasa Inggris, Ayatalquran.net, https://ayatalquran.net/
v
DEDICATION I proudly dedicate this undergraduate thesis to:
1. My Beloved Family
I would like to show my warmest gratitude to my precious parents, Mr. Hadi Slamet and Mrs. Hafia, and my only one younger sister Laila Maqfirotika, who has already given her abundance of love, grace, faithfulness, support, and motivation in doing the research. I am immensely grateful for having cherished family in my life journey.
2. My Ineffable classmates
It’s probably hard saying thanks to all of my friends in TBI 3
“Ineffable Class” who have deserved so much more than mere words. I will never be able to repay for all of the experience, friendships, and relationships we had in this university.
3. The Members of ICIS Organization
I learned new ways to develop my skill and got such a wonderful learning experience at the Institute of Culture and Islamic Studies “ICIS”.
Thank you for welcoming me and giving me the knowledge that I enjoyed doing so.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Praised be to Allah, Lord of the world, the Kings of the Kings, who has been giving all humankind blessing and mercies so that the writer can finish her research for the last assignment of the study. Peace and salutation are always addressed to our prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, his family, his companions, and his followers.
Likewise, the writer also says deeply grateful to the advisors, Mega Fariziah Nur Humairoh, M.Pd. who has already guided very patiently to give valuable consultation, feedback, suggestion, motivation, reinforcement to do this thesis from the beginning of the research which has many revisions till this thesis entirely finished. May Allah bless her and family with endless happiness, health, wealth, and grant all of your wishes.
The researcher realized that this thesis would not finish without help and guidance from other people. By that, the writer would like to express her emphatic thanks and appreciation to:
1. Prof. Dr. H. Babun Suharto, SE.MM., as a Rector of State Islamic University KH. Achmad Siddiq Jember.
2. Prof. Dr. Hj. Mukni’ah, M, Pd.I., as the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training State Islamic University of KH. Achmad Siddiq Jember.
3. Dr. Rif’an Humaidi, M.Pd.I, as the head of Islamic Studies and Language Education Program.
4. Mr. As’ari, M.Pd.I as the head of English Education Department.
5. Mega Fariziah Nur Humairoh, M.Pd., as the secretary of English Education Department and my advisor has guided and motivated to do this thesis.
6. All lecturers of English Education Department who have already given knowledge, experiences, motivations, advices, and support while pursuing my degree at the English Education Department.
7. Khuzairi, S. Pd, MM, as the headmaster of SMPN 1 Bantaran, has allowed the writer to conduct this research and unforgettable all teachers and
vii
administration staff of SMPN 1 Bantaran who have already helped has allowed the writer to conduct this research and unforgettable all teachers and administration staff of SMPN 1 Bantaran who have already helped support the writer in the process of conducting a research.
8. Fitriyana Ika Y, SS., as the English teacher at the seventh graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran who has given her ideas, guidance, feedback, knowledge, and support the writer in the process of doing the research. I am gladly happy to know you as my role model of English teacher for my future and also teacher exemplify in teaching and learning process as the valuable experience for me.
9. The seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran are willing to contribute their effort and enthusiasm during this research.
10. Last but not least, whose names cannot be mentioned for their contribution and motivation during the writer finishing this thesis which has challenges and difficulties in doing thesis.
The writer fully realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect.
Hence, the writer really welcomes to get any critics, opinions, and suggestions to make this paper quietly much better then. But still, the writer hopes that this research will be beneficial not only for the writer herself but also for the readers and the next researchers who need as the references.
Jember, 10th of June 2022
Luluk Wahyuni
viii ABSTRACT
Luluk Wahyuni, 2022: The use of Stick Puppets to Improve The Seventh Graders’
Speaking Skill of a Junior High School in Bantaran
Key Words: Students’ Speaking Skill, Stick Puppet, Classroom Action Research Speaking skills is an important skill that the students should master when they learn a language. It is undeniable that many students have difficulty improving their speaking skills. After conducting a preliminary study to find out the students’ problems, the researcher found the students’ problems dealing with speaking. The researcher found five speaking issues; students’ linguistic aspects, psychological aspects, the teacher’s strategy and method in teaching speaking, the lack of media, and students’ speaking achievement. Based on those issues, the researcher remarkably put the main problem, which is students’ speaking achivement by providing relevant media. The researcher proposed Stick Puppets as an appropriate media. It is chosen because it is suitable with the strategy and the aspects that were being improved.
Based on the above problems, the research question formulated in this study is “How can the speaking skill of seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran be improved through the use of stick puppets”. This research aims to produce an instructional method using sick puppets as an alternative media in improving students’ speaking skills in the seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran.
This research was Classroom Action Research (CAR) adopted from Kemmis and Mc Taggart. The classroom action research design in this research was collaborative classroom action research. The participants of this research were the Seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran in the academic year 2021/
2022. This research was conducted in one cycle of 3 meetings and 1 post-test. The researcher used a speaking test as the primary data to collect students’ speaking scores and teacher’s fieldnote, teacher’s interview, students’ questionnaire, and classroom observation sheet as the secondary data from enriching the data collection from both teacher and students.
After implementing stick puppets media, this research found that the speaking skill of seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran improved through stick puppets. The result showed that 22 students or 95,65% could pass the KKM with a mean score improved 90,86 compared to the preliminary speaking test was 16,08. The criteria of success in this research were if the students reached the minimum (70) or were equal to or higher than 60% of the total students in this research. After the research, the data presented that stick puppets media can improve students speaking skills in vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and content. Additionally, stick puppets can increase students’ activeness in the classroom. On the other hand, the students were interested, motivated, and confident using stick puppts and helped students to describe people’s physical appearance.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER ... i
APPROVAL SHEET ... ii
AGREEMENT PAGE ... iii
MOTTO ... iv
DEDICATION ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... vi
ABSTRACT ... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
LIST OF TABLES ... xi
LIST OF PICTURES ... xii
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xiii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Research Background ... 1
B. Research Question ... 11
C. Research Objective ... 11
D. Research Significances ... 12
E. Scope of the Research ... 13
F. Definition of Key terms ... 13
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 15
A. Previous Study ... 15
B. Theoretical Framework ... 22
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 47
A. Research Design ... 47
B. Research Location ... 53
C. Research Subject ... 53
D. Data Collecting Technique ... 54
E. Data Analysis ... 60
F. Content Validity ... 62
G. Criteria of Success ... 62
x
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION ... 64
A. Research Findings ... 64
B. Research Discussions ... 84
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 92
A. Conclusion ... 92
B. Suggestion ... 92
REFERENCES ... 94 APPENDICES
xi
LIST OF TABLES
No. Description ... Pages 2.1 Difference and similarities of Previous Study ... 19 3.1 Speaking Scoring Rubric ... 56 3.2 Students’ Speaking Achievement ... 57
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
No Description ... pages
2.1 The Examples of Descriptive Text ... 30
2.2 The Marrionette Puppet ... 36
2.3 Shadow Puppet ... 37
2.4 Stick Puppet ... 37
2.5 Hand Puppet... 38
2.6 Indonesian Motivator Artists ... 44
2.7 Indonesian Comedy Artists ... 44
2.8 Indonesian Singer Artist ... 44
3.1 The Model of Classroom Action Research by Kemmis and Mc. Taggard ... 48
4.1 The researcher explaining the material ... 68
4.2 Students’ presenting the stick puppets ... 74
4.3 Students’ Presenting the Stick Puppets... 78
4.4 Students’ speaking test ... 83
xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1 : Matrix of The Research
Appendix 2 : Classroom Action Research Schedule Appendix 3 : English Teacher Pre-Interview Result Appendix 4 : English Teacher Post-Interview Result Appendix 5 : Students’ Open-Ended Questionnaire Result
(Pre-Questionnaire)
Appendix 6 : Students’ Closed-Ended Questionnaire Result (Post-Questionnaire)
Appendix 7a : The Result of Teacher’s Field Note 1st meeting Appendix 7b : The Result of Teacher’s Field Note 2nd meeting Appendix 7c : The Result of Teacher’s Field Note 3rd meeting Appendix 8a : Teacher’s Observation Sheet
Appendix 9a : Speaking’ Scoring Rubric
Appendix 10a : Students’ Speaking Score Result in Preliminary Study Appendix 10b : Students’ Speaking Description in Preliminary Study Appendix 11a : Students’ Speaking Score Result in Post-Test
Appendix 11b : Students’ Speaking Description in Post-Test Appendix 12a : Lesson Plan (1st meeting)
Appendix 12b : Lesson Plan (2nd meeting) Appendix 12c : Lesson Plan (3rd meeting) Appendix 13 : Blue Print
Appendix 14 : Speaking Test
Appendix 15 : Students’ Attendance List Appendix 16 : Validity Instrument
Appendix 17 : Documentation of Research Appendix 17 : Research Journal’s Activities Appendix 18 : Declaration of Authoriship Appendix 19 : Curiculum Vintae
1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Research
Speaking is the language for communication to get interaction, sharing ideas, feeling, and thoughts it is very difficult to master a new language learned. According to Pollard, speaking is one of the most difficult aspects for students to master.2 It is undeniable that many students have difficulty improving their speaking skills. According to Brown and Yule, speaking skill is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in a real-life situation.3 It is caused by speaking is important in everyday interaction and mostly the first person’s impression is based on his/ her ability to produce a language comprehensively and fluently. It seemed that speaking skill is an important aspect to acquire when learning a second or a foreign language, and the success of learning the language is measured by the performance of learners to speak the language learned.
Meanwhile, students still face difficulties practicing their speaking in the classroom and daily conversation because they have already got a good score on their report cards but they constantly cannot speak English. Subandowo found that students had difficulty in distinguishing similar sounds, pronunciation, and words that did not exist
2 Pollard, Teaching English, (London: Lucky Plard Copyright, 2008), p.34.
3 Brown and Yule, Teaching the Spoken Language, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983)
in the Indonesian language.4 Moreover, the students just used English inside of the classroom and did less practicing outside the class. Due to the mother tongue the students often use, it makes them more often use Bahasa than English in the teaching and learning process, making it difficult to foster speaking.
Realizing the difficulties of speaking skills in English for learners above, the teacher has an important role in finding and use the best instructional methods, materials, media, and other requirements that will facilitate students’ mastering speaking skills. Besides, the teacher has to be able to boost students’ motivation and find an effective strategy to increase students’ interest in improving students speaking skills. Meanwhile, teaching speaking as an English Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesia is more challenging because the language learned is not used for daily communication because English is a Foreign language.5
The speaking problems above are also experienced by the seventh-graders’ A in SMPN 1 Bantaran. Based on preliminary research of the seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran in the academic year 2021/2022, the researcher found 5 issues students face with speaking. Thy areLinguistics aspects, Psychological aspects, strategy and method in teaching speaking, the lack of media, and the students' speaking scores.
Firstly, students faced three problems with the linguistic aspects found in
4 Subandowo, D “The Language Interference In English Speaking Ability For EFL Learners,”
ISTLT, vol.5 (2017): 205-210
5 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching (Third Edition Completely Revised and Updated), (New York: Longman, 2001), p.134
preliminary observation in the classroom. First, students have limited vocabulary. Students lacked vocabulary when the teacher instructed them to complete the dialogue, they were still asking the English vocabulary of the teacher and translating every single word in the dialogue by opening the dictionary. Even the dialogue expression used common vocabulary.
Therefore, the teacher provided dictionaries for students to look for unknown vocabulary manually. Second, students lacked in pronunciation.
Most students were quite difficult to pronounce some words, and mostly, the students were still pronouncing some words according to the spelling itself. Moreover, the students used to ask the teacher how to pronounce some words. Hence, the teacher guided the students to pronounce every single word in the dialogue. Third, students had a low understanding of grammatical structure. It showed that the students completed the dialogue incorrectly because of grammatical errors.6
Secondly, the students’ problems were not only in linguistic aspects but also in psychological aspects. First, students were unconfident in speaking English by only reading the dialogue in front of the classroom.
Most students were unconfident, shy, nervous, and worried about practicing their speaking in the classroom because they were afraid to be laughed at by the other students and made some mistakes in speaking. Due to this fact, the teacher still forced the students to step forward in practicing their speaking skills in the classroom. It showed that the
6 Observation in SMPN 1 Bantaran, February 28, 2022.
students were not confident to practice their speaking in the classroom.
Unfortunately, the students were confident to practice their speaking in Bahasa but not in English.
Realizing on students’ problems above, the researcher also got additional information from the open-ended questionnaire in a preliminary study about students’ difficulties in speaking. It was supposed to be an open-ended questionnaire which has various answers representing their perception and experience in speaking. The researcher pointed out several students answered, which extremely influenced students’ speaking skills.
The students did not get English lessons both at kindergarten and elementary level, so the students have just learned English in Junior High School. Hence, the students’ problems mentioned in the preliminary observation above were implicitly caused by the students having just acquired English lessons in Junior High School. By that, the seventh- graders’ A were still the beginner in English which needed more handling in the teaching and learning process. Therefore, the students also wrote various responses to the preliminary questionnaire, such as difficult to pronounce, write, and structure.7
Thirdly, the researcher also found problems dealing with the strategy and method of teaching speaking in the classroom. The English teacher of SMPN 1 Bantaran at VII A used student-centered instruction, which focused on students being active learners. Unfortunately, the teacher
7 Students’ Preliminary Questionnaire, March 12, 2022.
just instructed students to complete incomplete dialogue and read them in front of the class. The students seemed difficult to do the job and several students did not do what the teacher instructed, they just cheated the other students answered. therefor the students just learned from the textbook and teachers’ explanations which were not enough to improve students speaking skills. The English teacher has already used various methods to improve students’ speaking skills such as role-play, guided conversation, and discussion. Unfortunately, it did not show any significant improvement in students’ speaking skills. In observation, the English teacher of SMPN 1 Bantaran used paper-based in delivering the materials without using media to support their teaching material. therefor, it did not increase students’ interest and motivation to practice speaking in the classroom.8
The fourth was that the teacher lacks media in the teaching and learning process in the classroom. The English teacher stated that she has already applied various media in online learning such as Canva, YouTube, blog apps, etc., but not for face-to-face learning. The teacher has just a few media for face-to-face teaching and learning process due to online learning implementation during the covid-19 pandemic. Eventually, the teacher has emoticon expression media and professional flashcard media. The teacher said that students’ responsed were good when they applied the media in the classroom; it was such active learning and fun learning for students.
8 Observation di SMPN 1 Bantaran, February 28, 2022.
Furthermore, the teacher endeavored to design new creative teaching media to support the teaching and learning process after online learning. Moreover, in the Covid-19 pandemic, the students had already been accustomed to learning from home or online learning which made students lazier to learn in the classroom.9 The preliminary teacher’s interview above helped the researcher found the solution to solve students’
problems dealing with speaking. The researcher also noted the teacher’s experience using media which increased students’ motivation and interest in learning English. Therefore, the researcher decided to use appropriate media to support creative teaching and learning processes to solve students’ problems above in the classroom.
The last issue was the students’ speaking achievement. Based on the result of the teacher’s preliminary interview, the researcher got additional information to strengthen the data for preliminary research. The English teacher stated that the students got under average score in speaking ability that was under 50 which was far from the Minimum Mastery Criteria (KKM) decided by the school 70. The result of the pre- test score proved that no student or 0% could pass the Minimum Mastery of Criteria decided by the school was 70. The mean score calculation just reached 16,08 with the higher score being 30 points and the lowest score being 10 points. Due to the pre-test score, several students have just known one vocabulary, “beautiful” with no grammatical rules. On the
9 Fitriyana, interviewed by researcher, Prob, March 10, 2022
other hand, the students were quite difficult to describe the physical appearances of their favorite artists, and several students required the researcher to show the pictures by searching on Google. Moreover, a few students said that they didn’t have a favorite artist, which made the researcher try to give the name of the artist they knew. The pre-test score strengthens the observation in the preliminary study mentioned above.
Media is a teaching component that helps a teacher in the teaching and learning process. According to harmer, media is an aid in the teaching and learning process which makes the students understand better to the material. He said that media is the basis of the material itself and it can relate to the whole of the material’s topic and content. By that, the use of media that is used appropriately with the topic of the material and the students’ characteristics can be teachers’ key to achieve learning objectives. The teacher can design and modify the media and the teacher needs to help the students easier to comprehend the material learned.
Murcia explained that media is an important motivator in the teaching and learning10. Using media can engage students’ attention, motivation, and interest to play the media on the material learned. Media can also engage the students to learn actively and be fun while playing the media in the teaching and learning process. Besides, media helps students to talk actively by expressing their ideas, opinion, thinking, and feeling to achieve students-centered in the classroom.
10 Celce Murcia Mariam, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, (London: Thomson Learning, 2001), p.461.
Some kinds of media can be used to deliver the material such as songs, pictures, flashcards, word walls, puppets, etc. in this research, Puppet as learning media is chosen in teaching speaking because they can increase students’ motivation and interest to learn fun using puppet. Based on the Cambridge Advanced Learners’ dictionary, a puppet means a kind of toy shaped like another creature, human, or animal, and it can be moved by strings, a finger, or when we took a hand inside.11 Lohnes also defined a puppet is an object made by wood, cloth, plastic, cardboard, etc. it has not to be like a human but it must act like human.12 Sometime, a young student is shy to speak in front of the class or speak with the adult. Puppet can substitute the partner of young children speaking. Then the children can more enjoy in practice speaking with puppets.13 By using puppets, students are provided a chance for them to express what students think.
The use of Puppet for educational purposes can give benefits both teachers and students. The interesting shape of the puppet can engage students to be interested in the material. It makes the teacher is easied in the material and makes it easier for the teacher to organize the teaching and learning process. Marilyn Lohnes stated that there are 4 types of puppets:
11 Cambridge Dictionary Software, Third Edition, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) p.- 12 Marilyn Lohnes, Fractured Fairy tales puppet place and pattern, (Fort Atkinson: Upstart Books, 2002), p. 6-8.
13 Marilyn Lohnes, 6-8.
Marionette puppet, shadow puppet, hand puppet, and stick puppet.14 Those puppets are easy to create and get either in-store or online.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher chose stick puppets as an appropriate medium for describing people's physical appearance for teaching the seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran.
Stick Puppet is commonly made from a stick or spoon. Stick puppets can be simple or complex puppets, but it depends on the design made. It can be made simply using a stick or puppet with two dimensions. Besides, it will be more difficult if use three dimensions to create a real creature like humans. The researcher designed stick puppets using Indonesian artist pictures and adhering to the stick of the ice cream. Every student have to choose a stick puppet to be described orally. Eventually, stick puppets can make the teaching atmosphere will be entertaining, interesting, and humorous. The stick puppets can make it easier for students to describe their physical appearance because they see and hold the real object. Thus, students were expected to have more opportunities to practice, making them attended to talk actively in a fun way in the classroom using stick puppets media.
Several studies have shown the good result of using stick puppets to improve students’ speaking skills. In 2018, Ningtyas did research to find out the significant effect on students’ speaking skills between students who were taught by using conventional teaching and stick puppets media.
14 Marilyn Lohnes, Fractured Fairy Tales: Puppet Plays and Patterns. United States of America:
Upstartbooks. 2002. P. 7-8.
The result indicated that there was a significant effect of using stick puppets on the students’ speaking skills for the seventh-grade students of SMPN 1 Tanggulangin.15 Hasanah did the next research in 2021. This research aimed to describe how the Stick Puppet role-play can improve the students’ speaking skills in terms of English aspects such as fluency, grammatical accuracy, pronunciation, and vocabulary in delivering conversations for the language functions of inviting, accepting, or refusing the invitation, complimenting, and congratulating someone. The action research implementation positively affected students’ attitudes in a range of vocabulary, the ease of getting an idea, the speaking skill improvement, the students’ excitement, the students’ enthusiasm, the student's confidence, and the effectiveness of stick puppet role play.16 The third previous research conducted by Andriani in 2018. This research aims to find out the effectiveness of using stick puppets as media to increase students’ speaking ability in describing people in the seventh grade of SMP Negeri 2 Wonoayu, Sidoarjo. By that, there was a significant effect of using stick puppets to increase students’ speaking ability in describing people.17
15 Arum Putrian Ningtyas, “The Effect of Stick Puppet In Spesking Skill for Seventh Grade Students of SMPN 1 Tanggulangin”(Undergraduate thesis, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, 2018)
16 Yuli Astuti Hasanah, “Elevating Speaking Skill Through Stick Puppet Role Play”, English Journal of Indragiri (EJI): Studies in Education, Literature, and Linguistic 5 (1), 126-144, 2021
17 Fareta Ica Andriani “The Effectiveness of Using Stick Puppet as Media to Increase Students’
Speaking Ability In Describing People to Seveth Grade of SMP Negeri 2 Wonoayu Sidoarjo”
(thesis, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, 2018)
Based on the result of previous studies, it seemed that stick puppet was an appropriate media to be an alternative solution to improve students’ speaking skills. Stick puppets can be used as media to improve students’ speaking skills at seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran who face difficulties dealing with speaking in the preliminary mentioned above.
Furthermore, by using stick puppets media, it was believed that students can have good motivation to practice, learn fun, and have the confidence to practice their speaking in the classroom. In this study, the writer used stick puppets as media in teaching to describe people's physical appearance. The researcher proposed research entitled “The use of Stick Puppets to Improve The Seventh Graders’ Speaking Skill of a Junior High School in Bantaran”.
B. Research Question
Based on the research background above, the researcher formulated the research question as “How can the speaking skill of seventh-graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran in the academic year 2021/2022 be improved through the use of Stick Puppets Media?”
C. Research Objective
Based on the research problems above, the objective of this research is “to produce an instructional method using stick puppets as an alternative media in improving students’ speaking skills in seventh- graders’ A of SMPN 1 Bantaran in the academic year 2021/2022.
D. Research Significances
This research is expected to provide some contributions which are divided into two parts, as follows:
1. Theoretical significance
This research is expected to contribute ideas as a media that is easy to implement an alternative media in improving students speaking skills through the use of stick puppets. This research is also expected to extend the knowledge dealing with the use of stick puppets in teaching speaking.
2. Practical Significance a. For Teacher
Enrich strategy and a variety of teaching as an alternative media to improve creative teaching methods.
b. For Students
Improve students’ speaking skill and master them by using stick puppet media.
c. For the Researcher
Get an additional experience to use media in improving students’ speaking skills.
d. For the other researchers
The result of this study can be applied as a comparative study with other studies as references.
E. Scope of the Research
In this research, the researcher focused on improving students’
speaking skills by using stick puppets as media at VII A of SMPN 1 Bantaran in the 2021/2022 academic. The stick puppets used Indonesian artist pictures with have a different theme in every meeting such as Indonesia motivator artist, comedians, and singers. The researcher used descriptive text by describing people’s physical appearance as material to improve students’ speaking in terms of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and content through monologue.
F. Definition of Key Term
To avoid any misunderstanding of the key terms used in this study, those are the clarification of some terms in this paper:
1. Speaking Skill
Students’ speaking skill is an activity that includes two or more people in which hearers and speakers have to react to what they hear and make their contribution at a speed of high level. In this research, speaking skill is an activity that the students do to practice / describe their physical appearances. The teacher asked the students to describe their physical appearance of the stick puppets. In this research, four aspects of speaking used such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and content.
2. Stick Puppets
In this research, Stick Puppet is a media used by English teachers and made by the researcher and English teacher from photos pasted on ice cream sticks. The stick puppets is used as a medium to improve students’ speaking skills by describing their physical appearances.
15
CHAPTER II
RELATED LITERARTURE REVIEW
This chapter presents a review of related literature. It consists of relevant previous research, theoretical, and conceptual framework.
A. Previous Research
The first research by Arum Putrian Ningtyas in 2018 was entitled
“The Effect of Stick Puppets in Speaking Skills for Seventh Grade Students of SMPN 1 Tanggulangin”. The research objective was to find out the significant effect on students’ speaking skills between students taught by using conventional teaching and stick puppet media. The research design used in this study was a true experimental study named Pre-test and Post-test Group Design. The test result was analyzed using the t-test formula and the result was 17.8 > 2.00. After calculating the students' score results, the researcher counted the value of Eta-square. The result showed a significant effect of using stick puppets for improving students’ speaking skills in the seventh-grade students’ of SMPN 1 Tanggulangin. The result of the research showed the students' null Hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted.18 Based on the result above, there was a significant effect of using stick puppets in the students’ speaking skills for seventh-grade students of SMPN 1 Tanggulangin.
18 Arum Putrian Ningtyas, “The Effect of Stick Puppet In Spesking Skill for Seventh Grade Students of SMPN 1 Tanggulangin”(Undergraduate thesis, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, 2018)
Secondly, the research was an article written by Yuli Astuti Hasanah entitled “Elevating Speaking Skills through Stick Puppet Role Play”. This research aimed to describe how the Stick Puppet role-play can improve students’ speaking skills in terms of English, such as fluency, grammatical accuracy, pronunciation, and vocabulary. The material chosen in this research was inviting, accepting, or refusing the invitation, complimenting, and congratulating someone. The research design used in this study was Classroom Action Research (CAR). The Subjects were 32 students of VIII A class of SMP Laboratorium Universitas Negeri Malang.
This action research was conducted in one cycle and consisted of five meetings. The research finding showed that 32 students could pass the success criteria as students’ scores were above 70. The students’ average score was 74 the highest score was 85 and the lowest score was 70.19 The action research implementation positively affected students’ attitude in a range of vocabulary, the ease of getting an idea, the speaking skills improvement, the students’ excitement, the students’ enthusiasm, the student's confidence, and the effectiveness of stick puppet role play.
Fareta Ica Andriani conducted the third research in 2018, “The Effectiveness of Using Stick Puppet as Media to Increase Students’
Speaking Ability in Describing People to Seventh Grade of SMP Negeri 2 Wonoayu Sidoarjo”. This research aimed to find out the effectiveness of using stick puppets as media to increase students’ speaking ability in
19 Yuli Astuti Hasanah, “Elevating Speaking Skill Through Stick Puppet Role Play”, English Journal of Indragiri (EJI): Studies in Education, Literature, and Linguistic 5 (1), 126-144, 2021
describing people in the seventh grade of SMP Negeri 2 Wonoayu, Sidoarjo. The research design used was a true-experimental study. The samples of this research were students in 7E as an experimental class and 7F as a control class, each class consisted of 35 students. This research showed that the students could increase their ability to describe people by using stick puppets. The result of the research showed it, the significance degree of 5%, the value of the t-test was higher than the t-table (6.184 >
1.995).20 By that, there was a significant effect of using stick puppets to increase students’ speaking ability in describing people.
The fourth research was conducted by Lenni Lubis entitled,
“Improving Vocabulary Mastery by Using Puppet Media at Grade VII Students of SMPN 3 Batang Natal”. The purpose of this research was to examine the extent of puppet whether it improves students’ vocabulary in grade VII students of SMP Negeri 3 Batang Natal. In this research, the researcher chose stick puppets as media to improve students’ vocabulary.
The research used Classroom Action Research by Kemmis and Mc.
Taggart The result shows that the improvement means a score of students, in the first cycle was 71 (20.0%) and the second test in the second cycle was 88 (90.0%).21 It can be concluded that the mean score in the second cycle was higher than the first cycle. Based observation notes stated that the students improved and were more active and interested in learning
20 Fareta Ica Andriani “The Effectiveness of Using Stick Puppet As Media to Increase Students’
Speaking Ability In Describing People to Seveth Grade of SMP Negeri 2 Wonoayu Sidoarjo”
(thesis, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, 2018)
21 Lenni Lubis “Improving Vocabulary Mastery By Using Puppet Media At Grade VII Students Of SMPN 3 Batang Natal” (thesis, State Islamic Institute of Palopo, Padangsidimpuan, 2020)
vocabulary mastery. It asserted that puppet media can improve students’
vocabulary mastery at grade VII A of SMPN 3 Batang Natal.
The fifth research conducted by Mardiana on, “Teaching Speaking Skills by using puppet play at the tenth-grade students of madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Palopo”. The objective of the research is to know whether or not puppet play is effective in teaching speaking skills and to find out the students’ responses toward the use of puppet play in teaching speaking skills. This research used the Pre-Experimental method with pre-test and post-test design. The population of this research was the tenth-grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Palopo in academic 2019. The researcher used purposive sampling taken from class X MIA 1 consisting of 34 students as the sample used by the researcher.
The result of his research found that puppet play was effectively used in teaching students speaking in the tenth grade of MAN Palopo after treatments by using puppet play. The data showed that the t-test (20,111) was higher than t table (2,145), indicating that puppet play effectively teaches speaking skills in the tenth grade of MAN Palopo.22 Most were agreed, active, happy, interesting, and enjoyed learning to speak by using puppet play.
22 Mardiana “Teaching Speaking Skill by using puppet play at the tenth-grade students of madrasah aliyah negeri (MAN) Palopo” (thesis, State Islamic Institute of Palopo, Palopo, 2019)
Table 2.1
Differences and similarities between current research and previous research No. Author and Title Similarities Difference
1 2 3 4
1. Arum Putrian Ningtyas in 2018,
“The Effect of Stick Puppet in Speaking Skills for Students of
SMPN 1
Tanggulangin”.
a. Both researchers focused on students’
speaking skills.
b. Both researchers focused on Junior High School at seventh grade.
a. The method in this previous research was an experimental study, while the method in current research was Classroom
Action Research.
b. This previous material used Narrative text while the current study used Descriptive text (people).
2. Yuli Astuti Hasanah in 2021 “Elevating Speaking Skills Through Stick Puppet Role Play”.
a. Both researchers used Classroom Action Research method.
b. Both researchers
focused on
students’ speaking skills
c. Both researchers focused on Junior High School level.
a. This previous material used dialogue while the current study used Descriptive text (Describing People’s Physical Apperances).
b. This previous research focused on the students at eighth grade while the current research focused on the students at seventh grade.
c. This previous research used role play method and the current research focus on the stick puppet.
1 2 3 4 3. Fareta Ica Andriani in
2018, “The
Effectiveness of Using Stick Puppet As Media to Increase Students’
Speaking Ability In Describing People to Seventh Grade of SMP Negeri 2 Wonoayu Sidoarjo”.
a. Both researchers
focused on
students’ speaking skills.
b. Both researchers focused on Junior High School at seventh grade.
a. The method in this previous research was true experimental study, while the method in current research was Classroom Action Research.
b. This previous material used Recount text while the current
study used
Descriptive text (Describing People’s Physical Apperances).
c. This previous research focused on the students at eighth grade while the current research focused on the students at eighth grade.
4. Lenni Lubis in 2020,
“Improving
Vocabulary Mastery by Using Puppet Media At Grade VII Students Of SMPN 3 Batang Natal”.
a. Both researchers used Classroom Action Research method.
b. Both researchers focused on Junior High School level.
a. This previous study focused on students’
vocabulary
mastery, while the current research focused on students’
speaking skills.
b. This previous material used name of thing while the current
study used
Descriptive text (Describing people’s Physical Apperances).
1 2 3 4
c. This previous research focused on the students at eighth grade while the current research focused on the students at eighth grade.
5. Mardiana in 2019
“Teaching Speaking Skills by using puppet play at the tenth- grade students of madrasah aliyah
negeri (MAN)
Palopo”
Both researchers focused on students’
speaking skills
a. The method in this previous research was Pre- Experimental, while the method in current research was Classroom
Action Research.
b. This previous material used to describe thing, while the current study used to describe people.
c. This previous research subject focused on Senior High School, while the subject in current study was Junior High School.
Based on the explanation drawn above, it could be seen that every researcher has their way of conducting their research. This research has its characteristics compared with the five previous studies mentioned above.
This research focused on improving students’ speaking skills using stick puppets to describe people's physical appearances (descriptive text). This research used the Classroom Action Research method to collect the data.
The researcher assessed the students’ speaking skills based on some aspects: Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Grammar, and Content.
B. Theoretical Framework 1. Speaking
a. Definition of Speaking
Speaking is a human’s communication process to interact with the others include of speakers and listeners. Humans’
communication through speaking is commonly done either face to face or online, which is often considered dialog/ conversation.
According to Sandra Cornbleet and Ronald Carter, speaking is not just making a sound like birds, animals, or babies make sound and through it may be the communication of sorts, and it is not speaking.23 Speaking is producing sound and the whole body like gesture, movement, and expression to make the listener understand the meaning. Additionally, Oxford Advance Dictionary states that speaking is to make use of language in an ordinary, not singing, to state view, wishes, etc. or an act of spokesman.24
According to Tarigan, speaking is the capability of pronouncing a sound or word to express or convey a thought, idea, or feeling.25 Speaking carries out ideas, though, feeling, etc. through some words or sentences to make interlocutors understand the
23 Sandra Cornbleet and Ronald Carter, The Language of Speech and Writing, (London: Routledge Publisher, 2001), p. 17
24 AS Hornby, Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Sixth Edition, 1987) 827.
25 Henry Guntur Tarigan, Pengajaran Analis Berbahasa, (Bandung: Angkasa, 1997), 15.
meaning of the conversation. We often communicate to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings with other people in daily activities such as business, relationships, friendship, etc. Nunan also defines speaking as an ability to carry out a conversation in the language.26 It means that a good conversation will occur if people can use good language or good speaking to communicate and the listener understands the meaning.
From the definition explained above, it can be concluded that speaking is the ability to express our ideas, feelings, and opinions orally in a conversation. Good speaking is the delivering messages that the listeners can understand. Speaking skills are an important skill in a language learned to express their feelings, ideas, and opinions, with the other people such as a friend, relatives, teamwork, etc.
Meanwhile, speaking in this research was to practice or speak up by describing people's physical appearances using a stick puppet.
Speaking aspects that used to be measured were vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and content. The material topic chosen in this study was descriptive text especially describing people's physical appearances. So that, the students have to describe their physical appearance using the stick puppets.
26 David Nunan, Language Teaching Methodology; A Textbook for Teachers, (Edinburgh:
Longman Pearson Education, 1998), 38.
b. Aspect of Speaking
Speaking is not only giving expression to something orally in the conversation. The students need to acquire some speaking aspects to have good speaking skills. As proposed by Lado, there are 4 elements of speaking, those are:27
1) Pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way for students to produce clearer language when they speak. It deals with the phonological process, which refers to the grammar component made up of the elements and principles that determine how sounds vary and pattern in a language.
2) Grammar
It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation. It is in line with the explanation suggested by Heaton (1978) that students’ ability to manipulate the structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical forms from appropriate ones. The unity of grammar also learns the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form.
3) Vocabulary
One cannot conduct communication effectively or express their ideas in both oral and written form if they do not
27 Lado Robert, Language Testing, (London: Longman, 1977)
have sufficient vocabulary. So, vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication.
4) Fluency
Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately. Fluency includes a reasonably fast speaking speed and only a few pauses and “ums” or “errs”. These sign indicate that speakers do not have spent a lot of time searching or the language items needed to express the message.
From the explanation of elements of speaking according to Lado, this research adopted four elements of speaking those are pronunciation, fluency, and vocabulary. 3 elements of speaking are appropriate for improving students speaking skills through monologue.
c. Types of Classroom Speaking Performance
According Brown, there are five basic types of classroom speaking performance as follows:28
1. Imitative
A very limited portion of classroom speaking time may legitimately be spent generating "human-type record" speech, where, for example, learners practice an intonation contour or try to pinpoint a certain vowel sound.
28 H. Douglas Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching (New York: Prentice Hall, 2004), 271-274.
2. Intensive
Intensive speaking goes one step beyond imitative to include any speaking performance designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language.
3. Responsive
A good deal of student speech in the classroom is responsive: short replies to the teacher or student-initiated questions or comments.
4. Transactional (dialogue)
Transactional language, carried out conveying or exchanging specific information, is an extended form of responsive language.
5. Interpersonal (dialogue)
The other form of conversation mentioned in the previous chapter was interpersonal dialogue, carried out more to maintain social relationships than for the transmission of facts and information.
6. Extensive (monologue)
Finally, the students at intermediate to advanced levels or called on tod levels or called on to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, or perhaps short speech. Here the register is more formal and deliberative. These monologues can be planned or impromptu.
Based on the types of speaking above, this research focused on Extensive (monologue). Monologue performance is very useful for students to present a real situation in practicing a language in the classroom. The researcher stimulated students some questions to describe the physical appearance of the stick puppets chosen such as what she/ he looks like, is she beautiful or handsome, is she tall, is the fat. In Extensive (monologue), students have to practice their speaking individually to describe the physical appearances of the stick puppets chosen.
2. Descriptive text
a. The definition of descriptive text
Descriptive text is a part of factual genders. It is a social function to describe a particular person, place, or thing.29 According to Cowan in Fajriyah, descriptive presence is the appearance of things that occupy space, whether objects, people, buildings, or cities.30 As stated as by Wardiman, et.al, descriptive text is a text that describes the features of someone, something, or a certain place.31 Oshima and Houge gave a trick to write a good description, they stated that a good description is like a word picture; the reader can imagine the object, place, or person in his or her mind. A writer of a good description is
29 Artono Wadirman, et.al, English in Focus: For Grade VII Junior High School (SMP/ MTS), (Jakarta: Pusat Perbukuan, DEPIKNAS, 2008), 22
30 Siti Saadatul Fajriyah, The Effect of Mind Mapping Technique on Students’ Writing of Descriptive Text, A thesis, (Jakarta: Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University 2017), 10
31 Artono Wardiman, et.al, English in Focuss: for Grade VIII Junior High (SMP/MTS), (Jakarta:
Pusat Perbukuan, DEPDIKNAS, 2008), 16.
like an artist who paints a picture that can be seen clearly in the the mind of the reader.32
By the definition above, descriptive text is a way of picturing images through verbally in speech or writing in order the reader or the listener can feel the situation was described.
b. Kinds of Descriptive Text
Description reproduces the way things look like, smeel, taste, feel, or sound. Description is used to create a visual iamge of people, places, even of units of time. There are three kinds of Descriptive text, as follows:33
1) Describing People
It is usually people who are interesting to readers and their experience is interesting. When description is mentioned, one tends to think mainly about adjectives and perhaps the adverbs. It is sometimes surprising to find that a particularly vivid description has resulted chiefly from the accurate use of verbs. To say that a person shambles or stumbles when he or she walks, for examples may give a better picture of that a person than a large number of adjective could be mentioned.
32 Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Writing Academic English (New York: Pearson Education, 2006), 50.
33 George E. Wilso and Julia M Burk, Let’s write English (America: American Book Company, 1980), 379.
2) Describing Place
How place look, smeel, and sound is important. There are some ways to judge description of place; are impressions other then sight included? Is the picture caught at a single moment in time? Etc.
3) Describing unit of time
Descriptions of units of time are often used to establish mood. Literature is full of descriptions of seasons, days, and times of day. Notice how the description of a unit of time sets a certain mood, or emotional tone, in each of the following selections.
Based on the three kinds of Descriptive text above, this research focused on Describing People in terms of Describing People’s Physical Appearance. The students have to describe their physical appearance orally.
c. The generic structure of descriptive text
As well known, descriptive text is a text to describe something, such as people, places, or things. There are two generic structures of descriptive text:
a) Identification: identifies a phenomenon to be described is about introducing a subject or thing that will be described
b) Description: describes parts description brief details who or what of the subject, qualities, etc.34
d. The Example of Descriptive Text
Here are the examples of describing people’s physical appearance:35
Sharon is beautiful. She is young. She is short and slim. She has short hair hair and brown hair.
Figure 2.1
The Example of Describing People’s Physical Appearance Claire is beautiful. She is young. She is tall and slim. She has long hair, and curly brown hair.
34 Imelda Wardani, Hasan Basri, Abdul Waris, Improving the Ability In Writing Descriptive Text Through Guided-Question Technique, e journal of English Language Teaching Society (ELTS) Vol. 2, No. 1, 2014, 2
35 Desi Oktaviana. “Materi Kelas 7 KD. 3.7 dan 4.7 Describing People Appearance,” English is fun (blog). March 04, 2022, http://deasyoctaviana.blogspot.com/2020/03/materi-kelas-7-kd37-dan- 47-describing.html.
3. Puppet as Learning Media a. Learning Media
Learning media is a tool for the learning process. Media is one of the teaching components to help a teacher in delivering the material in the teaching and learning process. The teacher could choose what media will be used and create the design in order to be proper with the material that will be taught. In the teaching and learning process, media can make students more interesting and get easier to understand the material learned.
Daryanto defined the medium term as an intermediary for delivering information between the source and the receiver.36 Arsyad also argued that learning media is a tool that can help the learning process and serves to clarify the meaning of the messages to achieve the learning objectives.37 Harmer explained the purpose of media in educational purposes, he stated that media is an aid of teaching and learning process, which makes the students understand better to the material. He said that media is the basis of the material itself and it can relate to the whole of the topic and content of the material.38 Besides another opinion comes from Murcia, she stated that media is an important motivator in the teaching and learning process.39 Grouping
36 Daryanto, “Learning Media,” (Bandung: Satu Nusa, 2011), 4
37 Arsyad, A “Learning Media,” (Jakarta: Grafindo Persada , 2011), 9
38 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching (Third Edition Completely Revised and Updated), (New York: Longman, 2001), 134
39 Celce Murcia Mariam, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, (London: Thomson Learning, 2001), 461
of media types in terms of technological developments according to Seels and Glasgow explain in Arsyad book that divided into two those are modern and traditional learning media. Computer games, CD learning, and teleconference are modern learning media. The traditional learning media is an image, textbooks, puzzles, maps, and dolls.40 In learning media dolls can be played as a form of a puppet.
b. Puppet as a Medium
Cambridge Advance learners’ Dictionary, puppet means kind of toys shaped like other creatures, human or animal, and it can move by string the fingers or when we took the hand inside.41 On the other hand, Lohnes also defined that puppet is an object made by wood, clothes, plastic, cardboard, etc. it has not to be like human but it must act like human.42
Slattery and Wilis also state that puppet is a kind of aid that help children practice speaking. Sometimes the young student is shy to speak in front of the class or speak with an adult. Puppet can substitute the partner of young children speaking. Then the children can more enjoy in practice speaking with a puppet.43 That statement is in line with Lines and Nunan. They said that the puppet will use properly in
40 Arsyad, A, Learning Media, 33
41 Cambridge Dictionary Software, Third Edition, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. -
42 Marilyn Lohnes, Fractured Fairy Tales Puppet Plays and Pattern, (Fort Arkinson: Upstart Books, 2002)
43 Mary Slattery and Jane Wilis, English for Primary Teaching, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 18-19
the children's classroom. It is because students will feel more comfortable speaking with a puppet.44
Based on the experts’ explanation above, the writer concludes that puppet is one of the media that can help and support the teaching and learning process. Since puppets not only help teachers but also students. In addition to that, the puppet has an interesting shape that can engage students to be more focused on the material. It makes the teacher easier to organize the teaching and learning process.
c. The advantages of hand puppet
According to Martin, there are some advantages to using hand puppets:
1. Introducing new vocabulary and sentences structures
Puppet as a medium in teaching English, especially in speaking, may introduce many new vocabularies to the students. It is because in trying to use hand puppets, students make some effort to say something if they do not know the vocabulary. Besides, students also tried to make a sentence using the hand puppet.
2. Repeating and deepening knowledge
By practicing oral speaking using hand puppet sounds, sometimes students produce the wrong sentence structure or pronunciation. The teacher or other students will correct them. By
44 Lines and Nunan, Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners, (New York: Mc-Graw Hill Companies: 2005), 33
that, the students will repeat the correct sentence and they will understand deeper than before.
3. Storytelling
Using hand puppet in storytelling automatically trains their capability to deliver the story. The students present the storytelling in the classroom. If the students have a low ability to use the hand puppet, they will try to use it, till they have mastered it.
4. Singing a song
Hand puppets also can make students more confident in singing the songs. It is because the audience will speculate that the singer is the hand puppet, not the students who speak in the back.
Ningtyas also stated the advantages of using Puppet in the teaching and learning process, as follows:45
1. The teacher easier to explain the material to the students.
2. The teacher can do corrections directly during her students’
performance by using the media.
3. Puppets help the students develop their vocabulary and feel easy to speak in front of the classroom.
4. Students feel confident when they perform 5. Students become more active in the class
45 Marilyn Lohnes, Fractured Fairy Tales: Puppet Plays and Patterns. United States of America:Upstartbooks. 2002. P. 7-8.
