IMPROVING THE TENTH YEAR STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY THROUGH THREE STEP INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE AT SMA PLUS AL-AZHAR JEMBER IN THE 2010/2011 ACADEMIC YEAR
Abstract
This  classroom  action  research  was  intended  to  improve  the  tenth  year 
students’ speaking ability and to improve their active participation in the speaking 
classes at SMA Plus Al Azhar Jember in the 2010/2011 academic year. Based on 
the results of preliminary study through  interview and observation,  it was known 
that  the  tenth  year  students  still  experienced  difficulties  in  speaking  skill.  They 
usually  felt  unconfident  to  speak.  Moreover,  the  teacher  explained  that  the 
students’ participation in the learning process of speaking was quite low. 
This classroom action research consisted of two cycles in which each cycle 
covered  the  stages  of  planning  of  the  action,  implementation  of  the  action, 
classroom  observation  and  reflection  of  the  action.  Then,  each  cycle  was 
conducted  in  two  meetings,  in  which  speaking  ability  test  was  conducted  in  the 
third  meeting.  The data about the students’ speaking ability were collected 
through speaking ability test. Observation was used to monitor the students’ active 
participation  in  the  teaching  learning  process  by  using  Three  Step  Interview 
technique. 
From  the  results  of  classroom  observation  in  Cycle  1,  it  was  known  that 
there  were  24  of  37  students  (64.86%)  who  actively  participated  in  the  teaching 
and  learning  process  of  speaking  in  the  first  meeting  and  there  were  27  of  37 
students  (72.97%)  who  actively  participated  in  the  teaching  and  learning  process 
of  speaking  in  the  second  meeting.  It  means  that  process  evaluation  has  not 
achieved the target requirement  yet,  namely  at  least 75% students participated  in 
the  teaching  learning  process  of  reading.  The  results  of  the  speaking  ability  test 
showed that there were 25 out of 37 students (67.57%) got more score than 65. It 
means that the results of reading comprehension test in Cycle 1 had not achieved the research target yet, that was, at least 75% of the students got score at least 65. 
Therefore, the actions were continued to Cycle 2.  
Based  on  the  results  of  observation  in  the  first  meeting  in  cycle  2,  there 
were  31  out  of  37  students  (83.78%)  who  actively  participated  in  the  teaching 
learning  process  of  reading.  In  the  second  meeting,  there  were  33  out  of  37 
students (89.19%) who actively participated during the teaching  learning process 
of reading. Meanwhile, the percentage of the students’ speaking ability in Cycle 2 
was 83.78%. There were 31 students of 37 students got the speaking ability scores 
≥ 65. It means that the target requirement of 75% of the total students got scores at 
least  65  had  already  been  achieved.  It means that both the students’ speaking 
ability and the students’ active  participation  in  the  teaching  learning  process  by 
using Three Step Interview technique had fulfilled the research objectives. 
Based  on  the  results  above,  it  could  be  concluded  that  the  use  of  Three 
Step Interview  technique  could  improve  the  tenth  year  students’ speaking  ability 
and improve the students’ active participation  in the teaching  learning process of 
speaking at SMA Plus Al-Azhar Jember in the 2010/2011 academic year. Then, it 
is  suggested  to the  English  teacher  to  use  Three  Step  Interview  technique  as  one 
of the alternative techniques in teaching speaking to improve the teaching quality 
of  speaking  ability,  the  students’  speaking  ability,  and  the  students’  active 
participation during the teaching and learning process of speaking.
