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INTERACTIVE DRAMA AS A TEACHING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS

COMPENTENCE IN SPEAKING (A Quasi Experimental Study)
Joni Listanto, Hamzah A. Machmoed and Burhanuddin Arafah ABSTRACT
This research aims 1) to justify whether text types of Interactive Drama improve students competence in
speaking 2) to find out the students interest in learning speaking through the application of
text types of Interactive drama. The design of this study is experimental design. There were
two groups: experimental and control group. The research was conducted at SMP Negeri I Namlea
Buru Regency, and took 60 students as samples. The data were collected by using the pre-test, the
treatment, the post-test, and questionnaire. The speaking test administered to the students of
experimental and control class. The scores were assessed by two assessors. The data were analyzed
and interpreted by using Pearson Product Moment assisted by SPSS 14.0 (Statistical Package
for Service Solution) software program. The result of the research reveals that text types of
Interactive Drama are justifiable to improve students competence in speaking and the
application of text types of Interactive Drama increase students interest in learning speaking.
The result of the students speaking score improvement from pre-test to post test
demonstrates a significant difference. The researcher found that sig.(2 tailed) is 0.000 which
is lower than 0.05. The outcome of the students speaking improvement comparison between
experimental and control group is 0.025. It means that the improvement is significant. The
application of text types of Interactive Drama increase students interest in speaking. The
finding signifies that text types of Interactive Drama strategy is responded positively by the experimental
class. The answer agree and strongly agree of the students dominate the questionnaire.
Key words :
Interactive Drama, Integrating Drama Activities into ELT, the Advantages of Teaching
Language through Drama, Procedure Applying Drama in the Classroom.
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini bertujuan 1) untuk membuktikan apakah tipe teks Interaktif Drama
meningkatkan kompetensi berbicara siswa , 2) untuk mengetahui minat siswa pada
pembelajaran berbicara melalui aplikasi tipe teks Interaktif Drama. Studi ini adalah
experimen design, terdiri dari dua grup: experimental dan kontrol. Penelitian dilaksanakan di
SMP Negeri I Namlea Kabupaten Buru, dengan 60 siswa sebagai sampel yang dipilih secara
purposive. Data dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan pre-test, treatment, post-test, dan
questionnaire. Test berbicara diberikan kepada kedua grup: experimental dan kontrol. Skor
dinilai oleh dua
assessor
. Data dianalisis dan diinterpretasikan dengan menggunakan
Pearson product moment
yang dibantu dengan program software SPSS 14.0. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tipe
teks Interaktif Drama dapat dibuktikan meningkatkan kompetensi berbicara siswa dan
aplikasi tipe teks
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Interaktif Drama meningkatkan minat siswa pada pembelajaran berbicara. Hasil peningkatan skor
berbicara siswa dari pre-test ke post-test menunjukkan perbedaan yang siknifikan. Peneliti
menemukan
sig.(2 tailed)

adalah 0.000 lebih kecil dari 0.050. Hasil perbandingan peningkatan kemampuan berbicara
siswa atara grup experimen dan kontrol adalah 0.025. Hal ini berarti kopetensi berbicara siswa
meningkat secara siknifikan. Aplikasi tipe teks Interaktif Drama meningkatkan minat siswa pada
pembelajaran berbicara. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa strategi tipe teks Interaktif
Drama direspon positif oleh siswa secara siknifikan. Jawaban setuju dan sangat setuju
mendominasi questionnaire.
Kata Kunci :
Interaktif Drama, Integrasi Drama dalam Pengajaran Bahasa Inggris, Kelebihan Mengajar Bahasa
Inggris Menggunakan Drama, Prosedur Pengaplikasian Drama dalam Kelas
INTRODUCTION Background
At present, English becomes an instructional language for any kinds of business field over the
world. Many countries in South East Asia use English either as a medium of learning or a transactional
language, in this case English is categorized as a Second Language (L2), e.g., in Singapore,
Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam. How about the position of English in Indonesia? Is
English categorized as L2? In Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign language, because
not so many people use it either as a daily communication or as a medium of learning.
Considering this phenomenon, the government has decided to include English as the
compulsory subject in secondary school. In the 1994 revised curriculum, English is included as a subject in
the primary school curriculum, starting in the fourth grade. However, only the government
primary and private schools in the urban areas would have the staff to teach English (Kam &
Wong, 2004: 7). This is why many people in Indonesia want to learn English. In learning
English there are four skills should be mastered by the students. Those skills including:
speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Speaking and writing are categorized as productive
skills, while reading and listening are as receptive skills. Each of these skills has different way in mastering and
expressing. Productive skills which include speaking and writing are two important components of
communication process. As Widodo (2008: 3) stated speaking requires a greater degree of language
overtime, while writing requires a greater degree of accuracy and has been considered one of
the most difficult skills for learners to master. Speaking considered as a very crucial skill
because it is one of the basic keys of communication. By mastering speaking skills, we can
carry out communication, express ideas, purpose, and persuade to other people. Everyone
needs this skills, whatever their profession, e.g., an architect, an engineer, a business man,
scientists, teachers, etc., they need speaking skills in order to take an active part in
communication process and also to develop their knowledge. The success of teaching speaking
determined by many factors such as the teacher, the material, and the strategy applied by the teacher..
Interactive Drama is an alternative strategy to improve students competence in speaking. Why do we
use Interactive
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Drama? By applying Interactive Drama, the students can learn and express themselves both through
language spoken and language expression. The students are more active in verbal
communication. Drama is also as a specific action to make the learning process more active, enjoyable,
communicative, and contextual. As Cheng (2007: 1) stated that Interactive dramas are a language
learning activity in which each student in the class takes a distinct role with specific goals and then interacts
with other students in the class to build alliances and complete common goals. Furthermore,
Maley and Duff, (1978: 6) and Wessels, (1987: 61) have pointed to the values and uses of drama: 'Drama
can help the teacher to achieve 'reality' in several ways. It can overcome the students' resistance to learning the
new language.
Problem Statements
Many times the teaching of English language does not fulfill its goals. Even after years of
English teaching, the learners do not gain the confidence of using English in and outside the

class. The learners could not use the language in the real live. Their output in the language learning is just
limited in doing exercise based on the textbooks and in understanding grammar, but isolated with
real communication. Real communication involves ideas, emotions, feelings, appropriateness and
adaptability (Chauhan, 2004: 1) Lazaraton (2001: 108) wrote the challenging of speaking.
Language learners can be overloaded by the need to process incoming language while
simultaneously preparing to produce responses, meaning that few students will have the "confidence to
engage in unplanned conversations with native speakers. Another example from a Taiwanese
university, intermediate non-English majors in an oral communication class expressed the
desire for more practice in spontaneous conversation and the researcher concluded that "the aim and
emphasis of our classrooms should continue to be on dealing with communication problems
that arise in unprepared situations" (Ho, 2003: 277). Alisyahbana, (1990:1) stated, in
Indonesia itself some facts shown that most students in Indonesia find it very hard to express
their ideas in English orally. Most of them cannot communicate to each other in English,
either in or outside the classroom. Furthermore, Mukminatien (1999) found that students of
English Department have a great number of errors when speaking. The errors include
pronunciation (e.g., word stress and intonation) and based on these phenomenon the writer
considers to set the research of a strategy to improve students competence in speaking by
applying text types of Interactive Drama. The result of this research is expected to be useful for especially
the English teachers in developing their strategy in improving students speaking competence
in learning process in the classroom.
Research Questions
Based on the above statements, a number of problem statements can be formulated as follows: 1.
How are text types of Interactive Drama justifiable to improve students competence in
speaking? 2.
To what extend does the application of text types of Interactive Drama increase students
interest in learning speaking?