MALANG ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

2015

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents (1) the background of the study, (2) research problem, (3) objective of the study,
(4) research hypotheses, (5) assumptions, (6) significance of the study, (7) scope and limitations, (8)
definition of key terms.

I.1 Background of Study

English is now used in almost all countries all over the world. In other words, the researcher can
say that English has been an International language. People and the learners all over the world
communicate in this language in business, economic, education, and social side. Rahmah (2014) argued
that English has become the most important and international language in the world. Almost all people
communicate in English due to the importance of this language in any scope of their lives.

English speaking skill is the best one to be learned and mastered by the English learners. “Speaking is
usually considered as the core skill in foreign language learning and it is what learners want to be able to
do” (Broady, 2005, as cited in Rahmah, 2014). Learners are hoped to communicate this language
accurately and fluently. Arbain (2014) stated that by communicating this language, all learners can share
their ideas, opinions, and feeling to people all over the world. So that, speaking plays an important role
in people’s live in the world.

Having good speaking skill in English has been used as the compulsory requirement to be accepted
working in big companies. Employees have to be able to communicate in English well if they want to
work in big companies. Murcia (2001, as cited by Arbain, 2014) stated that, “speaking is a second or
foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills”. It means that English
learners who can speak this language well can have great opportunity to gain a job in a big company or
other places that requires English speaking ability and other advantages.
As a foreign language or second language, English learners usually have difficulties in mastering it
especially in speaking. Almost all English learners have difficulty in communicating this language. There
are some problems in speaking activities faced by the learners according to Ur (2003, as cited in Rohadi,
2013) that stated that, “there are four problems faced by the learners in speaking activities. The
problems include inhibition, nothing to say, low or uneven participation, and mother-tongue use”. These
four problems will cause the accuracy and fluency in speaking. Then Thornbury (2006, as cited in Arsyad,
2014) described that, “speaking is like another skill, such as driving or playing a musical instrument: the
more practice you get, the more likely it is you will be able to speak”. Most English learners actually
know that they have to always practice many times in their spare time to gain good speaking ability.

Based on the problems faced by the learners above, researcher attempts to use Talking Chips technique
in teaching speaking in order the learners can speak fluently and accurately. Researcher believes that
Talking Chips technique will make the learners interested and active in speaking activity in the class. In
this technique, the leaners will be divided into some groups and each member in the group will have
chance and role to speak. Therefore, this technique is hoped to improve students’ speaking ability
fluently and accurately. Last but not least, the researcher is going to carry this study to the fourth
semester students of English education study program at Malang Islamic University.

1.2 Research Problem

Based on the background of the study above, the problem is formulated as follows: Will students
who are taught by using Talking Chips technique have better speaking skill than students who are taught
by using conventional way?

1.3 Objective of the Study

The objective of this study is to describe how Talking Chips technique can improve the fourth
semester students’ speaking skill of English education study program at Malang Islamic University.

1.4 Research Hypotheses

Based on the research problem above, the researcher hypothesize that students who will be
taught by using Talking Chips technique will have improvement towards students’ speaking skill
comparing to the students who are taught by using conventional way.

1.5 Assumption of the Study

Based on the background of the study above, the researcher assumes that by using Talking Chips
technique, the students will be active in the classroom learning activity. All students will speak and give
the idea, opinion, argumentation, or even question using English language in the class. Students will be
interested to speak much by using this technique. When the students are active and interested to speak
in the classroom learning activity, they will improve their speaking skill. In other words, by using this
Talking Chips technique, the students’ speaking skill will be improved.
1.6 Significance of the Study

The researcher hopes so much this study will yield beneficial results that can be contributed to
the English teachers who teach English subject especially in Indonesia or even all over the world as their
materials reference. The researcher hopes to help the English teachers with their problems in teaching
speaking in the class. The researcher also do hopes that this study will help the English learners to
master English language especially in speaking component and increase the students’ academic
achievement.

1.7 Scope and Limitation

This study will just focus on using Talking Chips technique in the speaking classroom learning
activity to improve the fourth semester students’ speaking skill of English education study program at
Malang Islamic University. In other words, this study will just focus on improving one of four
components in English language, that is speaking component by using Talking Chips technique.

1.8 Definition of Key Terms

In order to avoid misunderstanding of the terms used in this study, the following definitions are
given:

1. Effectiveness

Effectiveness is the ability the method given to be effective in the classroom learning activity and help
the students to achieve the better English speaking skill.

2. Talking Chips

Talking Chips technique is a strategy to make the speaking classroom activity active and the students are
interested to learn by dividing the students in the class into some groups and each member in the group
will have chance and role to speak.

3. Speaking

Make the students in the classroom activity speak and express their idea in English.

4. Skill

Skill is the ability the students have in communicating in English whether in their daily communications
or in the classroom learning activity.

5. Improvement
Improvement is the process had by the students to enlarge their knowledge and make the students
acquire the skill to communicate in English.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter discusses about some theories related to the topic relevant to this study. It concerns to the
definition of speaking, the importance of speaking English, problems on speaking English, Talking Chips
technique, why Talking Chips technique is appropriate in teaching speaking, how to implement Talking
Chips technique in teaching speaking, and previous studies.

2.1 Speaking

Speaking is a main component in a language. Language has to be spoken. That’s why, in English
language, learners should master this skill to master a language. Speaking will connect people all over
the world. By speaking, people can give their information and ideas to other people. There are several
experts who define speaking in different definitions. Broady (2015, as cited in Rahmah, 2014) stated
that, “speaking is usually considered as the core skill in foreign language learning and it is what learners
want to be able to do”. It means that speaking is the most important skill in a foreign language like
English that learners have to master. “Speaking is the productive oral skill that consists of producing
systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning” (Nunan, 20013, as cited in Novika, 2014). Therefore,
through speaking, people will be able to transfer what they want to say and their mean to people they
are communicating to.

From the definitions coming from two experts above, the researcher can conclude that speaking
is the main skill in a language and a way of people conveying the meaningful ideas and information to
other people they are talking to.

2.2 The Importance of Speaking English

English has become the international language in this globalization era. Almost all countries all
over the world make this language as their second language in their daily activities. They use this
language in economic, politic, and education sides. All learners and people will become competitive
people by being able to speak this language fluently and accurately. Let’s see, almost all companies all
over the world require English mastery especially in speaking skill to hire and accept employee. It means
that, mastering speaking skill in English will help much for the learners and people who master it to
easily get job, be politician, and develop the education side in their countries. As Murcia (2001, as cited
by Arbain, 2014) stated that, “speaking is a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the
most demanding of the four skills”. This definition gives us meaning that learners who can master
speaking skill in English will have a great opportunity to gain things through this skill.
2.3 Problems on Speaking English

As Indonesian people, English is not our first language. English is our second language or even our
foreign language. Students who have learned this language from elementary school till senior high
school: they still can’t communicate in this language fluently. Knowing this fact, the researcher can say
that communicating or speaking English is not easy because of the problems the learners face. Based on
the researcher’s experience in learning to speak English fluently, there are several problems the
researcher has. They are less of vocabulary and grammar mastery. Relating to the learners’ problems
around, they also have such problems. They have no enough English vocabulary to help them to speak
English fluently without thinking the words and meaning to be spoken. They also think much of the
structure whether or not the structure use is right in their speaking. It also affects the learners’ fluency
in speaking if they think much of the English structure, they will not speak because of afraid of creating
mistake. Ur (2003, as cited in Rohadi, 2013) stated that, “there are four problems faced by the learners
in speaking activities. The problems include inhibition, nothing to say, low or uneven participation, and
mother-tongue use”. These four problems will cause the accuracy and fluency in speaking. Learners
should be able to solve these four problems to speak English fluently.

2.4 Talking Chips Technique

Kagan (2010, as cited in Syafryadin, 2013) explained that talking chips technique is a technique that is
used in teaching speaking to make the students active in the class. In implementing this technique in the
class, the students are divided into several groups and all members in each group are given chips. These
chips are given to the students to be used every the student wants to speak. Every the student who has
spoken, he/she has to put the chips in the middle of the table. If the chips are over, he/she is not
allowed to speak until all members’ chips are also over. The students will be given the chips again if the
discussion in the class is not finished yet.

In addition, the definition of talking chips technique above, the researcher tries to include more
definition according to the other experts on this article. According to Gray, inspired by Reeves’s (2010,
as cited in Herianto, 2013) explained that talking chips technique is a technique to make the students
have opportunity to speak. More definition stated by Hilson (2010, as cited in Herianto, 2013) that
elaborated that, “talking chips is the strategies guarantees equal participation in discussion groups. Each
group member receives the same member of poker chips (or any other markers, such as index cards”.
Talking chips technique definition is also defined by Turville (2008, as cited in Herianto, 2013) that stated
that talking chips is a way to make the students’ participation equal in the class by using chips on each
group discussion.

From the definition presented by several experts above, the researcher comes to a conclusion that
talking chips technique is a technique which is applied by the teacher in teaching speaking. This
technique is very effective to be used by the teacher in the class because this technique can make all
students taught in the class active in speaking activity. On the other words, this technique tries not to
make the speaking activity in the class dominated by a student only.

2.5 Why Talking Chips technique is appropriate in teaching speaking

 In teaching activity, the teacher will gain success fulness towards the students when the teachers
can know what technique can be appropriate and helpful for the students in the class. Students will
never get improvement, and they will not pay more attention to the teacher and lesson when the
teacher cannot decide and use the best and suitable technique to be used in the class. Especially in
speaking ability, speaking ability is one of difficult skills in English that the students’ feel difficult to gain
improvement. Knowing this problem, the teacher should be sensitive to decide and use the appropriate
technique in the teaching activity.

In this article, the researcher tries to take up talking chips technique to improve students’ speaking
ability. The use and applying talking chips technique will be very helpful to improve students’ speaking
ability because talking chips technique is one of teaching techniques that can make the students’
speaking skill improve. It can improve students’ speaking ability because when the teachers apply this
technique in the class, the students’ are monitored to be active in the class, not only a student that
dominates the speaking activity in the class. In addition, this technique forces the students to be active
in the speaking activity in the class.

The main point of this technique usage is the teacher should know first how to apply this technique in
the class because this technique has several procedures. The procedures that are on this technique will
really help the students’ active to speak in the class activity. On the other words, the teacher’s role in
implementing this technique is very important to gain success fulness whether to make the students
monitored as long as the teaching activity or to gain good result in improving students’ speaking ability
in the end of implementing the technique.

2.6 How to implement Talking Chips technique in teaching speaking

In applying talking chips technique, teachers should know the steps and procedures to apply this
technique in the teaching speaking. According to Kagan (1992, as cited in Herianto, 2013) that clarified
that first, each person is given a number of markers. Second, each time a person wants to talk, a chip is
placed in the center of the table. Third, when an individual’s chips are all in the center of the table, she/
he cannot talk again until everyone’s chips are all in the center. Last, the chips are then retrieved and
tribute to begin again.

Kagan (2010, as cited in Syafryadin, 2013) also clarified that first, the teacher gives a topic for the
discussion. Second, student who wants to start the discussion, he/she should put the chip on the center
of the group table. Third, when a member of the group has already used all chips, the other members on
the group continues the discussion. Fourth, as long as the discussion is going on, accuracy and fluency of
the students will be viewed. Besides, in evaluation, all students will also be assessed about the accuracy
and the fluency.

Knowing the steps and procedures of implementing talking chips technique, teachers do need to
know all the steps in implementing this technique in the teaching speaking to gain success fulness.
Students will really be helped to improve their speaking ability by using this technique.

2.7 Previous Studies

 This study proposal will be much better if the researcher includes and states the previous studies
related to the talking chips technique used in teaching speaking.

First study conducted by Syafryadin whose study entitled “The Use of Talking Chips Technique in
Improving Students’ Speaking Achievement”. He implemented talking chips technique to the grade X in
one of senior high schools in Bandung in year 2013. On the implementation of this technique, the
researcher conducted three cycles in the class, and each cycle really gained good improvement towards
students’ speaking ability. Before the researcher applied this technique to the students, the researcher
first reviewed about present tense. Then researcher started applying this technique in the class. In every
cycle, the students’ got improvement even though they still had problems on the speaking. The
problems can be lessened from the first cycle to the third cycle. To show the last result of the researcher
after implementing this technique, the researcher wants to include the result in score on every cycle
done in the class. In cycle one, the mean score of fluency was 61.1 and 62.81 for accuracy. In cycle 2, the
mean score of students in fluency was 67.207 and accuracy was 68.05. In cycle 3, the mean score of
fluency was 71.451 and accuracy was 74.69.

Second previous study conducted by Hardiyanti, Rochsantiningsih, and Setyaningsih whose study under
title Using Talking Chips to Improve Students’ Participation in EFL Classroom. They implemented this
technique in State Senior High School 5 Surakarta at class X-5 in the academic year of 2012/2013. The
researchers implemented and finished the teaching activity in five (5) meetings. The researchers also
included game activity in the class to make the students active and participate in the teaching speaking.
To know the result of the implementation done by them, the researcher tries to include the
improvement gained by the students by comparing the pre-observation and post-observation on the
fifth meeting toward the implementing talking chips technique. Natural desire to participate, this aspect
improves from 54.2% to 83.3% on the post-observation. Confidence, this aspect improves from 63.3% to
88.3% on the post observation. Enjoying discussion, it improves from 68.3% to 90.8% on the post-
observation. Spontaneity, it improves from 38.3% to 53.3% on the post-observation. Focus, it achieves
from 68.3% to 82.5% on the post-observation. This result can be concluded that talking chips technique
really helps the improvement of students’ speaking ability.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter consists of the research design, Population and Sample, Research Instruments, Procedure
of Data Collection, and Data Analysis.

3.1 Research Design

The research design of this study will be Experimental Design. The researcher will apply Two
Groups, Randomized Subjects, Posttest Only Design. Ary, Jacobs, and Razavied (1979, p. 225) stated
that, “the experiment is generally regarded as the most sophisticated research method for testing
hypotheses.” According to Hadi (1988, 65, as cited in Aksani, 2013) that stated that, “an experimental
design is one of the precise methods to examine the cause and effect because of the fact, instruction
toward a group and experimental sample.” The instructional activity will be designed only to teach
students about speaking by using Talking Chips technique toward the experimental group, the group of
sample will have interview to measure the effect that students get after the treatment. The researcher
hopes that by using Experimental Design, exactly Two Groups, Randomized Subjects, Posttest Only
Design on this study, this study will gain strong result that will be stated in the conclusion chapter. The
researcher also hopes that the hypotheses the researcher has made will be correct after implementing
this proposal study.

The researcher will have two groups as the subjects on the study. These are control group and
experimental group. The control group will be using conventional teaching way and the special
treatment will be using Experimental Design. This study is adopted from Ary, Jacobs, and Razavied
(1979, p. 250).

Table 3.1 Two Groups, Randomized Subjects, Posttest- Only Design

Group

Independent variable

Posttest

(R)

(R)

Y2

Y2

Notes :

R = Randomized
E = experimental group

C = control group

X = treatment on the experiment group

Y2 = posttest

After being implemented the independent variables in both groups, experimental and control
group. Measurement on the dependent variable for both groups will be done at the same time with the
same test called posttest.

3.2 Population and Sample

3.2.1 Population

According to Sudjana ( 2005, p. 74, as cited in Aksani, 2013) population is totality of all value which
possible, result of counting/calculating or measurement, quantitative and also qualitative hit the certain
characteristic from all clear and complete corps member is which wish learned by the nature. The
population of this study will be all fourth students semester of English education study program at
Malang Islamic University. The students are 125 students. The students are divided into five classes, so
each class consists of 25 students.

3.2.2 Sample

“Sample is shares or proxy from accurate population”, ( Arikunto, 2006 , p. 87, as cited Aksani,
2013). From 125 students as the population, the researcher will take 50 students as the sample of this
study by using Cluster sampling. Twenty students (25) join the Experimental group, and twenty five (25)
others will join control group.

3.3 Research Instrument

Research instrument is absolutely important in any scientific research for collecting the data. To
know the right and accuracy result, the researcher has to prepare the research instrument well before
carrying out the study.

The researcher will use interview that will be applied in form of unstructured interviews as the
instrument. The researcher will provide 10 questions for each student. These 10 questions will be given
after the study is implemented in both groups, experimental and control group. In other words, these
are the students’ posttest that they will get. The 10 items will be taken from the students’ textbook used
in the classroom learning activity.

3.4 Procedure of Data Collection

The researcher will prepare the interview questions as the procedure for collecting the data. The
interview will be applied in form of unstructured interviews. Each question will be given score ranking
from 0-100. The high and low point will be based on the students’ answer looking at the accuracy,
fluency, and the structures mastery. After the students of experimental and the control group answer
the questions, then the researcher will calculate both scores of experimental and control group
students. After all, the researcher will compare the final score. If the experimental group’s score is
higher than the control group score, it means that the hypotheses made by the researcher is right or
proved.

3.5 Data Analysis

The data analysis on this study will be done by using computer program called SPSS.

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