The Effect of Small Group Discussion on the Students’ AbilityinSpeaking English at Grade VIII of SMP Negeri 2 Siantar

Abstract

This research is in the classroom action research. The background of study is the students in eight grade are difficult to speak English fluently. And the objectiveof this study is to find out if Small Group Discussion Teaching Technique significantly affect to the students’ ability in speaking English. The problem of the study is; “Does Small Group Discussion Teaching Technique significantly affect the students’ ability in speaking English at gradeVIII of SMP Negeri 2 Siantar?” Toanswer the problem of this study, the researchers follows some theories from:Gastil (1993), Harmer (2003), Education (2003), Kate and Reg (2004), Harris et.al (2008), Harris (1969), Richard (2008), Moran(2008), Arikunto (2013). Websites and some researchpapers from internet.The researchers holds teaching-learning process in four meeting, two meeting for each class (group). This research is supportedquantitative data by using technique of collecting data (use the test). The form of the test is pre-test and post-test.The result of this research is the score average of experimental group in pre-test is 45, the percentage of speaking ability was 45% and in post-test was 68, the percentage of speaking ability was 68%. It was belonged to high category. The score average of control group in pre-test was 38, the percentage of speaking ability was 38% and in post test was 51, the percentage of speaking ability was 51% and it was belonged to sufficient category.From the phenomenon above, can be seen there is more significant effect of small group discussion on the students’ ability in speaking English at grade VIII of SMP Negeri 2 Siantar, Kabupaten Simalungun. Small group discussion is significant to apply for grade eight students, so the teachers can facilitate the students learning with applying small group discussion