The Use of Describing Pictures Strategy to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to find out whether the use of describing pictures strategy is effective to improve students’ speaking skills and to find out the students’ perception on the use of describing pictures strategy. This research took place at SMPN 49 Makassar. The population of this research were the students at grade VIII which consist of 317 students. The researcher used a random cluster sampling technique and class was chosen is VIII4 which consist of 20 students. The instruments of this research were an oral test and the questionnaire about students’ perception on describing pictures strategy. The result of the research showed that the average score of post-tests does not reach the Minimum Completeness Criteria, the gain score for the post-test is in the category medium minimum, and the students’ post-test score not achieved the classical completion namely under 85%. Two of the three indicators of effectiveness are not achieved, so describing pictures strategy is not effective to improve students’ speaking skills. However, the researcher found that the use of describing pictures strategy improved students’ speaking skills. It is proved by the mean score of the post-test which is higher than the pre-test (15.65 > 6.15). Students’ perception of the benefit, the interest, the activities, and the implementation of describing pictures were high. Based on the data, most of the students answered strongly agree and agree from the one to twenty questions.

Keywords—Describing Pictures Strategy, Speaking Skills, Students’ Perception