DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL OF THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS THROUGH SHORT CONVERSATION

The objective of the research is to investigate whether or not the application of Short Conversation Technique improve the speaking skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Palasa. Additionally, this research was conducted through quasi experimental research design in which the samples of the research were grades VIII B and VIII C. The obtained data of this research were analyzed statistically in order to find out the significant difference between two groups on the posttest after the treatment using Short Conversation given to the experimental group. It was found that the mean scores of both the experimental and control groups on the posttest are respectively 75.56 and 61.45. Furthermore, referring to the t table value of df 46 (24+24-2) by applying 0.05 level of significance on one-tailed test, it is found that the t counted value of this research (6.1) is higher than the t table value (1.68). On top of that, the application of Short Conversation Technique can improve the speaking skill of the eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Palasa.


INTRODUCTION
Speaking is important in human daily life, how the people interact with each other. Speaking is an activity use by someone to communicate with others. It takes place everywhere and has become a part of daily activities. This is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving, and processing information. In line with it, good fluency in speaking will improve the students' proficiency in speaking and make them sound more natural in speaking, especially from listeners' perspectives.
It provides more effective communication due to the absence of speaking problems (Mairi, 2016). In the realm of English fluency, there is a term known as dis-fluency in which it relates to someone's weakness in foreign language mastery which can be found among students who learn English as a foreign language. Additionally, Shahini & Shahamirian (2017) found that early age had a great impact on the students' fluency.
They mentioned that they could not pick up fluency if they had started learning English at older ages. Moreover, educational institution had no effect on enhancing the students' fluency. Yingjie (2014) found that fluency is a trainable skill through increasing the speaking words per minute and reducing the pauses in speaking, but also explores the practice of speaking fluency is simultaneously increasing the accuracy of grammar through meaning-focused production. The development of speaking fluency through communicative language learning either links the EFL students' motivation and the opportunity of speaking.
In line with the previous paragraph, the emphasis on accuracy accounts for the production of correct instances of language. According to Derakhsan, Khalili, & Bahesthi (2016), the ability to speak English properly is closely related to how accurate someone's English is. It is important to note that the accuracy plays an important role as important as fluency in speaking skill. In contrast, Toni, Hassaskhah, & Birjandi (2017) explain that inaccuracy is an indication of erroneousness and results in structurally wrong sentences, which endangers the goals of any language curriculum. However, one may often hear the word 'grammar' in various combinations, implying that there has not been any one shared explicit definition of grammar, and hence accuracy.
As for accuracy, in almost all of the studies, it was looked upon from the applied linguistics' point of view, yet from different aspects. Some researchers ended to assess the development of different linguistic forms (Ansarian & Chehrazad, 2015), some varied the rubrics they employed (Hazrativand, 2012) and still some others focused on the effects of various types of tasks on the accuracy of Iranian EFL learners' oral production (Rafie, Rahmany & Sadeqi, 2015). In most of these studies though, the level of accuracy was measured by identifying the number of error-free clauses, which was divided by the total number of clauses produced. The clause in which there was no error in syntax, morphology or word order was counted as an error-free clause.
Many researchers applied interesting techniques in teaching speaking. The study by Arbain & Nur (2017) found that the techniques used mostly by teachers in teaching speaking are show-and-tell, presentation, drama, and question-answer. In general, the result of observation show that the techniques in teaching speaking form the students centered interaction in which the students are dominant in the classroom. Additionally, the techniques motivate the students to learn English and facilitate them to speak with the positive attitudes were ranged from 85% to 100%. The study by Marzuki, Prayogo, & Wahyudi (2016) found that storytelling helps the students freely proposed their speaking activity in asking and answering the questions. Also, this strategy improves the students' activities in asking referential questions, explaining the ideas and reasons, and helping and asking for help from their friends.
Further, regarding the title, the study by Resha, Said, & Waris (2015) found that the application of short conversation technique can significantly develop the eighth grade students' speaking skill at SMP Negeri 19 Palu in a way that their fluency and accuracy in speaking increased. Correspondingly, the study by Suparman (2017) investigated the effect of English conversation towards the students' speaking skill.
Based on the findings, he found that English conversation is significantly effective to improve speaking skill of the eighth grade students of MTs Negeri Musbagik. Also, the study implied that the application of English conversation in the teaching and learning process make the students become more active as well as establish warm class situations.

METHOD
In conducting this research, the researcher used quasi-experimental design.
There were two groups used in this research, experimental group and control group. The experimental group was given the pretest, treatment, and posttest. On the other hand, the control group was given pretest and posttest without treatment. These two groups had the same pretest and posttest. The design of this research is proposed by Cohen, Manion, and Marrison (2018:407)  Moreover, the independent variable of this research was the application of Short Conversation Technique and the dependent variable was the students' speaking skill.
The researcher analyzed data through simple statistical analysis. At first, she analyzed the students' individual score using formula proposed by Arikunto (2006:308) as follows: Next, he calculated the mean score of the students using the formula suggested by Arikunto (2006:308) below.

= ∑
Where : M : the mean of the score ∑x : the sum of the score N : number of students After applying all formulas, the researcher determined the significant difference between the mean score of the pretest and the posttest of both groups using the formula proposed by Arikunto (2006:309)

FINDINGS
The test focused on fluency and accuracy by using voice recorder as a helping instrument in collecting data related to the scoring system. He scored the students while they were speaking in the classroom and checked them back at home by hearing their voice recorder in order to make sure the scores' validity. The test was done by eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Palasa. They were divided into two classes namely VIII B as the control group and VIII C as the experimental group. The pretest was administered to measure the prior knowledge of the students before the treatment using short conversation. The pretest of VIII B as the control group and VIII C as the experimental group was conducted on February 01 st 2020. The post test was conducted on Saturday, March 14 th 2020 for both of experimental and control groups.

The Result of the Pretest
The highest score achieved by the experimental group is 75 and the lowest one is 37.5. The sum of the students' scores is 1150. Referring to the ≥75 standard score, only one of the students passed the pretest. Additionally, the highest score achieved by the control group is 75 and the lowest one is 37.5. The total score obtained is 1287.5.
Referring to the ≥75 standard score, two students passed the pretest.

The Result of the Posttest
The highest score obtained by the students of the experimental group on the posttest is 87.5 and the lowest one is 50. The total score obtained is 1837.5. Depending on ≥75 standard score, 17 students passed the posttest. The highest score obtained by the control group on the posttest is 75 and the lowest one is 50. The total score obtained is 1475. As the passing grade is ≥75, only five students passed the posttest. pretest on February 01 st , 2020 before the treatment. The researcher focused on two components of speaking namely fluency and accuracy.
The researcher gave pretest for the students in order to test their skill before the treatment. He used voice recorder as the instrument to make sure about the data that he got. The result of both classes shows that in experimental group, only one student got successful, whereas in control group there were two students who got successful. It caused the students difficult to speak, lack of confidence and lack of vocabularies, afraid of making mistake, and nervous to show their ideas in orally. Some of the students speak in normal rate, but most of them had problems in speaking. It happened before gave the treatment. Thus the researcher used short conversation to solve this problem.
The researcher conducted the treatment to Grade VIII C students of SMP Negeri 1 Palasa by using short conversation. The researcher gave the treatment to the students in six meetings by applying short conversation in developing their speaking skills. In the first treatment, the researcher explained the material and topic to the students, and then divided them into several groups. Each group consists of two students only. After explaining the material and topic to the students, the researcher asked them to make a short conversation based on the material and topic given. Before going to the main activity, the researcher ensured whether each group had clearly understood the context given or not. The researcher gave a time to each group not only to make a short conversation but also to discuss about the context offered by the researcher. After that, the researcher allowed each group to present their short conversation to other groups.
For each meeting, the researcher gave the students different materials and topic to make and to practice in front of the class. It aimed to develop their speaking skill through short conversation.
After calculating the students' mean score on the pretest the researcher got 47.91 for experimental group and 53.64 for control group. It means that the result was low.
The teacher and researcher decided to use another technique to make the students interested in the learning process in order to improve students' speaking. They agreed to use short conversation as teaching technique to make students enjoy then interested in the teaching learning process.
The researcher found some progress of the students in every meeting. First, the students' vocabulary has increased. Second, they have high interest and motivation in learning English. Third, they have a good confidence to speak English. Fourth, they get more chance to speak English. Fifth, they can use the language in normal rate smoothly and appropriately. Sixth, they enjoy speaking English. Last, most students are fluent in speaking.
Posttest was administered by the researcher for both classes after giving treatment in grade VIII C in order to find out the students' progress in speaking skill.
Both of experimental group and control group were given posttest on March 14 th 2020.
The posttest was given by the researcher by ordering the students to speak with their friend related to the topic of short conversation. He used voice recorder as the instrument to make sure the data that he got. The result of both classes show that in experimental group, there are seventeen students got successful, whereas in control group only five students got successful. It caused the students most confidence to speak and have more vocabulary in speaking English.
The finding has explicitly shown that the mean score of posttest by the experimental group and control group was significantly different. The mean score of posttest of the experimental group is 76.56 while the control group is 61.45. This shown that the treatment actually works in the process of teaching and learning. In other words, short conversation in teaching speaking could help students to understand the material and topic and to make it easier to express their ideas. Therefore, using short conversation to develop students' speaking skill of the seventh grade of SMP Negeri 1 Palasa was successful.
Dealing with the findings, the researcher then correlated them to the previous ones conducted. The first research by Resha et al (2015) showed that there is significant effect of using short conversation toward the students' speaking skill. The second one conducted by Suparman (2017) showed that the use of English conversation is significantly effective. The significance of the previous research is that although the students lacked of vocabulary, did not know how to speak well, afraid of making mistakes, and nervous to express their ideas in speaking, they are finally able to deal with them after the application of short conversation because it provides them with an opportunity to speak more.
Using Sequence Picture Technique to Improve Students' Writing Skills in Procedure Text | 255 CONCLUSION During the test, the students showed their enthusiasm during the teaching and learning process. As the analysis completed, the conclusion is then drawn that short conversation can develop the students' speaking skill of the eighth grade of SMP Negeri 1 Palasa in fluency and accuracy. Moreover, it can also help the students to build their confidence and motivation easily. However, after conducting this research, it was found that there are still some problems occurred. There were some students who could not focus on the lesson during the class. It was also found that some students could not catch up with their friends' progress.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researcher gives all her praises to the almighty God, Allah SWT, for all blessing, mercy, health, and opportunity given to him, so that he is able to complete this research. The researcher also does not forget to thank to the eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Palasa who have participated.