RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

DPEY 6103

RESEARCH OUTLINE

PREPARED BY :
NUR FADHILAH HUSNA BINTI MOHD RAMLEE

PREPARED FOR :
MADAM SUHANA BINTI MOHAMED LIP

TABLE OF CONTENT

Content
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Statement of the Problem
1.2 Purpose of the Study
1.3 Objectives of the Research
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Conceptual Questions
1.6 Significance of the Study
1.7 Operational Definitions

Pages
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10-11

CHAPTER 1
1.0 Introduction
Speaking is one of the four skills in learning foreign language besides listening, reading,
and writing. It has been taught since Elementary School. However, it is not easy for the
students to communicate in English. They have to think more when speaking English,
because they need to produce the correct sentences and appropriate words, even in good
pronunciation. This reality makes teachers need to think how speaking ability could be
mastered by their students. Therefore, teaching of speaking today is directed to improve
the learners communicative skill that can express English appropriately. Then, teaching
speaking must be focused on teaching English language rather than teaching about
English language. The goal of teaching speaking is to communicate efficiently. Learners
should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the
fullest. Hornby (1995) says that teaching means giving the instruction to (a person): give
a person (knowledge skill, etc). Therefore, this research intends to examine the poor
speaking skills amongst the students.

1.1 Problem Statement

English-language learners face a plethora of problems as they begin to build new lives in
a strange land. The problems stem primarily from linguistic and cultural differences, and
they are not the fault of teachers. However, it is important that teachers understand these
problems so that they can provide these students the help they need. Struggling with the
language, Language shock is perhaps the most common phenomenon that language
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learners experience when adjusting to their new environment. This term refers to the
anxiety an immigrant experiences when first entering a community in which he or she
does not speak, or is not proficient in, the dominant language. It is a common occurrence
in schools, where, despite their desire to speak English fluently, students must struggle
for several years before they understand everything that is said in their classrooms, in the
hallways, and in the cafeteria. The feeling of anxiety is exacerbated by the ignorance of
others. Laurie Olsen recounts stories of students being mocked by their peers because of
the way that they speak English. While observing an ESL class, Olsen heard a student
visitor comment that it sounded like he was no longer in America when he entered that
classroom.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this research is to improve on the students communication skills in
English classroom. By improving this aspect, both the teacher and students may benefit
from it. The teacher would be able to teach more efficiently due to nearly no limitation in
conveying the messages, since the students would be able to comprehend all the points
given. Besides that, the teachers would also be able to use detailed references and
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explanations when teaching. Thus, it would allow more knowledge to be passed on in the
shortest amount of time. The student on the other hand would experience much more
interactive lessons. They would also be less burdened by the previous stress of not being
able to understand fully during the classes. On top of that, they would be much more
anticipating when it comes to completing the tasks assigned to them since their
understanding the subjects mattered is much deeper.

1.3 Objectives of the Research

The objectives of the research are as the following:
i.
To identify the level in speaking skills of the students.
ii.
To explain the effectiveness of Audio-lingual teaching as an alternative method
iii.

improving the students speaking achievement.

To see the correlation between communication shills of students and efficiency of
class conducted.
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iv.

To improve the students achievement in the classroom by completing tasks

assigned.

1.4 Research Question

i.
ii.

What is the level of the students in the speaking skills?

What is the effectiveness of Audio-lingual teaching as an alternative method

iii.

improving the students speaking achievement?

What is the correlation between communication shills of students and efficiency

iv.

of class conducted?
How to improve the students achievement in the classroom by completing tasks
assigned?
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1.5 Conceptual Framework

Students who are

weak in speaking
skills in the classroom

Two English Teachers

Intervention

Audio-Lingual
Method approach

Repetition approach

Weak students in
English group
experiment

Weak students in
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English group controls

Impact/Outcome

The understanding of
the students

The achievement of
the students

1.6 Significance of the Study

The significance of the research is to improve the students achievement in speaking. It
will also enrich the previous theories and research findings about the English skill,
especially speaking skill. It also will give some advantages to the English teachers, the
curriculum makers and the effort to develop the learning and teaching a language in
school and the result will be useful for teacher to improve his/her teaching process and
will be more creative in his/her teaching. Audio-lingual teaching method can be used as
the alternative method that is the students can imitate the native speaker so that the
students can practice and produce the fluency in speaking. The research findings would
also give some advantages to the further research and development efforts as a reference
and empirical evidence.

1.7 Operational Definitions

1.7.1

Audio-Lingual Method
According to Diane Larsen (2000:35) explains that The Audio-Lingual
Method, like the Direct Method we have just examined, is also an oral-based
approach. However, it is very different in that rather than emphasizing vocabulary
acquisition through exposure to its use in situations, the Audio-Lingual Method drills
students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns. It also, unlike the Direct Method,
has a strong theoretical base in linguistics and psychology. Charles Fries (1945) of the
University of Michigan led the way in applying principles from structural linguistics
in developing the method and for this reason it has sometimes been referred to as the
'Michigan Method'. Later in its development, principles from behaviour al psychology
(Skinner 1957) were incorporated. It was thought that the way to acquire the sentence
patterns of the target language was through conditioning- helping learners to respond
correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. Learners could overcome the
habits of their native language and form the new habits required to be target language
speakers. Besides that, Brown (1994:57) explains that the Audio-lingual Method was
widely used in the United States and other countries in the 1950s and 1960s. It is
still used in some programs today. This method is based on the principles of behaviour
psychology. This method of language learning also called the Aural-Oral Method.
This method is said so result in rapid acquisition of speaking and listening skills. The
audio lingual method drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns.
When this method was developed it was thought that the way to acquire the sentence
patterns of the second language was through conditioning or helping learners to
response correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement.

1.7.2

Speaking

Speaking is one of the four basic skills in learning foreign language besides listening,
reading, and writing. However it is not easy for the students to communicate in
English. They have to think more often when speaking English. Of course, students
need interaction with others (teachers, friends) to communicate. M. Solahudin
(2008:17) speaking skill is ability to speak and our conversation could be understood
by the other. According to Fulcher (2003:23) speaking is the verbal use of language
to communicate with others. Speaking in a second or foreign language has often
been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills. When attempting to speak,
learners must muster their thoughts and encode those ideas in the vocabulary and
syntactic structures of the target language. Teaching speaking is giving instruction to
other person in order to communicate. The goal of teaching speaking skill is
communicative efficiency.

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