The strategy in increasing students’ speaking ability by applying information gap technique

Abstract

Information gap technique is a technique that encourages students to ask each other in completing the blank information in the table. The objective of the study is to find out whether there is a significant difference in speaking performance between students who are taught using Information gap Technique and those who are taught using Grammar Translation Method. Speaking performance of second grade students of SMAN 2 Kuala was unsatisfactory; therefore, it was suggested that a specific treatment of learning process needs to be applied. The research design of this study is a true experimental research in which experiment class and control class design are used. The sample of the study is XI IPA2 (25 students) as the experimental class and XII IPA3 (25 students) as the control class. The instrument of the study is test. The data was analyzed through statistical formula. The data showed that the Z-score of pre-test of experimental and control group was 1.7 (Z count < Z table) in which Z table is 2.04. It means that there was no significant difference between two scores of both classes. However, Z-score for the experimental class and control class was 4.3 (Z count > Z table) which indicated that there was a significant difference between experimental and control group post-test. In line with the result of the study, it is suggested that Information Gap Technique must be applied as an alternative technique in teaching speaking. In conclusion, the research hypothesis ( ) is proved that the use of Information Gap Technique provides a positive contribution in increasing students’ speaking ability.