3.

ELIF Laily Martin

23-34.docx

Using Graphic Organizer to Improve Students’
Speaking skill

Rifqi Mahdi Saindra1), Mutiarani2)
1) Darul Maaref School Foundation, Duson, Satun, Thailand

2) Universitas Muhammadiyah Jakarta, Tangerang Selatan, Banten, Indonesia

1) rifqimahdisaindra@gmail.com, 2) mutiaranirahman@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Graphic Organizer has a significant
effect on students' ability to speak. This study used the VIII.F students of Al-Azhar 12
Junior High School Rawamangun as the research sample. This class consists of 22
students. To choose the sample, the writer used a simple random sampling technique.
From the population. The method used in this study was quantitative and the design
used was a pre-experimental study with the technique of one group pre and post-test
design. The instrument used in this study was oral tests. Then for that reason, the writer
used the Weighting Table from Adam and Frith so that the measurement could be more
accurate. The result of this research explains that students’ pre-test score is 72,36 and
the post-test score is 81,45. The result of statistical hypothesis found out that the level of
significance is higher than 0.000 < 0.005. This means H0 (Null Hypothesis) is rejected
and H1 (Alternative Hypothesis) is accepted. Which means using the media Graphic
Organizer is effective to improve students’ speaking skill.

Keywords: Graphic Organizer, media, speaking
Citation APA Style: Saindra, R. M., & Mutiarani. (2018). Using Graphic Organizer to
Improve Students’ Speaking skill. English Language in Focus (ELIF), 1(1), 55-
64.


INTRODUCTION receiver for meanings assigned to the

E
very kind of creature has their own symbols and the schema for combining
form of communication, so every them used for each communication.
creature will be able to There are four basics skills in
communicate with one another. animals, learning language. The most important
demons angels, and human have a among them is speaking. With good
communication form called language. speaking skill, people could easily
According to Rice-Johnston (2008), understand what we are thinking and
Language is the process or set of what our idea is. Chaney (1998) in Kayi
processes used to ensure there is an (2006, p. 1) stated that speaking is the
agreement between the sender and process of building and sharing meaning

55

English Language in Focus (ELIF), 1 (1), 55-64. https://jurnal.umj.ac.id/index.php/ELIF

through the use of verbal and non-verbal elements that are necessary for spoken
symbols in a variety of contexts. Speaking language. The first is language feature
is a crucial part of language learning. It that had been identified as follow. a)
needs the speakers to produce the target connected speech. Is the modification in
language in the spoken form. In addition, sound production or utterances, such as
Qureshi (2012, p. 2) said that speaking assimilation, omission, addition and
skill has some role and importance,i.e : weakened. b) expressive devices. Native
language is a tool for communication, for English speaker changes the pitch and
a smooth running of any system, to stress of particular parts of utterances,
express one’s thoughts, opinions and vary volume and speed, and show by
feelings, in the form of words put other physical and non verbal means to
together in a meaningful way, and to gain show how they are feeling. c) lexis and
the attention of the audience. Moreover, grammar. It is related to the ability to use
it probably can also enhance one’s some of the common lexical phrases,
personal life. such as agreeing and disagreeing,
Related to its importance, expressing surprise, shock or approval.
according to Richards (2008, p. 19), the e) negotiation language. It is the ability to
mastery of speaking skill in English is a earn the benefits of the negotiatory
priority for many second languages or language we use to seek clarification and
foreign language learners. Consequently, show the structure of what we are
learners often evaluate their success in saying.
language learning as well as the On the other side, social and
effectiveness of their English course mental processing is also a part of the
based on how much they feel they have speaking element. Harmer (2001, p. 271)
improved in their spoken language explains some types of processing as
proficiency. Furthermore, Thornbury follow. a) language Processing. It is an
(2005, p. 14) also promotes four ability to process language inside our
speaking genres, those are interactive, heads, and then to put it into a coherent
non-interactive, planned and unplanned order so that it comes out in form that is
speaking. The example of interactive not only comprehensible but also convey
speaking is when people buy food at a the meanings that are intended. b)
shop, whereas when people leave a interacting with others. This means that
message on an answering machine can speaking also involves interaction with
be categorized as non-interactive one or more participants. Besides, it
speaking because there is no interaction involves a good deal of listening and
between two people or more. The understanding of how other participants
examples of planned speaking genres are are feeling.
such as a lecture, sermon, and speech. So many language learners,
Meanwhile, unplanned speaking is when especially English that learn an
people meet and do a conversation with additional lesson just to develop the
somebody in the street. speaking skill to be able to speak
In similar with Thornbury, proficiently. Because if they could speak
Harmer (2001, p. 269) classified two in a good way, so they will get what they

56

Saindra, R. M., & Mutiarani. (2018). Using Graphic Organizer to Improve Students’...

want in a better way. In addition, failure in a language test. Teachers also

teaching speaking must be suitable for could give building comments for them.
the purpose of speaking itself. In teaching Besides, before we give the grades and
speaking, there are many ways of marks, first, we need to talk to our
teaching a lecturer can use in class. students so that they know their targets.
Ur (2000, p. 103) also delivers her Because of this importance, there
idea, in teaching speaking skill, the are many teaching media developed just
emphasis will usually be firmly on to improve students liking in learning
fluency. What we are interested in here language. Music, pictures, and videos are
and what is emphasized is the three kinds of media usually used by
development of learners' facility in language teachers to teach their students
receiving and conveying messages, with a about language. Based on writer’s
corresponding lowering of emphasis on experience when became a teacher at
accuracy. Furthermore, to asses speaking SMP-IT Al-Ishlah Kananga, Pandeglang,
accuracy, Brown (2004, p. 140) points Banten, and while conducting research in
out that speaking is a kind of productive Krabi, Thailand, teaching English
skill that can be directly and empirically language is a little bit difficult without
observed. However, assessing speaking is any media. The students are so nervous
challenging because there are so many and too shy to talk with English language.
factors that influence teachers’ They are very afraid to make mistakes
impression on how well someone can even when there is a teacher ready to
speak a language. remind them if they make mistakes. But,
Harmer (2001, pp. 101–102) while the writer taught the students with
additionally proposes that assessing these, the learning process was effective
speaking performance should be to improve students’ writing, reading
represented through praise or comment. listening and especially speaking skills
However, the teacher should be careful in proficiently.
praising or commenting on the students’ Because of this, language learning
work. The teacher should consider the is easier and more fun. There are no
students’ psychology. Not all students difficulties anymore. Sometimes,
can accept praises or comments students are happy to learn about
positively. The teacher should give language because it is fun. Together with
praises or comments that do not it, the teachers are friendlier. So, the
decrease the students’ motivation. In writers conclude that teaching media is
sum, in assessing speaking skills, we very important because it could build
should know the basic competencies of students’ self-esteem, students’ courage
our students. We should be able to give a and also students’ creativity. Teaching
test that is not making the students media will help any teacher in order to
afraid to speak. We have to grow their maintain students’ focus longer. On the
self-esteem before we conduct the test. other side, learning activity would
We also have to pay attention to become more effective and efficient.
students’ psychology. Not every student Nowadays, the world of education
is still being able to rise again after a knows the other form of picture-based

57

English Language in Focus (ELIF), 1 (1), 55-64. https://jurnal.umj.ac.id/index.php/ELIF

teaching media. It is called Graphic the main concept is supported by facts,

Organizers. There are many definitions of evidence, and characteristics (Hong Kong
Graphic organizers from experts. Ciascai Curriculum Development Institute.,
(2009, p. 1) stated that Graphic 2001).
Organizers are representations, pictures In addition, in similar with Hong
or models used for processing visual Kong Curriculum Development Institute,
information. Besides, Graphic organizers Irwin-DeVitis, Bromley, & Modlo (1999,
are visual representations of information p. 8) also said that there are four types of
and concepts (McKnight, 2013). Ciascai Graphic Organizers. They are as follows:
(2009, p. 1) said that Graphic Organizers a. Conceptual. These types of graphic
are representations, pictures or models organizer include a main concept or
used for processing visual information. central idea with supporting facts,
As cited by Manoli, Papadopoulou, evidence or characteristic.
Manoli, & Papadopoulou (2012, pp. 1–4), b. Hierarchical. These organizers begin
there are many forms of Graphic with topic or concept and then
Organizers itself. i.e: semantics maps, include a number of ranks or levels
knowledge maps, concept maps, tree below the topic.
diagrams, and Venn diagrams. Nikolai c. Cyclical. The cyclical organizers
(2010) said that Graphic Organizers have depict a series of events without
some advantages. i.e.: Graphic organizers beginning or end. The formation is
can help students to understand the circular and continuous.
relationship between various pieces of d. Sequential. Sequential organizers
information that they may have arrange events in chronological
otherwise failed to identify, allows order. This type of organizer is
instructors to evaluate the student's helpful when events have a specific
prior knowledge of a subject, and beginning and end. It is also
enhance learning by stimulating a appropriate for cause-and-effect,
student's interest and retaining his process-and-product, and problem-
attention. and-solution text.
There are four types of graphic Besides some benefits above,
organizers. the first is cyclical organizers. there are more benefits as the writer
cyclical organizers is an organizer that cited. i.e: a) content is easier to
showing the sequence of events in a understand and remember information
process. For example, circle organizer. processing demands are reduced, b)
The second is hierarchical organizer. it is students become more strategic learners,
an organizer showing the relation c) improves reading and writing skills, d)
between a concept and its subordinate universal, e) research-based, f) provides
levels of characteristics. Such as students with a visual representation of
hierarchy diagrams. The third is information, and g) often improves test
sequential organizer. It is showing events scores.
in chronological order, like multiple Unfortunately, Graphic Organizer
timelines. The last is conceptual is not applied largely in Indonesia. Many
organizers. It is organizers showing how language teachers do not use this

58

Saindra, R. M., & Mutiarani. (2018). Using Graphic Organizer to Improve Students’...

modern media in their teaching activity. b. Word Cluster: this graphic organizer
Teachers teach with an ordinary picture is ideal for brainstorming, whether
So that it is still difficult for the students you are trying to elicit vocabulary or
to understand their lesson, and to come up with ideas for a writing
improve their language skills. Then, assignment. You write the topic in
when their teacher asked them to speak the center and students contribute
in front of their friends, they do not talk related ideas to fill out the other
properly because of their anxiety and circles.
edginess. c. Timeline: this is a handy way to
Irwin-DeVitis et al (1999, pp. 6–7) show a sequence of events and helps
said that Graphic Organizers help the students place them in the right
students on what is important, effective order.
with diverse students in a variety of d. Sequence Chart: this one is also
settings, and it requires the students to useful to describe a sequence of
be actively involved with the events or the steps in a process.
information. In order to help Student to e. Goal-Reasons Web: Students write
get the most out of the graphic down the main goal in the center
organizers, the teachers should circle. Students come up with
familiarize themselves with different reasons for accomplishing this goal,
types of graphic organizers, explain to and finally, facts related to these
students what graphic organizers are and reasons.
why they are useful in learning, Present f. Topic Wheel: You can use this
the specific graphic organizer for a topic. graphic in the same way you’d use
Point out its subject and organizational the Word Cluster – it’s a different
framework, Use examples to illustrate graphic, but it serves the same
the use of some graphic organizers and purpose. In this case, the topic goes
Review students’ work. Generate in the center and the supporting
classroom discussion on the effective use ideas on the spokes of the wheel.
of graphic organizers. (Hong Kong g. Triangle/Inverted Triangle: With the
Curriculum Development Institute., 2001, use of triangles you can go from a
p. 9). broad topic to a more specific one
Then there are some other way to (inverted triangle) or vice versa. The
use some Graphic Organizers, as stated triangle is a classic for the Food
by Pesce (2017). Pyramid where you put the foods
a. Venn Diagram is perfect for you should eat the most at the
comparisons and contrast. There are bottom and those you should have
two circles that overlap in the small quantities of at the top.
middle. Students compare two things h. Story Maps: Tell your students that
and write what they have in common they must write a story in English,
in this overlapping space. The and most will freak out. Give them a
differences are written in the spaces story map to get started, and they
that don’t overlap. will calm down.

59

English Language in Focus (ELIF), 1 (1), 55-64. https://jurnal.umj.ac.id/index.php/ELIF

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FINDING AND DISCUSSION

T
he method that used in this
research was a quantitative method
with a pre-experimental design,
A fter the field research was
conducted, the writer analyzed the
data gained from the research. And
using one group for pre-test and post- the result of data analysis could be
test. So, the Writer only compared the described as follows:
score of students speaking skill before Pre-test Result of Students’ Speaking.
the treatment using Graphic Organizer After several experiments
and the score of students speaking skill conducted at Al-Azhar 12 Islamic Junior
after the treatment using Graphic High School, the writer saw that the
Organizer. highest result of pre-test in experimental
This research was conducted in class was 81. It was obtained by 5
Al-Azhar Islamic Junior High School Students. Then, the lowest result of pre-
(SMPIA) 12 which is located on test in experimental class was 65. And it
Rawamangun, East Jakarta. It was was obtained by one Student.
conducted on the second semester in the To make it easier, the writer
academic year of 2016/2017 at eighth classified students speaking skill based
grade. In addition, the population of this on the following criteria.
study is all students at eighth-year
students of Al-Azhar 12 Junior High Table 1. Experiment Class Students’ Pre-
School, in academic year 2016/2017. The test Speaking Result Percentage
Total
writer chosen one class for the Students’ Total
Number of
investigation, that was VIII.F as an Speaking Number of
Students in
experiment class which consist of 22 Skill Level Students
Percentage
students. Excellent 0 0%
In collecting the data, both pre- Good 5 22.73%
Average 16 72.73%
test and post-test will be used as the
Poor 1 4.54%
instrument. To know the basic of Very Poor 0 0%
students’ speaking skill, a pre-test was
given before treatment. The treatment It can be described that in the
was using Graphic Organzer to improve Experimental Class, 5 Students were
students’ speaking skill. The time spent good (22,73%), 16 students were
to test and apply this method was 12 average (72,73%) and there was 1
times meeting. In the last, post-test was student gained poor (4,54%). There were
conducted to find out students’ speaking no students got an excellent, or very poor
skill after getting the treatment. After grade. (0%). For making clearly, the
collecting the data, the writer will writer uses this chart to represent
analyze the results of the test students pre-test score percentage. As it
statistically. A formula used in the study has been noticed, yellow means good,
is t-test for one group which is also green means average and brown means
known as Paired Sample t-Test. poor. There are no orange colors or gold
because there are no students get an


60

Saindra, R. M., & Mutiarani. (2018). Using Graphic Organizer to Improve Students’...

excellent or very poor grade. Based on eight weeks. As a result, it can be

those following chart of pretest result, it concluded that there are 18 students
can be explained that the green part is who achieved Good result, 4 people
the biggest part because more than half earned Average grade, and there are no
of the sample got the score of average in students who got poor score. So the
this pre-test. Then, the yellow part comes writer concluded that there was an
after. this means there are some students improvement on students’ remarks after
who got the score of good. Unfortunately, being taught with Graphic Organizer.
there is a student who got the score of Then, referring to the speaking
Poor, as shown by the Brown Part. assessments criteria, it can be seen that
there are 18 students of this
Experimental Class who got good grade
Excellent
(81.82%) and the other 4 students got
Good enough grade (18.18%).
Average This chart shows students post-
Poor test score percentage. Yellow represents
Very Poor
Good, and Green represents Average.
There are no Brown, Orange, or Gold part
Figure 1. Experiment Class Students’ because after the post-test conducted,
Pre-test Speaking Result there are no students get Excellent, Poor
Chart and Very Poor grade. Based on the post
test result, the Yellow part is the biggest
The writer lastly applied part, because more than half of the
calculated the frequency of distribution. sample got the score of Good in this post-
As a result, it shows that the pre-test test. Then, the Green part comes after.
score gained by the students and their This means there are some students who
scores’ absolute and relative frequency. got the score of Average. Fortunately,
There is one student who got the score of there are no students who got the score
65, and it was 4,55 percent. Then, there is of Poor after being treated.
also one student who got score of 67,
which means it was also 4,55 percent.
There are five students who got the Excellent
result of 69, which means 22,7 percent. Good
Next comes score of 71 earned by 10
Average
students, it was 45,5 percent. The last is
Poor
score of 81. It was gained by 5 students.
Then it was 22,7 percent. Very Poor

Post-test Result of Students’ Speaking Figure 2. Experimental Class Students’
Skill. Post-test Speaking Result Chart

Post-test was given to see how far
The Analysis of Data
was the students’ progress after the
Based on the result of pre-test and
treatment using Graphic Organizer for
post-test of the students above, the

61

English Language in Focus (ELIF), 1 (1), 55-64. https://jurnal.umj.ac.id/index.php/ELIF

Writer analyzed the results to find out the significance level of 5% it can be
the influence of Graphic Organizer to concluded that null hypothesis (H0) was
Students’ speaking skill. To prove the rejected and alternative hypothesis (H1)
hypothesis above, the writer used the was accepted. It means that there are
result of the experiment class which was significant differences between teaching
calculated by t-test and follow speaking with Graphic Organizer and
assumption as below: If the result teaching speaking without Graphic
calculation t0 is higher than tt, the Organizer. Thus, this research concludes
alternate hypothesis (Ha) is accepted and that Graphic Organizer gives significant
and null hypothesis (H0) is rejected. It effect on students’ speaking skill of
means that there is an improvement of eighth grade students of Al-Azhar Islamic
using graphic organizer to students’ Junior High School 12 Rawamangun.
speaking skill.
Based on the result of t-Test REFERENCES
calculation before, 3,53 was obtained in Brown, H. D. (2004). Language
the degree of freedom (df) of 21, (22- Assessment Principles and Classroom
1=21). With the degree of significance Practices. San Fransisco: Longman.
5%, it gained score of 2,086. The result of Ciascai, L. (2009). Using Graphic
calculation above showed that to (t- Organizers in Intercultural
observation) 3,53 > tt (t-table) 2,086. And Education. Acta Didactica
since the result of to was higher than tt, Napocensia, 2(1), 9–18.
the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English
accepted and the null hypothesis (H0) Language Teaching. Great Britain:
was rejected. And, from the explanation Pearson Education Limited.
above, it can be concluded that there was
Hong Kong Curriculum Development
a significant differences between the
Institute. (2001). The Use of Graphic
Students’ result of the experimental class
Organizers to Enhance Thinking
before and after this method was applied.
Skills in the Learning of Economics.
The result of the pre-test was 72,36.
Hong Kong: The Government
Meanwhile, the result of Students’ post-
Printer.
test was 81,45. Finally, from the
interpretation above, we could Irwin-DeVitis, L., Bromley, K. D., & Modlo,
summarize that the students’ post-test M. (1999). 50 Graphic Organizers for
result is higher than the students’ pre- Reading, Writing & More. City of
test result. So, it could be said that the Jefferson: Scholastic Professional
Graphic Organizer is effective to improve Books.
students’ speaking skill. Kayi, H. (2006). Kayi - Teaching
Speaking: Activities to Promote
CONCLUSION Speaking in a Second Language

B
ased on the findings and (TESL/TEFL). The Internet TESL
interpretations of the data above, Journal, 7(11). Retrieved from
the value of tcalculation (12,12) was http://iteslj.org/
higher than the value of ttable (2,086) at Manoli, P., & Papadopoulou, M. (2012).

62

Saindra, R. M., & Mutiarani. (2018). Using Graphic Organizer to Improve Students’...

Graphic Organizers as a Reading https://busyteacher.org/13540-

Strategy: Research Findings and how-to-use-graphic-organizers-esl-
Issues. Creative Education, 03(03), class-8-ways.html
348–356. Qureshi, A. I. (2012). The impoertance of
https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.33 Speaking Skills for EFL Learners.
055 Pakistan: Alama Iqbal Open
McKnight, K. S. (2013). The Elementary University.
Teacher’s Big Book of Graphic Rice-Johnston, W. (2008). Language: A
Organizers, K-5: 100+ Ready-to-Use Definition from First Principles -
Organizers That Help Kids Learn Three Grand Over the Truckstop.
Language Arts, Science, Social England: De Montfort University
Studies, and More. New Jersey: Richards, J. C. (2008). Teaching Listening
Jossey-Bass.
and Speaking: From Theory to
Nikolai, A. (2010). Advantages & Practice. New York: Cambridge
Disadvantages of a Graphic University Press.
Organizer | The Classroom. Thornbury, S. (2005). How to Teach
Retrieved from Speaking. England: Pearson
https://www.theclassroom.com/ad Educational Limited.
vantages-disadvantages-graphic-
Ur, P. (2000). A course in English
organizer-5522538.html
Language Teaching. Cambridge:
Pesce, C. (2017). 8 Ways to Use Graphic Cambridge University Press.
Organizers in Your ESL Class.
Retrievedfrom

63

English Language in Focus (ELIF), 1 (1), 55-64. https://jurnal.umj.ac.id/index.php/ELIF

64