Insert your Article title here

The Effect of Information Gap Activity on Students’

Speaking Achievement of the Seventh-Grade Students at
MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon

Ulfa ‘Ainun Nafilah

English Education Department, UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung
ainunafila@gmail.com
Nanik Sri Rahayu
English Education Department, UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung
Nanik.sri.rahayu@uinsatu.ac.id

APA Citation:
Nafilah, Ulfa ‘Ainun. (2023). The Effect of Information Gap Activity on Students’ Speaking Achievement of the Seventh-Grade

Abstract
Speaking is one of the difficult skills for students to learn English because it requires several aspects to
be mastered, such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. In this
situation, the teacher, as a facilitator of speaking learning, must provide special techniques to overcome
students' obstacles and help them improve their speaking skills. Information Gap Activity is a technique
that can be used in teaching students to speak. With the information gap activity, students are asked to
pair up to look for information missing on their sheet. This activity helps students create an interactive
classroom atmosphere. This study aimed to determine whether there was a significant effect on
students' speaking achievement before and after being taught using information gap activity in seventh-
grade students of MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon. The study used a quantitative approach with a
pre- experimental design. The population of this study was all students of class VII MTs Darul
Falah Bendiljati Kulon. The sample of this research was class VII A students with a total of 27
students, using a purposive sampling technique for taking the sample. While the instrument used
to collect data is a speaking test. Data were analyzed using the Paired Sample Test with SPSS
version 22.0. This study's results indicate significant differences in students' scores before and
after being taught using the information gap activity. This can be seen from the mean score of
students' speaking mastery before using information gap activity was 15.96, and after being taught using
information gap activity was 19.89. The calculation of the T-test data shows that the P-value (Sig) is
0.000 and is less than 0.05 (0.000
<0.005). This shows that the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted; it means that the post-test mean
is higher than the pre-test mean. It can be concluded that the information gap activity is an
effective technique for learning to speak. Therefore, the information gap activity is the recommended
technique for teaching speaking.

Keywords: Effect, Speaking Achievement, Information Gap Activity

JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x), 1

 Authors’
1. Introduction
English has four language skills that must be mastered, namely speaking, reading, listening, and
writing. The four skills are related to one another. All skills in learning and teaching English must be
learned and taught by students and teachers, one of which is speaking skills. According to (Fisher &
Frey, 2014) speaking is a uniquely human act or process of sharing and exchanging information,
ideas, and emotions using oral language. In learning English, speaking holds an important role if we
want to master a language. This is in line with the (Khamkhien, 2010) that speaking is deemed to be
the most important in learning a second or foreign language. Everyone must communicate with each
other by speaking and using language. Speaking is very important to enable students to communicate
effectively through oral language because of the disability of the study to speak their ideas express
even in a simple form of conversation.
According to several studies, the problem that causes students in junior high school to learn to
speak is the difference. The first lies in their low vocabulary mastery. Low vocabulary becomes an
obstacle for them to speak. They are confined about what words to say when answering questions. It
is difficult for many students to respond when the teachers ask them to say something in a foreign
language because they have little idea about what to say, which vocabulary to use, or how to use the
grammar correctly (Baker & Westrup, 2003). In addition, the low motivation of students in learning to
speak in class. Because according to them speaking is one of the most different activities. Students
also find it different to listen to English words because they are not used to them and feel foreign. In
addition, limited time is also an important problem for students learning to speak. With limited time,
they lack practice in speaking, so the teacher only gives material without any speaking practice.
Lastly, students feel less confident, causing nervousness when speaking English in front of an
audience in class. They feel embarrassed if their friends are laughed at when they make mistakes.
According to (Brown, 2001) there are several factors that make speaking a difficult language
skill. The teacher's teaching method may be one of the factors that influence achievement. In teaching
speaking, it is important to provide opportunities for students to practice producing language orally. In
other words, it is important for teachers to provide opportunities for students to produce their own
speech by interacting with others. To overcome this, the teacher must know the best methods and best
techniques in facilitating students' speaking.
There are several techniques and strategies used by teachers to teach speaking. The technique
or strategy must attract students' interest in the teaching and learning process. One of the teaching
strategies in teaching speaking is the Information Gap. (Pramesti, 2010: 2) states that the Information
Gap is an activity where students lose the information they need to complete a task and need to talk to
each other to find it. This activity involves students in sharing the information they have to solve a
problem, collect information or make decisions. So, in learning English students must be involved in
as many situations as possible where one of them has some information and the other does not, but
must get it.
One of the strengths of the information gap is activities that involve motivating learners to
speak. Collaborative and individual efforts are methods of learning a foreign language. Students are
free to talk together to gather information from other students which produces non-formal scenarios
that cause students to be more relaxed to be involved. If there are data gaps, discussions between
students will be interesting and meaningful. In this activity, students are expected to do it in pairs. A
student will select information that the other pair does not have and the pair will share their
information. This makes students active in participating in class discussions. This can achieve
teaching materials and activities that can provide enthusiasm, courage, and stimulation to students,
when the teacher presents
2 JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x),
 Insert your Article title here
material and asks students to express their ideas, there will be no monotony and boredom in the
learning process. For this reason, researchers conducted research to find out how the effect of
information gap activity on students' speaking achievement.
2. Research Methods
2.1 Research Design
In this study, the researcher used a quantitative approach with pre-experimental design. The
researcher used quantitative approach because to test the hypothesis of how one variable affects
another. This research is classified into a pre-experimental research design that uses one group pre-
test and post-test. The pre-test provides a measure of several aspects that are assessed in an
experiment before the group receives treatment, while the post-test measures several aspects that are
assessed in the experiment after treatment.
2.2 Participants
This study's population was all class VII MTs Darul Falah students for the 2022-2023 academic
year. There are seven classes with a total of 196 students. Using a purposive sampling technique,
researchers used class VII-A as the sample in this study based on the recommendation of the English
teacher because this class has better respect for accepting and doing assignments than other classes.
2.3 Instruments
The instrument used by the researcher is a speaking test. This study has two types of tests: pre-
test and post-test. The pre-test measures students' speaking achievement before treatment, while the
post- test measures students' speaking achievement after treatment. In this study, the researcher
decided to take a topic based on the curriculum: asking and giving information. The researcher used
an assessment rubric to assess the quality of students' speaking both in the pre-test and post-test. The
assessment aspects are pronunciation, comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and fluency. The
assessment rubric used was adopted from (O'Malley and Pierce, 1996)
2.4 Data Analysis
In this study, researchers used quantitative data analysis techniques using statistical methods.
This technique was used to find significant differences in students' speaking achievement before and
after using the information gap activity (pre-test and post-test). After being treated, the researcher gave
the test to students using an information gap activity to get the speaking test results. In this study, the
researchers used statistical analysis because the data results were in numerical form and used the
Paired sample T- test because the data were normal. The researcher used a comparative analysis of the
mean-paired sample T-test with SPSS 22.0. The researcher used a one-group experiment using two
tests, namely the pre-test (without treatment) and the post-test (using treatment). After that, the
researcher compared the mean of the pre-test and post-test results.
3. Results
The researcher used pre-test and post-test to present data on students' speaking achievements
before and after being taught using information gap activity. Then, the researcher gave a test as a
research instrument to get data. The test questions given to students are in the form of a speaking test.
3.1 Achievement of Students' Speaking before being taught using Information Gap Activity
The pre-test in this study was carried out before treatment. The research instrument was a
speaking conversation test. There are 27 students as research subjects. The test was carried out before
the treatment process using information gap activity. This test is intended to determine students'
speaking

JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x), 3

 Authors’
achievement before they receive treatment. Researchers used SPSS version 22.0 to determine
descriptive statistics and the percentage of students' pre-test scores. The percentage is divided into five
criteria: very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor. In addition, the results of calculating student pre-
test scores are as follows:
Table 1: The Descriptive Statistics of Pre-test Score
Statistics
N Valid 27
Missing 0
Mean 15.96
Median 17.00
Mode 17
Std. Deviation 3.216
Minimum 10
Maximum 20

Descriptive statistics serve to describe the state of a particular group. The mean score is 15.96.
Then the minimum score is 10, and the maximum score is 20. Meanwhile, the researcher presents a
frequency distribution to determine the number of scores that appear in the pre-test. Can be seen in
Table 2 below:

Table 2: The Frequency Distribution of Pre-test Score

Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percen Percent
t
Valid 10 3 11.1 11.1 11.1
11 1 3.7 3.7 14.8
12 1 3.7 3.7 18.5
13 1 3.7 3.7 22.2
14 1 3.7 3.7 25.9
15 3 11.1 11.1 37.0
16 3 11.1 11.1 48.1
17 5 18.5 18.5 66.7
18 2 7.4 7.4 74.1

4 JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x),

 Insert your Article title
19 3 11.1 11.1 85.2
20 4 14.8 14.8 100.0
Total 27 100.0 100.0

As can be seen from table 2 it showed the numbers that describe the categorizing based on
frequency distribution by considering the qualification of the scoring rubric. Then, the data from the
table can be described as follows:
1. There was no student who got score between 1-5. It means that there was no very poor scores
on the student's pre-test.
2. There were 3 students who scored between 6-10. It means that the students' speaking
achievement was poor.
3. There were 7 students who scored between 11-15. It means that the students' speaking
achievement was still fair.
4. There are 17 students who scores between 16-20. It means that the students' speaking
achievement was good.
5. There were no students who scored between 21-25. None of the students' speaking
achievement was very good on the pre-test.
Based on the results above, it is known that some students have difficulty speaking. Then after
getting treatment using an information gap activity, the students showed an increase in their speaking
achievement.
3.2 Achievement of Students' Speaking after being taught using Information Gap Activity
The post-test in this study was carried out after treatment. The research instrument was a speaking
conversation test. There are 27 students as research subjects. The test was carried out aftet the
treatment process using information gap activity. This test is intended to determine students' speaking
achievement after they receive treatment. Researchers used SPSS version 22.0 to determine
descriptive statistics and the percentage of students' post-test scores. The percentage is divided into
five criteria: very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor. In addition, the results of calculating student
post-test scores are as follows:
Table 3: The Descriptive Statistics of Post-test Sore
Statistics

N Valid 27
Missing 0
Mean 19.89
Median 20.00
Mode 20
Std. Deviation 3.142
Minimum 14
Maximum 24

JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x), 1

Authors’

Descriptive statistics serve to describe the state of a particular group. The mean score is 19.89.
Then the minimum score is 14, and the maximum score is 24. Meanwhile, the researcher presents a
frequency distribution to find out the number of scores that appear in the post-test. Can be seen in
Table 4 below:
Table 4: The Frequency Distribution of Post-test Score
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 14 1 3.7 3.7 3.7
15 2 7.4 7.4 11.1
16 3 11.1 11.1 22.2
17 2 7.4 7.4 29.6
19 2 7.4 7.4 37.0
20 5 18.5 18.5 55.6
21 2 7.4 7.4 63.0
22 2 7.4 7.4 70.4
23 5 18.5 18.5 88.9
24 3 11.1 11.1 100.0
Total 27 100.0 100.0

As can be seen from Table 4 it showed the numbers that describe the categorizing based on
frequency distribution by considering the qualification of the scoring rubric. Then, the data from
the table can be described as follows:
1. There was no student who got score between 1-5. It means that none of the students' speaking
achievement was very poor on the post-test.
2. There was no student who got score between 6-10. It means that none of the students' speaking
achievement was poor on the post-test.
3. There were 3 students who scored between 11-15. It means that the students' speaking
achievement was still fair.
4. There were 12 student who scores between 16-20. It means that the students' speaking
achievement was good.
5. There were 12 student who scores between 21-25. It means that the students' speaking
achievement was very good.

1 JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x),

 Insert your Article title
3.3 Hypothesis Testing
Testing the hypothesis of this study tested the before and after effects by using the
information gap activity on the speaking achievement of seventh-grade students at MTs Darul Falah
Bendiljati Kulon for the 2022/2023 academic year. The hypothesis examined in this study is as
follows:
1. Null hypothesis (Ho): There is no significant effect on students' speaking achievement before and
after being taught using information gap activity in seventh grade students of MTs Darul Falah
Bendiljati Kulon.
2. Alternative hypothesis (Ha): There is a significant effect on students' speaking achievement before
and after being taught using information gap activity in seventh grade students of MTs Darul Falah
Bendiljati Kulon.
The computation is used to find out whether there is a significant difference in scores between
students before being taught with information gap activity and after students are taught with
information gap activity. These subjects are called pairs because they are taken from the same subject.
Researchers used statistical tests using pair sample t-tests on SPSS 22.0 to analyze the data. The result
is as follows:
Table 5: Paired Sample Statistics
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Pair 1 PRE 15.96 27 3.216 .619
POST 19.89 27 3.142 .605

Table 3.5 presents data on the scores of students who were taught before and after using the
information gap activity in students' speaking achievement. The output of paired sample statistics as
descriptive statistics shows that the mean pre-test score is 15.96, and the post-test mean score is 19.89.
The number of samples for both pre-test and post-test is 27. The standard deviation measures how big
the sample's variance is. The pre-test standard deviation was 3.216, and the post-test standard
deviation was 3.142, both less than the mean. In other words, if the standard deviation is higher than
the mean, the student's pre-test score is heterogeneous. The student's post-test score is homogeneous if
the standard deviation is smaller than the mean. It can be concluded that the pre-test and post-test
standard deviations are homogeneous because there are differences in the pre-test and post-test
standard deviation values, and the standard deviation is smaller than the mean.
Table 6: Paired Sample Statistics
Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Std. Difference
Std. Error
Mean Deviation Mea Lower Upper t df Sig. (2-tailed)
n
Pair 1 pre-
-3.926 1.299 .250 - -3.412 -15.708 26 .000
post
4.440

JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x), 1

 Authors’
Based on table 6, the paired sample test results show that the mean score difference between the
pre-test and post-test is -3.926. The standard deviation is 1.299. The standard error mean is .250.
There are two values in the difference confidence interval. The lower difference is -4.440, and the
upper difference is -3.412. The result of t is -15.708 with degrees of freedom (df) is 26 and Sig. (2-
tailed) is
0.000. In this study, the P value (Sig.) was 0.000, and the significance level was 0.05, so the P value (Sig.)
was smaller than the significance level (0.000 <0.05). This shows that the null hypothesis (Ho) is
rejected. In other words, the hypothesis states that the post-test mean is smaller or the same as the pre-
test mean. While the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted, meaning that the post-test mean is higher
than the pre-test mean, there is a significant difference in student scores before and after being taught
using the information gap activity. It can be concluded that the information gap activity is an effective
strategy for teaching speaking in the seventh grade of MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon.

4. Discussion
In this study, researchers only used one sample as a research subject. This section is intended
to analyze the results of research findings based on related theories. This research was conducted in
three steps. The first is to give students a pre-test (speaking test); the aim is to find out students'
speaking scores before being given treatment using information gap activities. The second step is
giving treatment using information gap activities. Students are more active in learning to speak after
they receive treatment. The third step is to give a post-test to determine the students' speaking scores
after treatment using the information gap activity.
The results of student scores are calculated using the t-test. Using the information gap, this
study significantly affects students' speaking achievement. The results above show the difference in
the pre-test and post-test scores from the pre-test mean of 15.96 to 19.89 in the post-test. There is a
significant difference in scores on students' speaking achievement before and after being taught using the
information gap activity.
Previously, class VII A students of MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon had difficulty speaking
English. The achievement of students' speaking was low before being taught by using information gap
activities. Their pre-test scores evidence this. The findings of this study state that information gap
activities are an effective strategy, especially for class VII students of MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon,
to improve students' speaking achievement. First, the information gap activity has the most significant
effect on students' speaking ability. However, after being taught using information gap activities, students
can speak better than before. Second, information gap activities help students recognize new ways of
learning to speak in class. Before being taught this strategy, class VII A students of MTs Darul Falah
Bendiljati Kulon were confused about how to speak in a non-boring way.
Meanwhile, after receiving the treatment of information gap activities in terms of asking and
giving information, students can express activities that are carried out well. In addition, students do
not feel bored when doing this activity but are very interested because they feel more confident and
enjoy their learning activities. The information gap can improve students' speaking skills in line with
(Harmer's, 2007) theory, which states that the information gap is the key to increasing communicative
goals and the desire to communicate. In class, the teacher gives pairs of students two different
assignments so that each student misses some information about their assignment. So, there is a need
and a reason for students to communicate through assignments.
The findings of this study support previous research conducted by Dewi, Asriani, and Aprida
(2019), conducting research entitled The Effect of Information Gap Activities on Students' Speaking
Skills in Senior High School. The study found that information gap activities were one of the right
1 JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x),
 Insert your Article title
strategies for improving students' speaking skills. It can be concluded that the information gap activity
has many benefits in the teaching and learning process at the senior high school level. This is in line
with the findings in this study that information gap activities are an interesting and not boring strategy
in teaching speaking, especially for junior high school students. With this activity, students are
required to speak English in class so that it becomes a good habit in future learning meetings. Students
become more confident and enthusiastic about learning to speak.
Then this study also support research by Andriana (2019) examined the effect of the
information gap on students' speaking performance. From these results, it can be concluded that using
gap information can help students improve speaking performance. This study's result is that speaking
students get higher scores after using the information gap technique. Students are more active, can
share ideas with other friends, and are more confident in asking the teacher about material using the
information gap technique. This is in line with the findings of this study that speaking skills through
Information-gap are effective in improving students' speaking skills because information-gap activity
provides opportunities for students to practice speaking. Students can interact with their friends.
Finally, the information gap can increase students' self-confidence and motivation in speaking.
From the explanation above, this study's results support previous studies results. This research
proves and strengthens previous research that information gap activity is an alternative strategy to be
applied in teaching and learning English. In other words, the information gap activity was effective in
this study. Teachers can use this easy and simple strategy to teach English, especially in speaking
contexts. In addition, students are active and happy when they seek information by conversing with
their classmates so that their achievement in speaking can increase. In conclusion, the use of
information gap activity has a positive effect on students' achievement in speaking, especially class
VII students of MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon. The data analysis results showed significant
differences in students' speaking achievement before and after being taught using the information gap
activity.

5. Conclusion
Based on the results of a study of the effects of information gap activity on the speaking
achievement of class VII students of MTs Darul Falah Bendiljati Kulon, it can be concluded that
teachers can use information gap activity because there are significant differences in scores on
students' speaking achievement before and after being taught using information gap activities. This
difference is evidenced by the results of the pre-test and post-test scores. The mean score of the
students' post-test was higher than the pre-test and the result of the P (sig) score was 0.000. If the P
Value <0.05 means the null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected, and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is
accepted. The average pretest score before implementing the information gap activity was 15.96 while
the post-test mean score after implementing the information gap activity was 19.89. This shows that
the research results show that information gap activity are effective for teaching speaking. In addition,
by using information gap activities students not only speak better, but also make students enthusiastic
and feel happy during learning activities. So, it can be concluded that the information gap activity is
an effective strategy for teaching speaking and improving student achievement in speaking.

References
Andriana. 2019. The Effect of Information Gap Activity on Speaking Performance of The Eight
Grade Student’s at Junior High School 24 Kota Jambi. Islamic University of Sulthan Thaha
Syaifuddin Jambi.
Baker, J., & Westrup H. 2003. Essential Speaking Skills A Handbook for English Language Teachers.

JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x), 1

Authors’
London Continum.

1 JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x),

 Insert your Article title
Brown. (2001). Teaching by Principle: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. 2nd Edition.
New York: Addition Wesley Longman, Inc.
Creswell, John. (2015). Riset Pendidikan. Yogyakarta. Pustaka Pelajar
Dewi, Asriani, and Aprida. The Effect of Information Gap Activities on Students' Speaking Skill. Vol.
2.
No.4 Desember 2019. Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan.
Fisher and Frey. 2007. Checking for Understanding: Formative Assessment Techniques for Your
Classroom. USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Harmer, Jeremy. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th ed. Harlow: Longman.
Khamkhien. 2010. Teaching English Speaking and English Speaking Tests in the Thai Context: A
Reflection from Thai Perspective. Kasetsart University, Nakhon Pathom, 73140, Thailand.
Vol.3 no.1
Kurniawan, Asep. 2018. Metodologi Penelitian Pendidikan. Bandung. PT Remaja Rosdakarya
O’malley, J.M and Pierce L.V. (1996). Aunthentic Assessment for English Learners: Practical
Approaches for Teachers: New York: Addison–Wesley Publishing Company.
Pramesti, V. 2010. Improving Students’ Speaking Competence Through Information Gap (AN Action
Research). Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta.

JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), Vol. xx(x), 1