The implementation of the talking chips technique to improve students’ speaking ability at the second grade students of SMAN 1 Seputih Agung

The objectives of this research were to find out i) whether there was statistically significant improvement of the students’ speaking ability after the students were taught through the Talking Chips technique and ii) the students’ perceptions of the implementation of the technique. One group pretest posttest was used as the design of the study. The subjects of the research were 34 students of XI MIA I of SMAN 1 Seputih Agung in academic year 2019/2020. The instruments were the speaking test and interview protocol. The data were in the form of speaking scores taken from the pretest, the posttest and interview. The results showed that there was statistically significant improvement of students’ speaking ability in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and comprehension with the significant level <0.05. Furthermore, the result of the interview showed that the majority of the students (96%) had positive perceptions of the technique. That is, the technique was perceived as the technique that gave a positive learning atmosphere that actively involved the students in the teaching and learning activities. This suggests that the Talking Chips technique facilitates the students to improve their speaking ability.