THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BICULTURAL AND CHARACTER EDUCATION-BASED OPERETTA TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL ( a Pre-experimental Research on the Fourth Grade Students of the Elementary School )

Abstract

Eko Heriyanto. 2012. The Effectiveness of Bicultural and Character Education-Based Operetta to Improve Students’ Speaking Skill (a Pre-Experimental Research on the Fourth Grade Students of the Elementary School) Thesis. Linguistics Studies of Postgraduate Program. Diponegoro University Semarang. Advisor: Dr. Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati, M. Pd. Key words: Cultural and character education, English for young learners, teaching and learning process Cultural and character education is conducted because several issues have come up in public such as corruption, violence, sexual crimes, vandalism, mass fights, consumptive economic life, unproductive political life, and so on. Education is considered as an alternative way to overcome, at least, to reduce the cultural and character problems. The implementation of cultural and character education starts from Elementary School to Senior High School. It must be integrated into some subjects including English. Nowadays, English is taught at the third grade students of Elementary schools. In order to improve the speaking skill of the fourth grade students in Elementary School by integrating cultural and character-based education, I conducted a research by using a technique of learning English for young learners called “Bicultural and Character Education-Based Operetta (BACEBO)”. This operetta is like a role-play activity that uses English children songs –nursery rhymes- inserted in the dialogs. The objectives are to find out the ways to implement bicultural and character education-based operetta and find out the effectiveness of BACEBO to improve students’ speaking skill. The research used a pre-experimental design. The population is the fourth grade students of SD Lab.School UNNES Semarang. It used Students Progress Check Form, Research Development Form, Rubric of Speaking and Character Assessment Form as the instruments. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results were (1) BACEBO could be implemented by using the steps of preparation, implementation, and assessment. The students could learn about speaking and components of language such as vocabulary, simple grammatical structure, pronunciation, gesture and expressions, and cultures. The obstacles that come up during the implementation could be overcome by applying the appropriate alternative solutions. (2) BACEBO is an effective technique to improve students’ speaking skill because the null hypotheses were rejected with sig. of 0.000. The conclusion is that BACEBO can be implemented gradually. It is an effective technique to improve students’ speaking skill and character education. The suggestion is that the English teachers should develop their way of teaching to be more various and attractive by using creative ways, so that students will find English learning more enjoyable and interesting.