THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ICT (INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY) IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUGGESTOPEDIA METHOD IN IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILL OF THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS OF AL FIRDAUS ISLAMIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012

Abstract

Speaking is one of the skills that has to be taught at school. Students are expected to be able to communicate, express their ideas and opinion in English well. Such expectation is faced by the students of the fifth grade students at Al Firdaus Islamic Elementary School Semarang. They are required to improve their speaking ability at school. Suggestopedia method is one of the suitable methods to improve the Elementary School student’s speaking ability because it provides the comfortable and fun learning atmosphere. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) becomes the Al Firdaus Islamic Elementary School’s classroom learning characteristic, therefore the English lesson will also be able to take a benefit in taking such resources. This research itself is conducted in order to find out whether there is significant difference between Suggestopedia method with ICT and Suggestopedia method without ICT in improving speaking skill. This research was conducted in true experimental design by comparing the using of Suggestopedia method with ICT in experiment group in class 5B and Suggestopedia method only in control group in class 5A. The result of the study shows the difference result in speaking ability improvement of each class. Class 5A students made a progression in imitative speaking level by making 4.4 higher points, while students of class 5B made 16.5 higher points. At intensive and responsive level, the class 5A students made 3.2 higher points and 5B made 9.1 higher points. The using of Suggestopedia method with ICT brought significant difference in speaking skill improvement towards Class 5B students especially on pronunciation and comprehension aspect. However, they also made a better result on the other aspects such as vocabulary, grammar and fluency than the result of the class 5A students.