METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN TEACHING SPEAKING AT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN

TEACHING SPEAKING AT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Ridwan, Muhammad Idris, Rosdiana and Jusman

Post graduate students of Muhammadiyah University of Parepare

Abstract

This research aimed to find out the student ability in speaking at students at Junior High School 2 Panca Rijang and this study is the result of a report from a case study on the effect of metacognitive teaching on speaking ability of low-ranking junior high school students, the metacognitive strategy influences students' speaking achievement, namely by conducting a pre-test in one group and the design of the post-test was conducted to support the findings in the results of learning speaking after training. In design, observation and qualitative questionnaires were conducted to see the process of students in learning speaking procedural knowledge of metacognition in speaking. This research applying metacognitive strategies that are developed as a way of learning. Subject, selected by simple random sampling, are 20 first grade junior high schools, Comparison of pre-test and post-test scores will show metacognitive strategy can help students who are less skilled improve their speaking skills. The results show the view that metacognitive strategy can help students with speaking skills who are less skilled improve their speaking skills, but from the overall results there still appear to be some limitations for those who are skilled with minimal results.

Keyword: metacognitive, speaking skill, junior high school

Introduction

weak speaking ability, or difficulty understanding English because they are not used to speaking. External factors include English teachers who do not have the right method of teaching speaking, facilities and infrastructure to learn speaking with low quality or classmates' interference. Various ways can be done by English teachers to overcome these obstacles one of them by using metacognitive methods. used to help students understand the way they learn; in other words, it means processes designed for students to 'think' about their 'thinking'.

In describing the learning strategy, there are many definitions of learning strategy described by experts. Oxford (1990: 1) describes learning strategies as 2 steps taken by the language students to enhance their learning in the form of direct and indirect strategies. The definition has created a remarkable impact in the realm of SLA. This explanation requires effort made by students that is to develop their way of learning. Oxford divides LLSs into two parts: direct and indirect strategies.

Numerous studies have shown positive effects of metacognitive strategy training on language performance. Those studies are on the focus of language skills. There have, however, been relatively few studies investigating the benefits of providing second language students with metacognitive strategy training to promote speaking skill. The other kind of study about metacognitive strategy training shows its positive impact on metacognitive strategy awareness. They show improvement of strategy use after training conducted. However, there are no details of metacognitive strategy use in the process.

Before moving on to metacognitive learning, it is important to explain the term metacognitive. Flavel (1976) in Cross (2010) mentions that metacognitive means that determines one's cognitive process. In other words, think about ways of thinking. Metacognitive learning has two aspects: intentional or conscious performance of cognitive functions and knowledge and beliefs about cognitive processes.

Another purpose of this research is to socialize metacognitive learning that still sounds familiar to English teachers in schools and courses and adds to the knowledge of methods and techniques of metacognitive learning

Background of the study

This study is concerned with investigating students’  skill who have low ability, it is commonly known that speaking is an important skill in learning a language because Language is a tool for communication. We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well. Communication takes place, where there is speech. Without speech we cannot communicate with one another, The use of language is an activity which takes place within the confines of our community. We use language in a variety of situations. People at their workplaces, i.e. researchers working either in a medical laboratory or in a language laboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively in order to communicate well with one another.

Further explanation describes metacognition can most usefully be thought of as knowledge, skills, strategies, and information about cognition ( Mahdavi, 2014:532). From function side, cognition acts to resolve problems and bring cognitive activity to a desirable outcome, while the metacognitive function is the monitoring and regulation of an individual’s cognitive effort in solving a problem and executing a task (Mahdavi, 2014:532). During the process.

Literature Review

a.      Metacognitive Strategies

Metacognitive strategies can positively impact students who have learning disabilities by helping them to develop an appropriate plan for learning information, which can be memorized and eventually routine. As students become aware of how they learn, they will use these processes to efficiently acquire new information, and consequently, become more of an independent thinker.

As a consequence of applying metacognitive strategies, students demonstrate an important improvement in their participation in class. Stuever (2006) observes that students increase their motivation for learning and participating actively every day for ten days. The results were positive, determining that it is possible to incorporate metacognition in traditional classrooms providing with an encouraging way of learning

b.     English Language Methodology

Likewise, Bromley (2002) determines that there is not a specific method for teaching students. She recommends the application and combination of various methods because students have different learning styles, that is why it is relevant to take into account diverse methods that enhance the learning process.

Larsen-Freeman (2000) maintains that methods serve as a foil for reflection that can aid teachers and students in bringing to conscious awareness the thinking that underlies their actions. According to Larsen-Freeman, the application of various methods has in common the views that first, language can best be learnt when it is taught through communication, and second, that language acquisition can be upgraded by working not only on language, but also on the process of learning

c.      English Speaking

Harmer (2001) states that: “the ability to speak fluently presupposes not only knowledge of language features, but also the ability to process information and language “on the spot” (p. 269). He also claims that during the process of teaching speaking or producing this English ability would be essential to apply them in three important sections: new language, practice and communicative activity.

The ability of speaking is important for career success. Speaking skills can enhance one’s personal life, thereby bringing about the well-rounded growth they should all seek. Nunan (1994) expresses that speaking is an essential and executable tool for communicating with others

Learning Procedure

Researchers carry out the procedure carried out by Cross (2010) in his research. The pedagogical cycle includes a bottom-up strategy, sharing, discussion, and evaluation of strategies.

In the first stage, students read conversation in the text book. Students identify words they don't understand then discuss them together. This is to prepare students and facilitate them in using strategies such as inference or elaboration.

Then, students discuss the text and share their opinions on the topic. Then the students listened to recorded conversation for 1-2 minutes, Students then answer the pre-test questions given as many as ten questions. In answering questions they can discuss to help them gather information that they passed. Then they collect their pre-test which is directly processed by researchers. Then the researcher teaches the pedagogical cycle and strategies for listening, Then the researcher gives a second text to prepare for listening and practicing the conversation. And the last students evaluate their performance and the strategies they use for other activities. Students work on post-test.

Vocabulary Mastery Test

Vocabulary mastery test is  testing someone’s knowledge in understanding and comprehending words meaning and can be used in arranging the sentence to communicate. The scope of vocabulary is not only in diction but also it must be suited with the situation and the person who become partner in the communication.

In this case with low ability students, the test is arranged to be easier and using daily vocabulary that they usually use in their activities

The procedure of these two tests involves the activity speaking by the learner. Learners are also asked to underline vocabulary that is not understood to be discussed together. Students then listen to the news twice and take notes in each segment. Previously the learner had also been divided into several groups of three or four people to facilitate the discussion of strategies and to make a summary. Deliberately not done in pairs to avoid the freezing of discussion

Result

Here is a comparison table between the results of the pre-test and post-test.

NO	Names	Pre-test	Post-test
1	A. Diana parha	80	100
2	ADE ARDIANZA	80	90
3	AGUNG FEBRIAN	80	90
4	AHMAD TEGAR	80	100
5	AKMAL REZKI	80	100
6	ALDI WINALDI	70	90
7	ALVYANA SAUNDARY	70	100
8	AMAL	70	90
9	ANANDA PUTRI	70	90
10	ASNI	70	90
11	FRYZA FYNGKY	60	90
12	HALIMA ANWAR	60	90
13	HILMY AUDRIANI	60	90
14	MEGA APRISNAARIF	60	90
15	MUH ANDRI	60	90
16	MUH QHUZAIRI	60	100
17	MUSFIRA M	60	90
18	PUTRI ADITAMA	50	90
19	PUTRI SRI ANGRAENY	50	90
20	RESKY HEDYLA L	50	90

Based on the prates data, it was concluded that there were three students who got the lowest grades, namely Putri Aditama, Putri Sri Angraini and Resky Hedyla L. Earlier predictions were also made by the teacher based on his teaching experience that students named Putri Aditama were weak in learning Speaking. Thus the focus of the study can be determined, namely on the three students with the lowest grades. Furthermore, from the pre-test results it is also known that . Diana parha gets the highest score. So that later it can be seen whether the metacognitive strategy influences high-ability student.

DISCUSSION

This study aims to determine the effect of the pedagogical cycle on improving speaking to low-ability students. All students involved in the pedagogical cycle are also taught several metacognitive strategies to encourage their understanding in speaking. The research findings show that two students with low speaking ability increased in this study. They felt the metacognitive strategy helped him to better understand the material being tough this is supported by statements from interviews conducted by researchers after the learning process.

The main reason students with this less skilled speaking ability show a significant increase is that they have not improved their knowledge and ability to reconstruct information when listening, before metacognitive learning is carried out. However, systematically and continuously they orchestrate certain cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies.

From the results above, the dominance of development that is not so significant is shown by students with sufficiently skilled listening skills. Three students did not show progress by showing the same results in the pre-test and post-test. This might be because they have mastered a strong understanding and control of several strategies. So their participation in the pedagogical cycle is less significant.

From the results of interviews with students who were already proficient and showed only insignificant results, it was found that he used a strategy of maintaining interest in listening. Andi Diana Parha states that by maintaining interest provides a fairly clear in constructing information when she is practicing speaking while namely Putri Aditama, Putri Sri Angraini and Resky Hedyla L they tend to use directed attention strategies, selective attention and visualization in speaking practice

CONCLUSION

This small-scale study, specifically conducted in English class as a foreign language that only focuses on simple comversation to less skilled learners, the results show empirical data to support the principle of metacognitive learning using cycles pedagogical can be useful to guide and facilitate students who are less skilled in their speaking skill. The implication of this research is to offer teachers the concept of metacognitive learning in other contexts and practical pedagogical approaches that can be applied to the development of abilities in learning speaking. However, metacognitive learning does not equitably benefit all learners in the class. The teacher must consider how to combine this learning with other learning speaking strategies.

REFERENCE

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