Abstract:
The researcher conducts a quantitative research with an experimental design. The aim of the research is to find whether using small group discussion in teaching speaking at the tenth grade students of SMA N 1 Gombong in the academic year of 2015/2016 is effective or not. The researcher uses two different classes and employs two different teaching techniques.
In order to collect the data, the researcher gives pre and post-test in both of the classes. The researcher administers a pre-test to know that the two classes have relatively the same background of knowledge in the research variable and post-test to find out the growth of the score as the measurement of the students‟ achievement. The researcher conducts the research in SMA N 1 Gombong. The researcher takes two classes as the sample of the research, they are X IPA 5 which has 31 students as the experimental class and X IPA 6 which has 33 students the control class. The sampling technique that is used by the researcher is purposive sampling. In analyzing the data, the researcher uses descriptive analysis and inferential analysis. The researcher uses some formulas to compute the data, for then the computation of the data will be used to prove the hypothesis of the research. The researcher also uses SPSS in analyzing the data.
Based on the result of the research, the researcher finds that using small group discussion in teaching speaking at the tenth grade students of SMA N 1 Gombong in the academic year of 2015/2016 is effective. It is proven by the mean score of experimental class (81.68) is higher than the mean score of control class (76.24). Moreover, the result of Zvalue (2.853) is also higher than the value of Ztable (1.96).
