DESIGNING ENGLISH SPEAKING MATERIALS BY USING DIGITAL

STORYTELLING PROJECT FOR THE ELEVENTH

GRADE STUDENTS OF SENIOR
HIGH SCHOOL

*Evrin Lorensya Br Sitepu

**Indra Hartoyo
**Rafika Dewi Nasution

ABSTRACT

Evrin Lorensya Br Sitepu. Registration Number: 2133321036. Designing

English Speaking Materials By Using Digital Storytelling Project For The
Eleventh Grade Students of Senior High School. A Thesis. English Education
Study Program, English and Literature Department, Faculty of Languages
and Arts, State University of Medan, 2018.

This study deals with the designing of English Speaking Materials By Using
Digital Storytelling Project For The Eleventh Grade Students of Senior High
School. The objectives of this study are: (1) to know the English speaking
materials needed by grade eleventh students of senior high school, (2) to design
appropriate English speaking materials by using digital storytelling project for the
eleventh grade students of senior high school. This research was conducted at
SMA Negeri 3 Medan. The research procedures of this study is Research and
Development (R&D) through three phases : 1) evaluation and need analysis, 2)
course design, and 3) materials validation. The instruments used were
questionnaire, interview and documentation sheet. The data from evaluation and
need analysis were analyzed by using descriptive technique and the data from
expert judgement results were using quantitative data analysis. The result of this
study is a course book of speaking materials by using digital storytelling project
which consist of title, objective, introduction, observing, practices and reflection.
The materials consist of three units, they are What Is Your Opinion, How May I
Help You? and You Are Loved. Based on the experts‟ judgement result, the score
was 3.97 which belongs to good category.

Keywords: Digital Storytelling Project, Speaking Materials.

*Graduate Status
**Lecturer Status
 INTRODUCTION
Background of Study
English is the global language which is now spoken by a quarter of the
world‟s population. English increasingly belongs to the world rather than to any
one country. As the language of communications, science, information,
technology, business, entertainment and diplomacy, it has increasingly become
the operating system for the global conversation.
Speaking, besides the other skills, is equally important for students. Speaking
is a foundation as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves
producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce,
1997). Its form and meaning depend on the context in which it occurs, including
the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical
environment, and the purposes for speaking. This is why students in Indonesia
need to master speaking skill.
Unfortunately, due to the reality that English is a foreign language in
Indonesia, the Indonesian competence to use English is quite low. Not only the
adult, but also the young. It clearly reflected the Indonesian students, who don‟t
have high level fluency in English, especially speaking.
The researcher found in a research in a particular senior high school, that
learning speaking skill is very challenging for students, it was seen from their
interest in speaking session which was quite low. It is not confusing due to the
fact that they have very few opportunities to use English outside the classroom.
Furthermore, students were rarely facilitated by effective media to support
them practicing speaking. Meet and talk to the foreigner is one of students task
commanded by the teacher. But this method is imposible to be implemented in
every speaking task. That is why teaching method should also supported by
learning media to drive students enthusiasm.
The students were not given enough time to prepare for a speaking task
before the task was performed and to perform their task. When the students were
asked to work in groups, not all of them were eager to contribute their opinions in
English. Some of them participated actively but the others spoke very little or not
at all. They tended to use Bahasa Indonesia when they discussed in groups. While
the students were showing performances, the other students in class did not listen
attentively. The students looked very nervous when they spoke in front of the
class.
Sometimes, they did not know what to say and kept silent. They read what
they had written on a piece of paper. They did not remember the structures and
vocabulary to speak naturally. The media to support learning through digital tools
are not available in the school. In addition, the materials which is related to the
media is also not available in the book.
In this era, there are many technology tools that are useful to support students
in learning. Some of them are very familiar to students, such as smartphone,
laptop and computer. Moreover, those tools can be used to assit students to learn
faster and easier. Some applications from those tools are helpful and enjoyable for
students to express themselves to do speaking task. Those applications are
Moviemaker, iVideo, Viva Video and Photo story.
This media will guide the students to speak about their daily life stories in
monologue style. The stories will be collaborated with photo, video and recorded
audio or narrated voice cover from the students, in instructed duration.
The result of the project will not only offer new experiences for the students,
but also get feedback from their friends and teacher. The students‟ work will be
displayed in the classroom. If it is not possible for all projects to be displayed,
they will be saved into the classroom website to enable students to watch all
projects.
Working with digital media will give equal chance for students to speak. It
does not only contribute to the students, but also to the teacher. The methodology
from the teacher will work effectively by using digital media. In addition, students
who are not brave to come in front of the class, still had the chance to practice and
show themselves speaking.

Based on the explanations above, designing speaking materials will help both
students and teachers in the teaching and learning process. Knowing the materials
are really needed, the writer has motivation to do the research and is planned to
design speaking materials in asking and giving opinion, offering help and passive
voice worked with digital storytelling project for students of grade XI in SMA
Negeri 3 Medan.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts. However, today's world
requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students'
communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves
and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each
communicative circumstance. Tomlinson (1998:2 in Nasution 2016) defines
materials as anything which can be used by the teacher or learners to increase the
learners‟s knowledge and/or experience of the language. They could be cassetes,
videos, CD – room, dictionaries, newspaper, grammar book, etc. He adds that
materials must provide exposure to authentic use of English through spoken and
written texts with the potential engage the learners cognitively and affectively.
Richards (2001:51 in Nasution 2016) states that teacher can select the texts and
practices that are correlated with the students‟ life or needs, grade and organize it
to be appropriate with the level of the students. He added the role of instructional
materials within an individualized instructional system might include these
specifications: materials will allow learners to progress at their own rates of
learning, materials will allow for different styles of learning to develop their
competence, materials will provide opportunities for indpendent study and use,
materials will provide opportunities for self evaluation and progress in learning.

In correlance, the digital story as the media to do the speaking task, it is a

short personal narrative involving images (stills, video, graphics), a narrated
voiceover, and a recorded audio sound track (Kajder 2004 in Brenner). The
purpose of the digital story project is four-fold: (1) to improve four-skill
competencies; (2) to experience collaboration; (3) to expand computer literacy;
and (4) to build self-confidence. Storytelling is one of those activities that can be
done in the speaking class to promote speaking (Kayi 2006 in Brenner 2014). He
stated that students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from
somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their
classmates. Story telling fosters creative thinking. It also helps students express
ideas in the format of beginning, development, and ending, including the
characters and setting a story has to have.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research was conducted by using Research and Development (R & D)
which is adapted from Borg, Gall & Gall (2003) that R&D is an industry–based
development model in which the findings of research are used to design new
products. So, this research was consist of five phases: (1) Gathering information
and data, (2) Planning, (3) Design the first draft of material, (4) Expert judgement
and revision, (5) Final Product.

The Subject of the Research

The subjects of this research were the students of Grade XI and the teacher of
SMA Negeri 3 Medan.

The Instruments of Data Collection

The data of the research were collected through questionnaires, interview and
documents, such as; syllabus and textbook

The Techniques of Analyzing the Data

The data of this research were target need and need analysis. The data were
analyzed to get the solution of the students‟ problem in speaking materials and
developed appropriate speaking materials and media based on the students‟ need.
Analyzed the syllabus and the existing materials. In this stage the researcher
planned to design new speaking materials that were needed by the students.
 RESEARCH FINDING
A. The Students‟ Need For The Speaking Materials
Based on the questionnaires and interview, it was found that English speaking
materials were not available as much as other skills and lack of speaking
performance media related to their need because the materials in book were not
offering chances for which could not build the students‟ skill in speaking.
B. Materials Development
1. Gathering Data and Information
The data in this study were gathered by using some instruments;
documents, interview and questionnaires. The documents were collected to
gather data, such as; syllabus and existing materials including the students‟
textbook given by ministry of education. The information about digital
storytelling project in theories and stuff matter through article, journal and
books were also gathered. After collecting the documents, the researcher
conducted the need analysis. It was done by administering the questionnaire
and interview to gather more complex data about the needs of Grade XI
students of SMA Negeri 3 Medan to identify the needs, lacks and wants so
that the appropriate English speaking materials could be identified.
2. Planning
After analysing the needs analysis of the materials and media in speaking
skill, the researcher designed the materials by following the existing syllabus
collaborated with the digital media for storytelling.The materials for speaking
are designed for three units : What Is Your Opinion, How May I Help You?
and You Are Loved.
3. Design the first draft of material
In this step, the first draft of the speaking materials were designed by
considering the appropriateness with the learning process and purpose.
4. Expert judgement and revision
In this step the validation from the expert were done to see the
effectiveness of the material designed, whether it had been suitable with the
media being used, fit the students need, and proper to be applied or not. From
 the validation sheets from both experts, it was seen that the designed first
draft materials and media has been considered able to be applied in the school
for students grade eleven of senior high school. The final score of the four
aspects in the draft was 3.97 categorized as “ good” based on the interval 3.97
≤ x ≤ 5.
There were some revisions as suggested by the validators. First, Prof. Dr.
Hj. Sumarsih, M.Pd. suggested to make the creative and interesting activities.
Second, Dra. Siti Zulfah, M.Hum. suggested to make effective topics suitable
to support the media.
5. Final Product
After being validated by experts, the materials had been revised in terms
of topics and assesments. It consisted of 3 chapters of speaking materials
colaborating with digital storytelling project as the main task force for the
students. The handout has been set to give clear instruction for the speaking
task.
C. The Reason of Materials Development
Based on the result of questionnaires and interview, it was found that the
reason of speaking materials development were the materials could fulfill
students‟ needs and the media could facilitate students to have equal
opportunities to perform their skill in speaking.

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Conclusions

1. The existing English materials in the course book are less in speaking skills.
In term of topics, they are more attempted on reading and writing which is
make the students are less experienced in learning speaking English. In term
of media, there were lack of availability of speaking media that facilitate the
students in speaking practice.
2. The English speaking materials are needed by the students as much as other
skills. The materials considerably rellevant to their needs where the topics in
 course book provide them knowledege that close to their daily life. The
activities in each unit provide equal opportunities to practice speaking and
collaborated with digital media to facilitate their performance.
3. The materials design for the eleventh grade students of senior high school
should be designed by including task framework as the elements of the
speaking materials, they are consist of pre-task, task cycle and language
focus. This series of tasks are designed in order to facilitate the students to
promote their speaking skill equally.
4. The result of this research is a course book which consist of three units, they
are „What Is Your Opinion?‟, „How May I Help You?‟, and „I Am Loved‟.
Then, the developed materials have been validated by expert judgement and
the gotten score is three point ninety seven (3.97) which belong to good
category since the range is (1-5). It is categorized “good” means that the
developing speaking materials are suitable for students of grade eleven of
senior high school.
Suggestion

1. It is suggested that the English teacher of senior high school should be more
responsive with the students‟ need, therefore, the teacher should be able to
provide the relevant materials to students‟ need in order to give them the
experience in speaking.
2. It is suggested that the English teacher should be more aware with the media
and tasks given whether they are helpful to the students in increasing their
speaking skill or not, if they are not, the teacher should be creative and able to
provide the tasks which are useful and have the individual outcome to help
the students to increase their speaking skill. Therefore, it is suggested to use
the digital skill that the students capable in to rise the speaking ability of the
students to express themselves.
3. The new materials in this study has been validated in terms of relevancy,
contents, layout and linguistic features by the experts, and the results show
that it is good and applicable. So, it is suggested for the English teacher to use
this materials to increase the students‟ speaking skill equally.
4. For the other researchers who do the same study to develop the English
materials for speaking to develop and add more ideas which has not been
found in this research to create speaking materials better for the students
need.

REFERENCES

Brenner, Kathy. 2014. Digital Stories: A 21st-Century Communication Tool for

the English Language Classroom. United States: English Teaching Forum.
Borg, Gall and Gall. 2003. Research and Development in Education. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Richards, Jack.C & Theodore S. Rodgers. 2001. Approaches and Methids in
Language Teaching. Second Edition. USA : Cambridge University Press
Tomlinson, B. 1998. Developing Materials for Language Teaching. London:
Continuum.