THE APPLICATION OF DEBATE TECHNIQUE TOWARD STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY (An Experimental Research at the Second Grade of SMA Negeri 2 Banda Aceh)

This study is about the application of debate technique toward students’ speaking ability in SMA Negeri 2 Banda Aceh. The objective of study was to know the improvement of students’ speaking ability after applying debate technique in teaching speaking, and to find out the students’ response of their speaking ability after being taught by using debate technique. The study was conducted by using quantitative research. The population of the study was the entire second grade students of SMA Negeri 2 Banda Aceh which consist of 91 students, and there were 24 students at class of XI MIPA 2 as sample in the one group. The data was done using test and questionnaire. The data from test was analyzed by mean of statistical procedure in order to see whether there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test result. Meanwhile, the data from questionnaire was calculated using percentage of students’ response. The finding of this study revealed that the mean score of pre-test was 56.08, while the mean score of post-test was 64.91. The result of t-test was 5.55, and t-table was 2.07. It showed that t-test was higher than t-table (5.55 > 2.07). So, alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted and null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected. It can be concluded that the application of debate technique improve students’ speaking ability. Based on the result of the study, the teacher should apply debate technique in teaching speaking in order to improve students’ speaking and to attract their motivation in learning speaking.