The impact of using think pair share technique on the students speaking performance

Trang 7 ABSTRACT Trang 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TPS: Think-Pair- Share SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences M: Mean SD: Standard deviation RQ: Research Question IELTS: Inte

- ∞0∞ -

HUYNH THI HONG PHAN

THE IMPACT OF USING THINK PAIR SHARE TECHNIQUE ON THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING

PERFORMANCE

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2023

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

- ∞0∞ -

HUYNH THI HONG PHAN

THE IMPACT OF USING THINK PAIR SHARE TECHNIQUE ON THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING

PERFORMANCE

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Major code: 8 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: Dr BUI THI THUC QUYEN

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2023

Tôi tên là: HUỲNH THỊ HỒNG PHẤN

Ngày sinh: 02/08/1990 Nơi sinh: Phú Yên

Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh,

Mã học viên: 1881401110028

Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho

Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ

thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Ý KIÉN CHO PHÉP BẢO VỆ LUẬN VĂN THẠC sĩ

CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN

Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS Bùi Thị Thục Quyên

Học viên thực hiện: Huỳnh Thị Hồng Phấn Lớp: MTESOL 018A

Tên đề tài: Tác động của việc sử dụng chiến lược Think Pair Share đối với kỹ năng nói của người học tiếng Anh như là một ngoại ngữ

Ý kiến của giáo viên hướng dẫn về việc cho phép học viên được bảo vệ luận văn trước Hội đồng:

W ẵLe .

Aid á T LÚA 'A .NJ A

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, ngày.tháng o.ĩ năm 20 'Lt

Người nhận xét

<

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled: “The Impact of Using Think Pair Share Technique

on the Students’ Speaking Performance” is my original work based on my own research

All sources used in this research have been cited No work created by another person has been utilized without acknowledgement This piece of work has never before been submitted for evaluation in this course or other courses at this university or anywhere else

Ho Chi Minh City, 2023

Huynh Thi Hong Phan

Thanks for all your encouragement!

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to examine the impact of Think-Pair-Share (TPS) on the development of 26 non-English major student’s speaking performance and their attitudes regarding the treatment TPS is usually regarded as a cooperative teaching-learning technique involving the three steps: thinking, pairing, and sharing, in which students work together to solve a problem or complete a task assigned by their teacher This six-week study at a university in Ho Chi Minh City applied a quasi-experimental design While the experimental group was taught with TPS, the control group received the traditional lessons In addition, two semi-structured interviews were conducted to the 13 members (1 student didn’t agree to attend the interview) of the experimental group in order to gain a deeper understanding of the students' perspectives on the use of TPS in their speaking sessions The results indicated that TPS had a positive effect on students' learning attitudes For the effect of TPS on student’s speaking performance, although there were no significant differences in the post-test total scores between the two groups, the experimental group achieved significant improvement in terms of fluency and coherence, compared to the control group The study revealed that students feel more engaged, more confident, more active, at ease, having more fun, and being more interested in speaking English after studying with TPS Particularly, TPS was discovered to aid learners in overcoming shyness and forming positive interactions with their classmates However, the study also indicated that a number of students who lacked confidence, communication skills, and vocabularies had troubles with the sharing step On the basis of the findings, recommendations for the implementation of TPS and future study were given

ELT: English Language Teaching

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Participants of the study

Appendix A5 A comparison between the CG and EG’s teaching method

Table 4.1 Screening for missing value

Table 4.2 The extreme value description of pre-test and post-test scores

Table 4.3 Shapiro-Wilk test of normality

Table 4.4 The means of the two groups in their total speaking pre-test scores

Table 4.5 The independent samples t-test for the pre-test total scores

Table 4.6 The pre-test means of component scores of the two groups

Table 4.7 The independent samples t-test in the two groups' pre-test component scores Table 4.8 The means of the total speaking pre-test and post-test in the control group Table 4.9 The pair sample t-test of the total speaking scores in the control group Table 4.10 The means of total speaking pre-test and post-test in the experimental group

Table 4.11 The pair sample t-test of the total speaking scores in the experimental group

Table 4.12 The means of the two groups in their total post-test speaking scores Table 4.13 The Independent Samples T-Test for the post-test total scores

Table 4.14 The post-test means of component scores of the two groups

Table 4.15 The independent samples t-test in the two groups' post-test component scores

Table 4.16 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 1

Table 4.17 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 2

Table 4.18 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 3

Table 4.19 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 4

Table 4.20 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 5

Table 4.21 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 6

Table 4.22 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 7

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 The pre-test and post-test non-equivalent group design

Figure 4.1 Histogram of Pre-test

Figure 4.2 Histogram of Post-test

Figure 4.3 The Boxplot of the pre-test

Figure 4.4 Q-Q plot of pretest

Figure 4.5 Q-Q plot of posttest

Figure 4.6 The formula of effect size

Figure 4.7 The interpretation of effect size

Figure 4.8 The calculation for effect size of the pre-test Independent Samples T-Test Figure 4.9 The calculation for the power of the pre-test independent samples t-test Figure 4.10 The calculation for effect size of the pre-test Independent Samples T-Test

of grammatical range and accuracy scores

Figure 4.11 The calculation for the power of the pre-test independent samples t-test

of grammatical range and accuracy scores

Figure 4.12 The calculation for effect size in the post-test Independent Samples Test for fluency and coherence

T-Figure 4.13 The calculation for the power of test in the post-test Independent Samples T-Test for fluency and coherence

Figure 4.14 The calculation for effect size in the post-test Independent Samples Test for grammatical range and accuracy

T-Figure 4.15 The calculation for the power of test in the post-test Independent Samples T-Test for grammatical range and accuracy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 3

1.3 Aims of the study 5

1.4 Research Questions 5

1.5 The significance of the study 5

1.6 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Speaking skills 7

2.1.1 Definition of speaking 7

2.1.2 The components of speaking 9

2.1.3 The teaching and learning context of English speaking 11

2.2 EFL student’s learning attitude 14

2.2.1 Definition of attitude 14

2.2.2 Components of attitude 15

2.2.3 Student’s attitude in language learning 15

2.2.4 Student’s attitudes and English speaking 17

2.3 TPS and EFL learner’s speaking skills 19

2.3.1 Definition and characteristics of TPS 19

23.2 Justification for TPS 21

2.3.2.1 TPS and cooperative learning 23

2.3.2.2 TPS and autonomous learning 24

2.4 Research on TPS application in teaching speaking skills 25

2.4.1 Previous related studies on the effects of TPS on student’s speaking performance 25

2.4.2 Previous related studies on student’s attitude toward the implementation of TPS in speaking lesons 28

ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

vii

2.4.3 Previous studies on applying TPS in teaching speaking skills in Vietnam 30

2.4.4 Research gap 31

2.5 Chapter summary 31

CHAPER 3 - METHODOLOGY 32

3.1 Site and sampling 32

3.2 Participants 33

3.3 Research design 35

3.3.1 Research methodology 35

3.3.2 Research instruments 38

3.3.2.1 Speaking tests 38

3.3.2.2 Interview 39

3.4 Validity and reliability 42

3.4.1 Test validity and reliability 42

3.4.2 Interview validity and reliability 43

3.5 Analytical framework 44

3.5.1 Tests 44

3.5.2 Interview 45

3.6 The schedule of the study 46

3.7 The teaching procedure 47

3.8 Chapter summary 49

CHAPTER 4 - DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 50

4.1 ANALYSIS OF THE TESTS AND RESEARCH QUESTION 1 50

4.1.1 Assessing normality 50

4.1.2 Analyzing for data normal distribution 54

4.1.2.1 Q-Q Plot 54

4.1.2.2 Shapiro-Wilk normality test 56

4.1.3 Calculating G- power for a small sample size study 56

4.1.4 Calculating effect size 57

4.1.5 Calculating eta squared 58

4.1.6 Comparing means of total speaking pre-test scores between groups 59

4.1.7 Comparing means of component pre-test scores between groups 61

4.1.8 Comparing means of total scores within groups 66

4.1.8.1 Comparing means of total scores within the control group 66

4.1.8.2 Comparing means of total scores within the experimental group 67

4.1.9 Comparing means of the total post-test scores between two groups 68

4.1.10 Comparing means of post-test component scores between two groups 69

4.1.11 Summary of the T-Tests analysis 76

4.2 Analysis of the interview 76

4.3 Summary of the interview analysis 82

4.4 Discussion of findings 83

4.4.1 Participant’s speaking skills 83

4.4.2 Participants’ attitudes towards the treatment 85

4.5 Chapter summary 87

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 88

5.1 Conclusions 88

5.2 Evaluation of the research methodology 89

5.2.1 Strengths 89

5.2.2 Weaknesses 90

5.3 Recommendations for implementation of TPS 91

5.4 Suggestions for further research 92

5.5 Chapter summary 92

REFERENCES 93

APPENDICES 108

Appendix A1: CEFR level descriptors 108

Appendix A2: Timetable of the experiment for the EG 109

Appendix A3: Timetable of the experiment for the CG 110

Appedix A4: Teaching schedule of the program 111

Appendix B1: Oral proficiency scoring categories 120

Appendix B2: Speaking pre-test 125

Appendix B3: Speaking post-test 125

Appendix B4: Scores of CG 126

Appendix B5: Scores of EG 126

Appendix B6: Scores of two raters in the CG 127

Appendix B7: Scores of two raters in the EG 128

Appendix C1 Thematic Content Analysis of Question 1 129

Appendix C2: Thematic Content Analysis of Question 2 131

Appendix C3: Thematic Content Analysis of Question 3 132

Appendix C4: Thematic Content Analysis of Question 4 133

Appendix C5: Thematic Content Analysis of Question 5 135

Appendix C6: Thematic Content Analysis of Question 6 135

Appendix C7: Thematic Content Analysis of Question 7 136

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION

There are six sections in the introductory chapter, which begins with a discussion of the study's context, identifies the difficulty Vietnamese students have with their speaking skill, outlines the study's purpose and research questions, explains its significance, and describes the structure of the study

1.1 Background to the study

Since English is now considered an international language (Rao, 2019), anyone who wants to be a global citizen needs to know how to speak it well Even though it is important to learn English, it would be hard for an EFL student to speak English well and correctly As a result, teachers and researchers in the field of EFL teaching have always paid a great deal of attention to the search for effective teaching and learning strategies that promote the learning and teaching of speaking ability the most

The situation of English teaching and learning in Vietnam is by no means exceptional English was first introduced in Vietnam in 1980 It is regarded as "knowledge about the miracles of science and technology," "a better standard of living" (Denham, 1992,

p 64), and "an unquestionable asset" or an "English language fever" (Le, 2007, p 172) for any Vietnamese seeking a well-paid job in foreign companies

The 10-year national plan for teaching and learning foreign languages in the national formal education system (N0 1400/QD-TTg) which was released on September 30,

2008, uses the 6-level Common European Framework of Reference for Language Testing (CEFR) as the standard for evaluating English learning in Vietnam and encourages Vietnamese educational institutions to actively create and implement bilingual programs Based on that, high school graduates are required to reach level

3 (CEFR B1, 4.0–5.0 IELTS, 500–780 TOEIC)

Since 2010, when English has been included in primary schools and all high school grades The role of learning English has been changed Phan (2017) stated that the role, function, and perception of English as a global language have changed, and that English as an International Language (EIL) has been proposed as a paradigm shift in

English language teaching and learning to meet this requirement

While the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recently (2018) put an emphasis on practical communication skills to help Vietnamese students become better global citizens, Hoang (2018), on the other hand, stated that Vietnamese classrooms still focus on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and structural patterns to help students pass tests at the end of school and get into college Also, while new pre-service and in-service teacher training programs stress communicative teaching, Vietnamese teachers still use traditional methods to teach English after training sessions, which shows that English teaching methods have not changed

Harmer (2007) asserted that speaking is more than just learning the language; it shows both language knowledge and the ability to handle information and language at the time of speaking This means that learners need good teaching and learning methods and strategies to help them develop their speaking skills in a complete way Burns (2019) argued that a good speaking teacher must understand the "combinatorial" nature of speech, including its linguistic and discoursal parts, the essential speaking skills that allow speakers to process and create speech, and the communication strategies for managing and keeping spoken relationships

For English learners to practice speaking, it is helpful and possible to have teaching methods and strategies that get students involved in communicative situations So far, many researchers have proposed methods to improve speaking skills (Derakhsan et al., 2016; Ghapanchi & Taheryan, 2012; Kumin & Rahman, 2010; Norimah et al., 2010; Oxford, 1990; Ratchi, 2010; and Zhiping & Paramasivam, 2013) Therefore, in this study, the researcher looked at and analyzed the results of a study on how TPS (think-pair-share) affects how well students speak in a Vietnamese classroom Think-Pair-Share (TPS) is a part of the cooperative learning strategy, and Ismail et

al (2023) claimed that it helps students develop skills like critical thinking, teamwork, communication, and social competence, among others Also, research by

Ardhy (2018), Misria et al (2019), and Singh et al (2020) proved that TPS has a large and positive effect on how well students speak

The researcher who did this study investigated how TPS affects students' speaking skills in a Vietnamese teaching setting

1.2 Statement of the problem

It is said that that ELT policies in Vietnam do not always involve scholars and practitioners, who are the intended audience (Hoang, 2012, as cited in Vu and Burns, 2014; Le, 2007, as cited in Cao and Hoang, 2016) As a result, Vietnamese students has incurred multiple consequences

The first consequence lies in the textbook issues Different sets of textbooks cause programming discontinuity and confusion across learning levels (Nguyen, n.d.; Tien, 2013) Following the 2002 MOET textbook project, there are two different sets of textbooks applied for secondary and high schools, including standard textbooks for non-specialized and specialized science students and advanced textbooks for humanities major students The textbooks are also supposed to lack communicative practice, realistic language use, unpredictability, and the necessity for communicative tactics (Nguyen, 2007)

Second, it is said that Vietnamese schools seem to put more emphasis on exam preparation than on listening and speaking skills when they teach English The school-taught English is also considered as inadequate for jobs This is a reason why English instruction is not as good and why students do not want to learn it Naturally, the lack of language contexts will inhibit teacher-student communication (Nga, 2020) As a result, most students can read and understand some topics but cannot write, speak, or communicate (Denham, 1992; Le & Barnard, 2009; Nguyen, 2016,

as cited in Vu, 2022; Tien, 2013; Van, 2008, as cited in Vu and Burns, 2014)

Third, Vietnamese students lack confidence in speaking English Hoang (2019) noted that the majority of students fear speaking English in class even when they score well

in grammar, reading, and writing Students are also worried about how they will

sound and are afraid of making mistakes when they speak The fear of making mistakes while speaking is one of the worst habits of Vietnamese students, caused by their teachers, who offer poor grades to students for their incorrect responses ("Learning English", n.d.)

Besides, Vietnamese learners face a lot of difficulties with English pronunciation since Vietnamese is tonal and its final sounds are silent or nasal They have problems with pronouncing the final consonant, which they usually leave out Similarly, Vietnamese does not have equivalent sounds for some English consonants, making it difficult for Vietnamese speakers to pronounce Also, they usually mispronounce long vowel sounds as short vowel sounds because there are no long vowel sounds in Vietnamese ("Common mistakes", 2019) It is stated by Nga (2020) that native English speakers often cannot understand Vietnamese students' English

Last but not least, when there are too many students and not enough teachers, teaching and learning are not as good as they could be In large classes, teaching English requires individual attention, while it is a big challenge for the teachers to remember their students' names The lack of space also makes it hard to use games and other activities that involve speaking (Nguyen, 2021)

The scenario calls for new ways to teach EFL students, specifically non-English majors at a university In this study, in order to find solutions to the problems of poor speaking skills and negative attitudes toward learning If it is the case, the long history

of TPS helping teaching and learning how to speak well will help both teachers and students a lot when it comes to teaching and learning English Even though there have not been many studies done on teaching and learning in Vietnam and the researcher was very impressed by the results of the few studies that have been done, there are still concerns:

If TPS is applied in a Vietnamese-English-speaking context, will it remain positive?

1 To what extent will TPS affect the Vietnamese student’s speaking

performance as well as their attitudes towards its use?

2 Thus, the current study is being done in response to all of the worries listed

above

1.3 Aims of the study

This study aims to investigate the impact of using TPS on student’s speaking performance and their changes in learning attitude The research questions are as follows

1 Exploring to what extent TPS affects the speaking performance of Vietnamese English major students at Hutech Foreign language center

non-2 Investigating the attitudes of Vietnamese non-English major students at Hutech Foreign language center toward the use of TPS in speaking classrooms

1.5 The significance of the study

Theoretically, this study will help TPS, which has been used and supported around the world, continue to be successful It also examines how TPS was applied to a specific group of participants, a specific research site, and a specific data analysis method This can lead to the development of a more thorough analysis of this technique Concerning the practical aspects, it is anticipated that this study will contribute to our understanding of the effects of TPS on speaking ability as well as the attitudes of learners toward the treatment, which can be utilized to inform future learning and teaching activities

At the same time, the study is expected to provide deep insights into the actual

practicalities of TPS to enable teachers or those who look for ways to teach speaking skills effectively in an EFL classroom to perceive the benefits of it

1.6 Organization of the study

The study contains five chapters Chapter 1 describes context for the research issue, identifies real-world challenges in teaching and learning English speaking skills, and addresses the study's goals, significance, and research questions Chapter 2 examines the literature related to the research issue, the conceptual framework of TPS, the benefits of TPS to the learner's speaking skills, the process to use TPS, and the related studies that aid to identify the gaps in this study The third chapter describes the research design, research procedures, research instruments Chapter 4 describes the data collected from the experiment to test the improvement in learners' speaking skills, as well as the data collected from the interviews to uncover learners' attitudes towards their learning, along with a discussion of the findings Chapter 5 provides an overview of the study, including a description of the key findings, the study's strengths and limitations, and recommendations for how TPS should be used in the future, which could make this experiment more comprehensive if it were repeated

CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter examines the relevant literature It is divided into four main sections The first section examines speaking skills The second section reviews on student’s learning attitudes The third section introduces the TPS and EFL learner’s speaking skills The fourth section demonstrates research on TPS application in teaching speaking skills as well as addresses the research gap Finally, it is a summary of the whole chapter

2.1 Speaking skills

Reading and listening are known as receptive skills through which the learners obtain the language content while speaking together with writing is regarded as productive skills which means the learners produce the language content in forms of spoken or written language (Davies,1976) According to Hossain (2015), learners are supposed

to face most difficulties in learning productive skills Also, the learners need a certain amount of time reading and listening to the language before they can comfortably produce their oral speech (Oxford, 1990) Hence, learning speaking skills is regarded

as an important and difficult task for a learner to master

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

Usually, the focus of speaking is on "motor perceptual skills," and the production of speech is shown by the auditory signals made by a listener in response to the information received (Bygate, 1987: 5–6, as cited in Torky, 2006) In accordance with this, Cornbleet and Carter (2001:18) described speaking as the "recognized and systematic" arrangement of sounds based on language-specific principles to generate

"meaningful utterances" Clearly, this perspective focuses on identifying the little units that contribute to the production of speech

On the other hand, many researchers described speaking in a way that put more emphasis on its role as a way to communicate The point of speaking, they said, is to change information and messages Widdowson (2008) pointed out that speaking is called a communicative process because it has both receptive and productive parts

However, it is more productive than receptive because it has more to do with the oral system than the visual system Brown and Yule (1983) also saw speech as a way to communicate needs, ask for information, ask for help, etc (Brown, 1983) Hosni (2014) said something similar when he said that speaking is the active use of language

to communicate meaning

Chaney and Burk (1998, as cited by Kayi, 2006) stated that speaking is "the process

of constructing and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of situations," which requires a lot of skill and practice (p 13) Roswati and Zain (2014), who were cited by Desta (2017), argued that speaking is the interaction between a speaker and an interlocutor through which information is passed on orally

Leong and Ahmadi (2017) also argued that "speaking is one of the most important skills to learn and improve in order to communicate effectively" (p 34) They claimed this to show how important speaking skills are for good communication Raba (2017) also suggested that speech is "a way for people to interact, talk, discuss, and share their own ideas and perceptions about their surroundings" (p 12)

In conclusion, the above definitions of speaking can be summed up as the ability to verbally communicate thoughts or ideas in a conversation so that the goals of the people involved can be met To process speaking performance, a speaker needs to be able to form meaningful sentences based on the rules of the language At the same time, the speaker is required to be able to manage how to communicate effectively based on the context they are involved in so that they can make sure the listeners understand the messages they are trying to explain

Such a demanding task as speaking obviously can cause English-speaking learners a lot of uneasy feelings and emotions, such as the fear of being judged by others, the feeling of being unready to speak, the difficulties in finding the right words to express

an idea, etc., which easily demotivate those learners in their speaking lessons without

a suitable and helpful teaching method and strategies used by their teachers

2.1.2 The components of speaking

Speaking is often comprised of the following five elements: (1) pronunciation, (2) grammar, (3) vocabulary, (4) fluency, and (5) comprehension (Harris, 1974; Brown, 2004; Fulcher and Davidson, 2006) Of the five components, pronunciation and fluency are more closely related to physical characteristics Pronunciation is the study

of how the words of a language are produced clearly when people speak, whereas fluency focuses on how a speaker can provide fluent and accurate speech production with minimal pauses, such as "ums" and "ers", etc As for grammar and vocabulary, which are more closely associated with linguistic features, grammar refers to how well students are able to construct correct sentences in conversation, whereas vocabulary focuses on selecting the appropriate words or phrases to effectively express ideas or communicate For the final component, comprehension in speaking, speakers must be able to properly reply, speak, and initiate the communication

As mentioned previously, learning to speak a language is primarily for communication Furthermore, communicative competence is a concept that describes the ability of a native speaker to make adequately "spontaneous" interaction among native speakers, which requires the speakers to know more than just "linguistic code", meaning not only how to say something but what to say and when to say it" (Savignon, 1976, p 4) In other words, to speak the language, the learners need to know not only about the knowledge of the language but also how to use it While

“knowing the knowledge of the language” involves grammatical and sociolinguistic competence, "how to use knowledge of language" deals with discourse and strategic competence, which support interactions with others (Savignon, 1976, p 4) Thus, the speaking process can also be examined in terms of linguistic and nonlinguistic characteristics, which can be grouped into the four main competences of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence Likewise, Swan (1985) and Harmer (2007, as cited in Utama et al., 2013) also mentioned that speaking is the combination of the four components: grammar, sociolinguistics, discourse, and strategy As can be seen, these researchers

all analyzed the four components from the two broader elements: "the "knowledge of language" and "how to use the knowledge of language"

Besides, Bygate (1991, as cited in Mart, 2012) also stated that speaking competence consists of two broad elements: knowledge of the language and the ability to use the language However, Bygate (1991) emphasized that knowledge of the language is supposed to be related to the mastery of six elements: grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, structure, fluency, and accuracy, whereas skill in using the knowledge is regarded as a matter of social, discursive, and strategic competence Furthermore, Bygate analyzed and divided speaking competence into two aspects: production skills and interaction skills Both production skills and interaction skills are affected by processing conditions and reciprocity conditions Processing condition means speech

is produced under a certain pressure of time, while reciprocity condition lies in the fact that there should be a mutual relationship between interlocutors The way Bygate classified speaking skill into more smaller components helps teachers and students have a clearer understanding of what speaking involves

In other words, Burkart (1998) believed that speaking entails three types of knowledge: mechanics, functions, and social and cultural rules and norms The first component, the mechanics, should contain correct pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary Therefore, it demands the ability to employ the correct words in the correct order with the correct pronunciation The second component, functions, is divided into transaction and interaction categories When message clarity is needed,

it is referred to as a "transaction" or "information Exchange” When perfect comprehension is not required, it is an "interaction" or "relationship development The third component—the social and cultural rules and norms—is elaborated as turn-taking, rate of speech, and length of pause between speakers, as well as the roles of participants This means that speakers must be able to "consider who is speaking to whom, under what circumstances, about what, and for what reason." (Burkart, 1998, p.11)

In conclusion, communicative competence is viewed as a combination of production and interaction skill It is comprised of four subcomponents: grammar, sociolinguistics, discourse, and strategy These subcomponents are derived from the two primary parts of speaking, namely language knowledge and language usage skill (Savignon, 1976; Swan, 1984; Harmer, 2007) It can also be broken down into six subcomponents connected to language knowledge, including grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, structure, fluency, and accuracy, and three sub-components linked to language use, including sociolinguistics, discourse, and strategic competence (Bygate, 1991) By evaluating the mechanical aspect of speech, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary should be identified Regarding the social and cultural rules and norms that speaking entails, turn-taking, speech rate, and length

of pause between speakers, as well as the roles of participants, are elaborated (Burkart, 1998) Through such factors, the speaking performance of the students can

be monitored and evaluated

2.1.3 The teaching and learning context of English speaking

Nowadays, as argued by Luoma (2004), English speaking is becoming very necessary because it reflects "a person’s personality, self-image, knowledge of the world, ability

to reason, and skill to express thoughts in real-time" (Boonkit, 2010: 9) Hence, English speaking skills should be developed to enhance learners’ communication achievements

When teaching theories are made, different things are thought about how important each of the four language skills is, especially how important the speaking skill is The Grammar-Translation Method mostly disregards speaking skill, while the Direct Way refers to it as a "main skill." Even if oral discourse is imitative and predictable, the audiolingual approach also puts a focus on speaking Until the Cognitive Method's grammatical syllabus, all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are taught together More recently, in the Communicative Language Approach, speaking is learned with different forms of interaction and contexts

requiring the speakers to identify "the discourse genre and the roles of participants", whereas the role of linguistic or grammatical competence seems to be neglected until

it improves gradually later (Dakowska, 2005, p 105)

While English is widely used around the world, which proves how necessary it is for everyone to learn to speak it fluently, learning to speak English as a foreign language faces a great number of problems Speaking in a second language or foreign language

is seen as the most demanding of the four skills (Bailey and Savage, 1994) Obviously, mastering the art of speaking a foreign language is not an easy matter Developing speaking competence was challenging and time-consuming (Luoma, 2004), no matter how much they knew about the language or how long they studied

in the foreign country (Hosni, 2014; Lee, 2009)

As a result, identifying the difficulties that EFL learners have in learning English speaking skills is needed to help them find ways to improve their speaking competence A literature review on the topic led the researcher to discover that the main difficulties in learning to speak come from two main sources, which are identified as linguistic problems (refereed to the knowledge of the language) and non-linguistic problems (refereed to the ability to use the language)

In general, speaking is a mix of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, structure, fluency, and accuracy When speaking, a student must face all of the problems that these parts create Rahmaniah et al (2019) identified the following difficulties faced

by the students: the incorrect use of standard phrases (grammar aspect), slow and uneven speech (fluency aspect), the difficulty in understanding caused by a heavy accent (pronunciation aspect), the lack of vocabulary (limited to basic personal and survival areas), and the difficulty in comprehending the content (only understanding slow, very simple speech with constant repetition) (comprehension aspect)

As such, a common way to help students improve their speaking ability is to have the teacher cover all aspects of speaking, including grammar and vocabulary, and control interactions in terms of "who says what, to whom, when, and about what?" (Nunan,

1999) Doan (2011) also suggested that teachers could assist students in acquiring

"communicative competence" and reducing their error rate in order to improve speaking This includes strengthening "pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical and functional patterns, and cultivating a "habit of thinking in English."

More importantly, since speaking also includes nonlinguistic issues, teaching speaking skills must also deal with those related matters It was agreed by Torky (2006) and Ur (1996) that the "fear of making mistakes" is the primary factor preventing students from speaking since students mostly confront inhibition (the sensation of humiliation that prevents them from speaking) The lack of vocabulary (Heriansyah, 2012), the lack of speaking opportunities, excessive self-monitoring, and forming first-language utterances in the classroom were also believed to add up

to the primary causes of the problems (Aleksandrzak, 1996; Hosni, 2014)

Most importantly, speaking is a face-to-face, interactive activity that happens in real time (Torky, 2006) This makes it hard for EFL learners to deal with a wide range of unplanned situations during speaking time.In the same way, the goal of teaching speaking has changed from teaching students how to talk to improving their ability

to communicate (Kayi, 2006; Prasetiya, 2019).Such difficulties require teachers to find ways to involve students in the learning process robustly and in an environment that highly supports and motivates them (Kassem, 2018)

In response to those concerns mentioned above, numerous ideas were made for how teachers may help students improve their speaking skills The literature review showed that TPS should work to get students to learn better, improve their oral communication skills, and create an environment where students can work together

to learn (Raba, 2017) Notably, numerous studies have demonstrated that TPS can help students improve their speaking performance, such as in (Ardhy, 2018; Asilestari, 2016; Desta, 2017; Sari, 2016; Singh et al., 2020; Syafii, 2018; Usman, 2015) It also helps students overcome the main challenges of public speaking classes, such as lack of confidence, lack of speaking opportunities, fear of making mistakes

or embarrassment, etc (Afrilian, 2018; Mundelsee and Jurkowski, 2021; Phan and

Do, 2021; Singh et al., 2020)

In other words, the researcher considered doing this study since there is a lot of evidence that TPS helps students improve their speaking skills

2.2 EFL student’s learning attitude

A successful learner, according to Prodromou (1992), is one who has positive attitudes toward the target language If learners have negative attitudes toward any type of teaching attempt, the language policy will most likely fail (Guven, 2015) De Bot and Verspoor (2005) asserted that while learning is helped by positive attitudes, negative attitudes reduce learners' enthusiasm to learn a language Hence, studying

on student’s learning attitude toward the subjects or a specific skill has gained attention from many researchers

2.2.1 Definition of attitude

In general, attitude was defined as "an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual’s beliefs or opinion about the referent" (Gardner, 1985, as cited in Wattanawong, 2022; Purwanto 1994) Similarly, it was considered "an evaluation of an object of thought" which can be "the mundane" or

"the abstract", or anything a person can hold in his mind, "including things, people, groups, and ideas" (Bohner and Dickel, 2011: 392) It was also defined by Riantica (2021) as a response that someone has to anything after being stimulated

In other ways, Day and Bamford (1998) said that an attitude is the mental pattern that shows up when you think positively or negatively about a certain person In line with this, Walker et al (2013) claimed that attitude describes emotions and feelings related

to objects that come from prior experiences The term was also considered a collection of social cognitions that are constantly forming, stabilizing, and altering (Alharbi, 2022), or it referred to "a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor" (Eagley and Chaiken, 1993:1, as cited in Walker, 2013: 39)

From the definitions mentioned above, it can be concluded that attitude can be used

as a term to express people's thoughts and feelings towards certain circumstances or objects they are involved in It can reflect social cognition or psychological tendency

in a form of evaluation with some degree of liking or disliking

2.2.2 Components of attitude

Wenden (1991) proposed a three-component definition of attitudes: cognitive, affective, and behavioral (as cited in Wattanawong, 2022) The first one is the cognitive component, which is concerned with beliefs, opinions, and thoughts about

a particular object or situation It represents an individual's understanding of what is true or false, good or bad, reflecting learners' attitudes toward the information they receive and their comprehension of it during the learning process Together with this, the second component is called “affective” which represents feelings and emotions toward an object The final element is behavioral This component is concerned with how people act and respond in specific situations

The classification of three elements of attitude was also used in (Baker, 1992, as cited

in Orfan, 2020) Similarly, Brown (2022) also reclaimed that a person's attitude is a reflection of their feelings toward an object (affective), their understanding of the thing (cognitive), and how they behave when they come into contact with the object (behavioral) Together, these three factors produce overall assessments of the thing that range from favorably to unfavorably

2.2.3 Student’s attitude in language learning

Learner attitudes shape students' beliefs about the language and influence their behavior; thus, learner attitudes are crucial in language learning (Gardner & Lambert, 1972) In fact, learning attitudes are believed to either help or hinder language learning (Bayyurt, 2013)

First of all, the student’s attitude is discussed in relation to learning motivation Positive attitudes toward any subject are frequently observed to increase students' motivation to learn as well as their interest in the subject (Kara, 2009; Gardner, 2008,

as cited in Wattanawong, 2022) Gardner (2008) argued that attitudes and motivation are often treated together, which is quite meaningful given that attitudes have motivational properties and motivation has attitudinal implications He further claimed that "it was possible to distinguish between two classes of attitude variables, which are educational and social, and two classes of motivational variables, which are general and task-centered" (p 31)

Besides, the relationship between learning attitude and learning achievement is also put in focus As stated in Alharbi, 2022, the beliefs that students bring to class can have an impact on how well they learn English It was regarded as one of the most important factors influencing language learning and determining language learner success (Alharbi, 2022; Gardner and Lambert cited in Mohammadi, 2012; Shuib, 2009; Walker, 2013)

Similarly, learning attitude was supposed to influence how much effort students put into their language learning (Gardner et al., 1985, as cited in Toomnan, 2015; Krosnick et al., 2005) Besides, the term was also believed to influence how frequently learners use strategies (Oxford, 1990) Hence, it can be concluded that there is a strong relationship between students' attitudes and their learning achievement, together with their frequency of using learning strategies

Students' learning attitudes are thought to be related to some fundamental factors, including psychological, social, academic, and behavioral aspects It was stated by Alharbi that learners' positive attitudes are connected to favorable psychological, social, and academic outcomes Also, Walker (2013) confirmed that a student’s attitude in the classroom is a reflection of how they handle their perceptions of

"academic content" and "learning" as well as "their behaviors" For a plus, Riantica (2021) acknowledged that EFL students' internal thoughts and emotions affect their perceptions of and attitudes toward the target language With attitudes, students can indicate whether they like or dislike objects or the environment

Also, it is evident that learners' attitudes are expected to be influenced by the factors

to which they are related It was generated that learners' attitudes are influenced by the quality of instruction (which includes the teacher, curriculum, and lesson plans), learners' perceptions of the target language, and learners' perceptions of the socio-cultural environment and English language expectations (Gardner, 2006, as cited in Alharbi, 2022) Besides, Aktay and Mermi (2022) pointed out teaching factors that influence students' positive attitudes toward learning English, including the three categories: (1) teaching quality, (2) classroom scenarios, and (3) classroom environment

Hence, teachers have a big part to play in making a learning environment and lesson plans that encourage students to have a good attitude about school Also, measuring language attitudes and the factors that go with them is thought to be important because

it gives teachers and planners of languages useful information

2.2.4 Student’s attitudes and English speaking

Elyidirim and Ashton (2006) suggested that students' attitudes and motivation are complex social, cultural, and psychological factors that determine how they handle many life events, including learning a second language Students with a positive attitude push themselves to work hard and learn second languages more quickly to reach the objective of language acquisition, whereas language acquisition was supposed to be hampered by negative attitudes toward the target language (Ashton, 2006)

Zeinivand et al (2015) investigated the relationship between attitude and speaking ability among 70 participants who were Iranian EFL learners The findings showed that the relationship between attitude and speaking proficiency was recorded as significant

On the same topic, research conducted by Toomnan (2015) revealed that students who had a favorable attitude about speaking English were more talkative, responsive, and outgoing They were found to be highly active in responding to queries and transferring ideas On the other hand, the students with negative attitudes tended to

be more reserved and passive in their learning Similarly, Zeinivand et al (2015) investigated the correlation between attitude and speaking proficiency in the Iranian EFL context The analyses revealed that EFL learners had a very positive attitude towards learning English, and the relationship between attitude and speaking proficiency was positive

In another case, Toomnan (2015) looked at how 949 Thai university students in the northeast of Thailand who were majoring in English used communication strategies and how they felt about speaking English The findings showed that students with a positive attitude towards speaking English reported significantly greater overall strategy use than those with a negative attitude Furthermore, studying the relationship between students' attitudes toward speaking English and oral communication language exposure and communication strategies at a 995 Vietnamese university, Bui and Intaraprasert (2013) indicated that the level of attitude toward speaking English is strongly related to the use of communication strategies Besides, Chalak and Kassian (2010) noted that students who have positive attitudes toward English-speaking people want to communicate with members of the English-speaking community They are capable of resolving issues and maintaining their own affect (Kara, 2009, p.102)

Notably, Soomro and Farooq (2018) aimed at investigating the impact of various factors on the attitude of the learners toward learning speaking skills and developing

an understanding of the factors underlying this problem Their attitude towards learning English as a foreign language was not positive, as they preferred to use their mother tongue and had developed a negative attitude towards the culture of native speakers of English Most students reported that they were worried about making mistakes and felt pressured for better performance The lack of practice with important skills and strategies affected negatively the attitude of learners

From the findings mentioned above, it is reasonable to draw the conclusion that learners with positive attitudes toward speaking are more likely to participate in

speaking activities, have higher motivation, feel more confident, and have better achievement in learning speaking skills They were found to use learning strategies more frequently than those with negative attitudes whereas students with negative attitudes are less likely to participate in the lesson, feel anxious about speaking, have poorer results in their studies, and use learning strategies less frequently

To help students improve their learning attitudes toward their English-speaking skills, the researcher applied TPS to the teaching of English-speaking skills in the experimental groups of this study to determine if TPS could positively affect student speaking performance and their learning attitudes, and to demonstrate its optimal benefits as a collaborative learning technique

2.3 TPS and EFL learner’s speaking skills

2.3.1 Definition and characteristics of TPS

Usman (2015) characterized TPS succinctly as a cooperative discussion technique that engages students in the process of creating individual thoughts and then sharing them with another student It is mentioned that Lyman and his colleagues at Maryland University created the method (as cited in Shih and Reyolds, 2015) in 1981 According to Lyman (1985, as cited in Kristianwan, 2013), TPS gives students with

"food for thought" on the assigned topic, allowing them to form their own perspective and discuss it with other students

This technique is commonly recommended by Lyman to be implemented in three steps (1987) In the first step (thinking step), the teacher delivers a question and gives students approximately one minute to formulate a suitable response As part of the teaching and learning process, the students may share the ideas that occur to them as responses to the instructor's inquiries Next, during the second step (the pairing step), students are asked to exchange their responses with a partner In the third and final step (sharing), students can share their responses with a four-person learning team, a larger group, or the full class during a follow-up discussion This technique improves the quality of the discussion, and all students have the opportunity to learn through

contemplation and verbalization (Jones, 2006)

While several researchers have described TPS as a three-step process (thinking, pairing, and sharing) as in (Arends, 2008; Jone, 2006; Kusrini, 2012; Lightner and Tomaswick, 2017; Usman, 2015), Jone (2006) presented a variant of the TPS in which step 3 is prolonged After sharing ideas with one friend, students may be requested to share with another friend or within a group of four or a bigger group prior to sharing ideas with the entire class during a subsequent discussion This concept is consistent with the sharing step concept of Kagan (1992), who presented

a new version of TPS known as Think-Pair-Square-Share (TPSS) He presented TPSS

in four steps First, the teacher poses a question to which students individually respond (Think) Second, students are instructed to discuss the question in pairs (Pair) Students then discuss the question in groups of three or more (Square) Students then share their answers with the class as a whole In other words, the TPSS model addresses the following four steps: (1) Reflecting on the topic, (2) discussing

it in pairs, (3) communicating again in a square (in a bigger group), and (4) presenting

it to other squares or the entire class

The researcher applied TPS to the teaching of English-speaking skills to the experimental groups of this study to determine if TPS could positively affect student speaking performance and learning attitudes toward speaking, as well as to demonstrate its optimal benefits as a collaborative learning technique

Following a learning procedure in which students are given sufficient time to consider

a subject or topic on their own (during the thinking step) and are engaged in meaningful contexts for communicating with numerous opportunities for group work (during the pairing step), they can actively participate in their lessons while also enhancing their autonomous learning and critical thinking (Ningsih et al., 2019; Nugraha et al., 2018; Sumarni, 2016, as cited in Quazi, 2020) As a result, the unpleasant sensations that students typically experience during speaking time can be mitigated or eliminated in a TPS lecture

In particular, because students are regarded the subject of learning in TPS lessons, a democratic environment is created in which students feel free to make proposals and engage in debates with one another without fear of instructor or peer judgment (Sharma & Saarsa, 2018) According to Lie (2010, as cited in Albusari, 2013), learning with TPS allows students to work freely and cooperatively, maximizing their participation in the learning process, and being relevant to various subjects and student ages This aids in preventing the uneven participation of students, which is a common issue in speaking lessons in general

23.2 Justification for TPS

Hastoyo (2010) argued that in order to have good competence in speaking, students require both physical and psychological performance, as the inability to organize knowledge, having poor micro-skills, or having psychological problems are commonly regarded as factors that can hinder speaking performance Responding to the issue, Chelghoum (2016) addressed that applying the social constructivist approach to the teaching of speaking skills helps solve problems related to psychological variables, such as fear, lack of confidence, or lack of desire, which cause the majority of students to be unwilling to talk

Constructivism is "the philosophical view that individuals create their own understanding of reality." (Oxford 1997) Constructivists think that we "construct" meaning through interaction with our environment The second philosophical foundation of constructivism is epistemology, which is concerned with the origin, foundation, boundaries, and validity of knowledge, concentrating on the questions

"What is knowledge?" and "How much does the knower contribute to the knowing process?" Therefore, constructivism was characterized differently It was developed from the idea of Piaget (1954, as cited in Oxford 1997) which proposed that the child

is a 'lone scientist' who creates his or her own sense of the world In other words, biological development occurs through organization and adaptation to the environment, and cognitive development occurs within a social context According

to Wang (2014), constructivism is an approach in education that requires learners to understand the information they construct themselves rather than receiving it passively This learning theory emphasizes that learning is a social advancement involving four elements: (1) the language, (2) the real-world situations, (3) the interactions, and (4) the collaborations among learners It means learning should be

at the center, and the learners should play an active role in their learning procedure

In line with that, Liang (2002) asserted that constructivism has a significant impact

on cooperative learning's student-centered orientation To sum up, the central idea of constructivism was that learning was an active process in which students built new ideas or concepts based on their prior or present knowledge (Bruner, 1966, 1973, as cited in Liang 2002)

In such a circumstance, TPS was considered to be established on cooperative and autonomous learning philosophies, both of which are rooted in the constructivism learning theory, which attempts to help students overcome several frequent language acquisition barriers (Fidrayani and Fauzia, 2018) In fact, constructivism is a theory

of learning that serves as a term for a spectrum of theories and models of learning in which cooperative learning is a key component (Kintsch, 2009, as cited in Ramsook, 2018: 150) On the other hand, constructivism is also believed to have a significant impact on the promotion of learner autonomy or autonomous learning in contemporary language teaching and learning (Wang, 2011)

In the constructivist perspective, Lie (2002) stressed that TPS inspires students to work freely and cooperatively, fostering both peer contact and positive interdependence It especially creates more opportunities for students to interact with one another during the lesson In the same vein, Ledlow (2001) asserted that TPS classes receive a strong response from students, and the students are kept on task Through critical thinking and meaningful participation, TPS improves students' oral communication skills and supports democratic behavior when students are permitted

to offer recommendations and arguments

In a word, TPS is consequently identified as a viable technique for teaching speaking skills as it fosters meaningful interaction between learners and builds up learner autonomy Accordingly, on the basis of constructivism, the TPS framework is now presented in relation to autonomous learning and cooperative learning

2.3.2.1 TPS and cooperative learning

According to Slavin (1980), cooperative learning is a classroom strategy in which

"students work on learning activities in small groups and receive rewards or recognition based on their group's performance" (p 315) The definition emphasized the group work rewarded in TPS lessons and highlighted that TPS can encourage students' participation It is then elaborated in Slavin (1995) that cooperative learning

is an instructional strategy that emphasizes thinking skills, promotes higher-order learning, and works to improve racial relations while preparing students for a workforce that is becoming more collaborative Besides, Sharma (2018) made the case that cooperative learning strategies utilized by teachers in classroom interactions contribute to creating an interactive, dynamic, cooperative, and democratic learning environment

Characterizing cooperative learning, there are five main components (Johnson, Johnson, and Smith, 2006, as cited in Altamimi, 2014): (1) Positive interdependence (students need to work together to accomplish shared learning goals), (2) individual accountability (each team member is accountable for contributing to the group’s success), (3) promotional interaction (students must interact with one another to complete the job and the group's common objectives), and (4) interpersonal and social skills (such as providing helpful criticism, coming to an agreement, communicating clearly and honestly, and including every person in the learning process) (5) group processing (members of the group must evaluate their roles and contributions to the accomplishment of each task)

To conclude, as TPS (think-pair-Share) is identified as one of the cooperative learning

strategies, It simply carries the typical characteristics of a cooperative learning strategy It is, therefore, promisingly believed to be able to engage students, process knowledge, build communication skills, sharpen their critical thinking, and also encourage them to participate effectively in the teaching-learning process in the classroom through discussion

2.3.2.2 TPS and autonomous learning

The term "autonomous learning" or "learner autonomy" is defined as the "ability to take charge of one’s own learning" (Holec, 1981, as cited in Little, n.d.) In a more pedagogical view, Thanasoulas (2000) mentioned that Rathbone (1971, as cited in Candy, 1991) defined the autonomous learner as "a self-activated maker of meaning," which means the learner plays the role of an active participant in the learning process

in which he is the one who has the volition to make decisions about his own learning With learner autonomy, students can experience the learning process through planned actions and a logical order (Pham and Nguyen, 2021)

In addition, O'Malley and Chamot (1990) noted that learner autonomy involves cognitive processes that transform students into conscious, accountable, and fully integrated members of society This strategy helps a student gain self-confidence while decreasing his dependence on an instructor Students are therefore independent

in all elements of learning, including goal formulation, resource selection, and outcome evaluation Consequently, it fosters an environment conducive to learning and mandates a firm and friendly teacher-student interaction

Besides, Qamar (2016) underlined that learner autonomy assists students in overcoming speaking difficulties such as shyness, anxiety, and fear of a new language It also stimulates peer interaction and is "a goal associated with motivation" (Garcia & Pintrich, 1996; Brown, 2001) Thus, students become more accountable for their own learning, more tolerant, and more likely to speak in the target language during group and project work At that point, the instructor will only serve as a guide, role model, and evaluator

The advantages of learner autonomy are characterized clearly in the TPS technique in the sense that TPS encourages learner autonomy in addition to boosting peer interaction since it places students at the center of learning activities while the teacher's responsibility is to guide and organize learning When more students participate in classroom activities, such as a debate, or when they communicate with others in an enjoyable and productive learning environment, they are actually encouraged to have active performances (Lie, 2002) Notably, when students respond enthusiastically, they are kept on task (Ledlow, 2001)

Furthermore, Sharma and Saarsar (2018) underlined that TPS had a great impact on increasing students' problem-solving abilities since, through group discussions, students build up critical thinking and communication skills Simultaneously, teamwork among students and their self-esteem are enhanced Consequently, in TPS lessons, the teaching-learning process becomes more engaging and enjoyable, and students' cognitive abilities and speaking abilities are also enhanced

In a nutshell, TPS courses offer numerous benefits in terms of autonomous learning

It can help students enhance their English-speaking abilities by increasing peer engagement, as well as strengthen their critical thinking, communication, and cognitive skills in a fun and engaging learning setting The conducive learning environment will play a crucial role in encouraging students to engage more with one another, thereby helping them overcome their shyness, anxiety, or lack of drive when speaking English

2.4 Research on TPS application in teaching speaking skills

2.4.1 Previous related studies on the effects of TPS on student’s speaking performance

Numerous researchers were interested in utilizing TPS to enhance students' speaking skills Usman (2015) conducted research on the implementation of the Think-Pair-Share technique to enhance students' speaking skills at Stain Ternate Abdurrahim Hi, Indonesia The researcher employed collaborative classroom action research

comprising four steps: planning, execution, observation, and reflection The researcher examined the speaking skills of the students based on the spoken test results and their participation in the implementation of the plan The results demonstrated that the TPS provides aid in enhancing the speaking skills of first-year students in the Department of Islamic Education at STAIN Ternate

In 2016, Asilestari conducted a study to explore the effects of TPS on the improvement of second-year students' speaking skills at Sman 1 Koto Kampar Hulu, Indonesia The researcher employed an experimental design, with speaking tests serving as the research instruments The results of the study indicated that TPS has a considerable favorable influence on students' speaking abilities The benefits were also found to be provided to both teachers and students, as teachers were able to provide meaningful comments and assistance, while students were able to exchange ideas, develop organizational skills, and form lasting friendships in a safe classroom setting

Ardhy (2018) conducted research on the application of TPS in enhancing students' speaking abilities As a research instrument, the researcher used a pre-test of ten sessions of TPS technique for the experimental group, and a post-test after the treatment to conduct quasi-experimental research The study demonstrated that Think-Pair-Share can provide a substantial difference between students taught with and without Think-Pair-Share In addition, the study of the questionnaire revealed that student opinions regarding the application of TPS were extremely favorable Syafii (2018) applied collaborative action research, in which he used observation checklists, field notes, questionnaires, and speaking tests to measure students' improvements He was interested in using TPS to increase students' active participation and improve their speaking ability among 26 second-semester class A students The results demonstrated that TPS was effectively employed to boost students' active participation and improve their speaking abilities Consequently, it is recommended that TPS be utilized to solve the problems identified in their speaking

lesson

Singh et al (2020) investigated the effectiveness of TPS on the speaking abilities of four ESL Indonesian senior high school students with weak speaking abilities As research instruments, speaking ability tests and observation sheets are administered

to students as part of an action research project The research revealed that students ultimately attained achievement They demonstrated greater learning-related motivation, interest, involvement, and enthusiasm Students were less hesitant to speak and ask questions in English After using it, the two quietest students in the classroom were able to perform well in their role-play

In addition, other researchers were interested in employing TPS to improve students' speaking abilities, and they all reported good impacts of TPS Sari (2016) investigated the efficacy of TPS in enhancing students' speaking abilities The quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests was undertaken with fifteen 16- to 17-year-old English department students The study revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of speaking ability

Desta (2017) also investigated if the use of TPS in teaching speaking can enhance students' speaking abilities The study's participants were second-grade kids The researcher employed an experimental design in which the pre-test and post-test served

as the instruments After receiving instruction, students' speaking abilities improved, according to the study's findings This strategy encourages students to be more cooperative and boosts their confidence in the classroom

In addition, Yanti (2017) investigated the effectiveness of the TPS in enhancing students' speaking skills The study was conducted with 28 eleventh-grade students using a classroom action research design involving three cycles to test the three aspects of speaking: accuracy, fluency, and comprehensibility Yanti discovered, based on the results of the students' achievements, that with the incorporation of TPS into the teaching-learning process, there was an improvement in every component of every cycle