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IDEAS IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License

Journal of Language Teaching and Learning,

Linguistics and Literature
Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo
ISSN 2338-4778 (Print)
ISSN 2548-4192 (Online)
Volume 6, Number 2, December 2018
pp. 19-27

The Application of Think-Pair-Share Strategy

in Improving Students’ Speaking Ability

Ardhy Supraba
ardhysupraba@yahoo.com
Universitas Cokroaminoto Palopo

Received : 8 Oktober 2018;

Accepted : 21 November 2018
URL : http://ejournal.iainpalopo.ac.id/index.php/ideas

Abstract
The aims of this research were to find out (1) the extent to which Think-Pair-Share
strategy improves speaking ability of the fourth semester students of Cokroaminoto
Palopo University; (2) the students’ perceptions on the application of Think-Pair-Share
strategy in speaking activities. This research was carried out in the fourth semester
students of English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training
and Education, Cokroaminoto Palopo University. The method used was quasi-
experimental research with pre-test, ten meetings of treatment, and post-test. The
sample was selected through purposive sampling technique. The data were collected
through speaking test, questionnaire, and recorder instruments, and were analyzed
with nonparametric test and frequency test. The result of Mann-Whitney U test and the
students’ score on post-test was p < 0.05. It means that, there is a significant difference
between the students taught with Think-Pair-Share strategy and without Think-Pair-
Share strategy. The mean score of experimental group on pretest was 2.16, and
increased to be 4.02 on posttest. The analysis of questionnaire indicated that the
students’ perceptions on the application of Think-Pair-Share strategy were very
positive. Thus, it can be concluded that the application of Think-Pair-Share strategy
could significantly improve the students’ speaking ability.

Keywords: Think-Pair-Share Strategy, Speaking Ability, Students’ perceptions.

Introduction
English as a language for communication is important in this
globalization era where people from many countries use English as a language
to communicate with each others in daily activities. In Indonesia, the

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The Application of Think-Pair-Share Strategy in Improving Students’ Speaking
Ability.

government realizes that English competency has an impact on global

development not only for education purpose but also for career purpose. That is
why; English course is presented since early ages.
One of the essential parts in learning English is speaking. Speaking is
an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing,
receiving, and processing information (Brown, 1994). By speaking, students can
share and exchange the ideas they got from book or other information media.
They can easily express what they felt, what they learnt, and what they wanted
to the others verbally.
Improving students’ speaking ability is one goal in teaching English as a
foreign language. So, the learning process in a classroom atmosphere should
be interesting, enjoyable, comfortable, and fun. Thereby, one of the alternative
ways is by applying Think-Pair-Share strategy. Think-Pair-Share is a multi-mode
discussion cycle in which students listen to a question or presentation, have
time to think individually, talk with each other in pairs, and finally share
responses with the larger group (McTighe & Lyman, 1988).
Speaking is one of the four basic skills in learning language beside
listening, reading, and writing. In this case, speaking and listening are related to
language expressed through the aural medium. Meanwhile, reading and writing
are related to language expressed through the visual medium. So, speaking
and writing are productive skills, while listening and reading are receptive skills.
(Widdowson, 1978:57). Dealing with the statement above, the researcher would
like to explain about what actually speaking is. Based on Brown (1994), Burns
and Heken (1997:63), speaking is an interactive process of constructing
meaning that involves producing, receiving, and processing information. Then,
Widdowson (1985:150) revealed that the act of communication through
speaking is commonly performed in face-to-face interaction and occurs as part
of dialogue or other forms of verbal exchange. Furthermore, another idea is
coming from Heaton (1988) who asserted that speaking ability is the expressing
of language directly from speakers’ mouth. It is supported by Fultcher (2003:23)
claimed that speaking is the verbal use of language to communicate with
others. In addition, according to Ur (1996:120), contended that among the four
skills in English, speaking is seemed perceptively the most important. As a
conclusion, speaking is a way of expressing ideas, opinions, and feelings to
others by using words or sounds of articulation in order to communicate, inform,
persuade, and entertain in aspects of everyday life.
According to Heaton (1988:100), there are three components of
speaking that are normally recognized as crucial aspect that should be
mastered for those who are learning English and use them as the parameters in
assessing the speaking. These three components should be understood well by
the teachers and the students. They are namely as follows:
1) Accuracy

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ISSN 2338-4778 (Print)
ISSN 2548-4192 (Online)

Based on Brown (2001:268), accuracy is defined as the correct use of

language in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Accuracy in
speaking means that when someone is able to produce correct sentences
dealing with good pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
In speaking, accuracy is very important. However, teachers should not
too focus on accuracy because if teachers really expect their students to be
able to produce correct language from the beginning, then the students will
never gain fluency of speech. So it can be concluded that accuracy is the
quality or condition of being accurate or correct related to pronunciation,
vocabulary, and grammar. In other words, accuracy is the ability to speak
accurately and correctly.
2) Fluency
According to Luoma (2004:88), fluency is defined as the ability to
communicate the ideas without thinking too much. Then, Richard and Rodgers
(2001:90), stated that fluency is the capability to produce written and spoken
language easily. Meanwhile, another opinion comes from Hornby (1995:26),
disclosed that fluency is the quality or condition of being fluent. In speaking,
fluency means to speak clearly. In speaking, fluency refers to the ability to
produce communicative language even though it is not in perfect utterances but
in continuous speech and smoothly. As a matter of fact, speaking performance
does not only lay totally on accuracy in mastering the language system, but it
also lays on fluency in using the language system communicatively, and without
too much hesitation. Thus, it can be inferred that fluency is the quality or
condition of being fluent or smooth. In other words, fluency is the ability to
speak clearly, easily, and smoothly.
3) Comprehensibility
Harmers (1998:107), said that if there are two people want to interact
and communicate each other, they have to speak because they have different
information. However, if there is a “gap” between them, it will not be a good
communication because they are still confused with what they say. Therefore,
comprehensibility refers to the process of understanding of the utterances sent
by the speaker done by the listener. In speaking, comprehensibility means that
people can understand what we say and we can understand what they say.
Besides that, the skill to understand the written and interpret the spoken
language is also called as comprehensibility. Thereby, it can be deduced that
comprehensibility is the quality or condition of being understanding. In other
words, comprehensibility is the ability to understand what other people say and
vice versa.
Think-Pair-Share was first proposed and introduced by Professor Frank
Lyman with his team of educators in Maryland University of USA in 1981, and
then developed by many scientists in recent years. The basic foundation of this
teaching strategy is to make the students more active in the teaching and
learning process by discussing with their classmates. So, the teaching and

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The Application of Think-Pair-Share Strategy in Improving Students’ Speaking
Ability.

learning process will be more attractive and fun (Kagan, 2009) in Sugiarto and
Sumarsono (2014:208). In addition, based on McTighe and Lyman (1988:243)
in Cars, W.D (2007:27), Think-Pair-Share is a multi-mode discussion cycle in
which students listen to a question or presentation, have time to think
individually, talk with each other in pairs, and finally share responses with the
larger group. As a conclusion, Think-Pair-Share is a cooperative learning
strategy that can promote and support higher-level thinking by asking for
students to think about a specific raised topic or question and then pair with
another student to discuss their thinking, and after that share their ideas with the
other pairs or the other groups or with the class.
Think-Pair-Share consists of some procedures or steps. Kagan (2009)
in Sugiarto and Sumarsono (2014:209) states that there are five procedures of
Think-Pair-Share, they are as follows:
1) Posing the topic or question
The topic or question is posed to students. The question should be in
general and has many kinds of opinion and explanation to be explored and
expressed. For example, “what do you know about speaking, and what are your
special tips for speaking English fluently? Please explain them one by one.” If
they scrutinize this question in detail, it makes the students think deeper and
deeper, and they can give their opinions and explanations in many aspects.
2) Giving time to students to think
The students are given several minutes to think the opinion and
explanation of the topic or question given before. So, this is called as “thinking
time.”
3) Organizing students into pairs
The students are divided into pairs randomly (group two students). The
purpose of choosing randomly is to avoid the gap between high students and
low students. Consequently, they will have higher chance to know each other
closely, and it will increase the respect of a student to others.
4) Asking for students to discuss with their partner and share their thinking
In this section, each student will share his or her own opinion and
explanation to his or her partner in pairs. They will share their thinking and
discuss each other about the best opinion and explanation to be expressed
later. Thus, this activity helps the students develop not only their knowledge, but
also their communicative skill and confidence.
5) Calling on the students to share their ideas with the class
The last step is calling the students to share their ideas with the class.
In this case, some students give their opinion and explanation, and the others
can give their opinion and explanation as well. So, it improves their confidence
and also their speaking ability.
Think-Pair-Share is based on Professor Frank Lyman’s theory designed
to provide students with “food for thought” on a given topics enabling them to

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ISSN 2548-4192 (Online)

formulate individual ideas and sharing their ideas with another student. It is
developed to encourage student classroom participation, rather than using a
basic recitation method in which a teacher poses a question and one student
offers a response. Thereby, Think-Pair-Share encourages a high degree of pupil
response.
Furthermore, in learning speaking, the students must be capable to
speak English well and build an interactive communication each other to
express meaning even formal or informal conversation in the context of daily
life. Based on Heaton (1988), speaking ability is the expressing of language
directly from speakers’ mouth. Then Widdowson (1985), revealed that the act of
communication through speaking is commonly performed in face-to-face
interaction and occurs as part of dialogue or other forms of verbal exchange. In
addition, according to Ur (1996), contended that among the four skills in
English, speaking is seemed perceptively the most important.
In this case, based on the preliminary research included observation
and interview with the lecturer and students, most of the students at
Cokroaminoto University of Palopo are not able to speak English optimally. The
result of the preliminary research showed that the speaking inability of the
students comes from several factors namely the students’ speaking skill is in
low level or achievement, they lack of self-confidence, they lack of vocabulary,
they are afraid of making mistake, they got difficulties in pronouncing English (it
is related to pronunciation), the lack of ideas to speak, they always think about
grammar, they do not have suitable partner to speak English, they always feel
nervous (they do not have any courage to speak English), and they are not
motivated in speaking.
Thus, based on the real condition above, the adequate of speaking
tasks that enable to encourage students’ speaking skill must be given.
Therefore, this research tried to offer Think-Pair-Share strategy to be taught to
the university students in order that their speaking ability can be improved. So
the researcher was interested in conducting a research to improve the students’
speaking ability by applying Think-Pair-Share strategy. Thereby, this research
aimed to improve the students’ speaking ability by applying Think-Pair-Share
strategy.
Method
This research was categorized as quantitative research. the research
design used was quasi-experimental design; the nonequivalent control group
design (Gay et al., 2006). There were two groups namely experimental and
control group. The experimental group was treated by applying Think-Pair-
Share strategy while the control group was taught by conventional way of
teaching. The population of this research was the fourth semester students of
English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education, Cokroaminoto Palopo University. The total number of population was

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The Application of Think-Pair-Share Strategy in Improving Students’ Speaking
Ability.

267 students. The sample of this research was 72 students in which 36

students of experimental group and also 36 students of control group. The
sample was selected through purposive sampling technique. To collect the data,
the researcher used three kinds of instruments namely speaking test,
questionnaire and recorder. The speaking test was used to assess the students’
learning achievement before and after receiving some treatments. The
questionnaire was used to find out the students’ perceptions toward the
application of Think-Pair-Share strategy after being taught in several meetings.
Meanwhile, the recorder was used to record the students’ speaking. To analyze
the data, this research used Heaton’s rating score for speaking test. Then, to
measure the students’ perceptions by using Likert scale. The data were
analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by employing Statistical
Product and Service Solution (SPSS) version 20 IBM for Windows. The data
from the questionnaire were calculated by using five point rating scale to find
out the students’ perceptions toward the application of Think-Pair-Share
strategy after being taught in several meetings.
Results

After computing and analyzing the data by using Statistical Product and
Service Solution (SPSS) version 20 IBM for Windows, the result showed that
the students who were taught and treated by applying Think-Pair-Share during
ten meetings performed better than the students who were taught by
conventional way of teaching in which the posttest score of experimental group
was greater than control group by gaining mean score 4.02 while control group
gained mean score 3.00.
The test of normality showed that the data were not normally distributed
based on Kolmogorov-Smirnov test where (p < 0.05) in which both the
experimental and control group gained .000. Thus, non-parametric test was
used which covered Mann-Whitney U test (for two independent samples) and
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test (for two related samples)
The result of Mann-Whitney U test for pretest showed that the
significance gained was 1.000. So it indicated that there was no significant
difference between experimental and control group. It means that null
hypothesis (H0) was accepted because p > 0.05. Meanwhile, the result of Mann-
Whitney U test for posttest showed that the significance gained was .000. So it
indicated that there was a significant difference between experimental and
control group. It means that alternative hypothesis (H 1) was accepted because p
< 0.05.
Afterwards, the result of Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test for experimental
and control group showed the same result in which the significance gained
was .000. So it indicated that there was a significant difference between pre-

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ISSN 2338-4778 (Print)
ISSN 2548-4192 (Online)

and posttest for the experimental and control group. It means that alternative
hypothesis (H1) was accepted since p < 0.05.
Furthermore, the result of analyzing questionnaire revealed that the
application of Think-Pair-Share strategy gave significant effect in improving
students’ speaking ability. Most of them gave very positive perception or
response toward the application of Think-Pair-Share strategy speaking
activities.
This research shows that there is a significant difference between the
experimental and the control group in terms of posttest. In other words, the
alternative hypothesis (H1) is accepted. This finding concludes that there is a
significant difference between speaking ability of the students who are taught by
applying Think-Pair-Share strategy and those with conventional way of
teaching.
In teaching speaking to the students by applying Think-Pair-Share
strategy, first of all, the researcher acted as their lecturer introducing and
explaining to them about this strategy, and also the components of speaking
that had to be understood well especially for the experimental group.
Meanwhile, the control group only had conventional way of teaching. After
introducing and explaining this strategy and also the components of speaking,
the researcher taught the experimental group by applying Think-Pair-Share
strategy in teaching them speaking.
Think-Pair-Share is part of cooperative learning by involving students to
be more active in teaching and learning process. In this case, cooperative
learning essentially involves students learning from each other in groups. In
cooperative learning, the teachers help students learn how to learn more
effectively and also teachers teach students collaborative or social skill so that
they can work together more effectively (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). Moreover,
according to Zuheer (2008), there are five essential components of cooperative
learning. They are positive interdependence, individual accountability, group
processing, social skills, and face-to-face interaction.
From the research findings described in the beginning of this chapter,
the students of experimental and control group were in “poor level” of speaking
ability based on the pretest result. The result of Mann-Whitney U test for pretest
showed that there was no significant difference between experimental and
control group. However, the result of Mann-Whitney U test for posttest showed
that there was a significant difference between experimental and control group.
Moreover, in experimental group in which Think-Pair-Share strategy
was applied in teaching speaking, the students’ mean score was increased
ranging from 2.16 to 4.02. It indicated that there was a significant improvement
since the level from “poor level” to “good level.” Meanwhile, the control group
also showed the same result by having the mean score from 2.16 to 3.00.
Nevertheless, the control group also improved from poor classification
to average classification, but the experimental group improved significantly from

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The Application of Think-Pair-Share Strategy in Improving Students’ Speaking
Ability.

poor classification to good classification, it was supported by the result of mean

score and Mann-Whitney U test. In other words, the findings claimed that the
alternative hypothesis was accepted.
Moreover, the positive result from the questionnaire indicated that the
students were mostly supporting the application of Think-Pair-Share strategy in
teaching them speaking. In other words, all students claimed that they prefer
learning speaking using Think-Pair-Share strategy.
Besides, they found that this strategy was interesting, fun and also this
strategy could help them improve their speaking ability optimally. It means that,
Think-Pair-Share strategy gave a significant effect on students’ speaking ability.
It was proven by the result of their posttest improved significantly after being
treated by applying Think-Pair-Share strategy.
Finally, as a conclusion, Think-Pair-Share strategy could improve the
students’ speaking ability significantly since the alternative hypothesis was
accepted in which there was a significant difference between speaking ability of
the students who were taught by applying Think-Pair-Share strategy and those
with conventional way of teaching. It was also supported by the mean score and
Mann-Whitney U test.

Conclusion
The researcher concludes that Think-Pair-Share as a teaching strategy
can be an alternative and effective way in teaching speaking class since the
result of this research showed that there was a significant difference between
experimental and control group. So the application of Think-Pair-Share strategy
contributed significantly to improve students’ speaking ability. This research also
indicated that the application of Think-Pair-Share strategy in teaching speaking
gained very positive perceptions from the students. Moreover, the researcher
suggests for the English teachers or lecturers to apply Think-Pair-Share
strategy in teaching speaking, since the result of this research proved that
Think-Pair-Share strategy contributed significantly to improve students’
speaking ability. And then for the English teachers or lecturers who will apply
Think-Pair-Share strategy in teaching speaking should be kind, patient and
never make them under pressure. So teaching and learning atmosphere should
be interesting, comfortable, enjoyable, interesting and fun. Finally for further
research, it is suggested to conduct a research using Think-Pair-Share strategy
but different kinds of skill. It aims to familiarize other kinds of skill to students.
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