The Effect of Group Work and Individual Work on Eigth-Grade Students’ Speaking Ability Through Descriptive Text at UPTD SMP Negeri 2 Pematangsiantar

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effect of using topic cards combined with group work on students’ speaking ability in descriptive text at SMP Negeri 2 Pematangsiantar. This research employed a quantitative method with a pre-test and post-test control group design, involving 31 students in the experimental class and 31 students in the control class. The experimental class was treated using topic cards combined with group work, while the control class was taught using conventional teaching methods. The data were collected through speaking tests assessing pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency, and were analyzed using SPSS version 27.0, including descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, homogeneity test, and t-test. The results showed that the mean score of the experimental class increased from 51.21 to 58.27, while the control class increased from 46.17 to 55.44. However, the result of hypothesis testing indicated that the significance value (0.129) was greater than 0.05 (p > 0.05), meaning that the null hypothesis (H₀) was accepted and the alternative hypothesis (H₁) was rejected. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of topic cards combined with group work does not have a statistically significant effect on students’ speaking ability in descriptive text, although there was an observable improvement in both groups.