THE USE OF TAPPING AND CLAPPING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ ABILITY TO PLACE STRESS IN ENGLISH WORDS

Abstract

This research was conducted to find out whether the use of tapping and clapping technique can improve students’ ability to place stress in English words or not. It applied quasi-experimental with pre-test post-test non-equivalent control group design. The research population is the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 5 Palu which consists of 107 students. The sample, that was divided into control and experimental groups, was selected by using purposive sampling technique. The data were statistically analysed in order to get the significance of students’ achievement in pre-test and post-test. The result of data analysis indicates that there is a significant difference of the test results between experimental and control groups. It can be seen by the increase of students’ mean score of pre-test and post-test in experimental group (from 25.5 to 78.2) compare to students’ mean score in control group (from 24.6 to 55). By applying 0.05 level of significance with 43 degree of freedom, the researcher found that t-counted (5.7) is higher than t-table (1.667). It proves that the hypothesis is accepted. In conclusion, the use of tapping and clapping technique can significantly improve the students’ ability to place stress in English words at SMP Negeri 5 Palu.

Keywords:       Pronunciation; English Word Stress; Tapping and Clapping Technique