The study aimed to improve students’ speaking ability through picture strip
story. The method was Classroom Action Research (CAR) which was held at the
eight grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Sumbang in academic year 2011/2012 as the
subject of the research. The number of the students was 35. This study was done from
23 April until 21 May 2012 in cooperation with the English teacher.
The CAR was carried out based on Kemmis and Mc.Taggart design. There
were two cycles with two actions in each cycle comprising planning, acting,
observing, and reflecting. The data were collected using test, observation,
questionnaire, interview, and document. There were two kinds of data; those were
qualitative and quantitative data.
The result of the research proved that picture strip story media could improve
students’ speaking ability. The test result showed that 74.28% of students gained
score ≥7 and reached the KKM. The average of the students’ observation result in
speaking class showed that 75.47% of the students were involved in teaching learning
process. The data from the students’ questionnaire which was obtained from the ten
questions showed that the students gave positive response towards the use of picture
strip story media. The average of students’ questionnaire result was 73.14%. The
interview result showed that students felt happy and enjoyed when they were doing
speaking activities by using picture strip story media in speaking class. Those data
proved that picture strip story media could improve students’ speaking ability.