Salma Citra Kamila Saraswati

1802109079/PBI4C

Enhancing Speaking Ability of EFL Students through Debate and Peer Assessment
Reviewer
Salma Citra Kamila Saraswati
Universitas PGRI Madiun

Umar Fauzan disscusses about the use of debate and peer assessment to enhancing
speaking ability. The Introduction contains the theories about speaking and the background of
the research. It emphasizes on the important of English speaking for daily life for the
learners. He also disscusses about the students’ English speaking problem in IAIN
Samarinda. He stated that many English learners feel obstacles and unsatisfied with their
achievement in speaking. Morover, he mentions some problem that learners faced in
mastering english skill like reluctance, hesitasion, nervous, low of confident, fear of making
mistakes, lack of vocabulary, unmotivated, shy to talk in English, anxious, etc. For those kind
of problems, the writer offers the technique in enhancing the speaking ability. The writer
applies one of strategy to improve the speaking problem, it is debate and peer assessment.
The writer uses Classroom Action Research (CAR) design for the study. In implementing the
strategy, the writer divides the study into 2 cycles. The writer also divides into 2 the criteria
whether the study is successful or not, that are score improvement and classroom atmosphere.
The result of the first cycle has not yet reached the success criteria, but can be achieved in the
second cycle. The students gradually could express their thought and opinion in debate
practice. The activity also encouraged the students’ creativity to explore the language, and by
speaking in debate practice, students improved their fluency as well as cofidence. Dealing
with the article report, there are some review to the article. Starting from the introduction, he
writes many theories. In my view, he wrote too many theories about English speaking and the
problem of speaking in general, not focus on the problem to be solved. He should not write so
many problems so that the readers can find the focus of problem clearly. Furthermore the
strategy of analyzing data is not written down, the writer only writes the strategy of collecting
data in the abstract. In the part of Cycle 2, the writer do not write the percentage of the
classroom atmosphere. Unlike Cycle 1, in Cycle 2 no detailed description is given. So it is
difficult for readers to understand the students development from cycle 1 to cycle 2. In
conclusion, the research article that is presented need to be revised in order to make the
reader understand. It will not make the readers feel confused to understand the problem focus,
strategy, and the comparison before and after the implementation of this study.

Fauzan, U. (2016). Enhancing Speaking Ability of EFL Students through Debate and
Peer Assessment. EFL Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, 49-56.
 The Use of Podcasts in Improving Students’ Speaking Skill
Reviewer
Salma Citra Kamila Saraswati
Universitas PGRI Madiun

The research disscuss about the use of Podcast to improve the students’ sepaking skill.
The Introduction contains the theories about the background, definition of speaking, Podcast
as learning material, speaking skill, aspects of speaking, computer assisted language learning
(CALL), and the use CALL in speaking skill. The research use Class XI IS3 of SMA 11 of
Banda Aceh to be the sample with total 30 students. The problem is the students face some
difficulties in expressing ideas, choosing correct structures, lack of vocabulary and correct
pronounciation. To collect the data, the research use oral test for pre-test and post-cast.
Smartphone as a tool to record students speaking performance in three to five minutes.
Furthermore, researcher analyzed data by using statistical formula. The result of the study is
the student score is increased, students can improve speaking performance especially
pronounciation and fluency. The writer also suggest to the teacher to implemented Podcast
media in the classroom. Dealing with the article report, there are some review to the article.
The writer writes many definition that not related from the topic in the introduction. In my
view, the writer wrote too many definition but not focus on the problem to be solved. The
problem is not stated clearly. The writer should not write so many definition so that the
readers can find what was disscussed. In conclusion, the research article that is presented
need to be revised in order to make the reader understand what was disscussed about. It will
not make the readers feel confused.

Samad, I. A., Bustari, A., & Ahmad, D. (2017). The Use of Podcasts in Improving Students’
Speaking Skill. Journal of English Language and Education, Vol. 3, No. 2, 97-109.