The Effect of Using Ice-Breaking Activities Integrated with the Audio-Lingual Method on the Speaking Skills of Seventh Grade Students at Junior High School in Semarang in Academic Year 2025/2026

Abstract

Many junior high school students still lack speaking skill and motivation in learning English. Because motivation significantly impacts student engagement and performance, teachers must create an engaging learning environment. Therefore, the researcher conducted a quantitative study to assess the impact of audio-lingual method with ice-breaking as the technique on students' motivation and speaking skills in English among first-grade students at junior high shcool in Semarang (2024/2025). A pre-experimental design was used, involving pre-test, treatment, and post-test phases, to measure improvements in speaking skills after utilizing audio-lingual methods alongside ice-breaking techniques. Statistical analysis of the test data aimed to provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of these methods in enhancing students' learning experiences. The researcher found that the students’ scores was poor before the treatment. Whereas after the treatment, students’ scores improved although not all of them. The results of the T-test was significant since the p-value or sig (2-tailed) was 0.000, which was less than 0.05 (5%). The null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted. It can be concluded that employing ALM repetition drills and ice breaking improved student’s speaking skill.