Students’ Perception on the Use of English Debate Extracurricular to Improve Students’ Speaking and Critical Thinking Skill in SMA La Tansa

Abstract

The objective of this research was to find out students’ perception on the use of English debate extracurricular to improve students’ speaking and critical thinking skill in SMA La Tansa and also to know the contribution of English debate extracurricular in improving speaking and critical thinking skill. The researcher used qualitative research by applying survey design for conducting the research. The participants of this research were the eighteen members of English debate club of SMA La Tansa. The researcher conducted observation, distributed questionnaire, and conducted interview. It was found that the students had a positive perception on the use of English debate extracurricular in improving speaking and critical thinking skill. Most respondents agreed that debate can help them in improving students’ speaking and critical thinking skill; 61. 1% strongly agree and 38. 9% agree. However, the researcher also found the students’ negative perception about the difficulty in having an internet access to support the data for debate. For the contribution in speaking, debate can make students’ speaking skill acceptable and effective. While for the contribution in critical thinking, debate can make the students’ critical thinking skill develop well. Finally, the researcher expects that the future researcher will focus on dealing with the shortcomings issue about the negative perception of internet access so that any strengths and weaknesses can be identified and solved.