THE ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLUB STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILLS: A SINGLE CASE STUDY AT MAN KOTA BLITAR

This study is motivated by the low speaking proficiency among students learning English as a foreign language, caused by limited practice opportunities, lack of confidence, and insufficient exposure to authentic language use. To address these challenges, the English Conversation Club (ECC) at MAN Kota Blitar was implemented as a learning platform that promotes active and contextual speaking practice. The main objective of this research is to describe the ECC strategies for enhancing students’ speaking skills, including aspects of organization, implementation, student perceptions, and the impact on communicative competence.
The study employs a qualitative approach with an embedded single case study design. Research subjects include the vice principal, ECC tutor, and student participants selected through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, non-participatory observation, and documentation, and analyzed using open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and thematic coding to identify key patterns and themes. The research stages included a preliminary study, data collection, analysis, and conceptual model development.
Findings indicate that ECC strategies are organized flexibly and collaboratively. Teachers involve senior ECC members in planning activities and focus on speaking fluency rather than grammatical perfection. The implementation of these strategies emphasizes task-based communicative activities such as debates, storytelling, presentations, and role plays, with teachers acting as facilitators rather than lecturers. Students perceive ECC positively because it provides a comfortable, enjoyable, and low-anxiety environment that encourages them to speak English more confidently and actively. The impact of ECC strategies is significant, with improvement observed in students’ fluency, vocabulary mastery, confidence, and communicative competence.
The study concludes that ECC serves as an adaptive, learner-centered pedagogical model that fosters communicative competence, emotional engagement, and reflective autonomy. Teachers are encouraged to continue integrating emotionally supportive and metacognitive elements into ECC instruction. Students are advised to actively participate in ECC activities to strengthen their speaking abilities. Future researchers are recommended to conduct longitudinal and comparative studies across institutions to deepen understanding of ECC’s effectiveness. Educational institutions are urged to formally integrate ECC into the curriculum and support its sustainability through strategic policy and funding.