The Use of Puppet in Teaching Speaking to Young Learners
Hikmah Nur Insani
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Puppet, Teaching Speaking, Young Learners.
Abstract: As a demand of English learning, EFL for young learners in Indonesia still has gaps; namely the limitations
of teaching aids. For this reason, this study was aimed to investigate how puppets could give benefits in
teaching speaking to young learners and students’ responses toward the implementation. Nine seventh-grade
students of Junior High School in Bandung were participated in this study. Moreover, this study employed
case study as the methodology. The data included classroom observation, teacher’s field notes, and interview
at the end of the teaching and learning activities. The results revealed that the use of puppets was an
appropriate and effective approach in teaching speaking to young learners. It helped the teacher to teach in
ease situation, particularly in engaging the students, creating great atmosphere, and organizing the class. It
also created students’ high participation, helped students to speak in front of others, and encouraged students
to improve their speaking ability. In other words, the use of puppet has significant influence on young learners’
speaking activities.
1 INTRODUCTION
Indonesian people nowadays put high interest to
introduce English to their children starting from the
early age, through formal or informal education. The
statement shows the emerging trend in the world of
English language learning and teaching, that is
teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL).
Cameron (2001) stated that young learners will get
some benefits when they start to learn foreign
language earlier in order to produce the language
skills. In Indonesian EYL classroom, Indonesian
government tends to increase the quality of education
through the 2013 curriculum that one of the focus is
productive skills which consists of speaking and
writing skills (Permendikbud, 2013). Therefore,
teaching EYL in Indonesia seems like quite
challenging than others since there are lack of social
uses of the English language in the real situations and
life. Moreover, young learners in our Indonesian
classes have very small opportunities in using English
to communicate with others. Speaking skills as of the
productive skills should include some new innovation
toward teaching media.
Puppet is well known as an appropriate teaching
media in teaching young learners. Puppet can help
young learners to internalize language patterns,
enhance listening skills, develop risk-taking skills
and student confidence, and provide opportunities
(Lepley, 2001). Combining puppet with young
learners can be one of good ways to ease passive
learners to share their feeling with and participate in
group lessons and discussion. Moreover, puppets
have the ability to engage and encourage young
learners and allow them to use imaginary play to
express themselves during free play (Lippoff, 2011).
It means that puppets are quite equivalent with the
characteristics of young learners. Diyani (2011)
offers some benefits in using puppets, as the teaching
media, such as: (1) develop language; (2) enables
better learning; (3) develop creative skills; (4)
develop social skills; and (5) enhances family
relationship. In accordance with that, puppet can also
be used to provide young learners to communicate in
English.
Furthermore, Hammer (2010) offers appropriate
ways in using puppet as teaching media, for instance
(1) choose the lesson you want to teach; (2) select the
puppet you intend to use; (3)select the prop you
intend to use; (4) develop the characters of the
puppets; (5) practice teaching the lesson with your
puppets without any audiences; (6) set the stage for
your puppet; (7) teach the lesson using your puppets
in a style similar to the one of your practiced earlier.
Some previous studies such as Özdeniz (2000),
Lepley (2001), Setyarini (2010), Reidmiller (2008),
Insani, H.
The Use of Puppet in Teaching Speaking to Young Learners.
DOI: 10.5220/0007173206830688
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 683-688
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
683

and Brown (2009) stated that puppet give several
benefits in increasing speaking skills of young
learners.
Reflecting to the previous elaboration, this study
aims to describe the use of puppet in teaching
speaking to young learners, and the young learners’
responses of using puppet in their speaking activity.
Therefore, those concerns are within the context of
English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia. This
study attempts to answer the research questions
formulated as follows:
 What are the benefits of using puppet in
teaching speaking to young learners?;
 How do young learners respond toward the use
of puppet in their speaking activity?.
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Research Design
In order to answer the initial questions, this study
employed qualitative method by involving a case
study. Thus, a case study can be implemented to one
individual, one classroom, one school, or one school
district (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1990). Similarly,
Emilia (2005) states that a case study design could be
employed in “a small scale, a single case”, or only
focus on one particular instance of educational
experience or practice. The choice of using this
method considers the research questions and the aims
of this study that is to go in-depth understanding. This
is relevant to Merriam’s (1988) statement that case
study can be classified as an evaluated study because
it involves description, explanation, and judgments of
people’s individual and collective social actions,
beliefs, thoughts, and perceptions.
2.2 Research Site and Participant
The study was conducted in a public junior high
school in Bandung. This school was chosen for three
reasons. First, the school authorities allowed the
researcher to conduct this study in their school; hence,
this enhances the feasibility of this research. Second,
the curriculum of grade 7 is suitable with the purpose
of the research; therefore, this provides more
opportunities to conduct an observation. Third, the
chosen school belongs to the criteria of the research.
This also enhances the feasibility of the present study
which focuses on investigating speaking skills.
This study took nine seventh grade students. The
nine students were classified into three levels of
achievement, namely, low, middle, and high
achievers. This categorization was based on their
English course in the previous semester, indicated by
their grades in speaking.
2.3 Data Collection
Three instruments were used; they are classroom
observations, written documents, and interview.
Since case studies also allow one to present data
collected from multiple methods (i.e. interview,
document review, and observation) to provide the
complete story (Neala et al., 2006). Those
instruments were aimed to gain the data accurately
and to answer the research questions proposed. The
research was conducted along with the regular
schedule in the school. The data were collected in
three weeks.
Furthermore, classroom observation was used to
gain data during the implementation of using puppet
in teaching speaking. The classroom observations
were conducted six times. The type of observation in
this study was participant observation (Merriam and
Clark, 1991) since the researcher took part as the
teacher who implemented the use of puppet in
teaching speaking to young learners. Each meeting
spent 60 minutes per meeting. Video recording was
used in each meeting to be observed by the researcher
to gain more data about the speaking situations.
Written document is also one of the instruments
that was used to gather the data in order to answer the
research questions. The written documents are in the
forms of (1) lesson plans during the observation in six
meetings, (2) students’ checklist and teacher’s field
notes, and (3) video recording transcriptions.
Moreover, interview was aimed to collect the
information about the students’ thought, feelings,
responses, difficulties, and expectation towards the
use of puppet show in their speaking activity during
the observation.
2.4 Data Analysis
After gaining the data which were collected from
classroom observations, written documents, and
interviews, the data was analysed by following some
steps. Those instruments will be presented in a form
of descriptive explanation. Furthermore, the data
gained from three instruments were cross-checked
using triangulation to enhance research reliability and
validity (Vidovich, 2003). Video recording
transcriptions were analysed to find out some
evidences in using puppets by the students whether it
runs appropriately or not during the observations.
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
684

Then, the transcription compared to the document
analysis, and interview result.
3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Teachers’ Benefits
Based on the data gained, the use of puppet in
teaching speaking to young learners provides three
positive benefits to the teacher. The teacher is helped
by the use of puppet in teaching speaking skills for
several reasons, those are (1) puppets encourage
students to engage with the learning activities, (2)
puppets have a positive impact on students’
participation in the classroom, and (3) puppets can
create great atmosphere in the classroom.
Firstly, puppets encourage the students to engage
in the learning activities. It supported teacher to
implement puppets in classroom observation
regarding to the efficiency of time and energy. Since
the participants had afternoon class, puppets also
helped teacher to make them engaged in the activity
even when they looked tired. Learning some activities
in the afternoon was not easy, and puppets helped the
teacher to manage that situation. It could be seen from
the observation sheet that observed student’s
response during the activities below:
The students are motivated to learn English. They
made their own puppet enthusiastically in group.
They put their name on the puppet. They gave
attention to the teacher’s instruction and kind to
follow the activities even in the afternoon time.
In addition, in the fourth meeting, the puppets
could engage the students in introducing the
vocabularies of family. The teacher used animal
puppets and those helped the students to engage with
the activity during the learning because they used
puppets to pretend as one family in group. It can
reveal in the teachers’ field notes:
The students argue with their group to choose who
was father, mother, or even grandfather. They
want to come forward with their own puppet and
pretend as the character of Reza’s family. The
puppet is more useful for the students to engage
with the activities because they take role play at
the end of the learning.
Secondly, related to the teacher’s benefits,
puppets have a positive impact on students’
participation in the classroom. In this meeting, the
teacher brought the photo of Reza’s family while
telling the story. The students identified the members
of the family. The students loved the puppet of Reza’s
character since they still remembered the way Reza
introduced himself. This activity was quite similar to
the activity in the second meeting that encourage the
students to acquire the materials very well. Thus, the
data from classroom observation transcription
showed that the students took participation in the
main activity when the teacher told story. It can be
seen from video transcription during the observation:
T: “How many members are there in the family?”
Ss: “eight, miss, eight.”
T: “which one is the brother?”
Ss: “that one miss, the one with glasses and blue
shirt”
T: “Ok, good. Which one is the uncle?”
S1: “beside aunt miss, above lulu”
The teacher asked couples of students to give
example in introducing themselves. By using the
puppets, students had to be capable of introducing one
self and others. By this activity, the students showed
great participation in the last meeting. They came
forward and were capable to do the activities that
given by the teacher. It is supported Harmer’s (2007)
statement that student’s understanding comes not just
from explanation, but also from what they see and
hear, crucially, have a chance to touch and interact
with.
Thirdly, the findings showed that the use of
puppet in teaching speaking to young learners could
create great atmosphere in the classroom. A great
classroom’s atmosphere gave energy and motivation
to the teacher in the learning process. It was found
that the teacher felt comfortable, happy, and relaxed
in this atmosphere resulted from the use of puppet in
the classroom for six meetings because the students
were enthusiastic on animals’ puppets and human
puppets. It was revealed from teacher’s field notes:
The students wanted to get their turn to use puppet
in storytelling. The students laughed a lot, they
enjoyed the story telling. The student would like
to participate in the role play because they want
to play the puppet.
Furthermore, the students did not feel under
pressured when they were learning with the teacher.
They learned in fun situations and great atmosphere.
The excerpt below shows their real feeling and
happiness during the learning process. Interview
Since I like to talk in English, when I use puppet,
I could be more confidence and tend to be more
active in the learning process. For example, when
the puppet visits the neighborhoods.
The Use of Puppet in Teaching Speaking to Young Learners
685

It supports what Harmer (2007) said that when the
students start to learn something, they generally
display an enthusiasm for learning and a curiosity
about the world around them. Concerning to the
benefits gained by the teacher by using puppet in
teaching speaking to young learners, it is similar to
the results of study conducted by Reidmiller (2008)
that the use of puppet can encourage students to try
out ideas and investigate on their own.
3.2 Students’ Benefits
The benefits are presented below that focused on the
speaking aspects benefits and speaking strategy
benefits which also followed by some evidences of
the benefits during the learning process.
3.2.1 Speaking Aspects Benefits
The speaking aspects are related to the use of
vocabularies and students’ speaking product.
Teaching speaking means to teach language patterns
to produce the English speech sounds and sounds
patterns (Nunan, 2003). Regarding to the statement, it
is found that students produced sounds pattern when
they introduced themselves by using puppets. The
following table is the evidence of the findings which
taken from the teacher’s field notes and students’
checklist.
Table 1: Relevance of students’ participation and
Development with Speaking Aspect Benefits.
Students
(Participants)
Participation in each meeting
1
2
3
4
5
6
Student 1
X
√
√
√
√
√
Student 2
X
√
√
X
√
√
Student 3
X
√
√
√
√
√
Student 4
X
X
X
√
√
√
Student 5
X
X
√
√
√
√
Student 6
X
√
X
√
√
√
Student 7
X
√
√
√
√
√
Student 8
X
√
√
√
√
√
Student 9
X
√
√
√
√
√
From table 1, almost of the participants
participated and developed their speaking skills in the
learning process in each meeting. Therefore, student
5 did not show good attention in the first and second
meeting since she was not really engaged to the use
of puppet in the speaking activities. However, in the
next following meetings, student 5 took more
participation in meeting three, four, five, and six,
especially in the meeting 4. Additionally, the others
student showed great attention from the second
meeting until the last meeting.
3.2.2 Speaking Strategy Benefits
From the students’ checklist and teacher’s field notes,
it can be seen that the use of puppet in teaching
speaking to young learners encouraged students to be
able to speak in front of their friends. In this case,
speaking strategies related to the use of puppets in the
learning process. Since teaching speaking is more
about how the process is implemented, the teacher
implemented puppet to encourage the development of
speaking strategies (Brown, 2001). The following
evidence from the data gained during the observations
and interview session:
I like to talk in English Saya because I want to be
a master in speaking. So, I am so happy to speak
English in your class especially when I use puppet
to introduce myself.
It shows that the students were willing to speak
English but they did not get chance and good media
to speak well in the regular class. The teacher helped
them to develop their speaking ability by using
puppet through some speaking activities provided. It
can be seen from the interview transcription below:
When I didn’t use puppet, I feel more nervous. But
when I use puppet, I feel more comfortable,
especially the gesture of my hands.
The findings above showed that puppets helped
the students towards their strategies to control
themselves in speaking. Encouraging students’
speaking skills tends to be an appropriate way to ease
shamefulness when the students share their feeling
and participate in group lesson and discussion. Other
findings related to the student’s speaking strategies
from the interview transcription are stated below.
Puppet help us to memorize the learning material.
For example, when Reza (the character of the
puppet) visited the neighbors, we can see and
know it directly.
3.3 Students’ Response
The findings from students’ responses were gained
from the classroom observation data and interview
data. In the classroom observation, the data is
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
686

described in the form of observation sheets consist of
the learning activities, responses, and evidence.
Moreover, the data from interview was aimed to
attain students’ responses related to the classroom
speaking activities by the teacher. This interview was
conducted at the end of the classroom observations.
Ten students were involved as interviewee who asked
with similar questions.
Moreover, the students’ responses towards the
implementation of using puppet in teaching speaking
to young learners were dominated by enthusiasm and
attractiveness. The students were enthusiastic to
follow the activities during the learning process. They
enjoyed the activities but sometimes they were too
enthusiastic on to the material given. However, the
teacher could handle the problem. It can be seen from
the excerpt of students’ answer from the interview
transcription below.
I really like the puppets, indeed. Especially when
we made our own puppets. I just imagine that my
puppets are my little sister. Hihi. Thus, I also can
remember the material easily when I use puppets.
It showed that the students were enthusiastic with
puppet; especially they made their own puppet in the
first meeting. Moreover, it showed a very positive
toward the implementation of puppet. The excerpt
below supports the previous statement.
I like your teaching and I don’t feel bored in the
classroom since I never made puppets and played
games before. Since the classroom is in the
afternoon, sometimes I feel sleepy and bored.
Firstly, I feel nervous but I can enjoy it later on. I
love your teaching, miss.
Generally, the students enjoyed the learning
process with the teacher. They responded
passionately to the activities. In addition, the results
are equivalent to the result from a study conducted by
Setyarini (2010) which shows how puppet can make
young learners happy and enthusiastic to learn
English. Furthermore, she found that young learners
were brave to pretend to be the characters of puppet
in the teaching and learning process.
In line with this study, the use of puppet in
teaching speaking to young learners brought positive
responses from the students. It is because the common
teaching model only focused on the result of product
and did not lead the students to the process of
speaking that provided an appropriate teaching
media.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This study was concerned with the use of puppet in
teaching speaking to young learners. The purpose of
the study was to find out the benefits of the use of
puppet in order to help students to speak, and to
discover the young learners’ responses toward the use
of puppet in their speaking activity. The findings of
this study showed that the use of puppet is an
appropriate and effective approach in teaching
speaking to young learners. The argument was
supported by the data gained from the classroom
observations, written documents, and interviews.
This study came up with some benefits related to the
use of puppets in teaching speaking to young learners,
as follows: (1) puppets help teacher in organizing the
class, (2) puppets help teacher to teach in ease
situation, (3) puppets tend to create students’ high
participation in the learning process, (4) puppets
make students happy and enthusiastic, (5) puppets
create the great atmosphere in the classroom, (6)
puppets help students to speak in front of others, (7)
encouraged students to improve their speaking
ability.
Regarding the findings of the study, this study
proposes some recommendations regarding to the
speaking class activity for young learners. For the
teachers who are interested in applying puppet in
speaking activity, they should act out with good
gestures and body language to make the puppets
alive. To gain more objectivity, the upcoming
research can be conducted in different method and
approach but still use triangulation because several
data will help the research. For those who are
interested in conducting the similar research, they are
advised to collect the data from more perspectives to
yield a more comprehensive result as well others
skills such as listening, reading, and writing.
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CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
688