TEACHING SPEAKING BY USING 'ELSA AI' TO THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 42 PALEMBANG

This study investigates the effectiveness of the ELSA Speak application in enhancing English speaking skills among eighth-grade students at SMP Negeri 42 Palembang. Employing a quantitative method with a quasi-experimental design (one-group pre-test and post-test design), the research involved 34 students. The instruments used included a pre-test, treatment, and post-test. The results indicate that using ELSA Speak effectively improves English pronunciation skills compared to traditional learning methods. The average pre-test score of the students was 64.9118, which increased to 85.5882 in the post-test, showing an improvement of 31.82%. Hypothesis testing revealed a significance value of 0.000, indicating a significant effect of using ELSA Speak on students' performance improvement. The Cohen's Kappa value of 0.809 demonstrates excellent inter-rater reliability, which positively supports the validity of the obtained results. Future research should examine the long-term effects of ELSA Speak on fluency and confidence, compare it with other language learning tools, and involve larger, more diverse samples for broader insights.