Panel Discussions: Skilled Communication And Knowledge Construction to Develop EFL Learners’ Speaking Performance

The poor speaking performance is a big obstacle for EFL learners to communicate and to construct knowledge. The main aim of the study was to find out how panel discussion can be implemented to develop EFL learners’ speaking performance. In panel discussion, students need to understand the topic and to construct knowledge by gathering information and deeply engaged in learning. The study followed action research methodology where data was gathered from an in-depth interview and Test of Spoken English (TSE), collected from 18 students in Universitas Muhammadiyah Jember. The speaking score was better than before the implementation of panel discussion, as seen from the mean score in TSE (64.63 in Preliminary to 70.93 in Cycle 1).  The highest achievement made is in the aspects of vocabulary (67% better). Panel discussion can significantly improve speaking because the process of knowledge construction stimulates students to have extended and multimodal communication.