Abstrak
Speaking ability in English plays a crucial role, as it serves as the primary means for students to express their ideas, opinions, and feelings in class XI-K at SMAN 1 Tarakan. The research employed a pre-experimental design, and the sample consisted of 36 students from class XI-K. The research procedures included a pre-test, treatment, and post-test. The treatment was conducted over four meetings, focusing on speaking practice through role-play activities. The pre-test and post-test were analyzed statistically using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank non-parametric test. The results discovered that the students' mean score increased from 43.47 in the pre-test to 76.13 in the post-test. The statistical analysis yielded a significance value of 0.000, which was below the significance level of 0.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test results. These findings indicate that the use of role-play activities significantly improves students' speaking ability. In addition, increased confidence and particiation were observed during classroom activities, although these aspects were not formally measured using specific instruments.