Socrates dialogue as a technique in group counseling to improve communication skills

: Every student should have the ability to organize ideas rationally and methodically, transform them into understandable language, and speak them fluently and clearly. The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficacy of employing the Socratic discussion technique in group counseling to improve interpersonal communication. This is a quasi-experimental study with a single-group design. The sample size was seven participants, and data was collected using a communication skills questionnaire and evaluated using the T-test. The analysis revealed a Sig (2-tailed) paired samples test result of 0.000 where the result was <0.05, indicating that group counseling services using the technique of Socratic dialogue have an effective impact on developing students' communication skills.


Introduction
Communication skills are the fundamental qualities that every student possesses to engage and form relationships with others. Communication necessitates only one skill: speaking. Not only the ability to pronounce articulation sounds and words in expressing, but also the ability to express and convey thoughts, ideas, and feelings effectively and easily understood by others (Gutara et al., 2017). Talking is an example of transmitting information to others in such a way that the message is appropriately and correctly transmitted (Beta, 2019;Marge et al., 2022;A. F. Sari, 2020). As a result, communication skills are critical for students to be able to deliver the desired message and goals while also improving their ability to interact.
The fact is that many people, even students, still have poor communication skills. As a result, pupils struggle to explain themselves, and misunderstandings are common. Students frequently struggle to articulate their thoughts, feelings, and ideas in spoken language (Farooq et al., 2020;Hebebci et al., 2020;Leong & Ahmadi, 2017). Sari (2022) also argues that students have constraints in expressing their thoughts, particularly because online learning is used. This is consistent with preliminary research findings that show disparities in the conditions of students' communication abilities before and after the covid pandemic. Students were used to expressing their thoughts before the covid-19 pandemic, but after the covid pandemic, students found it difficult to communicate their opinions and were not directly involved in the learning process.
As social beings and individuals, students in schools play two roles. Students are in the position of social creatures who must be able to interact properly with their surroundings (Graupensperger et al., 2020;Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2018). The ability to interact with friends as social beings is the most important aspect of pupils playing social beings at school. Communication skills are seen as crucial in the classroom learning process (Chien et al., 2020;Mishra et al., 2020).
This communication restriction of students can be remedied by offering training or a place where students can share perspectives to train them to convey their opinions. Forums that use small group coaching on consultation and interviewing skills and focus feedback are thought to be an effective and enjoyable form of training communication skills (Coman et al., 2020;Jacob et al., 2019).
The Socratic discussion is one strategy that can encourage pupils to voice their perspectives or ideas. Students can use Socratic discussion to ask questions, share ideas, and express themselves (Danawak & Atmojo, 2022). The socratic dialogue will enable students to reach an agreement on basic problems in real life (Pangestika et al., 2017). This is a method derived from the conversational patterns employed by Greek philosophers to help their students understand concepts (Pitorini et al., 2020). The use of the Socratic dialogue technique in conjunction with group counseling services is designed to provide students with expertise in training arguments through group reasoning and communication activities. The study sought to ascertain the value of using the Socratic discussion style in group counseling to improve students' communication skills.

Methods
This study employed a quasi-experimental design with one group to determine the conditions before and after administering the Socratic discussion technique to respondents who had communication issues. Before beginning group counseling with the Socratic dialogue technique, the counselee was provided equipment, and then group therapy with the Socratic discussion technique began. Following group counseling, the counselee was given the same instrument to assess the changes that had happened.
This study was conducted at MTS Roudlotul Banat with 7 respondents out of 29 participants who experienced communication issues. Researchers established a communication skills scale based on markers of communication abilities, such as public speaking, asking and answering questions, presenting information efficiently, conveying ideas, and expressing sentiments. In 15 therapy sessions, the Socratic dialogue technique is carried out in six stages, including identifying the topic of conversation, formulating questions, observing, reflecting, debriefing, and drawing conclusions. The T-test was used to compare the differences before and after the Socratic dialogue technique was applied to the obtained data.

Results and Discussion
This research was conducted at MTS Roudlotul Banat by conducting 15 group counseling sessions. The data obtained before and after giving group counseling using the Socratic dialogue are as follows: From the t-test, the average value of the pretest was 75 and the post-test was 101.57. Thus there is a difference in the pretest and posttest values of -26, 571. Then it is known that the sig2 t-test for equality of means is 0.000 <0.05, it is concluded that there are differences in students' communication skills before and after group counseling with the Socratic dialogue technique in pretest and post-test values.
Based on the findings, it is possible to conclude that group counseling services utilizing the Socratic dialogue style are successful in enhancing students' communication abilities. Students can benefit from group counseling programs that use the Socratic dialogue technique to improve their communication abilities. This is backed by Khairi et al., (2017) research, which illustrates how the Socratic discussion technique can improve individual communication skills. The questions in the Socratic dialogue efficiently teach people how to communicate or talk properly in public (Danawak & Atmojo, 2022;Kazantzis et al., 2018).
The Socratic dialogue format used in group counseling allows counselees to communicate with one another (Solehuddin & Budiman, 2019). Group counseling tries to instill purpose in group members' successful communication processes (Ardila et al., 2019). Group therapy services improve group interaction by alternating planned and unplanned meetings, as well as mutual impact among group members (Izzaty et al., 1967).
In essence, group counseling focuses on the beliefs and behaviors that emerge when a small group is formed. Group therapy is thought to be useful in preventing and easing issues encountered by students (Mandalika, 2020). Participating in discourse within this group adds to the existential significance of the humanizing experience (Síveres et al., 2021). When it comes to learning, Socratic dialogue has advantages for both students and teachers. Socratic discourse develops dialogue skills that are essential for students' interpersonal competency. Simultaneously, Socratic dialogue creates a forum for students to practice dialogue with one another (Pangestika et al., 2017). Dialogue is utilized as a learning approach in the framework of Socrates' learning to build higher-level thinking with the concept of analogy and reasoning (Hansen, T. David, 1988) (Kiswanto & Suryana, 2017).
The socratic discussion attempts to invite each participant to investigate and weigh each belief to ensure that it is sensible (Rosyidi, 2022). The Socratic discussion technique focuses on how to investigate the deep thoughts that develop as a result of the presented knowledge (Kurniawan et al., 2021). In other words, the Socratic Technique will teach pupils how to communicate based on what they think.
Participants are confronted with difficult understandings and concepts, and they educate counselees on communication ethics (Pangestika et al., 2017). The interlocutor must be able to recognize himself in the dialectic of defining what he wants to participate in the Socratic-therapeutic dialogue (De Bravo Delorme, 2019). Thus, students can conduct themselves ethically or in compliance with established rules when communicating.
The importance of the group leader in group counseling cannot be isolated from the success of Socratic dialogue in enhancing students' communication abilities. Group counseling will not be effective if the group's leader or counselor is unable to master and control group dynamics. The importance of developing students' communication skills through Socratic dialogue will allow pupils to communicate and socialize with their peers.

Conclusions and recommendations
Based on the findings of the analysis and discussion, it is possible to infer that group counseling utilizing the Socratic Dialogue Technique fails to improve students' interpersonal communication skills. This strategy teaches students how to communicate effectively with their group members.
It is intended that school counselors will be able to implement group counseling using the Socratic dialogue technique. School counselors can also use the Socratic dialogue technique to develop other characteristics of the counselee to conduct good counseling services at school.