SKRIPSI AN INVESTIGATION OF THE STUDENTS ABILITY AND DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING A NARRATIVE TEXT

(KODE : PENDBING-0056) : SKRIPSI AN INVESTIGATION OF THE STUDENTS ABILITY AND DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING A NARRATIVE TEXT

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

The chapter presents general points of the study including background of the study, research questions, aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, method, and organization of the paper.

A. Background

Writing is very important in learning language. Writing also plays a very significant role in the success of learning Thomson (1978) in Emilia (1996 : 5). Therefore, it is not surprising in Indonesia that writing has been paid more attention to by the government. This can be seen from the last two curricula of English for secondary school (Kurikulum berbasis kompetensi (KBK/Curriculum Based Competence) and kurikulum tingkat satuan pendidikan (KTSP/ Curriculum of Educational Unit)). These two curricula put a strong emphasis in writing. The students are told to write different text types including, recount, descriptive, procedure, exposition, discussion, report, Narrative, news item, etc.

The current curriculum for senior high school released by BSNP (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan) states that one of the main purposes of English in this stage of education is comprehending and creating various short functional text types and monolog and also essays of procedures, descriptive, recount, Narrative, report, news item, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, review, and public speaking. From the BSNP, it can be seen that the curriculum gives emphasis in writing various text types, unexceptionally Narrative.

However, research on the students' ability and difficulties in writing has not been well documented by expert in Indonesia. Thus, this research tried to investigate the students' ability and difficulties in writing those texts, particularly Narrative.

Narrative is one of the two modes of our thinking (Bruner 1986, cited in Abdulmanan 2008 : 2). While communicating with others, we may describe an incident as a way of explaining his/her thought or a part of his/her argument. As much, (cited in Abdulmanan 2008 : 2) Narrative is usually an essential text type required to practice in writing class for learners of English as a foreign language. However, when it comes to the first graders' composition in X, some students who are lacking in practice and having limited vocabularies to tell their imagination often do not have much to say.

In this research, the writer focuses on analysis of a Narrative text written by first graders of one SMAN in X. Based on the writer's observation the students still found it difficult to make a Narrative text, moreover there was limited research that revealed about the reason why they have difficulties in writing a Narrative text.

Regarding the above phenomenon, it is thus necessary to conduct research which focuses on the students' ability and difficulties in writing a Narrative text. This research is also expected to investigate ability and what difficulties that the students encountered. Knowing what difficulties that the students usually found, teachers are expected to know what to do to their students.

In the end, this study will show the ability of the first graders of senior high school who write a Narrative text.

B. Research Questions

In line with the purposes of the study above, this study will attempt to address the following questions :

1. How is the ability of students in writing a Narrative text ?

2. What difficulties did the students find in writing a Narrative text ?

C. Aims of The Study

The aims of this study are : 

1. To identify students' ability in writing a Narrative text

2. To identify students' difficulties in writing a Narrative text

D. Significance of the Study

The writer expects this research can enrich the literature on research dealing with ability and difficulties of students in writing a Narrative text. The result of this can also give valuable information to teachers of teaching writing and to the students on the need of realizing the weaknesses in order to improve their ability in writing a Narrative text.

Moreover, for the teacher professionalism, it requires teachers to find teaching approach to develop students' ability in writing a Narrative text.

E. Organization of the Paper 

Chapter One : This chapter presents general points of the study including background of the study, research questions, aims of the study, significance of the study, and organization of the paper. 

Chapter Two : This chapter elaborates theoretical overview that supports this study. 

Chapter Three : This chapter provides details on method that will be applied on this study. 

Chapter Four : This chapter presents, analyzes and discusses the finding. 

Chapter Five : This chapter explores the summary of the study and also some suggestions for further better study.

SKRIPSI TEACHERS TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL

(KODE : PENDBING-0055) : SKRIPSI TEACHERS TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes the general issues related to the introduction of this study. The issues cover background of the study, research questions, the purpose of the research, the significance of the study, the definition of the terms, and thesis organization.

A.. Background of the Study

English has become a lingua franca, a language which is internationally used by people with different first language background (Harmer, 2001), and which is used for communication by more than one billion people around the world (see Johnson, 2001). This makes English an important tool that everyone should master; making it one important school subjects in most schools in the world.

In Indonesia, English has been taught and received serious attention in all levels of study, i.e. Elementary School, Junior High School, and Senior High School. The goal of teaching English in Indonesia, and probably in most schools in the world, is the students' ability to use English for communication through four language skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Among other language skills, mastery speaking which is "the basic means of human communication" (Lazarton, 2001 : 103) and English speaking which has become "the most demanding skill" ((Bailey & Savage, 1994 in Lazarton, 2001) is a must. This is due to the fact that most learners often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how much they feel they have improved in their speaking proficiency (Richards, 2008).

Besides the importance of speaking skill, learning speaking in second or foreign language, has a great challenge. Brown (1994 in Lazarton, 2001) mentions a number of features that interact to make speaking as challenging as it is. First, fluent speech contains reduced forms, such as contractions, vowel reduction, and elision, so that learners who are not exposed to or who do not get sufficient practice with reduced speech will retain their rather formal-sounding full forms. Second, students must also acquire the stress, rhythm, and intonation of English. In line with that, Lazarton (2001 cited in Celce-Murcia, 2001 : 103) states that perhaps the most difficult aspect of spoken English is that it is almost always accomplished via interaction with at least one other speaker. This means that a variety of demands are in place at once : monitoring and understanding the other speakers, thinking about one's own contribution, producing that contribution, monitoring its effect, and so on.

To cope with the challenges of teaching speaking, the language teachers are required to be able to create and employ certain techniques in order to achieve the goal of language learning and teaching for speaking skill. By this, it means that the teacher plays an important role in determining what technique can best encourage students' participation in the learning process. This is supported by Celce-Murcia, 1979 who mentions that teacher needs to know the strategies and exercises to ensure that each is getting a relevant practice in speaking English in order to develop his fluency and confidence. In line with that, Rahmawati (2008) proposes that teacher, particularly in speaking instruction, is always expected to provide an engaging-students techniques to make them able to explore their experiences and idea in oral way.

In teaching speaking skill, the teachers are expected to be able to promote students' speaking skill by employing several types of techniques such as discussion, speeches, role plays, conversation, audio taped oral dialogues journal and other accuracy-based activities (Lazarton in Celce-Murcia, 2001 : 106). Thus, it is expected that the strategies will explore the students' speaking performance.

Among other language skills taught in EFL schools, speaking skill has been likely received little concern by investigators since the complexity and impracticality of this skill to be investigated (See Lengkanawati, 2007). Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the teaching of speaking skill particularly the English teacher's techniques in teaching speaking skill. Besides, it also investigates the students' responses to those techniques.

B. Research Questions

Based on the consideration above, this study is focused on the research questions as follows : 

1. What techniques does the teacher use in teaching speaking skill ?

2. What are the students' responses to the teacher's techniques ?

C. Aims of the Study

Related to the research questions above, this study aims to : 

1. investigate the English teachers' techniques in teaching speaking skill,

2. identify the students' responses to the techniques used by the teachers in teaching speaking skill.

D. Significance of the Study

It is expected that the result of this study will be useful for those who participate in teaching English as a foreign language. They are involved : first, the teachers of English; second, the education officers and the school stake holders who hold and facilitate any kinds of teachers training; third, the writer as the researcher would like to meet the magister degree; and fourth, the other researchers who are interested in conducting the same field of study.

E. Thesis Organization

This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is general introduction that relates to the background of the study. Chapter two discusses the literature review as the basic guidelines which underpinning the study. Chapter three presents the methodology of the research. This involves the data collection techniques and instruments used in conducting the research. Chapter four is about data presentation and data analysis in the study. And the last, chapter five presents conclusion and offers some recommendation.

SKRIPSI THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING TO YOUNG LEARNERS A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY AT THREE KINDERGARTENS

(KODE : PENDBING-0054) : SKRIPSI THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING TO YOUNG LEARNERS A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY AT THREE KINDERGARTENS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background

English as an International language is needed by all levels of education to be mastered. This has made educators from all levels of education try to facilitate the best way of teaching and learning English. As a result, the teaching and learning English has been placed in a very important position and has been taught in almost all countries in the world.

In Indonesian teaching context, English is a foreign language that becomes a compulsory subject in all schools from lower secondary to upper secondary schools. It is where the department of education and culture number 060/U/1993 includes English into curriculum for the elementary level of education as one of the local content subjects from grade four to grade six (www.depdiknas.go.id). In addition, Suyanto (2008 : 15) states that now English is also introduced to preschool where the students are grouped into very young learners.

In relation to this, many parents send their young learners to schools that offer a good English program. They do this with an assumption that learning foreign language will be much easier at an early age. Hence, young learners have a better chance to be successful in acquiring foreign language. Actually, there are many other factors that will determine the success of language learners such as exposure, support, engagement, teachers' confidence, capabilities and sponsorship (Musthafa, 2008 : 4).

In line with this, Suyanto (2008 : 15) notes that the maturity of students are not simply from the age but also from any other factors, such as environment, cultural, interest, and the influence of parents. Furthermore, Nunan (1999) says that whether or not it's a 'good thing' to begin a foreign language for very young learners (4-5 years old) will depend on many factors including the amount of time the kids are given, the competence of the teachers, the quality of the resources etc.

As mentioned above, in Indonesian teaching context English is included into curriculum for the elementary level of education and many studies have been investigating the process of teaching and learning English to young learners in elementary level. Furthermore, the researcher tries to consider about the process of teaching and learning English to young learners or early childhood education, where the age range of the students is around four to six years old. This study will focus on the process of teaching and learning English to young learners, the process of English language assessment to young learners as well as the effect of these processes. Hopefully the findings of this study will provide an insight of the process of teaching and learning as well as assessment to young learners. It is also expected that this study will contribute some lucid information on how teaching and learning as well as assessment should be carried out. Hence, there will be improvement on the way teachers teach and assess to young learners.

Since in this study there will be a discussion about assessment, there will be a definition about assessment which is related to the study. Assessment is the process of data analysis that teachers use to get evidence about their learner's performance and progress in English (Pinter, 2006 : 131). In terms of purpose, assessment is needed by administrators, teachers, staff developers, students and parents assist in determining appropriate program placements and instructional activities as well as in monitoring students' progress (O'Malley and Pierce, 1996 : 3). More specifically, all teachers need to know how effective their teaching is and all learners are interested in how well they are doing. Since assessment is the teaching and learning process, therefore it is an integral part of teaching and learning and it occurs all the time.

B. Research Questions

Relevant to the main points explained above, the questions in this research are formulated as follows : 

1) What is the process of teaching and learning English language to young learners in some kindergartens in northern part of X ?

2) What is the process of assessment of English language to young learners in these kindergartens ?

3) What is the effect of these processes to young learners in these kindergartens ?

C. Purpose of the Study

In line with the research questions mentioned above, the aims of this research are specified into the following points : 

1) To identify the process of teaching and learning English language to young learners in some kindergartens classroom in northern part of X.

2) To identify the process of assessment of English language to young learners in those kindergartens.

3) To identify the effect of these processes to young learners in these kindergartens.

D. Definition of Terms

- Young learners : children are at preschool or in the first couple of years of schooling (Pinter, 2006 : 2).

- Teaching : work of a teacher, idea or belief that is taught (Oxford Learner's Pocket Dictionary, 1995 : 425)

- Assessment : calculating the value of something (Oxford Learner's Pocket Dictionary, 1995 : 21). According to Pinter (2006 : 131) Assessment is the process of data analysis that teachers use to get evidence about their learner's performance and progress in English.

E. Significance of the Study

This study will provide an insight of how English language learning is conducted in terms of the process of teaching and learning, assessment and the effect of these processes to young learners. Findings of the study will give empirical evidence of the process of teaching and learning, the process of assessment of English language and the effect of these processes to young learners at some kindergartens in northern part of X. The results of this study hopefully make teachers are aware of the crucial things in teaching and assessing English language learning to young learners.

SKRIPSI IMPROVING STUDENTS READING SKILL THROUGH INTERACTIVE APPROACH

(KODE : PENDBING-0053) : SKRIPSI IMPROVING STUDENTS READING SKILL THROUGH INTERACTIVE APPROACH

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

Reading is a crucial skill for students both English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). By reading activities, in the writer's view, the students can get information that is needed and they can broaden their horizons. Moreover, ESL/EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic areas. Besides, indirectly they can communicate and interact with the people who have a different language, social and cultural background.

According to Anderson (1999 : 1), reading is an active, fluent process that involves the reader and the reading material in constructing the meaning. Furthermore, he notes that meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor is it only in the head of the reader. It means that reading can be constructed by combining the words on the printed page with the reader's background knowledge and experiences. Consequently, the teaching of reading should involve activities which connect the ideas on the text to what students already know.

In relation to the objective of teaching of English at senior high schools, the National Curriculum Board of Education (BSNP, 2006) targets the students at the information level. At this level, the students are supposed to understand various genres of English written texts, i.e. procedure, descriptive, recount, narrative, report, news item, analytical exposition, spoof, explanation, discussion, review and public speaking to access knowledge. It means that the teaching of reading will not be successful if the students can only read words without understanding the message being read. In other words, whatever we read should be well understood. Smith and Robinson (1980) argue that comprehension means understanding. This means that reading comprehension is a process of thought where the readers understand the writer's ideas and interpret them into his or her own needs.

In achieving the objective above, English teachers sometimes have many problems on how to improve the students' ability in reading. Based on the researcher's experiences and informal observation, it is found that most students at senior high school level frequently find it hard to understand English texts though the text is simple. It is difficult for them to find the word and sentence meaning contextually, get the main ideas, paragraph, comprehend the ideas' text and find the view of writer.

The difficulty may be due to the students' linguistic deficiencies. The students often lack of vocabulary or they may know a word but with a different meaning. Moreover, the students may be unfamiliar with grammatical structures. These deficiencies may lead students to inaccurate reading, which result in erroneous interpretation (Tamar Feuerstein and Miriam Schcolnik, 1995). In addition, they frequently, in reading English text rely on their language competency more-or bottom- up reading text-and less activate their background knowledge (top-down reading text).

Another difficulty may also be due to insufficient teaching of the skill in a structured way (Yuil & Oakhill, 1991 in Aarnoutse, 1999). Based on the researcher's observation, in many schools, reading instruction seems not to focus on the content of passage. They traditionally teach reading by answering questions based on the text and finding out unfamiliar words in dictionary. The main activities are mostly dominated by reading aloud, translating the texts and answering text-based questions presented in the text book used in teaching. They do not activate the students' background knowledge before reading activities. Consequently, this overemphasis act on decoding sometimes produces students who can decode and pronounce words but fail to comprehend what they read. They even get bored involving in reading instructions.

To overcome the above difficultness and to develop the students' reading skill, interactive approach becomes an alternative solution to be used in teaching. This approach is considered as more comprehensive one since it emphasizes not only on how students decode the text but also how they interpret the text as Eskey (1988) states that good readers are both good decoders and good interpreters of text.

With respect to interactive approach, there are two approaches of reading that become the basic principle of interactive approach. The first one is bottom up processing. This theory emphasizes on developing basic skill, matching sounds to the letters, syllables and words in the text, and the second one is top down processing. It stresses on the reader's background knowledge to comprehend the text. Bottom up approach is associated with teaching methodology called phonics and top down is related to the schema theory. Both of approaches have strength and weakness. Bottom up is more appropriate used to the students in the basic level while top down to the higher level. The third is interactive approach. This approach combines both bottoms up and top down (Elba in Max Koller, (Ed.), and 2006 : 8).

According to Stanovich (1980 in Carell, et.all 1990 : 31) interactive model of reading appear to provide a more accurate conceptualization of reading performance than strictly top down or bottom-up models. From this view, it can be stated that interactive can be best applied in teaching reading both for lower and higher level.

A recent research, conducted by Liu, et.al. (2007), on teaching reading has shown that an interactive model is effective in improving students' reading comprehension due to the importance of both processes. In practice, a reader continually changes from one focus to another. It means that besides a reader needs a top-down to predict meaning, he requires bottom up approach to check whether that is really what the writer said (Nutall, cited in Brown, 2001 : 299).

As an interactive links to bottom up, Eskey (1988) asserts that structure of the language of the text contributes much more to the readers' reconstruction of meaning than strictly top down theorists. Similar to Eskey view, Carell (1988) states that both processes interacting are efficient and effective reading in spite of the fact that top down processing is strongly linked to the teaching of reading.

To examine the effectiveness of interactive approach in teaching reading comprehension, this study involved grammar translation method as applied in control group. This method used in this study as comparison to interactive approach because it has been commonly used in teaching reading at MA X. In teaching reading comprehension, this method emphasizes on translating text from target language to native language. It also focuses on answering comprehension question.

Referring to the phenomena above, this research attempts to investigate the application of interactive approach proposed by Eskey (1988) as one of many reading strategies. This study intends to help students improve their reading skill by practicing both bottom-up and top-down model reading activities. In bottom-up model students are trained to develop their vocabulary and knowledge of structure. In top-down model, students are trained to activate their background knowledge before reading to predict the text. 

B. Statement of the Problem

Reading comprehension is a complex task and a difficult skill for many students. As a result, students' achievement in reading comprehension is still far from being expected. Consequently, teachers need to teach comprehension strategies in order to improve students' comprehension. This phenomenon has become the researcher's starting point in conducting his study. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the effects of the application of interactive approach to develop students' comprehension in reading compared to grammar translation method.

C. Research Questions

Based on the background of study, the research problem can be formulated as follows : 

- Is there a significant difference between students who are trained on applying interactive approach with those are trained with grammar translation one ?

D. Hypothesis

There is no a significant difference between students who are trained on applying interactive approach with those are trained with grammar translation method.

E. The Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of the application of interactive approach in teaching reading comprehension. The study specifically attempts to find out whether the interactive approach can be used to develop students' ability in reading comprehension.

SKRIPSI THE EFFECT OF USING SONG ON STUDENT'S SPEAKING ABILITY

(KODE : PENDBING-0051) : SKRIPSI THE EFFECT OF USING SONG ON STUDENT'S SPEAKING ABILITY

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the background of the study that describes the reason why the writer intends to conduct this study. First, the reasons or background of the study, problem of the study, and significance of the study are formulated. Next, the scope and limitation of the study is presented. The last part is the definition of the key terms.

A. Background of the Study

Generally, language is a system of arbitrary conventionalized vocal, written, gesture symbols that permit members of a given community to communicate intelligibly with each other. There are many languages in the world that used to communicate each other such as Chinese, Russian, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, English and etc. English is the important one, as international language, means that people around the world use it for communication each other in the daily life for relationship of business, trade, education and etc.

In Indonesian schools, thus, English, for the English department students is not a new subject, since English has been given when they were studying English in their junior high schools level. It is as one of main lesson that examined in UAN (Ujian Akhir Nasional). Based on the brief description of the English position, we know that English is very important to learn.

Talk about Language, it can not remove with teaching and learning. According to the 1994 curriculum, teach language, especially English. It magnifies on the development of four areas influencing the ability in mastering English as well. They are : reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Speaking and writing are productive skills, while reading and listening are the receptive skills. Therefore, in this thesis, the writer would like to discuss further more about one important aspect of language, speak. Speaking is the ability to express opinions, ideas, or thought orally; it consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning in order to be understood by the people we are speaking with.

We know that speaking is included all aspects of language like explain before, it is the most important to master it. It is also considered as the most difficult aspect and as primary skill. This opinion can be proved by the fact that almost speakers can orally use the language to carry out their daily activities and to communicate in their life experiences.

In the process of teaching and learning, teachers often find situations when students are not motivated because they get bored, if the students are bored or emotionally upset they will find it difficult to concentrate and participate in the classroom activity. Beside that, according to the writer experience that the students also not confidence to speak English because they are not usual to do it and they are not very good at English and they know about it. They do not know many English words or, even if they remember some words they have problems with pronunciation, so do not want to speak, because they are shy to produce their language in front of the classroom.

In other way, part of the techniques of teaching and learning are still monotones (teacher only explain the material of the lesson and then give student some assignment), it causes the students are unless motivated to speak English. Actually, there are many methods that used by the teacher in English's teaching and learning in order to reach the goal, the student can speak English fluently such as; using cartoon movies, pictures, jigsaws, games and etc. But, in the study, the writer would like to use song as media teaching and learning. She thinks that songs are interesting way to teach English, especially in speaking class. Neurologists have found that musical and language processing occur in the same area of the brain, and there appear to be parallels in how musical and linguistic syntax are processed.

Noorman stated that no man can live without art and music is a part of it. That means, music is an important thing in human's life. And song is a part of music. It is defined as a sort piece of music that has words or musical words that use words on it which is called lyrics. It is human way in expressing their passion which is a part of music. It is a part of people collective history and also every day lives. People can express something that they feel by music. It has been received in all level people, such as; children, adult, old, or rich and poor, all of them can enjoy music. Noorman added that is considered as relaxing, they feel a little more comfortable in the class, music lovers suffer less from stress and high blood pressure than people who do not enjoy music.

Bertrand said (as cited by Ika) that songs makes the lesson more communicate, livelier to be motivated and one way to motivating them is by means songs. It is expected that song can be used as attractive in teaching English in order to the students will not get bored. Hancock said (as cited by Dessy) There are two advantages by using song in teaching English. First is to motivation. When songs are used in teaching learning process it is enjoyable. So the students are more motivated to learn English. Second is memorable. Songs have melodies that make to words or sentences easy to remember or memorize. A sentence without melody is much less memorable than the some sentence with melody. Song can be used to give students a break from the teachers they hear everyday which enable then to have a closer and stronger relationship with the teacher. Therefore, using songs material in the classroom activity can attract the student's interest and arouse the student's motivation in learning English.

In the other opinion, said that for two last decades, EFL (English as foreign language) methodology has been actively considering the possibility of using music and song in the class. Songs can be effectively used in an intermediate class for the purpose of teaching speaking to prospective EFL teachers. There are main reasons supported this idea. First, as a cultural phenomenon, songs can introduce students to the musical and cultural patterns typical for the target language community. Second, songs belong to a synthetic genre, which includes both lyrics, music and these two constituents may be used as a good incentive for speaking English in the class. Kisito said that English songs can be used for a wide variety of ESL learning and teaching activities. In speaking class, they can start discussions on a topic or even become the centre of debate. This is especially true of songs that develop a particular theme. Nevertheless, songs have their own identities such as it is convey a lower amount of information, have more redundancy and a personal quality. According to Wang B, songs present opportunities for developing automatic which is the main cognitive reason for using songs in the classroom. It means that automatic as "a component of language fluency which involves both knowing what to say and producing language rapidly without pauses”. Therefore, songs can help automatic the language development process.

B. Problem of Study

From the background of the study above, the writer states the problems as follows : 

1. How is the application of using song at MAN X ?

2. How is the effect of using song on students' speaking ability at MAN X ?

C. Objectives

In line with the problem of the study above, the writer states the objectives of the study such as : 

1. Describing the applications of using English songs at MAN X

2. Describing the effect of using song on students' speaking ability at MAN X.

D. Significance of the Study

Looking at the objectives above, this study is trying to develop the instructional practices at IPA study program of Man X by developing the student's speaking ability by using songs. The results of the study later are expected to : 

1. Give contribution to the development of English teaching, especially to the development of instruction.

2. Provide English teachers with the appropriate procedure to developing the student's speaking ability by using song,

3. Give the students experience in learning English by song.

SKRIPSI THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SIMULATION IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING SKILL

(KODE : PENDBING-0050) : SKRIPSI THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SIMULATION IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING SKILL

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is divided into seven subsections. They are background of the study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of problems, objectives of the study, hypothesis, significance of the study, and outline of the report.

A. Background of the Study

The globalization era that demands man power with sufficient competency and professionalism has made Vocational High School so important. This phenomenon is reflected in that many students leaving Junior High Schools enter Vocational Schools.

It goes without saying that Vocational High School has some special qualities. Firstly, the alumni that leave from this institution could meet the job requirements in industry or company because they have certificate of Uji Kemampuan Kompetensi. With this certificate they would have a chance to get a job easily. Secondly, the alumni could continue their study if they are qualified; adjusted to their vocations.

Hence, the teaching and learning process in Vocational High School needs special techniques in order to achieve the necessary competencies for the students. That demand increases when there is free market in this era that makes manpower exchange takes place rapidly. So that, the students need to master the subjects and skills suitable with their vocations. They also have to be good in English as an international language, which also used both in industry and business nowadays.

However, according to my observation and interview before doing this final project, the English subject in Vocational High School is still conventional, monotonous and boring for the students. The teachers' successful orientation is still how to deliver all materials from the occupied literature (Suyatno, 2004 : 2). It potentially becomes one of the problems for them to reach the goal of the learning process.

Moreover, the situation becomes worse when the teachers rarely update the necessary skills in teaching according to the education progress. They have a drawback to evolve teaching techniques and strategies. The result is teaching and learning process operated in an old way that generates alumni without any sufficient competences.

Another cause is the very limited chance for the teachers to join in seminar, discussion, and training. It makes instructional processes become less innovative. This condition is usually complained especially by those who teach in remote areas.

The phenomena above are contrary to the spirit of the new curriculum (KTSP) which suggests that teachers should be able to enhance their teaching strategies for the sake of the student's competence development (KTSP 2007) (http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurikulum_Tingkat_Satuan_Pendidikan).

Beside the above demand of the curriculum, the teacher's techniques and the students' learning styles should be in line. Teaching and learning process should be able to accommodate the different and unique characteristics of the students.

Based on the above arguments, simulation would be an effective technique to solve those problems for Vocational High School. This technique would give supporting environment for the students to elaborate themselves with their own learning styles. I focused on improving students' speaking skill for Vocational High School. Here, the subject of my study will be THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SIMULATION IN IMPROVING STUDENTS' SPEAKING SKILL FOR VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL.

B. Reasons for Choosing the Topic

There are some reasons in choosing this topic. The first one is because the topic has not been examined yet by many researchers. Most of the them investigated the area of teaching and learning process in Junior or Senior High School in the terms of methods, strategy, and the interaction among the students or between teacher and students in the English class. There are still a few who conducted researches about teaching and learning techniques, especially simulation, for Vocational High School.

The second one is the topic will promise a valuable contribution for English teaching and learning process especially for Vocational High School that is being improved constantly by the government. The simulation technique adapts the students' learning styles and also uses Contextual Teaching and Learning that is needed in vocational classes as demanded by the curriculum. So that, this technique would be an alternative solution for education problem.

The third, the topic would be useful for language development because the simulation technique concerns on speaking skill. Therefore, by analyzing this matter, I hope that the second language learner could get knowledge and information in using English through simulation. This technique uses English as a means of communication not merely studying the language itself.

The last one is the topic gives an advantage for the students in improving their speaking skill and elaborating their learning styles. All the teaching and learning processes held in the context of situation according to the students' vocations. It would give much information for them in using English as the means of communication on their fields.

C. Statement of Problems

The problems that are discussed in this study are : 

1. How is the speaking test achievement for students taught using simulation technique ?

2. How is the speaking test achievement for students taught without using simulation technique ?

3. Is there any significant difference in students' speaking test achievement between those taught by using simulation technique and those taught without using simulation technique ?

D. Objectives of the Study

The purposes of this study are : 

1. to find out the speaking test achievement for students taught using simulation technique

2. to find out the speaking test achievement for students taught without using simulation technique

3. to find out whether there is significant difference in students' speaking test achievement between those taught by using simulation technique and those taught without using simulation technique.

SKRIPSI STUDENT'S READING STRATEGIES AND THEIR READING COMPREHENSION

(KODE : PENDBING-0049) : SKRIPSI STUDENT'S READING STRATEGIES AND THEIR READING COMPREHENSION

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This research is intended to investigate the students' reading strategies and their reading comprehension in a junior high school. This chapter illustrates the background of the study, the research problems, and the purposes of the study. This chapter also includes the significance of the study, and the hypothesis. Moreover, this chapter also presents the research method and organization of the thesis.

A. Background of the Study

Reading is an essential skill for English as second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) learners; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master (Anderson, 1999). Anderson also states that with good reading skills, ESL/EFL readers will make great progress and attain great development in all academic areas (1999 : 21).

In a junior high school in Indonesia, reading skill is a first priority. The goal of reading in Indonesia English curriculum is to make the students comprehend what they read, and enhance students' oral and written communication ability (SMP-SBI curriculum 2007 the third grade of a junior high school). Further, SMP-SBI curriculum 2007 the third grade of a junior high school clarifies that the communication in this case is the ability to understand and to express the feeling, thought and information, to develop science, culture and technology (Depdiknas, 2007). It is also stated that standard competence of reading is to understand a meaning of procedural, report, explanatory written text or short essay, narrative, and news items, in order that students are able to communicate in daily and academic context.

In the last decade, many reading experts have investigated English reading strategies in order to solve the reading problems. Reading strategies are considered one of the fundamental factors that promote students' comprehension improvement in reading. Furthermore, reading strategy "is the foundation of students' self-regulated reading" (Syafrizal, 2000 : 4). A motivated and self-regulated reader will encourage himself to set his own planning in determining his reading strategies which contribute a great deal of success to his reading comprehension (Wenden, 1987 : 11).

Based on the description above, it can be said that reading strategies play an important role in reading English texts, especially in a junior high school. In line with this, the present study focuses on the investigation of students' reading strategies and their reading comprehension, a case study at a junior high school.

B. Research Problems

The study is aimed at investigating the junior high school students' reading strategies and their reading comprehension. Specifically, this study investigates the following questions : 

1. What reading strategies are used by the third grade students of the junior high school ?

2. Is there any correlation between the students' reading strategies and their reading comprehensions ?

C. Purposes of the Study

The study was conducted in order to : 

1. discover the reading strategies used by third grade students of the junior high school.

2. find the correlation between the students' reading strategies and their reading comprehensions

D. Significance of the Study

This study is intended to find the correlation between the junior high school students' reading strategies and their reading comprehension. Hopefully, the study will be valuable for teachers and students, for improving the teaching learning process. By knowing the students' reading strategies and their reading comprehension, the teachers could also select and design the appropriate teaching materials and techniques. Besides, by identifying reading and its strategies, it could be expected that some valuable findings could be implemented in the process of reading in order to make reading course better. Moreover, this study could also become an empirical study over viewing classroom learning activities in Competence-Based Curriculum. It could be an insight to teaching and learning activities in KTSP context. Furthermore, it can be a bridge for the students to encourage them to improve their reading comprehension by using reading strategies.

In addition, this study can be valuable for researcher because the result of the study provides some informative input to conduct another investigation in the same field in different contexts.

SKRIPSI THE USE OF MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXT TO IMPROVE STUDENTS READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY

(KODE : PENDBING-0048) : SKRIPSI THE USE OF MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXT TO IMPROVE STUDENTS READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter contains a brief explanation of the introduction. It consists of background, research questions, the scope of the research, aims of the research, hypothesis, research methodology, clarification of key terms, and organization of the paper. 

A. Background

In the structure of curriculum program in Junior high school, English is one of the most important subjects for students in the seventh grade until nine grades by having about four hours lesson every week. English has been identified as the most important parameter in the curriculum development that should be mastered by Indonesian students. It means that students in the junior high school have three years opportunity to learn English and they are expected to master it.

There are four skills in English teaching that the students should master it. The four skills are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Standard competence of Junior High School states that the seventh grade students in the second semester should be able to express spoken text and short monologue in descriptive and procedure text to interact with surrounding. It means that, the seventh grade students should be able to express meaning in simple short monologue and dialogue used in oral language variety accurately, fluently, and understandably to interact with surrounding.

Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning. Speaking also is an important skills to communicate because in speaking students convey ideas, opinion, etc. According to Brown (2001) speaking is one of the important skills in language learning in the classroom. It is used twice as often as listening and the most used skill, it means that students should be good in speaking because speaking is used more than listening.

However in reality, since English is introduced to students, they cannot talk fluently it can be seen when they make small conversations they cannot talk as the teacher want and they get some difficulties to speak English. They feel uneasy and they are afraid to speak with each other to share about their opinion. It can be drawn from their negative attitude toward speaking activity, one of the reason is the teaching method which is used is boring.

In teaching and learning process, the effective and interesting method is one of the ways to motivate students to be involved in the activity. It can make the students feel more comfortable with the materials. As Dewey states, cited in Mooney (2000; p. 15), that enjoyable teaching learning process will occur when students are interested in the materials because the beginner students are interested in many new things such as foreign language. According to Brown (2001 : 100) the characteristic of novice level is the students' ability to communicate using learned material and oral production consists of isolated words.

Unfortunately many teachers still apply traditional method in teaching. For example, teachers make the students keep learning English through teachers' explanation of new words or grammar. In fact, this method is not effective because students will easily forget the words and the material if they learn different topic. Especially for students, those who are seven to twelve years old, this method is uninteresting. Keskil and Cephe note that students who are 10 and 11 years old like game, puzzles and song most, those who are 12 and 13 years old like activities built around dialogues, question-answer activities and matching exercises most. (Harmer, 2001 : 61).

There are many methods that can be used in teaching or learning speaking. But the applied methods which are used need to be not only interesting but also effective in teaching speaking. Clearly, students will not be able to speak foreign language well just by memorizing lists of words, repeating mechanically some useful expressions, and so on. Cameron's (2001) state that speaking is the active use of language to express meanings. To speak in the foreign language in order to share understandings with other, people require attention to precise details of the language. Thus, if students do not understand the spoken language, they cannot learn it effectively.

As Dawson (1975) state that speaking is truly basic skill in language learning. Students need to get themselves involved in the classroom to get more practice in speaking foreign language. For the purpose of getting students involved in the classroom, enjoyable activities are recommended to be used by the teachers to make the students focus on teaching learning process.

The teachers have to use different kinds of teaching approach in order not to make the students feel bored. Klancar (2006 : 53) states that the teacher will get some advantages when they teach student by various types of activities such as reading aloud and describing pictures.

Speaking activity can be modified by using media to help students in organizing their idea, for example by using pictures. Based on the basic competence designed for seventh grade in the junior high school, students are expected to be able to describe something such as objects, things people or procedure. It means that teachers have to help them to be able to describe it. There are many ways to make students more involved in the activity one of them is by using pictures. Besides using pictures and posters teacher can also use the real media such as desks, chairs, and the other things to help them to describe people, things or object. Pictures, as the media, are expected to give explanation and description, without having the students to memorize the text.

Pictures can be a media to stimulate students in describing an object or person in the pictures. Students can acquire the meaning by seeing the things in the pictures without explanation. It also helps them to communicate or explain the events in the picture. As Thornbury (2005; p. 75) explains that the script of conversation can be illustrated in picture form to make it memorized easily. So that teachers can create joyful learning through pictures that can affect students to participate and also motivate them to be active in the class. Providing tools especially pictures could encourage students to focus on the materials. They are interested in the pictures and become actively participate in the class. Furthermore, through pictures, fun learning can be created and speaking activity will not be seen as difficult as students might have thought.

In relation to the teaching and learning, pictures are potential source in the transferring information. In the other words, picture can become a bridge to transfer knowledge from the teacher to the student. As Goodman (2006 : 75) states, that picture can act as a bridge between students who have different learning style. According to Canning-Wilson (2001 : 91) pictures are important since they facilitate students understanding. Furthermore, she explains that for most people, the mental image of what they see has greater impact than auditory input.

Based on the explanation above, this research aimed is to find out the effectiveness of using pictures in teaching speaking English. Thus, the entitled "TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH THROUGH PICTURE IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING ABILITY".

B. Research Questions

According to the previous explanations, this research was intended to answer the following questions : 

1. Is the use of Pictures effective in improving students speaking ability ?

2. What are the students' responses of teaching speaking English through pictures ?

C. The Scope of the Research

Based on the aforementioned problems, the scope of this study was to find out the effectiveness of picture in teaching speaking English. The context of the study was limited on teaching speaking English, especially to the seventh grades of SMP X.

D. Aims of the Research

The aims of this research are : 

1. To investigate the effectiveness of picture in teaching speaking English through picture.

2. To analyzed students' responses towards the implementation teaching speaking English through picture.

SKRIPSI COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) APPROACH IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING ABILITY IN EFL

(KODE : PENDBING-0047) : SKRIPSI COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) APPROACH IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING ABILITY IN EFL

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes the general issues related to the present study. These include the background of the study, limitation of the problem, formulation of the problem, hypothesis of the study, definition of the key terms, the purposes and significance of the research. 

A. Background of the study

The recent change of our national curriculum has a great effect on the instructional procedures and material contents in Primary school, Junior High School and Senior High School. Especially in Junior High School, the curriculum change from Competence-Based Curriculum to School-Based Curriculum has given opportunities for teachers to plan and make the curriculum based on the set of competences. Teachers are obliged to be creative and innovative (Karnadi & Ansyar, 2007) in developing the curriculum and portraying lessons in classroom.

Karnadi (2006) stated that the Education Ministerial regulation no. 22, 23 and 24 year 2006, dated May 23, about School-Based Curriculum giving a broad opportunities for schools as well as the teachers to determine and develop the curriculum. The curriculum developed by the school should refer to national standard of education, and operationally should be in line with the standard of content and competence arranged by BSNP (The Board of National Standard of Education). In such a way, school has a full authority to determine and develop the syllabus, curriculum and indicators in order to show the schools' potentials and competitions (Bambang Wasito Adi, The head of Information centre of BSNP). Principally, it is always intended to have teaching and learning process that finally can lead to have better learning outcome.

The goal of teaching English in Junior High School level is to communicate in English at the level of literacy performative competence and literacy functional competence (PERMEN 22 in 2006). The literacy performative competence level leads the students to be able to read, write, listen and speak English in simple symbols. The literacy functional competence level encourages the students to communicate in English orally and written for their daily activity needs.

As such, the way of teaching and learning process of English should be taken more emphasize on communicative approach. This approach gives focus on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structure (Richards, 1986 : 64). It is in line with the function of language that is to communicate opinion, ideas, information, etc. So that language is to communicate meaning as effectively as possible in concrete situation.

Nowadays, communication becomes more and more important in our daily life, because they are indispensable as a means of communication for Indonesia international activities. But it has been a big problem for Indonesian learners of English to develop communicative competence. This is partly because we have few opportunities to use English in a real world and partly because we usually regard English as knowledge instead of a mean of communication. As English is not the main approach for the people to transfer information with each other in Indonesia, it's mainly as the way of finding a good job and passing an examination. As a result, reading skills and linguistic competence are emphasized in school. What is more, Indonesia and English are completely different languages in many aspects, so it's difficult for the students to learn English. Also in Indonesia, there are a few opportunities for students to speak and listen to English; there is no real language environment for students to improve their communicative competence.

Additionally, there are two reasons why we should teach speaking skills in the classroom, they are;

- Motivation

Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote, "Success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.

- Speaking is fundamental to human communication.

Just think of all the different conversations we have in one day and compare that with how much written communication we do in one day. Which do we do more of ? In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. Do we think this is a good balance ?

If the goal of our language course is truly to enable our students to communicate in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practiced in the language classroom.

In case of teaching English as a foreign language, the goal of teaching as stated above is accordance with the standard and basic competence in school based curriculum (PERMEN 22 in 2006), especially for the eight-year of junior high school level, which take more emphasize on the students' communicative competence in speaking skill, as in the following that;

- The ability to express meaning in a simple short dialog with other people in transactional and interpersonal conversation. 

- The ability to express meaning in a simple short functional and monolog in descriptive and recount texts for interacting and communicating with other people.

- The ability to express meaning orally in transactional and interpersonal for interacting and communicating with other people.

- The ability to express meaning in a simple short functional and monolog in recount and narrative texts for interacting and communicating with other people.

Additionally, the standard of competence as stated above encourages the students to have the basic competence (PERMEN 22, 2006) as in the following;

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to ask for and give things.

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to ask and give opinions (make questions).

Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to invite people, agree and disagree, and talk about past experience.

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to express admiration and congratulation ask for and give ideas and ask for information.

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to talk about favorite tales, ask for a favor, ask and offer things.

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to get information, ask and give opinion, predict and retell the story.

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to ask for and give agreement, respond to a statement, talk about one's biography.

- Expressing meaning in transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal conversation (socialization) to make a telephone call, leave and take messages, make an appointment, and tell funny experience.

This paradigm shifting has happened in English teaching in Junior High School especially in SMPN X where the goal of teaching is aimed at teaching English for communication. However, the application of teaching in the field is still far from satisfying. For instance; it often can be seen that English teaching still emphasize on language form. It also can be observed that many Junior High School students who have been studying English for more than 3 years are not able to speak English, even though it is in a simple conversation. Their English mark in their final examination (NEM) is considered low and their communicative proficiency is also poor. 

The students' achievement nationally makes parents as well as teachers unhappy. The unsatisfactory results make people then turn more intention to the implementers in the fields. The teachers become the scapegoat of the failure because they directly face the students in class. This phenomenon is concluded that English teaching result is still far from satisfaction. It means that the problem of English teaching still can not be overcome maximally. The implementation of the normative approach underlying the curriculum is considered on the teachers' hand. Teachers as the teaching implementers in the field should be able to understand the curriculum as part of the system, since it should be understood as guideline that give direction towards the target decided. Their understanding will very much determine their preparation and their actual implementation in class. But the case is not like what it has been expected. Teachers as the spearhead are not well prepared. They are predicted of not having enough knowledge or experience about the approach.

The purpose of English teaching in Indonesia is very often limited to the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). And all the classroom activities are designed around the four language skills. However this is not necessarily the case. Many teachers and learners get accustomed to traditional teaching methodology and neglect the nature of language and language teaching. To avoid such misunderstanding the thesis insists that the aim of English teaching is to develop the learners' communicative competence.

In Indonesia, some existing problems, of which dumb English and low efficiency are most evident. Generally, the learners have spent at least three years or so studying English before entering senior high school. During such long learning span too much emphasis has been put on rote learning and accumulation of English knowledge, such as the mastery of usage words and grammatical rules. Many learners with many years experience in English learning still have considerable difficulty coping with English in its normal oral communicative use. Therefore, it is of great significance and urgency to further discuss the objective of language teaching and the approach in English language teaching is most self-evident. The learners are required to develop the comprehensive ability to communicate orally in English. In the process of improving the comprehensive proficiency the teaching should focus on the learners' proficiency instead of the presentation of abstract linguistic forms.

The objective of the English teaching is to develop the learners' English communicative competence likewise. Viewing English as a kind of meaning potential and a functional system, its learning should be the realization of English behavior potential. English teaching will focus on how to use English grammatically and appropriately. In a word, our English teaching will concentrate on the knowledge and ability to use. In addition to the ability to produce and understand grammatical utterances the learners are to develop the ability to know when to select a particular grammatical sequence that should be appropriate to the context, both linguistic and situational.

The common problems encountered by teachers with the teaching of English, especially teaching of speaking skills in junior high school can be seen in the following that; 

1. Students won't talk or say anything

One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from there. A reason for student silence may simply be that the class activities are boring or are pitched at the wrong level. Very often our interesting communicative speaking activities are not quite as interesting or as communicative as we think they are and all the students are really required to do is answer 'yes' or 'no' which they do quickly and then just sit in silence or worse talking noisily in their L1.

2. When students work in pairs or groups they just end up chatting in their own language.

This problem is mostly happen when the activity or the task is not interesting to students. If students do not have something to say or do, or don't feel the need to speak, we can be sure it won't be long before they are chatting away in their L1.

3. Passive class

A common problem for EFL teachers is dealing with a passive class, where students are unresponsive and avoid interaction with the teacher. This is especially true when a teacher seeks interaction in a teacher-class dialog, such as asking questions to the class as a whole, expecting at least one student to respond. This can be a frustrating experience for both parties. Obviously, there will be times when no student can answer a teacher's question, but often students do not answer even if they understand the question, know the answer, and are able to produce the answer. Furthermore, students can often be very reluctant to give feedback or ask the teacher a question in front of the class.

This condition interests the researcher to investigate the effectiveness of CLT to EFL teaching in order to overcome those problems, to help students to learn English more effectively and efficiently, especially in improving students' speaking ability.

B. Limitation of the Problem

It has been previously stated in the background that students with many years experience in English learning still have considerable difficulty coping with English in its normal oral communicative use. In the other hand, students who have been studying English for more than 3 years are not able to speak English, even though it is in a simple conversation. Their English mark in their final examination (NEM) is considered low and their communicative proficiency is also poor.

Concerning the outcome that has not made us happy yet, it is necessary to take a look at the communicative language teaching approach to the teaching of English as a foreign language. Through this study the researcher will investigate the effectiveness of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the English Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, especially in improving students' speaking ability in SMPN X.

C. Formulation of the Problem

The problem that will be observed in this research is;

1. Is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach effective in improving students' speaking ability ?

2. Is there any significant difference between the speaking ability of the respondents who are trained on applying CLT with those who are not ?

D. Hypothesis of the Study

The researcher sets the hypothesis as follows that students who are taught using Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach get higher speaking ability than those who are taught using the conventional method.

E. Definition of the Key Terms

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. In other words, Communicative language teaching (CLT) is the way of teaching language that takes more emphasize on communicative approach (Wilkins, 1980s). CLT refers to the process of learning which makes use of real-life situation that necessitate communication (Ann Galloway, center for applied linguistics). The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. Unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses. The real-life simulations change from day to day. Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics.

Communicative language teaching (CLT) refers to both processes and goals in classroom learning. The central theoretical concept in communicative language teaching is ‘‘communicative competence,’’. Competence is defined in terms of the expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning (Sauvignon, 1971). Sauvignon (1971) used the term ‘‘communicative competence’’ to characterize the ability of classroom language learners to interact with other speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from their ability to recite dialogues or perform on discrete-point tests of grammatical knowledge.

Approach, according to Anthony as quoted by Richards (1986) is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language and learning. Following Richards (1986), states that approach is theories about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching. Additionally, approach refers to the beliefs and theories about language, language learning and teaching that underlie a method. While speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking.

F. The Purpose of the Research

There are two purposes of the research : 

1. To investigate whether CLT is effective in improving students' speaking ability.

2. To find out the improvement of students' speaking ability after being trained compared to those who are not trained.