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.