Those problems indicate that the English teaching and learning process in SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Mlati needs to provide more
communication practices. These phenomena raise some questions to the English teacher and the researcher on how to solve the problems. As
mentioned previously, the researcher tried to find the effective solution to increase the speaking ability of students at SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Mlati
by using mingling games as a technique of teaching speaking, which is the subject of the research. Based on the reasons above, the researcher would
like to conduct a study on “USING ENGLISH MINGLING GAMES TO IMPROVE THE SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE SEVENTH GRADE
STUDENTS AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 2 MLATI IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 20132014
”.
B. Identification and Limitation of the Problem
Based on the background of the research there are some problems related to students’ speaking skills in SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Mlati in VII
B class, the researcher found some problems as the following: Firstly, the students had low motivation in learning. During the
class, they spent their time playing, sleeping, and doing something unrelated to the English lesson.
Secondly, the English teacher took only a little role in his teaching and rarely developed learning activities for the performance of students’
language skills. These problems make classroom English learning activity
tiresome because it is monotonous and less challenging for some students. The teacher’s teaching techniques cannot accommodate the students’
needs to communicate with and learn the language effectively. For example, the teacher only used repetition when teaching speaking.
Finally, media in the classroom like course books, projector and the like were very limited. This school only has one language laboratory.
However the teacher cannot operate this facility. It happens because the school principal only built the laboratory without getting the teachers
involved. The study used those three problems as basic to implement an
alternative to speaking activities. The researcher found the ideal method to solve these problems and focused the study on using mingling games to
solve these problems. The mingling games used in the classroom activity were doing a large group discussion in order that the students speak
English. Based on the problems above, the researcher focused the study on
the efforts to improve the speaking skill through mingling games for VII B grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Mlati in the academic year of 20132014.
C. Formulation of the Problem
Based on the explanation of the problems mentioned in the identification and limitation of the problems, the problem in this research
is formulated as follows: How can the mingling games were used
effectively to improve the process of teaching and learning of speaking in VII B grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Mlati in the academic year of
20132014? D.
Objective of the Study
The study is aimed at improving skills of speaking of Seventh Grade Students at SMP Muhammadiyah 2 Mlati in the Academic Year of
20132014 through mingling games.
E. Significance of the Research
