The Limitation of the Problem

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. Review of Related Theories

It is stated in the previous chapter that the purpose of this study is to improve the students’ speaking skills by using audio-visual aids. Thus, in this chapter, to support this study, some theoretical descriptions on speaking and audio-visual aids will be described thoroughly.

1. The Nature of Speaking

Teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia is not easy. Indonesian has already had two languages that they use Indonesian and also their local language Javanese, Sundanese, Sumatran Malay, Madurese, Minang, and so on. Teaching speaking also needs more effort compare to other skills because the students have the habit of speaking in their mother tongue. There are so many descriptions regarding the speaking skills below. There are many definitions of speaking by experts. According to Spratt, Pulverness, and William 2011:34, speaking is a productive skill, like writing. It involves using speech to express meanings to other people. When people speak, they use different aspects of speaking depending on the type of speaking they are involved in. That is why speaking is a complex activity. Brown 2004:140 defines speaking as a productive skill that can be directly and empirically observed. Speaking is the product of creative construction of linguistic strings, the speaker makes choices of lexicon, structure, and discourse. Thornburry in Harmer 2007:343 suggests various dimensions of different speaking events in order to describe different speaking genres. There is a distinction between transactional and interpersonal functions. Transactional function has its main purpose conveying information and facilitating the exchange of goods and services, whereas the interpersonal function is all about maintaining and sustaining good relations between people. According to Riddell 2003:120, speaking is one of two things in a lesson. Speaking is not reading aloud pronunciation, either reading the answer to a grammar question accuracy. Speaking is neither reading the answer to a readinglistening question comprehension. In each of these cases the aims are not speaking-related. It could be a speaking activity designed to give practice of language just learned or reviewed. From many definitions and explanations about speaking above, it can be concluded that speaking is actually a way of how people communicate and interact to each other and convey the meaning they want the hearer to get.

a. Micro- and Macro- Skills of Speaking

In teaching speaking, teachers also help students to learn micro skills and macro skills of speaking, as stated by Brown 2004:142-143. The microskills and macroskills of speaking are listed as follow: