many media that can be used in the class such as pictures and videos. There are also some equipment to optimize the teaching and learning
processes such as LCD, laptop, whiteboard and many others. In addition, there are school facilities which can be used to support the
teaching and learning processes such as the language laboratory and the library.
However, from the vignette, it could be seen that not all media used in the class activities. Take, for example, there was not any picture to
help the students to understand what they had learnt. The teacher did not use LCD provided in the class to support the teaching and learning
process. He seemed to depend more on the LKS in the class than other media.
Based on the interview, the teacher said that he had no time in creating and preparing media to support the teaching and learning
processes. There was an LCD in one class to support the learning processes but the teacher just used it to watch a movie.
C. Limitation of the Problem
The research has a broad scope and it is impossible for the researcher to handle the study consisting of so many complicated problems. The
collaborators of this research and I agreed that the activities that encourage the students to learn to use English, called communicative
activities, have great contributions to improve stude nts‘ speaking skills.
Therefore, I limit problem on how to enrich the students ‟ speaking skill
using communicative activities of the student of Grade VIII at SMP N 8 Yogyakarta in the Academic Year 20132014.
Communicative activities are used as the treatment of improving students‘ speaking ability. The class is a conversation class which focuses
more on the speaking ability. Communicative competences are the skills that they need to master and thus an effective learning is needed in order to reach
the objectives. Based on the discussion with the collaborators, communicative activities are the suitable method to be conducted in order to
cover the learning of the communicative competences. The activities can engage students in communication which requires
the use of communication processes, such as, information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction. The activities are in the form of
asking and answering questions, role playing, having discussion, debating, playing games, group working, etc. Based on the observation and interviews,
this action research only be implemented in class VIII.II since the students of VIII.II had low ability in speaking skills.
D. Formulation of the Problem
Related to the limitation of the problem, the formulation of the problem is concerned with the kind of suitable tasks and activities that suit
the situation in the classroom in order to create effective learning and supportive atmosphere in the learning processes. The formulation of the
problem is represented by the following form of question of ―How can
stude nts‘ speaking skills be improved through communicative activities at
grade VIII of SMP N 8 Yogyakarta? ‖
E. Objective of the Study
