The implementation of comic strips in teaching speaking

32 in their daily life rather than using English. During the lesson they tend to use Indonesian language rather than using English. Meanwhile, when they speak English, their English are strongly interfered with the rules of Indonesian language, so they cannot speak fluently and accurately. Based on the theories related to the media for teaching speaking, the use of comic strips is considered to have positive effects in teaching and learning process. First, comic strips provide images of the characters, so it can help students explore their ideas and be guided to produce spoken language. Second, students can increase students’ interest to learn English in enjoyable and interesting ways. Third, comic strips can motivate the students by its pictures. The use of colors, the name of animals, and the identification of the main parts of human body can be studied and be understood easily by using comic. The last, comic strips are visual. It contains many visual symbols which have the power to present concrete realities. They are very interesting and impressing so that the information presented by the comic strips will stay longer in the students’ mind. Any activities which are implemented in the classroom in a teaching and learning process should invite students to share their ideas and interact with others. The classroom activities should be done in a supportive atmosphere. Teacher must decide whether students want to do activities like this and how far they should be encouraged to express their feelings. By implementing comic strips in teaching speaking, the teacher can encourage the students to produce 33 their spoken language through the activities, such as acting out scripts and role play, combined with the comic strips. From the explanation above we can see that comic strips combined with some activities have an important role to improve student’s speaking skill. In order to make the students being interested and motivated in speaking, the teacher should use media which can improve students’ speaking skill. As the result comic strips need to be applied as media to improve students’ speaking skill. Current practice of teaching speaking in SMP N 3 Mertoyudan shows that the teacher still uses conventional media and monotonous speaking activities that do not arouse the students’ motivation in the learning process. This lead to the students’ lack of interest in learning speaking and lead to students’ difficulties in exploring ideas and produce their spoken language fluently and accurately. Considering these weaknesses, the researcher tries to improve the students’ speaking skill through the use of comic strips. In conclusion, the teaching and learning process of speaking skill can be improved by applying effective, attractive, and appropriate learning media. Comic strips are believed to be one of those media and are also believed to properly explore the potency of students in speaking. Regarding to this, the researcher applies comic strips in teaching speaking to the eight grade students in SMP N 3 Mertoyudan. It is expected that the students can be motivated, guided in 34 expressing ideas and opinions to produce spoken language fluently and accurately. Speaking as One of Language Skills Problems of Speaking found at VIII Grade in SMP N 3 Mertoyudan Problems related to Vocabulary Mastery, Pronunciation and Self Confidence Effective Teaching Media Comic Strips The Use of Comic Strips in Teaching Speaking Problems of Speaking found at VIII Grade in SMP N 3 Mertoyudan can be Improved Using Comic Strips