Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this study, the researcher would like to investigate the perceptions on the use of mind mapping to develop the students’ organization of ideas in speaking skill at SMP N 2 Sedayu Bantul grade eight. This chapter presents six parts, namely background of the study, research problem, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and the definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

In the 21 st century, English plays a role as an international language. As an international language, English is learnt by millions of people around the world. The language is important to be mastered by people because there are many official activities and formal activities use English as the main language in communication. In many countries, English is learnt by people mostly for the fact that having good English proficiency is compulsory for getting jobs and studies. For that matter, many countries around the world use English as a second language and a forein language. As a second language, English is used for communication after the national language of some countries. Barbara 2001 defines that English as a Second Language ESL is where the language is part of the countrys leading institutions, where it plays a second-language role in a multilingual society. 2 While as a foreign language, English is learnt as an obligation for students. Barbara 2001 defines that English is used primarily as an international language, especially in the business, scientific, legal, political and academic communities In Indonesia, English is used as a foreign language and it is learnt by elementary level students. Even though English is a foreign language, English plays a role in many field of studies, namely, education, technology, science, economics, politics, and international relationship. English plays a role as an important language to be mastered by students in order to help them acquiring knowledge. In the education field of Indonesia, government has set English as a compulsory subject to be learnt in junior high schools and senior high schools. Moreover, English has been taught to students in pre-school and elementary school in order to prepare the students to have a basic concept of learning English. When the students are in junior high school or senior high school level, they are supposed to have good ability in learning English as they have learnt English since they are in preschool and elementary school. In learning English, there are four skills that should be mastered by the students. The skills are reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Reading and listening are called receptive skills Harmer, 2005,p. 270, whereas writing and speaking are productive skills Harmer, 2005,p. 275. In global context, speaking is one of the productive skills which are very important to be mastered. Richards 2008 has stated the importance of mastering speaking: 3 The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second- language or foreign-language learners. Consequently, 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 spoken language proficiency. p.19 From all of the skills mentioned before, based on the observation to the students, speaking could be one of the skills which worry students to learn. The students could be reluctant to speak in English because they were worried about making mistakes in grammar, pronunciation, and they were lack of confidence. Besides, the students were worried if they could not deliver the content of the speech well. Those problems usually came up in many levels of schools, including junior high school, senior high school, and university level. In SMP N 2 Sedayu, English was one of the compulsory subjects which had to be learnt by all of the grades. The students of grade eight learnt English four hours a week. The students of grade eight had to learn English in all skills. Although there was no particular schedule for each skill, the teachers set their own time to cover all of the skills in the materials. Through observing the students and interviewing the teachers, the researcher found that the students of grade eight found problems in speaking. Speaking skill was lack to be developed compared to other skills in this school. The researcher found two major problems based on the observation to the students of grade eight at SMP N 2 Sedayu. The first problem was about with the confusion to organize ideas of the speech content. When the students were asked 4 to deliver their speech in front of the class, most of them tended to repeat the same ideas they had said before. The second problem was about the matter of self- confidence in speaking. Most of the students of grade eight were lack of self- confidence, especially when they were asked to deliver their speech or to speak in front of the class. They were shy and they did not want to come in front to deliver their speech even if their teacher asked them to do that. They were afraid to make mistakes if they delivered their speech in front of the class. Based on the problems found by the researcher in observing the students of grade eight at SMP N 2 Sedayu, the researcher chose to focus on the first problem. The researcher thought that the problem of the confusion in developing organization of idea is necessary to be solved. Developing the organization of ideas is the main thing to be mastered by the students in order to have well- organized ideas in their speaking. In addition, the second problem could also be solved if the students have solved the first problem. To solve the problems, there are many techniques that can be used to prepare and deliver speech well; one of them is mind mapping technique. Buzan 2005 mentions that: Mind mapping is a powerful graphic technique which is provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain. Mind maps may be enhanced and enriched with colour, pictures, codes, and dimension to add interest, beauty, and individually. These in turn aid creativity, memory, and specifically the recall of information p. 55-56. 5 Mind mapping will be one of the interesting techniques that will be very useful for the students of grade eight to prepare and deliver their speech. Mind mapping can help the students to develop their organization of ideas because mind mapping is specially designed to help the students make and develop ideas. Mind mapping is also designed to enhance the creativity of the students. Based on the previous consideration, the researcher decided to investigate the students’ perceptions on the use of mind mapping to develop their organization of ideas in speaking at SMP N 2 Sedayu. This study gains the students’ perception of mind mapping technique in speaking skill since the teachers need to know whether the technique is useful and meaningful. Then, this study emphasizes the eighth grade students of SMPN 2 Sedayu as the subject of the study because they have had enough basic knowledge in learning English from elementary school.

1.2. Research Problems