The Board Game Snakes and Ladders Board Game

20 The graduates of vocational education can take this opportunity since they are prepared to work after finishing their study. Nevertheless, their English proficiency still needs to be improved especially in speaking. According to Harmer 2001 speaking ability is the ability to speak fluently presupposed not only knowledge of language features but also the ability to process information and language „on the spot‟. Therefore, the vocational students must learn how to be able to communicate effectively. They need to master the communicative competencies as Canale and Swain in Richards 2002 proposed. Moreover, Brown 2001: 267 says that when someone can speak a language it means that he can carry on a conversation reasonably competently. It is closely related in the demonstration of an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through an interactive discourse with other language speakers. It is neccesary that the students need to learn how to mantain conversation in the real situation precisely. It requires the fluency and accuracy. Thus, the teacher has to involve the students in activities that develop pronunciation and the use of target expression in meaningful context in each communication situation Bygate as cited in McDonough, 2013:159. It has been the philosophy of communicative language teaching CLT for many years to teach foreign languages through communicative approach which focuses “on speaking and listening skills, on writing for specific communicative purposes, and on authentic reading texts‟ Brown in Vilimec 2006 : 17-18. According to Richards 2006 the one of goals of CLT is to develop fluency in language use. It can be achieved by creating classroom activities in which PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 21 students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies and avoid communication breakdowns. The exercise types and activities in CLT as an approach are unlimited. The one of them is a variety of games Richard and Rodgers, 2003. Incorporating games in learning process can be a good technique. It can give benefits both for the teacher and students because games in the classroom can increase student-learning experiences, make materials more current and relevant. Furthermore, the games encourage active participation among players and consequently boost confidence and self-esteem Lee, 2012. Even according to Chen 2000 games make the learners more willing to ask questions and think creatively about how to use English to achieve the goal. Games also provide language practice and create a meaningful context for language use where promote fluency Su Kim, 1995:35. One of the board games is the snakes and ladders board game. Using board game according to Chang et.al 2008 is an effective, low anxiety, and fun war for the students learn and practice communication skills as well as develop their own communication strategies that can be readily applied to the real world. Hence, in order to help students improve their speaking ability, suitable method which have communicative activities must be conducted. Therefore, in this study, the researcher attempts to investigate how the Snakes and Ladders board game can improve the students‟ speaking ability at the eleventh grade of Cookery Department of St. Pius X Vocational High School Magelang in academic year 2015-2016. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI