Background of the Study

that is definitely using target language. 1 Consequently, every student has the same contribution to share their ideas about many things to their friends. The communicative theory is more emphasized in meaning of the sentences rather than the form of the sentences, because in communicative activities the students are asked to know to what extent the receivers or listeners understand about the messages that are sent by the speaker. There are some activities that can be done in communicative activities such as role play, games, jigsaw, task completion activities, opinion sharing activities, information gathering activities and also information gap activities. In this study, the writer chose to use information gap activities as a technique in enhancing students’ speaking skill. Information gap activity is an activity which is based on information gap principle that in real communication people normally communicate in order to get information they do not possess. There are many kinds of activities in information gap activities that can be applied in the classroom; giving information about missing picture, asking about the past experience, asking about the times when meet with a strange person, and so on. The use of information gap activities can make teaching and learning activity more enjoyable. The students can express their ideas freely because they are not restricted in producing their own sentence. It is supported by Harmer who reports that information gap activities encourage real communication between student A and student B who has different information. 2 In conveying the information, the students are not tied with the grammatical rules. Certainly, while the information is clear enough to be delivered from the speaker to the listener. When the students feel enjoy and fun, they will practice their speaking skill easily. Hence, through these activities the teaching material is more being varied than using common activities as simple 1 See: Keith S. Folse, The Art of Teaching Speaking: Research and Pedagogy for the ESLEFL Classroom, Michigan: University of Michigan, 2006, p. 30. 2 See: Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, New York: Longman Publishing, 1996, p. 48. conversation or in conventional method. Also, it will make the teachers to improve their creativity in managing the classroom in speaking class. Based on the problems above the writer is interested in conducting this research which is actually a true experimental research. It is conducted by the researcher in order to know THE INFLUENCE OF USING INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES TOWARD STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL. B. Identifications of the Problem Based on the background of the study above, below are some of the identifications of the problems: 1. Communication is really important in the daily activity. Through communication people can express their needs and ideas. 2. Many students feel that it is difficult to speak in English. 3. Teaching and learning activity is insufficient to practice speaking skill. 4. Information gap activities can enhance the students to speak freely with others. C. Limitation of the Problem From the identification of the problems above the writer conduct this research to know to what extent the influence of using information gap activities toward students’ speaking skill.

B. Formulation of the Problem

The writer formulates the problem as the following: “Is there any influence of using information gap activities toward students’ speaking skill?” C. Objective of the Study The objective of this research is to know whether the use of information gap activities give positive influence to the students’ speaking skill.

D. Significance of the Study

The writer hopes that this research can give great advantages for: 1. The writer herself as a student of Department of English Education in Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta for knowledge and experience to serve society. 2. The readers who are interested in English teaching and learning as knowledge in learning English especially in speaking skill. 3. The teachers who can adapt information gap activities in their teaching and learning activity. Therefore, they can vary the technique in teaching speaking. 6

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Speaking

1. Definition of Speaking Speaking is one of the most important parts of communication towards the forth skills in learning English. Without speaking there is no information which can be shared by the speaker to the listener. As a human we need to share our ideas, thoughts, opinions, and feelings in order to show what we want to share with other people. It is supported by Linse, she states that speaking is n activity when the young learners use some words in showing their feelings. 1 Furthermore, according to Cameron, speaking is not only the use of speech organ but also the active use of language to express meanings, ideas, and emotions therefore other people can make sense about the information that have been shared. 2 In addition, McDonough and Shaw state people speak because they want to communicate something and to achieve some particular purposes. 3 In teaching and learning foreign language what should the students do is to use the target language that is English to express their ideas. Referring to those three definitions above, it shows that speaking is an activity which is done by one speaker to one listener or more in many different contexts that is using speech organ, in order to get some information which can be presented through ideas, thoughts, opinions, and feelings orally. Moreover, the purposes of what people want to speak are to get new information, to exchange information, or just to keep socially as speak with their neighbors, friends, etc. 1 See: Caroline T. Linse and David Nunan, Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2005, p. 46. 2 See: Lynne Cameron, Teaching Language to Young Learners, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 40. 3 See: JO McDonough and Christopher Shaw, Materials and Methods in ELT. Second Edition, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003, p. 134.