done and simple interpersonal socialize with correct spoken form accurately, fluently, acceptable using expressions of asking, giving, refusing things, admitting
and denying facts, asking and giving opinions. In order to give improvement in students‟ speaking skills, they need some
kind of activities that can be carried out outside the class. Therefore, teachers need to provide students with a lot of opportunities to learn to use the target language
so that the students become accustomed to speak in English. This kind of activities can be in the form of practicing conversations that are written in a
conversation book where the topics of the conversation are parts of daily communication as well as stated in the curriculum.
The goal of the book is to help students of Grade VIII to provide materials in the form of a book, based on the curriculum but it is adjusted to the social
contexts. This book helps students practice their English speaking skill outside the class with limited help from teachers.
Therefore, the researcher will propose the title “Designing „Good at
English‟ as an English Conversation Book for Speaking Activities outside the Class for Grade VIII Students of the Junior High School
” for the research.
B. Identification of the Problems
Teaching speaking is more complex than teaching other skills. In fact, a speaking skill needs much preparation in process of performance. However,
without a teacher‟s help, students may find that preparing and performing the
English speaking skill is difficult. Their speaking skill improvement is impeded
by some prominent factors. However, the most prominent factors that influence
students‟ skill improvement are learning materials and learning activities.
The first factor is the lack of speaking materials. Speaking materials are important in teaching speaking; however, there are not many materials for
activities outside the class that help students to develop their speaking skill. Therefore, providing speaking materials is a need. Speaking materials can be in
the form of books, CDs, pictures, etc.
The second factor is the lack of learning activities. There is not much time for students to train their speaking skills outside the class
withwithout teacher‟s guidance. Since there is not much time for them to practice speaking English, they
have difficult times to speak English. Considering this situation, the researcher attempts to design an English
conversation book for activities outside the class that meets the learners ‟
characteristics, interests and needs in learning English.
C. Limitation of the Problems
Based on the discussion in the background of the problems and identification of the problems, this research will be limited in providing materials in the form of
a book, based on the curriculum but they are adjusted to the social contexts. It helps students practice their English speaking skill outside the class with limited
help from teachers. The researcher considers that providing the materials for speaking class based on the curriculum is important to help the English speaking
teaching and learning processes, especially in helping students to improve their
speaking skills outside the classroom not during English classroom activity. By providing an English conversation book, it is expected that students get more
activities outside the classroom. As the English class is only 80 minutes in a meeting, this book is a good help for students.
In conclusion, the researcher is going to conduct a development on “Designing „Good at English‟ as an English Conversation Book for Speaking
Activities outside the Class for Grade VIII Students of the Junior High School ”
for the research.
D. Formulation of the Problems
In this research, the problems that have been chosen to be solved can be
formulated as:
1. What are students‟ learning needs in conversation?
2. What materials should be designed to cover students‟ needs in conversation?
E. Objectives
This research is aimed to: 1 describe students ‟ learning needs in conversation
in terms of speaking for outside class activities; and 2 design the appropriate materials for speaking learning and teaching process for outside class activities
which was focused on conversation.
