EXPLORING STUDENTS` DIFFICULTIES AND STRATEGIES TOWARD SPEAKING SKILL IN ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

Exploring Students` Difficulties and Strategies Toward Speaking Skill In English
Education Department Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
A Skripsi
Submitted to the Faculty of Language in Partial Fulfillment of
The Requirement for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan

Roni Hendrawan
20100540035

English Education Department
Faculty of Language Education
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
2016

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Exploring Students` Difficulties and Strategies Toward Speaking Skill In
English Education Department Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
A Skripsi
Submitted to the Faculty of Language in Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirement for the Degree
Sarjana Pendidikan

Roni Hendrawan
20100540035
English Education Department
Faculty of Language Education
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
2016

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Acknowledgement

This skripsi would not be completed without supports from many people. I
thank my supervisor, Sri Rejeki Murtiningsih, Ph.D, for guiding me to complate
my skripsi.
I thank all the English education department students, academic year 2010
who gave me support during my study. All your support has made my journey
enjoyable.

This study cannot be completed without the involvement of my
respondents. I am greatly indebted to all respondents who took their valuable time
to participate in my research and shared their valuable opinion relate to the
research.
I would also thank to my family, especially for my mother and my father. Thanks
for always guiding me, supporting me, and thanks for bro Irfan Dwi Yulianto,
Deni Indra Kurniawan, Adi Kurniawan, Arif Seriawan, Angga Alfian and sis
Lathifa Rosiana Dewi to assisting me. Thanks for all support.

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Table of Contents
Cover Page .............................................................................................................. i
Approval Page ....................................................................................................... ii
Declaration Of The Authenticity ........................................................................ iii
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................ iv
Table Of Contents ..................................................................................................v
Abstract ................................................................................................................ vii
Chapter One: Introduction ...................................................................................1
Background of the research ..................................................................................1

Statement of the problem......................................................................................2
Research questions ...............................................................................................3
Objective of the Research .....................................................................................4
Limitation of the Problem ....................................................................................4
Significance of the Problem .................................................................................4
Outline of the Research ........................................................................................5
Chapter Two: Review of Literature .....................................................................6
English speaking skill ...........................................................................................6
Problem in speaking skill for EFL........................................................................7
Strategies to overcome speaking difficulties ......................................................10
Previous Study ....................................................................................................13
Chapter Three: Methodology..............................................................................16
Research design ..................................................................................................16
Research Setting .................................................................................................17
Respondents ........................................................................................................17

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Data Collecting Method .....................................................................................18
Data Analysis......................................................................................................18

Validity ...............................................................................................................18
Chapter Four: Finding And Discussion .............................................................20
English speaking problem faced by EED students when speaking English ......20
Strategies used by EED students to overcome English speaking problem ........23
Chapter Five: Conclusion And Recommendation ............................................28
Conclusion ..........................................................................................................28
Recomendation ...................................................................................................32
References .............................................................................................................33
Appendices ............................................................................................................37

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Abstract

There are four skill in english namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
The most impirtant skill from four skills is speaking. Trough speaking we can
deliver the message well. Therefore speaking is categorized as the most important
skill. Speaking difficulties become one of the problems occurred for EFL
students. It also happened in English Education Department of Universitas
Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. This research is conducted to find out the

difficulties faced by English Education Department.
The data collection method employed in this research was qualitative research.
Three students of batch 2013 of EED UMY participated in this research. They
were invited to attend interview session. They were interviewed one by one. The
interview was recorded. The result of interview was transcribed and member
checked to prove the trustworthiness of the interview.
The research found that difficulties occurring in EED were: inhibition, Lack of
topical knowledge, low participation and mother tongue used. To cope with those
problems the respondents came up with some strategies. Those strategies are:
Self-talk, reading English book to enrich the vocabulary, English debate practice,
daily conversation in English, make a note, self-motivation, looking for partner to
practice English.
Keyword: speaking difficulties, strategies.

1

Chapter One
Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher presents several points to discuss the main
problem of the research. The chapter is arranged into background of the study,

statement and limitation of the problem, research question, the purpose of the
research, significance of the research and outline of the research.
Background of the Research
There are four skills in English namely listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. One of the most important skills to be mastered is speaking. Speaking is
the way to communicate or deliver the ideas orally. Speaking is speech with the
purpose of having intention to be recognized by speaker and the receiver
processes the statements in order to recognize their intentions. When people in a
country want to deliver their ideas in front of the foreigners, they usually use
English because they do not master their first language. Speaking English is not
only important for global era but also for education. There are so many
institutions used English for their introduction of the subject. And also there are
many international schools in Indonesia which demand English.
According to Boonkit (2010) speaking is one of skills which is very
important for effective communication particularly when speakers do not master
the mother tongue. Speaking English becomes very important today just because
English is an international language. This means that people should use English
when they want to communicate with foreigners.

2

There are three classifications of English (Kirkpatcrik, 2007). Firstly is
English as a native language (ENL). ENL is spoken in countries where English is
widely used. These countries are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, and the United States. Secondly is English as a second language (ESL).
ESL is spoken in countries where English is important and official language but
not the main language. For the last is English as a Foreign language (EFL). EFL
happens in the countries where English is not spoken in the daily life. In these
countries, English is usually learned in school. Students in EFL have little
opportunity to use English outside classroom. Therefore the speaking ability of
the students is lower (Kirkpatrick, 2007).
All students in English education department Universitas Muhammadiyah
Yogyakarta has gotten speaking subject. However, some of them still cannot
speak English fluently. Otherwise, some students speak English very fluent.
Those students who are unable to speak English fluently will take a high risk
because they will be teacher in the future. Thus, the research about problem in
speaking and how to solve should be carried out.
Statement of the Problems
In English education department, there are some students who are fluent in
speaking English. However, some of them are not although they are English

education students. Some of students use English with their accent. For example
Javanese will speak English like they speak Javanese language. The other students
will laugh at the way they speak English. After that they will decide to use first

3

language rather than English. Sometime, they do not know what to say so that
they will use their first language to protect from losing face in front of the class.
EFL students may have difficulties in speaking English. According to
Hosni (2014), there are four difficulties in speaking. For the first is linguistic
difficulty. Students are difficult in finding the appropriate vocabulary when they
want to speak. The second is mother tongue use. EFL students tend to use their
mother tongue. For the third is in ibiti n. St

ents’ p ti ip ti n in t e l ss

be low because they fear in making mistake. Thus, English education department
students may have some problems in speaking because they are EFL students.
Some EED students of UMY have problems in speaking English.
Effective communication will make teaching learning process run well. However,

there are some problems in speaking English which is experienced by EED
students. This may obstruct their ability in teaching hence having good speaking
skill is EED students responsibility. There are some difficulties in speaking
English for English education department students. This study is limited only on
the early batch of English education department.
Question of the Research
The main goal of this study is to disclose the st

ents’ pe epti n b

t

the problems faced in speaking English and strategies to overcome the problems.
is ese

t ies t investig te t e st

ents’ pini n about what kind of

problems that faced by students. More specifically, research questions in this

study are set up as follows:

4

1. What are the problems faced by EED students in speaking English?
2. What are the strategies used to overcome the speaking English difficulties?
Objective of the Research
The objectives of this study are:
1. To explore EED st
2.

expl e st

ents’ p ble s in speaking English.

ents’ pini n on strategies for their speaking difficulties.

Limitation of the Problem
The research on Exploring st

ent’s difficulties and strategies toward

speaking skill was nl li ite t t e st

ent’s pe epti n b se

n problems

and problem solving of speaking English difficulties of students batch 2013 at
English Education Department UMY.
Significance of the Problem
The results of this study are expected to give benefits to the readers. There
are some specific significance of this study:
1. To give information about the difficulties in speaking for EFL students so
that EFL students can look at themselves whether the students feel the
same problems or not.
2. To give information for other EFL students why they cannot often use first
language in speaking English so that they will decrease the intensity of
speaking first language in dealing with speaking skill improvement.
3. To give motivation for EFL students to be brave in speaking English so
that they will be more fluent in speaking English.

5

4. To give information about speaking skill that can be explored by the
teacher.
5. To give further explanation for the other researcher. So, the other
researcher can do further research on speaking difficulties.
Outline of the Research
Chapter one of this research explain the background of the research. This
chapter talks about why the title is taken. Chapter two describes literature review
related to the study. This chapter reviews the definition of speaking class, the
difficulties in teaching speaking, and also the way in solving the problem, and
review some papers related to the study. Chapter three explained about
methodology of this research. Chapter four discussed findings and discussion
relates to the topic and the last chapter explained conclusions and give
recommendations.

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Chapter Two
Review of Literature
This chapter aims to analyze the students speaking problem in Pendidikan
Bahasa Inggris (English Education Department) UMY. In order to formulate the
issue, this literature review will discuss some important aspects relating to the
study. First it will discuss speaking skill and problems in English speaking in
EFL. Second, it reviews studies related to students’ speaking problems in EFL.
English speaking skill
There are four skills in English namely listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. According to Javed, M. J. (2013) these four skills are divided into two
categories such as receptive and productive skills. Reading and listening is
receptive skills then writing and speaking is productive skills. Receptive skill is
important because it is needed to understand textbook, contents, and document.
Productive skill permit students to perform the language like oral presentation.
Productive skill is defined as important form of expression to persuade other
people as well as to share their ideas and feelings (Jaramillo & Medina, 2011).
This means that speaking is aimed at delivering ideas to other people. Besides,
speaking is important to persuade people. That is why speaking is important for
language learner.
Language is a tool of communication. People can communicate with other
when they use a language. Speaking is one of important skills. According to
Brown (1994) as cited in Florez (1999), speaking skill is “an interactive process of
constructing meaning that involves producing andreceiving and processing

7

information”. Underwood as cited in Akhyak (2013) stated that speaking is an
interaction between speaker and listener. This means that both speaker and
listener should be active. Speaking involves thought and emotion.
Speaking skill is important for foreign language learner. According to
Rebecca (2006), speaking is students’ first mode to acquire the language. This
means that through speaking, students are hoped to acquire the target language.
Then, they will speak English fluently.
Speaking is considered to be the most difficult aspects for language
learner. Tuan and Mal (2015) stated that many language learners find difficulties
when they have to speak in the target language. This is mostly happened in
foreign language learners. Foreign language learners find difficulties when they
have to speak in English as a target language.
There are some difficulties which are experienced by foreign language
learners. According to Ur (1996), there are four speaking problems which is
experienced by foreign language learners namely inhibition, lack of topical
knowledge, low participation, and mother-tongue use.
Problem in speaking skill for EFL
First problem experienced by foreign language learners is inhibition.
When foreign language learners try to speak English, they are often inhibited. It is
in line with Tuan and Mai (2015) who stated that foreign language learners
worried about making mistake, fear to be criticized, and losing face. In line with
Tuan and Mai, Urrutia and Vega (2010) stated that difficulties in speaking foreign
language were affected by shyness. Then, they also reported that self-confidence

8

can improve their speaking skill. This indicates that when students fear in making
mistake, shy, and fear to be criticized their speaking skill will be inhibited.
Second problem is students cannot speak in English because they do not
know what to say. This is caused by lack of knowledge. It is difficult for students
to respond other’s because they have little ideas about what to say, which
vocabulary to use, and using grammar correctly (Baker and Westrup, 2003). Ellis
(2008) also said learning difficulties are affected by types of knowledge. In
addition, Ferrari and Palladio (2007) stated that the background knowledge of
students will affect the difficulty. This means that when students should speak in
front of the class but they do not know the topic, this will affect their speaking
skill. Knowledge here can be the words, sentences, or may be the content of what
to speak. This will lead students to have low participation in the English class.
Third problem is low participation. In foreign language country, English is
only taught in school which has large number of students. This will make students
to have little time or chance to speak English. Tuan and Mai (2015) stated that
some learners will dominate when others speak very little. In a large group
students will only have little time to speak. This will lead to the speaking
difficulties. In line with Tuan and Mai (2015), stated that lacking of opportunity to
practice English is another prominent problem in advancing English ability. Low
participation can be said as low practice in English. To improve students’
speaking ability, students should practice to speak English more. Teachers have
an important role for this.

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For the last problem is first language use. Students with same mother
tongue tend to use mother-tongue. According to Harmer (1991) there are some
reasons why students still use mother-tongue in the class. Firstly is when they
have to discuss about topic that they are incapable of. Secondly it is natural. This
means that the using of first language is natural when they meet people who have
same mother-tongue. This is happened when there is no encouragement from the
teachers. Littlewood (1981) argued that the using of first language in the
classroom is one of speaking problems. By using first language, students will not
have opportunity to speak English as the target language. Although teachers only
use first language in the group discussion for example, this will hamper students’
speaking skill. As little as the opportunity to speak English, students will be lazy
to speak then this can be one of speaking problems.
Iwashita (2008) said that speaking difficulties which is experienced by
students is grammatical accuracy and complexity, vocabulary, pronunciation, and
fluency. EFL students always think about the using of vocabulary and how to
pronounce it well. This will hamper students speaking skill.
The chance to speak English gives contribution to speaking difficulties.
This means that the chance to speak English will give effect to their speaking
skill. This is in line with Qiang and Wolff (2010) who reported that students have
little practice either in speaking and listening then their speaking ability does not
seriously test. Foley (2005) reported that in Thailand, teachers only focus on
English passive like reading, listening, and mastery of grammar. English passive
make students to get little opportunity to speak English. This situation will make

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failure in acquiring the basic skill for oral communication as stated by Miller
(2010). Thus, speaking skill should be mastered by students.
Speaking is an effective interaction between people. The cooperative
interaction between speaker and hearer will help both to deliver and receive the
message. Thus, students speaking skill should be good. In Indonesia, most
students who learn English for some years still cannot speak English fluently.
This is caused by environment which does not let students to practice their
English ability. Hence, the speaking difficulties should be overcome.
Strategies to overcome speaking difficulties
There are some strategies to overcome students speaking difficulties. The
strategies are both from students and teachers. This means that between teacher
and students should have good bonding to create the comfortable situation.
Ur (1991) stated that there are five solutions to reduce speaking problems.
Firstly is group work. Group work is believed to increase oral practice from
students. Through group discussion, students are given the same chance to speak
English by using the topic given. Group work is not only from the teacher but also
from students’ initiative. This means that to overcome their difficulties, they
should make a group then try to speak English. Hetrakul (1995) stated that group
work or English club can decrease students’ speaking difficulties. Secondly is
easy language. Teacher should give the review about vocabulary used in this
topic. This will help students to find appropriate vocabulary. Thirdly is interesting
topic. The topic which is chosen should be interesting. Popular topic will help
students to speak because they interest in the topic. Fourthly are clear guidelines.

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Guidelines of group discussion should be cleared. There is no explicit guideline
which makes students hard to understand. Fifthly are English monitors. There is
should be people who monitor students. This can be teacher or students’ friend. It
is better to choose one of members in a group to be an English monitor.
To overcome the problems in speaking students use many ways. One of
the ways is communication strategies. There are some communication strategies
used by students as reported by Yuliastuti (2014). For the first is avoiding
communication. This is negative strategies used by the students. They avoid
speaking in the class. For the second is adjusting the message. Although they do
not know how to communicate, they just try to understand what the message is.
For the third is paraphrasing. If students cannot even remember the word, they try
to make a paraphrase like saying the place where you can do whatever you do to
say „house’. For the fourth is approximation. Primary a lexical strategy, learners
may replace an unknown word with one that is more general. For the fifth is
creating new words. For the sixth is code switching. If a learner is speaking to
someone with whom he or she has a language in common, a word or phrase taken
from the common language may be used to overcome a communication difficulty.
For the seventh is seeking help. They tried to look at their friends to find a help.
Zua (2008) stated that to overcome students’ fear of mistake there will be
three ways. Firstly is emotional relationship between students and teacher should
be built. This means that students should feel comfortable when they speak
English and they will feel okay after making mistake. Secondly is students’
concentration should be improved. This is intended to make students understand

12

about the knowledge. Then, they will be more comfortable in speaking English.
Thirdly is reducing nervousness. Fear of mistake can lead to nervous so that this
should be reduced. Some students reported that they take a breath before speaking
English to reduce the nervousness.
To overcome shyness and lack of confidence, Pesce (2011) and Yi, Y
(2007) give the solutions. To overcome students’ shyness Pesce stated that
classroom environment will reduce students’ shyness. Students should be
comfortable in the classroom so that they will not be shy to speak English in front
of the class. Yi, Y stated that practice English every time can reduce lack of
confidence. Students should practice to speak English so that they will be
confidence. It is in line with Kumaravadivelu (2003) who stated that language is
best learned when the learner understand, saying, and doing something with the
language, This indicates that to reduce or overcome speaking problem, students
should practice to speak English as often as possible.
Cameron (2001) argued that students need to participate to the language.
This means that students should be given same opportunity to practice the
language. Participate here means that students should be involved when there is
discussion which is used English as the language. The using of first language in
the classroom should be reduced.
Speaking skill is the most crucial skill to make students have successful
communication. However, many foreign language learners have difficulties in
speaking. Pathan, M. Z. (2014) reported that there are some difficulties in
speaking. They did research in faculty at the department of English. Respondents

13

of this research are Libyan Arab EFL Learners. Researcher used observation to
gather the data. Pathan, Aldersi, and Alsout found that there are seven difficulties
in speaking for EFL learners.
Previous Study
Spoken language is considered to be the most important skill for students.
Tuan and Mai (2015) did the research in Le thanhHien High school. 203 students
from grade XI and 10 English teachers are the subject of this research. This
research use questionnaire and class observation to find students’ speaking
problems and the factors affecting their performance. Tuan and Mai reported two
main points namely factors affect students’ speaking performance and speaking
problems. There are four speaking problems. Firstly, limited chance to speak in
class. This means that students have little chance to practice their English
speaking. Secondly is the using of Vietnamese. Vietnamese is students’ first
language. Thirdly is fearful of criticism. Criticism both from teachers and their
peer give contribution to students’ speaking problem. Fourthly is translating the
task from first language to the target language first. This will hamper students’
speaking skill. Tuan and Mai also reported some strategies to overcome students’
speaking problem as follows:
1.

Understand the importance of speaking skill. Students should understand
the importance of speaking in English for communication. This will give
more motivation to improve their speaking skill

2.

Practice speaking outside classroom. Students should speak English
outside the classroom. This will give more times for students to practice.

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There are some ways in practicing outside the classroom. For example
students can have group discussion which has obligation for each students
to speak English
3.

Speak English in the classroom for habit. Try to use English more than
Vietnamese in classroom.
In line with Tuan and Mai, Hosni (2014) reported three speaking

difficulties for English foreign language learners. Hosni used three methods in
finding students’ speaking difficulties namely observations, interviews, and also
curriculum analysis. Hosni did a research in basic education in Oman. Grade 5
teachers and three classes in a school are respondents from this research. For the
first difficulty is linguistic difficulty. Data from observation showed that students
try to find out the appropriate vocabulary. From the interview, students reported
that they want to speak but they do not know the word. Students felt to build a
sentence is difficult. For the second is mother tongue use. It is in line with Tuan
and Mai who reported that many students still use Vietnamese as their mother
tongue. In this case, students tend to use Arabic while discussing. Vocabulary
repertoire and weak sentence building skill is reported as the reasons why students
still use Arabic. For the last is inhibition. Students reported that they fear to make
mistake in a class. Some students will laugh at them when they make a mistake.
After some speaking difficulties who reported by some scholars, there is
also suggestion for the speaking difficulties. Hanunah (2009) reported that there
are some strategies to overcome speaking difficulties. Hanunah did the research in
the speaking class of second semester students in English department or Tarbiyah

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faculty IAIN Sunan Ampel. Respondents of this research are 60. The data
collection of this research is by using questionnaire. The first strategy is reading a
lot of English book to improve their vocabulary. The second strategy is
memorizing vocabularies. Students reported that this may take 5-10 minutes in
memorizing the vocabularies. The third is trying to speak English as often as
possible. They usually practice to speak English both inside the classroom and
outside the classroom. The fourth is watching some western movies. They stated
that through watch movies, they can know how to pronounce the word well. The
fifth is memorizing the tenses. The last is being confident while speaking English.
The literature review of this study has elaborated all aspects of speaking
difficulties for EFL learners. There are three aspects namely speaking skill,
speaking difficulties, and solution for speaking difficulties. These aspects have
been written in the research question: what are speaking problem for English
education department students? And how students solve that speaking difficulties?

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Chapter Three
Methodology
This chapter discussed the methodology. The first part of this chapter
discussed the research design implemented in the study. Then description of
participants was offered. The next chapter explained the data collection method
and reasons why I choose that method. Then, the data collection procedures was
described in this part. And in the last part, data analysis process explained to
complete the description of the methodology for this research.
Research Design
The aim of this study is to analyze the students’ speaking problem and
how students overcome the problems. It means that this study describes the
speaking problems from foreign language learner. Students participating in the
research was requested to express their feelings and share their experiences in
speaking English in English education UMY through a recorded interview.
In this research, qualitative research was used to collect the data.
Qualitative research is considered as an appropriate method for researching
people’s experiences, feelings, and perceptions. According to Merriam (2009)
qualitative research focuses on how people interpret their experiences. It means
that the result of qualitative research should be in a description. Furthermore, the
adoption of this approach also refers to the aim of this study which discloses
students’ speaking problem. “Qualitative research aims to address questions
concerning with developing an understanding of the meaning and experience
dimensions of human’s lives and social worlds”(Fossey, Harvey , McDermott, &

17

Davidson, 2002, p. 717). It means that qualitative research deals with interest in
how the people share their experience about their lives and social worlds. This
research used qualitative approach since the aim of this study is to disclose
students’ speaking problems. Students have to share their perceptions about their
experience in speaking English in English education UMY. The result of this
study is descriptive so that this research is suitable to adopt qualitative approach.
Research Setting
In this research, the researcher conducted the research at English
Education Department of UMY. The research was set qualitatively. The interview
took a place in University Residence for girl (Unires) UMY. Unires was chosen as
the place of interview because Unires is the nearest place where English
Education Department student spend their spare times.
Respondents
The respondents of this study consisted of three students of English
education department UMY which are two males and one female. Students of
batch 2013 were chosen as the sample of this study because they have enough
time to learn to speak English. According to Rahayu (2013) respondents of a
research should have same background and at least, one similar characteristic
which is problem in speaking skill, because it is related to the validity. They were
asked to declare their willingness to be recorded. Their identity is disguised to
protect the respondents from any foreseen threats.

18

Data Collecting Method
This study used in-depth interview as a data collection method. In-depth
interview is used to find further data of the research and it is suitable with the
research. Interview is often used in a qualitative research and considered as an
appropriate method since it is concerned with the information, understanding and
also the feelings of the individual (Hancock, 2002). It is a method where
respondents share their opinion. The interview used bahasa Indonesia for
respondents’ ease. Respondents were interviewed one by one. Recorded
interviews were transcribed in the original language. Then they are interpreted by
using English.
Data Analysis
The last step after conducting the interview is analyzing the data from the
interview. To analyze the data there were three steps employed in this research
namely transcribing the data, coding the data, and categorizing the data. The goal
of this data analysis was to interpret student answers and the findings were
reported. Briefly, the three steps were explained as follows. First, the researcher
transcribed the recorded interview. After that, researcher took the important thing
related to the research. These important things were put into some categories. The
categories related to the research. Then researcher wrote the summary from the
categorizing data. The finding and result was written into paragraphs.
Validity
For the validity of this study, researcher did member checking of the data
which are gotten from the interview (Creswell, 2013). The result of interview was

19

checked by the respondents to make sure about the validity of interview. Than the
checked interview is returned. And the result of the member checking is, there
was no changing in the point of the interview.

20

Chapter Four
Findings and Discussions
In this chapter, the finding of the clarified interview are categorised, and
connected to the theories and also explained by the researcher. The format of this
chapter consist of finding and discussion. The first part is the findings of the
research. and then followed by the discussion of the finding. The discussion of the
research is strengthened by some theories related to the research. The quotation is
also included.
English Speaking Problem Faced By EED Students When Speaking English
Finding 1: Inhibition. According to my two respondents the first
problem they faced in speaking English is inhibition. They often worry to speak in
English, so they were lack of practice because they were afraid of making
mistake. Respondent 1 stated, “I feel shy because I am not acostumed to speak in
English” (Respondent 1, 2016). Respondent 2 stated as following:
I feel nervous when I speak in English moreover in front of the audience.
When speaking English and my friends correct my grammar about tenses
for the example the usage of verb 1 and verb 2 it makes me demotimatived
and decrease my self-motivation (Respondent 2, 2016)
This finding is strengthened by the argument brought by Tuan and Mai
(2015) who stated that foreign language learners worried about making mistake,
fear to be criticized, and losing face. In line with Tuan and Mai, Urrutia and Vega
(2010) argued that difficulties in speaking foreign language were affected by

21

shyness. This indicates that when students fear in making mistake, shy, and fear to
be criticized their speaking skill will be inhibited.
Finding 2: Lack of topical knowledge. The second problem was deal
with lack of topical knowledge. Two of my respondents stated that they did not
know what to say in English. They were confused to choose the appropriate word.
Respondent 2 stated, “Grammatical problem is occurred when I speak English, I
have to think the correct grammar quite long before I speak” (Responden 2,
2016). Respondent 3 also stated, “Diction election issue. I used to have too much
filler, because I am confused and forget sometimes. I feel that I am lack of
vocabulary mastery” (Respondent 3, 2016).
The choice of appropriate words became one of the problems to determine
the sentence that will be produced by my respondents. On the other hand
grammatical problem is occurred when they want to speak. They often think too
much about grammar error. So, it hampered the chance to have conversation in
English. They did not know whether the chosen word was appropriate or not. To
cope with that problem, filler often occurred within the sentences they made.
Filler influenced their speaking ability as well, because if they pause too much
and give too much filler, it will decrease the idea of certain topic. Then most
important one is the problem of vocabulary mastery. Based on Baker and Westrup
(2003) that is difficult for students to respond other’s because they have little
ideas about what to say, which vocabulary to use, and using grammar correctly.
Ellis (2008) also said learning difficulties are affected by types of knowledge. In

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addition, Ferrari and Palladio (2007) stated that the background knowledge of
students will affect the difficulty.
Finding 3: Low participation. Having a partner is helpful thing to
improve speaking skill, but unfortunately to have a partner in improving speaking
skill is not that easy for my respondent. Respondent 1 stated, “I don’t have a
partner to train my English. Unequal language proficiency level in class room,
there are much better English of my class mate” (Respondent 1, 2016).
Respondent 3 also stated, “Lack of training to speak in English” (Respondent 3,
2016).
It is proven by their argument that they did not have any partner to
practice their English continually. In fact, having a partner will help them a lot.
This condition made my respondents were not able to practice their English for
their daily activities. The result of lacking opportunity to practice English is that
the student incapable to take their role in the class. Tuan and Mai, Khamkhien
(2010) stated that lacking of opportunity to practice English is another prominent
problem in advancing English ability.
Finding 4: Mother tongue used. As a foreign language, English demands
good pronunciation. The good pronunciation will lead to good understanding.
However, having a good pronunciation quite difficult for some of the learner.
Because of the influence of their mother tongue. Mother tongue often influence
their pronunciation. Respondent 2 stated, “I used to speak in Javanese and it
influenced my English, so I speak English in very Javanese accented”
(Respondent 2, 2016)

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It happened to my respondents as Well. Javanese accented (medok) often
occurred when they speak English. In line with Hammer (1991) that there are
some reasons why students still use mother-tongue in the class. Firstly is when
they have to discuss about topic that they are incapable of. Secondly it is natural.
This means that the using of first language is natural when they meet people who
have same mother-tongue.
Strategies used by EED students to overcome English speaking problem
In order to cope with the problem, the respondents do several strategies.
And the strategies are:
Finding 1: Self-talk. The chance to speak English may seem insufficient
for some students. To improve their English, the students need to practice their
English more. They need to make a habit on having English conversation every
day. To cope with problem one of the respondents argued that he need to do selftalk in order to improve his English. This self-talk is the way to accustom to
English. It can be seen from Respondent 1 statement. Respondent stated, “I found
the way to overcome my Weakness, it is self-talk” (Respondent 1, 2016).
It was supported by the argument of Kumaravadivelu (2003) who stated
that language is best learned when the learner understand, say, and do something
with the language, this indicates that to reduce or overcome speaking problem,
students should practice to speak English as often as possible.
Finding 2: Reading English book to enrich the vocabulary. Vocabulary
is the important element in English. The sentence in English is built by the
combination of vocabulary. Vocabulary mastery is a kind of obligation that

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every single student should master it. The sentences found in a book can really
help the students to improve their language. Vocabulary enrichment can be
done through reading English book. Respondent 1 argued “I enrich my
vocabulary through reading book” (Respondent 1, 2016). Other respondent
also argued the same, “Reading a book can also enrich vocabulary”
(Respondent 3, 2016). On the other hand, the students need to open dictionary
to know the meaning of the word they find in English book. “I open the
dictionary to know the meaning of certain word” (Respondent 2, 2016).
Reading book and then finding the meaning of certain vocabulary are the way
on how do the students enrich their vocabulary.
Finding 3: English debate practice. Having partner in practice in English
is very helpful to improve speaking ability, moreover if we join the debate.
Practice in the debate can improve our speaking skill and critical thinking. The
debater is forced to think and speak quickly; therefore speaking ability is
improved gradually. Students who join the debate trained to build the sentences
quickly and efficiently. Respondent 1 stated, “To enrich vocabulary I join debate
club” (Respondent 1, 2016).
Debate can also be categorized as a group work to improve speaking skill.
Ur (1991) stated that there are five solutions to reduce speaking problems. Group
work is believed to increase oral practice from students. Through group
discussion, students are given the same chance to speak English by using the topic
given. Group work is not only from the teacher but also from students’ initiative.
This means that to overcome their difficulties, they should make a group then try

25

to speak English. Hetrakul (2005) stated that group work or English club can
decrease students’ speaking difficulties.
Finding 4: Daily conversation in English. Communication is the way to
deliver people`s idea. The idea can be transferred smoothly by having a good
conversation. To have a good conversation, we need a good language. As a
foreign language English takes a role on global communication. The problem on
foreign language can be reduced by practicing English for daily activities. The
habit on practicing English for daily activity is very helpful. Students who used
English as foreign language will be significantly improved. It is in line with the
argument brought by the respondent, “I use English for daily conversation with
my friend, I try to be more active to speak English” (Respondent 1, 2016).
Moreover the also try to accustom to speak English with their lecturer. “I try to
speak English with my lecturer and also I accustom to use English” (Respondent
2,2016). Thus, practicing English will help a lot in improving speaking skill.
Finding 5: Making a note. English as a foreign language demands the
user of it to be more active. The activeness can be reflected through making some
note on grammar or certain vocabulary. It helps a lot for the nonnative language
learner. The learner will easily memorize the meaning and the objective of the
text. The notes are used as students remainder for retelling the students to speak in
correct grammar. Respondent 2 said “I make a small note for my grammatical
problem” (Respondent 2, 2016). In conclusion, note is the remainder for some
student in order to make no more error in grammar. It helps the students to
structure their sentences.

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Finding 6: Self-motivation. The most important thing to improve
speaking skill is motivation. Self-motivation takes important role for nonnative
language learner. The students often being underestimated and intimidated by
their environment. The environment means the people who stand around the
native learner, for the example is class mates, lecturer, and people who have more
capability in English. On that circumstance students often underestimated and
intimidated to speak English. If they do not have a good self-motivation they will
be demotivated. Therefore, they will shy to speak because they fear of making
mistake and lack of confidence. According to Zua (2008) to overcome students’
fear of mistake there will be three ways. Firstly is emotional relationship between
students and teacher should be built. This means that students should feel
comfortable when they speak English and they will feel okay after making
mistake. Secondly is students’ concentration should be improved. This is intended
to make students understand about the knowledge. Then, they will be more
comfortable in speaking English. Thirdly is reducing nervousness. Fear of mistake
can lead to nervous so that this should be reduced. Some students reported that
they take a breath before speaking English to reduce the nervousness. Respondent
1 stated, “I try to be brave to speak English” (respondent 1, 2016). Respondent 2
also stated, “I used to motivated myself to speak in English. I overcome my
problem by encountering my nervousness. I have to be brave to speak in English”
(Respondent 2, 2016). In line with respondent 1 and respondent 2, Respondent 3
stated, “Improving my self-confidence to speak in English” (Respondent 3, 2016).

27

To overcome shyness and lack of confidence, Pesce (2011) and Ye Htwe
(2007) give the solutions. To overcome students’ shyness Pesce stated that
classroom environment will reduce students’ shyness. Students should be
comfortable in the classroom so that they will not be shy to speak English in front
of the class.
Finding 7: Looking for partner to practice English. To practice the
language we need partner. Partner is an important part to improve speaking skill.
The improvement of speaking skill depends on how much we practice and how
good our partner is. Therefore looking for partner to improve speaking skill is
very important. One of my three respondents said, “I have to look a partner that
has the same purpose to speak in English everyday” (Respondent 3, 2016).

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Chapter Five
Conclusion and Recommendation
Conclusion
As a foreign language there are four skills that must be mastered by the
students. Those skills are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. One of the
most important skill is speaking skill. Speaking is the way to communicate the
ideas orally. In this case, there are many difficulties that faced by English as a
foreign language learner. The difficulties are Inhibition, lack of topical
knowledge, low participation and mother tongue. The research that has been
conducted at EED UMY resulted those difficulties as well. The strategies are also
found during the research. The strategies are self-talk, reading English nook to
enrich the vocabulary, English debate, daily conversation in English, make a note,
self-motivation and looking for partner.
First of all is inhibition. Inhibition is feeling worry about making mistake,
fear to be criticized, Shyness, in confidence and nervous. It happened to the two
of the respondents. Felt that they were worry of making mistake, shy, and lack of
confidence. It influenced the progress of their speaking skill.
Secondly, Lack of topical knowledge. It is a condition which student
confused on how to choose appropriate word to say in English, confuse to using
grammar correctly and which vocabulary to use. The respondents were confused
on how to choose appropriate word to say because they were lack of vocabulary
mastery. It hindered their speaking progress because they used to have too much
filler, therefore they confused and think too long about their grammatical error.

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Thirdly, low participation. In foreign language country, English is only
taught in school which has large number of students. This will make students to
have little time or chance to speak English. Otherwise, the participation in order to
enhance the speaking ability is needed. Having a partner is helpful thing to
improve speaking skill, but unfortunately to have a partner in improving speaking
skill is not that easy for my respondent. They were not able to find a partner to
train their English. Therefore they really had only a little chance to practice their
English.
Fourth, Mother tongue use. As a foreign language, English demands good
pronunciation. The good pronunciation will lead to good understanding. However,
having a good pronunciation quite difficult for some of the learner. because of the
influence of their mother tongue. Mother tongue often influence their
pronunciation. One of my respondents felt that mother tongue played crucial role
in influencing the pronunciation. The respondent was influenced by his mother
tongue. Thus, the difficulties found at English Education Department Students of
batch 2013, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta.
To cope with those problems there are many