The Background of Study
grammatical principle which enable student could makes the right sentences Widdowson, 1978.
Further, in term of communicative, Dr. E. Sadtono said that: Premis mayor yang melandasi pendekatan komunikatif ialah bahwa
tujuan utama bahasa adalah komunikasi yang mempunyai tujuan Purposeful communication
2
Major premise which base communicative approach is that main purpose of language is communication, which has purpose Purposeful
communication.
Also, he gives opinion that communicative approach in language teaching especially foreign language appears because the foreign language linguists give
opinion that foreign language teaching with grammatical synthetic approach is less of successful. It means, after student finishing foreign language study, heshe
still couldn’t use it in real situation. Student has learned language’s rules language usage but, heshe still couldn’t practice it to communicate language
use . That’s why they find solution for this matter and produce communicative
approach. Conversation is one of communication activity. In conversation the
process is more obviously two-way or multiple-way requiring the restatement of ideas, responses, requesting clarification and more information, etc.
Conversation itself is excellent example of interactive and interpersonal nature of communication
3
. In Indonesia, learning English conversation is a difficult thing
for the students because there are so many aspects related to theese matters, the problems
are: First, English in Indonesia is a foreign language. In such a situation the
students, even the teachers, have a little chance to communicate in English, except only when they are in the classroom or in certain places where English is spoken.
However, it cannot be denied that English is still a crucial problem for the
2
Ibid, p.85
3
H Douglas, Brown. Principles Of Language Learning and Teaching Fourth Edition, New York: Addison-Wesley Longman Inc, 2000, p.255
Indonesian students. As a fact, so many students are likely unable to speak English either actively or passively. In this case, Finocchiaro says:
The ingrained habits of one’s native language of making certain sounds or of placing sounds in certain positions often causes serious
conflict or interference with the learning of a new language.
4
While Elite Olshtain and Andrew Cohen says: When a learner is faced with familiar social situations in the new
language, the first natural step is to try and translate the most conventional routine in the first language verbatim into the new
language. Very often this attempt, even if grammatically correct, may result in a communicative failure.
5
Second, speaking skill itself is a productive skill and it has different complexity than any others skills likes reading, writing and listening.
Finocchiaro says: speaking is more complex skill than listening for, in addition to knowing the sound, structure, and vocabulary systems of the language,
the speaker must think of the idea he wishes to express, either in initiating the monologue or conversation or responding to a previous speaker; he must change
the position of tongue and jaw in order to articulate the appropriate sounds; he must be consciously aware of the grammatical, lexical, and cultural features need
to express his idea; he must be sensitive to any change in the “register” or style necessitated by the persons to whom he is taking place. All of these interrelated
acts-mental and physical must take place simultaneously.
6
Last, lack of motivation; it causes serious problem in learning activity, the students could not reach good achievement in their study because there is no spirit
or passion on it. Motivation is an impulse energy and director that causes or stimulate a person to act. This means a person’s act is according to motivation
constitute it. A motivation is something that needed to do activities. In other word, without motivation someone or person could not do any kind of activities.
4
Mary, Finocchiaro and Michael, Bonomo. The Foreign Language Learner, New York: Regents Publishing Company, Inc., 1973, p.12
5
Marianne, Celce-Murcia, eds. Teaching English As A Second Language, second edition, Boston: Heinle Heinle Publishers A Division of Wadsworth, inc, 1991, p.155
6
Finocchiaro, op.cit. p.109
In order to minimalize these insuffiencies, the teachers must have good strategy so that all these problems can be handled and the goal of the teaching and
learning can be achieved. A Role Play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope
for variation and imagination. It uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and
increases motivation. It can improve learners speaking skills in any situation, and helps learners to interact.
Drill work is very useful since it provides opportunities for students to practice a new bit of language in the most controlled way. Drills are essential at
all levels of learning, when planned carefully and conducted effectively, they contribute to the student’s feeling of security and achievement; they help them
internalize the features of language and they lead to habit formation, etc. The writer takes class VII students of SMP Darussalam Pondok Labu
Jakarta Selatan because teaching base in this school based on structural view and teaching speaking by using structural view is more difficult to get student’s
interest and to make them brave to speak English fluently. Based on the writer’s experience, students in this situation has labile or unstable condition in their
learning activity than others level; because they enter into new area of their learning and implication of this problem they feel afraid to speak and difficult to
make conversation among each students because they have feeling as stranger in their class. All of these matters can make serious problem either for the teachers
or themselves to achieve the goal of learning.