CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background of the study, problem identification, problem formulation, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the
study, and definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
Speaking English is one of the four basic skills which should be mastered by the students at SMA Negeri 1 Maos because of its importance in
communication. Moreover, in the national final examination speaking is also tested, in which the students should perform their speaking ability. This
requirement leads the students to have the ability to speak English fluently. Another reason why the ability to speak English is important to learn is that it is
very beneficial for the students who later after graduating from Senior High School will work. Their ability in speaking English will be used in some
activities, such as job interview and presentation especially for those who work in marketing. Therefore, being able to speak English is a must nowadays.
The students have to devote all of their energies to study harder in speaking English because they assume that speaking English is difficult to learn.
In order to be able to speak fluently, the students should have strong motivation to learn and to practice speaking. Yet, the teacher also plays an important role in the
success of students’ speaking fluency improvement. The teacher should
1 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
implement an appropriate technique in teaching speaking and also should be able to provide communicative activities which can encourage the students to speak
actively during teaching-learning activities, so that the students can improve their speaking fluency.
There are some communicative activities which can be used by the teacher in teaching speaking. One of those activities may help the students to increase
their speaking fluency. However, not all activities are suitable and effective to be implemented in class. Therefore, the teacher should consider the problems which
may influence students’ fluency in speaking. It helps the teacher to choose the activity which is appropriate and effective to be implemented in the class to
overcome the problems, as well as which helps the students to increase their speaking fluency level.
The problems in teaching speaking may come either from the student himherself or the students’ friends. By knowing the problems which occur during
teaching-learning activities, the teacher can implement a proper teaching technique to solve the problems. The teacher can also develop students’ strengths
and minimize students’ weaknesses. The problem which occurs frequently in speaking class is the
unwillingness of the students to speak during speaking lesson. When the teacher intends to make an interaction with the students in the target language in order to
build a communicative situation in the classroom, the students tend to keep silent. There are some reasons why the students keep silent. One of those reasons is they
are afraid of making mistakes. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
As a teacher, she should be able to encourage the students to speak actively in speaking activities. As the researcher explained before, the teacher can
use some activities which are considered as communicative activities. By using these communicative activities, the students are encouraged to speak. By speaking
actively during speaking lesson, they have chances to practice speaking English more. The students can also express their thoughts or their experiences in the
target language, even though it is hard for them. Thus, it is important for the teacher to choose and to provide a communicative activity which is suitable with
the students’ characteristics and which can be implemented effectively, so that it can reinforce the students to speak actively in the target language and can improve
the students’ speaking fluency level. Littlewood 1981: 20 divides the communicative activities into two types;
those are functional communicative activities and social interaction activities.
Functional communicative activities involve mainly the sharing and processing of information and are structured in such a way that the learner has to overcome an
information gap or solve a problem. Social interaction activities involve social context, so that the learner has to pay greater attention to the social as well as
functional meaning to which language conveys. The activities included in social interaction activities are role-plays, simulation, and conversation or discussion
session. The teacher should choose wisely one of those activities, because a
particular activity is not always appropriate to be used in different schools even in different class. Before implementing a certain activity, the teacher should consider
the students’ proficiency level or the students’ characteristics and the characteristics of the activity itself. The teacher has to match the students’
characteristics and the characteristics of the activity, so that the activity which is implemented can be effective. An activity which is considered difficult should not
be implemented in the class with low background knowledge students. Therefore, it is better for the teacher to know the characteristics of all activities then defines
one of those activities, which is suitable to students’ characteristics and which motivates the students to speak as the most appropriate one.
The students’ motivation plays an important role in the success of the activity because motivation influences students’ performance in class. Adelman
and Taylor 1983 as cited in Evans, S., Evans, W. and Mercer, C., 1986: 64 state that a student who has motivation often can do much better than those who
do not have motivation. To build students’ motivation to speak in every speaking activity, it is very important for the teacher to provide an interesting activity. An
interesting activity enables the students to be more interested and motivated to speak.
Building a good atmosphere during teaching-learning activities is also an important thing which should be done by the teacher. Having a good atmosphere
in the class makes the students feel comfortable to do the activity, to speak, to express their thoughts or ideas, even to perform in front of the class. The comfort
makes the students have the willingness to speak without anxiety. In this research, the researcher is going to measure the
students’ speaking fluency level and to find the appropriate teaching technique to be implemented in
the class in order to increase students’ speaking fluency level. To measure the students’ speaking fluency level, the researcher uses some research instruments
such as ACTFL proficiency guidelines and speaking fluency rubric. Meanwhile, to increase the students’ speaking fluency level the researcher will try to
implement some teaching techniques which provide communicative activities and which will motivate the students to speak actively during the lesson.
A. Problem Formulation
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