Background of the Study

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Most people assume that language is one of the cultures that cannot be separated from human life and there is no activity without using language. Language is a symbolic guide to culture. 1 By language, people understand each other, and interest as part of a society. There are many languages used in this world, such as Indonesia, English, Arabic, French, Chinese, Japanese, and many others. One of languages used in this world is English language, and now English becomes an international language. English as a compulsory subject to learn in formal school in Indonesia was concentrated on the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Beside that, one of the four skills which play a significant role in mastering English is speaking. As a skill, speaking is the most used skill by people rather than the three other skills. According to Richards, “Learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in 1 Rahayu Dwi Riyanti, dkk, Cross Cultural Understanding, Universitas Terbuka, 2007, p. 1.2. 2 their spoken proficiency.” 2 From the statement, the writer would say that most language learners study English in order to develop proficiency in speaking. Besides, many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language. These learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication People have known about the branch of science since hundreds years ago which is named by psychology. One of the most popular discussions in the science of psychology is personality. If we look into the history of philosophy for a moment, we observe that personality has been often associated with what we call thinking or reasoning. According to Leibnitz, personality referred to “a substance gifted with understanding.” 3 If we consider the reaction of various persons to the same experience, we will find that it is different in every one of them; it may be quick and lasting, or slow but lasting; or it may be quick but of short duration, or slow and of short duration. This personality or manner of reaction, or the different degrees of excitability, is what we call temperament. According to Socrates, one of the most renowned of the Greek sages, there are four temperaments: the sanguine, the choleric, the melancholic, and the phlegmatic. The first two are also called extroverts which have active trait, and the last two are introverts which have passive trait. The active trait and the passive trait affect an individual willingness to speak, of course the extrovert students are more talkative than the introvert students which rather like to keep silent. As English teacher, we are required to understand students through their 2 Jack C. Richards, Developing Classroom Speaking Activities: From Theory to Practice, http:www.professorjackrichard.comdeveloping-classoom-speaking-activities.pdf, p.1. Successfully retrieved on April 23, 2012. 3 Robert W. Lundin, Personality, A Behavioral Analysis, The macmillan Company, Collier-Macmillan Limited, London, 1969, p. 3. 3 personality. And in this case, the discussion merely narrowed to the sanguine and the phlegmatic. The writer chooses the different classification of personality, one from extrovert and another from introvert. It is because the writer arranges to do comparative analysis in this study. The analysis is aimed to seek similarities and differences from the theory that is about the sanguine and the phlegmatic. After that, the performance in speaking of a group of students who belong to both personality types is compared by using their score. After the author consulted with his colleague who once has taught at SMP Wijayakusuma before, then followed by visiting and sharing his opinions with SMP Wijayakusuma English teacher about the speaking subject, it was clearly seen that both type of personality were found at school. During learning the sanguine and the phlegmatic students demonstrate different style and performance; they also participated differently in class. The students’ level which becomes the object of the study should be specific. Therefore the writer selects the students on the second year of SMP Wijayakusuma. The second grade students’ competency in English speaking skill based on suggestion from English teacher at that school is pretty good. That is because many are able to engage themselves in a good and fair communication in speaking session, and some of them can perform almost excellent English when they speak. Based on brief background about the students’ personality and the students’ learning of English speaking skill above, the writer wants to have the study for his “skripsi” under the title “A Comparative Analysis on Sanguine and Phlegmatic Students Concerning their English Speaking Skill” A Comparative Study at the Second Year Students of SMP Wijayakusuma. 4

B. Identification of the Problem