This activity allows the participants to make the pre-planned questions and answers to do an interview on any appropriate topics.
f. Simulation and role-play
Simulation and role-play can encourage students’ creativity. They have to
think of the information needed and consider the situation. Simulation and role-play also encourage their fluency as well as train them to speak based on
the situations. Using pictures to teach speaking skill can attract students’ attention and
stimulate students to produce a language especially for speaking. Wright a medium suggested for helping the success of the teaching learning is pictures
Wright, 1989: 2-4. Brown 2004 states that “a picture or a picture series is
considered as a stimulus for longer story or description.” Pictures are flexible to be modified into several activities in the teaching
and learning process. Wright 1989 explains some types of picture that can be used as media in the teaching and learning process as follows:
1 Picture with a lot of information
Some pictures are full of information. The complexity of some pictures make them suitable for activities such as, describing, identifying, matching
activities, and memory activities. 2
Sequences pictures They help the students to grasp the meaning of the pictures and give the
idea to discuss the picture setting and the relationship between the picture and the words.
3 Related pictures
Pictures which are related to each other can be treated as separate pictures and used in mini-dialogues.
4 Pictures and texts
Some pictures provide caption or article accompanying them, such as, cartoons, newspaper, advertisement, etc.
5 Picture of people in action
Pictures can be used to ask students what happened in the picture and what had happened before the action.
6 Single stimulating pictures
Some photographs show images of people in their environment with great sensitivity which can stimulate speculation and the expressions of experiences
and feelings. 7
Picture of fantasies They illustrate the everyday activities such as eating, sleeping, reading,
running, etc., using the fantasy characters. 8
Explanatory pictures Students can read or listening to the passage while studying the picture. It
helps students to grasp the meaning of the text. In conclusion, there are many ways to teach the speaking skill. As it has
been mention earlier, the teachers can provide activities such as acting from the script, communication games, discussion, prepared talks, questionnaires,
simulation and role-play. However, the researcher prefers simulation and role-play
to be focused in the conversation book for outside class activities. As it has been mention before, the simulation and role-play enable students to develop their
creativity and fluency. These two activities also enable students to be able to practice to use language based on the situations.
4. Teaching Speaking in the Junior High School
Based on the School Based Curriculum, Grade VIII students of junior high schools have to accomplish the speaking Standard of competence and Basic
Competencies. Table 1: Standard of Competence and Basic Competencies for the First
Semester of Grade VIII Junior High School
Standard of Competence Basic Competencies
Speaking 3. Expressing meaning in transactional
conversations and short spoken interpersonal
conversation to
interact with environment. 3.1 Expressing meaning in transactional
conversations to get things done and simple interpersonal socialize
conversation with correct spoken form accurately, fluently, acceptable
using expressions of asking, giving, refusing
things, admitting
and denying facts, asking and giving
opinions. 3.2 Understanding and responding
transactional conversations to get things
done and
simple interpersonal
socialize conversation with correct spoken
form accurately, fluently, acceptable using
expression of:
inviting, accepting and refusing invitations,
agreeingdisagreeing, complimenting, and congratulation.
4. Express the meaning of functional spoken texts and short monologs of
descriptive and recount to interact with environment.
4.1 Expressing
the meaning
of functional spoken texts with correct
spoken form accurately, fluently, and acceptable to interact with
environment.
4.2 Expressing meaning in simple short monologs with correct spoken form
accurately, fluently, and acceptable to interact with environment in
descriptive and recount texts.
Many English-speaking activities in the classroom are derived from textbooks. For example, Contextual Teaching and Learning 2008 published by
Pusat Perbukuan Departemen Pendidikan Nasional provides the expressions, texts, word bank, role-play, dialogue including the dialogue production as the
speaking activities. Another book published by Pusat Perbukuan Departemen Pendidikan Nasional is English in Focus 2008. The speaking activities included
in the book are completing dialogue, question and answer practice, role-play, describing things orally, speech act section, and grammar stage. From those
textbooks, the researcher designs a similar product specifically for conversation. The written books based on Standard of Competence and Basic Competencies
as well as the students’ needs are expected to help the process of teaching and
learning. Therefore, the learning objectives are accomplished. In terms of the conversation book for outside class activities, students
still need teacher’ guidance, even if the books belong to students
’ book. The teacher is one of the keys of successful classroom performances. Here,
the teacher’s roles are needed in the process. One of the examples of the roles is providing the conversation model. After providing the conversation model,
teachers can provide students with opportunities for practicing the models. Wallace et al. 2004: 10 agree that students improve their formal speech after
given some understanding on how to organize the ideas for the performance.
Furthermore, teachers can also help students to adapt their speech and informal talks based on the audience, the communicated information, and the
circumstances of the occasion, or in other words, contexts of the talks. Choosing the topics of the conversation is also important. The teacher
’s role here is needed. As students of the junior high school may be shy to suggest certain
topics based on the curriculum, teachers may provide some options of the topics so that students can choose the topics. Wallace et al. 2004: 10 explain that
students may enjoy talking about their personal experiences. Therefore, the topics of the conversation are the daily communication topics, such as family included
in the curriculum. Students may be not really aware of the use of politeness in conversations
based on the situations. Therefore, it is useful for students to know how to speak and differentiate the situations such as how to speak to teachers and how to speak
to classmates. In a conversation, there are at least two participants. Students commonly have
some anxiety in performing conversation in a large group so that it is better to ask students to work in pair to practice the conversation. By practicing repeatedly, it
will reduce the students’ anxiety to perform in larger group as they are well prepared for better performance.
5. Teaching and Learning Process of Speaking
Richards 2006: 8 explains that PPP Presentation – Practice – Produce
cycle is often used in language teaching with some modifications. PPP is a simple
