Panji Agnyoto, 2012
Classroom Speaking Activities In A Conversation Class: A Case Study Of One Junior High School In Bandung
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | Repository.Upi.Edu
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter introduces the problem of the study. It starts with the background of the study describing classroom speaking activites within a
conversation class and the reasons to conduct the study. The purpose of the study, research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study, and clarification
of technical terms follow it. This chapter is completed with organization of the paper.
I.1. Background of the Study
It is fair to say that among other language skills, mastery of speaking is the most demanding skill for many English as a foreign or a second language
EFLESL learners. This is due to the fact that most language learners tend to focus on how much they have improved in their speaking skill as a parameter of
their language learning effectiveness as well as its success Richards, 2001. Despite its importance, learning speaking in EFL or ESL context has great
challenges. Brown 2001 sees that learners are often puzzled by discourse constraints such as how to say things, when to speak, and how they make a choice
among many possible grammatical sentences. Internally, EFL or ESL learners usually feel insecure about their level of English and they face problems in
communicating as well as expressing their ideas in the target language. As a result, they rather remain silent as they are afraid of making mistakes and do not
participate actively in speaking lessons.
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To cope with the challenges of learning speaking in EFL or ESL context, teachers are required to be able to create and employ certain activites in order to
achieve langu age learning’s goal, i.e. Communicative Competence. In so doing, it
means that the teacher plays an important role in determining what activities can best encourage students to participate in a class as well
as increase students’ speaking proficiency.
Concerning with speaking proficiency, Nunan 1991 stated:
“to most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of the
ability to carry out a conversational in the language.”
Thus, speaking proficiency must have been given more attentions since human being communicate and interact with others using that language
proficiency. To develop English speaking proficiency, students should get as many speaking opportunities as possible and their speaking time should be slowly
but steadily to prepare them for various communicative situations. The teachers should provide them with a conducive environment that will help them develop
their speaking proficiency. In this case, there is a great role for the language teachers to assist and help their students improve speaking proficiency.
There are relatively much pedagogical research which have been conducted to find out or even to develop learning activities for reading or writing,
but speaking has likely received little concern due to its complexity and impracticality of this skill to be investigated Lengkanawati, 2007. Consequently,
due to its importance proper activities for speaking class are badly needed, whether the activites are about direct approaches focusing on specific features of
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oral interactions e.g. turn-taking, topic management, questioning strategies, or indirect approaches creating conditions for oral interaction through group work,
task work, and other strategies Richards, 1990. Based on the information and statements above, the study attempts to
investigate how the process of classroom speaking activities is conducted by the teacher within a conversation class to improv
e students’ speaking proficiency. Besides, it is also crucial for this
research to explore students’ responses to those activities.
I.2. Research Questions
