commit to user
refers to the aspect of speech production that refers to the ability to express oneself with automatic usage of units and patterns of language
accurately comprehensible, easy to follow without significant pauses for an extended period.
Speaking skill in this research is a complex skill because at least it is concerned with components of pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary and fluency Syakur, 1987: 5. Nunan 1998: 63 says that learning activities of speaking skill are those which focus the learner
on developing accuracy and those which focus on the development of fluency.
In this research, the researcher concerns with the usage of the language in speaking that involves some aspects, namely
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency. It means that when students want to speak to the others, they should consider some aspects
of speaking skill, namely pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency.
B. Teaching Speaking
Teaching speaking is not an easy job since language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge Burkart: 1998. These
are: a. Mechanics pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary: using the right word in
the right order with the correct pronunciation.
commit to user
b. The functions transaction and interaction; This is the clarity of message is essential transaction information exchange and when precise understanding
is not required interaction relationship building. c. The social and cultural rules and norms turn-taking, rate of speech, length of
pause between speakers, relative roles of participants; This is to take into account who is speaking to whom in what circumstances, about what topic,
and for what reason. In language teaching, especially teaching speaking, the teachers help their
students develop their knowledge by providing authentic practice that preparing the students for real-life communication situations. They help their students
develop the ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable
pronunciation. a. Teacher Roles
Byrne 1997: 2 says that the teachers also need to know their roles in teaching speaking. They have specific roles at different stages, as follows:
1 The presentation stage when the teachers introduce something new to be learned, the teachers play a role as informant.
2 The practice stage when the teachers allow the learners to work under their direction, the teachers have a role as conductor and monitor.
3 The production stage when the teacher gives the learner opportunity to work on their own.
commit to user
The teachers must be able to motivate their students in order to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing. There are some factors
which determine their ability to motivate their students, namely: their performance the mastery of teaching skills, the selection and presentation of
topics and activities, the teacher’s personality.
b. Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities According to Ur 1999: 120, there are some characteristics of a successful
speaking activity: 1 Learners talk a lot.
As much as possible the period of time allotted to activity is in fact occupied by learners’ talk. This may seem obvious, but often most time is
taken up with teacher talk or pauses. 2 Participation is even.
Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed.
3 Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic and
have something new to say about it, or just because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective.
4 Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in utterance that is relevant, easily
comprehensive to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy.
commit to user
c. Problem with Speaking Activities According to Ur 1996: 121, there are some problems faced by the
learners in speaking activities. The problems include inhibition, the lack of theme to be spoken, the low of participation, and the use of the mother tongue. Those
problems can be explained as follows: 1 Inhibition
Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires some real time exposures to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about trying to
say things in a foreign language in the classroom, such as worried about mistakes, fearful of criticism or shy of the attention that their speech attracts.
2 Lack of theme Some learners get the difficulties in thinking of anything to say, they have
no motivation to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
3 Low participation Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard. In a large
group, this means that each one will have only very little time to talk. This problem is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate, while
other speaks very little or not at all. 4 The use of mother tongue
Some members of class share the same mother tongue. They may tend to use it because of some reasons. Firstly, it is easier. Secondly, it feels unnatural
to speak to one another in foreign language. Finally, they feel less “exposed” if
commit to user
they are speaking their mother tongue. If they are talking in small groups, it can be quite difficult to keep using the target language.
d. Solutions for Problem of Speaking Activities
There are some solutions which can be selected to overcome the problems in speaking activity Ur, 119: 121-122. These are:
1 Use group work This increases the sheer number of students who talk in a limited period of
time and also lowers the inhibitions of students who are unwilling to speak in front of the full class. It is true that the teacher can not supervise all students’
speech, so that not all utterances will be correct, and students may occasionally slip into their native language. Nevertheless, taking into
consideration occasional mistakes and mother tongue use, the amount of the time remaining for positive, useful oral practice is still likely to be far more
than in the full class set up. 2 Base the activity on easy language
In general, the level of the language needed for a discussion should be lower than that used in intensive language learning activities in the same class.
It should be easily recalled and produced by the participants, so that they can speak fluently with minimum hesitation. It is a good idea to teach or review
essential vocabulary before the activity starts.
commit to user
3 Make a careful choice and task to stimulate interest On the whole, the clearer the purpose of the discussion, the more
motivated participants will be. A good topic is one which students can relate using ideas from their own experience and knowledge. It should also represent a
genuine controversy. Some questions or suggested lines of thought can help to stimulate discussion. A task is essentially goal-oriented. It requires the group, or
pair, to achieve an objective that is usually expressed by an observable result such as brief notes or lists, a rearrangement of jumbled items, a drawing, and a spoken
summary. 4 Give some instruction or training in discussion skills
If the task is based on group discussion then include instructions about participation when introducing it. For example, tell students to make sure that
everyone the group contributes to the discussion appoints a chairperson to each group who will regulate participation.
5 Keep students speaking the target language Teachers might appoint one of the groups as monitor, whose job is to
remind participants to use the target language, and perhaps report later to teacher how well the group managing to keep it. Even if there is no actual penalty
attached, the very awareness that someone is monitoring such lapses helping the participants to be more careful.
commit to user
e. Teaching Speaking at SMP Based on Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP of the eighth
grade students of SMP in 2008 2011 academic year, teaching speaking covers some points including: the standard competence, the main competence, and the
indicators. Each is described as follows: a Standard Competence
According to standard competence, the eighth grade students of SMP are able to communicate using the spoken or written language in the form of
interactional and spoken short monologue especially in the narrative, descriptive, and recount text.
b Main Competence In learning speaking, the students are able to develop main competences
which include: express the meaning in a transactional and spoken short monologue especially in the form of narrative, descriptive and recount
text. c Indicators
There are two indicators showing the students’ competence in learning speaking. First, students are able to identify new words on the text related
to the theme. Secondly, students are able to identify the expression of telephoning conversation in form of inviting people. Third, students are
able to produce expressions how to open a telephoning conversation. Fourth, students are able to produce the expressions in form of accept an
invitation and decline an invitation in telephoning conversation. Fifth,
commit to user
students are able to produce the expression in close telephoning conversation. Sixth, students are able to perform telephoning conversation
fluently through good pronunciation, stress and intonation. Seventh, Students are able to use expressions in telephoning conversation with their
friends in the classroom.
C. Teams Games Tournaments TGT a. Review of Cooperative Learning
