THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SIMULATION IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING SKILL

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SIMULATION IN IMPROVING STUDENTS SPEAKING SKILL

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is divided into seven subsections. They are background of the study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of problems, objectives of the study, hypothesis, significance of the study, and outline of the report.

A. Background of the Study

The globalization era that demands man power with sufficient competency and professionalism has made Vocational High School so important. This phenomenon is reflected in that many students leaving Junior High Schools enter Vocational Schools.

It goes without saying that Vocational High School has some special qualities. Firstly, the alumni that leave from this institution could meet the job requirements in industry or company because they have certificate of Uji Kemampuan Kompetensi. With this certificate they would have a chance to get a job easily. Secondly, the alumni could continue their study if they are qualified; adjusted to their vocations.

Hence, the teaching and learning process in Vocational High School needs special techniques in order to achieve the necessary competencies for the students. That demand increases when there is free market in this era that makes manpower exchange takes place rapidly. So that, the students need to master the subjects and skills suitable with their vocations. They also have to be good in English as an international language, which also used both in industry and business nowadays.

However, according to my observation and interview before doing this final project, the English subject in Vocational High School is still conventional, monotonous and boring for the students. The teachers' successful orientation is still how to deliver all materials from the occupied literature (Suyatno, 2004 : 2). It potentially becomes one of the problems for them to reach the goal of the learning process.

Moreover, the situation becomes worse when the teachers rarely update the necessary skills in teaching according to the education progress. They have a drawback to evolve teaching techniques and strategies. The result is teaching and learning process operated in an old way that generates alumni without any sufficient competences.

Another cause is the very limited chance for the teachers to join in seminar, discussion, and training. It makes instructional processes become less innovative. This condition is usually complained especially by those who teach in remote areas.

The phenomena above are contrary to the spirit of the new curriculum (KTSP) which suggests that teachers should be able to enhance their teaching strategies for the sake of the student's competence development (KTSP 2007) (http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurikulum_Tingkat_Satuan_Pendidikan).

Beside the above demand of the curriculum, the teacher's techniques and the students' learning styles should be in line. Teaching and learning process should be able to accommodate the different and unique characteristics of the students.

Based on the above arguments, simulation would be an effective technique to solve those problems for Vocational High School. This technique would give supporting environment for the students to elaborate themselves with their own learning styles. I focused on improving students' speaking skill for Vocational High School. Here, the subject of my study will be THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SIMULATION IN IMPROVING STUDENTS' SPEAKING SKILL FOR VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL.

B. Reasons for Choosing the Topic

There are some reasons in choosing this topic. The first one is because the topic has not been examined yet by many researchers. Most of the them investigated the area of teaching and learning process in Junior or Senior High School in the terms of methods, strategy, and the interaction among the students or between teacher and students in the English class. There are still a few who conducted researches about teaching and learning techniques, especially simulation, for Vocational High School.

The second one is the topic will promise a valuable contribution for English teaching and learning process especially for Vocational High School that is being improved constantly by the government. The simulation technique adapts the students' learning styles and also uses Contextual Teaching and Learning that is needed in vocational classes as demanded by the curriculum. So that, this technique would be an alternative solution for education problem.

The third, the topic would be useful for language development because the simulation technique concerns on speaking skill. Therefore, by analyzing this matter, I hope that the second language learner could get knowledge and information in using English through simulation. This technique uses English as a means of communication not merely studying the language itself.

The last one is the topic gives an advantage for the students in improving their speaking skill and elaborating their learning styles. All the teaching and learning processes held in the context of situation according to the students' vocations. It would give much information for them in using English as the means of communication on their fields.

C. Statement of Problems

The problems that are discussed in this study are : 

1. How is the speaking test achievement for students taught using simulation technique ?

2. How is the speaking test achievement for students taught without using simulation technique ?

3. Is there any significant difference in students' speaking test achievement between those taught by using simulation technique and those taught without using simulation technique ?

D. Objectives of the Study

The purposes of this study are : 

1. to find out the speaking test achievement for students taught using simulation technique

2. to find out the speaking test achievement for students taught without using simulation technique

3. to find out whether there is significant difference in students' speaking test achievement between those taught by using simulation technique and those taught without using simulation technique.

TEACHERS TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL

TEACHERS TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes the general issues related to the introduction of this study. The issues cover background of the study, research questions, the purpose of the research, the significance of the study, the definition of the terms, and thesis organization.

A.. Background of the Study

English has become a lingua franca, a language which is internationally used by people with different first language background (Harmer, 2001), and which is used for communication by more than one billion people around the world (see Johnson, 2001). This makes English an important tool that everyone should master; making it one important school subjects in most schools in the world.

In Indonesia, English has been taught and received serious attention in all levels of study, i.e. Elementary School, Junior High School, and Senior High School. The goal of teaching English in Indonesia, and probably in most schools in the world, is the students' ability to use English for communication through four language skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Among other language skills, mastery speaking which is "the basic means of human communication" (Lazarton, 2001 : 103) and English speaking which has become "the most demanding skill" ((Bailey & Savage, 1994 in Lazarton, 2001) is a must. This is due to the fact that most learners often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how much they feel they have improved in their speaking proficiency (Richards, 2008).

Besides the importance of speaking skill, learning speaking in second or foreign language, has a great challenge. Brown (1994 in Lazarton, 2001) mentions a number of features that interact to make speaking as challenging as it is. First, fluent speech contains reduced forms, such as contractions, vowel reduction, and elision, so that learners who are not exposed to or who do not get sufficient practice with reduced speech will retain their rather formal-sounding full forms. Second, students must also acquire the stress, rhythm, and intonation of English. In line with that, Lazarton (2001 cited in Celce-Murcia, 2001 : 103) states that perhaps the most difficult aspect of spoken English is that it is almost always accomplished via interaction with at least one other speaker. This means that a variety of demands are in place at once : monitoring and understanding the other speakers, thinking about one's own contribution, producing that contribution, monitoring its effect, and so on.

To cope with the challenges of teaching speaking, the language teachers are required to be able to create and employ certain techniques in order to achieve the goal of language learning and teaching for speaking skill. By this, it means that the teacher plays an important role in determining what technique can best encourage students' participation in the learning process. This is supported by Celce-Murcia, 1979 who mentions that teacher needs to know the strategies and exercises to ensure that each is getting a relevant practice in speaking English in order to develop his fluency and confidence. In line with that, Rahmawati (2008) proposes that teacher, particularly in speaking instruction, is always expected to provide an engaging-students techniques to make them able to explore their experiences and idea in oral way.

In teaching speaking skill, the teachers are expected to be able to promote students' speaking skill by employing several types of techniques such as discussion, speeches, role plays, conversation, audio taped oral dialogues journal and other accuracy-based activities (Lazarton in Celce-Murcia, 2001 : 106). Thus, it is expected that the strategies will explore the students' speaking performance.

Among other language skills taught in EFL schools, speaking skill has been likely received little concern by investigators since the complexity and impracticality of this skill to be investigated (See Lengkanawati, 2007). Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the teaching of speaking skill particularly the English teacher's techniques in teaching speaking skill. Besides, it also investigates the students' responses to those techniques.

B. Research Questions

Based on the consideration above, this study is focused on the research questions as follows : 

1. What techniques does the teacher use in teaching speaking skill ?

2. What are the students' responses to the teacher's techniques ?

C. Aims of the Study

Related to the research questions above, this study aims to : 

1. investigate the English teachers' techniques in teaching speaking skill,

2. identify the students' responses to the techniques used by the teachers in teaching speaking skill.

D. Significance of the Study

It is expected that the result of this study will be useful for those who participate in teaching English as a foreign language. They are involved : first, the teachers of English; second, the education officers and the school stake holders who hold and facilitate any kinds of teachers training; third, the writer as the researcher would like to meet the magister degree; and fourth, the other researchers who are interested in conducting the same field of study.

E. Thesis Organization

This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is general introduction that relates to the background of the study. Chapter two discusses the literature review as the basic guidelines which underpinning the study. Chapter three presents the methodology of the research. This involves the data collection techniques and instruments used in conducting the research. Chapter four is about data presentation and data analysis in the study. And the last, chapter five presents conclusion and offers some recommendation.