1.1 Background of the Study Communication is an essential need for human being.

Language is the tool of communication which plays an important role to reveal an intention to someone else. Since Indonesian people face AFTA 2 ! or

free mar"et# communication in $nglish language is badly needed because $nglish language is an international language. The language can be e%pressed in the spo"en or written forms. There are some elements in the communication# such as the spea"er# hearer and the media that are used in communication. Spea"ing is an important s"ill because one of the "eys in $nglish communication is spea"ing ability. Indonesian has to be able to master $nglish as an international language. &y mastering spea"ing s"ill# they can carry out conversation with others# give ideas and change the information with interlocutor and people are able to "now the situation that happen in the world. $nglish language is not only taught and learned# but it is used as a habit. 'ow# $nglish is not only taught in big cities but also in remote villages. So# $nglish spea"ing is taught in all (unior )igh Schools in Indonesia. The students should master spea"ing in $nglish especially in daily conversation because conversation is foundation to communicate with foreigners. In spea"ing class# the students should be taught how to spea". The components of $nglish spea"ing s"ill that should be given and studied in $nglish spea"ing class are pronunciation# vocabulary#

grammar# fluency# accuracy and comprehension. Spea"ing is the most important s"ill# because it is one of abilities to carry out conversation on the language. Spea"ing is an interactive process of constructing meaning# receiving# and processing information. As we "now# there are many (unior )igh Schools which still use traditional methods in teaching spea"ing. The teachers *ust give the material and e%plain it# give e%ample and give e%ercises. This method is not effective because the students are bored and need much time to be able to master $nglish spea"ing especially in communication or conversation. So# the researcher will use the other method that can improve the students+ ability in $nglish spea"ing s"ill. In the researcher+s view# a favorable techni,ue in aiding (unior )igh school students to ac,uire and develop $nglish spea"ing s"ills is the use of drama activities. 'o matter where this techni,ue is applied# drama may be considered a method of learning-a tool for selfe%pression# as well as art. The scope of drama may be briefly e%plained through si% learning principles. a. A student learns meaningful content better than other content. b. Learning occurs as a result of a student+s interaction with his environment. c. The more sensory organs a student uses while learning# the greater the retention of the lessons. d. A student learns best by doing and e%periencing.

e. $ffective participation is important in learning emotional conduct. f. Learning becomes easier and more permanent in educational environments where there is more than one stimulus. &ut if *ust usual drama# it will waste so many time and it is too difficult for ninth grade of (unior )igh School. So# the researcher chooses short drama which has the simple stories and it is easier to be applied. By using short drama in teaching, the teacher can overcome students difficulties in English speaking skill. Therefore the researcher is highly motivated in conducting the present study to find out the extent of improvement of the students English speaking skill of the ninth grade students of SMP asional !enpasar.