CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Background of the Problem

Language is the most significant possession of human being to do

communication in conveying and sharing idea, feeling, emotion, and information

to people both in spoken and written forms. Language has an important role in
everyday life interactions. Nowadays, in global era, English is used as
international language for business, tourism, political and international
relationship.
Related to the fact above, Broughton (2003) states that English is an
international language and most people in the world use this language. It is the
most broadly studied as foreign language in the world. This fact can also be seen
in Indonesia. English is learnt widely either for general or specific purpose in
formal as well as information and education from the elementary school up to
junior and senior high school as well as universities or colleges.
Richard (2008) states that a large percentage of the worlds language
learners study English in order to develop proficiency in speaking. This is caused
by the functions of speaking that cover many aspects of human interaction, such
as involved expressing ideas and opinions, expressing a wish or a desire to do
something, negotiating, solving a particular problem, establishing and building
social relationship and friendships, maintaining business or other professional
reasons. Those are just a few reasons why people may wish to speak, and then it

seems fair to assume that speaking skills play a large part in this overall
competence.
Furthermore, Harmer (2005) drawn that one of communicative activities
in English language teaching (ELT) is simulation. By applying simulation in ELT
classroom, the students are given an opportunity to practice communicating in
different social context and in different social roles. The students are given more
chances for practicing their English skills, particularly their English speaking by
carrying out the conversation in meaningful contexts and functionally situations
that commonly occurred in their daily activities.
Since the speaking is an essential to improve, the researcher thinks that it
is necessary for the teacher to find out the applicable technique in order to create a
situation which leads the students to consider that learning is for fun. From a lot
of methods of teaching speaking, the researcher is interested in applying the
simulation to improve the students` ability in speaking skill. Therefore, in
accordance with the above facts, the researcher is highly motivated to find out the
effectiveness of simulation in improving the students` speaking mastery.

1.2.

Setting of the Problem

Based on teachers experience along teaching at tenth grade students of

SMK 1 Muhammadiyah, there are some problem appearing during learning and
teaching process, they are:
1. Some of the students are not able to speak confidently
2. Some of the students are afraid of speaking English

3. Some of the students are not able to pronounce English accurately.

4. Some of the students are not able to speak fluently.

1.3.

Limitation of the Problem

In relation to problems above, so teacher intends to apply another

strategy hopefully will improve students speaking skill at the tenth grade students
of SMK 1 Muhammadiyah Pekanbaru by using simulation.

1.4.

The Formulation of the Problem

Concerning the review of related literature and the conceptual framework

the hypothesis of this research are formulated as follows: (1) there is a significant
improvement of the students achievement in speaking taught by using simulation,
(2) the students are interested to speak English through simulation.

1.5.

The General objectives of the Research

The general objective of the study is certainly intended to answer and

solve the research question which has been stated before. This thesis also has its
purpose. In line with the research question stated above, the objectives of this
research are as follows: to find out how far the use of simulation improve the
students speaking skills at the tenth grade students of SMK 1 Muhammadiyah
Pekanbaru.

1.6.

The Needs of the Research

The result of the research are generally needed to be: (1) the source of

information to improve the teaching techniques in encouraging students to speak

English, (2) the useful information for teachers, particularly the English teachers
at SMK to develop their speaking class activities, so their activities become more
effectively, communicatively and functionally, (3) the source of information for
teachers or other researcher who want to have further study on speaking activities.

1.7.

The Definition of Key Terms Used

There are some terms, which are define operationally so as to avoid

misunderstanding on the part of the readers, that is, the speaking skill, Simulation,
and the students interest at tenth grade of SMK 1 Muhammadiyah Pekanbaru.
1. Speaking skill is an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 2001:
26). It is form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it
occurs, including the participant themselves, their collective experiences,
the physical environment , and the purpose for speaking. It is often
spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving. However, speech is not always
unpredictable. Therefore, in line with this study the term `speaking skill`
refers to the skill of the students in producing, receiving and processing
information orally after they are taught through Simulation.
2. Simulation is one of oral communicative activities that used as the
teaching technique in improving the students speaking skills. By

applying simulation in speaking class, the students carry out

conversations in meaningful and functional context, and performing how
to use English in the real situation.
The students interest is the aspect that enables students to be active in
speaking English. By simulating the teaching materials, the students interest
are hope to be improve, because they believe that the activities will be useful
and matches with the situation when they get the job training or the world of
work after graduated.

REFERENCES
Broughton, Geoffrey. 2003. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. London:
Franchise-Library University.
Brown. H. Douglas. 2001. Teaching by Principle: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy. New York: Longman
Harmer, Jeremy. 2005. The Practice of English Language Teaching. New York:
Longman.
Richards, J.C. 2008.Teaching Listening and Speaking. United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press
Schollaert, Rudy. 2000 Effective staff Development: An Evaluation Manual.
Belgium: The Author and Grant Publisher

AN ACTION RESEACH IN IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH

SIMULATION AS THE COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES AT TENTH
GRADE STUDENT OF SMK 1 MUHAMMADIYAH PEKANBARU
IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2014/2015

DAMALIS

ENGLISH POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF

SULTAN SYARIF KASIM RIAU
2015
7

RESEARCH ON ELT II
ACTION RESEACH

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

DAMALIS

ENGLISH POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF

SULTAN SYARIF KASIM RIAU
2015