INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Speaking is an essential tool for communicating, thinking, and learning. Oral

language is a powerful learning tool. It shapes, modifies, extends, and organizes thought.

Oral language is a foundation of all language development and, therefore, the foundation

of all learning. It is the base for the other language strands. Through speaking and

listening, students learn concepts, develop vocabulary, and perceive the structure of the

English language which is essential components of learning. Students who have a strong

oral language base have an academic advantage. School achievement depends on

students' ability to display knowledge in a clear and acceptable form in speaking as well

as writing.

Additionally, mastering speaking skills in learning English is a priority for many

second-language or foreign-language learners. Consequently, 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 spoken language

proficiency (Richards, 1990: 21).

Considering how important speaking skill in learning English, Renandya,

(1999:230) in this case reminds English teachers by saying:

Speaking is one of the central elements of communication. In EFL (English

Foreigner language) teaching, it is an aspect that needs special attention and
instruction. In order to provide effective attention, it is necessary for a teacher
of EFL to carefully examine the factors, condition and components that
underlie speaking effectiveness. Effective instruction derived from the
careful analysis of this area, together with sufficient language input and

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 speech-promotion activities will gradually help learners improve their English
speaking ability.

In addition, Richard (1990: 122) explains the typical learners’ problems in

speaking like speaking slowly, taking too long to compose utterances, incapable to

participate actively in conversation, spoken English doesn’t sound natural, poor

grammar and poor pronunciation. Besides there are many reasons causing English

learners poor in speaking skills. They are as lack of curriculum emphasis on speaking

skills, teachers’ limited English proficiency, class conditions do not favor oral activities,

limited opportunities outside of class to practice, and examination system does not

emphasize oral skills.

So based on the explanation above the researchers has found some problems

which nearly similar to those five typical problems explained by Richard above in MAN

Jangka. The problems are the students in the school are speechless and when they speak

English, they take so much time thinking what they are going to say. These problems are

presented based on the researcher’s first observation and interview in the school before

going to this proposal and problems are also have been approved by one of the teachers

who teaches English in the school whose name is Mr. Wardi. So based on those

problems, the researcher, as a one of English Department students of Almuslim

University who nearly completes his study in the University, would like to do a

collaborative action research in the school to help both the teachers and students in the

school find a proper way in teaching speaking which can improve the students speaking

ability.
 Anyway, there are many kinds of language methods in teaching language in a

second or foreign language but only three methods; grammar translation method, audio-

lingual method and communicative method have dominated language teaching in the

United States in the past 60 years. The three of them have their respective advantageous

and disadvantageous but out of the three, communicative method is considered the most

effective one to be used in language teaching especially to teach speaking since it

provides more opportunity for English learners to speak than to the teachers during

teaching – learning process (Kathleen:18). Moreover, there is a research (Ellis: 1990)

which says that people do not learn the pieces of the language and then put them

together to make conversations. Instead, they learn the components of language through

interaction with other people, so learners should interact during lessons. As a result,

communicative language teaching arose and rapidly developed.

In this research, the researcher is interested in choosing story completion as a

technique that will be applied in this research because it can be presented easily, students

will have much time to practice their speaking ability and it makes students more active

in teaching and learning process and at the same time makes their learning more

meaningful and fun for them.

1.2 Problem of the Research

Having explained the problems of this research in the previous section generally,

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in this section, the researcher formulates the problems of the research into two simple

questions as the following:

1. Can story completion develop the students’ speaking ability?

2. What are the advantages of applying story completion in teaching speaking?

1.3 Purpose of the Research

The researcher draws the purpose of the research as follows:

1. To know if story completion can develop the students’ speaking ability

2. To research the advantages of applying story completion in teaching speaking

1.4 Significance of the Research

In this section, the researcher draws you some significances of the research from

the view of theoretical and practical significances as the following:

1. Theoretical significances.

- With any luck, this research can develop the students’ speaking ability.

- Perhaps, this research can develop the quality of English education in the

school.

2. Practical significances

- Hopefully, the result of this research is applied by others English teachers in

facing the same problem as drawn in this research.

- Perhaps, this technique can be an appropriate way in teaching speaking to the

students in the school.

1.5 Scope of the Research

 The research focuses on the effect of using story completion in teaching speaking

to the second grade students of MAN Jangka in order to find a proper technique in

teaching speaking that can develop the students speaking ability. In the story

completion, firstly the teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few sentences he or she

stops narrating and each student is supposed to add from four to ten sentences based on

the story topic that has been prepared by the teacher.

1.6 Definition of the Key Terms

In this thesis, the researcher gives some explanation of some key terms that

predominantly appear in this proposal. These key terms explanation’s function is to

make the readers understand exactly about the words or phrases.

1. Speaking is any process in which people share information, ideas and feeling, it

involves all of body language characteristic and style-anything that adds meaning

to a message.

2. Story Completion is a technique that is used by the teacher to motivate students

in narrating a story continually between teacher-student and also student-student.

In this research, story completion is an activity that will be created by teacher to

promote students’ speaking ability.

3. Classroom Action Research is a form of reflective research that is conducted by

teacher which its result can be used as a tool to improve the teaching and

learning.

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1.7 Review of the Related Literature.

In this section of the proposal, the researcher will explain you more in detail

about some of the variables that lie in this research.

1.7.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is a vehicle to link individuals to society. Exchanges students have with

their peers and teachers can help them come to know the world in more personal and

socially responsible ways. When students talk about their ideas, they clarify their

thinking. They can figure out what they believe and where they stand on issues

(Hayriye: http://unr.edu/homepage/hayriyek). Moreover, Hybel (2001:45) states:

“speaking is any process in which people share information, ideas and feeling, it

involves all of body language mannerism and style-anything that adds meaning to a

message”.

Chaney (1998: 13) says that speaking is the process of building and sharing

meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.

Speaking is a crucial part of second and foreign language learning and teaching. Despite

its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English

language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or

memorization of dialogues. However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching

speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way,

students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules

appropriate in each communicative circumstance.

 Furthermore speaking is one of the central elements of communication. In EFL

(English as Foreigner language) teaching, it is an aspect that needs special attention and

instruction. In order to provide effective attention, it is necessary for a teacher of EFL to

carefully examine the factors, condition and components that underlie speaking

effectiveness. Effective instruction derived from the careful analysis of this area,

together with sufficient language input and speech-promotion activities will gradually

help learners improve their English speaking ability (Richards, 1999:230).

1.7.2 Teaching Speaking

Speaking English is the main goal of many adult learners. Their personalities

play a large role in determining how quickly and how correctly they will accomplish this

goal. Those who are risk-takers unafraid of making mistakes will generally be more

talkative, but with many errors that could become hard-to-break habits. Conservative,

shy students may take a long time to speak confidently, but when they do, their English

often contains fewer errors and they will be proud of their English ability. It's a matter of

quantity vs. quality, and neither approach is wrong. However, if the aim of speaking is

communication and that does not require perfect English, then it makes sense to

encourage quantity in your classroom. Break the silence and get students communicating

with whatever English they can use, correct or not, and selectively address errors that

block communication.

Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation and grammar (discussed elsewhere in

this guide), which are necessary for effective oral communication. Or a grammar or

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reading lesson may incorporate a speaking activity. Either way, your students will need

some preparation before the speaking task. This includes introducing the topic and

providing a model of the speech they are to produce. A model may not apply to

discussion-type activities, in which case students will need clear and specific

instructions about the task to be accomplished. Then the students will practice with the

actual speaking activity.

These activities may include imitating (repeating), answering verbal cues,

interactive conversation, or an oral presentation. Most speaking activities inherently

practice listening skills as well, such as when one student is given a simple drawing and

sits behind another student, facing away. The first must give instructions to the second to

reproduce the drawing. The second student asks questions to clarify unclear instructions,

and neither can look at each other's page during the activity. Information gaps are also

commonly used for speaking practice, as are surveys, discussions, and role-plays.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind as you plan your speaking activities.

• Content

As much as possible, the content should be practical and usable in real-life

situations. Avoid too much new vocabulary or grammar, and focus on speaking

with the language the students have.

• Correcting Errors

You need to provide appropriate feedback and correction, but don't interrupt the

flow of communication. Take notes while pairs or groups are talking and address

problems to the class after the activity without embarrassing the student who
 made the error. You can write the error on the board and ask who can correct it.

• Quantity vs. Quality

Address both interactive fluency and accuracy, striving foremost for

communication. Get to know each learner's personality and encourage the quieter

ones to take more risks.

• Conversation Strategies

Encourage strategies like asking for clarification, paraphrasing, gestures, and

initiating ('hey,' 'so,' 'by the way').

• Teacher Intervention

If a speaking activity loses steam, you may need to jump into a role-play, ask

more discussion questions, clarify your instructions, or stop an activity that is too

difficult or boring.

1.8. Methodology of the Research

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 The methodology of this research will be done through the following explanation

below.

1.8.1 Design of the Research.

The design of the study is Collaborative Classroom Action Research. As it

explained by Asrori, (2008:45) that Collaborative Classroom Action Research is kind of

a Classroom Action Research that involves some people like the principal, teacher,

lectures, or etc simultaneously. It aims to improve teaching practical quality, contribute

teaching theoretical development or educational and teacher career progression. This

kind of research is usually designed by a team which consists of teacher, researcher from

educational university and principal of school. The relationship between of researcher

and the teacher are considered as coworkers. Through the cooperative working in doing

the research, they can obtain the satisfied goal of the research.

Therefore, in this research the researcher together with the assistance of another

related teacher and the principal of the school will do the research in team work. The

researcher adds that they will be very pleasant and supportive helping the researcher in

doing this research.

Action research is done through many repeated cycles and there are at least two

cycles in action research. Each cycle consists of four steps; planning, action, observation

and reflection (Asrori, 2008:90). The activities that will be done in each step of the

cycles will be based on Stephen Kemmis dan Robin Mc Taggert guidance in (Arikunto,

2005:54). The activities are described in the following:

1. Planning

In this step the team will prepare everything for the completion of the action in

the class like designing a lesson plan, verifying the schedule, and etc.

2. Action

In this step, the team will choose a proper teacher to do the action which has

been prepared by the team the planning step.

3. Observation

In this step, the researcher will observe students’ motivation and behavior, the

classroom atmosphere, the advantageous of applying interview in teaching speaking and

etc during the action process.

4. Reflection

In this step, the researcher together with the team will reflect on the effects of the

above steps as a basis for further planning, subsequent action and so on, through a succession of

cycles.

1.8.2 Setting and Subject

This research will be done at MAN Jangka. The population of this study is the

whole of the second great students of MAN Jangka. Since there are three second grades

in the school. The researcher does not take all the classes to be the subject of the

research. Therefore the researcher decides to take only one class as the subject of this

research to make the researcher easier in collecting the data. The class consists of 45

students. The reason why the researcher takes one class is because the subject in

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Classroom Action Research is only one class (Asrori, 2008:5).

1.8.3 Technique of the Data Collecting

In collecting the data, the researcher will ask the subject of this research to

answer the pre-test and post-test. Pre-test is done at the beginning of each cycle right

before action step is implemented and post-test is done at the end of the cycle before

reflection step.

Furthermore, the researcher also use observation sheets as an instrument in

collecting the data. Its functions are the following:

1. To assess the students’ motivation during the learning process.

2. To check the students’ speaking improvement during the class.

3. To find out the advantages of using story completion in teaching English

speaking.

4. To check the students’ attitude while participating in the action learning

process.

For the completion of Research methodology will be explained further in detail

in chapter III of the research.