Definition of Speaking

SUMMARY

1.      DEFINITION OF SPEAKING.

Speaking is a productive skill, it is means you use the language that you have acquired and produce a message through speech or written text that you want others to understand.

Speaking is the ability to perform the linguistics knowledge in actual communication, where the student use this skill in daily activity. It is not only a matter of transferring some messages to other persons but is also communication, which needs more than one person to communicate with. When people speak, they construct ideas in words, express their perception, their feelings and intentions, so that interlocutors grasp meaning of what the speakers mean.

If the learners do not have speaking skill, do not understand the English words that are said by the speaker, do not acknowledge the language, they cannot grasp meaning of what the speaker mean.

So, speaking is the way of someone to express their minds, ideas and thought freely and spontaneously.

2.      WHAT IS ACCURACY & FLUENCY?

Ø  Accuracy is how the student speak in grammatically its mean the student can use structure or grammar when they speak or they say something.

Ø  Fluency is how the students are able to speak fluently and loudly in clearly and good pronunciation.

3.      THE COMPONENTS OF SPEAKING SKILL

According to Syakur there are at least five components of speaking skill concerned with comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency (Syakur, 1987:3).

1)    Comprehension

 For oral communication certainly requires a subject to respond to speech as well as to  initiate it.

2)    Grammar

 It is needed for students to arrange a correct grammatical sentence in a conversation. The utility of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form.

3)      Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the most important part of speaking skill. Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. Mastering vocabulary means that we can choose the appropriate diction which is used in communication in any kinds of situations.

4)      Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way for students’ to produce clear language when they speak. It deals with the phonological process that refers to the component of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine how sounds vary and pattern in a language.

5)      Fluency

Fluency can be defined as the ability of students to speak fluently and accurately in communication. Fluency in speaking is the aim of many language learners. Signs of fluency include a reasonably fast speed of speaking and only a small number of pauses and “ums” or “ers”.

4.      HOW CAN YOU ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO SPEAK?

Teacher just as a facilitator and motivator in the class. The teacher have to manage the situation in the class that can make the students easy to understand, and also make the students want to speak loudly and clearly in speaking class. There are some effort which can encourage students to speak out:

A.    Positive Reinforcement

As a teacher, you should focus on your students successful attempts to use English. If students speak out loudly and clearly, but make a mistake, praise them just for speaking out or for pronouncing it well. As students improve, you can focus on the most outstanding successes. Whatever you encourage, students will continue to do. On the other hand, if you do not encourage them, they will likely become passive in class.

B.     Clear Goals and Instructions

Make sure to include goals and instructions in your lesson plan. That way you will be sure to remember to do them, and if you do have any problems, you will easily see how to fix them in future lessons.

Students need to know ‘why’ an activity is being done. Without understanding the reasons why they have to learn, many students think an activity is not important and give up or practice half-heartedly.

Students need to know exactly ‘how’ an activity is done, otherwise they will be out of control when the activity starts. To make it clear, write the instructions on the blackboard or overhead projector. Model the activity with one of your best students so everyone can see what they need to do.

C.     The Element of Surprise

Students usually know exactly what will happen in class and answer questions mechanically. By adding surprises to your lessons, students will be forced to think about meaning and will pay more careful attention. You might ask students about their families, then ask if they are married, or if they can drive a car. Students who are answering without thinking will say "yes" automatically. In such cases, their classmates will usually laugh at their mistake, and they will realize the importance of paying attention.  Saying anything strange will improve the class atmosphere. Whenever you have a list of questions or a lot of language to cover, add something funny or strange at the end of the lesson.

D.     Friendly Competition

Competition automatically grabs students' attention. The easiest way to have friendly competition is to divide the class into two teams and play some kind of game. Competition can be used on an individual level as well, by giving points to students for their work. Make sure all students have a chance to succeed at getting some points so that nobody feels bad. You can give points for any written work such as dictations or mini-quizzes. Students enjoy seeing their progress over time, keeping them motivated in the long term.

5.      CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL SPEAKING  ACTIVITIES

Sometimes spoken language is easy to perform, but in some cases it is difficult (Brown, 2001: 270). In order that they can carry out the successful speaking, they have to fulfil some characteristics of successful speaking activity. There are some characteristics of successful speaking activity such as:

a)      Motivation is high.

Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or they want to contribute to achieve a task objective.

b)     Learners talk a lot.

As much as possible of the period of time allocated to the activity is in fact occupied by learners talk. This may be obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses.

c)      Participant is even.

Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talk active participants. All get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed.

d)     Language is of an acceptable level.

 Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easy comprehensible to each other and of acceptable level of language accuracy. If the learners do not have speaking skill, do not understand the English words that are said by the speaker, do not acknowledge the language, they cannot grasp meaning of what the speaker mean. In that condition, they cannot be said successful in learning English, because they do not have a meaningful interaction of English conversation.

6.      SPEAKING EXERCISES

Speaking exercises aimed to measure the ability of students to learn speaking, whether the students are able to convey what's on their mind, and also spoke well and true. There are some speaking exercises such as:

a.      Story Telling

Story telling is an interactive art performance in which a story teller tries to deliver a message or moral value to the audiences in entertaining way involving their ability to present and communicate the images of the story through necessary language, vocal character, and body language naturally and in colourful ways creatively.

b.      Retelling Story

Retelling is the act of performing the summarized plot of the story in which we try to tell the story in different way without changing the idea.

c.       Speech

Speech which is known as public speaking, it is a formal talk that someone delivers to audience or a group of people.

d.      Conversation

Conversation is the way of speaking to exchange of statements, observations, opinions, or ideas in pair or group.

e.       Debate

Debate is an activity which might be use to develop your communicative skills. In debate will provide you with knowledge of delivering and organizing effective arguments, persuading and entertaining audience and also using your voice and gesture to convince an adjudicator that your arguments reasonable than your opposition.

7.      MENTION AND EXPLAIN SOME TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING SPEAKING

There are some technique in teaching English:

a)      Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the media in teaching speaking. It helps the students practice in speech, pronunciation, intonation, stress. Dialogue also increase students’ vocabulary. Dialogues is two sides communication, it means we just not have to express something but we should have to understand what another peoples said (Podo and Sulaiman,1995: 25).

b)      Discussion

Fauziati (2002:134) states that the main aim of group discussion is to improve fluency, grammar in probably best allowed to function as a naturally communicative context. The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups. Here the teacher can form groups of students and each group works on their topic for a given time period, and present their opinions to the class.

c)      Interviews

Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized. After doing interviews, each student can present the result to the class.

d)     Role Play and Simulation

Role play has appeal for students because it allows the students to be creative and to put themselves in another person’s place for a while (Richard, 2003: 222). While simulation is very similar to role-play but here students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment. For instance, if a student is acting as a singer, he or she can bring a microphone to sing.

e)      Prepared Talks

A popular kind of activity is the prepared talk where a student makes a presentation on a topic. Such talks are not designed for informal spontaneous conversation; because they are prepared, they are more ‘writing-like’ than spoken orally. However, if possible, students should speak from notes rather than from a script (Harmer, 2001: 274).

f)       Reporting

In class, the students are asked to report what they find as the most interesting news. Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives before class.