English Corner SMK Negeri 4 Makassar

A. Title

“The Application of Simulation and Role-play as the Communicative Activities in Improving the Students’ Speaking Skills at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar”

B. Background

In teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), the English teachers are required to apply the effective teaching techniques that have more progressive and dynamic approaches in teaching and learning process. Johnson (1997) stated that learning a language is like learning how to ride a bicycle, to play tennis or to play a musical instrument. This statement indicates that the English teachers need the appropriate teaching techniques in presenting the teaching materials; these techniques also help the English teachers in achieving the goals set or objectives for language teaching programs that have been stated in the lesson plans.

As we know that in general, the objective of English teaching programs is to equip students with the four basic skills; those are listening, speaking, reading and writing. In Indonesia, English is learned as a foreign language with the objectives to achieve “working knowledge of English”, namely: ability to read effectively, ability to understand spoken English, ability to write, and ability to speak (Manda, 2004).

Among those skills that have been mentioned above, speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills (Bailey and Savage,1994). In many contexts, speaking also is often viewed as the skill upon which a person is judged “at face value”. In others words, people may often form judgments about our language competence from our speaking rather than from any of the other language skills.

Richard (2008) stated that a large percentage of the world’s 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.

In dealing with English teaching and learning orientation in vocational school or SMK, where the English language teaching process is demanded to teach communicatively and functionally, and the English teachers are hoped to make the students possess communicative skills in English as a foreign language. The students are required possessing English competencies which are relevant to the job opportunities both in Indonesia and global setting. The students learn English through the process of communicating in it, and that communication must be designed as the meaningful contexts and functionally situation (Dikmenjur, 2007).

The activities involved in teaching and learning process in vocational school or SMK are hoped to facilitate the students’ needs in possessing the English communicative skills, particularly in speaking to access the world of work. This target has been drawn by the government in the main pillars of Indonesia’s national educational system, and one of those main pillars is improvement in quality, relevance, and competitiveness.

Also, the government’s program, in this respect the Department of National Education has conducted many important programs for vocational school or SMK, so the SMK graduates are prepared who are Ready for Work, Smart and Competitive.

Ready for Work means SMK graduates have been provided working skills and capabilities in their respective fields; Smart means the SMK graduates are being smart is not only in intellectual, but also in spiritual, emotional, social, and kinesthetic terms; Competitive means the SMK graduates being competitive in spirit, a desire to be an agent of change, so they can win the tight competition both local and global opportunities right now (Dikmenjur, 2007).

That is why, the English teachers at vocational school or SMK are demanded to find out the more progressive, dynamic, practical and link-match teaching techniques in enhancing the students’ English competencies, particularly the students speaking skills. We cannot deny that the students’ speaking skills contribute to the students’ personal development, career advancement, and be competing in the global setting as drawn in the government‘s program for vocational school or SMK.

Richards and Renandya (2002) point out the principles of communicative teaching activities as follows: make real communication the focus of language learning, provides opportunities for students to experiment and try out what they know, be tolerant of learners’ errors as they indicate that the learners are building up their communicative competence, provides opportunities for learners both accuracy and fluency, link the other skill that usually occurred together in the real work.

Furthermore, Harmer (2005) points out the characteristics of communicative activities as follows: a desire to communicate, a communicative purpose, content not form, variety of language, no teacher intervention, and no materials control.

Based on the principles and characteristics of communicative activities that has been mentioned above, by applying the communicative activities in ELT classroom, teaching communicatively and functionally in getting the link-match between the teaching activities in the classroom and the students’ needs in the world of work can be fulfilled, because the teaching and learning process are designed communicatively in meaningful contexts and functionally situation.

In applying those principles above, some techniques and activities are required. Instead, those activities require students to negotiate meaning and to interact meaningfully in the real situation. Richards and Sandy in Richards (2008) stated that communicative practice refers to activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context is the focus, where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally predictable.

Furthermore, Harmer (2005) drawn that one of communicative activities in English language teaching (ELT) is simulation and role-play. By applying simulation and role-plays 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.

Lado (1988) stated that a good functional technique for practicing English is to pose specific communication problems for the learners to perform specific roles to solve the problem by carrying out simulation and role-play. Many students derive great benefit from simulation and role-play. Students “simulate” a real life encounter (such as a business meeting, an encounter in an aero plane cabin, an interview or other business activities) as if they were doing so in the real world. Simulation and role-play can be used to encourage general oral fluency, or to train students for specific situations especially where they are studying English for Specific Purpose (ESP).

Simulation and role-play used in ELT classroom, more specific in speaking class are aimed to help the SMK’s students develop and sharpen their English speaking skills, to stimulate their interest and curiosity, particularly to train students directly how to use English in the real situation, in getting link and match purposes between the vocational school and the world work, so the SMK graduates can compete in the global opportunities.

By using simulation and role-play in ESL classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language. In brief, simulation and role-play can facilitate the students of SMK in creating a classroom environment where they have real-life communication and meaningful tasks that promote their English speaking skills.

Simulation and role-play techniques are hoped as the alternative solution in improving the students’ score in TOEIC test. TOEIC test as the test of English for international communication issued by Educational Testing Service (ETS) where this test is aimed to measure the English language skills of nonnative speakers of English in the field of business and commonly this test also used by foreign companies in recruiting their employees (Lougheed, 2007).

Since 2007, SMK Negeri 4 Makassar has been becoming of one of SMK or vocational school in Indonesia that follows the SMK Goes International program where all the students at the eleven grade will get the TOEIC test directed by Direktorat Pembinaan Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan and Education Testing Service (ETS) Jakarta.

The result of the students’ TOEIC score of SMK Negeri 4 Makassar, academic year 2007 / 2008 shown in the following table:

Table 1. TOEIC score report

Test Date	February 24, 2008
Place of test	SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar
Number of examinees	338 students
Lowest score	45
Highest score	655
Mean score	204

Then, if the mean score of the students’ TOEIC score converted into the TOEIC test score interpretation, the students’ English skills are at Novice level, the lowest level of TOEIC test interpretation (ETS, 2006).

Besides the fact above, there are some inputs also from industries where the students’ skills in English are needed to be improved, particularly in speaking. In fact, some students confused and they couldn’t do anything when they had to give services for foreigner customers at the place where they did the job training program.

Based on the researcher’s observations, he finds also that the students of SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar still lack in speaking, particularly the students at Tourism department. The students need a lot of practice for speaking by carrying out the conversation into the real situation. By this, it can help the students to comprehend easily the contexts and the function of conversation. They also will be easily to adjust their knowledge to the situation that they will face in their job training program later.

Seeing the facts above, the researcher concludes that simulation and role-play as one of the communicative activities become the alternative teaching techniques for teaching speaking at vocational school or SMK, particularly for Tourism students at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar. Simulation and role-play are the good way of bringing situations from real life that commonly occurred in the students’ activities into the classroom.

As we know that the tourism students are hoped to work in tourism sectors who will be involved with people in many situations and many context where English will dominate their conversation. They will get in touch with various people from many countries; they also are hoped as the pioneer in giving information and best services to tourists who visit Indonesia, particularly in South Sulawesi.

C. Problem Statements

Based on the background above, the researcher formulates research questions as follows:

1. To what extent can simulation and role-play improve the English speaking skills of the eleven grade students of Tourism department at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar?

2. Are the eleven grade students of Tourism department at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar interested in speaking English by using simulation and role-play?

D. Objectives of the Research

Referring to the problem statements above, the objectives of this research are as follows:

1. To find out how far the use of simulation and role-play improve the students’ speaking skills at the eleven grade students of Tourism department at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar.

2. To find out whether or not the eleven grade students of Tourism department at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar are interested in speaking English by using simulation and role-play.

E. Significance of the Research

The results of the research are generally expected 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 or vocational school to develop their speaking class activities, so their activities become more effectively, communicatively and functionally;

3. the source of information for teachers or other researchers who want to have further study on speaking activities.

F. Scope of the Research

The scope of the research is limited to the teaching of Speaking and Understanding English at Basic Operational Level at the eleven grade students of Tourism department at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar by using simulation and role-play technique.

Then, the speaking materials that will be presented in this research consist of five topics as follows:

1. Asking for tourist information;

2. Giving correct greetings, offering assistance and recording the caller’s details;

3. Giving explanation of simple procedures;

4. Describing products to the customer;

5. Promoting the tours.

G. Review of Related Literature

This part deals with the previous related studies, theories or concept related to the thesis’ topic, resume, and conceptual framework. The main points of the review reveal the application of simulation and role-play as the communicative activities in improving the students’ speaking skills and the students’ interest. Simulation and role-play as the teaching technique will be used in improving both the students’ speaking skills and their interest in speaking English.

1. Some previous related findings research for speaking skills

Many researchers have reported the alternatives teaching techniques to make the teaching and learning process more effective to improve the students’ speaking skills and their interest in speaking English. Some of the researchers’ findings are cited concisely below:

Sasmedi (2004) found that the third special class of SMU BPG Ujung Pandang in 2003 / 2004 academic year was interested in speaking English by using the students’ own pictures through pair work; also there was the improvement of the students’ speaking achievement.

Soba (2005) found that Guided Dialog could make the third year of SMP Negeri 9 Makassar, in academic year 2004-2005 interested in learning speaking skill and this technique could build the students’ speaking performance.

Karim (2007) found that problem solving technique was effective in encouraging the second grade of Natural Science Two of SMU. Negeri 1 Liliriaja Soppeng to speak English in the classroom.

Andi Yulianah (2008) found that the students’ speaking skills of eleventh grade of science program at SMAN 1 Lappariaja Kab. Bone, in academic year 2007-2008 improved and they were interested in speaking by using show and tell technique.

Based on the research findings above, the researcher concludes that in improving the students’ speaking skills, particularly for SMK students, the English teachers have to find out the appropriate teaching techniques in presenting the teaching materials in the classroom.

Simulation and role-play as the communicative activities are believed as the solution to break some difficulties in teaching speaking at vocational school or SMK, particularly for Tourism department. By applying simulation and role-play as teaching technique, the classroom will be designed communicatively and functionally based on the students’ needs.

Simulation and role-play are the way of bringing situations from real life into the classroom. The students will perform some class activities which give them opportunities to practice the actual roles they may need outside the classroom, the activities they may find in the world of work or in their job training program at industries, particularly for students at Tourism department where they will get involved with English environments.

2. Theories or concepts of speaking

a. What is speaking?

In language teaching, we often talk about the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) in terms of their direction. Language generated by the learners (in either speech or writing) is considered productive, and language directed at the learners (in reading or listening) is known as receptive language (Savignon, 1991).

Thus, speaking is the productive skill and very important part of second language learning. The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the students in school and success later in every phase of their life.

Some definitions of speaking have been formulated by many experts. As Clark and Clark (1977) stated that speaking is fundamentally an instrument act. Speakers talk in order to have some effect on their listeners. They assert things to change their state of knowledge. They ask them questions to get them to provide information. They request thing to get them to do thing for them.

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Florez in Bailey, 2005).

Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts (Chaney in Kayi, 2006).

Furthermore, Fulcher (2003) states that speaking is the verbal use of language to communicate with others. The purposes for which we wish to communicate with others are so large that they are innumerable.

b. Principles of teaching speaking

Brown (2001) classifies the principles for designing speaking techniques as follows:

1) Use techniques that cover the spectrum of learner needs, from language-based focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency

In our current zeal for interactive language teaching, we can easily slip into a pattern of providing zesty content-based, interactive activities that don’t capitalize on grammatical pointers or pronunciation tips. When we do a jigsaw group technique, role-play, game, or discuss solutions to the environmental crisis, make sure that the tasks include techniques designed to help students to perceive and use the building blocks of language.

At the same time, don’t bore the students to death with lifeless, repetition drills. As noted above, make any drilling we do as meaningful as possible.

2) Provide intrinsically motivating techniques

Try at all times to appeal to students’ ultimate goals and interests, to their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving competence and autonomy, for “being all that they can be.” Even in those techniques that don’t send students into ecstasy, help them to see how the activity will benefit them. Often students don’t know why we ask them to do certain things; it usually pays to tell them.

3) Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts

It is not easy to keep coming up with meaningful interaction. We all succumb to the temptation to do, say, disconnected little grammar exercises where we go around the room calling on students one by one to pick the right answer. It takes energy and creativity to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction, but with the help of a storehouse of teacher resource material it can be done.

4) Provide appropriate feedback and correction

In most EFL situations, students are totally dependent on the teacher for useful linguistic feedback. In ESL situation, they may get such feedback “out there” beyond the classroom, but even then you are in position to be of great benefit. It is important that you take advantage of your knowledge of English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate for the moment.

5) Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening

Many interactive techniques that involve speaking will also of course include listening. Don’t lose out on opportunities to integrate these two skills. As you are perhaps focusing on speaking goals, listening goals may naturally coincide, and the two skills can reinforce each other. Skills in producing language are often initiated through comprehension.

6) Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication

A good deal of typical classroom interaction is characterized by teacher initiation of language. We ask question, give direction, and provide information, and students have been conditioned only to “speak when spoken to.” Part of oral communication competence is the ability to initiate conversations, to nominate topics, to ask question, to control conversations, and to change the subject. As you design and use speaking techniques, ask yourself if you have allowed students to initiate language.

7) Encourage the development of speaking strategies

The concept of strategic competence is one that few beginning language students are aware of. They simply have not thought about developing their own personal strategies for accomplishing oral communicative purposes. The speaking class can be done in which students become aware of, and have a chance to practice, such as strategies as: asking for clarification, asking someone to repeat something, using fillers, using conversation maintenance cues, etc.

Moreover, Bailey (2005) draws the principles for teaching speaking as follows:

a) Provide something for learners to talk about. One key principle in teaching speaking is that teachers should provide something for learners to talk about. This doesn’t mean that only teachers can nominate topic. Teacher should be open to those topics that the learners want talk about, and incorporate them into lessons whenever possible. Here, teachers are only as the facilitator and they have to give more chances to students for practicing.

b) Create opportunities for students to interact by using group work or pair work. Sometimes the students at the lower levels can be anxious about speaking out in class. One way to overcome their reticence and increase their opportunities to speak is to use pair work and group work. By using group work or pair work, the anxieties of students can be minimized and their interest will be aroused automatically.

c) Manipulate physical arrangements to promote speaking practice. Changing the physical environment can encourage speaking activities, partly because it partially alters the power structure of the traditional English classroom. The structure of classroom and also the arrangement of students’ desks will influence the students’ interest and encourage them for practicing their speaking activities.

c. Types of classroom speaking performance

Brown (2001) has drawn six categories apply to the kinds of oral production that students are expected to carry out in the classroom, those are:

1) Imitative

A very limited portion of classroom speaking time may legitimately be spent generating “human tape recorder” speech where learners practice an intonation contour or try to pinpoint a certain vowel sound. Imitation of this kind is carried out not for the purpose of meaningful interaction, but for focusing on some particular element of language form.

2) Intensive

Intensive speaking goes one step beyond imitative to include any speaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language. Intensive speaking can be self-initiated or it can even form part of some pair work activity, where learners are “going over” certain forms of language.

3) Responsive

A good deal of student speech in the classroom is responsive. It is a short reply to teacher or student-initiated questions or comments. The replies are usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogues. Such speech can be meaningful and authentic.

4) Transactional dialogue

Transactional dialogue carries out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information. It is an extended form of responsive language. Conversation may have more of a negotiate nature to them than does responsive speech.

5) Interpersonal dialogue

Interpersonal dialogue is one form of conversation aimed to maintain social relationships than for the transmission of facts and information. These conversations are a little trickier for learners because they can involve some or all of the following factors: a casual register, colloquial language, emotional charge language, slang, ellipsis, sarcasm, and a covert “agenda”. Learners would need to learn how such features as the relationship between interlocutors, casual style, and sarcasm are coded linguistically in this conversation.

6) Extensive (monologue)

Students at intermediate to advanced levels are called on to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, or perhaps shorts speeches. Here, the register is more formal and deliberate. The monologues can be planned or impromptu.

d. The components of speaking skills

There are three components of speaking. Those components are:

1) Accuracy

If a student speaks accurately, he or she is capable of constructing sentences and longer stretches of language that follows acceptable rules of usage.

Parrot (2002) describes accuracy is the ability of learners in using appropriate grammar, vocabularies and phonology in their speaking. In general, accuracy related to the way of students in mastering word order and omission, pronouns and relative clauses, tenses, prepositions, produces correct sentences in pronunciation, and other grammar rules that commonly occurred when they are speaking among them, so their speaking can be understood by others.

2) Fluency

One of the goals of teaching speaking is to develop fluency in language use. Fluency is natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations in his or her communicative competence.

Richards, Platt, and Weber (1985) state that fluency is the features which give speech the qualities of being natural and normal, including native-like use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress, rate of speaking, and use of interjections and interruptions.

In second and foreign language teaching, they further explain that fluency describes a level of proficiency in communication, which includes:

a) The ability to produce written and or spoken language with easy.

b) The ability to speak with a good but not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary, and grammar.

c) The ability to communicate ideas effectively.

d) The ability to produce continuous speech without causing comprehension difficulties or a breakdown of communication.

Fluency can be developed by creating classroom activities in which students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct misunderstandings and work to avoid communication breakdowns.

3) Comprehensibility

Comprehensibility is the process of understanding of the utterances sent by the speaker done by the listener. Comprehensibility in speaking means that the people can understand what we say and we can understand what they say.

Harmer (2005) says that if there are two people want to make communication to each other, they have to be speaking because they have different information. If there is a ‘gap’ between them, it is not a good communication if the people still confuse with what we say.

Clark and Clark (1977) states that comprehensibility has two common senses. In its narrow sense, it denotes the building of meaning from sounds. Comprehension in broader sense denotes the interpretation the meaning and utilizes the speech act conveyed.

3. Communicative Activities in English Language Teaching (ELT)

a. Definitions and characteristics of communicative activities

Richards (2008) stated that communicative activities in language teaching refers to activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context is the focus, where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally predictable.

Harmer (1991) defines communicative activities as the activities that give the students both the desire to communicate and a purpose which involves them in a varied use of language. Communicative activities mean getting students to actually do things with language, and it is the “doing” that should form the main focus of such sessions.

Harmer (2005) also points out six characteristics for communicative activities as follows:

1) A desire to communicate;

2) A communicative purpose;

3) Content not form;

4) Variety of language;

5) No teacher intervention;

6) No materials control.

Furthermore, Richard and Rodger in McDonough and Shaw (2003) offer the following four characteristics of communicative activities of as follows:

1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.

2. The primary function of language is for interaction and communication.

3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.

4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.

b. The purposes of communicative activities

According to Littlewood (1988), there are four main purposes of communicative activities, those are:

1) They provide “whole-task practice”

In considering how people learn to carry out various kinds of skilled performance, it is often useful to distinguish between training in the part-skills and practice in the total skill or whole-task practice. In foreign language learning, our means for providing learners with whole-task practice in the classroom is through various kind of communicative activity, structured in order to suit the learners’ level of ability.

2) They improve motivation

The learners’ ultimate objective is to take part in communication with others. Their motivation to learn is more likely to be sustained if they can see how their classroom learning is related to this objective and helps them to achieve it with increasing success.

3) They allow natural learning

Language learning takes place inside the learner and, as teachers know to their frequent frustration, many aspects of it are beyond their pedagogical control. It is likely in fact that many aspects of language learning can take place only through natural processes, which operate when a person is involved in using the language for communication. If this is so, communicative activity is an important part of the total learning process.

4) They can create a context which supports learning

Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationships to develop among learners and between learners and teachers. These relationships can help to “humanize” the classroom and to create an environment that supports the individual in his efforts to learn.

c. Type of oral communicative activities

Harmer (2005) designed communicative activities to provoke oral communication or speaking as follows:

1) Reaching a consensus;

2) Discussion;

3) Relaying instructions;

4) Communication games;

5) Problem solving;

6) Simulation and role-play.

McDonough and Shaw (2003) stated that some types of communicative activities to promote speaking skills as follows:

1) Communication games;

2) Problem solving;

3) Simulation and role-play.

Paulstone (1976) stated that there are four basic types of communicative activities for developing the students’ communicative competence as follows:

1) Social formulas and dialogues;

2) Community-oriented tasks;

3) Problem solving activities;

4) Simulation and role-play.

Applebaum (2007) designed communicative activities in promoting the sudents’ speaking skill as follows:

1) Simulation and role-play;

2) Language games;

3) Scramble sentences.

Furthermore, Littlewood (1988) explained the type of communicative activities as follows:

1) Functional communicative activities

The principal underlying functional communicative activities is that teacher structures the situation so the learners have to overcome an information gap or solve a problem. We can devise communicative activities for the classroom which emphasize this functional aspect of communication.

Because of this emphasize on being functionally effective, success is measured primarily according to whether the students cope with the communicative demands of the immediate situation.

Some activities are categorized as the functional communicative activities are:

a) Sharing information with restricted cooperation.

b) Sharing information with unrestricted cooperation.

c) Sharing and processing information.

d) Processing information.

2) Social interaction activities

Social interaction activities add a further dimension to the functional activities. This means that students must pay greater attention to the social as well as the functional meanings that language conveys. In many cases, the activity as a purely functional activity, in which students could solve the problem, but it is also possible to ask students to simulate the social roles involved in the interaction.

The classroom is often called an artificial environment for learning and using a foreign language. In looking for ways of creating more varied forms of interaction in the classroom, teachers of foreign languages have turned increasingly to the field of simulation and role-play.

Some activities are categorized as the social interaction activities are:

a) Using the foreign language for classroom management.

b) Using the foreign language as a teaching medium.

c) Conversation or discussion sessions.

d) Simulation and role-play.

d. Simulation and role-play as the communicative activities in ELT classroom

1) Definitions of simulation and role-play

Simulations are very similar to role-plays but sometimes, a distinction is made between both of them. What makes simulations different than role-plays is that simulations are more elaborate. Harmer (2006) states that all role-plays are simulation, but not all simulation are role-plays. A simulation is a highly developed role-play, almost a mini play, that it is not scripted. The key is to structure the roles and action around a problem or series of problems.

Jones (1982) defines simulation as reality of function in a simulated and structured environment. He further states that reality of function is the key concept in simulation.

Simulation is often a problem-solving activity to which the student brings his own personality, experience and opinions (Livingstone, 1983).

Simulation can be defined as a structured set of circumstances that mirror real life and participants act as instructed (Dougill, 1987).

Paulstone (1976) states that role-play is exercise where the student is assigned a fictitious role from which he has to improvise some kind of behavior toward the other role characters in the exercise.

Livingstone (1983) sees role-play as a class activity which gives the students the opportunities to practice the language aspects of role-behavior, the actual roles they may need outside the classroom.

Role-play is a way of bringing situations from real life into the classroom (Doff, 1990).

According to Richards (2008), role-play involves a situation in which a setting, participants and a goal problem are described. Participants are to accomplish the task given, drawing on whatever language resources they can.

Bailey (2005) states that a role-play is a speaking activity in which the students take the part of other people and interact using the characteristics of those people.

2) The characteristics of simulation and role-play

Simulations are very similar to role-play where the students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of socials roles. One thing that makes simulation different than role-play is that in simulation, the activities are more elaborate. In simulations, students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment. For instance, if a student is acting as a singer, she brings a microphone to sing and so on.

Jones (1989) draws the characteristics of simulation as follows:

a) Reality of functions

This covers not only what the participants say and do, but also what they think. They must mentally accept the function the simulation requires of them. They must stop thinking of themselves as students, and avoid standing one step away from their own activities.

They must step inside the function mentally and behaviorally, and do the best they can to carry out their duties and responsibilities in the situation in which they find themselves.

b) Simulated environment

The environment must be simulated; otherwise it is not a simulation. A learner driver under instruction on the roads, or a student-teacher involved in classroom practice, or a medical probationer examining patients are not in a simulated environment.

There is real traffic, real pupils, real patients and real interaction. In order to fulfill the essential condition of being a simulated environment, there must be no contact, interaction or consequences between the participants and the world outside the classroom.

c) Structure

A simulation requires a structure. It must be a structure built around some problems, and the structure must be sufficiently explicit to preserve reality of function. The essential “facts” of the simulation must be provided, not invented, by the participants.

The cohesion of structure means that a simulation is more involved and involving than a single transactional episode, such as a shopper returning a broken teapot, or a traveler asking for the time of the next train.

In practice, a simulation can be thought of as a case study, but with the participants on the inside, having the power and responsibility to shape the event and tackle the problem.

Paulstone (1976) characterizes the format of a role-play consists of three basic parts, namely:

a) The situation

The situation sets the scene and the plot. The situation is a good place to introduce specific cultural information if that is part of the objectives of a given role-play.

b) The roles

The roles section assigns the roles, the list of characters. A role can be very simple, merely a skeleton name and status, or quite elaborate.

c) Useful expression

Useful expressions contains the linguistic information, primarily expressions, phrases, and technical vocabulary.

3) Types of simulation and role-play in ELT

Littlewood (1988) classified simulation and role-play into several types as follows:

a) Role-playing controlled through cued dialogues

Students will normally have their cues printed on separate cards. This gives the interaction some of the uncertainty and spontaneity involved in real communication. On the other hand, the cues enable them to predict a large proportion of what the other will say and, of course, to prepare the general gist of their own responses.

b) Role-playing controlled through cues and information

This kind of framework is obviously best suited to those situations where there is a natural initiator, whose cues can control the interaction. These are mostly situations where one person needs to gather information or obtain a service, for example: in a travel agency, where one student needs to find out train times and fares.

c) Role-playing controlled through situation and goals

In this type, the teachers give the students greater responsibility for creating the interaction themselves. Students are initially aware only for the overall situation and their own goals in it. They must negotiate the interaction itself as it unfolds, each partner responding spontaneously to the other’s communicative acts and strategies. This role-play is directed at the higher level of situation and the goals that students have to achieve through communication

d) Role-playing in the form of debate or discussion

The situation is a debate or discussion about a real or simulated issue. The students’ roles ensure that they have adequate shared knowledge about the issue and the different opinions or interest to defend.

e) Large scale simulation activities

This type consists of a number of interrelated components which may be long and complex. In some extended simulation exercises, gaming conventions are used in order to simulate the rewards and sanctions that motivate real-life interaction.

f) Improvisation

Improvisation is closely associated with work in the native language context, notably in drama. The starting point for an improvisation may be a simple everyday situation into which the learners are asked to project themselves.

4) Advantages and disadvantages of simulation and role-play

Advantages

Harmer (2005) suggests that simulation and role-play increase the self-confidence of hesitant students, because in role-play and simulation activities, the students will have a different role and do not have to speak for themselves, which means they do not have to take the same responsibility.

Jones (1989) draws the advantages of simulations as follows:

a) Simulation removes the teacher, who as controller, is in an ideal position to monitor the language and behavior.

b) Simulation provides realism of both action and (usually) documentation.

c) Simulation contains built-in motivation, and language which is cohesive in action, focusing on points of duty and function.

d) Simulation helps break the ice and be used for cross-cultural purposes.

e) Simulation is an excellent means of assessing language ability.

Doff (1990) describes the benefits of using role-plays in the language classroom as follows:

a) They are fun.

b) They help to prepare students for real-life communication by simulating reality in situations. In this sense, they bridge the gap between the classroom and the world outside the classroom.

c) They can be used for assessment and feedback purposes at the end of a textbook unit.

d) They can consolidate learning and allow students the opportunity to discover their own level of mastery over specific language content.

e) By simulating reality, they allow beginning students and EFL students to feel that they are really using the language for a communicative purpose.

f) They heighten students’ self-esteem and improve their ability to work cooperatively.

g) They allow students to experiment with language they have learned.

h) They allow students to express who they are, their sense of humor, and their own personal communication style.

i) They offer good listening practice.

j) They provide an opportunity for practicing the rules of social behavior and the various sociolinguistic elements of communication.

k) They engage the learner physically. This involves the learner more fully and can be an aid in language retention.

l) They can be liberating for many students who may enjoy expressing themselves through a role or a mask but may be inhibited about expressing themselves otherwise during the class.

m) They provide a context for understanding attitudes, expectations, and behaviors related to the target culture.

n) They may be used as a stimulus to discussion and problem solving.

o) They can be extensions of more controlled practice using dialogues.

Furthermore, Sam (2008) has drawn the advantages of using simulation and role-play as the teaching technique in ELT as follows:

a) Stimulates authentic conversations

Role-play and simulation activities stimulate authentic learner-to-learner conversational interaction. The activities also develop conversational competence among second language learners.

b) The fluency activities

Role-play as a fluency activity where opportunities arise for the learner to use language freely and creatively. Role-play focuses on using language as a conversational resource.

c) Suitable for consolidation

Since role-play and simulation activities are more practice/revision activities than teaching activities, they are useful and more suitable for consolidating and practicing aspects of conversational proficiency than teaching new forms.

d) Creates sensitivity and a sense of awareness

Role-play and simulation brings the outside world into the classroom. This could have affective effects in terms of social interaction and cultural awareness.

e) Increases motivation

Role-play and simulation prompts mental and bodily activity. The activities require active participation. Concentration is also often required and it is not easy for a student to stay passive for long. Situations are created for the students to use the language meaningfully and this would motivate the students towards participation. The less motivated students will be gradually drawn into the activity when they see the rest of the group having a good time.

f) A break from routine

The use of role-play and simulation activities is a break from the usual textbook teaching and the 'chalk and talk' method of the teacher. The students have opportunities to mix around and to act out different roles. The atmosphere in the classroom is less formal and this can reduce tension.

g) Prepare students for real life and unpredictability

Real life situations and communication are unpredictable. A student may learn all the correct forms of communication but may not know when to use them appropriately. Role-play and simulation provide opportunities to react to these situations and to give the students a taste of real life.

Disadvantages

Sam (2008) has drawn disadvantages of using simulation and role-play as the teaching technique in ELT as follows:

a) Activity is artificial

Role-play is supposed to provide authentic situations for students to use language, the situations sometimes created were artificial and not relevant to the needs of the students.

b) Activities are difficult to monitor

With so much activity both physical and verbal going on, it is sometimes difficult for the teacher to monitor a student's performance. There is the fear among teachers that the students are having too much fun and that no learning is taking place.

c) Causes embarrassment

In some situations, especially among adult learners, role-play and simulation activities cause a lot of embarrassment, awkwardness and very little spontaneous language use. The choice of appropriate roles for different students is thus very important.

d) Encourages incorrect forms

Since the teacher is not encouraged to correct mistakes immediately so as not to discourage students, this provides opportunities for learners to produce and practice ungrammatical and inappropriate forms.

e) Has cultural bias

These activities are more suited for learners from cultures where drama activities and learner - directed activities in teaching is common. In cultures where the teacher-dominated classroom is still the norm, the learners may not respond willingly to the activities.

f) Teachers' fear of losing control

Since the activities require the full participation of the students and minimum participation from the teacher, the teacher may fear that he may lose control of the class. Furthermore the students may get carried away and become disruptive.

g) Spontaneity is lost

Very often the students get too caught up with what to say. They hesitate to choose their words and do not interact spontaneously.

h) Timing lessons is difficult

The teacher has to spend a lot of time in preparation work especially for simulations. He is not able to predict the amount of class time that will be taken to carry out the activity since the ability of each class varies.

i) Activities may not be suitable for all levels

Role-play and simulation involve a lot of conversation and discussion. Thus it may not be very suitable for low proficiency students who do not have the necessary communicative competence to carry out the activity. These activities would be more suitable for intermediate and advanced learners.

e. Teaching speaking through simulation and role-play in ELT classroom

The same with other techniques, simulation and role-play also have some steps or teaching procedures in implementing them in ELT classroom, particularly for speaking class.

Littlewood (1988) draws some steps in applying simulation and role-play as the social interaction activities as follows:

1) The students are asked to imagine themselves in a situation which could occur outside the classroom, such as a series of business negotiation.

2) The students are asked to adopt a specific role in the situation. In some cases, they may simply have to act as themselves. In others, they may have to adopt a simulated identity.

3) The students are asked to behave as if the situation really existed, in accordance with their roles.

Furthermore, Joyce and Weil in Savage (1996) drawn a complete simulation phases as follows:

1) Overview

During the phase, we introduce pupils to the simulation. Parts to be played by individual learners are described, and assignments to these parts are made. General rules of the simulation are introduced at this time.

2) Training

This amounts to a “walk through” of processes to be followed once the simulation begins. We select several learners, assign those parts, and use them to illustrate how class members will be involved once the simulation begins.

Following this introductory information, pupils should be allowed to review their roles. If the simulation features several groups, group members should be allowed to meet to discuss their roles and to plot preliminary strategy.

3) Activity

This is when the actual simulation activity takes place. During this time, we play the roles of discussion, coach and referee. At times, students may not grasp the point of the simulation. We may find it necessary to stop the action for a moment to help pupils think about their decisions and to explain the purpose of the activity.

It is common for disputes to arise during simulation activities. Often there are situation for which the rules fail to provide a specific action guideline. When this happens, we need to intervene and make a ruling that will allow the simulation to continue.

4) Debriefing

This is a critical important part of any simulation activity. During debriefing, we lead a discussion highlighting various events that occurred during the activity. The discussion help students recall things that might have escape their notice during the fast pace of the activity itself.

Debriefing discussions sometimes focus on specific decisions made and their desirability relative to alternatives. Sometimes, debriefing concerns the design of the simulation. Often, individuals will want to critique their own performances and suggest ways they might act differently were they to do the exercise another time.

Jones (1989) particularly emphasizes the procedure of simulation should include the following steps:

1) Decide on the priority of aims – icebreakers, assessment and so on;

2) Estimate the interactive language competence of the students;

3) Search a wide area, including simulation literature;

4) If the language level is suitable, then examine the mechanics of the simulation: time, numbers, hardware, space, organization and so on;

5) If it seems suitable, then participate in it personally;

6) Consider whether it needs adapting, but bear in mind that over adaptation can kill a good simulation by removing or altering elements which help the simulation to run smoothly in practice.

Bailey (2005) suggests some steps in applying role-play in the class room as follows:

1) Make it clear that everyone will do the activities;

2) Include time for a planning phase;

3) Build in a pair-work or group-work step during the preparation phase, so that learners can interact with and benefit from others in planning their role-play together;

4) Demonstrate the activity the first time you use it so that the students will understand what is expected of them;

5) Have the students do the role-play in pairs or small groups first before having them do the role-play in front of a larger audience of their classmates;

6) Create a climate in your classroom in general where oral mistakes are seen as natural learning opportunities instead of lapses in judgment or evidence that the students are not motivated.

Aliponga (2003) suggests making role-play work in the classroom as follows:

1) Justify the use of role-play;

2) Give explicit detailed instructions;

3) Involve learners in making dialogues;

4) Model the role-play;

5) Group learners;

6) Specify the assessment criteria;

7) Avoid corrections and guide the learners.

Furthermore Joyce and Weil in Savage (1996) suggest some steps in implementing role-play as follows:

1) Enactment

Role-players act out responses. They are encouraged to be as realistic as possible. The teacher may intervene occasionally to remind learners of their roles, of the basic problem, and of issues relevant to the situation.

2) Discussion and evaluation

The teacher leads a discussion. Students who were to look for specific things are asked to speak. The teacher highlights motives and priorities of individual characters. Courses of action different from those that came out during the enactment are sometimes discussed.

3) Reenactment

When feasible, reenact the situation to give additional pupils opportunities to play roles. Such reenactments also allow for more responses to the problem to be considered.

4) Final discussion and debriefing

If there have been reenactments, this phase begins with a discussion and evaluation similar to the one that followed the initial enactment. This phase concludes with teacher summarizing major points players made during the enactments. Learners’ ideas are actively solicited at this time.

4. Interest

a. What is interest?

When talking about interest, we will think about our positive response or attitude to something we like, enjoy, and appreciate which make us having a desire to do. Attempts to define interest are numerous, and a great variety of definitions have been developed, here are only a few of them.

Interest is a feeling that accompanies or cause special attention to some objects or readiness to attend to and be stirred by certain class of object (Grove and Merriem, 1996).

Good (1959) defines interest as a subjective-objective attitude concern, or condition involving a perception or idea in attention may a combination of intellectual and consciousness may be temporary or permanent; based on native curiously, conditioned by experience. Meanwhile, Robert (1968) stated that experimentally an interest is a response of liking which is present when we are of an object we prepare to reach to or when we aware of our disposition toward the object we like.

b. Types of interest

Hansen et al. in Yunairah (2003) classified interest into four types; they are expressed interest, inventoried interest, tested interest, and manifest interest.

1) Expressed interest

Expressed interest is a type interest, which is defined as verbal expression of liking or disliking something related to maturity and experience.

2) Inventoried interest

Inventoried interests are those determined by interest checklist. Someone’s interest is measured by asking him/her to answer a number of questions whether or not he/she likes or dislikes certain activities or situation. Usually, pattern of high and how low interest normally result, therefore the observer or the test taker can begin to determine are of liking or disliking.

3) Tested interest

Measuring the knowledge of vocabulary or other information the examinee has in specific area, are ways to determine the tested interest. These measures are based on an assumption that interest is resulted in the accumulation of relevant information as well as specialization vocabulary.

4) Manifest interest

There are two factors influencing the students’ interest, as Cangara in Yunairah (2003) points out, namely internal factors and external factors. The internal factors include the students’ attitude toward the subject and their aptitude or linguistic ability, interest, and motivation in learning the subjects. The external factors include the school facilities, such as: language laboratory, radio cassette, English magazine, many kinds of English game, and many other English learning activities.

c. Factors influencing the students’ interest

According to Harmer (2005), there are two factors can affect students’ motivation as well as their interest in learning, those are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation which is caused by any number of outside factors, for examples the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward, or the possibility of future travel, etc. While intrinsic motivation, by contrast, comes from within the individual. Thus a person might be motivated by the enjoyment of the learning process itself or by a desire to make themselves feel better.

Furthermore, Harmer (2005) explains that the motivation as well as their interest in learning English can be affected and influenced by many factors. Those factors are:

1) The society the students live in

Outside any classroom there are attitudes to language learning and the English language in particular. How important is the learning of English considered to be in the society? In a school situation, for example, is the language learning part of the curriculum of high or low status?

All these views of language learning will affect the students’ interest to the language being studied, and the nature and strength of their interest will, in its turn, have a profound effect on the degree of motivation the student brings to class and whether or not that motivation continues.

2) Significant others

Apart from the culture of the world around students, their interest to language learning will be greatly affected by the influence of people who are close to them.

The interest of a student’s peer is also crucial. If they are critical of the subject or activity, the student’s own motivation may suffer. If they are enthusiastic learners, however, they may take the student along with them.

3) The teachers

Clearly a major factor in the continuance of a student’s motivation is the teacher.

4) The method

It is vital that both teacher and students have some confidence in the way teaching and learning take place. The method by which students are taught must have some effect on their motivation. If they find it deadly boring, they will probably become de-motivated, whereas if they have confidence in the method they will find it motivating. And the student’s confidence in the method is largely in the hands of the most important factor affecting intrinsic motivation.

H. Resume

After having explanation and theories from some experts related to the areas of research, the researcher simplifies that:

1. Speaking is being viewed as the most demanding of the four skills, and many people often form judgments about our language competencies from our speaking rather than from any of the other language skills.

2. In vocational school or SMK, the orientation of teaching and learning process must be communicative and functional, particularly in teaching speaking. The students are hoped to possess speaking skill which relevant to the activities in their job training and the job opportunities after graduated.

3. Simulation and role-play as one of communicative activities that allow students to perform how to use English in the real situation. This technique also become a bridge for students in getting link and match purposes between the vocational school and the world work, so the SMK graduates can compete in the global setting.

4. Simulation and role-play also used in speaking class are applied to improve the students’ interest.

5. Interest is as one aspect that enables students to be active in speaking English. To be hoped, through simulation and role-play, the students’ interest improve because they believe that all the situations that are simulated and role- played in the classroom will be match with the situation when they get the job training or the world of work after graduated.

I. Conceptual Framework

In communicative activities, the students’ activities are designed as much as possible for communicative purposes. Simulation and role-play as the communicative teaching techniques are hoped to improve the students’ speaking skills and their interest.

The conceptual framework underlying this research is shown in the following figure 1.

Materials of Speaking

Simulation and

Role-play Technique

Speaking Development

Student’s achievement Students’ interest

J. Hypothesis

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 and role-play technique.

2. The students are interested to speak English through simulation and role-play technique.

K. Research Method

This part presents the research design, variables and their operational definitions, population and sample, research instrument and procedures of collecting data, and technique of data analysis.

1. Research design

This research related to the application of simulation and role-play technique as the communicative activities in improving the students’ speaking skills at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar.

In this research, the researcher will use the pre-experimental method by using the one group pre-test and post-test design in finding out the improvement of students’ achievement in speaking English and their interest taught through simulation and role-play technique.

The treatment will be given between pre-test (T1) and post-test (T2). The pre-test will be administered to find out whether the simulation and role-play technique can improve the students’ speaking skills. The research design can be seen in figure 2 as follows:

Pre-test Treatment Post-test

(T1) (X) (T2)

Figure 2: The design of the research

The legend:

T1 = The result of the students’ pre-test on speaking.

X = The treatment by using simulation and role-play.

T2 = The result of the students’ post test on speaking.

2. Research variables and their operational definitions

a. Research variables

This research consists of two variables; those are dependent variable and independent variable. Those variables are defined as follows:

1) The independent variables of this research are simulation and role-play as the teaching techniques used to facilitate the students to speak English in EFL classroom.

2) The dependent variables of this research are the students’ speaking skills and their interest in speaking toward the application of simulation and role-play as the teaching technique in EFL classroom.

b. Operational definition of variables

The variables of the research are described in the following definition:

1. 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.

2. Role-play is the part of simulation where the students carry out some roles of speaking activities through simple action.

3. Some conversations will be carried out by using transactional dialogues in conveying and exchanging specific information among the students. Then, through their conversations, the students’ speaking skills will be measured cover the accuracy, the fluency and the comprehensibility of their speaking. The speaking accuracy covers the acceptable pronunciation, correct grammar, and appropriate word choices; the speaking fluency is the ability of students speak meaningfully the wide range of expression with the smooth flow of speech and with natural pause without great an effort; comprehensibility in speaking means that the people can understand what we say and we can understand what they say.

4. The students’ interest is the aspect that enables students to be active in speaking English. By simulating and role-playing the teaching materials, the students’ interest are hoped to be improve, because they believe that the activities will be useful and matched with the situation when they get the job training or the world of work after graduated.

3. Population and sample

a. Population

The population of this research will be the eleven grade students of Tourism department at SMK. Negeri 4 Makassar. The number of the population will be 50 (fifty) students that belong to two classes, namely class 2 TNT 1 and 2 TNT 2.

b. Sample

In this research, the researcher will use purposive sampling technique where only one class will be taken as the sample of this research, namely class 2 TNT 2. It is caused by the students from class 2 TNT 1 will get on the job training in industry for one semester or six months. So, the total number of samples will be 25 (twenty five) students.

4. Research instruments and procedures of collecting data

a. Research instruments

In this research, the researcher will use two kinds of instruments, those are:

1) Oral test

This test will be used in measuring the students’ improvement in speaking. This test will be administered as pre-test (applied before the treatment is done) and as post-test (applied after the treatment is done).

Some questions will be given orally to the students related to the topics of element of competencies that will be simulated and role-played in speaking class, those are:

a) Asking for tourist information;

b) Giving explanation of simple procedures;

c) Initiating a formal exchange using appropriate greetings;

d) Describing products to the customers;

e) Promoting the tours;

f) Foods and beverages services;

g) Giving correct greetings and offering assistance to the caller;

h) Recording the caller’s details.

2) Questionnaire

The researcher also will use the questionnaire in investigating the students’ interest, their perception and their response toward teaching speaking by using simulation and role-play.

The questionnaire will consist of forty-two (42) questions that are divided into two (2) categories, 21 questions in positive statement forms and 21 questions in negative statement forms. Then, the students’ answers will be analyzed by using Likert scale.

b. Procedures of collecting data

The procedures of collecting data will be presented in chronological order as follows:

1) Pre-test

This test will be used in measuring the students’ base speaking skill before presenting materials by using simulation and role-play technique.

2) Treatment

The students will be given treatment by applying simulation and role-play as teaching technique in their speaking class. The treatment will be done for 8 times or 8 meetings and each meeting will be lasted in 180 minutes.

The topics that will be simulated and role-played in each meeting related to the element of competencies as follows:

a) First meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Asking for tourist information”.

b) Second meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Giving explanation of simple procedures”.

c) Third meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Initiating a formal exchange using appropriate greetings”.

d) Fourth meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Describing products to customers”.

e) Fifth meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Promoting the tours”.

f) Sixth meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Foods and beverages services”.

g) Seventh meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Giving correct greetings and offering assistance to the caller”.

h) Eight meeting

The researcher will conduct the speaking class by carrying out the topic: “Recording the caller’s details”.

3) Post-test

After doing the treatment for several meetings, the post-test will be given to the students. The result of pre-test and post-test will be calculated to determine whether or not there is the improvement of the students’ speaking skills toward the application of simulation and role-play.

4) Questionnaire

The students will be given the questionnaire after giving the post test or the last session of data collection procedures.

5. Technique of data analysis

The collected data will be analyzed in the following procedures:

a. Scoring the students’ answer of pre-test and post-test.

b. Tabulating the score of the students.

c. Classifying the students’ score.

d. Calculating the mean score using SPSS 11.5 version (Santoso, 2004).

e. Scoring the students’ speaking skills by using the following scoring criteria as follows:

Tabel 1. The scoring classification for accuracy

Classification	Score	Criteria
Excellent	6	Pronunciation is only very slightly influenced by the mother-tongue. Two or three minor grammatical and lexical errors.
Very good	5	Pronunciation is slightly influenced by the mother-tongue. A few minor grammatical and lexical errors but most utterances are correct.
Good	4	Pronunciation is still moderately influenced by the mother tongue but no serious phonological errors. A few grammatical and lexical errors but only one or two major errors causing confusion.
Average	3	Pronunciation is influenced by the mother-tongue but only a few serious phonological errors. Several grammatical and lexical errors, some of which cause confusion.
Poor	2	Pronunciation seriously influenced by the mother tongue with errors causing a breakdown in communication. Many “basic” grammatical and lexical errors.
Very poor	1	Serious pronunciation errors as well as many “basic” grammatical and lexical errors. No evidence of having mastered any of the language skills and areas practiced in the course.

Tabel 2. The scoring classification for fluency

Classification	Score	Criteria
Excellent	6	Speaks without too great an effort with a fairly wide range of expression. Searches for words occasionally but only one or two unnatural pauses.
Very good	5	Has to make an effort at time to search for words. Nevertheless, smooth delivery on the whole and only a few unnatural pauses.
Good	4	Although he has to make an effort and search for words, there are not too many unnatural pauses. Fairly smooth delivery mostly. Occasionally fragmentary but succeeds in conveying the general meaning. Fair range of expression.
Average	3	Has to make an effort for much of the time. Often has to search for the desired meaning. Rather halting delivery and fragmentary. Range of expression often limited.
Poor	2	Long pauses while he searches for the desired meaning. Frequently fragmentary and halting delivery. Almost gives up making the effort at times. Limited range of expression.
Very poor	1	Full of long and unnatural pauses. Very halting and fragmentary delivery. At times gives up making the effort. Very limited range of expression.

Table 3. The scoring classification for comprehensibility

Classification	Score	Criteria
Excellent	6	Easy to the listener to understand the speaker’s intention and general meaning. Very few interruption or classification required.
Very good	5	The speaker’s intention and general meaning are fairly clear. A few interactions by the listener for the sake of clarification are necessary.
Good	4	Most of what the speaker says is easy to follow. His attention is always clear but several interruptions are necessary to help him to convey the message or to seek clarification.
Average	3	The listener can understand a lot of what is said, but he must constantly seek clarification. Cannot understand many of the speaker’s more complex or longer sentences.
Poor	2	Only small bits (usually short sentences and phrases) can be understood and then with considerable effort by someone who is used to listening to the speaker.
Very poor	1	Hardly anything of what is said can be understood. Even when the listener makes a great effort or interrupts, the speaker is unable to clarify anything he seems to have said.

(Heaton, 1989).

Then, the band scores for accuracy, fluency and comprehensibility will be converted into the rating scale as follows:

Table 4. The band and converted scores

Bands	Result	Ranges	Scores
6	100	95 - 100	10
5	83.33	85 - 94	9
4	66.66	75 - 84	8
3	50	65 - 74	7
2	33.33	55 - 64	6
1	16.67	< 54	5

In calculating the mean score of students’ gain score between pre-test and post-test, the writer will use the following formula:

∑X

Where:

X : Mean score.

∑X : The sum of all the scores.

N : Total number of subjects.

(Gay, 1987)

Then, the students’ mean score will be classified into four levels as follows:

Table 5. The scale for speaking skill

No	Score	Category
1	81 - 100	Excellent
2	61 - 80	Good
3	41 - 60	Fair
4	20 - 40	Poor

(Depdiknas, 2006)

The data from questionnaires will be analyzed by using Likert scale as follows:

Table 6. Likert scale

Positive Statement

Negative Statement

Interval Score	Category
85 - 100	Strongly Interested
69 - 84	Interested
52 - 68	Moderate
36 - 51	Uninterested
20 - 35	Strongly Uninterested

No.	Research Activities	M o n t h s						Note
No.	Research Activities	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Jan.	Feb.	Note
1	Preparation
2	Data collection
3	Data analysis
4	Research report
5	Final seminar
6	Research report revision
7	Report presentation

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