CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents background of the study, statement of the problem,

significance of the study, scope or limitation of the study, and definition of key

terms.

A. Background of the Research

Studying in language involves speaking, reading, writing and listening. One

of the skills is speaking. Speaking is the delivery one’s ideas through the mouth. To

speak, he/she creates sounds using many parts of body, including the lungs, vocal

tract, vocal chords , tongue, teeth and lips. The importance of speaking skills, is

therefore enormous for the learners of any language.

In order to master speaking students must be able to understand some

aspects of speaking. According to Nunan (2003:54) there are some aspects that

affect the learners’ ability in speaking, those are grammar, vocabulary, and

pronunciation. It means that to master the speaking skill, they must be able to

understand the grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Cook (2008 : 18) states

that grammar is pattern and regularities that used to convey meaning. It means that

grammar is rules that explain how words are used in language. Next, pronunciation

is the way to make the sound of words. Speakers of different languages tend to

develop different muscles of the mouth for pronunciation, this makes difficult to

pronounce foreign language. As stated by Hadfield (2008 : 58) the learners do not

have to pronounce English perfectly, just well enough for other people to

understand them. Last, vocabulary is a set of words that

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conveys meanings. Vocabulary is the central to English language because without

sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their own ideas. It

can be concluded that vocabulary have an important role in speaking and without

sufficient vocabulary the students cannot communicate well.

In learning speaking there are many problems faced by the students. The first

problem is the environment does not support the students to speak English frequently.

The environment here means the people outside the classroom. The people outside the

classroom may think that the students just want to show off when they speak English

in daily conversation. This makes the students lost their self-confidence to improve

their speaking, it makes the students unable to communicate in English fluently outside

the class. The second problem is the students cannot develop the ideas to speak. It is

hard for them to get into the conversation and they are afraid to make mistakes while

they are talking. In conclusion, with many problems in learning speaking students

looking for a way how to solve the problem by applying the learning strategies.

In order to master speaking skill students use learning strategies. Learning

strategies are very important in learning English. O’malley and Chamot (1990 : 1) state

that learning strategies are special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help

them comprehend, learn, or retain new information.

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In addition, Brown (2003: 132) admits, “Strategies are those specific “attacks” that

make on given problem, and that vary considerably within each individual. They

are the moment-by-moment techniques that employed to solve “problems” posed

by second language input and output”.

In line with that based on Oxford (1990:17):

“There are two kinds of learning strategies; direct strategies which are
memory strategies, cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, and
indirect strategies which are metacognitive strategies, affective strategies,
and social strategies. The direct strategies; memory strategies and cognitive
strategies are helpful for the students.”

From the statements above it can be concluded that learning strategies are ways to

solve problems to get into the target language applied by the student. Language

learning strategies is a term referring to the processes and actions that are

consciously deployed by language learners to help them to learn or use a language

more effectively. Moreover, it helps determine how well students learn a second or

foreign language.

There are same previous studies which are relevant to the study. First, a

research by Andini (2015) entitled “Strategies of Learning Speaking Employed by

an Eleventh Grade Student” found out that the strategies in learning speaking were

used by the student were direct and indirect Strategies. Second study was done by

Darwanto entitled “Strategies for Developing Speaking Skill Used by Students of

English Education Department : Case Study” He concluded that the student applied

the strategies in Meta-cognitive that refer to the student’s planning for learning,

cognitive when more limited to the specific learning tasks, and Socio-affective refer

to the activities that improve their speaking ability. Another study was done by
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Azizah and Nurhajati (2016) entitled “Learning Strategies in Speaking Skill applied

by a Student in Second Grade of SMK Pelita Nusantara Kediri” They classified

that the student applied direct and direct strategies.

From the explanation above, the researcher wants to find out about the

strategies of learning speaking applied by 2nd grade student of UN PGRI Kediri

Academic year 2016/2017. Based on the observation in speaking class not all of the

students in 2nd grade are active in speaking class. In this research, the researcher

chooses one student who has good ability in speaking. The student is able to answer

the teacher’s question fluently in a good way and also able to do the exercises like

present the material in front of the class. The student has good capability in the way

she pronounces the words also the student has a lot of vocabulary in English. The

researcher tried to get which learning strategies were applied by the student in the

classroom and the conducted the research about what strategies are used by the

student in learning speaking.

B. Scope of the Problem.

In this research, the researcher focused on the strategies of learning speaking

and how does the 2nd grade student of English Department of Nusantara PGRI

Kediri applied the strategies in learning speaking. The goal in Speaking for Formal

Communication 1 is to develop student’s ability to speak English in formal situation

transactional and interpersonal. The student who has been observed has a good

capability in speaking, especially on the following aspects: grammar,

pronunciation, and fluency. She is able to answer the teacher’s question fluently in
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a good way and also able to present the material in front of the class. It makes her

looks very special than other students in the class. The researcher wants to know

the student’s learning strategies in speaking, before the performance in the class for

the Speaking for Formal Situation. To gather the information the researcher

observed the student’s behavior before and during the teaching and learning process

in the classroom. She gathered data by observation and interview.

C. Research Question

Based on the background and the limitation of the problem,research questions

of the study as the following.

1. What are the strategies in learning speaking employed by the 2nd grade student

of UN PGRI Kediri?

2. How does the student of UN PGRI Kediri apply the learning strategies in

learning speaking?

D. Purpose of the Research

Based on the research problems above, the purposes of the study are:

1. To Identify the learning strategies in speaking applied by the 2nd grade student of

English Department of Nusantara PGRI Kediri academic year 2016/2017.

2. To describe how the student of second grade of university applies the learning

strategies in speaking skill.

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E. Significance of the Research

The researcher expects that this study gives advantages to readers and other

writers.

1. For readers

By reading this research, the readers are expected to take advantages from this

research, they can use this research as a reference to develop the learning strategies

use in learning speaking.

2. For other writers

This research are expected can be used as a reference for other writers in the

strategies of learning speaking.

E. Definition of Key Terms

There are two key terms that come up in this study, the first is Learning

Speaking and the second is Learning strategies. A brief review of the definition of

the terms is will be presented as follow:

1. Speaking

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves

producing and receiving and processing information.

2. Learning Strategies

Learning strategies can be defined as thoughts and actions chosen by language

learners to improve their progress in developing second language skills.