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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter includes background of the study, problem of the study, purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of key term.

1.1    Background of The Study

Teaching Speaking often regarded as the most important of the teaching four language skill, perhaps because as Penny Ur in Chotimah (2009) says,’ people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers, of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning. Moreover, the reason why teaching speaking is important: by mastering English speaking people can join in global communication, because it is the international language for the most people and absorb information and knowledge.

In teaching speaking at Junior High School, the teachers have to pay attention about the language learners’ condition, especially their speaking. Many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language. These learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication. Burkart (1998) states that Language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge: (1) Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): Using the right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation. (2) Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required (interaction/relationship building). (3) Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants): Understanding how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason. In the communicative model of language teaching, instructors help their students develop this body of knowledge by providing authentic practice that prepares students for real-life communication situations. They help their students develop the ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable pronunciation.

Based on the observation of the class, in teaching English at the second grade of MTs Miftahul Huda Ledug Prigen-Pasuruan, the teachers teach traditionally. They let the students only memorize the vocabulary, instead of using or practicing it. Then the teachers ask the students to write down the words without asking the students to use it in the communication, yet some of the students do not know the of this language exercise. This teacher-centered technique makes the students passive in learning English.

The traditional method influences the teaching of speaking in which there are many problems appear. First, it relates to the condition of the students who are lack of vocabulary which will make them unable to say words during speaking class. Second, the the students rarely practice to use English for communication. Third, most of the students are not confident to use English to communicate in speaking class. For instance, when the teacher asks them to come forward to have a conversation with their friends, they refuse it. They are shy to perform English conversation in front of their friends. Finally, the students are interested in the material given to them.

From the problems above, the researcher tries to give solution for the teacher to implement one of teaching method. There is a method of teaching learning method which can improve students’ ability, especially in speaking, namely PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) method. A variation on audio-lingualism in British-based teaching and elsewhere, is the procedure most often referred to as PPP, which stand for Presentation, Practice and Production (Harmer:1991)

David (2008) said that the PPP approach is relatively straight forward, and structured enough to be easily understood by both students and new or emerging teachers.  It is a good place to start in terms of applying good communicative language teaching in the classroom. It is proposed considerably for the very characteristic that makes it the easiest method for 'beginner' teachers, that is, that it is far too teacher-orientated and over controlled.

In this method, Firstly the teacher presents the new word, an event which involves the presentation of pronunciation and spelling, all in context. Presentation represents the introduction to a lesson, and necessarily requires the creation of a realistic (or realistic-feeling) "situation" requiring the target language to be learned.  This can be achieved through using pictures, dialogs, imagination or actual "classroom situations".  The teacher checks to see that the students understand the nature of the situation, then builds the "concept" underlying the language to be learned using small chunks of language that the students already know.  Having understood the concept, students are then given the language "model" and angage in choral drills to learn statement, answer and question forms for the target language.  This is a very teacher-orientated stage where error correction is important. Second, the teacher allows the students to practice the material (new words or sentences) in a controlled setting, making sure the student has understood it properly. Practice usually begins with what is termed "mechanical practice" - open and closed pairwork.  Students gradually move into more "communicative practice" involving procedures like information gap activities, dialog creation and controlled roleplays.  Practice is seen as the frequency device to create familiarity and confidence with the new language, and a measuring stick for accuracy.  The teacher still directs and corrects at this stage, but the classroom is beginning to become more learner-centered. Third is the production stage, where there is less-controlled practice and an informal assessment of learning whereby the students get chance to use the new word in an original way, to relate it to their knowledge and experiences. Production is seen as the culmination of the language learning process, whereby the learners have started to become independent users of the language rather than students of the language.  The teacher's role here is to somehow facilitate a realistic situation or activity where the students instinctively feel the need to actively apply the language they have been practicing.  The teacher does not correct or become involved unless students directly appeal to him/her to do so.

Base on the background above the researcher interested in applying the technique in that school. In the research, the researcher took title “ Improving Speaking Competence By Using PPP  (Presentation, Practice and Production) of Second Grade at MTs. Miftahul Huda Ledug Prigen-Pasuruan”. The researcher wanted to improve speaking competence at this school. The researcher finding that strategies in PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production procedure were really helpful for the English learner who got difficulties in learning speaking and stimulate the students to be actively participant.

1.2    Problem of The Study

       Based on the background of the study, the researcher formulates the problem as follow, how can Presentation, Practice and Production improve speaking competence of the second grade students at MTs Miftahul Huda Ledug Prigen-Pasuruan?

1.3   Purpose of The Study

       From the problem describe above the purpose of the study is to improve speaking competence of the second grade students at MTs Miftahul Huda Ledug Prigen-Pasuruan through Presentation, Practice and Production teaching approach.

1.4   Significance of The Study

       The researcher have expectations from this study as follow:

1.   The study is expected to be useful for developing and improving of the teaching on the way to apply PPP teaching approach as a teaching speaking

2.   The study is expected that the students are able to communicate competently by applying PPP teaching approach that offer practice on speaking and students will practice speaking well everytime.

1.5    Scope and Limitation of The Study

       In carrying out this study, the researcher used one class only. In this case second grade of MTs Miftahul Huda Ledug Prigen-Pasuruan at A class by implementing Presentation, Practice and Production to improve speaking competence in learning English. The researcher carried out the test twice to collect data.

1.6   Definition of Key Term

These following key terms that are explained in this research:

1.      PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) is a teaching method which uses three stages. There are presentation (setting up the situation, eliciting or modeling the language), practice (practicing the language, drilling or repeating sentences or dialogues, asking and answering), production (using the new language in the certain circumstances, producing or making the sentences or dialogues etc.)

2.      Teaching is the activity of education which aims to impart knowledge to the learners.

3.      Speaking competence is the ability of students to speak and express their idea in English and ability of students to use English in their daily communication which is showed by their scores of speaking.