Teaching English Skill by Using Communicative Approach at Amik Bina Sriwijaya Dewi Yanti

Abstract

The problems of this research were how to teach speaking skill by using communicative approach at AMIK Bina Sriwijaya. The research type was descriptive method. The subject consisted of 30 students of the second semester in 2011-2012 academic years. The research data were collected using observation for collecting data on the students’ motivation in improving their speaking skill using communicative approach. Data on teaching speaking skill by using communicative approch were analysed using the descriptive analysis, to know the improvement in their speaking 1. Background Language is a means of comunication. By using a language, we can express our ideas, feelings, orientations to other. English is one of the languanges that play an important role in many aspects of our life. English is taught as a compulsory subject in most university in Asia. In Indonesia, English has a very important position. It is the first foreign language, which is also taught as a compulsory subject at school from primary school up to university level, so that students are hoped to master all the English skills. Speaking is one of the four English skills to be mastered by the students. By learning speaking, the students are expected to be able to speak after he/she has been giving the opportunity of listening each other, when the teachers are teaching. The teachers have to use communicative activity in the classroom. Communicative through the use of spoken language means to be understood and react

on what one says. As the teacher of English, we are not only concerned with developing the students’ knowledge of structute, pronunciations, etc, but also teach them how to use the language effectively and appropriately. Communication enters our daily lives in so many diffrent ways that is easy to over look the ultitude of its faced. For example, the telephone in our home makes it possible for us to communicate with others. By using communicative approach, the teachers do not only teach the form or the structure of the languae, but they are also have to motivate the students so that they are interested in using the language for communication. Based on the background above, the researcher formulates the following research questions: (1) Do the students have high motivation in speak English using communicative activity?; (2) Does the teaching English through communicative approach improve their ability to speak English? Related to the problem statement above, the objective of this research is then specified: (1) to know about the effectiveness of using communicative approach in improving their motivation to speak English; (2) to know about the effectiveness of teaching English through communicative approach in improving their ability to speak English. The result of this research is expected to be useful information to: (1) increase the teachers’ knowledge of English and share experiences in improving speaking skill using communicative approach; (2) encourage the teachers’ colleagues in doing action research in improving their teaching as the professional practices; (3) give any

contribution to the general public in increasing knowledge concerning teaching speaking skill by using communicative approach. This research is done by the subject of the students of the second semester of AMIK Bina Sriwijaya teaching speaking skill by using communicative approach to improve their ability to speak English. The researcher focused his research in improving speaking skill and the students’ motivation in the process of teaching and learning using communicative approach. 2. The Review of Related Literature 2.1 Speaking Byrne (1984) as cited in Nurlaili (2002:5) notes that speaking is a two language process between speaker and listener and involves productive and receptive skills of understanding. Calncy (1986) as cited in Bonvillain (1993:277) notes that speakers and listeners join in negotiating as responses to each other’s feelings attitudes and needs. It means that speakers must learn to be sensitive to feelings of addressees, to be aware of how their statement affects other. Listeners also have responsibility in negotiating harmony. They test their understanding when interact with others, eventually developing competence in communicatice approach. Saleh (1979) states that the test of speaking skill may be scored on fluecy, ease of expression, accuracy of structure, intonation and choice of vocabulary, more at ease, he/she tends to become more fluents: fluency,then might well be judged as the final aspects on the performance. Testing speaking ability offers plenty of scope for meeting the criteria

for communicative testing, namely that; tasks developed within paradigm should be purposive, intersting and motivating; interaction should be key featutes (Cyril J. Weir, 1990:73). We can say that the test of speaking skill is designed to measure the students’

abilities

in

vocabulary,

pronunciation,

grammar,

fluency,

and

comprehension (aspects of speaking skill). a. Vocabulary According to Anderson (1969:73), vocabularies are the basic components of thought and speech, the signs and symbols through which you communicate with others. It means that words create a language; words stand for ideas and words are the tolls of thought. If your words power limited, you are necessarily a limited thinker, since you can neither ideas nor communicative with other expect with in the confines of your in adequate vocabulary, unless you broaden your vocabulary, you will be unable to do the thinking that success in life demands. Vocabulary development expands a reader’s comprehension by relating known vocabulary to the unknown concepts. The greater the vocabulary mastery students have the more satisfactory they will be able to express and receiving meaning. b. Pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which word is pronounced. It consists of sound, stress, intonation, pitch, and tone. Pronunciation shows the students’ ability to identify the English sounds and pronounce the words correctly.

c.

Grammar

Grammar is a rule for forming words and making sentences it is about knowladge on using English structure correctly. d. Fluency Fluency shows the capability to speak a language smothly and easily. e. Comprehension Comprehension shows the power to understand the information through the use of spoken language. 2.2 Communicative Approch Communicative ia an adjective, which means ready and willing to talk and give information. The verb form of communicative is to communicate which means pass on news, information, feeling, etc. In other words, we can say that people communicate to reveal something or give informastion to other people. The ability to communicate, to talk or give information, is communiction. Communication is an exchange of information. Approach is a way of dealing with something, manner or method of doing in anguage teaching and learning. The communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication. The points is that we are able to talk in foreign language; we communicate with other people and express our own thoughts. In order to speak

in a foreign language; we should not be afraid of making mistakes in the language formstructure, because the success of communication is not judged on the structural mistakes made by the speaker, rather on the success in sending the message to the other people. The communication can run well if we have good command of the language and the ability to use the language for cmmunicative purpose. A person who has a good command of language and knows how to use it for communication will be able to express his/her ideas to someone else. Widdowson (1972:72) states that the communicative approach is an approach which view the language teaching with focuses on how people master the use of language not only just attempt how people master the language structure. From this statement, we can conclude that in comunicative approch, we do not only teach form or structure language, but also have to give motivation so that the students are eager to use the language for communication in real situation. Gumperz (1971) cited in scarcella et al (1990:86) states that effective communication requires that speakers and audiences agree both on the meaning of words and on the social import or values attached to choice of expression. It means the whenever communication takes place, of course, there is a speaker and a listener, one presents the information or idea, and the other receives the information. In order to send hs/her ideas or messages to the receiver, the receiver must also has a good ability in interpreting what is meant by the speaker if the interpretation interpreted by

the receiver is not the same with what is meant by the informant, communication fails to occur. In relation to communicative approach in language learning, Littlewood (1981:23) states that the communicative aproach encourages to go beyond structure and take account of the other aspects of communication. That statement means that communicative approach provides the students to the situation in which they are can communicate in the foreign language, so that they can develop their communicative competence. In applying communicative approach to develop communicative competence, the teacher must remember that she/he is ultimately concerned in the process of communating through the learners’ ability, rather than with the perfect mastery of individual structure. In the communicative approach, the teaching of English involves communication activities in which the students do something that requires the use of English to achieve the intended purposes. As Littlewood (1981;16) says that the teacher may have designed the activity so as to provide an opportunity for learners to produce language that they had recently learnt (e.g through open or cued dialogues), this overll purpose was to prepare the learner for later communicative activity by providing him with necessary linguistic forms and the necessary links between forms and meaning. To be able to make a situation that can encourages the students to communicate, we might have communicative activities taht can be applied in the classroom. Haney (1960:132) states that the teacher is a facilitator of his students’ learning and the students are,

above all, comunicators, during the activities the teacher acts as an advisor, answering the students’ question and monitoring their performance. In the other words, in the communicative approach, the teacher organizes activities in such a way that the students can initate and control much of the interaction, then the classroom is students-centered and the teacher as a facilitator. The procedures in teaching communicative approach in the classroom: 1. Presentation of a brief dialogues or several mini dialogues. 2. Oral practice of each dealogue to be presented. 3. Questions and answers based on the dialogue’s topics. 4. Questions and answers related to the students experiences but centered around the dialague theme. 5. Allows some students to talk, since in small group several student can talk the same time without distrubing others. 6. Teacher-student interaction is often restricted to be a basic pattern. The example of the exercise, you have to give reason in the given situation. Your roommate, Shinta is getting married to a man you really can’t stand, even for a few minutes. She asks you to go diner with them to celebrate. In this exercise, there is progression from tightly controlled language use, where the student is learning the social formulas to a situation where he can use the appropriate

word. It is very difficult to lie, to complain, so that our students need to be taught how to do this in an appropriate manner.

3. Method The method used in this research was descriptive focused on improving speaking skill using communicative approach. The subject of the research consisted of 30 students of the second semester of AMIK Bina Sriwijaya in 2011-2012 academic years. To collect data, the instruments to be used are interview and observation. 4. Conclusion By having communicative activity in the communicative approach, we got that the students gained the aims of this approach, which are the ability to communicate, recognize the forms meaning, as well as the functions of the language, and they can use them for communication appropriately in any human understanding, critical thinking, organization of the thought, the use of body and voice to communicate and the ability to give and accepts constructive criticism.