STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH AND THEIR STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES : A Descriptive Qualitative Study of 12th Graders of Software Engineering Programme at a Vocational School in Bandung.

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Putri Anggia Pramuditha, 2015

STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH AND THEIR STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES

STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH AND THEIR STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES

(A Descriptive Qualitative Study of 12th Graders of Software Engineering Programme at a Vocational School in Bandung)

A Paper

Submitted to English Education Department of Faculty of Language and

Literature Education UPI in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of

Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

Putri Anggia Pramuditha

(1002726)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE EDUCATION

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

AND THEIR STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE

DIFFICULTIES

(A Descriptive Qualitative Study of 12

th

Graders of Software

Engineering Programme at a Vocational School in Bandung)

Oleh

Putri Anggia Pramuditha

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat

memperoleh gelar Sarjana Pendidikan pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa

dan Sastra

© Putri Anggia Pramuditha 2015

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Juni 2015

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak seluruhnya atau sebagaian,

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PAGE OF APPROVAL

PUTRI ANGGIA PRAMUDITHA

STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN SPEAKING ENGLISH AND THEIR STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES

(A Descriptive Qualitative Study of 12th Graders of Software Engineering Programme at a Vocational School in Bandung)

Approved by

Main Supervisor,

Prof. Dr. Nenden Sri Lengkanawati, M.Pd.

NIP. 195111241985032001

Head of English Education Department

Faculty of Language and Literature Education

Indonesia University of Education

Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE OF APPROVAL ... i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION ... ii

PREFACE ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... iv

ABSTRACT ... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii

LIST OF TABLES ... x

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1. Background of the study ... 1

1.2. Statements of the problem ... 3

1.3. Aims of the study ... 3

1.4. Significance of the study ... 4

1.5. Clarification of terms ... 4

1.6. Organization of the paper ... 5

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ... 6

2.1. The nature of speaking skill ... 6

2.1.1. Definition of speaking ... 6

2.1.2. What makes speaking difficult ... 7

2.2. Difficulties in speaking English ... 8

2.2.1. Difficulties related to linguistic factor ... 8

2.2.1.1. Lack of vocabularies ... 9

2.2.1.2. Lack of understanding grammatical pattern ... 10

2.2.1.3. Incorrect pronunciation ... 11

2.2.2. Difficulties related to psychological factor... 13

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2.3.1. Strategies in speaking English related to linguistic factor ... 17

2.3.2. Strategies in speaking English related to psychological factor ... 20

2.4. Previous studies ... 21

2.5. Synthesis ... 23

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 24

3.1. Formulation of the problem ... 24

3.2. Research design ... 24

3.3. Site and participants ... 25

3.4. Data collection ... 25

3.4.1. Instrumentations ... 26

3.4.1.1. Questionnaires ... 26

3.4.1.2. Interview ... 27

3.4.1.3. Classroom observation ... 29

3.4.2. Procedure ... 30

3.4.2.1. Questionnaires ... 30

3.4.2.2. Interview ... 31

3.4.2.3. Classroom observation ... 31

CHAPTER 4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION ... 33

4.1. Speaking English difficulties encountered by 12th graders of SE programme . 33 4.1.1. Speaking English difficulties related to linguistic factor ... 33

4.1.1.1. Lack of understanding grammatical patterns ... 33

4.1.1.2. Lack of vocabularies ... 36

4.1.1.3. Incorrect pronunciation ... 40

4.1.2. Speaking English difficulties related to psychological factor ... 42

4.1.2.1. Fear of other responses ... 42

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4.1.2.3. Lack of self-confidence ... 45

4.1.2.4. Fear of making mistakes ... 47

4.1.2.5. Shyness ... 49

4.2. Strategies used by 12th graders of SE programme to overcome speaking English difficulties ... 51

4.2.1. Strategies used by 12th graders of SE programme to overcome speaking English difficulties related to linguistic factor... 51

4.2.1.1. Asking for help ... 51

4.2.1.2. Trying to recombine a sentence in new pattern ... 53

4.2.1.3. Using gestures/mime... 55

4.2.1.4. Taking risks... 57

4.2.1.5. Keeping silent ... 58

4.2.2. Strategies used by 12th graders of SE programme to overcome speaking English difficulties related to psychological factor ... 60

4.2.2.1. Positive thinking ... 60

4.2.2.2. Taking deep breath... 61

4.2.2.3. Smiling/laughing ... 62

4.3. Analysis ... 63

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS ... 66

5.1. Conclusions ... 66

5.2. Suggestions ... 67

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. The distribution of the statements on the questionnaire ... 27

Table 3.2. The distribution of the questions in the interview... 28

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix A Questionnaire ... 72

Kisi-kisi angket ... 72

Angket ... 77

Questionnaire analysis ... 80

Final result of questionnaire ... 83

Appendix B Interview ... 88

Panduan wawancara ... 88

Interview analysis I ... 90

Interview analysis II ... 98

Final result of interview ... 101

Interview transcript ... 104

Appendix C Classroom observations ... 110

Lembar observasi ... 110

Classroom observations analysis ... 112

Final result of classroom observations ... 117

Classroom observation 1 transcript ... 120

Appendix D Official letter ... 125

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ABSTRACT

Students’ Difficulties in Speaking English and Their Strategies to Overcome the Difficulties

(A Descriptive Qualitative Study of 12th Graders of Software Engineering Programme at a Vocational School in Bandung)

Main Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nenden Sri Lengkanawati, M.Pd. NIP. 195111241985032001

This study was conducted to identify speaking English difficulties encountered by the students and to seek strategies they used to overcome those difficulties. This study implemented a descriptive qualitative method that involved 30 students of 12th grade majoring software engineering (SE) at a vocational school in Bandung. The data were obtained through questionnaire, interview, and classroom observations. The results of this study showed that the students had issues in speaking English, namely lack of understanding grammatical patterns, lack of vocabularies, incorrect pronunciation, fear of other responses, nervousness, fear of making mistakes, lack of self-confidence, and shyness. The strategies used by them to overcome the difficulties were asking for help, trying to recombine the sentence in a new pattern, using gestures, taking risks, keeping silent, positive thinking, taking a deep breath, and smiling/laughing. It can be concluded that the students still have issue in speaking English. Some suggestions are recommended for the students, the English teachers, and the further researchers.

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ABSTRAK

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengidentifikasi kesulitan berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris yang dihadapi siswa dan mencari tahu strategi yang mereka gunakan untuk mengatasi kesulitan tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif yang melibatkan 30 siswa kelas 12 jurusan RPL (Rekayasa Perangkat Lunak) di sebuah SMK di Bandung. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan kuesioner, wawancara, dan observasi kelas. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa para siswa memiliki kesulitan berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris, yakni kurangnya pemahaman tata bahasa, kurangnya kosakata, pelafalan kata yang salah, takut akan respon orang lain, rasa gugup, takut akan melakukan kesalahan, kurangnya rasa kepercayaan diri, dan rasa malu. Strategi yang digunakan para siswa untuk mengatasi kesulitan tersebut adalah meminta bantuan orang lain, mencoba merangkai kalimat dengan cara berbeda, menggunakan gerak tubuh, mengambil resiko, tetap diam, berpikir positif, menarik napas dalam-dalam, dan tersenyum/tertawa. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa para siswa masih memiliki kesulitan berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Beberapa saran direkomendasikan untuk siswa-siswi, guru bahasa Inggris, dan para peneliti.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the background of the study, statements of the problem and

research questions, aims of the study, significance of the study, clarification of

terms, and organization of the paper.

1.1. Background of the Study

It has been known that language is one of the crucial tools to communicate among

people. Through language, people could express their ideas and feelings.

Therefore, learning a language is important, especially English. English as an

international language is used by some people to speak with others who speak

different languages. However, speaking English is not an easy task for certain

people, particularly those whose first language is not English. They must consider

the appropriate words, the pronunciation, and the grammar for different occasions.

They have to speak fluently while thinking the correct grammar (Pinter, 2006, as

cited in Sudjasmara, 2013).

Difficulty in speaking English is also encountered by some students.

Speaking is the most problematic skill to be mastered by students (Al-Saadi;

Tonawanik; Al Harthy, 2013). The students still have difficulties in speaking

English even though they may have been learning English since they were young.

They may understand what other people say in English, but conveying their ideas

in English may be still difficult for them. Difficulty in speaking English is caused

by many factors, such as, feeling worry of other responses, using first language

rather than English, limited number of vocabularies, having troubles to pronounce

some words, and lacking of confidence in speaking English (Yastutik, 2007).

Saputro (2008, as cited in Sudjasmara, 2013) stated that other factors regarding

this issue, the students were nervous and lacked linguistic supports. But among

those factors, Brown (2001) said that the main obstacle of difficulty in speaking

English is anxiety. The students often produce wrong and incomprehensible

speech whenever they are nervous. Consequently, students may tend to be passive

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Based on personal experience after doing teaching practical program at a

vocational school in Bandung, it was found that the students had difficulties in

speaking English. The students could not speak English fluently. Whenever they

wanted to convey their ideas in English, they were faced by many difficulties,

such as, they did not know certain English vocabularies, they were afraid of

making mistakes, and they were shy to speak English. Those speaking difficulties

made the students unwilling to speak English. However, English is not the only

Regarding the issue of difficulties in speaking English among the students,

some studies had been conducted. Khan (2005) conducted a study to investigate

strategies in speaking difficulties. He asserted that the respondents had faced

pronunciation difficulty (accent and stress), phrase and idioms, communicative

sentence structures. The respondents even acknowledged that certain

psychological factors played important role when interacting in English. Yastutik

(2007) conducted a study at a high school in Malang. Her study was aimed to describe students’ difficulties in speaking English and strategies they used to overcome those difficulties. She found that the students lacked support and lacked

motivation.

Another study was conducted by Arita. Arita’s study (2008) showed that students had difficulties in pronouncing certain vocabularies, making sentences

with correct structure, and remembering vocabularies. These problems were

caused by lack of vocabularies, lack of self-confidence, and lack of exercise.

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limited time to practice speaking English. The students often got blank when they

wanted to convey what in their minds. Consequently, incorrect pronunciation

cannot be hindered. The similar study was conducted by Sudjasmara (2013). He

was trying to find the difficulties and strategies in speaking English encountered

by non-English department. After implementing the questionnaire and interview,

the results showed that the students were anxious and lacked vocabulary when

speaking English. Liu (2007) also found the same result in his study. He found

that anxiety and lack of vocabulary were encountered by some students when

speaking English in the Chinese context.

According to the explanation above, difficulties in speaking English are

still encountered by some students (vocational students in this case). Therefore,

this study was designed to find out students’ difficulties in speaking English and the strategies they used to overcome those difficulties. This study was conducted

at a vocational school in Bandung by using 12th graders of software engineering

(SE) programme as the respondents.

1.2. Statements of the Problem and Research Questions

The issues of speaking English have been explained in the background section.

Based on the background of the study, two questions are formulated to achieve the

aims of the study.

1. What difficulties are encountered by 12th graders of software engineering

(SE) programme at a vocational school in Bandung in speaking English?

2. What strategies are used by them to overcome their difficulties in speaking

English?

1.3. Aims of the Study

Based on the questions formulated above, the aims of the study are:

1. to identify difficulties encountered by 12th graders of software engineering

(SE) programme at a vocational school in Bandung in speaking English; and

2. to seek strategies they used to overcome the difficulties encountered in

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1.4. Significance of the Study

The finding of the study is expected to have theoretical, practical, and professional

benefits. Theoretically, this study will develop knowledge among both English

teachers and the students as well, particularly about the students’ difficulties in speaking English. This study is also intended to strengthen the recent theories

from the previous studies. In addition, the findings of this study may be able to

enlighten future research of the same topic (or even to create new theories) and

studies to develop better teaching method and technique to teach English

especially in speaking skill.

Practically, this study proposes English teachers to use the information as

one of the references related to the students’ strategies to overcome their difficulties in speaking English as a consideration to decide the appropriate

teaching strategies to improve the students’ speaking skill. Thus, it is expected that English teachers should find the solutions to overcome the students’ difficulties in speaking English.

Professional benefits significant will relate to the advantages for English

teachers who expectantly could improve teaching methods and techniques to improve students’ speaking skill. Hopefully, this study will give the educators, particularly English teachers, self-awareness regarding the important role of English for students’ future.

1.5. Clarification of Terms

In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding, some terms are clarified as

follows.

1. Speaking English difficulties

In this study, speaking English difficulties refer to the students’ problems encountered in speaking English. In general, speaking English difficulties

are defined as problems or troubles in speaking that cause deficient

speaking proficiency (Ferris & Tagg, 1996; Kim, 2006; Ostler, 1980, as

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2. Students of software engineering (SE) programme

In this study, students of SE programme refer to the vocational school

students majoring software engineering (SE) programme who are learning

English that were involved in this study as the respondents.

1.6. Organization of the Paper

This paper is divided into five chapters and organized as follows.

Chapter 1 Introduction presents the background of the study, statements of the

problem and research questions, aims of the study, significance of the study,

clarification of terms, and organization of the study.

Chapter 2 Theoretical Foundation provides the related theoretical framework to

the study. It includes a brief explanation about the definition of speaking, what

makes speaking difficult, difficulties in speaking English, strategies to overcome

speaking English difficulties, some previous studies about the same issue, and

synthesis.

Chapter 3 Research Methodology tells the formulation of the problem, research

design, site and respondents, data collection method, and data analysis. The study

used descriptive qualitative method. The instruments used are questionnaire,

interview, and classroom observations.

Chapter 4 Finding and Discussion explains the results of the data analysis and

the answers to the research questions.

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Suggestion gives the conclusion based on the finding

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology used in the study. This chapter includes

formulation of the problem, research design, site and respondents, data collection

method, and data analysis.

3.1. Formulation of the Problem

This study was conducted based on the following questions to achieve the aims of

the study.

1. What difficulties are encountered by 12th graders of software engineering

(SE) programme at a vocational school in Bandung in speaking English?

2. What strategies are used by them to overcome the difficulties in speaking

English?

3.2. Research Design

This study used a descriptive qualitative method to obtain the data and to answer

the research questions. This method was used because this study was addressed to

certain situation that actually happened to the subject of the study, which was

speaking English difficulties encountered by 12th graders of software engineering

(SE) programme and the strategies they used to overcome the difficulties. The

finding of this study was explored using this method. This method proposes deep

insight to tell the speaking issue encountered by the respondents (Maxwell, 1996

(as cited in Mayangta, 2013)). Through this method, the research questions were

able to be answered by obtaining the data from the students‟ perspective by using

questionnaire and interview. To get deeper data, the classroom observations were

done. Since the data of this study would be described by using words rather than

numbers, the descriptive qualitative method was the most appropriate one for this

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3.3. Site and Respondents

This study was conducted at a vocational school in Bandung. The reasons of

choosing this school were, first, because some previous studies (Yastutik, 2007;

Arita, 2008; Juhana, 2011) were also conducted at secondary school. The second

reason was because the researcher did teaching practical program at this school

before, so it gave an easy access to conduct this study.

In order to get the necessary data, the amounts of 30 12th graders of

software engineering (SE) programme were selected to be the respondents of this

study. At first, this study chose 11th graders as the respondents, but since they had

job practice that implemented from January-April 2015, the respondents changed

into 12th graders. The consideration of choosing 12th graders is they may have

more English knowledge compared to 10th graders. Another consideration to

choose 12th graders of SE programme as the respondents is because after doing

teaching practical program, it was found that the students still have difficulties in

speaking English. Since the researcher knew them well, it gave more advantages

because they would be more open-minded. Therefore, this class was chosen as the

respondents of this study. The teacher who taught English in this class was asked

personally to teach the materials that had been taught (only during the research). It

was done to get the data needed.

3.4. Data Collection

The data were collected by using questionnaire, interview, and classroom

observations. According to Maxwell (1996, as cited in Mayangta, 2013), the

descriptive qualitative method is proposed deep insight to tell the issue

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3.4.1. Instrumentations

The instrumentations used in this study were questionnaire, interview, and

classroom observations. The definition of questionnaire, interview, and

observation according to some experts; the reasons of using them; and how they

used in this study are explained as follows.

3.4.1.1. Questionnaire

According to Key (1997), questionnaire is “a means of eliciting the

feelings, beliefs, experiences, perceptions, or attitudes of some sample of individuals”. Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary defines questionnaire as “a set of questions asked of a large number of people to discover information about a subject”. There are two types of questionnaire: closed or restricted form, and open or unrestricted form (Key, 1997). The closed form

prescribes the range of responses which might be chosen by the

respondents, meanwhile the open form allows the respondents to write the

answer liberally without any limitations of response (Cohen et al., 2007).

Key (1997) stated that the closed form is easy to be interpreted, tabulated,

and summarized. Whereas the open form establishes greater depth of

response. Both types of questionnaires were used in this study.

There were 2 parts of questionnaire in this study. The first part was

meant to find out the difficulties in speaking English they encountered,

whereas the second part was meant to seek their strategies used to

overcome the difficulties. Both of them used two optional answers: „yes‟ or „no‟ and two open questions in case the students had different answer (Cohen, 2007) (see Appendix A). The questionnaire was written in bahasa

Indonesia in order that the students would not misunderstand the

statements written. In other words, for better understanding (DeRoche and

Lahman, 2008 (as cited in Sudjasmara, 2013)).

The statements of the questionnaire was adapted from Brown

(2001); Chen & He (2010); Huang (2010); Juhana (2011); Kondo & Yang

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Thornbury (2005); Zhang (2004); Zhang (2006). The table below (table

3.1) explains the distribution of the statements on the questionnaire.

Table 3.1. The distribution of the statements on the questionnaire

No. Category Statement Number

1 Difficulties in speaking English related to

linguistic factor encountered by the students

7, 8, 9

psychological factor encountered by the students

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

3 Strategies used by the students to overcome the

difficulties in speaking English related to

linguistic factor

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,

11, 12, 13, 14

psychological factor

1, 2, 3

3.4.1.2. Interview

Kvale (1996, as cited in Cohen, 2007) stated interview as an inter-view.

He defined it as “an interchange of views between two or more people on a

topic of mutual interest, sees the centrality of human interaction for

knowledge production, and emphasizes the social situatedness of research data” (p. 349). Dyer (1995, as cited in Cohen, 2007) remarked that interview is not the same as daily conversation. It has different „rules of the game‟ where the researcher has done it by concerning study‟s needs.

The interview session was used to gather deeper data regarding the

results from the questionnaire. It was done after distributing the

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directly observable, such as learners' self-reported perceptions or attitudes”.

This study used a semi structured interview with total of 21

open-ended questions (see Appendix B) which was adapted from Sudjasmara

(2013). A semi structured interview was aimed to understand respondents‟

perspective about specific subject (Sociology Organization). This study

used open-ended questions in order that the respondents could answer by

using their own words (Cohen, 2007). Despite of guiding questions made,

new questions were allowed to be asked during interview to get more

information from the respondents (Hatch, 2002 (as cited in Sudjasmara,

2013)). The respondents were interviewed in bahasa Indonesia to avoid

misunderstanding in interpreting their meanings. The interview session

was tape recorded. Each interview lasted about 5-10 minutes. The table

below (table 3.2) explains the distribution of the questions in the interview.

Table 3.2. The distribution of the questions in the interview

No. Category Question Number

3, 4, 5

psychological factor encountered by the students

2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

linguistic factor

13, 14, 15

16, 17, 18, 19, 20

5 General questions related to difficulties and

strategies

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3.4.1.3. Classroom Observation

The classroom observation was used to get direct and actual information

about the students‟ speaking difficulties, also to strengthen the results from

the questionnaire and the interview. As Bailey (1994) stated that in the

observation study, the researchers could recognize ongoing behavior and

take note the most important features about it.

In this study, the researcher took the role as a non-participant

observer. So, the researcher was only present at the location and did not

interact with the students during classroom activities (Creswell, 1994). The

classroom observation was meant to find out students‟ difficulties and their

strategies to overcome the difficulties, during English class period. The

classroom observation was done three times. It was recorded in 30 minutes

for each observation. During classroom observation, the observer would be

doing check-list on the observation sheet (see Appendix C).

The observation sheet contained two parts. The first part was to

observe the students‟ speaking English difficulties and the second part was

to observe the students‟ strategies to overcome the difficulties. Both of

them used tally marks to count the students who had difficulties and used

the strategies. The observation sheet was written in bahasa Indonesia so

that would avoid misunderstanding, either when observing the students or

interpreting the data. The observer also could write different difficulties

and strategies in case they were not included on the observation sheet. The

form of observation sheet is adapted from Thornbury (2005). The table

below (table 3.3) explains the distribution of observed aspects on the

observation sheet.

Table 3.3. The distribution of observed aspects on the observation sheet

No. Observed Aspects Part & Item

Number

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psychological factor encountered by the

students

Part I: number 1, 2, 3,

4, 5, 6

linguistic factor

Part II: number 3, 4,

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,

12, 13

Part II: number 1, 2

3.4.2. Procedure

The study went through a few steps in collecting the data. Miles and Huberman

(1994, as cited in Sudjasmara, 2013) suggested several steps to analyze the data

into qualitative descriptions: collecting the data from the field, categorizing the

information, formatting the information into a story, and writing the qualitative

text. Moreover, the data of this study were transcribed, categorized, analyzed, and

explained.

3.4.2.1. Questionnaire

The first thing was giving the letter permission to do the research at the

school to the vice head-master of the school. After getting the permission,

it was continued by distributing the questionnaire to the 12th graders of

software engineering (SE) programme at this school. Then, the data from

the questionnaire were scored. Score 0 is for „no‟ and score 1 is for „yes‟

(Marion, 2004), continued by calculating the response frequencies.

Afterward, the answers were categorized into several categories:

difficulties in speaking English related to linguistic factor (DLF) and

psychological factor (DPF), and strategies used to overcome the

difficulties related to linguistic factor (SLF) and psychological factor

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explained from the most frequently appear to the most infrequent one

(biggest to the least calculation) based on the each category. Finally, the

answers of the questionnaire were explained into qualitative descriptions.

3.4.2.2. Interview

questionnaire: difficulties in speaking English related to linguistic factor

(DLF) and psychological factor (DPF), and strategies used to overcome the

(SPF) (Mai, 2008; Juhana, 2011; Sudjasmara, 2013). The last step is

explaining the data from the most frequently appear to the most infrequent

one (biggest to the least calculation) based on the each category. The data

gained from the interview was used to support the result from

questionnaire.

3.4.2.3. Classroom Observation

The data from classroom observations were analyzed descriptively.

According to Creswell (1994), the data from qualitative study should be

presented descriptively. Firstly, the recording of classroom observation

was transcribed verbatim. Later, the videos of classroom observations and

the transcription would be used to recall the important scenes observed. In

other words, they were used to validate the data from the questionnaire, the

interview, and the observation sheet.

Secondly, the data from the observation sheet was calculated. Part I

and part II were summed from the total of tally marks of each number. The

results from observation 1, 2, and 3 were categorized into several

categories: difficulties in speaking English related to linguistic factor

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(SPF) (Mai, 2008; Juhana, 2011; Sudjasmara, 2013). Afterwards, the data

from observation 1, 2, and 3 were summed to see the biggest calculation

from each category. Lastly, the data were explained from the most

frequently appear to the most infrequent one (biggest to the least

calculation) based on the each category. The data from classroom

observations was used to validate the data from the questionnaire and the

interview. After analyzing the results of the questionnaire, interview, and

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS

This chapter presents the conclusions and suggestions based on the findings and

discussion of this study. Firstly, there will be conclusions of the whole findings

which answer the research questions. Lastly, there will be some suggestions

recommended regarding the issue of speaking English difficulties.

5.1. Conclusions

Based on the findings and discussion, it can be seen that there are two

conclusions. The first conclusion is concerning speaking English difficulties

encountered by 12th graders of software engineering (SE) programme. It was

found that there are many speaking English difficulties (both related to linguistic

and psychological factors). Among those difficulties, the major difficulties

encountered by 12th graders of SE programme are fear of other responses,

nervousness, and lack of understanding grammatical patterns.

The second conclusion is concerning strategies used by 12th graders of SE

programme to overcome speaking English difficulties. This study found that many

strategies used by 12th graders of SE programme to overcome their difficulties in

speaking English. However, the most frequent strategies used by 12th graders of

SE programme to overcome speaking English difficulties are asking for help and

positive thinking. By asking for help, the students could understand English easily

without thinking too much. By positive thinking, the students could encourage

themselves so that they are confident when speaking English. Those strategies are

often used by the students when they are faced by speaking English difficulties.

Even though they did not practice their speaking skills often outside the

classroom, their efforts to speak English should be appreciated. Nevertheless, they

are not using Indonesia, instead they are speaking in English although there are

still many grammar errors and incorrect pronunciation. In this modern era, they

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strategies mentioned or by using technology. However, practicing their speaking

skills is also needed. They cannot depend on those strategies forever. The issue of

difficulty in speaking English should be ended.

5.2. Suggestions

Several suggestions are recommended for students, English teachers, and further

researchers.

For the students, hopefully they could minimize their speaking difficulties

by using the information from this study. However, it is suggested that they

practice their speaking skills more, either in the classroom or outside the

classroom. Practicing speaking skills can be done by doing things they like, such

as, listening to English songs, watching movies with English subtitle or without

subtitle at all, understanding the vocabularies by googling/browsing or using

dictionary, and speaking in English with your friends or native speakers. By

practicing, it can reduce your speaking English difficulties.

For the English teachers, it is suggested that they use the information of this study as one of the references about students’ strategies to overcome their difficulties in speaking English. Hopefully, it can be used as a consideration to

decide the appropriate teaching strategies to improve the students’ speaking skills.

Since the use of technology and internet have proven their beneficial to improve students’ English skills, it is suggested to include the use of internet as one of teaching methods. Nevertheless, motivating the students to improve their English (especially in speaking skill) depends on the teacher’s teaching strategies in delivering the materials. Last but not least, for the further researchers, it is

suggested to do the same research at vocational school with different programme

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