1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Research
Language is one of important tools and part of human life which is very important to carry out communication activities with other people.
Communication is to convey something such as opinions, information to listener or receiver and to help them to interact. A person's ability to use good language can make communication activities much better. Language is considered as a communication system use symbols and words. The language skills in learning English are divided into four. They are reading, writing, listening, and also speaking. These four skills are related to each other, they are very important for students to learn. Although, in school this is not taught specifically but speaking skills are interesting and also become the focus of achievement or become the expertise of most people or students when learning English.
Speaking is an interactive skill, which means receiving, processing and producing an opinion, thought, and feeling. According to Megawati (2016), in supporting the skills found four elements, namely vocab, grammar, pronunciation, fluency. The four elements always a problem for students to learn English. The first element is vocabulary. The more vocabulary students know, the easier it will be for them to learn English. The important things for students to master is vocabulary (Herlina, 2015). The second element is grammar. Each region has a different language structure, this affects to students in learning English. The third element is pronunciation, if student is used to mispronouncing words, there is a
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tendency for students not to be able to provide clear information (Sofiyanti, 2014).
The last element is fluency. If the pronunciation that students do is correct, it will affect the fluency of student in speaking English. In teaching English there are quite a lot of problem faced by students who become obstacles to the development of their English language skill. According to Maulana (2016), the most common problems students found in learning to speak English were lack of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, lack of confidence, afraid of making mistakes when speaking.
Based on the preliminary interview with an English teacher at SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang on Thursday, March 2, 2023, it is known that the quality of students' speaking skill in English still low. The most frequent difficulties students face are ignorance of vocabulary, the interaction between English teacher and students when English lessons take place is only about 30%. Students intimidate themselves that students can’t speak English. Students feel afraid when students practice speaking in front of the class and became the laughing stock of their friends. English is an international language and very important for students to learn English. In school, it will make it easier in process learning English if students master the basic vocabulary first and don't intimidate themselves.
Therefore, it is necessary to do research at this school and next can be a reference for others. Based on the background above, the researcher found the students' difficulties in speaking English at eighth grade of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang. The title of the thesis is "An Analysis of Students’ Difficulties in Speaking English at Eighth Grade of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang”.
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1.2 Formulation of the Research Problem
Based on the background, the research process is stated as follow:
1. What are the students’ difficulties in speaking English at eighth grade of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang?
2. What are the causes of students’ difficulties in speaking English at eighth grade of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang?
1.3 Objective of the Research
Based on the formulation of the research problem above, the objective of the research are:
1. To explore the students’ difficulties in speaking English at eighth grade of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang.
2. To explore the causes of students’ difficulties in speaking English at eighth grade of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang.
1.4 Significance of the Research
This research is expected to be useful for students of SMPN 10 Tanjungpinang, English teacher, and other researchers.
1. Theoretical Significance
This research is expected to contribute theoretically and practically in the development of English language teaching in speaking.
2. Practical Significance a) For the student
This research is expected to help the students to know their problems in speaking English.
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b) For the English teacher
This research is expected to be used as evaluate and help English teacher to devise a better plan to help students’ difficulties in speaking English.
c) For the other researcher
The result of this research is expected can give new knowledge, used as a reference, and to improve their research better.
1.5 Definition of Key Terms
There were some key terms in this research. To avoid misunderstanding, the researcher serves the definition of key terms as follows:
1. Analysis. Analysis is an investigative activity on an event to find out a situation, causes, and problems.
2. Difficulties. In this research, difficulty is a condition where there are problems in a matter to achieve the goal.
3. Speaking. The type of speaking is Conversation. Conversation is dialogue between two or more people.
