IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL

THROUGH ROLE PLAY TECHNIQUE

By :

Larasati (16050014)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTEMENT

SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN
MUHAMMADIYAH PRINGSEWU LAMPUNG
2018
 INTRODUCTION

A. Background
Since English as an international language has already become one of the
compulsory subjects of both senior and junior high school, and elementary
school, it cannot be denied, that the importance of English has gained a lot of
attention from many people all over the world. It entails Indonesian to master
English; especially speaking ability successfully. Therefore, Indonesian can
communicate with people all over the world in English fluently.

Moreover, learning English in the second grade junior high school students
has three objectives; they are to develop communicative competence, it
supposes to have an ability in comprehending and or producing kinds of texts
or certain literacy whether in oral or written which should be fulfilled four
English basic skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), to improve
students’ English ability in functional level (it means students have to be able
to use English in a daily life), and to develop students’ ability in English
communication skill for facing a globalization era. Concerning to the
problems above, the writer focuses on developing the students’ competence in
speaking ability.

objective in speaking skill is not easy and simple, either for the teachers or
students. They face some difficulties in the teaching and learning of speaking.
Based on the researcher’s experience and observation in classroom activities,
the researcher found some problems.

First, commonly students feel afraid and nervous when they want to speak or
communicate using English in front of their classmates. Second, the students
donot have any ideas or initiative to speak English, it is caused by the lack of
vocabulary, grammatical patterns, and lack of practicing English speaking.
Third, the students still frequently made mistakes in pronouncing the English
words. Fourth, their problems with prosodic features such as intonation,
stress, and other phonological nuances still cause a misunderstanding in
communication. Those problems make the students reluctant and unmotivated
to speak.

Considering the importance of mastering the speaking skill in language

teaching, the national policy through the regulation of minister of national
education reflects the importance of English in the standard of content. Also,
Indonesia establishes English as prominent foreign language taught as school
and one of subjects tested in national exam.This determination is intended to
prepare Indonesian students in facing globalization era. Therefore, they are
able to compete with other people from where English becoes second or first
language.

Language is something that be used to communicate an information to the

others. As social human beings, we always communicate with our family,
friends, and neighbors everyday.Kaswan and Suprijadi (2014:1) state that
“Language itself is very complex. It has sound system that allows us to use a
lot of distinct words or vocabulary, and a series of construction for relating
those words.” In learning English language, there are four skills that have to
be achieved by students, they are listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Speaking is the skill when students are able to speak in English correctly and
fluently.

In learning English language, there are four skills that have to be achieved by
students, they are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Speaking is one of
essential skills that should be mastered by students. In fact, the students face
difficulties in speaking such as difficulty to arrange the sentences, fear of
making mistakes, and lack of motivation. It is supported by Nunan (1993:39)
in Suryani (2005:3), he states that there are some challenges in teaching
speaking in EFL classroom namely lack of motivation, and they tend to use
their first language. Other problem, teachers usually are more active in
speaking than students, therefor students are worried for taking conversation
in English. Those are the reason why teacher should get the best method of
learning English. The Role Play technique is one of crucially important
technique can be applied in teaching speaking because it gives students
opportunity to express their feel, idea, and motivates them to speak English
more actively. According to (Richard and Rodgers, 2001:222) “Role play has
appeal for students because allows the students to be creative and put
themselves in another person’s place for a while”.Tompkins, (1998b:85) “role
play or simulation is an extremely valuable method for learning. It
encourages thinking and creativity. Let students develop and practice then
language behavior skills.”

From the state above, it can be concluded that speaking is very important
aspect to support learning English activity, not only to be learnt but also as
feedback for the teacher.The writer hopes by using role play in teaching
speaking to the students at SMK YPT PRINGSEWU can motivate and
encourage the students to practice speaking English in the class. Beside, the
teacher gives more opportunities to the students to take turn in speaking
during the times allocated.

Speaking is one of essential skills that should be mastered by students. In fact,

the students face difficulties in speaking such as difficulty to arrange the
sentences, fear of making mistakes, and lack of motivation. It is supported by
Nunan (1993:39), he states that there are some challenges in teaching
speaking in EFL classroom namely lack of motivation, and they tend to use
their first language. Related to those problems, role play is offered to
overcome the problems in speaking.The aim of this research was to find out
whether teaching speaking using role play can improve students’ speaking
skill in SMK YPT PRINGSEWU.
B. Identification of the Problem
The writer identifies some common problems that appear in
teaching speaking:
1) Most of students still have low motivation in learning English;especially in
speaking, because they are too shy and afraid to takeapart in the
conversation. They just speak when the teacher askthem.
2) The students still do not know how to speak English well.
3) Most of the students do not realize the importance of learningEnglish to
communicate.
4) The teacher also become one of problem that can make students is not
interested in speaking.

C. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the explanation on the background the writer formulatesthe problem
of the research as follows: “Is role play effective in teachingspeaking for the
ten grade students at SMK YPT Pringsewu?”

D. Objective of the Study

The objective of the study is to find the effectiveness of using roleplay in
improving the students’ speaking skill whether there is significancedifference
in speaking achievement of the students who are taught using arole play and
those who are taught without using a role play.

E. Significance of the Study

The study of this research is expected to know the effectiveness of using role
play in teaching speaking for second grade of Senior high school. Therefore,
it can be one of solving problems in teaching and learning speaking that faced
by the teachers in improving the students’speaking ability.

Besides, by using a role play, it can motivate the students to speak English
without considering of mistakes and error in speaking. Moreover, it helps to
provide knowledge on ways to develop natural ways in speaking activities
and to become the students more active in teaching-learning
process.

This method probably will be used as a reference for those who want to
conduct a research in English teaching process, especially to know the
effectiveness of Role Play when it applied in speaking class.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

B. Identification of the Problem
C. Formulation of the Problem
D. Objective of study
E. Significance of the Study

CHAPTER II RIVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. thecnical of Speaking
1. The Nature of Speaking
2. Teaching Speaking
3. The Elements of Speaking
4. The Components of Speaking
a. Grammatical Competence
b. Discourse Competence
c. Sociolinguistic Competence
d. Strategic Competence
5. Classroom Activities
6. Assessing of speaking

B. Role Play
1. Definition of Role Play
2. Reason for Using Role Play
3. Types of Roles in Role Play
4. The Purpose of Role Play
5. The Advantages of Role Play
6. Teaching Speaking Using Role Play

C. Previous Study
D. Frame of Thinking
E. Hypothesis of the Research
A. Technical of Speaking
1. The Nature of Speaking
Speaking is the most natural way to communicate. It is also used for
interacting between two people in daily life, such as: at school, at home or
some other places. 1 Margo Gottlieb, Assessing English Language Learners,
(California: Corwin Press,2006), p.45. “speakinggenerally involves two ways
communication with interactive role switching between the speaker, who
conveys a message, and the listener, who interprets responds to it”

Besides, speaking also is the way to express ideas, opinions, or feelings with
others by using words or sounds in delivering message. As human beings,
especially as social creatures have a need to make meaning of their
surroundings by communicating each other. They have a need to
express their thoughts, opinions, or feelings in order to be accepted in social
life. Speaking does not only make sound by the speech organs but ideas and
emotions. 2 Lynne Cameron, Teaching Language to Young Learners,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). “Speaking is the active use
of language to express meaning so that other people can make sense of them,
therefore, the label of “receptive” and “productive” uses of language can be
applied to speaking respectively”.

Furthermore, most of people communicate each other to share some

information Thomas S.C. Farrel, Succeeding with English Language Learners,
(Thousand Oaks:Corwin Press, 2006),“They may want to exchange
information about something specific with one or more people, or they just
want to keep socially active by exchanging pleasantries with friends,
neighbors, or working colleagues”. Therefore, if people want to
shareinformation with others, they have to focus on what they want to say in
order to deliver the specific message clearly.
 In addition, in delivering ideas and meanings of a certain situation, a speaker
has to use an accurate pattern and choose the correct words that fit into it.
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press,1996) “people who know a language are referred to as
„speakers‟ of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds ofknowing;
and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in
learning to speak”.Another expert Marianne also stated “the ability to speak a
language is synonymous with knowing that language since speech is the basic
means of human communication”. As a result, a
speaker should know well about a language that he or she is used for
communicating; in order to her or his interlocutor get a good understanding
and interest with what he or she said.

Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that speaking is the

process of sharing information with another person, one‟s knowledge,
interests, opinions or ideas. Besides, speaking also is the way to make
someone interest to the information that the speaker wants to share.

2. The Objectives of Teaching Speaking

Speaking is one of some language skills which areSpeaking is one of some
language skills which are essential. The reason of people want to speak
because he or she has some purposes or
functions that he or she has to be communicated with others to get his or her
goals or what he or she needs. Jack C Richard & Willy A. Renandya,
Methodology in Language Teaching,(Cambridge: University Press, 2002).
stated “When we engage in discussion with someone, on the other hand, the
purpose is to seek or express opinions, to persuade someone about something,
or to transaction which serves to get things done as performance which
servessome talks which are needed relate to social relationship.
Jo McDonough and Christopher Shaw.Materials and Methods in ELT,
(Oxford:Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003), “when genuinelycommunicative,
speaking is desire and purpose driven, in other words wegenuinely want to
communicate something to achieve a particular end. This may involve
expressing ideas and opinion; expressing a wish or a desire to do something;
negotiating and/or solving a particular problem; or establishing and
maintaining social relationships and relationships.” Itmeans that when
someone speaks, he or she has an intended for expressinghis or her ideas to
his or her interlocutor.
Furthermore, there are some objectives that have to be reached by English
teacher in teaching speaking process, as Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach
English – An Introduction of Practice English LanguageTeaching, (England:
Addison Wesley Longman, 1998), “There are three basic reasons why it is a
good idea to give studentsspeaking tasks which provoke them to use all any
language at their command. Rehearsal: getting students to have a free
discussion gives them a chance to rehearse having discussion outside the
classroom. Feedback: Speaking tasks where students are trying to use all and
any language theyknow provides feedback for both teachers and students.
Engagement: goodspeaking activities should be highly motivating.” As a
result, the students will get the benefit from the practice speaking task; like:
he or she will get use to speak English whether inside or outside the
classroom by practicing it, the students will get a feedback about his or her
ability in speaking English and the students will be motivated in increasing
his or herspeaking ability by following kinds of speaking activity in the
classroom.

Besides, the objectives of teaching speaking should also focus on intonation,

pronunciation, stressing, etc. Teacher should be aware of those parts because
it could develop the students‟ production skill in linguistic aspect. As
Rebecca Hughes, Teaching and Researching Speaking, (London: Pearson
Education, 2002),“other aim which the teacher might have: for instance,
 helping student to gain awareness of or to practice some aspectof linguistic
knowledge, or to develop production skills, or to raise awareness of some
socio-linguistic or pragmatic point.”

As a result, the objective of teaching speaking above is primarily to give a

chance for the students to express their ideas about everything that promote
their speaking ability, to train the students‟ pronunciation, intonation,
stressing, etc in speaking English, and to build the students‟motivation in
speaking English; even though, there will be some mistakes that the students
did while he or she is trying to speak English.

3. The Elements of Speaking

Speaking is very important for student to acquire the ability to express their
ideas and opinions. Consequently, this competency should be mastered by
learners‟ language. According Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English – An
Introduction of Practice English Language Teaching, (England: Addison
Wesley Longman, 1998), there are two elements of speaking. First, language
features, consist of:
a) Connected speech is the modifying in sound production orutterances
such as assimilation, omission, addition, andweakened (through
contraction and stress pattering)
b) Expressive devices are the alteration of speed, volume, andstress of
utterances to show the feeling. The use of devicecontributes the ability
to convey meaning.
c) Lexis and grammar related to the ability to use numbercommon lexical
phrases, especially in the performance ofcertain language functions.
d) Negotiation language is the ability to gets benefits fromnegotiators
language we use to seek clarification and toshow of structure of what
 we are saying.The second element of speaking is mental or social
processing,consist of:
1) language processing: the ability to process language in theirown
heads and put it into coherent order so that it comesout it forms that
are not only comprehensible, but alsoconvey the meanings that are
intended.
2) Interacting with others. It‟s mean that speaking alsoinvolves a good
deal of listening, and understanding of howthe other participants
are feeling.
3) Information processing: the ability to process theinformation the
moment we get it.In a conclusion, the elements of speaking are
language features;which includes pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary, fluency, andcomprehension, and mental or social
processing.

4. The Components of Speaking

There are four components of speaking based on Jack C Richard & Willy A.
Renandya, Methodology in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: University
Press, 2002 quoted from Kang Shumin who highlights the componentswhich
underlies speaking effectiveness:

a. Grammatical Competence
Grammatical competence is an umbrella concept thatincludes increasing
expertise in grammar (morphology and syntax),vocabulary and mechanics.
The terms mechanics refer to basicsounds of letters and syllables,
pronunciation and stress. As Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers,
2nd Edition, Approaches and Methods inLanguage Teaching, (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1986), said that grammatical competence
refers tolinguistic competence and formally possible because relates
togrammatical and lexical capacity.12 Thus, grammatical
 competenceenables speakers to use English language structure accurately
andunhesitatingly, which contributes to their fluency.

b. Discourse Competence
Learners must develop discourse competence because they should can
make or arrange the communication whether in spoken or written
cohesively and coherence in order to convey the
conversation in a meaningful way, which is concerned with intersentential
relationships. As Elite Olshtain and Andrew Cohen, Teaching Speech Act
Behavior to Nonative Speakers, (Boston: Heinle&Heinle Publishers,
2001), “Discourse competence relates to features of text, whether itspoken
or written”13. Thus, the component of speaking not only should be based
on sentence-level grammar, but also it should be meaningful.

c. Sociolinguistic Competence
Language teaching is influenced by sociolinguistic competence in order to
increase language and learning. Knowledge of language does not
adequately prepare learners for effective and appropriate of target
language. In teaching speaking, the teacher could approach the students in
teaching speaking by understanding the social context in which
communication takes place or situation of speaker and interlocutor. As
Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, 2nd Edition, Approaches and
Methods inLanguage Teaching, (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1986), says “Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the
social context in which communication takes place, including role
relationship, the shared information of the participants, and the
communicative purpose fortheir interaction.”
d. Strategic Competence
Concerning to the component of speaking, strategic competence refers to
the ability to know and how to keep conversation going, how to finish the
conversation, and how to clear up communication breakdown as well as
 comprehension problems. As Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English
Language Teaching, (Cambridge: PearsonEducation Limited, 2001),
“when choosing who should come out to the front of class we need to be
careful not to choose the shyest students first, and we need to work to
create the right kind of supportive atmosphere in the class.”From the
explanation above, the writer can concludes that there are four components
areas of speaking skill which each area plays as its function and there are
also some factors affect the effectiveness of speaking and should be in the
teaching speaking.

5. Classroom Activities
Most English teachers face the problem of having passive studentswho
difficult to speak in the class and no willingness to speak in class. In
traditional classroom activity, speaking practice often takes the form or drills
which one person asks question and another gives an answer. The purpose of
asking and answering the question is to demonstrate the ability to ask and
answer the question. However, it can make the students get bored and get a
low motivation in trying to speak English. Therefore, to create classroom
speaking activities that will develop communicative competence, the teacher
should provide students with communicative activities in which the student
can engage actively in teaching and learning process. Gottlieb op.cit give
“some example of typical speaking activities that occur in the classrooms:
a) Book talks in which story grammar (characters, setting,events) is revealed
b) Debates on school related topics or current issues
c) Dialogues between students on social or culturally relatedtopics
d) Interviews between students or between students and adults
e) Presentations/reports on content related assignments
f) Role plays/ dramatizations of historical or social events
g) Speeches or reports based on research or topic of interest
h) Task analyses or demonstrations on how to do activities,processes, or
procedures
 i) Story retelling from illustrations or personal experiences
j) Student led conferences on original works of portfolios
k) Think-alouds (personal reactions to reading) on articles,stories, or
literature
l) Two way tasks on maps or missing information”

Besides, in classroom activity teacher need preparation in order toduring

teaching learning activity do not feel boring. To anticipate this case Ur
and Wright give the step that teacher may need:
1. A quick warm up for the beginning to get your students intothe right
mood for learning;
2. An idea for a brief vocabulary review before starting a newtext;
3. A light filler to provide relief after a period of intense effortand
concentration;
4. A brief orientation activity to prepare a change of mood ortopic;
5. A game or amusing item to round off the lesson with asmile.

The writer emphasize that the classroom activities in teachingspeaking

should be interest and interactive because it will motivate the students in
achieving the goals of teaching speaking. These are some classroom
activities that can be conducted by the teacher in teaching speaking, such
as: role plays, storytelling, presentation, debates, etc.

6. Assessing of speaking
Speaking is a complex skill that using different ability to assess it. Speaking
skill is generally recognized in analysis of speech process that is, grammar,
vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. As Gottlieb stated “The principal
components of speech include grammar, vocabulary, intonation and stress,
pronunciation, fluency and accuracy.”However, before the teacher assesses
the students, Nation and Newton stated there are “two main aspects of direct
procedure for testing speaking.
a. The way in which the person being tested is encouraged to speak,
b. Theway in which the speaker‟s performance is assessed.” For
assessinspeaking performance, it is include rating scale and
communicative result.

Moreover, the criteria of assessing speaking should be to young learner

curriculum. As McKay stated “they can be written to reflect the construct
being assessed and to reflect the young learner curriculum”. Based on the
criterion above the writer using Penny Mckay, Assessing Young Language
Learners, (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2006), for scoring
speaking, the writer chooses five criteria that will be used forspeaking
assessment. There are Comprehension, Fluency,
Vocabulary,Pronunciation, and Grammar for describes performance and to
see progress of the students. As Mckay stated “the scale describes
performance in lower levels in negative terms, as incorrect and week. For
positive impact, criteria and descriptors for young learners are more
suitable when they describe strengths and progress rather than
errors.”Below is the rating scale that will be used by the researcher in
assessing the students‟ speaking based on McKay:
1. Proficiency Description
a) Comprehension:
1. Cannot understand even simple conversation.
2. Has great difficulty following what is said. can comprehend only
“socalconversation”spoken slowly and with frequent repittition.
3. Understand most of what is said at slower-than-normal speed
withrepetition.
4. Understands nearly everything at normal speed. Althoughoccasional
repetition may be necessary.
5. Understand everyday conversation and normal classroomdiscussions
without difficulty.

b) Fluency :
1. Speech is so halting and fragmentary as to make conversationvirtually
impossible.
 2. Usually hesiatant; often forced into silence by languge limitations.
3. Speech in everyday communication and classroom dicussion
isfrequently disrupted by the student‟s search for the correct mannerof
expression.
4. Speech in everyday communication and classroom discussion
ingenerally fluent, with occasional lapses while the students
searchesfor the correct manner of expression.
5. Speech in everyday conversation and in classroom discussion isfluent
and effortless approximating that of a native speaker.

c) Vocabulary :
1. Vocabulary limitations so extreme as to make conversationvirtually
impossible.
2. Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary make
comprehensionquite difficult.
3. Frequently uses the wrong words conversation somewhat
limitedbecause of inadequte vocabulary.
4. Occasionally uses inappropriate terms or must rephrase ideasbecause
of inadequate vocabulary.
5. Use of Vocabulary and idioms approximates that of a nativespeaker.

d) Pronunciation :
1. Pronunciation problem so severe as to make speech
virtuallyunintelligible.
2. Very hard to understand because pronunciation problem,
mustfrequently be asked to repeat in order to be understood.
3. Pronunciation problems necessitate concentration on the part of n
listener and occasionally lead to misunderstanding.
4. Always intelligible, though one is concious of a definite accent
andoccasinal inappropriate intonation patterns.
5. Pronunciation and intonation approximates that a native speaker.

e) Grammar :
1. Errors in grammar and word order so severe as to make speechvirtually
unintelligible.
2. Grammar and word order error make comprehension difficult.Must
often rephrase or restrict what is said to basic patterns.
3. Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order whichoccasionally
obscure meaning.
4. Occasionally make grammatical or word order errors which do
notobscure meaning.
5. Grammatical usage and word order approximate a native speaker‟s.

B. Role Play
1. Definition of Role Play
As the writer focuses in his research, he will explain about the nature of role
play, as a specific topic that will be discussed.

Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press,1996), stated “Role play is used to refer to all sorts of
activities where learners imagine themselves in a situation outside classroom,
sometimes playing the role of someone other than themselves, and using
language appropriately to the new context.” Based on the definition above,
role play is a method to play the role of others character in any kinds of
situations.

Moreover, according to Don Snow, From Language Learner to Language

Teacher, (Virginia: TESOL, Inc,2007), “role plays are form of pair practice
that allows students freedom to play, improvise, and create.” In this
case,students can come to real situation although they are not in that situation.
For example, students pretend to be travel agents and customers in a
conversation about how to book an airplane‟s ticket.

Besides, according to Diane Larsen-Freeman, Techniques and Principles in

Language Teaching, (Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2000),, “Role plays
are very important in CLT because they give students an opportunity to
practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social
roles, and Role plays can be set up so that they are very structured or in less a
less structured way”It means the teacher tells the students who they are and
what they should do. The teacher also tells the students what the situation is,
and what they are talking about, but the students determine what they will
say. Students also receive feedback on whether or not they have effectively
communicated.
 In Role play there are many subject topics available for role play purposes,
such as compiling and presenting a news magazine program for radio or
television. According to McDonough and Shaw “Role play materials are
often written specifically to get learners to express opinions, to present and
defend points of view and to evaluate arguments.” On the other hand in Role
play learners also require learners to use language to get the meaning, and
learners also require paying more attention to maintenance of social
relationships.

From the explanations above, the writer concluded that the role play is a
technique which involves fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be
ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialogue and
creating a real world scenario. It aims at the students to encourage their
thinking and creativity, to develop and train the students of a new language
and behavioral skills in relatively nonthreatening setting, and to create the
motivation of the students in speaking.

2. Reason for Using Role Play

There are many reasons why teacher using role play technique inteaching
speaking. By using role play, students feel free to play, improviseand create
their idea. Besides, many students will be more creative andactive to play their
role because the teacher gives opportunities to studentsto explore their actions.
Sally Featherstones with Anne Cummings, Role-Play in the Early Years,
(London: A&CBlack Publishers, 2009), “imaginative play gives children
opportunities to explore and representactions, roles, relationships, situation,
characters from a variety of sources,narratives and stories.”

Furthermore, using role play in teaching speaking the students alsocan train
their intellectual, social and imaginative because by using roleplay students
 have a chance to train choice and make decisions about thenature and
direction of their play. Sue Rogers and Julie Evans, Inside Role Play in Early
Childhood Education, (New York:Routledge Taylor and Francis Group), “the
use of highly structured role play environment raises some importantquestions
about the extent to which children in early childhood settings
have the opportunity to exercise choice and to make decisions about the nature
and direction of their play”In addition, according to Ladousse “Perhaps the
most important reason for using Role Play is that it is fun”. In role play
technique the students expected enjoy when they play their roles in front of the
class. While students understand what is expected of them, they thoroughly
enjoy letting their imagination.

The writer can conclude that the using of role play in teaching for the students
are attracting the students‟ interest in speaking decreasing the students anxiety
of speaking, increasing the students imaginative and creativity, and achieving
the goals of speaking.

3. Types of Roles in Role Play

There are some types of roles in a role play that explained by Smilansky and
Shefatya quoted on Rogers”:
a. Functional play involves repetition and imitation, and offersthe child the
opportunity for exploration of the environment
b. Constructive play appears in early childhood but maycharacterize play
throughout childhood and even adulthood.It involves manipulation and
exploration of the material. Italso involves the addition of a preconceived
plan
c. Games with rules are divided into two distinct forms ofgames. First, there
are table games such as dominoes, cards,etc. Second, there are physical
games such as hide and seekand ball games. Both require children to
accept theexistence of rules and to modify their behaviors accordingly
 d. Dramatic play is a distinct form of play with an importantdistinction
between dramatic play and its more matureform, sociodramatic play,
which must also involvecooperation between at least two children.”

Thus, the overall aim of those types of role is offer a way ofunderstanding role
play since it considers the play environment or contextas significant in
shaping children‟s perceptions and to train students to deal with unpredictable
nature of language.

4. The Purpose of Role Play

The main purpose of role play according to Janet Tolan and Susan Lendrum,
Case Material and Role Play in Counseling Training,(London and New York:
Routledge, 1995), “A Role play can develop skills by inviting participants to
engage with eachother more directly and immediately through the use of
roles.”It means the students need to communicate the play theme to one
another, and they need to interpret from the play environment and from the
gestures or facial expressions. The realistic communication situation gives the
students new experience is good for remembering what they have learned.

Moreover, the purposed of Role play is the students should be active in the
class. In role play activities, students pretend as they are in various social
contexts and have a variety of social roles. As Penny Ur, A Course in
Teaching Languagetated“Role play is used to all of activities where learners
imagine themselves in a situation outside classroom.”

In additions Janet Tolan and Susan Lendrum, (London and New York:
Routledge, 1995), stated “purpose of role play (a) project their own
experiences to develop their own imaginative and emphatic capacities; and
(b) think about and discuss different facilitative responses.” It means the
purpose of role play as an activity which a person imitates, consciously or
 unconsciously, and a role uncharacteristicof the students to develop their
imaginative.

The writer concludes the goal of role play in teaching speaking is to improve
the students‟ speaking skill without making students anxious and afraid of
trying to speak English.

5. The Advantages of Role Play

In teaching speaking using Role Play, the students are given asituation in
performing their role play and this technique will be effective if the students
confident and cooperative. As Ur stated “This is virtuallythe only way we can
give our learners the opportunity to practice improvising a range of real life
spoken language in the classroom, and is an extremely effective technique if
the students are confident and cooperative; but more inhabited or anxious
people find role play difficult and sometimes even embarrassing.”

Besides, role play also train students‟ intellectual, social and imagination
because role the students involves in problem solving; to encourage
negotiation, to develop in communication to one another, etc. As Sue Rogers
and Julie Evans, op.cit., pp.37-38. “We can summaries the main points of this
chapter as follows:
a) Role play encourages representational thinking
b) Role play helps children to develop perspective takingskills
c) Role play displays children‟s language competence
d) Role play involves problem solvingRole play encourages turn taking
and negotiation
e) In role play, children have a strong desire to affiliate withone another
and to maintain peer interactionsIn role play, children have a strong to
self generate themes
f) Role play helps to establish and sustain children‟s peer culture.
 Another advantages in teaching speaking through role play technique
based Janet Tolan and Susan Lendrum, Case Material and Role Play in
Counseling Training,(London and New York: Routledge, 1995),”Role
play enables them to practice their skills in a protected environment before
they transfer them to their own work.” It means in role play the students
usually try to complement the work which course members undertake on
their practice placement. Role play provides the practice in
communicating.

Based on the statement above, the writer assumes that role play gives
many advantages: as follows: improving speaking ability, motivating them
to practice their English, and the most important one is the students feel
fun in learning English because role play is also a kind of games.

6. Teaching Speaking Using Role Play

In teaching speaking skill through role play, the teacher and collaborator ask
the students to perform group by group. The teacher should give the topic
which is related to a standard competence and a based competence. For
example: the teacher gives the topic to the studentsbased on the second grade
of vocational high school students‟ standard competence and based
competence, such as: “to deliver meaning in short verbal simple transactional
and interpersonal conversation to interact with their surroundings. It also
supported by based competence: to deliver meaning in a variety of simple
spoken transactional and interpersonal conversations accurately, fluently, and
meaningfully to interact with the surrounding environment that involves
speech acts: ask for, give, refuse favor, ask for, give, and reject things, admit
and deny the facts, and ask for and give opinions.

In addition, to hold role playing, the teacher must prepare some steps to make
good performance. Here are stages in role play activity:
The teacher arranges or prepares scenario that will be
 a. performed by the students.
b. The teacher appoints some students to learn about thescenario
several days before teaching and learning activity.
c. The teacher makes groups of students consist of five peopleper
group.
d. The teacher explains about competence will be achieved.
e. The teacher calls a group of students who have been chosento
play prepared scenario
f. Each student in his/her group observes scenario
beingperformed.
g. After finishing performance, each student is given worksheet
for discussing each group performance.
h. Every group which has performed gives conclusion aboutwhat
scenario has been performed.
i. The teacher gives general conclusion.
j. Evaluation
k. Closing

C. Previous Study
The writer found some previous study about Role Play technique. He took
two previous studies; those were NurinaPermata Sari and AgusBudiman.

The first previous study is conducted by Sari under the title Improving
Students‟ Speaking ability by using Role Play (A Classroom Action Research
at the first grade students of SMK YPT Pringsewu).This study is aimed at
developing Students‟ Speaking ability at first gradeof SMK YPT
Pringsewuclass TKJ through Role Play activities. The method ofthe study
used a classroom action research (CAR). She did two cycles inwhich each
cycle consists of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting.The data were
gathered through qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were
gained by analyzing the interview and observationresult. Moreover,
quantitative data were obtained from the students‟speaking score of pre test
and post test and questionnaire. The result ofthis study indicated that the
implementation of role play technique wassuccessful. Besides, the result of
observation, interview and questionnaireshowed that by using role play
technique students were active involved inthe classroom.

The second previous study is conducted by Budiman under the title the use of
Role Play to enhance students‟speaking ability (A Classroom Action
Research at the first grade students ofSMK YPT pringsewu class TKR)This
research is aimed at knowing whether students‟ speaking skill could be
improved by using role play and to know how the implementation of these
technique. The correspondent of this research consisted of 30 students. The
method of this research used classroom action research (CAR). Similarly, he
used the same cycle as the first previous study which consisted of planning,
acting, observing, and reflecting. In sustaining the research result, two types
of data are collected; qualitative data that derived from observation and
interview towards thestudents and the teacher as well. On the other hand,
quantitative data were designed by pre test and post test. The last the data
would be analyzed by using descriptive analysis and statistic. The result of
this study showed that the implementation of role play towards students‟
speaking skill is effective. In addition, the interview result showed the
students were more motivated and interested in learning English.

The similarity between both previous studies with this research is aimed at
knowing the effectiveness of teaching speaking by using Role Play technique.
Besides, there are two differences between both previous studies and this
study. The first, both previous studies used A Classroom Action Research
(CAR) method, while this study uses an experimental method. Second, the
sampling of the first previous study was the first grade of junior high school
students and the second previous study was the third grade of Junior High
 School students. However, the sampling of this study is the second grade of
Junior High School students.

D. Frame of Thinking
It has been mentioned before in the above discussion that speaking involves two
ways communication with interactive role switching between the speaker, who
conveys a message, and the listener, who interprets responds to it. Speaking is one
of the four language basic skills that occur in every situation. Learners of a
language should develop effective communication skill in daily situations.

The writer concludes from some experts that role play is a technique which
involves fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific
situation for a while, improvising dialogue and creating a real world scenario.

A role play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for
variation and imagination. According to Ladousse, role play uses different
communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes
interaction the classroom and increases motivation.
Role play can improve learners speaking skills in any situation, and can help
learners to interact. As for the shy learners, role play helps by providing a mask,
where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated In addition, it is fun
and most learners will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning.

It can be seen that role play is a technique which can develop students speaking
ability. The meaning delivers fluency in target language, promotes students to
speak or interact with others in the classroom, increases motivation and makes the
teaching learning process more enjoy.

E. Hypothesis of the Research

There are two hypothesis of this research:
1. The alternative hypothesis shows that using role play is effectivein
teaching speaking.
2. The null hypothesis shows that using role play is not effective inteaching
speaking.