AN ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACT IN STUDENT’S

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT THE SECOND GRADE OF

MTS MIFTAHUL U’LUM TANJUNGPINANG
1
Azita, 2Nana Raihana Askurny, 3Dewi Nopita
1
Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji
2
Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji
3
Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji
*Corresponding email: @azitazahra4@gmail.com, @ayobipamedan@gmail.com,
dewinopita.umrah@gmial.com

Abstract
The most importance to communication and interaction with many people is language. Communication is
exchange of massages that cannot be separated from life, especially from the teaching and learning process.
One of them is in language learning activities. The using of directive speech acts in student conversations in
student activity practice is one in the use of various forms of language. Purpose of the Research is describe
the types of directive speech acts on students' speaking activities at MTs Miftahul U'lum eighth grade
Tanjung Pinang. The research use qualitative method.
Based on the research problem, the result of the research has shown that there are eleven of direct
speech act in student’s speaking activities at MTs Miftahul U'lum eighth grade Tanjung Pinang. There were
two directive speech act of asking, two directive speech act of prohibiddings, three directive speech act of
commandings, fourteen directive speech act of questions, one directive speech act of inviting, five directive
speech act of orderings, two directive speech act of requestings, five directive speech act of suggesting, one
directive speech actk m of apprise, two directive speech act of dismissings and one directive speech act of
warning.

Keywords: Speech act, Student’s Speaking activities, conversation.

I INTRODUCTION

Communication is a proses transferring information by one person to another directly or indirecly. So

the information comes from the results of the proses that has been obtained right after listening to or seeing the
sender. The most importance to communication and interaction with many people is language. Communication
is exchange of massages that cannot be separated from life, especially from the teaching and learning process.
One of them is in language learning activities.

Language is important to communicate in teaching process, a good communicate will be help us to

develop our life, especially English for educationn in Indonesia. Nunan (2000), Speaking is very important in
our life because without speaking we cannot know what the other talk and speaking also is the way that we use
to interaction with the other people. Additioned to Rivers in Erwadi (2004), what the students need in a target
language is the skill to use the language in acts of communication, because speaking is a very complex and
different skill to learn especially by the foreign language students. Burns dan Grove (in Nana Rihana 2016) said,
the main objective of research in the social and educational fields is to develop a scientific knowledge base for
effective and efficient social and educational practices. That is the synchronization between scientific research
and syllabus in schools. The purpose of the research to describe the types of directive speech acts on students'
speaking activities at MTs Miftahul U'lum eighth grade Tanjung Pinang. Austin defined speech act as what
actions we perform when we produce utterance. Searle says that the unit of linguistics communication is not, as
has generally been supposed, the symbol, word or sentence, or even the token of the symbol, word or sentence,
but rather the production or issuance of the symbol, word or sentence in the performance of the speech acts
(Mey, 2001).

Directive is one kind of illocutionary speech act. Directive is the speaker expects the listener to do
something as a response. From Jucker (2008), he stated that “directive speech acts is an utterance of the speaker
to make the hearer do something for the speaker and there are some kinds of directive speech act, they are:
asking, challenging, daring, demanding, dismissing, excusing, inviting, ordering, permitting, recommending,
requesting, requiring, suggesting, urging, warning, and the writer add question, rejecting, apprise” Those forms
can be described as follow:

a. Asking
Asking is kind of directive speech act that used by the speaker, that the utter want to make
listener do or give something for speaker.
For example: “I asked him to open the window”
b. Prohibiting
Prohibiting formally use to forbid (something or someone) by law, rule, or othern authority like
prohibiting that based on the speaker's anxiety until the listener does something. For example: “Do not
open of this box now”. The speaker said it because the she is worried to the listener if something
dangerous happens outside the home.
c. Commanding
commanding is sentence which normally has no overt grammatical subject, and whose verb is in
the imperative feel. For example: “Write that short story about Indonesian in your book.”
d. Question
Question is kind of directive speech act since it is attempted by speaker to get hearer can answer
the question. Questions are used to reveal a lack of unknown information and at some point the asker
usually asks the listener to inform this information verbally to reinforce the truth that the asker
understands.
e. Inviting
Inviting is to make polite, formal, or friendly request to (someone) to go somewhere or to do
something. The act of inviting can be defined as an attempt to get the addressee to attend or participate
in a given event or carry out an action. Example: Can you come at my home?
f. Ordering
Ordering is to give an authoritative direction or instruction to do something, and in other
definition ordering is request (something) to be made, supplied, or served. For example she or he
ordered me to leave this school, “please, give me some snacks".
g. Requesting
According to Kreidler in Fitriani, requesting is an expression of what the speaker wants the
addressee to do or refrain from doing something. “A request does not assume the speaker’s control over
the person addressed”.
h. Suggesting
Suggesting is the process by which one thought leads to another especially through association
of ideas. It is related to something that should be done by the hearer. The utterance is transferred to the
hearer in tactful way, so that the utterance will not make the hearer being offended. For example when
the speaker wants to do something better and suggested the listener about what he was expecting: "I
suggest, that you get out for a day or two".
i. Permitting
Permiting or allowing is included into the type of directive speech act that is usually used by the
utterance to give authorization or consent to (someone) to do something. For example: “go to market to
continue your bussiness”.
j. Urging
Urging is utterance of the speaker that he try hard to persuade the listener to do something. For
example: “they urged her to came back soon.”
k. Rejecting
Rejecting is used by the utter to refuse or accept somebody or something. for example: “no tea
for him” in answering the requesting “give him coffee please”.
l. Apprise
Apprise belongs to a kind of directive utterances in speech act when it is spoken by the speaker
and has no other purpose. But only has the function of inform to the listener about unknown something
to the listener. For example: “really that song is the beautiful”.
m. Challenging
Challenging is utterance has function to invite somebody to take part in game, fight and others.
n. Daring
Daring is utterance to show the brave or willing to take risks from the speaker to the hearer.
o. Demanding
Demanding is kind of directive speech act that mean to ask for something very firmly.
p. Dismissing
 Dismissing include in directive speech act which is has aim to decide that somebody or
something is not important and not worth thinking about it.
q. Excusing
Excusing is utterance that has function to forgive somebody for something they have done.
r. Recommending
Recommending is kind of directive speech act that purpose is advise somebody to do something.
For example : I recommend you to leave early.
s. Requiring
Requiring is utterance has function to make somebody do something, especially because it is
necessary according to a law or set of rules. For example: You are required to pay the fine.
t. Warning
Warning is kind of directives peech act that goal to tell somebody in advace about a possible
danger or difficulty .

Speaking is the active use of language to express meanings so that other people can make sense of them.
She adds that attention to precise details of language is required to speak in foreign language in order to share
understandings with other people. A speaker needs to find the most appropriate words and the correct grammar
to convey meaning accurately and precisely, and needs to organise the discourse so that the listener will
understand. Another expert, Thonburry (2005), considers speaking or oral communication as an activity which
includes two or more people in which hearers and speakers have to react to what they hear and make their
contribution at speed of high level. Each participant has a purpose or an intention that she/he wants to achieve in
the interaction. Also that’s mean speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.

The using of directive speech acts in student conversations in student activity practice is one in the use
of various forms of language. Through directive speech acts students can practice how speech a cts can be used
in learning while speaking activities. However, in speaking activities students often do not understand what the
other person means when speaking in the classroom. that is the writer's interest to write research. Another factor
that constrains students in understanding speaking is the limited vocabulary and not concentration on learning
speaking.

Based on the explanation above, the researcher utilizes the classroom situation as a source of research,
namely “An Analysis of Speech Act in Student’s Speaking Activities at The Second Grade of MT’s Miftahul
U’lum Tanjungpinang”.

II METHOD

This research used qualitative methods. Descriptive method is used to describe, explain, take place in the
real situation about social phonemena and analyze the phenomenon which occurred behind the data. Sutopo
(2002) states that in method, the analysis of the data is done naturally objective, and factual. It means that the
researcher applies a set of procedures used for problem solving based on the factual data.

In doing this research, the researcher collecting data with listen recorder of student’s utterances in the
classroom and note taking the recorder. That the main data sources in qualitative research is words and actions,
the rest is additional data such as documents and others. The data of this research were the student utterances
used during communicating with the student in the classroom. The researcher obtained the data from the
classroom conversation.

III RESULT

3.1 Classification of Directive Speech

The clasification of directive speech act was done based on the kind of directive speech act according to
Jucker, which classify intoasking, challenging, daring, demanding, dismissing, excusing, forbidding, instructing,
inviting, ordering, permitting, recommending, requesting, requiring, suggesting, urging, warning, and the writer
add question, rejecting, apprise.
 Table 3.1 The Result Directive Speech act of Asking

Type Of Sentences
Directive
Speech Act
Asking Teacher: Before we start to midterm exam in class, I want to absent you.
Who is absent here?
Student 2: head of class, fian don’t present sir.
Teacher: ouuu…thank you so much. Before we start to study, I want to
check your absention, anyone absent here?
Student 11: Today All Present, miss.
Prohibiting Student 5: Don’t be noisy.
Teacher: Keep silent, please. We begin exam. Do not cheating Please enjoy,
good luck.
Student 5: yeah, sir.
Teacher: Keep silent, please. We begin exam. Do not cheating. Please enjoy.
All Student: (All Student silent)
Commanding Teacher: You have to buy. It’s for your own safety so you don’t have a fever
in the rainy season.
Student 8: Alright sir.
Teacher: It’s good idea. Alright. So cold here, turn off the fan, please.
student 2 : Alright sir.
Teacher: Calm down. I will see all of your handicraft. Please submite
homework on my desk.
All Student : (All Student silent)
Question Teacher : How are you today?
All Students: I am fine, how are you sir?
All Students: I am fine, how are you sir?
Teacher : I am very good
Teacher: Before we start to midterm exam in class, I want to absent you.
Who is absent here?
Student 2: head of class, fian don’t present sir.
Teacher : why?
Student 3: Because he sick, his body incident.
Teacher: true or not what you said?
Student 4: yes, true sir.
Teacher: when did it happen? Randi, you as a his brother, how about
condition him?
Student 6: that incident happened yesterday, reportly they slipped on a
slippery road when it rained heavly. His condition is better then before, but
still sick.
Teacher: innalillahi…anyone meet him yesterday?
Student 7: I have met him last night with my brother. His arm and legs was
injured.
Student 4: I forget to bring my pen. Could you borrow to me?
Student 3: I don’t have many pen. I just have one. Fatimah have more pens. I
suggest you borrow it.
Teacher: How are you this morning?
All Student: I am fine, miss. How about you?
All Student: I am fine, miss. How about you?
Teacher: I am pretty good.
Teacher: ouuu…thank you so much. Before we start to study, I want to check
your absention, anyone absent here?
Teacher : Good. Oyya…today I will take the grade of craft assignment. All
bring handicraft?
Student 12: yes mam. Look my handicraft, is it good?
Student 12: yes mam. Look my handicraft, is it good?
Teacher: Yes, it is so neat.
 Student 11: Miss, could you see my handcraft too?
Teacher: Calm down. I will see all of your handicraft. Please submite
homework on my desk.
Inviting Student 6: Yeah, I was just about to say. I invite you to my house .He need
your support.
Teacher : It’s good idea. Alright. So cold here, turn off the fan, please.
Ordering Student 2: alright. can you over this paper to another friend?
Student 3: alright.
Student 4: I forget to bring my pen. could you borrow to me?
Student 3: I don’t have many pen. I just have one. Fatimah have more pens. I
suggest you borrow it.
Student 12: yes mam. Look my handicraft, is it good?
Teacher: Yes, it is so neat.
Student 13: Le t’s see my handicraft, please.
Student 11: Miss, could you see my handcraft too?
Student 11: Miss, could you see my handcraft too?
Teacher: Calm down. I will see all of your handicraft. Please submite
homework on my desk.
Requesting Teacher : Let’s we begin exam, here is it
Student 2: alright.
Teacher : Calm down. I will see all of your handicraft. Please submite
homework on my desk.
All Student : (All Student silent)
Suggesting Teacher: I suggest you to carry a raincoat wherever you are.
Student 8: I don’t have raincoat, sir.
Student 8: Alright sir. How about we all go to fian’s house?
Student 6: Yeah, I was just about to say. I invite you to my house. He need
your support.
Student 3: I don’t have many pen. I just have one. Fatimah have more pens. I
suggest you borrow it.
Student 4: Thank you
Teacher : Please enjoy, good luck.
Student 5: yeah, sir.
Teacher: Yes, it is so neat. Good job. I will make a show about it. At the
beginning of next month. For those, who want to improve their work, I
suggest repairing it this week.
Apprise Student 12: yes mam. Look my handicraft, is it good?
Teacher: Yes, it is so neat. Good job.
Dismissing Student 5: Don’t be noisy.
Teacher: Keep silent, please. We begin exam. Do not cheating Please enjoy,
good luck.
Teacher: Attantion for all students, for the rainy season. You don’t go
speeding on the road. It will be dangerous if you ride a motorbike fast and not
follow traffic regulation.
All Students : Alright sir.

Based on the table 3.1 above the researcher found some sentences of directive speech act in the speaking
test of simulation teaching learning between teacher and student in the school by the students that student made
38 sentences. The researcher mark it in the bold.

IV DISCUSSION

After the data analyze about ‘speech act student speaking activities that focused on using the speaking
test of simulation teaching learning between teacher and student in the school by the studentsin their script.
There were 2 directive speech act of asking, 2 directive speech act of prohibidding, 3 directive speech act of
commanding, 14 directive speech act of question, 1 directive speech act of inviting, 5 directive speech act of
ordering, 2 directive speech act of requesting, 5 directive speech act of suggesting, 1 directive speech act of
apprise, 2 directive speech act of dismissing and 1 directive speech act of warning.
 There are some categories of speaking performance that should be understood by teachers as those focus
on different speaking skills. Brown (2001) lists six categories that students are expected to carry out in the
classroom namely imitative, intensive, responsive, transactional, interpersonal, and extensive. In imitative and
intensive performance the students practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language. Intensive
speaking can be self-initiated or it can even form part of some pair work activity. While in responsive
performance, the students’ performances in the classroom are in the forms of short replies to teacher- or student-
initiated questions or comments. This type of speaking performance includes direct interactions which are
limited to respond a very short conversation.

In the speaking activities of English students, 3 students spoke out the types of commanded speech
acts. A command or order is an action performed by a speaker who has the right or obligation to issue a
command to the audience. The speaker has a full control on the act of the hearer. Another example from the
conversation:
Teacher: “It’s good idea. Alright. So cold here, turn off the fan, please.”
Student 2 : “Alright sir.”

In the speaking activities of English students, two students said the types of instructive speech
acts. A request is a prescriptive verbal act whose purpose is to allow the listener to perform the act in less
obvious circumstances (usually in the event of an event). By initiating a request, the speaker believes that the
audience can perform an action. Researcher found there are 6 data that include to request. Another example
from the conversation:
Student 2 : “alright. can you over this paper to another friend?”
Student 3 : “alright.”

In the oral activities of English students, one student said the type of indicative speech act. An
invitation is a public expression when someone wants to ask someone to come to a certain place or someone
wants someone to do something for him/her. According to data analysis, 1 data is considered as an invitation .
Another example from the conversation:
Student 6 : “Yeah, I was just about to say. I invite you to my house. He need
your support.”
Teacher : “It’s good idea. Alright.”

There 2 students uttered the type of forbidding directive speech act in English student speaking
activities. Forbidding is telling to someone about a possible danger or difficulty. Warning is usually stated by
using positive person which give positive treatment or effect. Example teacher forbid smoke to student, its mean
teacher is person to give positive effect although use negative sentence. Another example from the conversation :
Teacher: “Attention for all students, for the rainy season. You don’t go speeding on the road it will be dangerous
if you ride a motorbike fast and not follow traffic regulation.”
All Students : “Alright sir.”

There 5 students uttered the type of suggesting directive speech act in English student speaking
activities. Suggestion is the process by which one thought leads to another, especially through association of
ideas. It is related to something that should be done by the hearer. Another example from the conversation :
Student 3 : “I don’t have many pen. I just have one.
Fatimah have more pens. I suggest you borrow it.”
Student 4 : “Thank you”

After analyzing directive speech in student speaking activities at the second grade of MTS Miftahul
U’lum Tanjungpinang, the researcher found that most students made directive speech act which student made 2
directive speech act of asking, 2 directive speech act of prohibidding, 3 directive speech act of commanding, 14
directive speech act of question, 1 directive speech act of inviting, 5 directive speech act of ordering, 2 directive
speech act of requesting, 5 directive speech act of suggesting, 1 directive speech act of apprise, 2 directive
speech act of dismissing and 1 directive speech act of warning.(see table 3.1)

Therefore, the student uttered type of directive speech act in speaking student speaking activities,
because 11 from 13 success to build sentences. In other words student at the second grade of MTs Miftahul
U’lum Tanjungpinang understand to use directive speech act.
V CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis and data disply in the previous chapter, it is concluded that after
analyzing trough the researcher got the data of directive speech in student speaking activities at the
second grade of MTS Miftahul U’lum Tanjungpinang.
Relate to researcher question in chapter 1, type of directive speech acts in students' speaking activities at
MTs Miftahul U'lum eighth grade Tanjung Pinang in English speaking from 2 participants did test by group.
There were 2 directive speech act of asking, 2 directive speech act of prohibidding, 3 directive speech act of
commanding, 14 directive speech act of question, 1 directive speech act of inviting, 5 directive speech act of
ordering, 2 directive speech act of requesting, 5 directive speech act of suggesting, 1 directive speech act of
apprise, 2 directive speech act of dismissing and 1 directive speech act of warning.
 REFERENCE

Austin, J.L. 1962. How To Do Things With World. London: Oxford University Press.
Erwadi, (2004) . A Study on Effectiveness of Using Picture in Teaching Speaking at SLPTN 6 Pekanbaru,
Pekanbaru: Unpublished Thesis
Jucker, A. H. (2008). Speech Acts in the History of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mey, Jacob L. 2001. Pragmatics: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell
Nana, Raihana A. 2016. Translation Pragmatic textual in teaching BIPA. Universitas Maritim Raja Ali
Haji.
Nunan, David. (2000) . Language Teaching Methodology. Malaysia city: Pearson education Ltd.
Searle, John R (1985). Introduction to the Theory of Speech Acts. Cambridge University
Sutopo. H.B. 2002. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif: DasarTeory dan Terapanya Dalam Penelitian.
Surakarta:UNS Press