STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ON EFL SPEAKING SKILLS

Irma Firi Andriani1, Setya Muljanto2, Amir Hamzah3

SMAN 1 Garut, Institut Pendidikan Indonesia
irmafitri171@gmail.com1, tanto-sm@yahoo.com2,
amirhamzahinstitutpendidikan.ac.id3

Abstract
The aim of this research was to investigate what are students’ perception on EFL
speaking skills. This research was conducted in one of Senior High Schools in
Garut, in which consisted of six students of eleventh grade students in the data
interview as participants. This research used qualitative method. In this research,
the data were collected from structured interview. As the results, the first, the
researcher founded that all of the participants think that speaking is important to
learn. It can be seen from the students’ answered in interview. They are stated that
speaking is important to learn because speaking used for interaction and
communication in our life. The second, the teachers’ way in teaching speaking can
influenced the students’ speaking skill. The students stated that if the teacher’s way
in teaching speaking is well, it can make the students more active and interested in
learning speaking, and it becomes a main factor for the students can understand or
not. The last, the researcher founded that what are the students’ difficulties in
learning speaking. The students have difficulties in learning speaking skill because
they have poor vocabulary and poor pronunciation.

Keywords: Perception, speaking skill, EFL

INTRODUCTION
Speaking is one of the most important skills which needs to be developed by EFL learners.
Speaking as an activity by human beings tries to express their thought, opinion, and to
exchange information by using utterances in the communication. According to Liu (2014)
speaking means through which learners can make presentations, offer explanations, transmit
information, describe things, make polite requests, and exchange ideas with others or to
express their opinions. In line with Bahrani (2011), states that speaking is the most used skill
in our daily activity more often than reading and writing.
Developing speaking skill is not easy for EFL learners. Many EFL learners think that
speaking is difficult skill than the other skills in learning English. Malihah (2010) states that
among the four language skills, learners regard speaking as the most difficult skill to attain
because it needs great courage as well as preparation to produce the language. The students
who are learning speaking skill have the difficulties in learning speaking because they are
rarely practice speaking in the class. It means that if students rarely practice speaking, they do
not develop their speaking skill. Also, the mistakes done by the teachers in choosing suitable
approach in teaching speaking skill. Many teachers still used the lecturing method and more
focus in teacher-centered in teaching English. The students just listening to the teacher when
the teacher teach, it makes the students passive in the class.
The previous study which is done by Nazara (2011) from Christian University of
Indonesia in the research entitled “Students’ Perception on EFL Speaking Skill Development”.

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This research investigates the perceptions on the students of the English Teaching Study
Program of FKIP UKI Jakarta on their English speaking skill development. The findings
revealed that all respondents viewed speaking important and they were willing to deal with the
necessities to master it.
The researcher chose this research because she found the problem when she was conducting
PPL (pre-teaching program) in one of Senior High School in Garut. The students have difficulties
in learning speaking skill because they are rarely practice speaking in learning English. They just
listening the teacher when the teacher teaches, but they are rarely practice speaking skill. Based on
the background of the study above, the research question of this research is: “What are students’
perception on EFL
speaking skills?”
Perception
Perception has a variety of senses according to experts Perception is the organization,
identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the
presented information, or the environment (Schacter (2011). According to Goldstein (2009) all
perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical
or chemical stimulation of sensory system. Perception depends on complex functions of the
nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside
conscious awareness. In addition, Gregory (1987) states that perception is not only the passive
receipt of these signals, but it’s also shaped by the recipient’s learning, memory, expectation, and
attention.

Speaking
There are several definitions of speaking according to the experts. Fulcher (2003:23) states that
speaking is the use of language to communicate with others. It means that speaking involves two
or more people in which the participants are both hearers and speakers. According to Siahaan
(2008:95) speaking is a productive skill. It means that speaking is a humans’ skill to produce
sounds that exist in the meaning and be understood by other people, so it is able to create good
communication. In addition, Nunan (2003:48) states that speaking is the productive oral skill and
it consists of producing systematic, verbal utterance to convey meaning.

The Importance of Speaking

Speaking skill is the most important skill to acquire foreign or second language learning. Among
the four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most important skill in learning a foreign
or second language. Brown and Yuke (1983) stated that speaking is the skill that the students will
be judged upon most in real life situations. Regardless of its importance, teaching speaking skills
have been undervalued and most of the EFL/ESL teachers have been continuing their teaching of
speaking skills just as memorization of dialogues or repetition of drills. Nevertheless, the modern
world demands for the requirement of communication skills for the learners and the English
teachers have to teach the ELLs the needed skills so that they will improve their abilities in
speaking and perform well in real-life situations.

Aspects of Speaking
In speaking, there are some aspects that must be fulfilled that can be used as a measurement
whether our speaking skill is good or not. The aspects of speaking according to Brown (2001:406-
407) are:

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1) Fluency
Fluency is the matter of the way someone speaks the language without any trouble like
thinking the word confusing the idea, etc.
2) Comprehension
Comprehension is a students’ competence to comprehend all of what the speaker says to
them.
3) Grammar
Grammar is the way to organize the words into the correct sentence.
4) Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the basic of language. Vocabulary is about the choice of word which is used
appropriately based on the context of speaking.
5) Pronunciation
Pronunciation is the important component of language. Therefore, it is necessary because if
the students have a good pronunciation, their speaking will be understanding.

Teaching Speaking
Teaching speaking is not easy, because English is not the first language in Indonesia. Students
have many difficulties in learning it. The teachers must have a role in stimulating the students to
speak and express their ideas in the classroom to make the class alive. According to Nunan
(2003:55-56) proposes at least four principles for teaching speaking, there are:
1) Giving students practice with both fluency and accuracy.
2) Providing opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work and limiting
teacher talk.
3) Planning speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning.
4) Designing classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and
interpersonal speaking.

Speaking Difficulties in EFL Learners

Many EFL learners think that speaking is the most difficult skill in learning English. Richards
(2008) stated that there are some typical learners’ problem in speaking. Those problems are: 1)
Lack of Vocabulary needed to Talk Vocabulary refers to the words that speakers used when
speaking. The students should have much vocabulary to get the communication process well. Doris
and Jessica (2007) states that in the real communication, nobody paid much attention to the correct
grammar expression, but emphasized the content and how to reply. 2) Poor Pronunciation
Pronunciation is important aspects in learning foreign language. Correct pronunciation is
very necessary to develop speaking skill. Gerard (2000:11) stated that a speaker who constantly
mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language
community to understand. 3) Poor in Grammar
If the students do not know the rules of grammar, they cannot be able to communicate using
English well. According to Celce-Murcia (2001) grammar become difficulties because
learners do not learn structures one in a time.

Types of Speaking Performances

According to Brown (2004: 271) there are six categories of speaking skill area, as follows:
1) Imitative
This category includes the ability to practice an intonation and focusing on some particular

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 elements of language form.
2) Intensive
It is usually placing students doing the task in pairs (group work), for example, reading aloud
that includes reading paragraph, reading dialogue with partner in turn, reading information
from chart, etc.
3) Responsive
Responsive performance includes interaction and test comprehension but at the somewhat
limited level of very short conversation, standard greeting and small talk, simple request and
comments.
4) Transactional (dialogue)
It is carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information.
5) Interpersonal (dialogue)
The forms of interpersonal speaking performance are interview, role play, discussions,
conversations and games.
6) Extensive (monologue)
Teacher gives students extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, storytelling
and short speeches.

METHODOLOGY
This research used qualitative method. According to Creswell (2012) qualitative approaches tend
to attend to participant’s views when they study and collect data in a natural setting as the study
develops. This research used case study design. The steps adapted from Creswell (2012), the steps
are: choosing topic, identifying research problems, reviewing the literature, specifying a purpose
a research, conducting qualitative research, collecting data, analyzing and interpreting data, finding
and reporting the result of research.
In conducting the research, instruments are an important part to collect the data. Instruments
are used as a tool to collect the information. The researcher used interview to know the specific
information about students’ perceptions in EFL speaking skills. According to Nunan (1989)
interview can be relatively structured and unstructured. A structured interview is orchestrated
around a set of predetermined questions, while an unstructured interview is more like a free
following conversation between the interviewer and interviewee. The type of interview used for
this research is structured interview, because the researcher prepared eight questions for interview
process about the students’ perceptions in EFL speaking skills. The students were interviewed one
by one in order to get specific information directly. Furthermore, the interview process was
conducted in Bahasa Indonesia in order to avoid misunderstanding between the interviewer and
interviewee. The researcher recorded the process of interview for collecting the data.
This research was conducted in one of the Senior High Schools in Garut. There were several
reasons why this school was chosen as a research site. First, this school consisted of a variety of
students. Second, this school had a good academic reputation in Garut. The researcher was chosen
six students of eleventh grade students in interview as participants. The selection of the participant
in the interview was chosen based on the categorized into three levels of achievement, two students
from high level, two students from middle level, and two students from low level. This categorized
is based on students’ English scores in speaking test.
For collecting the data in interview, the interview process was conducted in bahasa Indonesia
and consisted in ten questions of interview. The students selected into three levels of achievement,
two students from high level, two students from middle level, and two students from low level.

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This categorized is based on students’ English scores in speaking test. The interview processes
were conducted on 16th August 2020 until 18th August 2020. In this research, the researcher used
Miles, Huberman & Saldana’s theory in analyzing the data. Miles, Huberman & Saldana (2014)
consist that there four steps of data analysis. The outlined of steps in data analysis are below: data
collection, data reduction, data display, and drawing conclusion.

FINDINGS
The results discussed the findings in correlation with the students’ perception on EFL speaking
skills. The findings are categorized into three categories namely (1) The important of learning
speaking skills (2) Students’ perception about the teachers’ way in teaching speaking, and (3)
Students’ difficulties in learning speaking skills.

The importance of Learning Speaking Skills

This question aimed to know how the important learning speaking for the students. TAK (090820)
stated that:
“In my opinion, learning speaking is very important. Because in learning speaking can train our
fluency in speaking English in front of many people, then we can train our confidence”
All of the participants stated that speaking is important to learn, because speaking is used
for interaction and communication in our life. Also, learning speaking can train their speaking
fluency in front of many people and can train their confidence. It is supported by Brown and Yuke
(1983) stated that speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in real life
situations. Regardless of its importance, teaching speaking skills have been undervalued and most
of the EFL/ESL teachers have been continuing their teaching of speaking skills just as
memorization of dialogues or repetition of drills.

Students’ Perception about the Teachers’ Way in Teaching Speaking

This question aimed to observe what is the teacher teaches can influence the students in improving
the students’ speaking skill. AAJ (090820) stated that:
“In my opinion, the teachers’ way or how to explain in learning is very important to improve
speaking skills. Because the way to explain the material of speaking is different, sometimes I do
not understand. So, the teacher’s way in giving the lessons of speaking is very influence so that it
becomes a major factor for the students can understand or not”
All of participants stated that the teacher’s way in teaching speaking can improve the students’
speaking skill, because if the teacher’s way in teaching speaking is well, it can make the students
more active and interested in learning speaking, and it becomes a main factor for the students can
understand or not.

Students’ Difficulties in Learning Speaking Skills

This question aimed to find out the students’ difficulties in learning speaking. The students have
the difficulties in pronunciation and vocabulary. HMH (100820) stated that: “In my opinion, it’s
pronunciation, because vocabulary can be memorized. pronunciation the accent should be able to
resemble like the foreigners speak. So, many English words that are read with that are written are
different. So, we have to follow the grammar pronunciation of foreigners.” TAK (090820) stated
that: “According to myself, I have a very difficult in learning speaking, because my vocabulary is
poor...”
They have difficult in how to pronounce the word correctly like English speakers. They also

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stated that they have difficult to give their opinion because they have a poor vocabulary, they are
used google translate or English dictionary to search the difficult vocabulary before did the task.
It is supported by Doris and Jessica (2007) also states that in the real communication, nobody paid
much attention to the correct grammar expression, but emphasized the content and how to reply.
Also, the students have poor pronunciation. The students have poor pronunciation because
they are rarely practice speaking in the class. They are just practice only once in a month. It is
become the reason why the students think that practice speaking is difficult to learned, because
they are rarely practice speaking English in the class. It is supported by Gerard (2000:11) stated
that a speaker who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for
a speaker from another language community to understand.

DISCUSSION
Based on the findings above, the researcher found that three point in students’ perception in EFL
speaking skills, there are: speaking is important to learn in
EFL classroom, the teacher’s way can influence the students’ speaking skill, and the students’
difficulties in learning speaking skill because they have poor vocabulary and pronunciation. First,
the researcher found that speaking is important to learn in EFL classroom. It can be seen from the
result of interview. All of the participants stated that speaking is important to learn, because
speaking is used for interaction and communication in our life. Also, learning speaking can train
their speaking fluency in front of many people and can train their confidence. It is supported by
Brown and Yuke (1983) stated that speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most
in real life situations.
Second, the researcher found what are the teachers’ way in teaching speaking can influence
the students’ speaking skill. It can be seen from the students’ answered, all of participants stated
that the teacher’s way in teaching speaking can improve the students’ speaking skill, because if the
teacher’s way in teaching speaking is well, it can make the students more active and interested in
learning speaking, and it becomes a main factor for the students can understand or not.
Third, the researcher found the students’ difficulties in learning speaking skills. The students
have the difficulties in learning speaking skills because they have poor vocabulary and poor
pronunciation. All participants stated that they have the difficulties in vocabulary. They have poor
vocabulary because they are rarely practice speaking in the class. It is supported by Doris and
Jessica (2007) also states that in the real communication, nobody paid much attention to the correct
grammar expression, but emphasized the content and how to reply. Also, the students have poor
pronunciation. The students have poor pronunciation because they are rarely practice speaking in
the class. It is supported by Gerard (2000:11) stated that a speaker who constantly mispronounces
a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to
understand. This research has strength and weakness. The strength of this research is to know how
the students’ perception about speaking skill, what are the teacher do in teaching speaking in the
class. Then the weakness of this research is this research should use an observation as instrument.
But, because it is currently being hit Covid-19 pandemic, where the researcher cannot conduct the
data in the school. The researcher only used interview as instruments in this research.

CONCLUSION
Based on the result, the researcher draws conclusions as follows: what are students’ perceptions
on EFL speaking skills.
The researcher found that three point in students’ perceptions on EFL classroom. First, the

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researcher found that speaking is important to learn in EFL classroom. It can be seen from the
students answered in interview, all of the participants stated that speaking is important to learn,
because speaking is used for interaction and communication in our life.
Second, the researcher found what are the teachers’ way in teaching speaking can influence
the students’ speaking skill. It can be seen from the students’ answered, all of participants stated
that the teacher’s way in teaching speaking can improve the students’ speaking skill, because if the
teacher’s way in teaching speaking is well, it can make the students more active and interested in
learning speaking, and it becomes a main factor for the students can understand or not.
Third, the researcher found the students’ difficulties in speaking skill. It can be seen from
the students’ answered in interview, they have difficult in how to pronounce the word correctly
like English speakers. They also stated that they have difficult to give their opinion because they
have a poor vocabulary, they are used google translate or English dictionary to search the difficult
vocabulary before did the task. Students are clearly known what they are going to say in the source
language, but when they have to switch the language itself into the target language such as English,
they often get confuse to combine and use the proper vocabularies needed.

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