Teacher’s Strategies in Teaching Speaking to Young Learners

Erik Yuda Pratama & Yani Awaliyah

English Education Study Program
Ibn Khaldun University of Bogor

Abstract
The proficiency of speaking becomes one of the five skills that should be acquired by
every child in this 21 century era (Seamolec on line course 2: 2006). Communicating and
collaborating and language boundaries become a necessity in diverse and multinational
communities. Mutually beneficial relationships are a central undercurrent to
accomplishment in Business (Partnership for 21st century skills: 2008). This research is
aimed to investigate the teacher’s strategies, problems and solutions for teaching speaking
to young learners. A case study design was used in this study, and the data were collected
through observation, interview, and written document. The data from these three
instruments were analyzed qualitatively. This research has found several strategies
promoted by the lecturer when teaching speaking to young learners. In the classroom
activities, the lecturer used several strategies such as, role play, watching videos, jazz
chant, digital storytelling, games, and repetition. The teachers might face several barriers
in the classroom such as reluctant students, missing pronunciation and lack of
vocabularies. But he can overcome those barriers by using various techniques of teaching
speaking to young learners, such as implementing media and designing the lesson using
topical-based syllabus (Pinter, 2006).

Keywords: Teaching strategies, Speaking skill, EYL

INTRODUCTION In preparing every child to have a

good communication skill, teaching
The mastery of speaking skills in speaking is a primary requirement to be
English is a necessary for many second taught not only for adult learners but also
language and foreign language students for young learners.
(Richard, 2008). Therefore, learners As stated by Slattery and Willis
often appraise their language learning on (2001), cited in Hakim (2011), English is
how much they think they have being provided into initial classroom,
developed their skill in spoken language such as Kindergarten and Elementary
skill. Besides, the proficiency of school, so that the teachers are needed to
speaking becomes one of the five skills teach it into young learners. Further, to
that should be acquired by every child in make the children to be able to speak
this 21 century era which is called as a English in communication, teachers need
communication skill (Seamolec on line to guide the students to acquire the
course 2, 2006). Further, communicating vocabulary and structures (Richard,
and collaborating and language 2008).
boundaries become a necessity in diverse In line with (Richard, 2008),
and multinational communities. Mutually Harmer (2007a, p. 123) proposes three
beneficial relationships are a central major reasons for getting students to
undercurrent to accomplishment in speak and to acquire new vocabulary in
Business (Partnership for 21st century the classroom: 1). Speaking activities
skills: 2008). provide rehearsal opportunities 2).
Speaking tasks in which students try to

19
use any or all of the languages they know to avoid confusion in the message due to
provide feedback for both teachers and faulty pronunciation, grammar, or
students. 3). the more students have vocabulary, and to observe the social and
opportunities to activate the various cultural rules that apply in each
language elements they have stored in communication situation. To this
their brains, the more automatic their use relation, it is worth voting to what Nunan
of these elements to become. (2003) believes, which particularly
Meanwhile, teaching speaking to dealing with teaching speaking. In his
young learners may give some perception, to teach speaking can be
difficulties to the teacher especially in defined as to teach the students to:
Indonesia, since the young learners also - Produce the English speech
consider speaking as a great challenge sound and sound patterns
since it requires them to speak and think - Use words and sentences stress,
at the same time (Pinter, 2000). Besides, intonation patterns, and the
young learners are not necessarily rhythm of the second language
competent communicators even in their - Select the appropriate words
mother tongue, and it reveals an idea that and sentences according to the
teaching speaking in Indonesia must be proper social setting, audience,
developed in EFL context. situation and subject matter
- Organize their thoughts in a
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK meaningful and logical
sequence
The Nature of Speaking - Use language as a mean of
Speaking is a complex cognitive expressing values and
process (Graham-Marr, 2004) and an judgments
active use of language to express - Use the language quickly and
meaning (Cameron, 2001). It requires the confidently with few unnatural
language users to speak fluently, to be pauses, which is called as
able to pronounce phonemes correctly, to fluency.
use appropriate stress and intonation To help the students in developing
patterns, and to speak in connected communicative efficiency in speaking,
speech (Harmer, 2007). In line with teachers can use a balanced activities
Harmer (2007), Chaney (cited in Kayi, approach which combines language
2006) defines speaking as a process of input, structured output, and
building and sharing meaning and communicative output (Richard, p.
information through the use of verbal and 2008).
non-verbal symbols in variety context. First, Language input comes in the
In EFL context, the language users form of teacher talk, listening activities,
are also urged to speak in different reading passages, and the language in
genres and situation, and they will have which the students hear and read outside
to be able to use a range of the class. It gives learners the material
conversational and conversational repair they need to begin producing language
strategies (Harmer, 2007a). themselves. Language input may be
content oriented or form oriented.
Teaching Speaking Second, structured output focuses
The goal of teaching speaking is on correct form. In structured output,
communicative efficiency. Learners students may have options for responses,
should be able to make themselves but all of the options require them to use
understood, using their current the specific form or structure that the
proficiency to the fullest. They should try teacher has just introduced. Structured

20
output is designed to make learners talking independently with other
comfortable producing specific language children and the whole class.
items recently introduced, sometimes in 5. Building the children’s inner
combination with previously learned strength to deal with confusing
items. Instructors often use structured and novel situations, by
output exercises as a transition between presenting them with puzzles to
the presentation stage and the practice overcome and solve, and making
stage of a lesson plan. Textbook sure they are finally successful.
exercises also often make good
structured output practice activities. Focusing on the question forms of
Third, communicative output, the new patterns, so the children can ask
learners' main purpose is to complete a about things they do not know. They can
task, such as obtaining information, learn Who is it? before or at the same
developing a travel plan, or creating a time as learning, It’s a cat, and, What’s
video. To complete the task, they may she doing? before or at the same time as
use the language that the instructor has learning She’s sleeping. In line with Paul
just presented, but they also may draw on (2003), Harmer (2007b) and Terry
any other vocabulary, grammar, and (2008) classify roles of teacher in
communication strategies that they know. teaching speaking, as follows:
In communicative output activities, the
criterion of success is whether the learner 1. Prompter: The teachers provide
gets the message across. Accuracy is not the students with discrete
a consideration unless the lack of it suggestions, leave them to
interferes with the message. struggle by themselves, and give
them chunks not words,
Teacher Roles in Teaching Speaking without disrupting the
Paul (2003, p. 77) lists several discussion.
principles that teachers need to consider 2. Participant: The teachers
in preparing students to communicate in participate in the discussion by
English: introducing new information
and by ensuring the continuation
1. Introducing and practicing of students’ engagement. The
patterns in ways that feel main point is the teacher should
meaningful to the children, such not monopolize the
as in games, in situation where conversation.
the children genuinely want to 3. Feedback provider: The teachers
express themselves, and through can give some feedbacks by
personalization. giving helpful and gentle
2. Practicing new patterns in correction and by telling the
combination with the other students about their
patterns the children have performance. Besides that, they
learned, so the children can should avoid over-correction,
internalize them more easily. since it might lead to students’
3. Giving the children many reluctance to continue the
opportunities to guess how to use dialogue.
the patterns flexibly in novel 4. Assessor: The teachers can write
situation. down some written samples of
4. Giving the children confidence to languages produced by students,
speak out in front of others by or memorize some of it, then tell
it to their students.

21
 5. Observer: The teachers should difficult to grasp; (5) They generally
observe the class speaking display an enthusiasm for learning and a
activity and find out what makes curiosity about the world around them;
the activity breakdown. (6) They have a need for individual
6. Resource: The teachers have to attention and approval from the teacher;
provide some tools to improve (7) They are keen to talk about
their students’ oral competence. themselves and respond well to learning
7. Organizer: The teachers manage that uses themselves and their own lives
the classroom to set the as main topics in the classroom; and (8)
activities and get the students They have a limited attention span
engaged. unless activities are extremely engaging,
they can get easily bored.
In one teaching activity, the Based on those classifications,
teachers might play more than one roles various teaching approach in teaching
in the classroom. They can be a prompter young learners are significantly
in the middle of speaking of activity then developed. The finding of an effective
in the end of the class they will play a approach is usually correlated with the
role as feedback provider. particular needs of the young learners. In
this context, teacher should develop a
Characteristics of Young Learners general approach based on their views on
Young learner is categorized as how young learners learn most
students from ages three to eight years effectively and consistently (Paul, 2003).
old (Wilson, 2003; Alianello, 2004). Since the teaching English to
Pinter (2006) limits the age groups of young learners become a universal
young learners from five to fourteen consideration due to the expansion of
years old. However, she offers an idea English, there must be specific
that age of categorization is not a big approaches in teaching them (Hudelson,
deal in teaching language to young 1989; Pinter, 2006).
learners. The main issue in teaching
language to young learners should begin Strategies in Teaching Speaking to
with the consideration that every child is Young Learners
unique and they have substantial Teaching speaking to young
differences within, such as the culture learners is very rewarding since they are
differences (Pinter, 2006). Moreover, less-conscious than older learners
Paul (2000) adds that all children deserve (Phillips, 1993). However, the teachers
the chance to achieve their potential both find it difficult since the learners have to
as learners and as whole people, and master vocabularies, pronunciation,
become broad-minded members of a structure, function in order to say what
truly international society. they want.
Further, Harmer (2007b, p. 82) Cameron (2001) holds an
classifies the characteristics of young assumption that the major part of
learners as follows: (1) They respond to teaching and learning to young learners
meaning even if they do not understand will be oral. Furthermore, she proposes
individual words; (2) They often learn two guiding principles in teaching
indirectly rather than directly; (3) Their speaking to young learners: (1) Meaning
understanding comes not just from must come first: if children do not
explanation, but also from what they see understand the spoken language, they
and hear, and crucially, have a chance to cannot learn it; (2) To learn discourse
touch and interact with; (4) They find skill, children need both to participate in
abstract concepts such as grammar rules discourse and to build up knowledge and

22
skill for participation. It means that the social roles. In role-play activities, the
young learners should be involved in a teacher gives information to the learners
situation where they will practice such as who they are and what they think
speaking with real people for real or feel. Thus, the teacher can tell the
purposes. student that "You are David, you go to
Graham-Marr (2004) provides the doctor and tell him what happened
some of the speaking skills that merit last night, and." (Harmer, 2007b)
classroom time include: fluency,
Brain Storming
phonological clarity, strategies, being On a given topic, students can produce
able to produce chunks of language, ideas in a limited time. Depending on
appropriacy (register), understanding the context, either individual or group
elliptical forms, and the use of brainstorming is effective and learners
interconnected devices. generate ideas quickly and freely. The
Based on the explanation above,
good characteristic of brainstorming is
teaching speaking to young learners that the students are not criticized for
should rely on children characteristics to their ideas so students will be open to
make the learning meaningful. The use of sharing new ideas.
song and cants will be useful for teaching
stress patterns and rhythm of English
Storytelling
(Phillips, 1993). Kayi (2006) endorses Students can briefly summarize a tale or
thirteen activities to promote speaking, story they heard from somebody
namely: beforehand, or they may create their own
stories to tell their classmates. Story
Discussion telling fosters creative thinking. It also
After a content-based lesson, a helps students express ideas in the format
discussion can be held for various of beginning, development, and ending,
reasons. The students may aim to arrive
including the characters and setting a
at a conclusion, share ideas about an story has to have.
event, or find solutions in their
discussion groups. Before the discussion,
Information Gap
it is essential that the purpose of the In this activity, students are supposed to
discussion activity is set by the teacher. be working in pairs. One student will
In this way, the discussion points are have the information that other partner
relevant to this purpose, so that students does not have and the partners will share
do not spend their time chatting with their information. Information gap
each other about irrelevant things. activities serve many purposes such as
solving a problem or collecting
Simulations information. Also, each partner plays an
Simulations are very similar to role-plays important role because the task cannot be
but what makes simulations different
completed if the partners do not provide
than role plays is that they are more the information the others need.
elaborate. In simulations, students can
bring items to the class to create a
realistic environment. For instance, if a Interviews
student is acting as a singer, she brings a Students can conduct interviews on
microphone to sing and so on. selected topics with various people. It is
a good idea that the teacher provides a
Role Play rubric to students so that they know
Students pretend they are in various what type of questions they can ask or
social contexts and have a variety of what path to follow, but students should

23
prepare their own interview questions. saying yes or no students get little
After interviews, each student can practice in spoken language production.
present his or her study to the class. Rather, students ask open-ended
Moreover, students can interview each questions to each other so that they reply
other and "introduce" his or her partner in complete sentences.
to the class.
Picture Describing
Story Completion For this activity students can form groups
For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a and each group is given a different
story, but after a few sentences he or she picture. Students discuss the picture with
stops narrating. Then, each student starts their groups, and then a spokesperson for
to narrate from the point where the each group describes the picture to the
previous one stopped. Each student is whole class. This activity fosters the
supposed to add from four to ten creativity and imagination of the learners
sentences. Students can add new as well as their public speaking skills.
characters, events, descriptions and so
on.
Find the Differences
For this activity students can work in
Reporting pairs and each couple is given two
Before coming to class, students are different pictures, for example, picture of
asked to read a newspaper or magazine boys playing football and another picture
and, in class, they report to their friends of girls playing tennis. Students in pairs
what they find as the most interesting discuss the similarities and/or differences
news. Students can also talk about in the pictures.
whether they have experienced anything
worth telling their friends in their daily Picture Narrating
lives before class. This activity is based on several
sequential pictures. Students are asked to
tell the story taking place in the
Playing Cards
sequential pictures by paying attention to
In this game, students should form
groups of four. Each suit will represent a the criteria provided by the teacher as a
rubric. Rubrics can include the
topic. For instance: diamonds represent
vocabulary or structures they need to use
earning money, hearts represent love and
while narrating.
relationships, spades represent an
unforgettable memory, and card
represent best teacher. Each student in a Methods in Teaching Speaking to
group will choose a card. Then, each Young Learners
student will write 4-5 questions about
that topic to ask the other people in the Audio Lingual Method (ALM)
The principle of Audio-lingual
group. For example: if the topic
Method (ALM) can be applied in
"diamonds: earning money" is selected,
teaching speaking to young learners,
here are some possible questions: .Is
since it holds an assumption that one can
money important in your life? Why? Or
learn language by developing habits
.What is the easiest way of earning
based on pattern of language (Celce-
money? Or what do you think about
Murcia 2001, in Linse 2005) and by
lottery? Etc. However, the teacher
emphasizing repetition and habit
should state at the very beginning of the
formation (Saville-Troike: 2006). The
activity that students are not allowed to
two important features of ALM are drill
prepare yes-no questions, because by

24
with choral response and dialogues. In - require the use of
drilling with corral response, the students communication strategies
will drill certain language feature, and - produce language that may not
then there will be a sentence substitution be predictable
named choral response. - seek to link language use to
context
Moreover, the dialogue provides
the learners with grammatically
controlled scripts. It can be applied in a Techniques in Teaching Speaking to
child-friendly role-play. Besides, the Young Learners
teacher can also use puppets to introduce To make an interactive teaching
dialogue. It will be very beneficial for and learning, designing and promoting
reluctant or shy students who tend to feel various techniques become a crucial part
comfortable to speak with puppets, rather in teaching speaking. Brown (2001, pp.
than with adults (Slattery and Willis 275-276) proposes seven principles in
2003, in Linse 2005). designing speaking techniques, as
Furthermore, the fishbowl follows:
technique can also be used to introduce 1. Use techniques that cover the
young learners to work with partners or spectrum of learners needs, from
small group. This technique requires language-based focus on accuracy to
teachers to invite one volunteer to do the message-based focus on interaction,
model activity with them, let the rest of meaning, and fluency.
the class see, and then the students will 2. Provide intrinsically motivating
know what they are expected to do. techniques
3. Encourage the use of authentic
Communicative Language Teaching language in meaningful contexts.
(CLT) 4. Provide appropriate feedback and
CLT is an approach and correction.
philosophical orientation that connects 5. Capitalize on the natural link between
classroom-based language learning with speaking and listening.
the language that the learners need in 6. Give students opportunities to initiate
order to enable the students to be able to oral communication
speak outside classroom (Nunan, 2003 7. Encourage the development of
see also Richard, 2006). Further, one of speaking strategies.
the goals in CLT is to develop the
fluency of the learners (Richard, 2006). Assessing Young Learners’ Speaking
Therefore, the teacher should be able to Proficiency
build classroom activities in which Assessment is an integral part of
students must negotiate meaning, use teaching and learning process. It can be
communication strategies, correct described as the process of data analysis
misunderstanding, and work to avoid that teacher use to get evidence about
communications breakdown. their learners’ performance and progress
The strategies in focusing on in English (Pinter, 2006). Assessment
fluency in the classroom activities are has several roles, such as: to change
summarized as follows (Richard, 2006): people’s lives (Shahamy 2001, in McKay
- reflect natural use of language 2006), to examine, monitor and aid
- focus on achieving children’s progress (Hudelson, 1989;
communication Ioannou-Georgiou & Pavlou, 2003), to
- require meaningful use of build an accurate and effective
language communication between teacher and

25
parents (Hudelson, 1989; Ioannou- Furthermore, a case-study research
Georgiou & Pavlou, 2003), to provide was conducted in this research in order to
feedback on pupils’ learning (Cameron, find a deep investigation about the
2001), and to monitor teacher’s technique used by the teacher when
performance and plan future work teaching speaking to young learners.
(Ioannou-Georgiou & Pavlou, 2003). According to Meriam (1988 cited in
It is important to assess young Nunan, 1993), qualitative case study can
learners’ speaking performance, since be defined as an intensive, holistic,
speaking is considered as the most description, and analysis of a single,
rewarding and motivating skill for them. entire, phenomenon, or social unit.
The young learners usually get excited Further, a case-study analysis
when they are able to express a few investigates and more emphasizes on a
things in target language. Therefore, contemporary phenomenon within its
Ioannou-Georgiou and Pavlou (2003) real life context (Yin, 1984).
propose the criteria in assessing young
learners’ speaking performance, namely: Description of Setting
pronunciation, intonation and turn- The research was undertaken in an
taking. Overall, the aim is to achieve oral elementary school in West Java. The
communication, and the teacher should class consists of 33 students, and they are
assess their communicative proficiency in grade four. This institution was taken
in basic functions, such as asking at least for two reasons:
questions or introducing themselves.
1. This school provides English for
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Young Learners as the Local Content.
Method 2. It is located in the researcher’s
This research employs a qualitative hometown, so it is easily accessible.
method as the fundamental aspect of the
Data Collection
study. Fraenkel & Wallen (1990, p. 368)
To collect the data, the researcher
describe further that “qualitative research
uses direct observation, semi-structured
is research studies that investigate the
interview, and document as the
quality of relationship, activities,
instruments. Further, in conducting the
situations, or materials”. In line with
research the following steps have been
that, this research was conducted to
taken:
investigate the lecturer’s strategies in
1. Finding out some theories and
teaching speaking to young learners.
concepts related the teaching speaking
Moreover, this research was employed to
to young learners
find out the barriers and the solutions for
2. Selecting the participants. This
the barriers faced by the teacher while
research chose one class in one of the
teaching speaking to young learners.
elementary schools in Purwakarta.
Maxwell (1996) describes that
This class consists of 40 students, and
qualitative method is used to understand
they are in grade four.
how events, actions, and meanings are
3. Preparing observation sheet and
shaped by the unique circumstances in a
interview guideline as the research
society. In this case, this research
instrument;
investigated the quality of relationship
4. Observing the class activities in six
between the techniques used by the
meetings. Each meeting toke two
lecturer and the students’ responses
hours lessons, and each hour lesson
toward that the implementation of the
took 40 minutes.
techniques.

26
5. Interviewing students to gain more answer the three research question
information from their perspective; formulated previously. Then, the
6. Preparing the documents interview was administered to all the
7. Analyzing the obtained data from respondents after the observations done.
observation, interview, and After the observation and interview were
documents; done, the researcher used written
8. Interpreting the findings from those documents to support the data from the
instruments; and interview and observation. Therefore, the
9. Drawing conclusion based on the analysis is presented in a form of
obtained data. descriptive explanation.

Validity FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The following sections of this chapter are
The findings from the three instruments-- going to explain about the findings based
observations, instruments and on the obtained data from observation,
questionnaire--are analyzed by using interview, and written document. The
triangulation, so that the subjectivity of three sections below are discussed based
this study can be lessened. Each on the three research questions proposed
instrument was used in order to find the in this research. The explanation of
relation between the techniques used by findings from those instruments is
the teacher in the classroom, and the described in the following section.
barrier faced by the teacher, and also the
way the teacher overcome it. Teacher Strategies
The data from observations show that the
Then, those findings are analyzed,
teacher used Audio Lingual Method
interpreted and categorized based on the
(ALM) and Communicative Language
three research questions that have been
Teaching (CLT) as the method of
formulated previously. Moreover, the
teaching speaking top young learners. It
findings are elaborated with the
can be seen from the several activities
theoretical foundation. Finally, the
designed by the teacher when teaching
conclusion and the results of the research
speaking in the classroom. Further, the
are drawn based on the obtained data and
data from observation also shows that the
supported theories.
teachers used Harmer’s basic
Data Analysis methodological model for teaching
The observations were conducted speaking skills which is summarized in
during the certain period in order to the following diagram:

27
Role Play stories to tell their classmates. Story
Role-play is one of the techniques, which telling fosters creative thinking.
is mostly used by the teacher in teaching
speaking. Many students can get great It also helps students express ideas in the
benefits by using role-play in the format of beginning, development, and
classroom activity, since they can perform ending, including the characters and
the real situation in the classroom setting a story has to have. In this case,
(Harmer, 2007b). In the class, the lecturer the story was presented using the cartoon
often asked the students to perform story maker software.
several conversations, which are related to
Repetition
the topic discusses.
Repetitive Speaking is one of the
Based on the Harmer’s basic important techniques in helping the
methodological, the teacher used several students to transfer the knowledge from
activities in teaching speaking, such as: their short-term memory to their long-
term memory (Alwasilah, 2011). In this
Watching videos case, the teacher usually drilled the
Since the method used in the class is common expressions that are useful for
CLT, a context-based conversation often communication to the students.
drilled by the lecturer on the video. The
students could learn various expressions, The Teaching Speaking Barriers
which can be used in particular context
Based on the data observation sheet
from the video.
and interview, the teacher found some
barriers in teaching speaking, as follow:
Games
Chen (2005, in Alwasilah 2010) believes Reluctant Students
that the use of game in teaching can
provide good communicative activities According to Harmer (2007b), the
and can be a powerful tool in teaching students are reluctant to participate in the
language. From the data observation, it is classroom activities since they are shy and
found that the lecturer often gave students do not feel relaxed and confident to speak.
some problem solving games. The aimed The other factors that may contribute to
is not only to motivate the students but lack of participation in classroom
also to enhance their critical thinking activities are: (a) the students are nervous
proficiency. and afraid of making mistakes; (b) the
topics are not interesting; (c) the
Jazz Chant (Pronouncing Drilling) classroom atmosphere is not encouraging;
The use of Jazz chant can be very useful and (d) feedback of the listeners is not
for encouraging young learners to master supportive (Jianing, 2007).
the sounds, rhythm, and intonation of
English language (Carbrera and Bazo,
2002). Missing Pronunciation
When children learn to speak
Cartoon Story Maker (Digital Story English as native language they
Telling) sometimes find difficulties in articulating
and pronouncing specific phonemes such
Students can briefly summarize a tale or as /th/r/or (Linse, 2005). In Indonesia,
story they heard from somebody most of students also find the same
beforehand, or they may create their own problems as what the expert bears. The
problem happens since the children

28
develop their perception about the new facing the reluctant students, the teacher
language. Another reason is that it is very tried to not focus on students, while the
uncommon to children to learn various activity was going he observed the class
language sounds at younger age. to observe why that particular activity can
breakdown (Terry, 2008). He preferred to
Lack of Vocabularies focus on the students who pay attention
Vocabulary is central to the on the lesson first. Then, he played his
learning of a foreign language at primary role as organizer (Terry, 2008; Harmer,
level (Cameron 2001). To be able to use 2007) to make sure the students engaged
English in communication, children need in the activity by giving the options or
to acquire necessary vocabulary and giving rules to make the students focus in
structures (Diyanti, 2008). In fact, most of the classroom activities. The use of
students are having trouble in acquiring multimedia could also be useful for
the new vocabulary. It often gives the motivating reluctant students to speak and
children difficulty to talk and to to learn in the classroom.
communicate meaningfully with others. The data from lesson plan also
Nation (2003), cited by Linse shows that topical-based syllabus is
(2005), assumes that teacher should effective for teaching young learners.
facilitate vocabulary learning by teaching Pinter (2006) also explains topical-based
learners useful words and by teaching may indeed benefit for teaching to young
strategies to help learners figure out learners for several reasons; 1). Topic-
meaning on their own. Besides that, most based syllabus is beneficial and
course book emphasized on nouns since it meaningful because all new learning
is easy to illustrate, and somehow it puts experiences are deeply rooted in the same
aside other lexical fields which is theme and children; 2).Children can see
important to introduce the literacy skills the link between various learning tasks
(Linse, 2005) and areas of learning.
In conjunction to that, Carlo et. al Based on those benefits, this
(2004), in Linse (2005), states that topical-based model is definitely
teaching vocabulary should be included as relevance with the situation and the
a part of vocabulary development condition in this 21st century era. On the
program through direct and indirect other words, this model is relevant with
vocabulary instruction. the 21st century education framework
which insists the teacher to relate the
The Way the Teacher Overcome the students with their own world.
Barriers
From the observation, it can be seen CONCLUSION
that in the classroom the teacher played This section provides the conclusion
his role as a prompter (Harmer, 2007) of the present research. These conclusions
when the students faced some difficulties are directly appointed to research
in pronouncing words and arranging the problems formulated earlier in the
sentences (Terry, 2008); and as resource previous section, i.e. 1. What are the
by providing video, song, pictures as the teacher’s strategies in enhancing young
media for learning. This strategy was very learners’ speaking proficiency? 2). What
effective in drilling the students and are the barriers faced by the teacher in
lecturing in pronouncing some difficult teaching speaking? 3).How does the
words. teacher overcome the barriers?
From the interview the teacher This research has found several
revealed some strategies to overcome the strategies promoted by the lecturer when
barrier he faced in teaching speaking. In teaching speaking to young learners. In

29
the classroom activities, the lecturer used primary classroom. The Internet
several strategies such as, role play, TESL Journal, 8 (12), Retrieved on
watching videos, jazz chant, digital November 10, 2014, from:
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