A STUDY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ ORAL

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS IN ENGLISH CLASS ATSMAN 7

PADANG

Mellati Mandasari1, Ernati2, Welya Roza2

1
The Student of EnglishDepartment, The Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Bung
Hatta University
E-mail :[email protected] & [email protected]
2
The Lectures of English Department, The Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of
Bung Hatta University

Abstract

The aim of this research was to describe the first year students’ oral communication
problems in English class at SMAN 7 Padang. Furthermore, in this research described
students’ problems in two indicators, the first waslinguistic factors consist of grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation.The second was affective factors such as, communication
apprehension, self-esteem and introverted.The instrument was questionnaire for
gathering data about students’ oral communication problems in English class. The
result of this research in generally, 91% students had problems in oral communication
class.Specifically, from the data analysis, the studentshad problems in linguistic factors
was 89% and the result of each indicator, the first was students who had problems in
grammar was 83%, problems in pronunciation was 91% and the last, problems in
vocabulary was 89%. The students had problems in affective factors was 88.57%.
Specifically, based on each indicator, students who had problems in communication
apprehension was 89%, problems in self-esteem was 86% and students who had
problems in introverted was 89%. Based on the students’ respond in questionnaire,
those factors were caused because of inadequate knowledge in grammatical pattern, lack
of vocabulary, incorrect pronunciation, not confident, they didn’t have motivation and
uncomfortable in using English as a communication tool. Related to the result of
students’ oral communication problems in English class, the researcher noticed that
91% students had problems in oral communication class.

Keywords:Oral communication, problems, linguistic factors, affective factors

INTRODUCTION with foreign language, especially in

Language is essential part in English.
communication. It is a part of human’s On the other hand, as an International
daily activity, through language we can language, English is used to communicate
share our ideas and opinion. In modern information, mainly in science and
life, we have to be able to communicate technology, internet and also social media.
Because of that, Englishbecomes an
essential part in communication for many difficulties related to pronunciation and
people around the world. because English is not used in daily
Harmer (2001: 1-2) states that situation, it is thus more difficult for
nowadays English become a lingua franca. students to grow their habit in
It can be defined as a widely adopted for communicating orally using English.
communication between two speakers Rababah (2003) in Safiei (2007:
whose are different from each other and 33), also agreed that the students faced the
where one or both of them use English as a various problems in speaking especially in
second language. grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary or
In Indonesia itself, English is still psychology factors like being afraid and
as a foreign language taught in each level not being confidence.
of education from junior high school until As aforeign language,Englishrarely
university.There are four language skills usesin the environmentandeveryday
that must be mastered by the students, such lifebecause lack of people who are able
as listening, speaking, reading and writing. touse itto communicate. Because of that,
Speaking is the most difficult skill Englishclassis the one placefor
for the students as researcher has done studentstopracticetheir Englishskills,
observations in more than one class of the mainlyuse itas a communication tool.
first year students at SMAN 7 Padang Based on the description above, the
since February until April 2013.Based on researcher found the various problems in
the researcher’s observation, the researcher oral communication that is faced by the
found that the students were very afraid if first year students at SMAN 7 Padang. The
the teacher asked them to speak infront of researcher limited and focused her study in
the class, to do English presentation and oral communication problem in English
they were shy when they use English to class faced by the first year students at
communicate with their friend because of SMAN 7 Padang. The researcher limited
afraid of making a mistake, and be the student’s oral communication problem
uncomfortable in speaking. in English class in term of the linguistic
They also had no confidence and it factors, such as vocabulary, grammar, and
was difficult for them to find a suitable pronunciation and also in the affective
vocabulary or language items they need to factors, such as oral communication
get their meaning across and correct apprehension, self-esteem and
grammar when they do speaking. And the introversion. In addition, it was also
last one, many students faced certain limited on the problem appears from the
speaker sides in oral communication in A written message may be printed or hand
English class. written.
The aim of this study was to 2. Nonverbal Communication
answer the research question: What Nonverbal communication is the
problems were faced by the first year sending or receiving of wordless messages.
students of SMAN 7 Padang in Oral In other word, communication other than
Communication in English class? oral and written, such as gesture, body
According to Broughton et.al language, posture, tone voice or facial
(2003: 25-27), all living creatures have expression. Nonverbal communication is
some means of conveying information to all about the body language of speaker.
others of their own group, communication In this research, it focused on the
being ultimately essential for their Oral communication skill in the classroom
survival. Some use vocal noises, others at Senior High School. According to Vogel
physical movement or facial expression. (2000) in Qadi (2007: 2), oral
From babyhood onwards, everybody starts communication is at the heart of all social
to learn how to communicate effectively life, it is in our communication with others
and how to respond to other people’s that develop, articulate, and manage our
communications. individual identities, our interpersonal
In Wikipedia, there are two types relationships, and our membership in our
of communication based on the communities.
communication channels used are: There are many activities in
1. Verbal Communication speaking skill in order to increase the
Verbal communication refers to the form students’ ability in oral communication,
of communication in which messageis many of them like conversation and
transmitted verbally. Verbal speech. Barker (2011: 21) stated that
communication consist of oral and written conversation is the main way we
communication. communicate. Through conversation we
In oral communication, spoken build relationships, share information and
words are used. In oral communication is promote our ideas. Different with speech,
influence by pitch, volume, speed and Nordlund (2004: 7) stated that making a
clarity of speaking. speech on the other hand is a completely
In written communication, written different situation mainly because it is a
sigh or symbols are used to communicate. one-way communication. The speaker is
separated from the group and is the center factors are those that deal with the
of attention. emotional reactions and motivation of the
Learning language cannot be learners which have a direct effect on
separated from practice and it will make learning itself.
students more familiar and fluent in using There are a number of variables
the language in everyday life. Speaking is that are commonly associated with the
one productive skill and students are emotional side of human beings. Among
required to be able to produce language in them, oral communication apprehension,
communication and active in using it. self-esteem and introverted are three
According to Hornby (1995 : 826) important affective variables that concern
in Kayi(2006 :6), speaking is the process us in this study.
of using of words which can be form an
idea and expression of feelings. Based on METHODOLOGY
the description above, the researcher This study employed descriptive
concludes that speaking is the key to the research, and use questionnaire as
success of a communication in which instrument to collect data in order to
speakers express a variety of feelings, answer questionsconcerning to the first
expression, ideas, and thoughts. year student’s oral communication
However, researcher found at problems inEnglish class at SMAN 7
SMAN 7 Padang, many problems are Padang.
faced by students in oral communication The questionnaire as instruments
class, among them Linguistic and was used to obtain certain fact about
Affective factors. students’ problem in oral communication
According to Smith(2011)et.al in class in term of linguistic and affective
Juhana (2012:64), linguistics factors that factors.
become students’ obstacle to speak in The researcher chose closed-ended
English class, such as inadequate questionsbecause it can be more specific,
vocabulary, lack of understanding thus more likely to communicate similar
ofgrammatical pattern, and incorrect meanings. There were 30 items in
pronunciation. questionnaire that were concerning the
The affective side of learners is student’s problems.Responses to the
probably one of the very strongest factors questionnaire were scored by using Likert
in language learning success or failure. Scale. The Likert Scale consists of four
According to Shafiei (2011: 146), affective points where each item was weighted as
follow strongly agree, agree, disagree, and This questionnaire was tried out in
strongly disagree. advance, in order to know the time
The population of this research was allocation to do questionnaire and to know
the first year students of SMAN 7 whether the direction was understood or
Padang.The number of population was 345 not, and its reliability. The try out test was
students. The population was distributed done since the instrument was categorized
into 10 classes Since the number of non standard test (the instrument was
population was quite big, researcher chose developed by the researcher herself). The
a group of the population as sample. Best try out was conducted on June 3th 2013 at
& Kahn (1995: 13) explained that sample 14.00 p.m in class X6 at SMAN 7 Padang.
is a small population selected for The result of try out showed that
observation and analysis. instruction was understood by the students
Researcher used cluster random and the time allocation was enough.
sampling technique to select the sample In order to find reliability of the
of this study. Cluster random sampling questionnaire, first the researcher used
was used because population was Variant formula and the next Alpha
distributed in groups or classes and they Formula as stated by Arikunto (2009:109-
are homogeneous: they have been taught 110).
with similar curriculum, syllabus, The Variant formula is as follow:
material and allocated time. The x 2i −
𝑥 2
𝑖

researcher chose two classes as try out σi =

2 𝑛
𝑁
and sample class in this research, classX7 The Alpha formula is as follow:
as a sample of this research and class X6 n σ2i
r11= 1-
was used as the try out class. n-1 𝑡2
Darmadi (2011: 86) said that all Next, to know the result of the tried
instruments have two qualities: validity out, the researcher used the degree of
and reliability. Questionnaire as non-test coefficient correlation based on Arikunto’s
also had validity and reliability of idea (2012:75).
questionnaire. To get valid questionnaire, 0.81 – 1.00 = Very high
the items of questionnaire were 0.61 – 0.80 = High
constructed based on indicator about 0.41 – 0.60 = Enough
student’s problem in oral communication 0.21 – 0.40 = Low
in term of linguistic factors and affective 0.00 – 0.20 = Very low
factors and also consultation with advisors.
 After conducting the try out, first 𝑋
M= 𝑁
the researcher counted the variant formula
X 2 𝑋 2
of each item of the questionnaire. −
SD = N 𝑁

Specifically, the result of the variant

formula was 15.39 with the variant total The researcher classified students’ problem

was 71.15. The last, the researcher counted in oral communication class based on the

the reliability of the test by using the alpha following criteria (Arikunto, 2009: 264):

formula. The result showed that the ≥ M + 1SD Having no problem

reliability was 0.80. It means that the < M + 1SD Having problem

reliability of the questionnaire was high Then, researcher calculated the percentage

correlation. Therefore, this instrument was of students who have problem in each

reliable for this research. indicators by using formula below :

𝐹
The data of the research was 𝑃= × 100%
𝑁
collected from the questionnaire sheet that
was distributed to each of students as a RESEARCH FINDINGS AND
sample. Data from questionnaire was DISCUSSIONS
collected based on following steps: a. Students’ Problems in Oral
The items of questionnaire were Communication
identified one by one based on each The result of analyzing data
categories then give score for each answer. showed that the first year students at
The items of the questionnaire were scored SMAN 7 Padang had problem in oral
by using Likert Scale (Darmadi, 2011: communication class. The researcher
106), the researcher gave score based upon found that 32 out of 35 students (91%) had
the Likert Scale, the researcher counted the problems in oral communication class. It
total score and the researcher classified the also proved the previous research that had
final score. done by Smith (2011) et.al in Juhan (2012:
To define the student’s problem in 64), they found that linguistic factors that
oral communication class, the researcher become students’ obstacle to speak in
used following steps to analyze the data English class, such as inadequate
based on questionnaire:The researcher vocabulary, lack of understanding of
used mean and standard deviation type to grammatical pattern, and incorrect
identify students’ problem, because it was pronunciation.
usually used in classifying students’
category.
 In Affective factors Shafiei (2011: discussed with their teacher in the
146) also pointed out, affective factors are classroom and incorrect pronunciation.
those that deal with the emotional reactions They stated that grammar pattern in
and motivation of the learners which have English is very difficult and they always
a direct effect on learning itself. Based on confused how to use the correct grammar
descriptive above, we can conclude that in speaking. Pronunciation was another
linguistic factors and affective factors problem in linguistic factors because they
became students’ problems in oral were still doubt how to say the words and
communication class. many words that have a similar
b. Students’ Problems on Linguistic pronunciation. It was really complicated
Factors in Oral Communication for them because of that they were rarely
Class use English as a communication tool and
Based on the result of students’ tend to use Minangkabaunese or
respond in the questionnaire, generally the Indonesian in English class.
students had problem in linguistic factors c. Students’ Problems on Affective
was 31 out of 35 students (89%). Factors in Oral Communication
Specifically, based on each indicator: Class
N Indictors Students’ Students In identifying the students’ problem
o who had ’ who
on affective factors in oral communication
problems had no
problem class, in generally this research found, the
s
number percentage of students who had
1 Grammar 29 6
students students problem in this aspect was 31 out of 35
(83%) (17%)
students (89%). Based on each indicator,
2 Pronunciation 32 3
students students see the table below:
(91%) (9%)
N Indictors Students Students’
3 Vocabulary 31 4students o ’ who who had
students (11%) had no
(89%) problem problems
Based on that result of s
questionnaire, the students were still 1 Communicati 31 4 students
on students (11%)
confused and lack of knowledge about Apprehension (89%)
grammar pattern, they also had inadequate 2 Self-esteem 30 5students
students (14%)
vocabulary in speaking. They were (96%)
confused and difficult to find suitable 3 Introverted 31 4 students
students (11%)
words based on the topic that they
(89%)
 Based on the students’ respond in By having known about the
the questionnaire, the researcher pointed students problems in oral communication
that the students were still afraid to make a class, the teacher can guide and motivate
mistake when speak and less of self students in order to improve their
confident to be active in using English as a knowledge in English language especially
communication tool in classroom. They in linguistic factors and make the natural
also isolated themselves in speaking or situation to develop their positive feeling
communicating orally with their teacher or in learning English. More exercises or
their friends. And, the result also showed activities in English class will develop
that, they were still uncomfortable used their habit in speaking.
English as a communication tool and its
cause they have an introverted ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
characteristic. First of all, the researcher would
like to express her great thanks, gratitude
CONCLUSION ‘Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin’, and praise
This study was aimed to describe to Allah SWT for helping, blessing her
the students’ problems in oral inspiration and giving spirit to conduct the
communication class in term of linguistic research and accomplishing this article. It
factors and affective factors. Overall it can was aimed to fulfill a partial requirement
be concluded that more than 91% students for getting S.1 degree at English
faced problems in linguistic factors, such Department, the Faculty of Teacher
as lack of knowledge about grammar, Training and Education Bung Hatta
inadequate vocabulary and incorrect University, Padang.
pronunciation. The researcher would like to
Besides that, affective factors or express her deepest appreciation and
psychology factors have an important gratitude to her advisors, Dra. Ernati, M.Pd
aspect in communication. The result of and Dr. H. WelyaRoza, M.Pd for their
collecting data showed that the students careful guidance, suggestions, shared their
faced many problems in affective factors time, encouragement and helped her in
that hinder them in communication orally. completing this thesis.
Affetive factors in this research consist of, Furthermore, the researcher would
problems in communication apprehension, also like to acknowledge with much
self-esteem and introverted. appreciation to the Dean of the Faculty of
Teacher Training and Education of Bung
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