A suggested technique for teaching spoken English by using language laboratory to the second semester students of the English Department at Widya Mandala University

Abstract

In Indonesia, English has been officially taught and learned from the first semester of Junior High School up to the first semester of many a university. However, most of them still have difficulties in applying their mastery and fluency in the conditions of normal conversation. It is due to the fact that most of the time in teaching English is used to teach Reading and Structure, while the teaching of speaking gets the least time of all.
 As a matter of fact, speaking has been proved to be essential. It is used as the main means of communication in our daily activities. According to Jr. Hall, every man and woman, eventhough a member of an illiterate peasant society or a primitive tribe is none less human if he or she cannot read or write; what makes us human is our ability to speak and to react to speech. It seems that the oral communication is more needed and considered more valuable than the written one.
 Due to the consideration that speaking is important, the writer suggests a new learning situation for teaching speaking to the second semester students of the English Department of Widya Mandala University in which most of the students are SMA graduates. Such a good situation for developing the students’ speaking skill to bring the students as closely as possible into contact with the language. Language laboratory is a very potential place since it gives chance to students to listen to the authentic and consistant models of native utterance in various situations. Moreover it provides a great deal of practices. Besides that, Language Laboratory also has partitions (booth) which provide a great sense of isolation and privacy. Students do not need to be embarased to make mistakes.
 In applying this technique successfully, there are some important considerations for the teacher to pay attention to, they are: the intended learners, the teachng learning objectives, the criteria for choosing the materials, the time needed and the teaching aids used.
 Besides, paying attention to the above considerations, the teacher also has to present the materials following appropriate procedure and evaluate his students’s mastery of what he has taught.
 In measuring his stidens’ mastery, it is better for the teacher to combine the students’ daily practice marks with their mid-term and final test marks because test is not infallible in measure.
 Furthermore, since the idea presented in this study is mostly still theoretical, it is suggested that experimental studis be done in the future to see how effective it really is.
 Finally, the writer realizes that there are still many shortcomings in this study. Therefore, she will happily accept any constructive criticism from the readers.