The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code Copyright © 2020 The Author IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo 145 IDEAS Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) Volume 8, Number 1, June 2020 pp. 145 – 153 The Implementation of Reading Aloud in Developing Students’ Speaking Skill Ardhy Supraba *1, Edi Wahyono 2, Abdullah Syukur 3 * ardhysupraba90@uncp.ac.id 1, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Cokroaminoto, Palopo, Indonesia 2, Faculty of Computer Engineering, Universitas Cokroaminoto, Palopo, Indonesia 3 Faculty of Computer Engineering, Universitas Cokroaminoto, Palopo, Indonesia Received: 3 May 2020 Accepted: 7 May 2020 DOI: 10.24256/ideas.v8i1.1319 Abstract This research focuses on the implementation of reading aloud in developing students’ speaking skill. It aims to find out whether the implementation of reading aloud develops the students’ speaking skill. This research used correlation research design in which questionnaire and speaking test are the instruments of this research. The population of this research is the first semester students of English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Cokroaminoto Palopo University. The sample of this research is selected through purposive sampling technique. One class represented as the sample that is class B. The result of this research shows that reading aloud can be effective way in teaching speaking class since there is a significant relationship between reading aloud and the students’ speaking skill. It is determined by p value of 0,027 which is below 0,05. Thus, the implementation of reading aloud significantly contributed to develop students’ speaking skill. Keywords: reading aloud, speaking skill Introduction In everyday life, speaking is very important especially for those who want to learn foreign language like English. Mastering speaking skill for most people is very important aspect of learning a foreign language and the success of learning a foreign language is measured in terms of the ability to perform conversation (Nunan, 1991:39). In other words, the ability to speak that foreign language is the most essential skill in foreign language teaching and learning since it is the basic for communication and as the matter of fact it is the most difficult skill. http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302 mailto:ardhysupraba90@uncp.ac.id Ardhy Supraba, Edi Wahyono, Abdullah Syukur The Implementation of Reading Aloud in Developing Students’ Speaking Skill 146 According to many teaching theorists, speaking skill can be developed through communicative activities which include an information gap, a jigsaw puzzle, games, problem-solving and role-playing. In addition. Huang (2010:148) supported this idea that the activities that can assist better speaking skill is reading aloud. Reading aloud can be implemented as the major and magic way to improve students’ oral-English due to in reading aloud the students can practice pronunciation directly so at the same time they can improve and develop their speaking. However, speaking a foreign language is not an easy skill to be mastered by English learners. They consider speaking as the most difficult skill since it needs great courage as well as preparation to speak well. This statement is related with the researcher’s observation during teaching English at Cokroaminoto University of Palopo. Based on the researcher’s observation during teaching English at Cokroaminoto University of Palopo since 2016 most of the English students are not able to speak English optimally. In this case, the speaking inability of the students comes from several factors namely the students’ speaking skill is in low level or achievement, they lack of self-confidence, they lack of vocabulary, they are afraid of making mistake, they got difficulties in pronouncing English (it is related to pronunciation), they lack of ideas to speak, they always feel nervous (they do not have any courage to speak English), and they are not motivated in speaking English. Thereby, based on the real condition above, the adequate of speaking activities that enable to encourage students’ speaking skill must be given. Therefore, this research tried to offer Reading Aloud to be implemented in teaching speaking English to the university students in order that their speaking skill can be developed. Related to the background above, the researcher formulated a research question is does the implementation of reading aloud develop the students’ speaking skill? Meanwhile the objective of this research is to find out whether the implementation of reading aloud develops the students’s speaking skill. The result of this research is expected to be useful information in theoretically and practically. In theoretically, it is expected to add the theories of ELT especially in teaching speaking and then in practically, to give information for all English teachers and lecturers in teaching English especially speaking that this research is expected to be one of effective ways which can be implemented and it can improve and also develop students’ speaking skill. An activity to read something loudly is called as reading aloud. Reading aloud is very essential that can support speaking. According to Elizabeth (2004:286-288) reading aloud means reading a book by producing sounds audible to other. Then based on Huang (2010:148) reading aloud is an important part in education which has several functions in English teaching. It is supported by Subyakto-Nababan (1993:168) said that reading aloud is able to support speaking skill. Moreover to IDEAS, Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2020 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 147 strengthen these statements, Huang (2010:148) stated that reading aloud is a magic way to improve students’ oral-English. As a conclusion, reading aloud is a reading activity by reading something loudly with the precise pronunciation, intonation and word stress. Huang (2010:149) stated that Reading aloud has five functions in English language teaching namely: a. Practice pronunciation, reading aloud is a kind of comprehensive practice of pronunciation. It is due to that the material for reading aloud is the passage with the certain content and circumstances. In reading aloud applies suitable stress, intonation and rhythm. Therefore, reading aloud is a very good pronunciation practice. b. Improve oral English. Reading aloud can help some students who do not have the confidence to practice spoken English by practicing to read with expression, change the pitch (high-low), tone (gentle-rough), and volume (soft-loud) of the voice. So our tongue is practiced. Thereby, reading aloud is not only help us open our mouth to articulate English words, but also improve our English especially speaking effectively. c. Get deeper understanding, As a matter of fact, reading aloud is reappearance of all the original content of idea, feeling, attitude and style in the form of voice. Therefore, standard reading not only can make the students keep great attention, arousing their sense and imagination, but also help them understand the original correctly and deeply. d. Strengthen the knowledge, by reading aloud can strengthen the knowledge such as the knowledge about pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. e. Improve the classroom atmosphere, reading aloud can arouse the students’ attention after feeling tired because of an intensive class. During reading aloud, we share the excitement, the suspense, the emotion and the sheer fun. So finally it can improve the classroom atmosphere well. Speaking is one of the four basic skills in learning language beside listening, reading and writing. In this case, speaking and listening are related to language expressed through the aural medium. Meanwhile, reading and writing are related to language expressed through the visual medium. So speaking and writing are productive skills, while listening and reading are receptive skills. (Widdowson, 1978:57). Dealing with the statement above, the researcher would like to explain about what actually speaking is. Based on Brown (1994), Masruddin (2018); Burns and Heken (1997:63), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Then Widdowson (1985:150) revealed that the act of communication through speaking is commonly performed in face-to-face interaction and occurs as part of dialogue or other forms of verbal exchange. Furthermore, another idea is coming from Heaton (1988) who asserted that speaking ability is the expressing of language directly from speakers’ mouth. It is supported by Fultcher (2003:23) claimed that speaking is the verbal use of language to communicate with others. In addition, according to Ur (1996:120), Ardhy Supraba, Edi Wahyono, Abdullah Syukur The Implementation of Reading Aloud in Developing Students’ Speaking Skill 148 contended that among the four skills in English, speaking is seemed perceptively the most important. Thus, based on the experts’ opinion above it can be concluded that speaking is the activity of expressing ideas, opinions and feelings to others in order to deliver message and information through spoken form. (Ardhy, 2018:20-21). According to Heaton (1988:100) in Ardhy (2018:20-21), there are three components of speaking that are normally recognized as crucial aspect that should be mastered for those who are learning English and use them as the parameters in assessing the speaking. These three components should be understood well by the teachers and the students. They are namely : a. Accuracy, based on Brown (2001:268), accuracy is defined as the correct use of language in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Accuracy in speaking means that when someone is able to produce correct sentences dealing with good pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. In speaking, accuracy is very important. However, teachers should not too focus on accuracy because if teachers really expect their students to be able to produce correct language from the beginning, then the students will never gain fluency of speech. So it can be concluded that accuracy is the quality or condition of being accurate or correct related to pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. In other words, accuracy is the ability to speak accurately and correctly. b. Fluency, according to Luoma (2004:88), fluency is defined as the ability to communicate the ideas without thinking too much. Then, Richard and Rodgers (2001:90), stated that fluency is the capability to produce written and spoken language easily. Meanwhile, another opinion comes from Hornby (1995:26), disclosed that fluency is the quality or condition of being fluent. In speaking, fluency means to speak clearly. In speaking, fluency refers to the ability to produce communicative language even though it is not in perfect utterances but in continuous speech and smoothly. As a matter of fact, speaking performance does not only lay totally on accuracy in mastering the language system, but it also lays on fluency in using the language system communicatively, and without too much hesitation. Thus, it can be inferred that fluency is the quality or condition of being fluent or smooth. In other words, fluency is the ability to speak clearly, easily, and smoothly. c. Comprehensibility, Harmers (1998:107) said that if there are two people want to interact and communicate each other, they have to speak because they have different information. However, if there is a “gap” between them, it will not be a good communication because they are still confused with what they say. Therefore, comprehensibility refers to the process of understanding of the utterances sent by the speaker done by the listener. In speaking, comprehensibility means that people can understand what we say and we can understand what they say. Besides that, the skill to understand the written and interpret the spoken language is also called as comprehensibility. Thereby, it can be deduced that comprehensibility is the quality or condition of being understanding. In other words, comprehensibility is the ability to understand what other people say and vice versa. These three components or aspects of speaking IDEAS, Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2020 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 149 above that are measured in this research in order that the students’ speaking skill can be developed effectively. Method This research used correlation research design. According to Lodico et al (2006:14), correlational research was a quantitative method designed to show the relationships between two or more variables. The purpose of correlational research is to determine relationship between variables or to use relationship in making predictions. Here, the researcher wanted to find out whether the implementation of reading aloud develops the students’ speaking skill. Correlation design is quantitative research in which investigators measure the degree of relation between two or more variables by using the statistical procedure of correlation analysis. So there are two variables in this research namely independent variable and dependent variable. Thereby, the independent variable is reading aloud, while the dependent variable is speaking skill. The population of this research was the first semester students of English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Cokraominoto Palopo University. The total number of population was 77 students from 2 classes. The sample of this research was selected through purposive sampling technique. One class represented as the sample which is then chosen 10 students as the sample of this research. The instruments of this research are questionnaire and speaking test. Questionnaire was used to find out the students’ perception toward the implementation of reading aloud in developing students’ speaking skill. Meanwhile, speaking test was applied to assess the students’ speaking skill after implementing reading aloud. To analyze the data, this research used Statistical Product and Service Solusion (SPSS) version 20 and then to measure the students’ perception by using Likert scale. Results Chart 1. Frequency of Reading Aloud 0 2 4 6 Rarely Somewhat Often Often 2 6 2 Frequency of Reading Aloud Ardhy Supraba, Edi Wahyono, Abdullah Syukur The Implementation of Reading Aloud in Developing Students’ Speaking Skill 150 The chart 1 above shows that the frequency of reading aloud from students. In this case, there were 6 students chose somewhat often and the rest 2 students chose often and also 2 students chose rarely. So it indicates that most of them often do reading aloud when they read English textbook. Chart 2. Reading Aloud Helps Students' Pronunciation The chart 2 above shows that reading aloud helps their pronunciation. In this case, there were 5 students chose helpful and 4 students chose very helpful. The rest only 1 student chose somewhat helpful. Thus, it indicates that reading aloud really helps their English pronunciation Chart 3. Reading Aloud Helps Students’ Speaking Fluency The chart 3 above shows that reading aloud helps students’ speaking fluency. In this case, there were 4 students got score 5 and 3 students got score 6. Meanwhile, only 3 students got score 4. Thereby, it indicates that most of students got very good and excellent score namely score 5 and 6 in terms of speaking fluency. 0 2 4 6 Somewhat helpful Helpful Very helpful 1 5 4 Reading Aloud Helps Students' Pronunciation 0 1 2 3 4 4.00 5.00 6.00 3 4 3 Students' Speaking Fluency IDEAS, Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2020 ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 151 Chart 4. Reading Aloud Helps Students’ Speaking Ability The chart 4 above shows that reading aloud helps students’ speaking ability. In this case, there were 6 students got score 5 and 2 students got score 6. The rest, only 2 students got score 5. Eventually, it indicates that most of students got very good and excellent score namely score 5 and 6 in terms of speaking ability. Table 1. Correlation between Reading Aloud and Speaking Ability Correlations Reading Aloud Students speaking ability Reading Aloud Pearson Correlation 1 .690* Sig. (2-tailed) .027 N 10 10 Students’ speaking ability Pearson Correlation .690* 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .027 N 10 10 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Based on the result of correlation analysis above shows that there was significant relationship between reading aloud and the students’ speaking skill. It is determined by p value of 0,027 which is below of 0,05. So finally, the implementation of reading aloud significantly contributed to develop students’ speaking skill. Discussion This part aimed at investigating the findings of this research which had been presented in the previous part of this chapter. The discussion of the findings covered the further explanation and interpretation about the findings. Furthermore, this part was provided to answer the research question in chapter 1. In this case, there was an only one research question that had to be answered that is to find out whether the implementation of reading aloud develops 0 2 4 6 4.00 5.00 6.00 2 6 2 Students' Speaking Ability Ardhy Supraba, Edi Wahyono, Abdullah Syukur The Implementation of Reading Aloud in Developing Students’ Speaking Skill 152 the students’ speaking skill. In teaching speaking to the students by implementing reading aloud, first of all the researcher in this case as their lecturer too, instructed them to do a lot of practice in reading English textbook loudly not only at campus but also at their home as well. The purpose of doing a lot of practice in reading English textbook is to make it habit for them. They can directly train their tongue to pronounce English textbook so they can easily speak English even better. This is in line with the statement from Huang (2010:148) stated that reading aloud can be implemented as the magic way to improve students’ oral English. From the research findings described in the beginning of this chapter, most of students claimed that reading aloud is able to help their speaking ability, fluency and pronunciation and finally it can develop their speaking skill. It is proven by the result of correlation analysis showed that there was significant relationship between reading aloud and the students’ speaking skill. It is determined by p value of 0,027 which is below of 0,05. Conclusion The researcher concludes that reading aloud can be effective way in teaching speaking class since there is a significant relationship between reading aloud and the students’ speaking skill. It is determined by p value of 0,027 which is below 0,05. Thus, the implementation of reading aloud significantly contributed to develop students’ speaking skill. Moreover, the researcher suggests for the English teachers or lecturers to implement reading aloud in teaching speaking, since the result of this research showed a significant relationship between reading aloud and students’ speaking skill. And then, for further research, it is suggested to conduct a research by implementing reading aloud but different kinds of skill and material. It aims to familiarize other kinds of skill and material to students. References Ardhy, S. (2018). The Application of Think-Pair-Share Strategy in Improving Students’ Speaking Ability. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 6(2). Brown, H. D. (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 3rd Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. 2nd Edition. Addison Wesley New York: Longman Inc. Burns & Heken. (1997). Focus on Speaking. Sydney: Macquarie University. Elizabeth B. 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