AN ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST GRADE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY IN DESCRIBING PERSONS AT SMPN 7 PADANG

Abstrak

This research has attempted to describe the speaking ability of the first grade students at SMPN 7 Padang in describing persons orally in English. The design of this research was descriptive. The total number of population was 256 students. The writer used cluster random sampling technique to select the sample. The data was collected by using oral test. The writer only measured the ability of first grade students’ speaking in describing person orally by considering five components of speaking: (content, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and pronunciation). And their speaking had been recorded by using tape recorder. Based on the result of the study, it is indicated that the first grade students’ speaking ability in describing persons at SMPN 7 Padang in general was good. It was provided by the evidence that 31.25 % of them can describe persons orally. There were 43.75 % of the students who had been classified in good criteria in expressing ideas (content) in describing persons, 40.63 % of the students who had been classified in very good criteria in using appropriate grammar in describing persons, 43.75 % of the students who had been classified in very good criteria in using appropriate vocabulary in describing persons, 40.63 % of the students who had been classified in very good criteria in fluency of describing persons, 37.5 % of the students had been classified in good criteria in pronouncing words in describing persons. Based on the research finding, the researcher suggested to English teacher to consider their teaching learning process to improve the students’ speaking ability. The students are suggested to do more practice in speaking English. And to any further researcher, it is suggested to conduct the reasearch on students’ difficulties in describing person orally.

Key words: Analysis, Ability, Speaking, Describing Person.