TRIGGERING ESL/EFL LEARNERS TO SPEAK
By ANI PURJAYANTI
Management Department, Faculty of Economics and Management
Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia
anipurjayanti@gmail.com
In this globalization era, speaking has been put in a high priority as far as English
language mastery is concerned. In Indonesia, it is widely used as measurement for language
achievement at higher education levels as well as job markets and companies these days. In
some cases, however, speaking is viewed as a more demanding and threatening skill
compared to listening, reading, and writing as it is a product of a language learning process
rather than simply language learning. Moreover, learning speaking means learning and
practicing the language and the language use, as well as embracing a variety of other aspects
beyond the language itself. Due to this complexity, a lot of learners, particularly in ESL/EFL
learning contexts, experience difficulties in learning to speak. A study conducted in several
speaking classes at an English Department in a teacher training faculty reveals that there are a
number of reasons causes this, covering not only language but also non-language aspects. In
general, such factors as grammar, vocabulary limitation, pronunciation, speech variation, are
mostly cited as the inhibiting factors. These, unfortunately, results in the bigger problem
which is more difficult to handle: fear of making mistakes and unwillingness to speak. What
have to be performed, accordingly, is primarily lessening learners’ fright and gradually
building learners confidence, starting from the classroom basis. It was ascertained that
collaboration among teacher characteristics, a wide range of material provision, classroom
activity variation, and different kinds of practice types, are the best ways to boost learners’
courage and confidence to make them speak English.
Key words: teaching speaking, building confidence, practices