Speaking Skill Literature Review

2. Literature Review

2.1 Speaking Skill According to previous studies being done by many researches, speaking is defined as an action of producing vocal sounds. We can say that speaking is when we are able to converse or express our thoughts and feelings in spoken language. English, on the other hand, is the world’s global language that unites us all in communicating to anyone without a single barrier. Firth A (1996), the role of English as lingua franca in today’s world and its crucial role in cases where the interactants do not know each other’s language. It is true that speaking skill is by far the most demanding among four macro skills (Jung, U.O.H, 1995). However, it is known as the most difficult skill to master (Hinkel, E. 2005),

First and foremost, Kurudayioglu (2011) suggests, speaking is considered as fundamental and basic in language learners’ performance both individually and socially since it is a tool for human communication to interact on a daily basis. Other than that, Diyyab et al. (2013) suggested that communicative competence is required in order to get the language mastery rather than just focus on sole language literacy. Moreover, Ellis (2012) asserts, interaction is the key element in a language classroom and learning takes place when the meanings and unclear points are discussed using a collective interaction in the classroom. Ellis (2012) also stated that gaining grammatical and structural competence could be achieved by mastering the speaking skill. Nonetheless, Wardhaugh (2006) claims that speakers of one language tend to possess grammatical structure of the language automatically. Thus, we can conclude that by speaking and communicating in the target language, we can contribute to the development of other language skills that we have. By looking at all the progress being made by adult learners in Malaysia can prove these statements. We choose to learn to speak first then only we learn to understand the forms and

They also added that teachers and students less emphasize on speaking skill because it is not being tested. This is consistent with Al-Lawati’s (2002) findings in her study where many students were reported to give such a special attention to writing, reading, and listening tasks that are evaluated as exam items, but giving the least attention to speaking tasks in the textbooks as speaking is completely excluded from exams.

This is concurred with Al Hosni (2014) and Miles (2009) who stated that EFL learners need explicit instruction in speaking which, as any language skill is generally has to be learned and practiced. They also indicated that oral language development has largely been neglected in the classroom, and most of the time, oral language in the classroom in used more by instructors than by students. Therefore, it is very important to develop the necessary speaking abilities of EFL learners to encourage them to participate successfully in different communicative situations either in the classroom or in real life