Speaking Skill Problem Encountered by Vocational School Freshmen and Seniors Viewed from Their Own Perspectives

Abstract

The present study investigated the speaking skills problems encountered by Vocational School freshmen and seniors from their own perspectives. . The researcher used purposive sampling in selecting the participants of this research. To this end, 60 vocational school students (30 freshmen and 30 seniors) from SMK Negeri 2 Bandar Lampung participated in the study by completing a speaking skills problems questionnaire. To triangulate the data, the participants of the study also sat an in-depth interview. The results of the study revealed that some affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects were among the major problem-creating factors for the freshmen’s and seniors’ speaking skills. Furthermore, freshmen’s and seniors’ results showed that overall there were no significant difference between the freshmen’s and the seniors’ perspective toward speaking skills problems. The results of both questionnaire and interview showed that the most speaking skill problem freshmen and seniors encountered is the affective aspect. They both are afraid to make pronunciation mistakes while speaking English. This problem inhibits students’ speaking skill to develop.