Obstacles in Teaching Speaking to the Second Graders in SMKN 1 Salatiga: Teachers' Perspectives

Abstract

The main purpose of teaching English at vocational school level is that students are expected to be able to communicate orally. Yet, speaking skill is viewed as one of a difficult skill to be taught as it takes a lot of time to observe individual's spoken production of English. The purpose of this study was to reveal the obstacles faced by the English teachers in teaching Speaking in English to the second graders in SMKN 1 Salatiga. A semi-structured interview and classroom observations methodology were used to investigate the experiences of 3 English teachers in teaching Speaking to the second graders. The participants who were currently teaching English to the second graders in SMKN 1 Salatiga were interviewed separately. The participants of the study revealed that teaching Speaking to the second graders was challenging. The study further showed that the obstacles, as follows: (1) teacher did not have sufficient time to teach Speaking; (2) the curriculum for the second grader was oriented to the national exam; (3) there were problems related to teaching and learning process. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to pave the way forward.