Improving Students’ Speaking Skill Through Role Play at Grade VII.P of SMP Negeri 7 Padangsidimpuan.

The students’ speaking skill at grade VII.P of SMP Negeri 7 Padangsidimpuan, which is limited in transactional and interpersonal conversation in this research was low related to the indicators of; pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Therefore, the researcher conducted a classroom action research by implementing Role play to solve this problem. The purpose of this research is to find out the extent of Role Play improves the students’ speaking skill and the factors which influence the changes of the students’ speaking skill specifically in transactional and interpersonal conversation at grade VII.P of SMP Negeri 7 Padangsidimpuan. This research is a classroom action research which was done in two cycles. In conducting this research the researcher was helped by a collaborator in order to get the better result. The data obtained from this research were analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative data collected through the speaking skill test were analyzed by using the mean formula to describe the average value gained by the students in speaking test. The qualitative data collected through the observation, field-notes, and interview were analyzed inductively by following the steps of data analyzing which is suggested by Gay that consists of data managing, reading and memoing, description, classifying, and interpreting to describe the factors that influence the changes of the students’ speaking skill both in transactional and interpersonal conversation. The research finding shows that the students’ speaking skill both in transactional and interpersonal conversation at grade VII.P of SMP Negeri 7 padangsidimpuan improves ten point five points from the result of the test got before action through Role play. The changes of students’ speaking skill is influenced by four factors. The four factors are teaching material, students’ motivation, classroom activity, and classroom management.