THE TEACHING OF EFL SPEAKING IN THE INDONESIAN CONTEXT: THE STATE OF THE ART

Abstract: This article reviews the teaching of EFL speaking in the Indo-nesian context by outlining the recent development and highlighting the future trends. It discusses problems in the teaching of EFL speaking, ac-tivities commonly performed, materials usually used in EFL speaking classes, and assessment of oral English proficiency. Based on the review, the article also provides some recommendations on what teachers or re-searchers of EFL speaking can do in order to achieve a higher quality of the teaching of EFL speaking and to improve the speaking skill of Indo-nesian EFL learners. Key words: EFL speaking, ESL/EFL speaking pedagogy, language teaching methodology, the teaching of speaking skill. Nowadays, along with the strengthening position of English as a language for international communication, the teaching of speaking skill has become increasingly important in the English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) context. The teaching of speaking skill is also important due to the large number of students who want to study English in order to be able to use English for communicative purposes. This is apparent in Richards and Renandya s (2002) publication where they stated, A large percentage of the world s language learners study English in order to develop proficiency in speaking (p. 201). Moreover, students of second/foreign language educa-tion programs are considered successful if they can communicate effectively in the language (Riggenback & Lazaraton, 1991). The new parameter used to determine success in second/foreign language education programs appear