Teachers' Creativity in Developing Speaking Skill of Junior High School Students in Yogyakarta

One of the two most determining factors in the teaching-learning process is the teacher. Teacher backgrounds that affect the teaching-learning process cover wide aspects, including creativity. This paper reports a study to describe teachers' creativity in developing their students' speaking skills in Yogyakarta's Junior High Schools. The study belongs to qualitative research, in which data were collected from observation and interviews with four teachers selected from all English teachers in Yogyakarta teaching in both private and public schools based on their creativity in developing speaking skills. The observations were backed up with video recordings to catch detailed teacher-student interactions based on which the phenomenon understudy can be described. Follow-up interviews with teachers and students were conducted to help her gain an in-depth understanding of the nature of the creativity of the teachers and thus triangulate the data for the study. Findings show that teachers' creativity was exercised in encouraging students, questioning and teacher praising, using the learning material, developing learning activities, and using Internet and Communication Technology. Further analysis found that teachers' creativity was also employed in giving positive feedback and responses, understanding students, mistakes, and clear questions