Lesta Karolina Br Sebayang
Asean Economic Community (MEA) has been implemented at the beginning of this year. Indonesians have made preparation in many sectors such as improving infrastructures, economy, education, etc. This study aims at knowing the students' perception to Asean Economic Community, knowing the students' speaking skill, and strategies used by the students for speaking. For knowing the students' perception, 90 (ninety) questioners were distributed. Then, 10 students were chosen randomly for conveying their opinions about MEA. It was conducted for knowing the students' skill and the strategies used in speaking. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively. After analizing the data, some findings are yielded. First, not all students understand what MEA is. Second, 90.25% students realize that they should improve their skills, especially English for competing in MEA. Third, the students' speaking skills are still low. Further, their grammar are not well used, the vocabulary they have are limited, and they are not really fluent in presenting the materials in English. Finally, some strategies such as language switch, literal translation and approximation are implemented.
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Kampus Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229, Indonesia
