THE UNIVERSITY TEACHER’S PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS’ ACTIVITIES IN IMPROVING THEIR SPEAKING SKILLS IN THE COVID-1

The success of English learners is perceived from their ability to communicate effectively using English. Speaking is a major language skill for students and teachers. The purpose of this research was to find out what activities and media were used by university teachers to improve the speaking skills of students in the COVID-19 pandemic. Adopting descriptive qualitative design, the researcher chose three English teachers as the participants. All the participants consisted of two female and one male were English teachers at a private university in Yogyakarta. To gather the data, the researcher interviewed the participants using an interview guideline. The results of this study discovered11 findings. The first findings constituted 7 activities used by teachers to teach speaking skills during the pandemic. They were asking students to improve speaking English, making a group activity, using retell activity, giving assignment, using role play and presentation, asking students to make a recording, interviewing, and asking students to make a vlog. The second findings dealt with the media used by teachers to teach speaking skills during the pandemic. The results revealed 4 media used by teachers. They were using worksheet, pictures, games and video. Keywords: Speaking skills, activities, media