TEACHER’S SPEECH FUNCTION IN ENGAGING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXT AT THE EIGHTH GRADE OF SMP NEGERI 5 PERCUT SEI TUAN

This study analyzed the sorts of speech functions used by a teacher in engaging students' speaking ability in teaching recount text at eighth grade of SMP N 5 Percut Sei Tuan. It is aimed to know that what type of speech functions used by
an English teacher and how speech function realized in the context of teaching recount text. This study was carried out using descriptive qualitative. The data were triangulated through observation and documentation. The study’s target were English teacher’s utterances, and the transcribed data were diveded into six categories of speech fuctions proposed by Holmes (2014). From the teacher who was observed, the researcher found there are only five type of speech functions produced by the teacher, namely: referential, directive, metalinguistic, expressive and phatic. The results indicated that out of 290 clauses, the referential function was the most frequently applied by the teacher, accounting for 121 clauses (41.51%) of the total utterances. Referential as main reason used by the teacher were to provide and requst information to the students, which is crucial for maintaining classroom interaction and fostering student engagement.