Abstrak
The research was due to some problem found in the classroom. The first problem, most of the students were still clumsyed in speaking, they only spoke when the teacher asked. The second problem, the lack of opportunities for students to spoke when learning English in the class. The third problem, the students were less enthusiastic and less encouraged enough to participate in the speaking learning process. The purpose of the research is to know whether the students’ speaking skill of the eight grade students at SMP Negeri 7 Bukittinggi can be improved through role play. This design of research was a classroom action research (CAR). The subject of the research are the students in eighth grade (VIII.7) class of SMP Negeri 7 Bukittinggi, academic year 2023/2024. The instruments used in this research were observation and test. Observation guidelines was used in the planning and action and observation steps. The tests in research were carry out in 3 forms namely pre-test, post test 1 and post test 2. The findings of this research show that there was a significant effect of using role play techniques can improve students' speaking skills. Where students' scores are increased further from cycle 1 to cycle 2. From the pre-test it can be seen that the average student score is 60. After carried out actions in cycle 1 the average value increased, namely 72.25 and in cycle 2 it increased again to 91. It can be concluded that all the students enjoy with the role play technique. Moreover, they admitted that their speaking skill improve.