EXPRESSING DISAGREEMENT IN ACADEMIC SETTINGS CONDUCTED BY EFL LEARNERS :A case Study of Post Graduate Program in English of UPI.

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DECLARATION

I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “Expressing Disagreements in Academic Setting by EFL learners” is completely my own work. I’m fully aware that I have quoted some statements and ideas from many sources. All quotations are properly acknowledged.

Bandung, February 2007

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EXPRESSING DISAGREEMENT IN ACADEMIC SETTINGS

CONDUCTED BY EFL LEARNERS

(A Case Study of Post graduate Program in English of Upi)

By: Yeni Andriyani

Approved by:

Main Supervisor

Prof. Fuad Abdul Hamied, M.A., Ph.D.

Co-Supervisor

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PREFACE

Alhamdulillaahi Robbil ‘Aalamiin.

I finally finished my thesis entitled Expressing Disagreement in Academic Setting Conducted by EFL Learners (A Case Study of Post graduate Program in English of Upi), as a partial fulfillment of Master’s degree in English Education.

There were so many difficulties that I found during the process of this study, especially of the limited sources and time. But I did the best I could to make the thesis writing to come to completion.

I am very hopeful that this study contributes to the English Education in Indonesia and triggers further research on similar topic for the improvement of English teaching and learning in our country.

As the writer, I realize that this thesis is far from being perfect; therefore, corrections, suggestions, comments, and criticisms expressed by my supervisors, the member of Board Examiners and general readers will be fully appreciated for the improvement of this writing.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Alhamdulillaahi Robbil “aalamiin. Thanks to Allah, this thesis has finally come to completion. There were a lot of good and bad experiences which broadened my knowledge and enriched my understanding about the issue under investigation.

In the completion of this thesis, there are so many people to thank. I would like to extend my gratitude to my supervisors, Prof. Fuad Abdul Hamied, M.A., Ph.D. and E. Aminudin Aziz, M.A., Ph.D., for their scholarly guidance, valuable advice and comfortable condition during supervising. My gratefulness is also extended Prof. H. A. Chaedar Alwasilah, M.A., Ph.D., Bachrudin Musthafa, M.A., Ph.D., Dr. Hj. Nenden Sri Lengkanawati, M.Pd., Emi Emilia, M.A., Ph.D., and the Board of Examiners for their invaluable feedback and suggestions.

I would also like to thank the EFL students of Post Graduate Program who became my respondents, for their participation and time for interview. Your contributions were the central part of this study.

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nieces who always give me support, prayer and encouragement (Cha Yo, Bi Yeni!!). Finally, I would like to apologies if I have inadvertently omitted anyone to whom acknowledgement is due.

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This is to certify that The Board of Examiners has approved the master thesis of Yeni Andriyani as the requirement of the Master Degree at English Education

Program

Board of Examiners:

Prof. H. Fuad Abdul Hamied, M.A., Ph.D.

H. E. Aminudin Aziz, M.A., Ph.D.

Dr. Didi Suherdi

Dr. Didi Sukyadi

Acknowledged by:

Director of Graduate School Indonesia University of Education

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LIST OF QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW: 1. What do you think about the term “Politeness”? 2. Do you think you are a polite person? Please explain?

3. In the class setting, during the discussion session for example, sometimes you find the situations that stimulate you to disagree with your friend or even with your lecturer. Will you use any strategies in expressing your disagreement?

4. Could you mention those strategies?

5. Do you think the factors like age, gender, and social distance (power, social relationship) will affect you to perform different strategies to express disagreement? Why is it so? Please explain?

6. Based on my observation, many students expressed their disagreement by performing a long sentence to explain his/her opinions and using the word “but” at the middle of his/her explanation. Do you think it is the strategy to play safety?

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

Communication takes place at anytime, everywhere and with who ever we want to be our addressee. In academic settings, communication happens mostly between students and their lecturers, between students and students, and between students and other staff members. In academic conversations especially those taking place inside the classrooms, the topics of conversation often center on academic matters such as explaining theories and arguments relevant to the topics. It is often the case that during such discussion students have different points of view, which often will lead to long conversation. Yet, it is not always the case that all people (i.e. students) can put forward their opinions straightforwardly, as there are some who will do it indirectly, although they feel quite certain about the ideas they wish to convey. This is believed to be related to some individual as well as social variables such as how the students regard the status of their lecturers (of being lecturer), and how he can establish or maintain the degree of formality and familiarity.

When distance is taken into account, communication between students and lecturers is characterized by a higher degree of formality than that of between students and students. In communicating with his students, sometimes a lecture does not use direct strategy in expressing disagreement. “He is not engage in direct confrontation with his students because he is expected to encourage rather than deter students to participate and voice their opinions. However, students when they possessed more knowledge about the subject matter, they become more confident to express their thought to their lectures without being hesitated” (Kakava, 1993).

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point of view about this and we might have a long discussion to talk about it. As we all consider; people share a common principle that they always want to be polite but differ in the ways they express they want. In the Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) situations such as speech act of disagreement, people may choose a number of strategies to express his want without making his interlocutor loose his/her “face”. In the classroom setting, students and lecturer sometimes employ different ways and strategies when they disagree with each other. It is due to the need that they do not want to attack “the face” of their interlocutor. But why do they use different types of strategy in expressing disagreement? It is the situations like these that attract me to investigate further about the phenomena.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

Based on the background, there are a number of problems which can be formulated as an attempt to investigate the phenomenon mentioned above. They are:

1. What strategies do the students use to express disagreements?

2. If there are variations in the realizations of the strategies, what factors influence such variations? Is it due to contextual variables for example social relationship, gender, age, etc?

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on the research problem above, I state the purposes of this research as follows: 1. To investigate the way students express their disagreement.

2. To investigate kinds of factors that influence variations in the realizations of strategies.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The findings of the research are expected to be able to:

1. Uncover types of strategies used by both students and lecturers in expressing disagreement in the classroom activities.

2. Find and uncover some information and data about communication patterns mostly in Face threatening Acts (FTA) situations. When the data gained, it is hoped that both students and lectures conduct a good communication transaction by using such information.

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1.5. RESEARCH LIMITATION

This research was intended to describe kinds of strategies used by both EFL learners enrolled as postgraduate students and lecturers in the Department of English Education of UPI in expressing disagreement, and to describe the linguistic theories of politeness with regard to the strategies.

1.6. RESEARCH METHODS

The study was conducted in three different classes at the Department of English Education of UPI during semester three and four in the year 2003. The classes were English Literature, Cross Cultural Understanding and Applied Linguistics (Critical Thinking).

The qualitative data were collected by doing classroom observation; conducting interviews with sample students who express certain strategies in making disagreement and videotaping the classroom activities. I analyzed the data as soon as I could after I had finished conducting the observation. The data were analyzed qualitatively through the following phases: (1) identifying the data, (2) categorizing the data, and (3) interpreting the data.

1.7. THESIS ORGANIZATION

The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one explains the overall picture of the study, outlining the background, significance of the study, and the research methods.

Chapter two describes related theories in detail that include the perspective on linguistic politeness, some politeness strategies, and relevant study to the issue under investigation can also be found in this chapter.

Chapter three discusses detailed information about research methodology. This chapter also presents the research design, data collection method, and data analysis.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses methodology of the research. The methodology helps me to get intended data from which the analysis is done and the conclusion is drawn. There are five major sections in this chapter, namely: 1) Research Design, this section explains how the study was taken and conducted, 2) Respondent of the study, this section explains the research setting and the participants involved in the study, 3) Data Resources, this section explains the main data of the study and instrumentations of collecting the data, 4) Data collection procedures, this section explains phases of data collection and 5) Data analysis framework, this last section explains how the data are analyzed.

3.1 Research Design

The intent of the study is to identify the students’ and lecturers’ utterances when expressing disagreements in the classroom activities. This case study adopted a qualitative method considering that this is the most appropriate method in investigating the phenomenon in question, i.e. expressions of disagreement. Merriam (1988) stated that a qualitative case study is an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single instance, phenomenon or social unit. She also explained that a case study is a process, which tries to describe and analyze some entities in qualitative, complex and comprehensive terms not infrequently as it, unfolds over a period of time.

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3.2 Respondent of the study

This study involved 23 EFL learners enrolled as postgraduate students at the Department of English Education of UPI. Investigation was conducted in three different classes with three different lecturers during semester three in the year 2003 and 2004. Postgraduate students were chosen because they were more critical in facing the problem that might emerge during their study. Besides, the social distance between the students and lecturer in the class was deemed to be relatively closed therefore active interaction among them will be more likely. The respondents of this study were all members of the class whom most of them were teachers at various levels. Some of the students were junior and senior high school teachers and some others were graduate program lecturers at various universities in Bandung.

In order to get more detailed information about the strategies used by the students in expressing disagreements, I interviewed selected students who performed certain strategies in uttering disagreements. Three students whose strategies of expressing disagreement indicate different strategies among different context were selected. Their real names and identities are not mentioned here. They were coded as #R1, #R2, and #R3. The following are their profiles: #R1 was 32 years old male. He completed S1 degree in English from IKIP Bandung (UPI). He works as an English lecture at UPI Bandung until now.

#R2 was 29 years old male. He completed S1 degree in English from IKIP Bandung (UPI). He is a lecturer at UPI and LIA English Course.

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3.3 Data Resources 3.3.1Data Resources

The main data of the study were the utterances of disagreements, which were expressed by the postgraduate students in some recorded lectures at the Department of English Education of UPI. Some other data were the results of videotaping and interviews.

3.3.2Methods of Collecting Data

The methods of collecting data used in this study include: (a) classroom observations, (b) videotaping, and (c) interviews.

(a). Observation

The observations were carried out during the process of study in the three different courses. Bogdan and Biklen (1992) stated that these (classrooms) are the places where subjects do what they normally do, and it is the natural settings that I want to study. I joined the classes and became a non-participant observer. The observation was conducted in two steps, first, pilot study and second, main observation. Pilot study was conducted four times in

Pragmatics Class. It began on May 28, 2003 until June 11, 2003. From this pilot study, I got

the insights of what was going on in the classroom activities. There were not much utterances of disagreement performed or made by both the students and the lecturers. In discussion sessions, many students focused only on the material that they had to present in front of the class. Therefore, in the discussion session there were only few students who contributed to the class. Unfortunately, I did not record all utterances made in the class by using a tape recorder and consequently I was not able to gain the data as much as I need.

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(b) Videotaping

To enrich the data gained earlier, the last session of data collection was recorded with a video camera. The use of audiovisual tool was meant to gain and to complete the data that could not be collected before. Many utterances performed by the member of the class were missing because I could not write down all utterances of disagreement in a very limited time. Therefore, video camera was needed to record all activities and utterances made by the students and lecturers during the class sessions.

(c) Interviews

In this research I conducted interviews to three selected participants. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1993), interviewing is an important way for a researcher to check the accuracy of to verify or refute the impressions he or she has gained through observations. In this research I had conducted semi structured questions and informal interviews. First type of interview was used because it is less formal, it consisted of a series of questions designed to elicit specific answers on the part of participants. Informal interview was used to ask unrecorded questions. In this type of interview, “the questions emerged from the immediate context and were asked in the natural course of events; there is no predetermination of question topics or phrasing” (McMillan, 2001).

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Interviews were administered directly with the participants and also through on line chatting. The last method was done because I found some difficulties in meeting the participant face to face due to limited time and opportunity.

3.4 Data collection procedures

I came and attended the class, three to four times for each course and became a non-participant observer. I could not attend the class more than four times because I began observations in the middle of the semester. Therefore I had only four chances to observe before the subject concluded at the end of the semester. I took notes all relevant speech events during the observations.

I also recorded the communication transactions in the class during class discussions or presentations, and then I wrote any utterances used by the students and lecturers in expressing their thought especially in expressing disagreement from one to another. The interviews were administered when I encountered any differences in expressing an utterance by certain participant in different subject and try to uncover the reasons.

The following table is the observation schedule done by the writer:

Date Time Course Lecture

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October 13th, 2003 10.00 – 11.00 Critical Thinking/ interviews. The data gathered in this study were analyzed in such a way that they gave a clear description of type of utterances and strategies in expressing disagreements. There are three kinds of analysis:

1. The Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID) (Searle, 1969, p. 64) appearance in every utterance coded by language specific realizations. IFID is an expression of the type shown in (1) where there is a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary act being performed. Such a verb can be called a performative verb (Vp).

(1) I (Vp) you that……..

The verb ‘promise’ and ‘warn’ would be the performative verb and, if stated, would be very clear IFIDs.

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(2) “….so, when you said that linguist can not translate the political jargon, well I don’t agree with you, because….”

The verb ‘do not agree’ would be the performative verb and, if stated, would be very clear IFIDs.

2. Categorization according to strategies.

Head act or request proper (Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper. 1989) is that part of the sequence which may serve to realize the act independently of other elements. Head acts can vary on two dimensions:

a. Strategy type b. Perspective

3. Continua of disagreement types and degree of directness adapted from Kakava 1993a:

Direct Indirect

---Strong Strong-yet-mitigated Mitigated

disagreement disagreement disagreement

---I disagree (no accounts) ironic statement accounts

No + (counter claim) Yes-but sequences Impersonal construction

Negative assessments I disagree+accounts questions+(hedges)

3.6. Validity

It is expected that the data found and gathered in a qualitative study have internal validity, the validity that deals with the question of how one’s finding match reality (Merriam, 1988: 66).

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I joined and observed the class without any advanced communication with the lecturer and the students except for asking permission to join their class. I only became a non participant observer; therefore the setting went through naturally. To analyze and interpret the phenomena of this study, all the data gathered during the investigation were used. The analysis would be based on the participants’ perspectives. This emic perspective adopted in this study would maintain the validity and reliability of the data.

3.7. Concluding Remarks

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

This chapter consists of three parts: 1) the major findings and the significance, 2) Implication of the study, and 3) the recommendations for further study. The major findings that presented in this chapter are based on qualitative data on types of disagreement strategy conducted by EFL learners. The findings of this study will bring some implication to the English teaching and learning in general. Further investigations are fully recommended due to the limitation and weaknesses of this study.

5.1. Major Findings and Their significance

To summarize the findings, I had shown that the lecturer’s types of disagreements ranged from Mitigated Disagreement (indirect) to Strong Disagreement (direct) and he also performed both discursive pattern of politeness namely deductive and inductive pattern. Sometimes he employed a more indirect means to express his disagreement. On the other hand, I also had illustrated the students’ type of expressing disagreement ranged from “strong-yet-mitigated” to “mitigated” and correlate with contextual variables he/ she possessed.

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direct strategies of disagreement. To the extent that the degree of influence becomes a matter of concern, age proves to be more powerful than gender in determining the deliverance of politeness. Respondents’ awareness of the need to speak politely to an older interlocutor, for instance, is more obvious than that of their concern about gender differences. Their awareness of the need to fully attend to an interlocutor’s seniority was evident in the use of strategies of disagreement.

The contextual variables namely institutional power and social distance had also influenced greatly of the speakers in expressing disagreements. The respondents put awareness to his/ her interlocutor status in power and social distance. The less power and social distance between the members of communication transaction, the more direct the utterance of disagreement would be. We can see that the power relation between Students and lecturer ranged from equal to high and the data also showed that the social distance relation between the SS and L ranged from close to intermediate.

The students also performed deductive discourse pattern in their disagreement strategy. It was counter to what Scollon and Scollon statement that person in lower social position normally expected to use the inductive one (a more indirect discursive strategy) rather than deductive pattern.

5.2. Implication of the study

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1995). Not only that, the students can also jump to the linguistic, textual and paralinguistic means of expressing disagreement.

5.3. Recommendation for Further Study

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