i
THE STUDY OF PERSONAL SPACE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION
TOWARDS STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN CLASSROOM
DISCUSSION
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Krismaputra Salim
112009015
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
ii
THE STUDY OF PERSONAL SPACE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS
STUDENTS‟ PARTICIPATION IN CLASSROOM DISCUSSION
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Krismaputra Salim
112009015
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
iv
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2013. Krismaputra Salim and Christian Rudianto, M. Appling.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
v
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In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
The Study of Personal Space and Its Contribution toward Students‟ Participation in Classroom Discussion
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1
THE STUDY OF PERSONAL SPACE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION
TOWARDS STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN CLASSROOM
DISCUSSION
Krismaputra Salim
Abstract
During class discussion, some students participate actively in their group discussion but become passive when the lecturers take control of the discussion. Many studies have been conducted to find out the factors that cause this phenomenon. However, only few studies focus on the personal space that the students have and how it may give impacts towards students‟ participation in the discussion. So, this study focuses on those issues. All the participants are taken from two advanced level of class in English Department Satya Wacana Christian University, namely Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU). Questionnaires were distributed first to collect some background information from students. Then observation was conducted and at the end of the observations, semi structured interview was carried out in order to check the observation results with students‟ real thought about the situation during the discussion. Students who were chosen to be interviewed are students who participated actively in the group discussion but became passive when classroom discussion was held. They were also chosen when they had an interesting moment during the discussion. All three methodologies were done in order to answer a research question: “In what way does personal space either enhance or impede
students‟ participation in classroom discussion?”. The study found that students‟ personal space affects their participation in class discussion. And personal space itself is affected by (1) relationship among people, (2) students‟ emotional state, (3) the discussion situation, (4) lecturers‟ standing position.
Keywords: personal space, group discussion, class discussion, students’ participation
Introduction
As a social living creature, communication is an essential part of our lives. Most areas in
our life require us to have a good communication skill. One of them is during our study time in
classroom in the form of classroom participation. Participation during the teaching and learning
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also concentrate on the lesson and they are mentally present in the class. When students do not
participate properly, there is a chance that they are present in class but do not pay attention to the
lesson (Rana, 2008). Participation in class also shows students‟ level of understanding toward the
materials. Because active participation should be free from confusions and problems (Rana,
2008).
We can still find many students do not participate actively during the lesson although
some students know the facts that active participation shows students‟ understanding and
presence during the lesson. However, when students have discussion in smaller groups, they are
willing to share their own ideas. I feel this fact a little bit unique because when the students are
engaged in group discussion they are willing to share ideas. But once the group discussion
finishes and class discussion is held, silence occurs again. Some students, who participate
actively during the group discussions, become passive and are unwilling to share their ideas. This
unusual phenomenon is often found in the classroom situation. During the group discussion some
students have and share good ideas about a certain problem/topic discussed, but when it comes to
class discussion students do not want to talk and share their ideas. He/she just asks friends to
share his or her ideas to the class. I, myself, often witness and experience it in some classes that I
attend.
Byram and Morgan (1994) stated that second language learners enter the second language
classroom with their own cultures, which already become part of themselves. So, any cultural
aspects can influence this phenomenon and one of them is personal space. Realize it or not the
way we interact with each other is also shaped by the personal space we have. According to
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invisible boundary around our body which we carry on wherever we go. From this definition, it
can be concluded that personal space may have effects in our daily life, including in teaching and
learning process context.
I once attended a class that has offered many group and class discussions. I paid attention
to some of my active group mates who shared a very good idea during the group discussion but
when she asked to share her idea to the class, she asked me to speak her idea up. This
phenomenon did not happen just once and interestingly it happened to some of my other friends.
This experience makes me assume that the different space in group and class discussion can
affect students‟ participation during the discussion in class. Focusing on the impact of students‟
personal space toward their participation during the class discussion, this study is trying to
answer the research question “In what way does personal space either enhance or impede
students‟ participation in classroom discussion?”
Literature Review
In this part, the elaboration of silence (the definition of silence and its form) is presented
first to let the readers know and understand the idea of silence. Then the discussion jumps into
the relationship between silence and students‟ participation in the classroom discussion. After
that the main focus of this study (personal space) will be explained. The explanation will cover
the definition first then go to the distance and how it affects personal space. After the explanation
about those two topics finished, factors that determine someone‟s personal space in the
classroom context will be elaborated. And last explanation will cover about students‟ common
4 Silence and Students‟ Participation
An ideal communication happens when there is a two-way interaction. However silence
may occur when people have a conversation. In daily life silence can be defined as (1) complete
absence of sound, (2) the fact or state of abstaining from speech, and (3) the avoidance of
mentioning or discussing anything (Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary). Dulay,
Burt, and Krashen (1982) described silent as students‟ way to concentrate on comprehension by
opting one way conversation rather than two ways. However, Krashen (1985) thought that silent
period would like to happen when the learners are lack of speaking competence in target
language for example the vocabularies. On the other hand Saville-Troike (1988) argued that
silent period is part of second language development. Granger (2004) has another opinion that
said silent period is L2 learners‟ unwillingness to produce or use the language that they learn.
So those four experts‟ opinions, silent period has almost similar meaning with the third
point in the dictionaries. However, it is more complex because it has the language teaching
factors like the lack of speaking competence issue, language development, and etc. that may be
functioned as the reason for silence. In general silence can be divided into two categories – social
and cultural. In social category, silence is more on how people keep silent in a verbal way (avoid
using words) while in cultural category silence will be explored in term of non-verbal
communication (gestures and body language) (Clair, 1998).
Based on Clair‟s theory about category of silence, students‟ participation is more suitable
to be included in the verbal category. It is because a student is considered as an active student if
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understanding of a certain topic discussed (Black, 1995). Students usually use words rather than
gestures or body language in engaging, sharing and explaining their ideas.
Silence phenomenon in students‟ participation cannot happen by itself. It is influenced by
many factors around it such as students‟ preparation before the class, culture, students‟ mastery
toward the material, students‟ interest in the topic of discussion, and etc. These factors are
important and affect the silence in class. However, culture may have bigger impact toward this
issue because learning a language and culture cannot be separated. As Byram and Morgan (1994)
stated that second language (L2) learners enter the second language classroom with their own
cultures, which already become part of themselves, shows the strong role of culture in language
learning. Moreover, Yin, Hu, and Tsai mention that second language (L2) learners are basically
restricted with their own native. These two theories emphasize on the same point which aim to
show that every L2 learners bring their own culture into the classroom unintentionally and they
are bounded with their own culture. And because they are bounded with their culture, it is hard to
eliminate the culture when they are learning a new language.
Definition of personal space, factors that determine the personal space size and its
relationship with students‟ participation.
It is important to see how silence and students‟ participation connect with each other. Silence
is a part of students‟ participation acted as a choice in the discussion. When students choose to
not speak their ideas or arguments up in the classroom discussion, then silence may occur. So, as
a part of students‟ participation silence cannot be separated with students‟ participation and it
always has a chance to appear during the classroom discussion. However, as what have been
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is one of them. Many cultural aspects can affect students to participate and respond appropriately
during class discussion.
Stott (2008) listed some factors that can affect someone to respond appropriately. The list
contains: (1) verbal language, (2) body language, (3) environment, (4) personal space, (5)
realistic expectations, (6) clarity of instructions, (7) peer pressure, (8) self-esteem. It is clear on
the Stott‟s list that personal space is included in one out of eight factors that may have effect on
someone‟s responds. Personal space is actually often defined as the invisible “bubble” or
boundary around people (Caris and Voncken, Tolley). This invisible boundary can be recognized
when we have conversation with other people.
So, the following four factors may have a huge impact and contribution of someone size
of personal space and influence (Hall, 1966; Caris and Voncken);
1. The relationship to the people in the context.
The closer your relationship you have with someone, the smaller the size of personal
space will be. Example, A and B are husband and wife and C is a person that A just
met. Automatically the personal space that A and B have is smaller compare to A and
C because A and B already know each other for quite a long time until they have
become a husband-wife couple. In the classroom context the relationship to the
people in the context can be seen in teacher-student relationship and student-student
relationship. The relationship is the same with the example above. Students will have
smaller space if they already know teacher or the fellow students for quite a long
time. Both relationships (teacher-students and students-students) are important in
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be beneficial to the learning process. What students feel about other learners also
affect the learning process. It is best for students to feel comfortable with each other
(a good students-students relationship) so they can elaborate idea (Lindsay and
Knight, 2006).
2. The person‟s emotional state.
Emotional state may also contribute in affecting the personal space size. For example,
when people are in a sad condition they tend to have bigger space than if they are in
the happy emotional state. And bigger space may lead to silence during the
conversation. If this concept is bought into the classroom context, students who have
positive emotional state such like happy, excited, and etc. may have greater chance in
participating during the classroom discussion because positive emotion create smaller
space than negative emotion.
3. Cultural background or value.
Every different culture may determine someone size of personal space. Take for
example when Arabs need time for him/herself, he or she will cut the conversation.
This action is accepted and acted as a sign to say that “I need privacy right now”.
However this action will be considered rude in America. Americans will get insulted
by this action and considered it as a “silent treatment” (Fast 1970). Another
interesting example by Fast is when Frenchmen look at women, they will look
through women‟s eyes and examine women‟s appearance. This is used to show
appreciation and considered polite in France but not in America. Instead of showing
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show that every culture has their own size of space and it influences their own people
and the interaction.
Like the daily life example above, the same phenomenon may occur in ED‟s
classroom context because in ED‟s classroom there are some varieties of ethnic which
can lead to different culture. The culture differences among students in the discussion
may extend the size of personal space that can cause students become reluctant to
participate.
4. The kind of activity being performed.
Casual talk tends to have more relaxing atmosphere and smaller space compare to
formal situation. Example, students tend to talk more to teacher/lecturer outside the
classroom or after the class end. The chat outside the classroom or after the class end
is categorized in casual talk. This example demonstrates that the more casual and
relaxing the situation is, the smaller the size of personal space that people have and
the more formal the situation is, people will own a bigger size of space. This fact may
have the same effect in the classroom. If lecturers can create casual, relax, and fun
situation during classroom discussion, students‟ participation level may be bigger
compare to formal and serious situation.
Some studies show the strong relationship between personal space and students‟
participation in classroom discussion. A study conducted by Losey (1997) showed how Hall‟s theory of distance works in students‟ personal space and their participation. Mexican students
who do not want to speak in the class discussion with teacher break their silence whenthey are
having a face-to-face and unofficial tutorial with their peers. From Losey‟s study it can be
9
lecturer. Another research conducted by Howard, Short, and Clark (1996) also showed that most
students are more quiet if the discussion held in large space. So based on these two research
findings, the relationship between students‟ personal space and students‟ participation can be
seen clearly. Students will contribute more in small space such as discussion with peers or in a
group discussion. However, when the study is held in the bigger space, for example discussion
led by teacher or seminar class, students tend to be more passive. It can be concluded that
students participation rate in the bigger space is low.
Reaction of space invasion
Because personal space is an invisible “boundary” (Caris and Voncken, Tolley), it is hard
to notice whether we have already crossed someone‟s personal space but it is not impossible.
There are some common body language movements that might be shown by a person who feels
his or her space is being violated. Ann Amos (2013) divided it into two parts – conscious and
unconscious reaction. The conscious reaction is more to reaction that clearly shows that we have
crossed someone‟s personal space and it is and easy to be recognized. For instance: spread out,
ask the person to move, verbal warning, turn the back, etc.
On the other hand, unconscious reaction is the reaction that only shows a little sign that
we already violate someone‟s personal space because it looks like normal body language. The
examples are: re-arrange the books, change arms position, avoid eye contact, read materials, etc.
And one form of unconscious reaction that often happens is passive aggressive behavior.
Passive aggressive behavior is defined as a non-verbal aggression and an inability to express
anger in a proper way (Meyer; Harrn, 2011). This behavior can happen everywhere included
during the class discussion. In the classroom setting, the passive aggressive behavior happens
10
kind of behavior brings a bad impact toward the class discussion when this behavior happens. A
research done by Eaves (1990) showed when people found their space was violated, they lost
concentration and became less thoughtful. The implication when students become less
thoughtful, they won‟t be able to ask critical questions or share good ideas. It also may affect the
discussion atmosphere and the quality of the discussion result. It is also hard for students to
absorb and understand the materials because of the decrease of concentration.
The Study
Context of the Study
This study took place in English Department (ED), Satya Wacana Christian University.
In ED, English is used actively especially during the teaching and learning process in class. The
usage of English in ED covers in all process such as lecturing time, students‟ presentation, group
discussion, and class discussion. So students in ED have great chances in using English during
the lesson. The focus of this study is the contribution of personal space in third year (or higher)
of ED students‟ silence in class. ED students spend their first two academic years learning the
English basic skills such as speaking, reading, writing, and grammar. Then in their third year ED
students have a better understanding about English because they already learnt and passed some
courses that may contribute to their confidence in term of speaking and participating in the
classroom discussion. So the researcher assumes that the third year of ED students have all basic
competence needed to support and boost their confidence in speaking in front of public.
However, this study has a limitation which cannot explain in what way culture value
either enhance or impede students‟ participation in classroom discussion. It cannot be covered
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another obstacle that is faced by the researcher in elaborating this part is the major culture in the
class. In two classes that were observed, the majority ethnic was Javanese. It is pointed out by
Hall (1966); Caris and Voncken that most people who come from the same culture may have
same behavior and attitude towards something.
Participants
To collect the data participants are chosen using purposive sampling or “criterion-based”
selection (Blackledge, 2001, p. 57). The target participants for this research were advanced ED
students who have at least studied 3 years in ED. The reasons behind choosing this kind of
criteria were because (1) the third year ED students had already familiar with the teaching and
learning process in ED. (2) most of them also had a better competence in basic skills (writing,
reading, speaking, and listening). In their academic year, the third year of ED students had learnt
and passed some courses (public speaking, critical reading, etc.) that might help them in
participate during the class discussion. So, it was assumed that they had more competence than
the first or second year of ED students and had more confidence which needed in the classroom
participation.
The participants of this study were chosen from the Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU)
class. The reason was because this class involved many kinds of classroom participation such as
group discussion, classroom discussion, students‟ presentation, etc. The researcher thought this
various types of classroom activities could help to see the contribution of personal space in the
classroom. Participants were students who participated actively during the group discussion but
when the class discussion held, they became passive or silent. The criteria for active students are
when they contribute or share their thoughts during the discussion, ask or answer the questions.
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In trying to answer the Research Question (RQ) “In what way does personal space either
enhance or impede students‟ classroom participation in class discussion?” the research was set as
Qualitative Research. After reviewed the book written by McKay (2006) this research is put
under Qualitative Research because first in order to achieve credibility it used triangulation as a
method of data collection. Second, in analyzing the findings this research used analytic
generalizations (Yin, 2003) which relating the findings with theoretical framework. So, those
two reasons make this study is more suitable to put under the umbrella of qualitative research.
Data Collection and Instruments
In collecting the data for this study, triangulation was used to make sure that the data was
valid enough. Questionnaire was the first method. Questionnaire was chosen to gain background
information about students‟ idea toward personal space and their active participation. The data
might give significance contribution because the researcher had a chance to check whether the
students applied what they know about personal space and active participation in the classroom
discussion. If they already know how to be an active student but do not perform it during the
discussion maybe there is another factor that makes them cannot act like an active student. Later,
the data gotten from the questionnaire was checked and used during the observation and
interview.
The observation was conducted after the questionnaire has been distributed. The
observation was done three times and took place in two CCU classes. Observation was chosen
because observation could collect “genuine” classroom data (Lemke, 1985 and Nunan, 1992).
Genuine information means the situation in the classroom is constituted for the sake of teaching
and learning process, not as the venue for the researcher (Nunan, 1992). It also means that
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beginning instrument to see and select which students match the criteria needed for this research.
Type of observation used was in-class observation. The researcher acted as the “outsider” that
meant the researcher did not involve in any class activities. He observed and took notes for what
happened during the classroom discussion.
The last one was semi-structured interview or “interview guided approach” (Patton,
1990). This method was chosen because even though semi-structured interview has the same
asked questions but it has the flexibility compare to structured interview. It also offers the chance
for researcher to compare the answer from other participants (Zacharias, 2011). Semi-structured
interview also allows the researcher to elaborate and gain “richer” data (Dowsett, 1985) because
the unexpected answers, thoughts, and responds from participants may appear during the
interview session (Burns, 2010). The interview was conducted directly after the class and
observation was over to get fresh data from the participants. The amount of interviewee was not
limited. As long as the interviewee fulfilled the criteria needed, they were called to be
interviewed. The language used for the interview was “Bahasa Indonesia”. This language was
chosen to make the interviewees more comfortable and relax so the interviewer can elaborate
interviewees‟ idea deeper.
Data Analysis
The analysis started with a definition of active students and participants‟ background
information about it. Later on the interesting answers from some participants were displayed and
analyzed based on the definition from the expert. In the analysis section the researcher also tried
to describe the connection among students‟ idea about active students, their participation, and
their personal space in classroom discussion context. Then all the data from the triangulation
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theory emerging themes were generated. Those emerging themes are: (1) relationship to people
in context, (2) person‟s emotional state, and (3) kind of activity that being performed. All those
three themes are generated from Hall‟s (1966), Caris and Voncken‟s theory about size of
personal space.
In the finding and discussion part, there is a possibility of by products in this study which
is the reaction toward space invasion. It was analyzed using the theory of space invasion and
theory about standing position was also used because some participants‟ mentioned in the
questionnaire that teacher‟s standing position may have an effect toward their participation level.
The impact of teacher‟s standing position toward students‟ participation was also seen few times
during the observation. So, the researcher assumed that teacher‟s standing position might have
connection with space invasion and students‟ participation level.
Procedure
To start collecting the data, questionnaire was designed. And after the piloting process
finished, the questionnaire was distributed into two Cross Cultural Understanding classes. Then
the piloting was done to see if the presence of the researcher in class could be other change factor
in students‟ participation. All questionnaire data were gathered and analyzed while in-class
observation started. Through the observation the researcher aimed to see the students who were
active in the group discussion but became passive during the class discussion and looked for
other factors that may influence students‟ size of personal space. After the observation was done,
the students who fulfilled the criterion will be called to be interviewed directly. The purpose of
doing the interview directly was to get the genuine data after the class and researcher could
check his assumption during the observation directly with the interviewee. In the interview
15
class) was searched. Then when the interview section was done, the data obtained from the
interview were transcribed and analyzed using clean transcription. This way of transcription was
chosen to give a chance to the researcher and readers get more focus on the content of the
interview (Zacharias, 2011). After being analyzed, the data will be referred to the related
theoretical framework in the term of confirmation. I tried to confirm the findings with the
theories about personal space whether it really caused and had an impact in ED students‟ silence
during the class discussion.
Finding and Discussion
Before getting into the discussion about personal space, discussion about active students
will be presented first. Understanding students‟ idea about active students is important in order to
check whether the answer in the questionnaire is appeared in my classroom observation.
According to Black (1995) in order to be called as active students, a student should engage in the
discussion and create a better understanding toward discussed materials by contributes
meaningful ideas. This means that active students do not merely physically attend the class but
they should mentally attend the class and support the teaching learning process. The first
question in the questionnaire described about what makes a student can be called as „active
students‟. This question is created to check students‟ background information about an active
student‟s criteria.
The result shows that the participants already have a good awareness about how to be
active in the class. Most of them answered to be seen as an active student, a student should
participate and involve in a learning process. The forms of participation and involvement are
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mentioned by student A, who wrote on the questionnaire that “Active students are the students
who involve in class/learning process. Involve in class discussion, asking a lot of critical
questions are the two examples”
What is meant by student A‟s answer in the questionnaire is active students should
involve in the learning process. And the forms that A mentioned are involving in the discussion
and asking a lot of critical questions. The underlining word is „critical‟, which means active
students will not ask superficial questions but they will push themselves to think about deeper
problem. Another form of participation and involvement is written by student B. Student B wrote
that an active student is “When they could share their opinion to respond the teacher or the
material given, when they ask something they still do not understand or want to clarify”
The main point of student B‟s idea is active students should be able to develop and share
their opinions to teacher‟s questions about the part of materials that they have not understood yet.
Active students will not let themselves leave the classroom with curiosity in their head.
Another interesting answer is the answer given by student E. Student E thinks that an
active student also has to give a contribution in making nice teaching and learning atmosphere in
the class.
“When that student not only do his/her obligation as the student (to study, do
assignment, and put his/her attention in class)but also „contribute‟ to create such an
optimal atmosphere to learn in which they give their opinion from their point of view or
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A Statement from student E that is written on the questionnaire can be used to show the
idea of active students‟ role in the class. It is clearly stated in student E‟s statement that an active
student will not only do his/her basic responsibilities in the classroom.
Active students also have a responsibility in building good teaching and learning
atmosphere in the classroom. Basically, all the answers above are matched with what Black‟s
(1995) idea which already been mentioned in the previous paragraph. This finding can be useful
in seeing the role and impact of personal space toward students‟ participation in the classroom. It
shows that most participants already have a good concept about active students. Because they
already knew the concept, it was expected that they would perform what they already knew in
the real context (classroom discussion). However, during the observation only few students
practiced and involved actively in the classroom discussion. Even though most participants know
how to be active students, it does not guarantee that they can practice their knowledge in the real
classroom context. So, there must be other factors beside the knowledge that may affect the
students‟ involvement in the classroom discussion and personal space may be included in it.
Personal Space and Its Impact toward Students’ Participation
According to Stott (2008) to see how people actively involved in an interaction (in my
research context is classroom discussion) personal space is one factor that should be considered.
Personal space is the invisible border that someone has when they interact with others (Caris and
Voncken; Tolley). The border is determined by four factors, according to Hall (1966) and Caris
and Voncken namely the relationship between people in context, which means the closer the
speakers are the smaller the space that can lead to more active participation; someone‟s
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kind of activity being performed, which means the more formal the situation is the more passive
they will participate; cultural background or value, which means that when the speakers come
from the same cultural background the boundary (space) is smaller. However, this study only
highlight three point which are relationship between people in context, person‟s emotional states,
and kind of activity being performed
From this point on, the discussion will reveal appealing themes which can be categorized
into those three determining factors and the reaction of participants. It follows the size of
personal space theory and is enriched by the reaction of participants that show active or passive
participation.
The relationship to people in context
The basic idea of relationship to people in context is the closer your relationship with
someone, the smaller space you have (Hall, 1966; Caris and Voncken). And if this theory is
brought into classroom context, the relationship may be divided into two which are
teacher-students relationship and teacher-students-teacher-students relationship. Both relationships are important because
it may help students achieve the learning goals. There are many ways to see how these two
relationships is occurred in the classroom discussion. One of them that are used in this study is
collegial and hierarchical concept. Collegial concept is the belief that learning occurs when
students are working together with teachers and others who share the same interest. On the other
hand, hierarchical relationship is a centralization model which means all ideas during the
discussion come from only a certain person (teacher or some dominant students). The goal of
collegial concept is knowing the materials while in hierarchical concept is acquiring the
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In the first class, the discussion was divided into two parts. The first session was a
discussion that was led by students. The discussion starts with students‟ presentation. And the
second part was a discussion that was led by the lecturer in order to clarify the unclear materials.
And knowing the theory from Hall; Caris and Voncken before doing my observation, I could see
in the first class students tend to be more active either to ask question or contribute ideas to class
discussion when their fellow classmates led the discussion. There were some students asked
questions directly to their friend. However, situation a little bit changed when lecturer 1 took the
discussion. I observed that students tended to be quieter than the previous discussion which led
by their fellow mates. And it seemed like they did not want to ask questions or contribute idea to
the discussion even though lecturer 1 had given chance to them more than one times. I also
noticed that if the students had questions about the tasks during the discussion, they would not
ask it as direct as when they friend led the discussion. I observed that when the students had
questions about their tasks, most of them preferred asking their friends, kept silent, or asked the
lecturer after the class ends.
I also found almost similar situation when I observed the second class. When I observed
the second class, the discussion method that lecturer 2 used in his class is a little bit different
with what I saw in the first class. In lecturer 2‟s class there was no presentation that was led by
students. The discussion was divided into two parts. First students were divided into small
groups and discussed the materials with their group mates. Then every group had to share their
discussion result in the class discussion which was led by lecturer 2. Even though the discussion
model is different but it is still clear that the relationship factor takes control in students‟
participation. Lecturer 2 sometimes gave the freedom to students to choose their own group
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found out that most of students contributed the idea during small groups but only some students
in the class discussion. Sometimes lecturer 2 had to point the group directly to make the students
spoke. This may happen because (1) small group discussion has smaller personal space than
classroom discussion and (2) the students in this class like collegial relationship rather than
hierarchical in the discussion because they were more active in the small group discussion whose
members they chose by themselves. And most of them chose the group members that shared the
same interest with them.
In order to confirm the observation result at the end of the class interview was conducted.
From the first class, some students were interviewed and student F‟s answer supports the
observation result. When asked in which discussion he will participate more - discussion led by
his fellow students or lecturer, students F responded that “Teman karena kalau salah ngomong
masih ke sesama teman (Friends because if you contribute the wrong idea, it is still with your
fellow classmates)”. Student G from the second class was also interviewed to check whether the
group mates affected his participation. Student G in the interview answered that he preferred
choosing the group member by himself.
“Pilih sendiri. .... dosen milih nya random dan kadang aku ga tau orang nya enak di ajak
diskusi atau enggak (choose by myself. .... lecturer usually chooses randomly and sometimes I do
not know whether he/she is a person that is nice to discuss with)”
Student F‟s answer indicates that making mistakes in front of friends is more acceptable
than in front of lecture because all of them are learning together. In student G‟s answer indicates
that choosing his own group members is important because he already knows and can choose
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under collegial relationship and it shows that participants prefer collegial relationship in the
discussion. If we relate all the findings collegial relationship creates smaller space than
hierarchical therefore collegial relationship can enhance students to participate more in the
classroom discussion. It also proves that the size of personal space through relationship between
people in context can enhance or impede students‟ participation in the classroom discussion.
The person’s emotional state
As pointed by Hall (1966) and Caris and Voncken in their journal, person‟s emotional
state can affect the space that someone has. If someone has a negative emotional state such as
sad, fear, bored, etc., they tend to put bigger space than someone who currently has positive
emotion (happy, excited, enthusiastic, etc.). In the classroom context, the negative emotion can
make and prevent students to not participate in the discussion while positive emotion is emotion
that can push students to participate. These two types of emotion are closely related to classroom
setting because emotional state can decide the size of someone‟s personal space. And personal
space can affect the participation level of students during the classroom discussion.
I observed this emotion things affect students‟ personal space a lot in the first class and
second class. In first class I noticed the fear took control. I noticed the fear when the lecturer
pointed at a group and every group member was throwing the responsibility to answer with
fellow group members even though they already had the answers. This did not happen only in
one group but it also happened in some other groups. So, I assume that the emotion (fear) that
group members had at that time made they extend their space. The extension of this space caused
some students felt reluctant to share their thoughts and make their idea heard by the whole class.
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questions after the class finished and the rest students got out from the classroom. An almost
similar condition happened in second class but the dominant emotion in his class is boredom
emotion. This emotion appeared in the middle of lecturing. I noticed some students yawned,
started playing with paper and other stuffs on their table, and talked to their friends. Although the
students‟ emotion is different from the first class, the reaction toward discussion is the same.
Most of the students felt reluctant to participate actively in the discussion. They are more
interested in talking to their group mates, playing with papers, or drawing something on the
paper.
To ensure the findings from observation, the interview was conducted. The interview
results show the connection among emotional state, personal space, and students‟ participation.
When asked about their emotional state in the class and their participation in the discussion, most
of the participants answered that if their emotion is negative, it will be hard for them to keep
active in the discussion and maintain their focus. An interesting answer is from student H who
said “Diskusi dipimpin oleh dosen itu ilmunya lebih dapet tapi sungkan (discussion led by lecturer can provide a better understanding but I feel hesitate)”. This statement shows that even
though student H thought that lecturer could give a better knowledge toward a certain material
than students, student H might not be active in asking questions or elaborating ideas because of
her hesitating feeling.
Another interesting finding from the interview comes from student I. Student I can be
considered as active student because when I did the observation, he frequently contributed and
shared his idea in the discussion. However, in the interview he mentioned that his
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“Iya. Kalau emosi lagi jelek, jawab kalau perlu dan kalau emosi lagi bagus lebih aktif
dan nyambung (Yes. If my emotional state is negative I will give answer when it is needed but
when I have good emotional state I will be more active)”.
The statement from student I shows that even the active students will find difficulties to
participate actively in the discussion when their emotional state is negative.
The findings from both observation and interview strengthen Hall (1966), Caris and
Voncken‟s theory that says negative emotion like sad, fear, etc. can cause the personal space
bigger and positive emotional state such as happy, enthusiasm, etc. can create smaller space. If
students enter the classroom with big personal space, it may impede their participation in the
classroom discussion. On the other hand, smaller space can enhance students‟ participation. So it
can be said that through emotional state, personal space has an effect either impede or enhance
students‟ participation in classroom participation as has been elaborated in the observation and
interview results.
Kind of activity being performed
Hall (1966); Caris and Voncken described that when the situation is less formal, the
space that someone has is smaller. In the classroom the less formal situation can be seen from the
activity for the discussion or the language used during the discussion. When doing the
observation, the influence of kind of activity performed during the discussion is clear. During my
observation in the second class, I observed whenever the activity was fun and less formal
students tended to be more active compare to the serious and formal situation. For example, in
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students discussed in their group then shared their answer), only few students shared their ideas
voluntarily. Sometimes lecturer 2 had to push the students to share their idea by pointing at the
group. However, when the lecturer gave arm wrestling as an activity which I thought is more fun
and less formal activity for the discussion. As the result, the students who gave answer
voluntarily during the classroom discussion are increased. I also noticed that during this activity
lecturer 2 pointed fewer group than in the previous activity. This shows that the more informal
the situation for the discussion, the smaller the space that students have which may influence the
students to be more active in the discussion.
Statement from student J during interview session supports the different active
participation level that I found during the observation. When student J was asked about which
situation she feels comfortable with the discussion she stated that
“Informal karena bisa explore ide lebih dalam. Kalau formal harus
menyesuaikan kata-kata jadinya kadang-kadang ide tertutup karena mikir kata-kata (Informal
because I can explore the idea deeper. In formal situation I have to think about the choice of
words so sometimes I forget about the ideas because of it)”
When student K asked about the same questions, he seems agree with what student J said
earlier. Student K responded that
“Informal. Lebih fleksibel dari segi tata bahasa dan bisa lebih bebas konsultasi
ke grup lain (Informal. It is more flexible in the term of language and more freely to consult with
25
These two insights from those two students support the observation findings and match
with the theory that said the less formal the activity the smaller the personal space will be. The
implication in the classroom discussion is students with smaller space will participate more in the
discussion than students with bigger space. And with fun activity and smaller space created by
the activity may enhance students‟ participation in the classroom discussion. Formal activity and
bigger space on the other hand may impede the participation in the discussion.
Other possible factors
The next discussions are focused on the topic of the discussion and reaction toward
space invasion. Even though this sub-theme does not included in the Hall (1966); Caris and
Voncken‟s theory about size of personal space but I found that the impact of it is quite
significant in determining students‟ personal space. As what has been discussed earlier in this
study, personal space may have an impact to students‟ participation in the classroom discussion.
And because of it these two factors may be worth to be discussed in this study.
Reaction toward space invasion in class
Personal space is a cultural aspect means that it is invisible and everyone may have
different size of space depends on the situation. Because of it there will always be a great chance
that someone may violate another‟s personal space without realizes it. And the phenomenon
where someone feels that his or her personal space is violated is called space invasion. Space
invasion can be very simple for example: A is standing in the party alone. Then B comes and
starts the conversation with A. After a few minutes B starts to stand closer to A and this makes A
26
personal space. A study conducted by Kaya and Erkip (1999) which took place in libraries,
schools, airports, offices, and restaurants shows that space invasion may happen everywhere.
And whenever the space invasion occurs and makes people uncomfortable, it always brings some
reactions. And the outcome might be negative.
A common reaction that may be found in the classroom when the space invasion occurs
is passive aggressive behavior. Meyer; Harrn (2011) defined passive aggressive behavior as a
non-verbal aggression and an inability to express anger in a healthy way. It means they cannot
express their anger freely. Passive aggressive behavior can be seen in the form of ambiguity,
forgetfulness, procrastination, making excuses, lateness, etc. And when students have this
phenomenon during the discussion, it will bring negative impacts for both teacher and students
during the discussion.
For teacher, passive aggressive behavior will make teacher works harder to make
students understand the material because students who have this behavior will lose concentration
(Eaves, 1990). This may happen because when passive aggressive behavior occurs students tend
to concentrate on how to calm down and do not show their anger to lecturer. And this will
interfere students‟ concentration on the materials. Student O and P‟s statements in the interview
may give a slight idea about how important the concentration during the discussion. Student O
said that “.... pengaruh ke konsentrasi. Tadi fokus ke hal lain (.... it affects my concentration. I
am not totally focus in the discussion today)” while the almost similar idea from student P also
highlighted the importance of concentration. Students P mentioned that “tadi kurang bisa fokus
27
because I have another assignment from another class)”. Before did the interview, I saw that
these two students did not look excited in the discussion.
From those two interview results, it is clear that concentration is important. When
students‟ cannot give full concentration or their concentration is disturbed, they will be less paid
attention to the materials and cannot absorb the materials well. For students, this behavior brings
disadvantage because they will lose most knowledge at that moment. Students can also miss the
chance to elaborate the materials deeper because students will be less thoughtful when they carry
on this behavior in the discussion.
During the classroom discussion, teacher standing position may create the passive
aggressive behavior. Teacher‟s standing position may be seen as a form of personal space
invading but sometimes teacher does not realize that he/she already invades his/her students‟
space. Most of participants‟ answers from the questionnaire show that they will feel
uncomfortable when a teacher stands too close with them. And the next question on the
questionnaire that tries to elaborate further about the direct correlation between teacher standing
positions with students‟ participation in the discussion. Although not all students think that
teacher‟s position may influence their active participation in the discussion but some students‟
answers show that those two things really affect the participation level. It can be seen in student
Q‟s answer who stated that:
“Ya, karena jika guru duduk terlalu dekat membuat siswa menjadi grogi/ tidak
bebas untuk mengungkap kan ide. (Yes because if the teacher‟s position is too close it can make
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Almost similar idea comes from student R who agrees with student Q‟s idea by wrote on
the questionnaire: “Yes, because sometime I feel uncomfortable if the teacher is too close. So, I
cannot feel free to discuss”
These two answers from different students are evidences how teacher‟s position in the
class may affect students‟ participation. These two responds also show the fact about how
teacher‟s standing position may affect someone‟s personal space. When a person feels
uncomfortable, he/she tends to have bigger personal space. And from the position of teacher in
the class, it may lead to the phenomenon of passive aggressive behavior in the classroom. As
been mentioned earlier passive aggressive behavior happens when someone cannot express their
anger in a healthy way (Meyer; Harrn, 2011). And when students feel uncomfortable with
teacher‟s position but cannot say it out loud this behavior will be more likely to happen.
Conclusion and Pedagogical Implications
This study has attempted to describe the impact of students‟ personal space in their
participation during the class discussion. The study answered the research questions and fulfilled
the purpose of the study which found that personal space has a potential impact toward students‟
participation level in the class discussion. If students have small space during the discussion, it
may enhance their participation. And if they bring big space in the classroom discussion, the
space may impede their participation. However, personal space is not the only factor that may
impact students‟ participation. In addition, invasion to personal space also affects students‟
participation.
The finding does not only discover three factors that may influence students‟ space
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the smaller the space that can lead to more active participation; (2) someone‟s emotional states
which means the more open someone is the more active they will participate; (3) kind of activity
being performed, which means the more formal the situation is the more passive they will
participate (Caris and Voncken, Hall, 1966). Lecturer‟s standing position may also influence
students‟ personal space. The finding showed that if the lecturer stands too close to the students,
it can make students‟ uncomfortable. This may create a bigger personal space and lead to passive
participation in the discussion.
Actually, all themes from the findings have the same pattern in which the bigger the
personal space that the students have during the discussion, the more passive they will be in the
discussion as stated by Caris and Voncken, Hall (1966).
From this conclusion, lecturers are suggested not to judge passive students in the
discussion as students who do not want to participate during the discussion. Lecturers are
supposed to understand that every student has their own “invisible boundary” and brings it in the
class. The size of this “invisible boundary” is different from one to another student. There are at
least four factors that contribute to students‟ personal space and those four factors have been
mentioned and discussed. By knowing the common factors lecturer can create as small personal
space as possible to make students speak more in the discussion. However, not all factors can be
controlled by lecturers because of the influence of students‟ internal factor (emotional state) and
environment outside the class (relationship with people).
One of the biggest challenges for lecturers nowadays in teaching is to make the
discussion situation as fun and relax as possible but the materials can be delivered and
understood by students. When lecturers can create that kind of learning situation, students not
30
their ideas freely. And the biggest advantage is students can have deeper understanding towards
the materials by listening to their friends‟ ideas and arguments. Besides those two factors,
lecturers can also pay attention to their standing position especially when students are having the
discussion. It is hard to know where the suitable position for lecturers because when standing too
far students will feel not reckon but if lecturers stand too close, it will make students
uncomfortable. However, lecturers can recognize if they invade students‟ space by finding
students who participate actively during the discussion but becoming passive when they stand
near the students.
Seats arrangement can be a simple solution to reduce the chance of lecturers invasion
towards students‟ personal space. Since arranging the seats position closer to the whiteboard can
reduce the size of personal space, it can create more interaction, produce greater creativity,
engage to the class purposes, and give a chance for a better performance in the class (Adams and
Biddle, 1970; Totusek and Staton-Spicer, 1982; Perkins and Wieman, 2005). However a further
research needs to be conducted in this area to check whether it really has an impact for ED
students. The impact of culture toward the size of personal space also needs to be researched
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Acknowledgement
It is an honor to thanks those who made this thesis happen; first to God Almighty who made everything fit beautifully in His own time.
I would also like to express my gratitude for the guidance from my supervisor, Christian Rudianto, M. Appling., who spared his time, encouraged and supported me throughout the
process of writing this final paper; not to mention my examiner Athriyana S. Pattiwael, M.Hum., who shared useful insights and helped me in finishing my research.
This thesis would not be possible without the support from my beloved family. Thank you for their prayers, support, and motivation during my research and study.
I am also indebted to many of my colleagues who pushed and believed in me and always gave their support and boosts of spirit. Huge thanks to Wawan, Lina, Angga, and Arliska who have been a source of encouragement during my thesis writing. I also owe the deepest gratitude to the big family of 2009 students that have been the best place for me to grow in ED in these four years study.
Furthermore, it has been a great chance to study in ED of SWCU and know the best lecturers that have guided and shared their knowledge and involved in its student activities that taught me an unforgettable lesson that may be useful for my future.
32
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