A STUDY OF TEACHER TALK
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
ENGLISH CLASS
A THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum)
In English Language Studies
by
MAYLISIAS WAN Student Number: 116332019
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to express my deepest gratitude to God, Jesus
Christ, who has guided, helped, and given me an opportunity to continue my
education at the graduate program in English Language Studies (ELS) Sanata
Dharma University. I realized that, without Him, I cannot finish this thesis well.
May He always be with all of us who seek and share our knowledge to others.
Second, I would like to express the deepest thank my beloved adviser, Drs.
FX. Mukarto, M.Sc., Ph.D. for his guidance and constructive feedback throughout
the various stages of this research. I also thank for his effort, love, supports, and
guidance during my study in Sanata Dharma University. As my beloved lecturer, I
also have got a lot of insights and knowledge from his lectureres during my study
at the ELS Program.
Third, I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Dr.
Bismoko, Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A., and Dra. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons),
Ph.D, who had facilitated me with conductive learning environment during my
study and ecouraged me to finish this research. I also give my thank to mbak
Lelyana, as the administrative staff of the ELS program for giving me the
information I need to know concerning my study administrations.
Then, I would like to express my great honor and thankfulness to H. Drs.
Budiman Arifin, M.Si (Bupati Kabupaten Bulungan) for giving me the
opportunity to take my Magister Degree in ELS program at Sanata Dharma
University Yogyakarta through the scholarship program supported by Pemerintah
Kabupaten Bulungan. It was a big surprise for me to be the first Elementary
school teacher in Bulungan Regency to take this great opportunity.
Next, I would like to give my special thanks to Hj. Juariah, S.Pd.SD, as the
school principal of SDN 010 Tanjung Selor, East Kalimantan for her good
cooperation and allowing me to do my research in this school. I also would like to
thank all of the participants who have participated in this research, for their time,
vii
Finally, special thanks must goes to my beloved familly for their prayer,
support,encouragement, and love. My wife, Deswati Panel, my sons Gilbert
Immanuel and Gevin Sanata, and my daugther Grace Tiara who have given a
great contribution for me to finish this very hard job and study.
Thanks, may God bless us always!
Yogyakarta, July 18th, 2013
viii
WISE WORDS
“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL SHEET ... ii
THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ... iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi
WISE WORDS ... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix
LIST OF TABLES ... xiv
LIST OF FIGURES ... xv
LIST OF EXCERPTS ... xvi
CODING SYSTEM ... xvii
ABSTRACT ... xviii
INTISARI ... xix
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background ... 1
B. Problem Identification ... 5
C. Problem Limitation ... 6
D. Statement of Research Question ... 6
E. Research Goal ... 6
x
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Theoretical Review ...
xi
B. Actualization of the Research Problem ... 45
1. Conducting Class Observation ... 45
CHAPTER IV: RESULT AND DISCUSSION
xii
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Conclusions... 73
1. Indirect Influence Category... 74
2. Direct Influence Category ... 75
B. Recommendations... 76
BIBLIOGRAPHY... 80
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Transcript of Audio-Video 1 (participant A)...
Appendix 2: Transcript of Audio-Video 2 (participant A)...
Appendix 3: Transcript of Audio-Video 1 (participant B)...
Appendix 4: Transcript of Audio-Video 2 (participant B)...
Appendix 5: Photos of Teaching Learning Activity (teacher A)...
Appendix 6: Photos of Teaching Learning Activity (teacher B)...
Appendix 7: Language Function Categories and Coding...
Appendix 8: List of Interview Questions for the Participants...
Appendix 9: Flander’s Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC)...
84
95
104
108
111
113
115
118
123
xiii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Foreign Language Interaction Analysis (FLINT) System
(adapted from Brown 2007: 217)... 19
Table 3.1 Teacher Talk Categories and Coding... 44
Table 3.2 The Sample of Classroom Observation Data Transcript
(Participant A)... 47
Table 3.3 Language Function Categorization (Brown 2007: 217)
Concerning Teacher Talk... 50
Table 3.4 The Blueprint of Interview Questions... 52
xiv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Four Core Strands in Language Program (adopted from
Nation, 2007)... 25
Figure 2.2 The Relation between Plans and Outcomes (Allwright
xv
LIST OF EXCERPTS
Excerpt 1 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 01 B)... 55
Excerpt 2 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 01 B)... 57
Excerpt 3 (Video 02 A/01 A and Video 01 B)... 59
Excerpt 4 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 01 B)... 61
Excerpt 5 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 02 B/01 B)... 63
Excerpt 6 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 02 B)... 65
Excerpt 7 (Video 02 A and Video 01 B/02 B)... 65
Excerpt 8 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 02 B)... 67
xvi
CODING SYSTEM
The coding used for the categorization of teacher talk as follow:
Example: 1. II.1 (Acpt.)
II. : Indirect Influence
1 : Function 1
Acpt. : Accepting
2. DI.1 (Giv. Inf.)
DI. : Direct Influence
1 : Function 1
Giv. Inf : Give Information
xvii
ABSTRACT
Maylisias Wan (2013). A Study of Teacher Talk in Elementary School English Class. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Teacher talk (TT) is an essential part in a language teaching learning process. The sucess of language teaching learning is very much affected by how effective a teacher manages the class activity and the way a teacher talks as the main resource for the students to learn and get the target language input.
This study tries to describe and interpreted the functions of teacher talk in Elementary school English class. Thefore, this study is focussed on the language used by teacher to get the deeper understanding about the functions of the language used during teaching-learning process.
This study was a descriptive qualitative research which used classroom observation and interview as the main data collections. The data were collected from SDN 010 Tanjung Selor. The participants were two teachers of that school. There were two sessions of teaching practice in which each participant in different classes were audio-video recorded. The duration of each session was approximately 75 minutes. This study was conducted during the first two weeks of second semester of 2012/2013 academic year in January 2013. The audio recordings concerning teacher talk were transcribed in the form of transcriptions and categorized the transcripts according to the category of teacher talk. The transcripts were also analyzed in the process of coding. Then, the researcher analyzes the functions of each category. Based on the class observation data analysis then interview was conducted. The interview was designed to investigate the reasons and opinions of the participants about the utterances they used in the class during teaching-learning process.
xviii
INTISARI
Maylisias Wan (2013). A Study of Teacher Talk in the Elementary School English Class. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Ungkapan guru merupakan suatu bagian yang sangat diperlukan di dalam suatu proses pembelajaran bahasa. Keberhasilan dari suatu aktivitas pembelajaran bahasa sangat dipengaruhi oleh bagai mana seorang guru mengatur aktivitas di kelas dan sebagai suatu sumber belajar utama bagi siswa, guru memanfaatkan sebaik-baiknya setiap ungkapan yang digunakan di dalam kelas.
Penelitian ini mencoba untuk mendiskripsikan dan menginterprestasikan fungsi-fungsi bahasa pada ungkapan guru di dalam kelas bahasa Inggris Sekolah Dasar. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini difokuskan pada bahasa yang digunakan oleh guru guna memperoleh pengertian yang mendalam mengenai fungsi-fungsi bahasa yang digunakan selama proses belajar mengajar.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif yang memanfaatkan observasi kelas dan wawancara sebagai instrumen utama dalam pengumpulan data. Data diperoleh dari SDN 010 Tanjung Selor, Provinsi Kalimantan Timur. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah dua orang guru pada sekolah tersebut. Dilaksanakan perekaman video dalam dua sesi kegiatan pembelajaran oleh masing-masing partisipan pada kelas yang berbeda. Lama waktu setiap sesi sekitar 70 menit. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan selama dua minggu pertama semester ke dua tahun pembelajaran 2012/2013 pada bulan Januari 2013. Kemudian suara dari rekaman yang diperoleh pada observasi kelas mengenai ungkapan guru ditranskripsikan ke dalam bentuk transkrip dan dikategorisasikan sesuai dengan kategori dari ungkapan guru. Transkrip tersebut juga dianalisa dalam proses pemberian kode. Kemudian, peneliti menganalisa fungsi-fungsi bahasa pada setiap kategory. Berdasarkan pada hasil analisa data observasi kelas, kemudian dilaksanakan tanya jawab. Tanya jawab dirancang untuk memperoleh alasan-alasan dan pendapat-pendapat yang benar dari kedua partisipan mengenai ungkapan-ungkapan yang mereka gunakan di dalam kelas selama proses belajar mengajar.
xix
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This study is concerned with the teacher talk (TT) in the Elementary
school English class. It aims at describing the functions of the language used by
the teacher in Elementary school English class. This chapter contains several
sections: the background of study, problem identification, problem limitation,
statement of research question, research goals, and research benefits.
A. Background
In the globalization era, it cannot be denied that English has been an
international language, used by people all over the world to communicate to each
other both in spoken and written interactions. Thus, it is not surprising that the
teaching of English is carried out in many parts of the world including in
Indonesia. Seeing the reality of English as an international language, our
government has stipulated that English as the first foreign language in Indonesia.
Therefore, English has been given more special attention in many institutions
including in educational field. Hence, English is not only taught at Junior High
School, Senior High School, and Vocational School, but it has also been
introduced early from the primary level of education like Kindergarten and
Elementary school as a local content (Muatan Lokal). In the new curriculum of
2013, our government still allows the English language taught in the Elementary
school as an extracurricular. Many schools, especially in the city, have stipulated
English as a compulsory subject. The importance of English, therefore, does not
only come from the government but it is also initiated by society who assumes
2
believe that by mastering English will benefit their children to have more
opportunities to gain economic, cultural or educational advantages (Brewster et
all, 2004).
Teaching English in Elementary school is very different from teaching
English in higher levels. In terms of content materials or techniques, Elementary
school students have different needs, related to their competences and cognitive
development. According to Piaget‟s cognitive development stage, children age 7
-11 are at concrete operational stage (Wood, 2001). Intelectual development in this
stage related to the concrete objects. The way to teach English for children in this
stage must be provided activity related to their cognitive development.
Besides, teaching English at Elementary school is also related to their
characteristics. In this stage, they are very enthusiastic to play and use their
imagination (Willis, 2001). The aim of teaching English in the Elementary school
is also related to one of the most common beliefs about age and language
learning. Young children seem to have a greater facility for understanding and
imitating what they hear than secondary school pupils (Brewster et all, 2004). By
introducing English early to the Elementary school students, they are expected to
acquire the target language easily. By studying English, the students are expected
to have a means to develop their knowledge of science, technology and culture.
Thus, they can grow up with enough insight that can improve their live quality.
The Basic Course Outline of English as a Local Content Course of Study at
Elementary School 2004, explains that as a local content subject, English is taught
to students of fourth grade to sixth grade (Depdiknas, 2004). Teaching English to
3
communication limitedly to language accompanying action in the school context
(Depdiknas, 2004).
In addition, teaching English in the elementary school can motivate
students to be ready and be self-confidence in learning English at the next higher
level of education. The material more or less contains about spelling, listening,
vocabulary, writing, reading and functional skills as the basis to get a simple
language skill. At the functional stage, students are able to use the language to
support their daily needs such as reading newspaper, instructions, etc. (Depdiknas,
2004).
In Indonesia, English is learnt by the students as the foreign language
because they already have their mother tongue and also native language (bahasa
Indonesia). Most of the English learning activities take place in the language
classroom and in a non-supportive environment. Students usually do not use the
target language when they talk to their friends outside the classroom or when they
are at home. Therefore, the interaction (teacher talk) in the classroom is likely to
be the major, or even the only one source of the target language input. Krashen
(1985: 78) with his SLA theory says “Teacher Talk determines successful
language learning by providing plenty of and high quality input for the target
language.” In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is very
likely as the major source of comprehensible target language input for the
langauge learners to recieve. Teacher talk is a crucial importance, not only for the
organization of the classroom but also for the process of acquisition (Nunan,
4
Teaching the Elementary school students is very much different from
teaching adult in a way that they often have more enthusiastic and give possitive
response about learning. These lively learners usually find it easier to meet the
target language than adult learners. These conditions are compulsing the teacher
to be able to find the best ways to construct sucessfull lesson and activities which
place students at the very heart of teaching and learning. Language becomes
essential in provides young learners with a new tool, opening up a new
opportunities for doing things, and for organizing information through the use of
words and simbols. Constuctive talk is one of the most essential ingredients of a
good lesson, a vital part to engage any student in their learning, an instrument to
transform relationships (Coultas, 2009: 1).
However, lessons that encourage and organize students to talk about their
learning are not easy to teach. Teachers should make use of their talk as a „central
point‟ to gain effective teaching and learning process (Vygotsky, 1978). Wood as
cited in Cameron (2001 pp.8-9) makes it clear that teacher talk is very effective in
scaffolding young learners in various ways, thus, they have to manage their talk to
become meaningful. It makes young learners are able to improve their skills in the
target language. Nunan (1989) states that teachers always modify the language
they use to make it easier to comprehend. This, in turn, help the learner to acquire
the target language input.
Therefore, teacher talk is an indispensable part of foreign language
teaching in organizing activities, and the way the teachers talk do not only
5
students will learn. “Teacher talk is particularly important to language teaching”
(Cook, 2000: 144).
B. Problem Identification
Learning a language is not an easy task even for those who learn their
native language or L1. For language learners who learn English as a foreign
language such as in Indonesia, most classroom is the main place where they are
frequently exposed to the target language input. In the language classroom,
therefore, teachers should be able to establish what the appropriate languages they
use. It would be more efficient in creating an environment in which students feel
more comfortable and more confidence to get involved in interactive activities in
the language classroom. Appropriate teacher talk can create harmonious
atmosphere and at the same time it promotes more friendly relationship between
teachers and students. Consequently, it creates more opportunities between
teachers and students to use the target language in their communication.
There are several problems identified. Those are: (1) Learning language is
not easy, (2) Students in Indonesia learn English as a foreign language, and (3)
Classroom is the main place for the learner to learn English. Seeing this reality,
the teachers as the source and guide for the students to learn the target language, it
is important for them to be able to provide the best way in scaffolding the student
to learn. This is proposed the teachers make use their talk to provide the input
during the process of teaching in the classroom. This study, however focuses on
the teacher talk in elementary school English class. It aims to describe the
6
C. Problem Limitation
Based on the problem identification above, the researcher focuses this
study primarily in exploring the teacher talk in Elementary school English class.
The crucial reason why the reseacher feels interested focusing this study in this
topic, is that the researcher himself is a teacher who teaches English in the
Elementary school. So, hopefully the findings of this study will contribute in
improving the quality of teaching-learning English in the Elementary school.
English teachers are able to use the appropriate talk in the process of
teaching-learning. Teacher can motivate, encourage, and improve the students‟
participation in teaching-learning language activities by using their appropriate
talk, to help the students achieve the target language input. By doing so, the
students are expected to build and develop their basic knowledge about English in
the early stage of their study to prepare them to be ready learn it in the next level
of education such as at secondary school.
D. Statement of Research Questions
From the identification and limitation of the problem, the question which
should be answered is what are the functions of teacher talk in Elementary school
English class?
E. Research Goal
In line with the research questions, this study is conducted to find out and
7
F. Research Benefits
The goal of the study is to find out and describe the functions of teacher
talk in Elementary school English class. Theoretically, the research findings will
contribute to teaching-learning English in Elementary school, particularly related
to teacher talk in the English class. The Elementary school English teachers can
use the research findings as a guidance to determine the appropriate uses of their
talk in classroom. It can help students to achieve the target language input.
Practically, this research benefits the participants to be more aware about
their talk to perform in the process of teaching-learning English in classroom. It
can also serve as a reference for the teachers to improve their performances
during the process of teaching-learning. Besides, it also serves to be the model of
teacher talk in teaching-learning process. At least, other teachers can apply this
teaching model in their own classroom. By doing so, it is expected to increase
teacher talk productivity when they address the target language to their students.
Theoretically, the results of this study will provide scientific information
and multiple advantages in education in general, especially in motivating teachers
to make their talk more effective. The effective talk of the teacher will support
the lessons in teaching-learning activity. It should relate to what the students want
to achieve and need to improve in terms of the target language learning objective.
The result of this study is also usefull for teachers in preparing their
students to enter the next higher education level. It can help teachers in
developing the quality of teaching-learning process and enable them to motivate
8
also be used as a reference for those who wants to conduct a study in English
8
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter deals with the review of related literature to the present study.
The study was designed to find out and describe the functions of the language
used by the teacher in Elementary school English class at SDN 010 Tanjung
Selor, East Kalimantan.
A. Theoretical Review
There are several major isues underlining in this study. They are teacher
talk (TT), Krashen‟s input theory, output hypothesis, Paul‟s Nation four strands,
classroom interaction, elementary school, and foreign language learning and
teaching.
1. Teacher Talk (TT)
a. Definition
Many definitions of teacher talk (TT) have been given from different
perspectives by some experts. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and
Applied Linguistics by Richards (1992) defines that TT is as a variety of language
sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching. Therefore in
the framework of classroom talk, Jhonson (1995) states that there is a tendency
for the teachers to control the pattern of communication. This control comes from
their special status and from the way they use the language. That means they
9
classroom. For example, the teachers can control their speech in the classroom
through the way they allocate speaking turns to students by either specifying who
is to take it or by throwing it opens to the whole class. Teacher talk is the
language a teacher uses to allow the various classroom prosesses to happen, that is
the language of organizing the classroom. This includes the teacher‟s
explanations, responses to questions, instructions, praises, corrections, etc. Ellis
(1985: 145 ) formulates his own view about teacher talk: “Teacher talk is a special language that teachers use when addressing L2 learners in the classroom.” In
other words, Ellis (1994) also states TT means that teachers address classroom
language learners differently from the way that they address other kinds of
classroom learners. Teacher talk is therefore very important for both classroom
teaching organization and students‟ language learning in the process of foreign
language learning and the second languge acquisition, because teacher talk is an
instrument of implementating teaching plan. Teacher talk also defined as the kind
of modifications in teachers‟ speech that can lead to a special type of discourse
(Richards and Lockhart, 1996: 184). Richards and Lockhart explain that when
teachers use teacher talk, they are trying to make themselves as easy as possible to
understand and effective teacher talk may provide essential support to facilitate
both language comprehension and learner production.
While, according to Sinclair and Brazil (1985) teacher talk is the language
in the classroom that takes up a major portion of class time employed to give
direction, explain activities and check students‟ understanding. As an
indispensable part in foreign language teaching, teacher talk has its own features
10
teacher talk can be called teachers‟ language, teachers‟ speech or teachers‟
utterances. In spite of these different shapes, they share the same characteristic,
that is, they are all the words spoken by the teacher in class.
From the definitions above, firstly the researcher can see that teacher talk
in English classroom is regarded as one special variety of the English language, so
it has its own specific features which other varieties do not share. Because of the
restrictions of the physical setting, special participants as well as the goal of
teaching, teacher talk has its own special style. Secondly, teacher talk is a special
communicative activity. Its goal is to communicate with students and develops
students‟ foreign language proficiency. Teacher talk is used in class when teachers
are conducting instruction, cultivating their intellectual ability and managing
classroom activities (Cullen, 2002). Teachers adopt the target language to promote
their communication with learners. In this way, learners practice the language by
responding to what their teacher says. Thirdly, teachers use the language to
encourage communication between learners and themselves. Therefore we can say
that TT is a kind of communication-based or interaction-based talk.
Studies of teacher talk can be divided into two types of language. One is
the investigation of language that teachers use in their language classroom, and
the other is the investigation of language that they use in subject matter lesson
(Gaies, 1990) . In this study, the researcher will focus to describe the oral form of
teacher talk instead of the writen form. It refers to the language that teachers use
11
b. The Role of Teacher Talk in Foreign Language Learning
As a tool of implementating teaching plans and achieving teaching goals,
Teacher Talk (TT) plays a vital role in language learning. In Indonesia English is
learnt as a foreign language and the students learn English mostly in a language
class with a non-supportive environment, therefore TT is likely to be the major or
even the only one source of the target language input. Krashen (1985) says TT
determines successful language learning by providing plenty of high quality input
for the language itself. In line with Nunan (1991), he points out that teacher talk is
a crucial of importance, not only for the organization of the classroom but also for
the process of acquisition. It is through language that teachers either succeed or
fail in implementating their plans. In terms of acquisition, TT is important because
it is probably the major source of comprehensible target language input the learner
is likely to recieve.
c. The Functions of Teacher Talk
In this study the researcher focuses on the function of TT mostly used by
the teachers when they address foreign language learning in the classroom. Hence,
in this section the researcher discusses several functions of language used by the
teacher.
1) Teacher’s questions
Question is one of the most common techniques used by teachers and
serves as the principal way when they want to control the classroom interaction
(Richards, 1996). As a technique used by the teacher in the classroom, questions
can be explained by the specific functions they perform. These functions can be
12
diagnostic tool, questions allow the teacher to glimpse into the minds of students
to find out not only what they know or do not know and also how they think about
the topic. Through strategic questioning, the teacher can assess the current
knowledge of student in their mind, and identifying students‟ gaps and
misconceptions (Donald and Eggen, 1989). Second, as an instructional function,
questions provide an opportunity for students to learn new materials and integrate
them with the old one, they provide the practice and feedback which esessential
for the development, and they also alert students to the informations in a lesson.
Third, as a motivational function, questions allow teachers to engage students
actively in the teaching and learning process, challenging their thinking and
posing problem for them to consider. From a lesson perspective, a question at the
beginning of the lesson can be used to capture students‟ attention and provide a focus for the lesson. In addition, frequent and periodic questions can encourage
active participation and provide opportunities in the lesson for continuous student
involvement.
According to Barnes (1969) the questions asked by the teacher can be
classified into four types, (1) questions concerning factual matters and apparently
ask for specific facts or data, that is the questions beginning with „what‟, „when‟, „who‟, and „where‟; (2) questions beginning with „how‟ and „why‟ which are
classified as reasoning question because they appreantly require some reasoning
from students. Barnes further classifies the second type into, (3) closed question
and (4) open question. The closed question has only one acceptable answer while
13
Meanwhile, Richards and Lockhart (1996) classify the questions into three
catagories in term of the purpose of question in the classroom. They are:
procedural, convergent, and divergent questions. Procedural questions have to do
with the classroom procedures and routines and classroom management.
Convergent and divergent questions are designed to engage students in the content
of lesson, to facilitate comprehension, and to promote classroom interaction.
Convergent questions encourage similar students responses, or responses with
focus on a central theme, such as short answer „yes‟ or „no‟ questions which
expect short answers from the students. Teachers do not require students to
engage in high level thingking. Divergent questions on the other hand, encourage
diverse students responses which require higher-level thinking. Further, Richards
and Lockhart (1996: 185) state that there are several reasons why questions are
commonly used in teaching. Those are: (1) Stimulate and maintain student‟s
interest; (2) Encourage students to think and focus on the content of the lesson; (3)
Enable a teacher to clarify what a student has said; (4) Enable a teacher to elicit
particular structures or vocabulary items; (5) Enable a teacher to check student‟s
understanding; and (6) Encourage students participation in a lesson.
Long and Sato (1983) identify two types of questions that may be asked by
teachers in teaching-learning process in the classroom: display and referential
questions. When the teacher know the answers of the questions but they want to
elicit or display particular structure, the teacher proposes display questions (e.g.
what is the opposite of word „slow‟ in English?). Referential questions are used when the teacher do not know the answer to but the teacher tend to elicit various
14
Wu (1993) claims that both display and referential questions have
important fuctions to perform in teaching and learning language. They can also be
one of the ways for eliciting output. However, the use of different types of
questions does not guarantee that the quantitiy or quality of classroom interaction
will be improved. What is important that the questioning strategies used by the
teacher in order to elicit oral responses from the students and to develop their
grammatical competence in term of the target language input. Unfortunately, in
the classroom, teachers tend to ask more display questions rather than referential
questions (Long and Sato, 1983). Teachers who often ask display questions are
likely to encourage students to emitate fact without trying to develop it according
to their own understanding and it will make students less confidence to
communicate their own ideas in the target language (Tsui, 1995).
2) Teacher’s feedback
Besides questions, another very important aspect of teacher talk is
providing feedback to student responses. Feedback is teachers‟ evaluation of the
student response (Cook, 2000). When teachers do not give a feedback, the student
assume that there must be something wrong or unsatisfactory with their answer
and response (Tsui, 1995). Feedback may serve not only to let the learner know
how well they have performed but also to increase motivation and build a
supportive classroom climate. In language classroom, feedback on student‟s
spoken language may be a response either to the content of what a student has
15
the message rather than on the form such as the correctness of the grammar or
pronunciation (Cullen R., 1998).
Richards and Lockhart (1996) state that feedback can be given by means
of praise, by any relevant comment or action. Students learned how smart they
were, mainly from the teacher‟s feedback in the form of marks, comments and the
degree and type of praise and criticism. Students show a higher achievment by
getting more positive feedback from the teacher as well as being given more
opportunities to perform, to be challenged and to serve as leaders. In the other
hand, students show a lower achievment by getting negative feedback, more
direction, and help giving as well.
Feedback has two main different components: correction and assessment
(Ur, 2000). In the process of learning, can not be avoided that learners will make
mistakes. Brown (2002: 205 ) says that: “A learner‟s error ... are significant in
(that) they provide to the researcher evidence of how language is learned or
acquired, what strategies or procedure the learner is employing in the discovery of
the language.” It is a vital part of teacher‟s role to point out students‟ mistakes and
provide some corections on it mistakes. In correction, some specific informations
are provided on aspects of the learners‟ performance, through explanation, or
provision of better or other alternative, or through elicitation of these from the
learner (Ur, 2000). Correction helps students to clarify their understanding of
meaning and construction of the language. Futhermore, it is good to praise the
learners for their success and correct them when they fail. Teacher can show their
praise through the use of encouraging words and noises (excellent, good, well
16
2000). Assessment refers to the tool, technique, and procedure for collecting and
interpreting information about what learners can and can not do (Nunan, 1989). In
assessment, learners are simply informed how well or badly he/she has performed.
Comments such as excellent and very good are commons at the end of a written
assignment (Ur, 2000). The one important thing is that the teachers must not
forget that assesement is given with one purpose, that is to help and promote EFL
learning.
3). Translation (Code switching)
In teaching English the teacher sometimes use Indonesian or even mother
tongue when he/she wants to explain a concept or an idea to make it clearly rather
than using the target language. This way is known as translation (code switching).
This action can take place in a conversation when one speaker uses one language
and the other speaker responds in a different language. Code switching may
happen when a person start to speak in one language then change it to another one
in the middle of his speech, or sometimes even in the middle of a sentence
(Richards, et al, 1985).
The use of code switching in the language classroom depends on the
teacher and the learner beliefs about learning a language. According to Nunan
(1991), in many language classrooms, have been found that teachers and learners
make far greater use of their mother tongue than they do of the target language.
He also states that the code switching is affected by: (1) the nature of the activity,
(2) the teacher‟s perception of how students learn, (3) teacher perceptions of the
17
the role of the target and native language and the use of the mother tongue by the
teacher.
d. The Categories of Teacher Talk
Brown in Malamah-Thomas (1987: 25) states there are some categories of
teacher talk. Those are: (1) responding, i.e. any acts directly sought by the
utterance of another speaker; (2) socializing, i.e, any acts to establishment or
maintenance of interpersonal relationship; (3) organizing, i.e. any acts which
serves to structure the learning task or environment without contributing to the
teaching-learning task itself; (4) directing, i.e. any acts encouraging non-verbal
activity as an integral part of the teaching-learning task; (5) presenting, i.e. any
acts presenting information of direct relevance to the learning; (6) evaluating, i.e.
any acts with rates another verbal act positively or negatively; and (7) eliciting,
i.e. any acts designed to produce a verbal response from another person.
Hughes (1978) also mentions some various language functions, especially
related to the classroom management. In his categories, he spells out the various
language functions that are explained by some proponents. These categories
include: (a) organization, (b) interrogation, (c) explanation, and (d) interaction.
Organization consists of giving instruction, sequencing, and supervision. In giving
instruction, the teacher can give an appropriate instructions related to recurrent
classroom activities, control the student‟s behavior by means of commands,
requests, and suggestions, vary the form of instructions in order to show the range
of possibilities in the foreign language, and offer the student alternatives.
Flanders (1970: 34) uses the term Flanders‟ Interaction Analysis
18
teacher talk into seven categories (see appendix 11). The first four concern with
how the teacher responds to the students by accepting feeling and clarifies
attitudes expressed by the students, praising or encouraging students‟ action or behavior, clarifying, building or developing students‟ ideas and use those ideas in
problem solving, and asking questions. These four categories expand students‟
participation and express the authority of the teacher indirectly through their
support of selected patterns of the student‟s behavior. The teacher assumes a less
dominant acts, and the proportion of student talk increases. These behaviours are
sometimes called indirect influence. The other three categories are used by the
teacher to exert direct control. Those categories are lecturing, giving direction,
and critizing or justifying outhority. The teacher is directive in order to achieve
compliance or to correct misbehavior. In order for the teachers to do this, he
should talk more and take a dominant role in the classroom activity. These
behaviors are sometimes called direct influence.
Meanwhile, Moskowitz 1971 (in Brown 2007: 217) modified the
interaction analysis in more specific for foreign language teaching. Moskowitz
19
Table 2.1 Foreign Language Interaction Analysis (FLINT) System (adapted from Brown 2007: 217) Concerning Teacher Talk
TEACHER TALK
Indirect Influence Direct Influence 1. Deals with feelings:
In a non-threatening way,
accepting,discussing, referring to, or communicating understanding of past, present, or future feeling of students.
2. Praises or encourages:
Praising, complementing, telling students what they have said or done is valued.
Encouraging students to continue, trying to give them confidence, confirming that answers are correct.
2a. Jokes:
Intentional joking, kidding, making funs, attempting to be humours, providing the joking is not anyone‟s expense.
(Unintentional humor is not included in this category).
3. Uses students idea:
Clarifying, using, interpreting, summarizing the ideas of students. The ideas must be rephrased by the teacher but still be recognize as being students contributions.
3a. Repeat students response verbatim:
Repeating the exact words of students after they participated.
4. Asks questions:
Asking questions to which the answer is anticipated. (Rhetorical questions are NOT included in this category).
1. Gives informations:
Giving informations, facts, own opinion, or ideas: lecturing or asking rhetorical questions.
1.a. Corrects without rejections: Telling students who have made a mistakes the correct response command that students are expected to follow, directing various drill; facilitating whole-class and small-group activity.
3. Criticizes students behavior: Rejecting behavior of students; trying to change the non-acceptable
behavior, communicating anger, displeasure, annoyance, dissatification with what students are doing.
3a. Criticizes students response: Telling the students his or her response is not correct or acceptable and communicating criticism, displeasure, annoyance, rejection by words or intonation.
In line with Flanders, concerning teacher talk, Moskowitz divides the
20
with feelings, (2) praises or encourages, (3) uses of students idea, and (4) asks
questions. Meanwhile the second one is divided into three categories, (1) gives
informations, (2) gives directions, and (3) criticizes students behavior. In term of
the foreign language teaching therefore in this study the researcher uses the
FLINT analysis system to describe, analyze, and interpret the function of
languages used by the teacher obtained from the class observations data.
2. Krahen’s Input Theory
Input plays a critical role in language learning. There is no learning
without input. The language used by the teacher affects the language produced by
the learners, the interaction generate, and hence the kind of learning that takes
places. The problem is what type and how much of input is appropriate and useful
for language learners in the classroom. Krashen‟s Input Hypothesis proposes that comprehensible input is essential for the learner to acquire a language (Krashen,
1985). Krashen further maintains that learners will begin to produce the language
naturally when they have enough exposure to comprehensible input. According to
the input hypothesis explained by Krashen, the input must be comprehensible in
that it is near the learner‟s current level of development, called i, and the level that
the learner will get to next must slightly beyond the level at which he or she
already acquired, called i+1 (Krashen, 1982) in (Cook, 1993: 53). With regard to
teacher talk, comprehensible input refers to the utterances that learners understand
on the basis of context which they are used to, as well as the language which they
have learned. When a speaker uses language so that the acquirer understands the
message, the speaker “casts a net” of structures around the acquirer current level
21
Several kinds of input that Krashen discusses are the foreigner speech and
teacher talk as form of the caracteker speech and interlanguage talk among
acquires of the second language. It can be refered that modifications in speech
addressed to learners and extralinguistic information both are important since they
can increase input comprehensibility (Krashen, 1985). According to Krashen, the
goal of the language instruction is to bring the students to the point where they are
able to use language outside the classroom in understanding and communicating
with native speakers of the language. Krashen (1985) claims that, if the students
reach this level of competence, they will be able to continue to improve they
language skill from the comprehensible input recieved on the outside.
Krashen stresses that two-way interaction is a particularly good way of
providing comprehensible input, because it enables the learner to obtain additional
contextual information and optimally adjusted input when meaning has to be
negotiated because of communication problems. In Krashen‟s views, acquisition
takes place by means of a learner‟s access to comprehensible input. He comments that the input, which is totaly incomprehensible to learners, is not likely to cause
learning to take place. Teacher talk actually serves as the main source of input of
language exposure in classroom learning. It is more important for foreign
language learning, so teachers should make their input comprehensible and in the
right quantities. Cook (1993: 51) states “L2 learners acquire a new language by
hearing it in contexts where the meaning of sentences is made plain to them.” In conclusion, Krashen‟ input hypothesis proposes that language learners
can acquire language that is directed at their actual level competence. Krashen
22
knowledge of the word will also help the students to understand the language.
That is also include some structures that are somewhat beyond the students‟ level of competence. Krashen‟s input hypothesis posits that a language is picked up or
acquired when the learners recieve the input from messages which contain
language a little above their exciting understanding and from which they can infer
meaning. Although Krashen‟s Input Hypothesis has been criticized in that there is no clear difinition of comprehensible input, many people feel that distinction has
at least an intuitive appeal and that it represents some psychological reality. In the
same way, many practitioners recognize the need to provide learners with
comprehensible input (Hadley, 2001).
3. Output Hypothesis
Swain in Ellis (2003: 48) argues that comprehensible output also plays a
part in L2 acquisition. English learners should not only increase the information
input but also efficiently output the language skills that they have learned such as
speaking, and writing. Swain suggests a number of specific ways in which
learners can learn from their output. At least, she proposes the functions of output
for the learners into: (1) output can serve a consciousness-raising function by
helping learners to notice gaps in their interlanguage, (2) output also helps
learners to test hypothesis, and (3) output can try out a rule and see whether it
leads to successful communication or whether it elicits negative feedback.
Besides, learners sometimes talk about their own output, identify problems
with it and discuss ways in which they can be put right. In short, the argument put
forward by Swain is that the students can improve their language level through
23
using the language exposed to them in meaningful ways. So, a language teacher
plays a very important role during the process of language learning. He should
manage to push the students to produce the target language, gives some more
opportunities and much more time to the students to practice and use the target
language input they had.
4. Paul Nation’s Four Strands
Krashen and Nation have different perspective on how the learner learn the
language. Krashen believes that comprehensible input is the essential aspect for
the learner to acquire a language. While for Nation, in order for the student to
acquire the language they must have the opportunities to learn the language
through four activities at language course which are called four strands.
Nation (2007) classifies the activities which are called four strands into
four classifications, (1) meaning-focused input, (2) meaning-focus output, (3)
language-focused learning, and (4) fluency development.
Meaning-focused input is the kind of activity more or less similar with
Krashen‟s input hypothesis. This strand involves learning through listening and
reading by using language receptively. It is called „meaning-focused‟ because in all the work done in this strand, the learners‟ main focus and interest should be on
the understanding and gaining knowledge or enjoyment or both from what they
listen to and read. Typical activities in this strand include extensive reading,
shared reading, listening to stories, watching TV or films, and being a listener in a
conversation.
The meaning-focused output involves learning through speaking and
24
talking in conversations, giving a speech or lecture, writing a letter, writing a note
to someone, keeping a diary, telling a story and telling someone how to do
something.
While language-focused learning, involves the deliberate learning of
language features such as a pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and
discourse. Typical activities in this strand are pronunciation practice, using
substitution tables and drill, learning vocabulary from words cards, intensive
reading, translation, memorizing dialogues and getting feedback about writing.
The deliberate learning of strategies such as guessing from context or dictionary
use is also included in this strand. Most of these language-focused learning
activities can have positive effect on learning and language use, but it is important
that they are only a small part of the course and do not become the whole course.
In summary, (Nation, 2007) stated that language-focused learning strand should
not make up more than one-quarter of the time spent on the whole course.
Then, fluency development involves all the four skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing. In this strand, the learners are helped to make the
best use of what they already know. Like meaning-focused input and output, the
fluency-development strands is also meaning-focused. Typical activities in this
strands include speed reading, skiming and scaning, repeated reading, repeted
retelling, ten-minutes writing and listening to the easy story. All of the four
25
Meaning-focused
input
Meaning-focused
output
Fluency-based
activities
focused activities
Language-4 Strands
Figure 2.1 Four core strands in language program ( adopted from Nation, 2007)
5. Classroom Interaction
a. Interaction in EFL Classes
Interaction occurred everyday in the classroom activities between the
teacher and the learners. It is managed by everyone, not only by the teacher, but
also the students. The development and sucsess of a class depending on a greater
extent the interactions between the teacher and students (Tsui, 1995). Interaction
is the collaborative exchange of thoughts, feeling or ideas between two or more
people. Through the interaction with teachers, students can increase their language
storage and use all languages they possess. Interaction therefore is an important
concept for English language teachers. Long (1996) argues that interaction
facilitates acquisitions because of the conversational and linguistic modifications
that occur in such discourse and that provide learners with the input they need.
Through the interaction, learners have opportunities to understand and use the
language that was incomprehensible. Additionally, they could get more input and
more opportunities for output. Van Lier (1988) states that interaction is essential
for language learning which occurs in and through participation in speech evens,
26
Moreover, Allwright and Bailey (1991) state that through classroom
interaction, the plan produces outcomes (input, practice opportunities, and
receptivity). The teacher has to plan what he/she intends to teach (syllabus,
method, and atmosphere). The interaction provides learners with opportunities to
encounter input or to practice the L2. It also creates a „state of receptivity‟ defined as „an active opennes, a willingness to encounter the language and the culture.‟ So
the importance of classroom interactions has important role in teaching-learning
process which can be seen from the figure below:
Planed Aspect Lesson Co-Produced Outcome
Syllabus Output
Method Practice
opportunities
Atmosphere Receptivity
Figure 2.2 The relation between plans and outcomes (Allwright and Bailey,1991)
Furthermore, Rivers (1987) states that the teacher in the process of
teaching-learning should not be focus on the best method, the teacher should be
looking for the most appropriate approach, design or materials, or set of
procedures in a particular situation. The teacher is being flexible while keeping
interaction central; interaction between teacher and learner, learner and teacher,
learner and learner, learner and authors of text, and learner and the community
that speak the language. Therefore, the teacher should not be directive and
two-27
way, three-way or four-way. Students will learn most successfully when they are
given ample opportunities to interact in conversation.
b. Teacher’s Role in Teaching Learning Process
Teachers‟ role as a prompter needs to encourage the students to achieve
more, feeding in a bit of information or language to help them proceed. By doing
so, the teachers will bring about students to think creatively. At other times, they
may need to act as feedback providers that help students to evaluate their
performance or as assessors that tell students how well they have done or give
them grades. There are times when teachers join an activity not only as a teacher,
but also as a participant. As a participant, he/she may acts as a student when they
are learning. Participating is often more instantly enjoyable than acting as a
resource. Here, teachers‟ role as observers can function well, especially in oral
communicative activities. Observing for success often give teachers a different
level on how well the students are doing.
Cameron (2001) has already given the general description about teaching.
She emphasizes that teaching is a process to construct opportunities for learning
and to help learners take advantages of them. Cameron (2001: 242) says that:
“...teaching can never guarantee learning; all it can do is to construct opportunities for learning and to help learners take the advantages.” Therefore, in teaching
-learning process the teachers should be able to help students in constructing
understanding toward the lesson.
Holtrop (1997) specifies the teacher‟s role in teaching-learning process. Those are: demonstrations, listening, empowering, and lectures. Demonstrations,
28
wants to impart during the class. Although the teacher is still the center of the
action and the dispenser of knowledge, students can more easily see what they
need to know and more efficiently link to prior knowledge in their own ways.
Students remember much better what they have both heard and seen (or even
touched, smelled, or tasted). Listening is a very important teacher‟s role,
something that we don‟t usually think of in connection with the lecturer‟s role. Listening is crucial for assessment of learning (checking comprehension and
appropriate challenge level), for collaboration between teachers and students
(coaching instead of just judging), and for giving students a real sense of
ownership of classroom activities as well as for allowing students to articulate and
internalize the learning processes. Teachers who listen can turn around and
provide very effective support structures to guide students into the next level of
challenge. Empowering is really what teaching is all about. From the teacher‟s
role explanation, it can be concluded that the teacher should not only give lectures
or explanation on the whole teaching-learning process, but also give a time to the
students to express their knowledge or understanding. The student should
participate in classroom activities.
Nunan (1989) states that only one of every forty minutes of class is
devoted to student participation. This statement shows that the kind of teaching
that the most of activities take place in the classrooms right now is that the teacher
tells and the students listen, then the students tell information on a writen test and
the teacher evaluates. This kind of method of teaching should not be applied any
longger because it does not give any change for the students to be independent
29
teaching is seen when the teachers model strategies and knowledge making the
context of task completion, and then students attempt to do the task the way
teachers did it (Wilhelm, 2001).
Moreover, Chaudron (1988) states that there are two kinds of teacher
constitution in teaching-learning process, they are: (a) Teacher-centered: do not
speak unlesss you are spoken to; (b) Student-centered: if you have something to
say, say it.
Those kinds of interaction is negotiable, depends on the rules of speaking
established by the teacher. Teacher behaves in different ways and therefore there
are different types of classroom interactions. When teacher talks, commands,
restricts student‟s freedom to talk, it is teacher-centered. When teacher allows students to talk, ask questions, accept their ideas and stimulate their participation
in the class activities, it is student-centered. The other role of the teacher is
lectures. A traditional view of the teacher is someone who dispenses knowledge;
someone who lectures, tells, feeds, disseminates, covers material, teaches the
subject matter more than the students. The students sit passively while the teacher
is on show. Desks in rows and a blackboard and a podium up front are an
arrangement designed for this role of a teacher. However, lecturer are effective for
giving short sets of interaction, background information, guidelines, or other
information that is needed in a short time frame (e.g. before doing a class project,
30
6. Elementary School
a. Definition
Elementary School is an institution where children receive the first stage
of compulsory education. In Indonesia it is known as Sekolah Dasar (SD) and this
is a very basic stage of formal education. Based on the national constitution, it is
compulsory to children ages 7–11 to follow this stage of education. Elementary school or Sekolah Dasar in Indonesia consists of six grades from one to six.
Students must study for six years to complete this level. After that they will
continue to next level called Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP) or Junior High
School for three years.
Children as individuals certainly experience intertwined developmental
processes that involve biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes.
According to Santrock (2007:1), biological processes produce changes in an
individual‟s body. Genes inherited from parents, the development of the brain,
height and weight gains, motor skills, and the hormonal changes of puberty all
reflect the role of biological processes in development.
Next, cognitive processes refers to changes in an individual‟s thought, intelegence, and language. Watching a colorful mobile swinging above a crib,
putting together a two-word sentence, momorizing a poem, solving a math
problem, and imagining what it would be a movie star all involve cognitive
processes. While socioemotional processes, after that, involve changes in an
individual‟s relationship with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in
personality. Therefore, an infant‟s smile in response to her mother‟s touch is one
31
McDevitt and Ormrod (2004:18) devide the developmental periods into
five age periods. They are infancy (birth to 2 years), early childhood (2 to 6
years), middle childhood (6 to 10 years), early adolescent (10 to 14 years), and
late adolescent (14 to 18 years). However, Sandtrock (2007:17) classifies it into
the prenatal period (conception to birth), infancy (about 18 to 24 month), early
childhood (about 5 to 6 years), middle and late childhood (6 to 11 years), and
adolescent (about 10 to 22 years).
In the middle childhood, children become able to describe themselves, to
compare their own characteristics with those of their peers, and to speculate about
the causes of their strengths and weaknesses. The self-concept that has a major
impact on children‟s self-esteem is a product of both cognitive capacities and
feedback from others. Hence, support from parents and people beyond the family
is essential.
For socioemotional development, positive relationship exist between
self-esteem, valuing of various activities, and success at those activities. Berk (2008:
523) describes that in middle childhood self-conscious emotions of pride and guilt
become clearly govern by personal responsibility. They also seek time with
age-mates, especially friends of the same gender since the society of peers becomes an
increasingly important context for their development.
It can be concluded, at present we recognize that childhood is essential
time of development since children, as we know, are the future of society. When
they reach their potency, they are able to contribute effectively to society and take
