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7 Media provide teacher with a means of presenting material in a time-
efficient and compact manner, and simulating students’ senses, thereby helping them to process information more readily.
2.4 General Concept of Conversation
2.4.1 Definition of Conversation
Human mostly uses language to have conversation with others. He always uses a language to exchange meanings in order to interact with somebody else.
According to Elizabeth 2003: 66, conversation is an exchange of thoughts and feelings in an informal setting in real time. The exchange of thoughts in a work-
related setting can be more formal and is usually called a conference or a meeting. A conversation is characterized by its back-and-forth nature. Unlike
speech genres in which a single person holds the floor for a long time while others listen speeches, sermons, lectures, etc, conversation is marked by an exchange of
comments. Richards and Schmidt 1983: 116 states conversation is an activity, which
is directed to social goals e.g. the establishment of roles, presentation of self as well as the linguistic goals communication of meanings.
Lane in Richards and Schmidt 1983: 125 describes some of the concerns of conversation as ‘exchanging information, maintaining social bonds of
friendship, negotiating status and roles and deciding and carrying out joint action’. On the other hand, Schegloff in Richards and Schmidt 1983: 31
suggested that normal conversation might include elements such as openings,
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closings, repairs, responses, discussions, explanations, classifications, and a variety of other conversational acts.
In other hand, Celce-Murcia 2001: 108 also states one speaking activity is conversation the most fundamental form of oral communication.
A conversation is communication by two or more people, or sometimes with one’s self, often on a particular topic. Conversations are the ideal form of
communication in some respects, since they allow people with different views of a topic to learn from each other. A speech, on the other hand, is an oral presentation
by one person directed at a group http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiconversation
. Those engaging in conversation naturally relate the speaker’s statements to
themselves, and insert themselves or some degree of relation to themselves, ranging from the replier’s opinions or points to actual stories about themselves
into their replies. For a successful conversation, the partners must achieve a workable balance of contributions. A successful conversation includes mutually
interesting connections between the speakers or things that the speakers know. For this to happen, those engaging in conversation must find a topic on which they
both can relate to in some sense. Hornby 1995: 254 states that conversation is a usually informal talk,
especially one involving a small group of people or only two. From the explanations above, the writer can concludes that conversation is
a communication between two people or more. They exchange their opinions, thoughts and feelings.
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2.4.2 Kinds of Conversation
