Definitions of Teacher-Student Interaction

16 develop students ‟ language proficiency. Not only as the input for students but also as a bridge to stimulate students‟ language production. Teacher talk plays a very important role in the teaching process as an interactive device. Teachers may use a lot of interactive devices such as questioning, giving directions; explain activities, or checking students‟ understanding. Considering English is learnt as either second or foreign language in Indonesia where the students have low access to English exposure, the language teacher uses in the classroom is likely to be the primary source or even the only source of English exposure. As stated in the previous chapter that “If the second language is learnt as a foreign language in a language class in a non- supportive environment, like in Indonesia, instruction teacher talk is likely to be the major or even the only source of target language input” Stern 1983:400. It can be sum up, teacher talk is the main element of students‟ English language input. Betsy Rymes 2008, says that words function in different contexts, it affects teachers and students more control over the classroom discourse. The interactional context affects teacher‟s language in use. Figure 2. Rymes’ 2008 dimension of interactional context. Teacher talk is the most important means to control the classroom; it is not only a tool to convey knowledge for students Xiao-yan, 2006. It is important in classroom management because through language teachers know whether they are fail or success in teaching. Language use affects interactional context 17

2. Student Talk

Student talk is the language produced by the learners in communication with teachers or peers. According to Johnson 1995, students talk uphold inquiry, collaborative learning, and making knowledge personally meaningful. He added, the students will lose the component of interaction if they cannot voice out their mind at school. Student talk can be as a vehicle for developing communicative practices Hymes, 1972. Many theories, research and practice seem to conclude that, elaborated students talk in the classroom foster learning. Student production which is called student talk is used to interact with teacher and their peers or other friends in the classroom. Those interactions may lead to increasingly comprehensible input, and thus greater levels of understanding Krashen, 1982. Student talk comprises two categories; student talk-response and student talk- initiation . Student talk-initiation is the statement or a question asked by a student when he or she has not been prompted to do so by the teacher. Student talk- response is talk by students in response to teacher. Teacher initiates the contact or asks student statement and when the student answers a question asked by the teacher, or when he responds verbally to the teacher‟s instruction. It is almost difficult to differenciate between student‟s response and student‟s initiation. But then, it can be distinguished from the student‟s answer whether the types of answer is a predicted by the teacher or not. When in response to a teacher‟s question the student gives an answer which is expected for that particular question, the statment is student‟s response. Conversly, when the response to teacher‟s question the student gives an answer different from the teacher‟s