The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
84
the minimum score with 3.57. Meanwhile, the excellent percentage was 17.85 with score 5.6 reached by five students’. Then, followed by 14.β9 in score 7.6, 6.8 and 4.8 by four
students’ on each score. Next, 10.7β in score 8.4, 6.4 reached by three students. ɑfter that, 7.14 were got by one student with score 8. Finally, 3.57 were reached by one student with
score 6; 4.4; and 4. ɑfter describing the data, we could that students’ vocabulary achievement on first cycle was not achieve the target yet.
Second Cycle
The result of students’ vocabulary score is clearly can be seen in the following table. Table 4.4 students’ vocabulary score in cycle two
Based on the table above, it can be seen that 9.6 was maximum score and 4.4 was the minimum score. There were three students got maximum score 9.6 with 10.72 and there
were two students who got score 4.4 as the minimum score with7.14. The excellent percentage was 17.85 with score 8.8 got by five students. Then, 14.29 were gotten by
four students with score 7.6. Next, 10.72 were gained by three students with score 9.6; 8.4; and 7.2. After that, 7.14 were obtained by two students with score 5.6, 4.8 and 4.4. Finally,
3.57 were gotten by one student with score 6.8 and 6.4. After describing the data, the
researcher included that the students’ vocabulary achievement on second cycle was 78. 57. In order to classify the students’ vocabulary improvement from excellent into low, the
researcher used the criteria provided by Sayekti 1984:27 in the following.
No. Score
x Frequenc
y f
f.x Percent
1. 9.6
3 28.8
10.72 2.
8.8 5
44 17.85
3. 8.4
3 25.2
10.72 4.
8 2
16 7.14
5. 7.6
4 30.8
14.29 6.
7.2 3
21.6 10.72
7. 6.8
1 6.8
3.57 8.
6.4 1
6.4 3.57
9. 5.6
2 11.2
7.14 10
4.8 2
9.6 7.14
Total N= 28
209,2 100
MeanSco re
7.47 Maximu
m 9.6
Minimu m
4.4 Percentage
of 60 78.57
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
85
Table 4.5 classification of students’ score about students’ vocabulary achievement of each cycle
The data above showed that there were 28 students in the class III in one of the elementary schools in ɒandung. The result of students’ vocabulary test on cycle one that
there were five students who got the category excellent, four students into high, eight students into average, and eleven students classified into low. It means that the result was still under
the target. In the second cycle, the result of studen
t’s vocabulary test there were thirteen students who got category excellent, seven students included category high, then two students
into high, after that six students classified into low. Based on this finding, the researcher concluded that the level of class III students in one of the elementary schools in Bandung,
vocabulary achievement was increased. It means that there was significant improvement of
students’ vocabulary score after applying semantic mapping.
Discussion
On the first cycle, during the implementation the technique students got improvement. However, another problem show up and the target did not achieve yet. In the first meeting,
they were interested to follow the lesson. Before starting the lesson, researcher explained the details of this technique by giving the simple sample. But there were students still confused to
apply semantic mapping particularly, in categorizing the words. It was caused there were students noisy and did not participate. Here, the researcher thought that atmosphere of class
while study would give significant effect to their result in studying. Therefore, the researcher had students work in group. As Stahl and Clark 1986, p. 50 stated that discussion seems to
be a crucial element in the effectiveness of semantic mapping. It means that, sit close each other through group work made students cooperated with their group mates they can face to
face to share their information or idea. Face to face interaction is defined by Johnson and Johnson 1992 as cited in Jinjing 2010, p.14, stated that as learners gathering together,
facing each other, contributing their views, exchanging ideas, which are essential to complete the task and the groups goal. Moreover, semantic mapping give a chance to the teacher
provide a rich diet of learning experiences which encourage their students to get information from a variety of sources. They need to work with their students individually and in groups,
developing good and affective relationship. According to Harmer 1991, p.83, They need to plan arrange activities for a given time period, and be flexible enough to move on to the next
exercise when they see their students getting bored.
In addition, it also appears the weaknesses on students’ pronunciation and spelling. Here, the researcher train did more practice related the words. As Ur 1996, pp.60-62 stated
that there are several aspect of teaching vocabulary, they are pronunciation and spelling. Pronunciation and spelling are two aspects should be considered or pay attention by the
teacher in presenting of vocabulary, through pronunciation and spelling the words, students will be know what the words sounds like pronunciation aspect and what is look like
spelling aspect.
Another problems emerged was students misunderstanding in label and add extra information to each category. It caused by the lack of prior knowledge of the students. As
Thomas 1999 states that semantic mapping is to allow students to organize their prior
No. Category
Interval score
Frequency Cycle 1
Cycle 2 1.
Excellent 8
– 10 5
13 2.
High 7
– 7.9 4
7 3.
Average 6
– 6.9 8
2 4.
Low – 5.9
11 6
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
86
knowledge into these formal relations and thus to provide themselves a basis for understanding what they are re about to read and study. Moreover, miss spelling and
misunderstanding in categorizing the words were still appeared. Harmer 1991: 82 stated that young children especially those who have the age of nine or ten respond to meaning even
if they do not understand individual words. It appeared when they did evaluation test, most of students could not answer the students well and supported also by the lack of awareness to
limited time made students inefficiently doing the task. It means that the action should be continued to second cycle, as the result in the first cycle, the percentage students who got
score ≥ 6.0 only 60.7γ. In the second cycle, the researcher found that there was more progress than in the
previous cycle. Show that most of students got well understanding about the application of the technique. ɒesides, the improvement occurred on students’ pronunciation. The result of
giving solution in the second cycle the target was achieved well, although there were few problems still found in the first meeting when the students categorized particularly in label
the words. The percentage students score ≥ 6.0 reached 78.57. Here, students achieved the target of the study, the cycle could be stopped. This considered as significant improvement
looked from the process of the teaching and learning in daily classroom. Related those
statements, revealed that semantic mapping technique could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement in one of the elementary schools in Bandung.
CONCLUSION
Based on the result of the study, it can be concluded that after implementing semantic mapping technique at class III in one of the elementary schools in Bandung, researcher found
that semantic mapping is effective to be used as a technique in teaching vocabulary to improve students’ vocabulary. ɒesides, the findings also showed that semantic mapping
could be a useful vocabulary learning technique for students and helped them to establish and strengthen the links between their previous knowledge and new knowledge they got by
sharing their ideas during group discussion in doing semantic mapping procedure. The
students’ problem like memorizing words, boredom, lack of participation and background knowledge related the topic, as
the cause of students’ vocabulary problem can be solved. ɒesides, from the comparison of students’ level in vocabulary score in each cycle showed
that students’ vocabulary improved significantly. REFERENCES
Gaut. 2002. 10
Ways to Increase Student Vocabulary
. Retrived on June 20
th
2010. From ayincrease_tvekhttp:meme.esortrment.comw.htm
Grondlund, N. 1985.
Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching
. 3
rd
edition. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Hiebert, E. H and Kamil, M. L. 2005.
Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Bringing Research to Practice
. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Hornby, A.S.1995.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.5
th
edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, D.W. Johnson, R. T. 1994.
Learning Together and Alone
. _________: __________.
Johnson, D. D., Pearson, P. D. 1984.
Teaching Reading Vocabulary
. New York: Holt, Reinhart Winston.
Mori Mori. 1993.
Teaching Secondary Students with Learning and Behavior Problem
. United States: Pro- Ed Austin Tex.
Napa, P. A. 1991.
Vocabulary Development Skills
. Yogyakarta: Kanisius. Nation, I. S. P. 1990.
Teaching and Learning Vocabulary
. New York: Heinle Heinle.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
87
Novak, D. and Gowin, D.B. 1984.
Learning How to Learn
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Novak, J. D. 1991.
What is concept mapping?
Retrieved on June 2
th
, 2010 from http:users.edte.utwente.nllanzingcmhome.Htm.
Oxford, R. 1990.
Language learning strategies
. New York: Newbury Publishers. Sayekti, R. 1984.
Buku materi pokok bahas inggris I
. Unit 1133 SKSModul 1-3. Sokmen, A. 1997.
Current Trends in Teaching Second Language Vocabulary. In N.Schmitt and M McCarthy eds.. Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ur, P. 1996.
A Course of Language Teaching
. Cambridge University Press. Wallace, J. Michael, Guilford, and K. Lynn. 1982.
Teaching Vocabulary
. London: Bridles. Ltd.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
88
TEACHING ENGLISH CULTURE TO EFL CLASS THROUGH READING TEXT Leni Irianti
Rita Apollonia
bulen.leniegmail.com
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe some information about teaching culture in EFL classroom together. There are different aspects of teaching and learning
culture as a basis of learning language. These aspects should take into consideration when teachers prepare their classes in order to balance culture and
language in such a way that motivates students to learn. It is important to think of English culture and English language teaching together since one is link to the
other. Having our students aware of the different aspects of L1 and L2 cultures can help their learning process.
Keywords:
Language and culture; EFL classroom; Reading text
INTRODUCTION
English becomes popular from time to time. Everybody in the world try hard to learn and to understand it. English as a global language uses as an international language by the
people around the world. In 1985, Kachru described the world of English. He divided English into three circles. The inner circle he put English, Australia, and USA. The outer circle
contain countries where English had become an official or widely-used second language. Finally, the expanding circle represented those countries where English were learning as a
foreign language, such as in Indonesia.
For many years, scholars and teachers have made a distinction between
EFL
English as a Foreign Language and
ESL
English as a Second Language. EFL describe situation where students were learning English in order to use it with any other English speakers in the
world-when the students might be tourists or business people. ESL students, on the other hand, were describing as students usually living in a target language community. They
needed the target language in order to survive and prosper in that community, doing such things as renting apartments, accessing the local health service, etc. It follows from the
separation that the language studied in EFL lessons will be different from the language, on which ESL students concentrate.
Teaching and learning another language beside our mother tongue is such a difficult thing. It needs a lot of effort to acquire the foreign language. Teaching and learning the
foreign language means learn other culture. It cannot deny that learning language means learn another culture. It is very important to introduce the culture of native speaker to the students
of foreign language. The present overview will discuss about sociolinguistics notion and culture. In addition, how it contributes to other field especially in language teaching. Based
on the explanation this
study is designed to answer how the students’ perceive about learning other culture through reading text?
Sociolinguistics
The study of language and the use in society called sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics is the empirical study of how language used in society. Combining linguistic and sociological
theories and methods, it is an interdisciplinary field of research, which attaches great significance both to the variability of language and to the multiplicity of languages and
language forms in a given society. Within this broad range of interest, there are a number of
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
89
specialties that investigate some aspect of the interaction of language and society, such as, how language relates to social categories of various kinds, e.g., social class, age, sex and
gender, ethnicity, speech situation, network, etc.
Since sociolinguistics is a meeting ground for linguists and social scientists, some of whom seek to understand the social aspects of language while others are primarily concerned
with linguistic aspects of society. It is not surprising that there are, as it were, two centers of gravity, known, respectively, as
micro-
and
macro-sociolinguistics
or alternatively
sociolinguistics in the narrow sense
and
sociology of language
. These represent different orientations and research agendas, micro-issues being more likely to investigate by linguists,
dialectologists, and others in language-centered fields, whereas sociologists and social psychologists more frequently take up macro-issues.
Variation linguistics
has been used yet another term for micro-sociolinguistics, and there have been attempts to confine
sociolinguistics proper to the study of variation in language. Coulmas 2003: 564 states micro-sociolinguistics investigates how social structure
influences the way people talk and how language varieties and patterns of use correlate with social attributes such as class, sex, age, and ethnicity. Speech is socially emblematic in the
sense that speakers by their choice of words, manner of pronunciation, and other stylistic features identify with others with whom they share social characteristics, such as
socioeconomic status, occupation, and education, but also place of residence, age, gender, and ethnicity.
Culture
Every language is a social product, and every society constitutes itself through language. To study the relationship between the two is a complex endeavor, which expected
to throw light on the foundations of both society and language. Sociolinguistics is concerned with “real-life” language issues in social context. While formal linguistics constructs a
simplified language whose behavior can predict, sociolinguistics tries to cope with the messiness of language as a social phenomenon.
The term, ‘culture’ has diverse and disparate definitions that deal with speech act, rhetorical structure of text, social organizations and knowledge constructions. Cortazzi and
Jin 1999: in Ariza, 2007: 12 states culture can be seen as a framework of assumptions, ideas and beliefs that are used to interpret other people’s actions, words and pattern of thinking.
Whereas, Hinkel in Ariza, 2007: 12 states that culture is the way of life of people, the social constructs that evolve within a group, the way of thinking, feeling, believing and behaving
that are imparted to members of a group in the socialization process.
Language is both unique and autonomous. Many of the properties in language are also relation to culture. To avoid the confusion, let me explain about the term culture. The word
culture taken in the sense in which it is use by cultural anthropologists, culture is something that everybody has. It is always refers to some community property, especially those which
might distinguish from one to another. For example, there are the artifacts, thought and social customs. Based on Goodenough 1957 culture is define as whatever it is one has to know or
believe in order to operate in manner acceptable to its members. It is also the product of learning knowledge in most general.
As we have seen, culture can may be define as the kind of knowledge, which learn from other people, either by direct instruction or by watching behavior. As for relation, between
language and culture, most of language is contained within culture, so it would not be far from the truth to say that ‘ a society’s language is an aspect of its culture…the relation of
language to culture is that part to whole’ Goodenough, 1957 in Hudson: 8γ.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
90
Culture in English F oreign Language Classroom
In educational field, culture and language seriously integrated in foreign language teaching in the early 1970. Later attempts to define culture from teaching framework dealt
with proposing sets of topics to implement in the teaching practice to approach of foreign language. Various schemes of cultural description suggested to adopting as goals or types of
understanding that developed in language students as the result of instruction of culture.
Vallete 1977 in Ariza, 2007: 13 classifies goals in five categories: cultural awareness, command of etiquette, understanding of daily life, understanding of cultural values, and
analysis of the target language. Recent considerations given by Crawford et al. 1984 in Ariza, 2007 : 13 there are three main criteria to conduct cultural instruction, that are: the
learner’s exploration of their own culture, the discovery of the relationship between language and culture, and the learning of the heuristics for analyzing and comparing cultures. It is
important to teach students English Culture while teaching English, not only because one thing strictly linked to the other, but also because it might be easier for them to acquire
language if they have an idea of culture.
Besides that, teachers cannot forget that it is not good or useful to teach only L2 culture. We must also value our own culture when we teach. If we start a class talking only
about Americans, their habits and values, our students will not get involved or interested. We should always base our classes on our stude
nts’ previous knowledge.
How text contributes the Teaching Culture in EF L Classroom
It is widely acknowledged that textbooks are the main materials used in language classes. They may be the teacher, the trainer, the authority, the resource, and the ideology in
the foreign language classroom Hinkel, 1999 in Ariza: 2007: 13. Indonesia produced textbooks massively for English as a Foreign Language EFL purposes all over education
places, and aim to meet the needs of language learners, so that they can function linguistically and culturally well in English communicative acts. Thus, it is extremely important that these
textbooks include the vital components to teach the language, its culture, and are appropriate
for learners’ needs, cultural background, and level. Teaching culture integrated into the foreign language trough textbooks and classroom practices is not easy. It is the language
teachers’ responsibility to find practical solutions to this problem to integrate culture into their teaching in one way or another, and it would not be reasonable to assume that language
learners later exposed to cultural material after they reach mastery of the linguistic features of the language.
The most important prerequisite for language teachers to incorporate cultural material into their teaching is to make them familiar with the culture of the language they are teaching.
Often times, teachers lack the necessary knowledge of the target language culture and training in how to teach it, resulting in a state of insecurity to approach culture. However, one
should have the basic backdrop to be able to effectively help students accomplish the essential skills in language learning to rationalize and identify with the target language
culture. This awareness serves as a safeguard against potential negative attitudes students may encounter when they learn about a new set of norms at odds with the ones of their own,
and helps language learners to recognize and appreciate the differences between the two cultures for the benefit of successfully combining form and meaning in language learning.
Developing cultural awareness alongside language awareness, materials need to provide more than a superficial acknowledgement of cultural identity and address more thoroughly the kind
of cultural adjustment that underlies the experience of learning a foreign language. The tip aim to create a classroom atmosphere that is conducive to opening minds to other cultures.
With this aim in mind, teachers could apply personalizing activities in order to invoke
identification with the students’ own realities. The activity started by mentioning a remote
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
91
country. In case students start stereotyping about the country, teachers could simulate the students to talk about their own lives as most students love talking about themselves. This
way, they would be able to draw the differences between the distant countries and their own.
In addition to personalization activities, most teachers prefer discussion activities organized around the elements of the target culture. Consequently, when asked about possible
ways of integrating culture into a language class, most teachers may agree on planning ‘discussion’ activities. However, the authors assert that not every element of the target culture
is particularly helpful with lower level learners, and activities such as simple surveys, and question and answer tasks may prove to be more beneficial. If discussion activities designed,
teachers should remind themselves that language-learners in EFL contexts might not comprehend all explained to them. Thus, if lack of comprehension plays a part, students
might lose interest in the target culture.
The issue of making the topics about the target culture as interesting as possible is imperative. The first strategy to engage students’ interest is selecting appealing aspects of the
target culture to talk about. One interesting facet of culture that attracts the attention and interest of every human being are foods, clothes, and artifacts. Teachers could designate one
of the class periods as the international food or cuisine day and could bring in ingredients and recipes. Students will listen to the simple recipe directions from the teacher and try to prepare
simple dishes from the United States, England or another English speaking country. In doing so, students put into groups, which would allow for exchange of whatever aspect of the target
culture each peer might have picked up by that point in time. Lastly, in engaging in all of the culturally integrated activities elaborated on above, teachers should never assume or expect to
cover every single aspect within the target culture, and as previously mentioned, should carefully select only in the areas that the students are interested. Finally, the teachers
themselves should advance their knowledge of both the students’ culture and the target language culture, and should ensure that their materials and lessons feature their familiarity
and understanding of both of these cultures to create opportunities for their students to develop their socio-cultural skills.
METHODS
This study is a descriptive study. The subjects of this study were the third year students of English Department of Galuh University in Ciamis. They were chosen randomly; so, there
were 105 students. The writer chose randomly only half of the students who answer the questionnaire. ɑ questionnaire was used to reveal the students’ perception about learning
culture through reading text. This study has been conducted for two weeks during the short semester in English Department Galuh University.
FINDINGS
In my school, there is a subject specifically study about the culture. However, it is not enough to engage students to English culture. We need an extra time to explain about that.
Instead, I usually introduce the English culture in every English subject indirectly. For example, when I teach reading I usually try to find the text that related to English culture. So,
I can explain about the content of the text and the culture. I took some steps to teach culture in reading class.
The first, in pre-reading I get the students attention trough the text by building their prior knowledge before move on to the main course. Next, while reading I asked the students
to do the SQ3R strategy. For examples, divide the students into several groups, asked them to read the text, each group one paragraph, then find out the topic, the main idea and building
new vocabularies. In the text ‘Stress at Work’ and ‘Eating Disorder’ text in appendixes, I explain how the native work in the office, how they really appreciate the time and
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
92
professionalism. Then I compare with working condition in Indonesia. While, in the text ‘eating Disorder’ I explain to them that some people in western culture think that being
skinnier is more beautiful. Because they are busy working they tent to take fast food and rarely do any exercise so that they suffering obesity and anorexia. I expect that they can learn
how English people work and if someday, they go abroad they will not have a culture shock.
From the ‘Eating Disorder’, I told them live healthy is better. No matter how busy they are, they have to eat properly and consume a healthy food. I gave them some example about
healthy foods. Then, I made an extension about how to make a healthy food and told them about the table manner. Therefore, the students can compare it with their own culture. They
can absorb the positive values from English culture.
Minimizing monotone class I usually asked them to use language laboratory, they can listen to the audio and read the text. In previous class, I gave them a podcast text and audio
about “I Go without My ɒreakfast”. I told them that how the native speakers have their breakfast is different with Indonesian culture. In English, they will have bread or fruit for
their breakfast. While, in Indonesia we have rice for our breakfast.
The results of data analysis are presented in this section to answer the research questions. It deals the students’ perceive about the topic. The table 1 shows the result of
questionnaire chose by the students. Table 1.
Description of the Students’ Perceive
No Item
Strongly Agree
Agree Disagree
Strongly Disagree
1 Language cannot be seperated from
culture 26.9
69.3 3.8
2 Learning langauge means learning its
culture 38.5
61.5 3
Reading English text gives information and motivation in learning English and
its culture 30.8
69.2 4
I learn indirectly about culture through text
26.9 46.1
23. 1 3.9
5 The text gives me useful information
about the habbit of native English. 15.4
65.4 19.2
The table 1 explains about the result of the questionnaire. It showed that almost the students agree about learning culture through English text. They can learn how the native act,
work, and do their daily life. It means that indirectly they learn the habbit of the native from the text. Once they have to go abroad they will not be feel the culture shock. Thehy have
already learn about the habbit of the native while they are learning the language. CONCLUSION
Integration of culture into language teaching is, by no doubt, a requirement to pass on general humanistic knowledge. If successful integration takes place, the foreign andor
second language learners of English or any other languages will be able to act flexibly and sensibly along the lines of cultural norms that they encounter within the target language
culture. English language learners get to assume the role of a comparative ethnographer and fully comprehend the role of their own identity during this comparison between their own
culture and the target culture. Embedded within this claim is that language awareness is not sufficient all by itself. Cultural awareness should integrate while developing language
awareness. The ideal case for teachers, therefore, would be to create a classroom atmosphere
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
93
in which questions and discussions about the target culture, comparisons between students’ native culture and the target culture will reinforce the students’ language learning.
REFERENCES Aronoff and Miller. 2003.
The Handbook of Linguistics.
Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers. Benites, Samanta dos santos. 2009.
Culture in an English Class. A reflection upon the texts: The L1 Culture in the L2 Classroom, Teaching LanguageCulture in the Light of
Cultural Studies in the EFL Classroom and The Values Americans Live By.
PDF-file. Diana Ariza. 2007.
Culture in EFL Classroom: An Innovation Project
. Columbia: __________.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2003.
The Practice of English Language Teaching: Fourth Edition
. Cambridge, UK: Longman.
Hudson, RA.1995.
Sociolinguistics.
Cambridge. UK. Mok, Rebbeca. 2005.
Read and Understand: 2.
Australia: Learners Publishing. VOA. 2010. Available at www.voa.com
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
94
CHILDREN SIGN MAKING: A PATHWAY TOWARDS BETTER LITERACY Listyani
lydia.listyanigmail.com
Abstract
The aspects which children develop are so various and unique. Not only their physic, but their mental and lingual abilities grow too. One of the lingual aspects
that little children develop is their communication and representation of ideas. Kress, as cited in Grainger 2004, tries to pinpoint to an inescapable
characteristic of the communicational and representational world. It is the world where children are moving, where they already live, and make their paths into
literacy. In children’s communicational world, the relation between the world and its representation
– a relation, which was an unshakeable common sense thirty years ago
– no longer exists. The common sense was founded on
representation as reference
: stable relation between the world of signs and the world of reality. The new common sense will be founded on representation as
sign-making
. Without our understanding, children’s paths into social making, in writing or
images, will be more difficult. In this paper, I would like to share how a three and a half year old boy built his own understanding of the world around him through
sign-making, and how the child progressed throughout one-year period of time. Some examples of how the boy created his own sign making as representation of
his ideas, and his works today as the representation of his ideas were also presented. This paper will hopefully be useful for any teacher and parent in their
efforts to understand their students and children’s sign-making. In the area of TEYL Teaching English for Young Learners, this paper will hopefully add a
little but useful story of how a child built his sign-making efforts.
Keywords:
children, meaning-making, semiotics, sing-making, TEYL
INTRODUCTION
This study is about children’s sign-making as they are passing through a stage to make meaning as part of communication with the people around them, especially adults. In this
study, observation was done to a boy named Samuel pseudonym, who were trying to get his ideas across when he was around three and a half years old. Comparisons to his efforts today
– when he is approaching five – are also given to show how he developed in his growth. Below is some theoretical review to support this study.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Commonly, people define literacy as the ability to read and write. Once people are able to read and write, they are considered literate, while those unable to read or write illiterate.
Kern 2000, p.2 states that by considering reading and writing when they are used in their social contexts, a focus on literacy frames reading and writing as “
complimentary dimensions of written communication
.” That is true that literacy is commonly defined as the ability to read and write. Some people also connote literacy with learnedness and familiarity with
literature. In introductory or intermediate levels, these people, Kern further explains, usually focus on basic reading and writing abilities. While in advanced courses, they focus on literary
and cultural knowledge. Tarone, Bigelow, and Hansen 2009 adds an interesting idea to this. They claim that there are a great many illiterate adults throughout the world. If the groups of
literate and illiterate groups of adults
– who share the same common characteristics like
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
95
intelligence, gender, culture, and age – differ in the performance of their oral language
awareness and manipulation tasks, it seems that there is one single causal factor that distinguishes the two groups: literacy.
Citing from Ong 1982, Tarone et.al. 2009, p. 11 further point out that there is an impact of literacy on human cognition, and there is a difference between oral and literate
cultures. Ong asserts, “
The organization of pre-literate expression is basically formulaic, with substantial use of proverbs and other set expressions. It is additive, redundant, not efficient,
interactive, not objective, situational, and not abstract
”. That is what Ong describes about the characteristics of
oral cultures
versus
literate cultures
. In another area - foreign language curricula - at the lower levels, to be specific, literacy
is conceived as being text-centric, instead of reader or writer – centric. Teaching is focused
on correctness and convention. At the upper levels of college curriculum, there are additional strands. The first one is
high cultural strand
– that is, the transmission of cultural knowledge and the development of aesthetic appreciation, literary sensibility, and a cultivated spirit. The
other strand is
cognitive strand
Kern, 2000, p.3. Still according to Kern 2000, p.4, the views of text-centric, cultural, and cognitive
skills share a number of limitations. First is that they regard literacy as a product of instruction, not as a variable set of processes which are contingent on textual, cognitive, and
social factors. The second limitation is that these definitions of literacy tend to exclude contextual factors, that is, how people in different communities produce and use texts in
different ways. The last one is that these traditional views of literacy are largely incompatible with the goals of CLT Communicative Language Teaching because they emphasize
prescriptive norms rather than appropriate use of the norms. Citing from Kramsch 1995, Kern states that it is the direct challenge to exclusive monopoly of essayist literacy to
establish spoken language and conversational competence, which is central to foreign language study. However, there is a danger of treating the four language skills separately, as
Kern 2000, p.5 puts is:
Treating speaking, listening, reading, writing, and culture as separate ‘skills has led to
limited, overly-compartmentalized goals described in terms of discrete behaviors or pieces of knowledge, rather than in terms of integrative abilities.
To clarify this point, Kern 2000, p.5 further mentions that some educators argue that oral communication skills should be the primary goal of FLE Foreign Language Education,
if the global marketplace provides opportunities. Kern strongly argues that it would be a mistake to efforts to reach this kind of goal by teaching only speaking and listening skills.
Effective oral communication, Kern claims,
requires literate sensibilities about particular ways the foreign language can be used in certain settings, not to mention the familiarity with
cultural premises that underlie all communicative interactions within the target culture
. The bottom line is that the traditional notions of literacy as norms of the produced language or the
factual understandings are too narrow in scope. They are too narrow to permit easy reconciliation of the goals and teaching practices.
Kern nicely concludes that extending the notion of literacy beyond the strict traditional limits of reading and writing skills and beyond the skills of text-centric literary interpretation
will enable language teachers at all levels to create a more coherent curriculum. A curriculum maintains ongoing attention to communicative skills in spoken language as well as in written
genres.
About reading and writing, ɜern β000, p.β also states that “
A focus on literacy frames reading and writing as complementary dimensions of written communication
.” Reading and writing in social contexts are of course taken into consideration. Peter Hannon, as cited by
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
96
Grainger 2004, claims that literacy is never static. Literacy changes, and is changed by people who use literacy. Individuals use different literacies associated with different domains
of life like home, school, or work.
Peter further states that children ’s lived experiences is highly specific, since prior to
school, the language and culture in their domain, that is at home, has structured and shaped their meaning making. “
Unofficial literacy
”, as Grainger β004, p.5 mentions, is literacy in which families engage; there are voices of parents, grandparents, and siblings are involved.
This is closely related to Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD Zone of Proximal Development. According to this theory, development takes place when children interact with adults or more
proficient peers. Development first appears on the “social plane”, then on the “psychological place” Gordon, β007, p. 17β. Still according to Vygotsky, children can perform an activity
with the help of adults, and this becomes an indication of the child ren’s “budding
developmental stage” or the ZPD. Children who can make use of adult assistance will be able to deal with the challenge successfully.
This study may fall under TEYL and semiotics as well. Sauvignon 1997 define it as the study of nonhuman signaling system. To clarify this point, in his research, Nehaniv
β000, citing from ɒrunner 1991, mentions that “meaning” in real human societies is socially constructed. However, this depends on the participation of the individual members of
the society as well. Meaning-making emerges from the interaction of many participants as they communicate to one another in the world. Semiotics provides an insightful approach to
understanding meaning in terms of a relational framework.
The study of semiotics was then brought into children literacy learning by Harste, Woodward, and Burke 1984, as cited by Siegel 2006. Semiotics is an interdisciplinary
field of studies that examines how meaning is made through signs of all kinds: pictures, gestures, music, and not just words. Haste el.al concluded that literacy and literacy learning
were multimodal events. It was then a proposal which today has taken new significance.
There is a quotation that Siegel quotes from Dyson 2004 to support her idea about this meani
ng making. “
Surely it is time for all those interested in multiple languages and language variants, in diverse cultural practices and world news, in the expanding symbolic
repertoire and re-
accentuate this word “basics””Dyson, β004, in Siegel, β006. There is another quote that Siegel cites to strengthen her stance, that children literacy and literacy
learning is not just via written language: “Given the reading and writing responses of the
children we studied, the multimodal nature of linguistic sign is a key feature not only in literacy but in literacy learning
Harste, Woodward, Burke, 1984, in Siegel, 2004, p. 65
.
Another linguist that proposed the importance of meaning-making through signs as representation of ideas is Kress. In the late 1970s, Kress in Grainger, 2000 attended a
journalism course, and he was very interested in it.He learnt about a transition point in the media and communication.On one side, it introduced word processing in journalism
publishing –known as ‘desktop publishing’. On the other side, it involved ENG – Electronic
News Gathering. The technology has developed.The older view of ‘representation’ relied on the assumption of a relatively clear and stable relation between the world out there, and the
ways of representing the world in systems of signs, whether as words, images, or gestures.Newsgathering has been replaced by multi-media production.In multi-media
production, one can have images, words, music, background noises, and literally
make
the news.
ɜress’purpose, as cited in Grainger 2004,is to try to point forcefully to an inescapable characteristic of the communicational and representational world.It is the world where
children are moving, where they already live, and make their paths into literacy.In children’s communicational world, the relation between the world and its representation
– a relation, which was an unshakeable common sense thirty years ago
– no longer exists.The common
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
97
sense was founded on
representation as reference
: stable relation between the world of signs and the world of reality.The new common sense will be founded on representation as
sign- making
.Without our understanding, children’s paths into social making, in writing or images, will be more difficult.
If children are unable to make signs externally, Kress further states, in some modes, they are cut off from participating in the constant remaking of the group’s systems of
representation and communication.A child, who has developed the shape and idea of circles, will be able to use circles to make new signs: wheels, snowmen, ghosts, pumpkins.
Reading is one central element - in literate cultures - of the formation of who we are and can be. Many of the so-
called ‘oral’ cultures, as mentioned previously, have a wider range of representational and communicational resources at their disposal and in everyday
use, than the so-called literate cultures.The sign-making process in reading is the same as sign-making process in writing. The important
social
difference is that writing is the making of a sign
externally
. Therefore, writing can act in affecting others in being the reason for making new signs. Grammar is a resource for making meaning Kress, in Grainger 2004, p.
78, citing from Michael Halliday’s
Theory of Language
, 1985. The real point about the “
voracious appetite
” eagerness for semiotic recycling is the child’s ever searching eye, which is guided by a precise sense of design for both the material
and the scope.Through a vast array of signs, children are drawn into the semiotic web. Here, the family, its practices are values are centrally important Kress, in Grainger, 2004.
Kress further explains that one example of the sign-objects is toys. Toys code meaning about the society’s view of different ages of childhood: soft plastic, furry, in striking colors,
simple shapes in polished or painted wood. As the ages of children increase, the materials change: metal
– harder, more angular, and the color change.The ranges of things, which are drawn into the world of toys, also change.The domain of toys consists of a communicational
system.Here, different ideas of being a social human are suggested, forms of social life are also explored.There are deep logics in which materials of meaning making.This has effects
on conceptual, cognitive, and affective organization of children.
However, children act on materials.A sheet of paper can be a flat sheet, for drawing or writing on. If it is folded, it can be a surface for representation.The folding changes its
generic potential into book, newspaper, birthday card.The change seems obvious and simple, but has far-
reaching consequences.The simple act of folding has implications for the child’s exploration of what texts are, what layout is, how newspapers actually look, and what is
done. There are also abstract, cognitiveconceptual materials.Children have to make these in slow, magnetic fashion Kress, in Grainger, 2004.
Children have their own action in developing their resources of representation.There is a constant development which is going on, from one instance to the next one.Kress in
Grainger claims that there is transformation with a gradual refinement of the abstracted and generalized circle-shape. Imagination is an aspect of the process of sign-making.It is always
“internal” in necessity.When its effects are expressed as “outward” signs, it has become a part of public social semiosis.Imagination is a form of sign-making.Boundaries to sign-making or
the chains of signs are potentially unlimited, and they are not subject to usual social constraint. The formation of signs is clearly the same as what we call imagination.
ɜress claims, “
A sign is a metaphor
”. Metaphor involves the new expression of individual interest. Metaphor is always in a sense a facet of imagination.The different media
make different kinds of imagination possible, and impose their limitations on imaginative activity.The difficulty of translation between texts and signs in different media is evidence of
the different potentials of various modes.The visual medium seems to permit much more subtly graded expression than the verbal. In the visual semiotic, there is a rule about meaning
of distance between the viewer and the object viewed. Variation of distance is infinitely
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
98
variable. We can say ‘quite far’, ‘quite close’, ‘very far’ or ‘very close’ ɜress, in Grainger, 2004, p.81. Communication is made possible due to sociocultural phenomenon the form of
sounds, gestures, and images. All of these are call ed “signs” http:www.lib.oup.com.au..
This “representational intelligence” starts at Stage 6, in Owens’ division of children development stages. According to Owens 2001, p. 142, when children are at Stage 6
Development 18-24 months old, they progresses to a stage called representational intelligence. Here, they are able to represent objects internally, and also solve problems
through thoughts, and they begin to demonstrate real symbolic functioning. Object r
epresentation is manifested in the children’s ability to search for an abstract object, though they do not see it.
In the visual mode, there is no such limit: the distance between myself and the object is infinitely variable. Cognition works with and depends on sign-making by using established
kinds of unit and relations.As biological beings, we have different dispositions towards the world.One child might prefer physical three-dimensional representation; another child the
distanced representation of drawing or writing.Another child might prefer to express herhimself through the body, in dance or gesture Kress, in Grainger, 2004.
Other groups within the society are much more oriented towards spoken language, and are freer in their use of the body as a means of communication.Children from both kinds of
group can end up in the same ‘English’ classroom.The affective state of a child coming from her or his home to school in the morning will influence how the child will and can respond to
an explanation, a task given or set by the teacher.A warm, supportive, encouraging atmosphere in the classroom has positive effects on the ability of children to learn, and
equally the opposite will be incontrovertible. Affect can enhance or diminish performance.
In the section below, some examples of how a 3.5-year-old boy, named Samuel pseudonym, created his own sign making as representation of his ideas, and also his
meaning-making efforts today are presented. As time went by, Sam, who is now approaching 5, can express his thoughts better through his pictures and they became more meaningful and
easier to understand, as representation of his ideas.
As mentioned by Kabuto 2009, pictures drawing is one of the ways that children use to communicate:
Written language is not isolated from other ways of expression. Children may express themselves through writing, drawing pictures, telling stories, singing
songs to music, and dancing to their favorite tunes, making use of a variety of tools or technologies to do so. Tools may include crayons, markers, paint and
colored pens and pencils.Semiotic resources consist of the variety of “stuff” or “things” from which children can select to support their communication or to
effectively express meaning in any sign-making event.
Kabuto further states that although children may have the resource in their reach, they have to select and use it in a meaningful manner. When any resource is employed in such a
way, it has the possibility to be transformed into a mode of communication. This is also supported by Pikunas 1976, p.191-2, a recognized psychology educator.
In his early childhood, a child will draw circles and vertical and horizontal lines. By the age of four, he will draw objects and identify them, even when adults cannot recognize the
pictures. ɑccompanying the emergence of language and fantasy, “function pleasure” – resulting from play activities and acts as a stimulus for it - is expanded into the joy and
pleasure of projecting and creating. Pikunas even cites from Bühler and Marschak 1968, that children who play much enhance their future creativity.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
99
In the discussion below, children sign making efforts to reach better literacy and to communicate better are elaborated. On their way of building better communication with
adults, either through written or spoken ways, children do certain things, one of which is through sign making, which will be elaborated further below.
Observation Results and Examples
Here are some examples of a boy’s efforts dealing with sign-making. Several times, the boy, Samuel pseudonym, who wasaround 3.5 years that time, drew pictures. Then he
showed them to me, and told me what was in his mind. My guesses on his pictures were all wrong, since he and I did not share the same understanding of the pictures.
Picture 1: A spider and its web
Samuel drew this picture, and he said that it was a spider’s web. He liked the phenomenal figure, Spiderman. That is why he was very interested in any spider’s web that
he found anywhere. He was also interested in drawing the web. Picture 2: A man
What Samuel meant by this picture is a man. First, I thought that this was the round abut near Ramayana Department Store Salatiga. In fact, as Sam explained to me, he was
drawing a man. I tried to understand his thinking that he imagined a man as a tall person; his hair and hands were drawn as straight lines.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
100
Picture 3: The nature
First, what came to my mind was a bundle of thread or tussled, knotty ropes. What Samuel told me somewhat confused me. However, I tried to get his points of view. The black
line was the rain, the black one, and the colorful one was the wind. Subconsciously, he connoted rain with black, darkness, and chaos. He also connoted the wind as something
colorful. Color plays an important role in children literacy and learning.
Just as ɜabuto mentions in his study β009, from a “social semiotic perspective”,
language and communication during literacy events are multimodal meaning-making processes. ɑccording to social semiotics, when children “read” print in the environment, the
print is inseparable from color, shapes, and images. Kabuto gives an example of this. When reading a stop sign, recognizing the color red and the shape of the sign may be as important
as reading the letters. In addition, the uses of color are culturally defined. For instance, although a traffic light in Japan is the same shape as an American one, it uses the colors red,
yellow, and blue.
Sam’s sign
-making efforts today
Today, Samuel is approaching five. In expressing his thoughts in form of pictures, he is much
more “advanced”. His pictures as sign-making efforts that he drew are more meaningful, clearer, and easier to understand.
Below are some of them with the interpretations, that is, the stories behind the pictures. Picture 1: A snake
Inspired by his toy snake, Samuel drew this pinky snake with its long body and tongue. Not very beautiful, but it is clear already that it is a picture of a snake. He is really interested
in any kind of animals including reptiles, insects, dinosaurs, and mollusks. Bright colors always become his choice when drwing.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
101
Picture 2: Lady bugs
These two lady bugs are not proportionally drawn, however, it is clear and everyone seeing this picture can identify that those animals are ladybugs. As mentioned above, Sam is
especially interested in animals. Picture 3: A rainbow
Rainbow is one of Sam’s favorite pictures. He is fond of the rainbow, and he draws lots of rainbow with its “
mejikuhibiniu
” colors. Picture 4: A garden
This is another favorite picture that Sam likes to make: flowers with clouds hanging over them, grass, and the sun. The sharp ended things protruding to the sky are mounds of
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
102
sand. They are so high that they could reach the sky. The sand is described as something green because they are covered with moss, as Sam explained.
Picture 5: A man walking in the midst of typhoon
This picture describes one phenomena of the nature, that is, some men are walking through the typhoon. The raged wind was whirling and the men were running away, trying to
save themselves from the horrific, gigantic wind. The background is described as something colorful, green, blue, light brown and black, as a sign of the chaos and confusion that happens
during the tornado. CONCLUSION
In their paths to reach better literacy, that is, to reach better communication with others, either in written or spoken one, children try to make meaning. One of the ways is through
sign making. Signs can be in form of pictures or expressions, which represent their ideas.As ɜress in Grainger, β004 mentions, without adults’ understanding, children’s sign making
efforts will be futile. It is the task of parents and teachers then, to help children make their sign making
meaningful and understood by others. Thus, children will go through this stage better, in their efforts to reach better literacy skills.
REFERENCES Gordon, Tatiana. 2007.
Teaching Young Children a Second Language
. London: Preager. Grainger, Teresa. 2004.
Language and Literacy
. NY: RoutledgeFalmer. Introduction: The ‘Study of Signs’. 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2015, from
http:www.lib.oup.com.au. Kabuto, Bobbie. 2015.
Color as Semiotic Resource in Early Sign-Making
. Retrieved November 21, 2015, from http:ecrp.uiuc.eduv11n2kabuto.html
Kern, Richard. 2000.
Literacy and Language Teaching
. Oxford: OUP. Nehaniv, Chrystopher L. 2000.
The Making of Meaning in Societies: Semiotic Information- Theoretic Background to the Evolution of Communication
. University of Hertfordshire. Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http:cfpm.orgpapersnehaniv.pdf.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
103
Owens, Robert E. 2001.
Language Development: An Introduction
. 5
th
Ed. London: Allyn Bacon.
Pikunas, Justin. 1976.
Human Development: An Emergent Science
. Tokyo: The McGrawHill. Sauvignon, Sandra J. 1997.
Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice. Texts and Contexts in Second Language Learning
. 2
nd
Ed. NY: The Mc.Graw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Siegel, Marjorie. 2006.
Rereading the Signs: Multimodal Transformations in the Field of Literacy Education
. In:
Review of Research. Language Arts
, 841. Retrieved November
21, 2015,
fromwww.csun.edu~bashforth305_PDF305_ME1RereadingSign_SemioticsInLiterac yEd_LA_Sep06.pdf
Tarone, Elaine; Bigelow, Martha; and Hansen, Kit. 2009.
Literacy and Second Language Oracy
. Oxford: OUP.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
104
A TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS REALIZED IN STUDENTS’ RECOUNT TEXTS A Discourse Analysis on Junior High School Students’ Recount Texts
Sri Kurnia Sarip
1
nieasarifymail.com
Abstract
This study aimed at reporting the transitivity analysis realized in three chosen recount texts written by the students of Junior High School at ninth grade. In
analyzing those texts, the writer afterwards addressed two research questions: 1 how is transitivity analysis realized in
students’ recount texts? 2 what is the most dominant of transitivity realized
in students’ recount texts? To answer the research questions aforementioned, the writer employed qualitative research
under systemic functional linguistics framework as suggested by Eggins 1994; 2004. Within the analysis, the writer only focused on the transitivity analysis in
students’ recount texts. According to the analysis, the results showed that in the first text, entitled
‘my experience in my friend’s village’, it comprised of 30 participants which were realized 23. Meanwhile, from 22 processes, it was
realized 18. Finally, from 10 circumstances, it was realized 20. From the second text, entitled
,
‘birthday’s experience
,
it comprised of 14 participants was were realized 42. Meanwhile, from 7 processes, it was realized 18. Then,
from the third text, entitled ‘my holiday in Pangandaran’, it comprised of 19
participants which were realized 42. Meanwhile, from 15 processes, it was realized 33. Finally, from 14 circumstances, it was realized 21. In conclusion,
from the 3 recounts written by the students, those realized processes which comprised of 44 31, then participants comprised of 63 36, finally
cicrumstances comprised of 24 14.
Keywords:
discourse analysis,
transitivity analysis, students’ recount texts INRODUCTION
Systemic functional linguistics henceforward SFL is a theory which firstly developed by Emiritus Professor M.A.K Halliday from Sydney University, Australia. SFL can be known
and learnt by most of students around the world. In SFL, it covers spoken and written form. Spoken and written forms are assumed as text Derewianka, 1990; Halliday Webster,
2009 as quoted by Hidayat 2014, p. 26-27.
In the present study, SFL is used to analyze written texts in the form of recount written by Junior High School students. In SFL, it present various texts covered in context of culture
as the so- called ‘genre’. One of texts is recount.Recount is a piece of text that retells past
events to give the readers or listeners a description of what happened and when it happened Anderson, Anderson. 1997, p. 48. In recount text, the students must retell the sequence of
events or experiences for the purpose of informing or entertaining Harsyaf, et al. 2009, p. 13. It means that the students can tell their past experience, what happened and when it
happened through several sequence of events. Based on the curricula KTSP and Kurikulum 2013, recount text is learnt both in Junior and Senior High Schools, meanwhile the students
sometimes find out the significant problems in writing it.
Besides, in recount text, it usually is constructed by its linguistic features including specific participants, material processes, circumstances of time and place, use of past tense,
and focus on temporal sequence Gerot Wignell. 1994, p. 194. Concerning the material processes and circumstances aforementioned, then the writer uses a part of SFL device,
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
105
transitivity, to be used to analyze the text. The analysis is focused on the use of processes, participants, and circumstances applied by the students in writing their recount texts.
The present study is also supported by some previous studies, the first prevoious study is done by Anggraeni, et al., 2015. She designs her study entitled
‘The Realization of Experiential Meanings in Students’ Writing of Recounts’. The second previous study is
carried out by Zheng, et al. 2014. They design their study entitled ‘Functional Stylistic
Analysis: Transitivity in English-Medium Medical Research Articles ’. Finally, the third
previous study is done by Sabbachat et al., β014. They design their study entitled ‘Material
Process in Transitivity of t he English Clauses: ɑ Functional Grammar ɑpproach’.
With regard to the previous studies above, the first previous study is dissimilar to the present study which focuses on
experiential meaning to analyse the students’ writing of recounts. In contrast, the second and third previous studies are similar to the present study
that whole of them focus on transitivity analysis as the framework of discourse analysis. Morever, in this present study, the writer also intends to answer the research questions: 1
how is transitivity analysis realized in students’ recount texts? 2 what is the most dominant
of transitivity realized in students’ recount texts?
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Defining Systemic F unctional Linguistics
To begin with, the writer needs to define systemic functional linguistics henceforward SFL as the first term used in this study. SFL has been described as a functional-semantic
approach to language which explores both how people use language in different context, and how language is structured to used as semiotic system Eggins, 2004, p. 20-21. According to
Martin, et al., 1997 as quoted in Hidayat 2014, p. 27 SFL is defined as a way of looking at grammar in terms of how grammar is used.
Based on definitions above, SFL is a way to know how grammar is used, how people use language and how language is structured to use as semiotic system.Dealing with the term
of SFL, it can be briefly understood that SFL is a way to analyse grammar in use, the use of language by people in different context, and how it is structured to use.
Defining transitivity
The second term which is also essential to be discussed is transitivity. Gerot Wignell 1994, p. 54 said that transitivity is a central of processes. Accordding to Thompson 2000
as quoted in Zheng, et al., 2014, p. 13 transitivity is a system for describing the whole clause, rather than the verb and its object.
Dealing with the definitions above, it can be infered that transitivity is central processes for describing the whole process rather than the verb and its object. Dealing with the term of
transitivity, it can be briefly understood that transitvity is the way to analysis texts based on the structural of the clause to find out the processes of the text. Transitivity as a central of the
processes.
Defining recount
The third term which is also essential to be discussed is recount. Gerot Wignell 1994, p. 194 argued that recount is a text to retell events for the purpose of informing or
entertaining. Meanwhile, according to Butt, et al., 2000, p. 9 recount is text to tell what happened, to document a sequence of events and evaluate their significance in some way.
Based on the definitions afforementioned, it can be infered that recount is a text to retell events in some way. Dealing with the previous definition, the writers then conclude that
recount is a text to retell the events through several sequence to inform or entertain the readers or listeners. Recount can in form diaries to tell what happened was.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
106
METHODS
Research Design
Based on the research purpose and research questions, a qualitative method was applied in this research. In particular, discourse analysis approach was employed under the systemic
functional linguistics framework such suggested by Eggins 1994; 2004.
Source of Data
Concerning the source of data, the writer took three texts concerning students’ recount
texts . The texts were taken from the students’ recount text at ninth grade.
Unit of Analysis
Dealing with the unit of analysis, it focuses on the clause such suggested by Butt,et al. 2000. The text are segmented into clauses. After segmenting, those are analysed by
transitivity analysis, it covers processes, participants, and circumtances Butt, et al. 2000, p. 295 as quoted in Hidayat 2014, p.75.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Analysis
After all the texts were analyzed, then each of them was explained to realize the transitivity constituents such processes, participants, and circumstances. The total of each
constituent was calculated then put them into percentage. Based on the data analysis in the findings, it can be summarised as the following table:
Table 1: summary of transitivity analysis
Text No. Transitivity Analysis Result
Process types Percentage Participant types
Percentage Circumstance types
Percentage 1
22 18 30 23
10 20 2
7 42 14 42
- 3
15 33 19 42
14 21 Total
44 31 63 36
24 14
Regarding to the table above, it shows that the distribution of constinuent elements consist of 3 rows. Those rows cover the 3 texts analyzed by the transitivity analysis. From all
rows, the texts contained process types,participant types, and circumstances types. The first row indicates that it is the first text. The text consists of process types 22 points which are
realised 18, then 30 participants which are realised 23. Moreover, there are 10circumstance types which are realised 20.
The second row denotes that there are 7 process types that are realised 42.Then, there are 14 participants which are realised 42. In addition, there are not circumstances realized.
Afterwards, the third row indicates that there are15 process types which are realised 33. Then, there are 19 participant types which are realised 42. Moreover, there are 14
circumstance types which are realised 21.
Discussion
After highlighting the result of analysis of the study, the writer then answers the research questions. Research question 1: how is transitivity analysis realized in
students’ recount texts? Dealing with the evidence such written in the table above, the realization of the
transitivity analysis realized 44 process types, 63 participants types, and 24 circumstance types.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
107
Then, the research question 2: what is the most dominant of transitivity realized in students’ recount texts? Dealing with the evidence such written in the table above, the most
dominant transitivity constituents are dominated by participant types that cover 63 items.
CONCLUSIONS
Dealing with the two research questions proposed in this study, the realization of the transitivity analysis cover 44 process types, 63 participants types, and 24 circumstance types.
Moreover, the most dominant transitivity constituents are dominated by participant types that cover 63 items.
REFERENCES Anderson, M., and Anderson, K. 1997.
Text Type in English 1.
Australia: Macmillan Education PTY LTD.
Anggraeni, C.W., Rudi, H., and Warsono. 2015.
The Realization of Experential Meanings
in Students’ Writing of Recounts.
English Education Journal EEJ,
51, pp. 1-6. Retrieved
from: https:www.google.comurl?sa=trct=jq=esrc=ssource=webcd=4cad=rja
uact=8sqi=2ved=0CDYQFjADahUKEwiB4N2tgfzIAhVYB44KHZQiAhQurl= http3A2F2Fjournal.unnes.ac.id2Fsju2Findex.php2Feej2Farticle2Fdo
wnload2F68472F4915usg=AFQjCNF8gPim806q7icgxSugX4B9- jPf_gsig2=yGq0TUnoeJLsqyG7AZwrbQbvm=bv.106923889,d.c2E Accessed on
November12
nd
2015. Creswell, J. W. 2008.
Educational Research, Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 3
rd
edition.
New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Eggins, S. 1994.
An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics
. London: Pinter Publisher Ltd.
Eggins, S. 2004.
An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics
. London: Continuum Interpersonal Publishing Group.
Gerot, L., and Wignell, P. 1994.
Making Sense of Functional Grammar
. Australia: Gerd Stabler Antipodean Educational Enterprises ÆE.
Harsyaf., Nurmaini M.Y., and Zakhwan, I. 2009.
Teaching Writing.
Jakarta: Ministry of National Education.
Hidayat, Y. 2014.
The Ideational Meaning Realised in the Written Discoursein Online Newspaper on Abdul Qodir Jailani AQJ.
Unpublished Thesis, Semarang: State University of Semarang UNNES.
Sabbachat, A., Mahdi, S., and Sumantri, Y.S. 2014.
Material Process in Transitivity of the English Clauses: A Functional Grammar Approach
.
International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World IJLLALW,
52, pp. 70-79. Retrieved from: http:www.ijllalw.orgfinalversion526.pdf Accessed on November
12
nd
2015. Zheng, S., Yang, A., and Ge, G. 2014. Functional Stylistic Analysis: Transitivity in
English-Medium Medical Research Articles.
International Journalnof English Linguistic,
42, pp.
12-25. Retrieved
from: http:www.ccsenet.orgjournalindex.phpijelarticledownload3547520121
Accessed on November, 12
nd
2015.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
108
THE REALIZATION OF PARATAXIS AND HYPOTAXIS ON STUDENTS’ PERSUASIVE ESSAY
Lisda Maulani
1
; Mia Rachmawati
2
maulanilisdayahoo.co.id
1
; rachmawatimiagmail.com
2
ABSTRACT
Nowadays, the university students are demanded to master systemic functional grammar henceforth SFG under the theory of systemic functional linguistics
henceforth SFL. In contrast, during the previous era the university students are demanded to master traditional grammar and universal grammar under the theory
of applied linguistics. Conjunction or coordinator combines clauses into clause complexes, conveying parataxis and hypotaxis. Both parataxis and hypotaxis are
the ways to construct clause complexes, or what so called moves, found in a spoken text as quoted by Rismiyanto 2006. This study was aimed to find out the
realization of parataxis and hypotaxis on
students’ persuasive essay. In this study, the writers addressed three research questions: 1 how is parataxis realized on
students’ persuasive essay? β How is hypotaxis realized on students’ persuasive essay? 3 what is more domina
nt clause type on students’ persuasive essay? To find out the answer, the writers took three
students’ essays purposively based on high-, middle-, and lower
students’ achivements in a private University in Ciamis. The texts were analyzed under qualitative design based on the framework of
systemic functional grammar as suggested by Halliday and Matthiessen 2014. The results of the study showed that 74 parataxis is realized on students’
persuasive essay, and γγ hypotaxis is realized on students’ persuasive essay. Due to those results, those can be summed up that the realization of parataxis was
more dominant than hypotaxis realization. Through analyzing parataxis and hypotaxis, English learner could have critical thinking how to construct the text as
the reflection of their idea. It showed the fact that parataxis and hypotaxis are two of the important points that are discussed in written discourse.
Keywords:
parataxis, hypotaxis
, students’ persuasive essays
INTRODUCTION
Systemic functional grammar developes its own grammar by way of logical meaning. One of its grammar covers taxis which is known as degree of interdependency. Taxis has
divided into two different parts. Those are hypotaxis and parataxis. Parataxis as equal status and hypotaxis as unequal status Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014. p. 440. Parataxis which is
also known as coordinator and hypotaxis is known as subordinator. Parataxis and hypotaxis are used to analyze clause complex which will apply in this research. Moreover, there are
resources of clause complexing systemically. Two basic systems determine how one clause is related to another Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014. p. 438.
Dealing with paratactic and hypotactic as mentioned in the preceeding paragraph, those are used to analyze clause complexes as cited by Halliday and Matthiessen 2014, p.
428. In addition, clause complexes in general are formed out of logical-semantic relations that link clauses, typically one pair at a time, as interdependent on one another Halliday,
β014, p. 4γβ. Concerning Halliday and Matthiessen’s β014 statement, it can be interpreted that parataxis is used to analyze compound sentence, meanwhile hypotaxis is used to
analyzed complex sentence. Both compound and complex sentences are normally used by university students, particularly freshman level in writing the text. In relation to the present
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
109
study, the text written by the freshman is in the form of persuasive essay. Through the essay, it causes the writer interested in and curious towards the realization of parataxis and
hypotaxis on it.
The present study is also supported by some previous studies to support the originality of this research. The first study was conducted by Tse 2010. He reported the study on
Parataxis and Hypotaxis in the Chinese Language. Then, the second study was conducted by Duran 2008. He reported the study on a correlation between the systems of taxis and
projection in newspaper articles. Fianlly, the last study was conducted by Vries 2008. He reported the study on asymmetric merge and parataxis.
Regarding to the previous studies above, the first study focused on parataxis and hypotaxis in Chinese in the past decades. Moreover, the second study focused on a
correlation between the systems of taxis and projection in newspaper articles, and the last study focused on asymmetric merge and parataxis. Thus, the previous studies are disimillar to
the present study because they carried out the research in non-classroom discourse. Meanwhile, the present study focused on the realization of parataxis and hypotaxis on
students’ persuasive essays at which it occured in educational field or classroom discourse. Besides, the writers also intended to highlight the research questions, those are: 1 How is
parataxis is realized on students’ persuasive essay? 2 How is hypotaxis realized on students’ persuasive essay? 3 w
hat is more dominant clause types on students’ persuasive essay? Related to the answers of the research question aforementioned, it is going to be discussed in
the forthcoming part of this paper. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Systemic functional grammar
To begin with, the writers highlight some terms used in this study. The concept of systemic functional grammar is highlighted earlier as the main term of this study. Nowdays
many people have had a little or no instruction in anything called grammar, but grammar is still a kind of mystical importance surrounds the way the students talk about grammar Butt
et, al. 2000, p. 22. Some people thought that speak with correct grammatical is not important enough at which their thought impact the students who learn English that the students need to
talk to the native without considering the correct grammatical. When the students speak in educational field indeed they need to learn grammar as well as they can.
Haussamen et al., 2003 as cited in Suthiwartnarueput and Wasanasomsithi 2012, p. 196 suggest that non-native English students need to learn the meaning of language
associated with its grammatical knowledge. Moreover, Azar 2007 as cited in Suthiwartnarueput and Wasanasomsithi 2012, p. 196 points out that grammar is needed to
learn for comprehension in the nature of a language.
Regarding to their statements, the writers then conclude that grammar is very important to be learnt, if there was no grammar in language, the students like conveying their thoughts
in a wrong way at which affect to the meaningfulness of their communication. Nevertheless, there is another sense in which ‘grammar’ means something like
the way in which a language is organised
Butt et al., 2000, p. 22. Based on the previous paragraph, here are the nature of language in which language is
much more than a stringing together of words; the students need to be able to analyze and describe patterns of language at several different levels. Linguistics look language at various
levels, or on various scales. Systemic functional grammar also comes from meaning or how is meaning realized through structure. Halliday and Mathiessen 2004 describe language in
terms of a rank scale. The concept of a rank scale is very important for understanding of how a system as intricate as human language works Butt et al., 2000, p. 29. The concept of the
rank scale aforementioned is figure out as follows:
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
110 RANK SCALE
Clause complexes Clause
Group or phrase Word
Morpheme
The units of each rank are made up of one or more units of rank. The highest rank is clause complexes which consist of one or more clauses. Obviously, clause complexes join
together to make paragraphs, and paragraphs make up the text, but these are rhetorical and semantic units rather than grammatical or syntactic units. The clause complexes consist of
one or more clauses. A clause consists of one or more groups or phrases. A group or phrase consists of one or more words. Further, a word consists of one or more morphemes.
Nevertheless, in this study the writers prefer to highlight the clause complexes that will be explained in detail concerning taxis; parataxis and hypotaxis.
The notion of clause complexes
Systemic functional grammar at which it talks about clause and clause complexes rather than sentences Gerot and Wignell, 1994. p. 82. Sentences are known in traditional grammar.
Meanwhile, clause is known in systemic functional grammar. In addition, Halliday and other experts of Systemic functional linguistic henceforth SFL recomended to use
clause
than
sentence
in their language analysis. The sentence is a unit of written language and it does not apply to spoken language. People do not speak in sentence Gerot, et al., 1994. p. 82.
Dealing with the statements aforementioned, sentence in SFL is more known than clause. The students in freshmen level or non-native English students will more understand
the term ‘sentence’ than ‘clause’ at which sentence does not apply to spoken language. However, people speak in messages, which are grammatically realized in clause and clause
complexes Rismiyanto, 2006, p. 9.
Gerot and Wignell 1994 provide the rank scale of Traditional Grammar vs Systemic Functional Grammar. The comparative rank scales are presented as follow:
Traditional written Sentence
Phrase Word
Systemic-functinal written and spoken Clause
Group Word
Adapted from Gerot and Wignell, 1994. p. 82 Gerot and Wignell 1994, p. 82 state that a clause can be defined as the largest
grammatical unit, and a clause complex is two or more clauses logically connected. It may be single, consisting of only one clause, or more than one clause. In addition, Butt et al., 2000,
p. 30 stated that clause complex is a language structure that consists of one clause working by itself, or a group of clauses that work together through some kind of logical relationship.
According to the statements expressed by Gerot and Wignell 1994 and Butt et al., 2000 aforementioned, it can be conluded that clause complex is the largest grammatical unit
that consist of two or more independent and one or more dependent clause. The latter is called a clause complex Rukmini, 2007. p. 78. Both a single clause and a clause complex
can be found in a reading text for instance hortatory exposition, paragraph, essay, and so forth. In addition, Gerot and Wignell 1994, p. 96 state that there are some ways or what we
have to pay attention in, such follow:
1. List each clause vertically down the page, lettering each clause complexes A, B, C,
etc. and numbering each clause in the clause complexes.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
111
2. Display analysis on left-hand side of text.
3. Begin a new layer indent whenever there is a change in taxis or a change in logico-
semantic relation.
Types of relationship between clauses
In the previous section, the writers have introduced clause complexes. Now, the writers map out the resources of clause complexing systematically. Two basic systems
determine how one clause is related to another.
Figure 1.1
1. TAXIS degree of interpedency: hypotaxisparataxis
Halliday and Matthiessen 2014, p. 438 stated that all clauses linked by a logico- semantic relation are interdependent: that is the meaning of relational structure
– one unit is interdependent on another unit. Two clauses related as interdependent in a complex may be
treated as being of equal status. Degree of interpedency is known technically as Taxis. Moreover, two different degrees
of interpedency as parataxis equal status and hypotaxis unequal status.
a. Parataxis
Gerot and Wignel 1994, p. 92, stated that parataxis is used when one clause follows
on from one another. It refers to clauses as being initiating or continuing. Such clauses are marked by number: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Parataxis in traditional grammar is also called
coordination,
as added by Halliday and Mathiessen 2014, p. 447 that parataxis can link groups and phrases by using apposition and co-ordination.
b. Hypotaxis
Moreover, the term hypotaxis, which is also called
subordination
, is used to refer to relationship in which one clause is dependent on another. It refers to clauses as being either
dominant or dependent. Status is marked through Greek letters. Alpha marks the dominant clause. Clauses are marked alpha, beta, gamma, and so on Gerot and Wignel, 1994, p. 92.
2. LOGICO-SEMANTIC RELATION: expansionprojection
Logico-semantic relations can be grouped into general types based on expansion and projection. By expansion, one clause is elaborated, extended or enhanced by another, while
projection relations involve locution and idea Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004. Logico- semantic relations in English constitute expansion and projection, and the subcategories
below them. However, variation exists at more delicate levels. In the category of projection, the three subtypes of mental process perception, cognition and desideration project idea.
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
112
Clauses can be combined through one of the two
logico-semantic
relations:
expansion
and
projection.
The summary of the choices in the system network of clauses is shown as figured out in table 1.2 below:
Table 1.2 The Choices in the System Network of Clauses
Clauses
Taxis Parataxis
numbers Hypotaxis
Greek letters Logico-semantic relation
Expansion Elaboration =
Extension + Enhancement x
Projection Locution “
Idea ‘
According to the system network of clauses aforementioned, the writer can draw up the following paradigm that clauses in parataxis are being initiating or continuing which is
marked by number: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Meanwhile, clauses in hypotaxis are being either dominant or dependent which is marked by greek letters: α, , , and so on. In relationships of
expansion both the taxis and the logico-semantic relationship can be identified through the marker which joins the clauses Gerot and Wignell, 1994, p. 94.
Then, Halliday and Matthiessen 2004, p. 377 stated that within the general categories of expansion and projection, there are three of expansion, and two of projection. Those are,
e xpansion which is marked as = ‘equals’ named elaborating, + ‘is added to’ named
extending, x ‘is multiplied by’ named enhancing. Moreover, projection which is marked as “ double quotes named locution, ‘ single quotes named idea.
a. Expansion
Expansion links processes by providing additional information. It involves three types of relationship:
elaboration, extension,
and
enhancement
as figured out in table 1.3 below:
Table 1.3
Paratactic Hypotactic
Elaboration Specifying in greater detail,
restatement, exemplification,
and comment
1 I tidied up my messy desk
=2 it needed it α ɛohn ran away,
= which surprised everyone.
Extension Extending the meaning of
one clause
by adding
something new. 1 I tidied up my messy
desk +2 and I finished revising
a paper α ɛohn ran away,
whreas Fred stayed behind.
Enhancement Involving circumstantial
relationship
temporal, conditional,
causal, concessive,
spatial, manner
where the
circumstantial information is coded as a new clause
rather than within a clause 1 I tidied up my messy
desk x2 so I have somewhere to
write again α ɛohn ran away,
ɒecause he was scared.
Adapted from Rismiyanto, 2006. p. 10 According to the table above, those are a brief definition of each categories, with the
examples. Firstly, elaboration can be defined as one clause expands another by elaborating on it: restating in other words, specifying in greater detail, commenting or exemplifying.
Secondly, extention can be defined as one clause expands another by extending beyond it:
The 2nd TIE ALLSAW Conference, December 7th-8th 2015
113
adding some new element, giving an expection to it, or offering an alternative. The last, enhancment can be defined as one clause expands another by embellishing around it:
qualifying it with some circumstantial feature of time, place, cause or condition.
b. Projection
