Theoretical Framework English phatic communication of graduate students in English Language Studies of Sanata Dharma University.

communicated using Indonesian. Therefore, the present researcher attempted to see their English communication skill outside the class. To get the participants, the present researcher did not set any criteria because some of the graduate students were not willing to involve in this study. Therefore, this present study was a sample study in which the present researcher merely chose several participants randomly. Then, they were divided into three groups of gender, namely males, females, and males-females. From the three groups of gender, it was found that there were two couples of male students, two couples of female students, and two couples of a male and a female student. The present researcher finally obtained six couples of the graduate students in which each couple produced a conversation. In addition, the present researcher also needed to describe the participants’ identity, including age, status, ethnic, and TOEFL score. Montgomery 1986:62- 63 explains that different groups are from a variety of ways, such as gender, age, class, and ethnic identity. In addition, TOEFL score was also crucial because it measured students’ ability in English. The description of each student is as follows. Table 3.1 List of Participants Name Age years old Marital Status Ethnic TOEFL Score Socrates 24 Single Dayak 523 Mello 22 Single Maluku 540 Aan 24 Single Dayak 547 Sri 23 Single Javanese 563 Maria 25 Single Batak 567 Star 32 Single Javanese 523 Hayu 24 Single Javanese 550 Rose 24 Single Javanese 507 Al 25 Single Javanese 500 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Esti 23 Single Javanese 517 The table shows that ten participants were involved in this study and were divided into six couples. The first couple was Socrates and Mello. The second couple was Aan and Mello. The third couple was Sri and Maria. The fourth couple was Star and Hayu. The fifth couple was Socrates and Rose. The last couple was Al and Esti. Based on the table, the present researcher assumes that the differences of the participants’ age, ethnic, and TOEFL score would not make them worried about whether they succeeded creating conversation. In fact, they created and managed conversation smoothly since it was between friends and they had known each other. Therefore, they simply enjoyed the conversation using English.

B. Approach of the Study

Basically, this present study applied pragmatic approach referring to the approach focusing on the use of language in a certain context. Richards and Schmidt 2010:412 state that pragmatics is “the study of the use of language in communication, particularly the relationship between sentences and contexts and situation in which they are used ”. This emphasizes that creating conversation needs to know the contexts and the intention of utterances.

C. Data Collection Process

In collecting the data, the present researcher set three processes, namely recording, listening, and transcribing. The first process was recording the graduate students’ conversation. In this case, the students were aware of being recorded. The present researcher used audio recording to see t he graduate students’ utterances.