The Nature of Conversation

24 are provoked and inspired to have thoughts in their mind and to accumulate insight and understanding.

2. English Conversation Class

Since this study is conducted in English conversation class, the understanding of its aspects is important in order to understand deeper the purposes of why this class or program is held.

a. The Nature of Conversation

From its name, the primary aspect to concern is conversation. Conversation has its own characteristics. First, according to Hymes, conversation is “a type of speech event” as cited in Richards, 1980, p. 14 which is different from lectures, interviews and courtroom trials. Richards 1980 points out that conversation involves cooperative construction which based on contributions, assumptions, expectations, and interpretations of the participants’ utterances p. 414. Therefore, conversation, according to Nunan 1999, becomes negotiated and self-regulated process 226. Thornbury and Slade 2006 state that conversation is fragmented and constructed through short, frequent turns that consist of phrases and clauses p. 13. The varying levels existing among the students tend to inhibit conversational flow in English conversation class. Second, according to Dornyei and Thurrell 1992, conversation is characterized as a cooperative discourse that is managed by interactive rules and routines p. 3. It means that there are turn-taking mechanisms which exist in conversation and are done frequently. Third, Thornbury and Slade 2006 affirm that conversation has characteristics of social because it contains of few aspects of 25 social element such as, mutual relationship and agreement, phatic language, the maintaining and modification of social identity, and the involvement of interpersonal skills p. 17. This social element is expressed through wishes, feelings, attitudes opinions and judgments, which will influence the formal nature of the classroom when teaching English conversation. As stated by McLuham, conversation is also multi-sensory as cited in Cane, 1998, p. 32. It consists of features which influence the conversational flow, such as eye contact, facial expressions, body language, tempo, pauses, voice quality changes, and pitch variation. There is also culture that seems to integrate in the construction of conversation and will affect the way English conversation is taught and learned. According to Nunan 1999, conversation is a way to communicate verbally for interactional and transactional purposes p. 228. Interactional language is purposed to use in social interaction, while transactional language is for service encounters like ordering food or buying tickets. Conversation is also used to do some speech acts or speech functions, such as apologizing, promising, and inviting. Another function of conversation is to remark relationships, which suspend social distance, status, and power as stated in Richards and Sukwiwat 1983, p. 117. These functions must be present in English conversation class.

b. English Conversation Class in SMAN 1 Kalasan