Background of the Study
tend to interact more frequently with the lecturer and the number of behavioral problems tends to increase when the students sit farther from the teacher. The best
arrangement depends on the situation of the class and the activities itself. According to Nicole Cusick 1999: 2, there are six types of seating
arrangement; such as desk rows or traditional seating arrangement, circle or semicircle, clusters or modular, table rows, horseshoe, and pairs. The example of desk
row or traditional seating arrangement is in Sanata Dharma University. English Education Study Program at Sanata Dharma University consists of nine base rooms;
there are IK.03, IK.10, IK.11, IK.12, IK.13, IK.15, IIK.31, IIK.32, IIK.33. All of them still use traditional seating arrangement with traditional wooden tables and
chairs except the room in IK.11 which is more modern because the form or style of the chairs and tables are not traditional, the table and chair are in one part. The
position of seating arrangement and the form of chairs and tables in this university still keeps the old tradition with the traditional tables and chairs consisting of many
rows, so there will be the students who sit in the front, middle and back row. The lecturer stands in the front of the room and all of the students’ desks face the lecturer.
“Since all of the students are facing forward and the lecturer is in the front of the classroom, he or she is the primary source of knowledge” Nicole Cusick, 1999:2.
The seating arrangement in traditional seating can encourage the students to focus on the lecturer while he or she is giving a lecture and media used in the class, such as
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blackboard, overhead projector, screen and other instructional aids in teaching process.
Adams and Biddle 1970: 50 discovered the existence of an “action zone” in the classroom especially in the traditional seating arrangement. This action zone
included the students who sit in the middle and front row seats. These students receive more opportunity to talk or interact with their lecturer than others; this is
because lecturers tend to stand in front, where their attention is focused on the students in immediate view. In any case, students who sit in this section of the
classroom receive more teachers’ attention. According to Ramsden 1999: 2 which is not really different with Adam and
Biddle’s opinion, in traditional seating, the students who sit in the center or front of the classroom tend to interact more frequently with the teacher and the number of
behavioral problems tends to increase as the students sit farther from the teacher. It can happen because the space between the students who sit in the front and the
teacher is very close, so the teacher can observe the students easier than the students who sit in the back.
Alexandra Ramsden 1999: 2 conducted research on seating arrangement. Her findings were with the traditional seating arrangement; it is easy for the teacher
to give lectures, whole group instruction, and tests because there is less opportunity for the students to do behavioral distractions. The objective of these activities is to
have the students focus and concentrate on the lecture, with minimal distractions. 3
This arrangement is not appropriate for the group discussion and the teaching process tends to be one way. It is good that the students can face forward the teacher directly,
but we do not know whether this type of seating arrangement can encourage and motivate the students in teaching and learning process considering that there are
students who sit in the front, middle and back which can make the teacher difficult to control all of the students.
The lecturer has to remember that decisions on classroom arrangement should take into account the attractiveness and effectiveness of the course to the students. If
the students want to interact but the arrangement inhibits interaction, or if students do not want to interact but the seating is arranged so that interaction demands are
high, there will be many opportunities for the students themselves to develop negative affect which can influence the teaching and learning activities in the class.
From the explanation above, it can be said that the seating arrangement can influence the activities in the classroom. This study is going to do the research on
Public Speaking I class. Public Speaking I focuses more on spoken language and cooperative learning. In Public Speaking I class, most of the time in the class is used
to do group activities like role-play, information gap and debate. So, the seating arrangement in this class must be comfortable for the student to do group work
including to move their chairs and tables easily. There is not a special room for speaking, reading and writing. The special room is designed in listening class. Based
on the researcher’s experiences, the seating arrangement which is traditional including the form of table and chair is perhaps acceptable for writing or reading
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class but not in Public Speaking I class because in Public Speaking I class the activities tend to be done in groups work. The seating arrangement should be the
arrangement which is comfortable for the students to interact with their friends including the chairs which are easy to be moved. Most of the classrooms at Sanata
Dharma University are big classes which consist of many chairs and tables in traditional arrangement. This kind of class can be a big problem for the subjects
which need group work task. According to Gary D. Borich 1996: 78 “in speaking class, group work
should entail 60-80 percent of the time to a cooperative activity; the remainder is being devoted to whole class discussion.” In Public Speaking I class, the lecturer has
to provide opportunities for students to speak by using group work or pair work. In this class the lecturers should limit their talk, so it will give the opportunity for the
students to increase the amount of time speaking in target language during lessons. So, the seating arrangement in speaking class must be comfortable and easy for the
students to interact with the other students in pair work or group work. Traditional seating arrangement is not appropriate for the Public Speaking I class because this
arrangement only gives restricted interaction among the students. This research is intended to explore the perceptions and suggestions of fourth
semester students in Public speaking I class and lectures of Public Speaking I on the traditional seating arrangement at Sanata Dharma University. This study would like
to address two questions. Firstly, the researcher intends to find what the students’ and lectures’ perceptions on the traditional seating arrangement in Public Speaking I class
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at Sanata Dharma University are. Secondly, the researcher intends to know what the students’ and lecturers’ suggestions for the teaching and learning activities using the
traditional seating arrangement at Sanata University especially in Public Speaking I class are.