Nacep Asmara , 2014
The Effect of Modified Teacher’s Question on Describing Things in EFL Classroom Interaction
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses some aspects related to the background, research questions, objectives, significance and scope of the study. This chapter ends with
clarification of terms used in this study and chapter summary.
1.1 Background
Language input which is exposed to language learners is classified into artificial and natural input. They lead to language learning and language acquisition
respectively Krashen 1981: 30. He clarifies that language acquisition is a subconscious process of acquiring language, a process which acquires language
naturally. Meanwhile language learning is a conscious process of learning language; this occurs at a formal context or classroom setting. It can be stated that
language learning may lead learners to know about language explicitly. Different from Krashen, Ellis 1994: 12 states that both language learning
and language acquisition belong to learning as well. The point that makes a distinction is whether the language is learnt through a natural interaction in a
social context or through a study guided with reference books or classroom instruction, which are called naturalistic and instructed language acquisition
respectively. Through a management of classroom interaction, instructed setting or
formal context can be led to acquire language naturally, because interaction can
Nacep Asmara , 2014
The Effect of Modified Teacher’s Question on Describing Things in EFL Classroom Interaction
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
result in an abundant and redundant language input which assists and facilitates language learners to comprehend the input Pica, Doughty and Young 1985: 143
which, in turn, led to naturalistic language acquisition. River cited in Brown, 2001: 165 asserted that interaction can drag learners to develop their language
repertoire because listening, reading and discussing linguistic material or even practicing to exploit their repertoire of language give an abundant language input.
Formal input can be provided through classroom interaction. One of the inputs controlling the elicitation of classroom interaction while negotiating
meaning to make them comprehensible is teachers’ question Gebhard, 1996: 70.
It is due to the fact that teacher’s question can be used to arouse curiosity,
stimulate interest in the topic, clarify concepts, emphasize key points, enhance problem-solving ability, encourage students to think at higher cognitive levels,
motivate student to search for new information and ascertain students’ knowledge
level to aid in modifying instruction. Thus a teacher can employ it to drive, control and direct the teaching-learning process so classroom interaction can be
created as expected. To make
teacher’s question more comprehensible to language learners, teachers can modify the question linguistically or interactionally. Linguistically
modified question is an effort of a teacher to make hisher question comprehensible to learners by simplifying his questions adapted to the learners.
Thus meaning can be conveyed and a breakdown of a communication can be avoided. Meanwhile, interactionally modified question is an effort of a teacher in
Nacep Asmara , 2014
The Effect of Modified Teacher’s Question on Describing Things in EFL Classroom Interaction
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
negotiating a meaning to confirm whether the meaning has been comprehensible to learners such as by posing confirmation check. The modifications of question
provide opportunity for learners to negotiate meaning, which in turn provide a lot of comprehensible input and output for learners to improve their language Hasan,
2008: 49, Kalantari 2009: 432, Owen 1996: 49, Wu 1993: 65 and Azerefegn, 2008: 64.
Studies on the modified input have been conducted through various kinds of exposure of target language i.e. written modified input on grammar poniah
2008: 254, reading Maxwell 2011: 52, Sarab and Karimi, 2008; 186 and Naimat, 2011: 681 and vocabulary Xiaohui, 2010: 105 and non-reciprocally spoken
modified input on listening Teng, 2001: 537. From the elaboration, there are three important points, namely,
input, modification and question. Input is a linguistic stimulus provided by teacher to learners. Modification is a linguistic or interactional creativity of a language to
make it comprehensible to learners. Question is a part of input, which functions to build up an interaction in the classroom. Modified questions as input play
important roles in comprehending input. But none concerns with how far their role in a teacher-students interaction. Therefore, this study has experimented on the
other exposure of language input, that is, the input has been exposed orally through reciprocal interaction to find out how far the modified question affect the
learners’ ability to describe things by the use of pre-head modifier.
Nacep Asmara , 2014
The Effect of Modified Teacher’s Question on Describing Things in EFL Classroom Interaction
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
1.2 Research Questions
