AN ANALYSIS ON THE NATURE OF TEACHER- STUDENT INTERACTION IN ENGLISH CLASS
AN ANALYSIS ON THE NATURE OF TEACHER-STUDENTS
INTERACTIONIN ENGLISH CLASS WRITTEN BY: ANGGA ANUGERAH NIM: F12112007 \ TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACUTY TANJUNGPURA UNIVERSITY PONTIANAK 2018
AN ANALYSIS ON THE NATURE OF TEACHER- STUDENT INTERACTION IN ENGLISH CLASS
AnggaAnugerah, Rahayu, Wardah
English Education Study Program of Languages and Arts Education Department FKIP Universitas, Tanjungpura, PontianakEma
Abstract
The research aims atanalysing the teacher-student interaction in the classroombased on
Foreign Language Interaction Analysis (FLINT) system in the classroom at eleventh grade
students of MAN 2 Pontianak in academic year 2016/2017.This research applied a case study
approach with qualitative method. The sample of this research were one English teacher as the
participant who taught English subject and XI IPA 3 students.The instruments were FLINT
system.The data was collected by using observation technique with audio recorder as the tool
of collecting data. The research findings showed that that there were two languages used in
the teacher-students interaction. The languages used in the interaction were English and
Indonesian which English was the dominant language used in the classroom. The teacher talk
of giving praises and encouragement is approximately more than criticizing the student’behavior , the asking questions category dominate the teacher talk category rather than
student’s talk but once the teacher asked the questions to the students and the students
responded it well by speaking eagerly. The utterances of giving direction occurred in relatively
short times. While in student talk, there are students’ problems and difficulties in speaking. The
extracts of student talk in classroom interaction revealed the students problems such as the
lack of vocabulary, anxiety, inability to form ideas in English language form, and grammar
error. The teacher talk frequency was still excessive, but the teacher made group and pair
discussions to balance the effective talk for students in student-student interaction.Keywords: Teacher-student Interaction, FLINT System, English Class.
I. INTRODUCTION
Teaching English in an EFL context focused on speaking skill because the writer involves certain difficulties butthe most is going to investigate the nature of important is how to prepare learners to use interaction between teacher-students in the the English language so as to be able to class. participate in conversations inside and Interactions between teacher and outside the class. On the other hand, the learners or the communication among them needs for English skill mastery which is have been the focus of many studies in recognized in every country has increased English as a Second Language (ESL) and due to the status of English as a global related fields. Based on the assumption that language. The needs for getting a better job opportunities for oral production coupled and global participation become main reasons with feedback from teachers will facilitate the for non-native speakers to learn and master learning process. Communication is an English, either as an English as a second outward extension of thought. It helps in the language learner (ESL) or an English as a process of arranging thought, linking one idea foreign language learner (EFL), particularly to another.
However, speaking is a complicated skill and needs a long time to develop and to improve. In developing speaking skill, some aspects including teacher’s role to encourage the students are needed in the class. On the other hands, students need to practice it as often as possible and get a sufficient and more experiences everywhere, especially in language classroom. The students need to interact regularly using the target language since interaction is the heart of communication (Brown, 2001: 165).
Some experiences of the writer have shown that teaching learning in the class was dominated by the teacher, but this assertion has not been tested in this class. It seems difficult to get the students’ enthusiasm to get involved in the class, but if the teacher of EFL cares about it, the goal of teaching process could be achieved.The problem related to the interaction in English class can be solved if a teacher and students realize the importance of interaction in language classroom. The students are demanded to be active in the classroom because the interaction itself plays significant roles in the language classroom since it can increase students’ language, strengthen the social relationship (Naimat, 2011: 672), develop communication skill and build up confidence. This research has some advantages to the students’ speaking performance, therefore the study about classroom interaction is considerably important and worth to be analysed.
Research has shown that participation in classroom activities is important in order for effective learning to take place. Active classroom involvement helps students learn not just by sitting in class listening to lecturers talking, but by talking about what they are learning, writing about it, relating to past experiences and applying it to their daily lives.Many reasons have been found to be influential in encouraging students to participate. The writer has found the previous research proposed by Sharifa Mbaggga (2012) entitled Classroom Interaction: A Key
to Effective Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools in Tanzania . This study
has clearly revealed unsatisfactory interaction in the classroom due to primarily lack of teacher’s creativity and language incompetency of students.Based on the elaboration above, the study is intended to analyse the nature of teacher-students interaction in English class.
Teaching is a people profession that demands a large amount of time being dedicated to personal interaction. Positive teacher-student interaction has a very crucial role for effective teaching and learning to take place. There are many important factors including productive Teaching and learning. Positive teacher-student interaction can be defined by shared acceptance, understanding, affection, intimacy, trust, respect, care and cooperation (Brophy, Alleman, 2010). The Teacher Student relationship depends on very large extent upon effort from both parties although the teacher plays a key role and in fact, the responsibility, to initiate positive interaction. The teacher who is practical in representation, recognition, understanding, intimacy, expectation, respect, care and cooperation towards his or her students not only works at initiating positive teacher- student relationships, but also increases the likelihood of building strong relationships that will endure over time.
Teacher-student interaction is important for many reasons. Teacher student interaction is highly influence a student’s skill to change to University, to do well at University, and to relate to peers (Alderman, 2008). Teachers who had positive and secure relationships with students reported that their students were less likely to stay away from school, appeared more independent, more supportive, and busy in learning. Teacher-student Interaction has an impact on classroom management and affects learning and growth.
According to developmental perspective, the establishment of a positive teacher-student relationship aids a student’s cognitive, social and emotional growth and enhances their mental well-being.
Teachers who have positive interaction with their students create classroom environments more helpful to learning and meet students' developmental, emotional and educational needs. Scrivener (2005: 85) made the following diagram to show clearly enough how the interaction happens between the teacher and the students.
Figure 1: Interaction Between Teacher and Students
Key: Teacher Interacts with Student Student Interacts with Teacher
St Student T Teacher Interactions between students and faculty members are inevitable and personal connections that emerge through advisement and mentoring are highly valued (Menegale, 2008). In responding to several implicit, unspoken, and nonverbal cues, students are more likely to interact with faculty members perceived to be sociable, intelligent, showing leadership, supportive, and objective.
Student-to-student interaction is a vital part of any course experience. In a classroom setting, this interaction happens naturally, as students listen to each other’s comments, ask each other questions, and build rapport through frequent contact. Instructors can also foster student-to-student interaction in an online setting, but it may require building formal and informal interaction opportunities in your course design. Designing for a high level of student-to-student interaction is so important because it can encourage the ability of the students.
There are three basic ways that students can interact with each other. Students can best students in the class; students can work individually on their own toward an established criterion; or students can work together, cooperatively, taking responsibility for each other's learning as well as their own.
Many students in the United States tend to see school as a competitive place where it is important that you do better than the other students. Over the last fifteen years, teachers have been encouraged to structure individualized learning in which students work alone at their own pace.
The positive effects of cooperative learning in science go beyond the immediate gains in achievement, motivation, self-esteem and acceptance of difference. Students learning in cooperative goal structure also develop skills in communication, leadership and conflict resolution that are basic to productive, working teams.
Consistent interaction among students in the classroom in personal or group level helps support academic expectations among students and gives a presence they can count on. Classes where students have opportunities to communicate with each other help students effectively construct their knowledge. Provides opportunities for students to work in pairs and small groups and use multiple modes of communication (e.g., discussions, making presentations, brainstorming) is needed in teaching learning language.
Many theories of learning maintain that knowledge is actively constructed and skills improved through interactions. Interaction between learners as it is shown in the diagram in figure 2 done by Scrivener (2005: 86) Figure 2: Interaction Between Students Key:
Student-student Interaction St Student T Teacher
METHOD
The appropriate method used in this research was case study. The method of case study is especially useful for trying to test theoretical models by using them in real world situations. Creswell (2009: 22) claimed that, qualitative designed used in order to explore and understand the social phenomenon.The case study approach is chosen regarding to the aim which attempts to exam the gain in depth analysis of an event or a person. It is an ideal design for understanding and interpreting observations of educational phenomena. This approach has many advantages such as giving insight into similar situations, catching specific elements and unexpected events and which easily understood by the reader immediately intelligible as they speak for themselves (Cohen 2007:256)
In case study, any and all methods of gathering data including observation, interview, questionnaire, and document analysis can be used and, in this studythe writer would intend to know the phenomena explored and understood about the nature of teacher-students interaction in English through naturalistic observation.
In this research, the data has been collected three times through naturalistic observation means observing individuals in their natural settings, simply observes and records what happens as things naturally occur. In this research, the classroom interaction was observed directly. The writer also provided audio recording.The basic data of this research was obtained from direct observation and audio recording in the class
XI. The data gained had been transcribed to show the interaction and language used by teacher and students during English class occurred.
After having transcribed all interactions in the classroom, the transcript was concluded. The coding process was an essential part caused by a number of reasons; including enabling the researcher to identify phenomena, to conduct quantification of frequency, to show the tendency of findings, and to categorize and subcategorize findings
The data has been collected three times through observation. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2012: 447), naturalistic observation means observing individuals in their natural settings, simply observes and records what happens as things naturally occur.
In this research, the classroom interaction was observed directly.The participants of this research are XI IPA 3 students consist of 32 students and one English teacher of MAN 2 Pontianak.The basic data of this research was transcribing the teacher-students interaction. It was obtained from direct observation by using audio recorder to record the interaction in the class. The writer tried to transcribe the conversation into written table form. These steps are segmenting the transcript according to each exchange of interaction and numbering then calculating the amount of each utterance of teacher-students interaction
After having transcribed all interactions in the classroom, the transcript was analysed. This process is called coding process. It was an essential part caused by a number of reasons; including enabling the researcher to identify phenomena, to conduct quantification of frequency, to show the tendency of findings, to categorize and subcategorize findings.
The last step of this research was
interpreting the data . The qualification of
the findings was displayed into table interaction. Thus, the phenomena occurred from the table was described. This section displays the results of qualitative analysis of data collected with the research instrument. Qualitative analysis shows the nature interaction of teacher-students interaction in English class. Thus, in this current research, the researcher classified the process of
80.9% 19.1% English word in the interaction Indonesian words in the interaction
analyzing the interaction occurred in English class.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results
The language used by the teacher- students in classroom interaction was two languages that the teacher used alternately in the classroom in ±70 minutes for each meeting. The teacher did not speak purely 100% English but sometimes used Indonesia to translate or to give explanation and conveying the student who had lower English vocabulary then others.
In a period of teaching learning process or in ±70 minutes each meeting there were about 3,140 words found in the interaction between teacher-students in three meetings. From the total number of the English teacher talk and student talk, there were 2,540 words in English and 600 words in Indonesian. In other words, there were 80, 9 % word the language used in English and 19, 1 % word the language used in Indonesian (See Figure 1.1)
Diagram 1.1 The Percentage of
Language Used in the Class As can be seen in Figure 1.1, it was clearly indicated that English is the dominant language used by both teacher and students in the classroom. The number of English language usage (80, 9 %) was higher than the number of Indonesian language usage (19.1
%) in the classroom; the writer classified the role of each language as increasing students’ storage of language, developing language skill, and building confidence.
From the number of languages used in the interaction, it showed that English was the dominant language. Since it showed the highest number in the interaction, the use of English language itself plays significant role in teaching learning process. When they are listening what the teacher said, they have known one or more vocabularies they can remember
Developing communication skill refers to how the students give feedback to the teacher directly. It means that the students learning implicitly just because the teacher is always using English in the class like having discussed with their friends, speaking activity, or debate.The students replied or responded the teacher directly by using English language. Here, we can assume that the students have a good knowledge as the result from their learning.
Most of the students are afraid of making mistakes even afraid to speak English. This phenomenon is the biggest homework for teacher to overcome it. Fortunately, through observation who had done by the writer, he found that some students are enthusiastically or even very happy to speak English with their teacher. Using English in the class can help the student in learning especially in speaking English. They will be able to speak confidently without afraid of making mistakes. The students understood and responded what the teacher said. Based on the writer’s observation in the class, the teacher has good and clear pronunciation thus the students could respond it immediately. The teacher used appropriate intonation and stressed when asking or just giving information.
In the transcription, the writer found some aspects of classroom interaction happened in the class. Those aspects of classroom interaction in the class consist of two aspects, they are teacher talk and students talk. The most important key to creating an interactive language classroom is the initiation of interaction by the teacher. Teacher has the most important role to make the student enthusiasm in the classroom.
The most important key to creating an interactive language classroom is the initiation of interaction by the teacher. Teacher has most important role to make the student enthusiasm in the classroom such as must deal with feeling, praises or encourages the students, giving jokes so on.
Discussions
This research had two purposes to find the teacher-students language use in the classroom and the aspects of classroom interaction that the teacher and the students use. Based on the analysis in the previous section, both questions in research problem were answered. The participant in the current research was one of the English teachers who taught eleventh grade students in Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 2 Pontianak in Academic Year 2016/2017. The writer collected data from classroom audio recording to get the sample of the teacher and students talk found in English classroom.
In order to find out the answers to the research question, the data from the classroom audio recording were analyzed by transcribing it into a written form. Teaching learning process effectively begin in the class recorded was only for ± 60
- – 70 minutes in each meeting. From the classroom recording, the writer found out that the day’s topic was about explanation text, asking information, and question tag. In the classroom, both teacher and students reviewed about the day’s topic and discussed a lot about those topics.
The teacher-students language use in the classroom mostly English language. It can be proven by the amount of the interaction in the transcription between the teacher and the students in the classroom. This phenomenon has good impact for the students due to the students can increase their ability in communicating.
In the research findings, it could be seen that there are some points that the writer found out once observing the class. Based on the writer’s observation, the research finding showed that the language that the teacher- students used in the classroom dominated by the teacher.
The result wasobtained by analysing the aspecs of classroom interaction that consist of teacher talk and students talk. According to Moskowitz’s FLINT (Foreign Language Interaction) analysis system in Brown (2001 : 170), teacher talk has eleven categories which enable to be analysed in classroom interaction. Those categories of teacher talk are indirect and direct influences.
Teacher has most important role to make the student enthusiasm in the classroom.when the students came late into the class or they did something bad or even did not do anything what the teacher orders in the class. These cases happened due to another particular things. It calls with deals of feeling.
Giving prises or encourages the students are used for supporting and giving reward for successful product. It is needed by the students as the contribution for the result of learning. The witer found that a strong verbal language like "very
good!" or "excellent!”is needed to encourage
the students but the teacher must be aware that body signal (uses thumb) also has a significant role in teaching learning process in the class.
Another important aspect in the interaction between the teacher and students is how to make the circumstance melted. The writer found this interesting part when observing in the class. The teacher tried giving puns and attempting to be humorous or giving intentional.
When lecturing, the teacher is trying engaging the students to involve into the circumstance. Asking question or giving statement can encourage the students to give explanation. In this case, the teacher must rephrase the ideas but still be recognized by the students as their contribution in the classroom. The current observation, the teacher often repeated what the students said for the entire class with the exact words. We will come to the finding where the teacher repeated what one of his students said. Once the student responded to the teacher’s question, the teacher also repeated it with the same exact words without any rephrasing. In addition, the teacher’s response in the example also as appreciating the students
’ participation in the class. Asking question used as in form of request for information which was the commonest and most straightforward way to engage students to talk or involved in the discussion happening in the class. The teacher just tried for sure or checking the students understanding the material.Lecturing is the main part of teaching learning process in the class. By lecturing, the students got information can be just an opinion or fact that delivered by the teacher. The teacher was talking to the students about the example how to make an information question. Sometimes the students responded it by using their body signal.
In the data, the writer also found out that the teacher initiated how to overcome the student’s response but his answer is not exactly correct the students did not use English but the teacher repeats it again and says it using English. The teacher tried to correct it immediately. It means that when the students do mistakes we just need to show our thumb and ask other students to add some more information on it.
Giving direction is one of the important parts of language teaching learning in the class. In the transcription, the writer noticed that the teacher was giving a direction to the students to do something. The teacher asked the students to listen to a track of a dialogue, they can discuss or make a small group discussion that consist of two students. The teacher tried to give command that they must listen carefully and discuss about that topic.
In the observation, the writer found out that when the teacher was delivering the material, whereas on the corner of the class, both students just talking without caring about who was speaking in front of the class. The teacher was trying to criticize the non- acceptable behaviour of a student. By asking question or just like checking students’ concentration. Teacher as the guidance that has full control in the class needs to reject the bad behaviour of students in the class.In the transcription, the writer also found out that the teacher rejected the student by word and intonation.The teacher criticized the students’ response by using unfriendly word and intonation due to their behaviour and the answer was wrong.
The writer also found various of students talks. In this part, some students reponded the teacher by using many ways to talk. Starting from students response in specific and students initiated response, when the students silence, students’ confusion work oriented, laughing, the students used native language, and the students used verbal language. The writer tried to analysed the students responsein limited range. In this case, the students only respond what the teacher want. In other hands, some students are very enthusiastic in giving opinion just because their own initiative. They showed reaction about something that they knew.
Students discussed the tasks given by the teacher and worked in pairs but there was a con among the students and teacher gives an example to the students about how to make an information to another person.
The writer found out the students are laughing. They are laughing because they know what the teacher said. Laughing here means a response from the students that indicates the students understand what the teacher said. The writer had ever read an article entitle The Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity. This article talks about some benefits of the use of English when interaction. It can support their brain gained through learning an additional language in this case learning English. The ability to communicate a new language is the main benefit when a person gains committing to learn English or any languages to increase the ability and communicate with the language itself and create connections with a wider range of the world’s population.
That is one of the good things of using English when teaching in the classroom but as a teacher, using English all the time is not enough. A teacher needs to pay attention to another aspects for instance the accuracy, word choice, and spelling or pronunciation. The students will imitate the teacher in the class because teacher is the role model. A teacher is demanded to be a guidance for the students.
Based on the writer’s analysis, the writer found out that there were some incorrect ways when delivering the speech. It is related to the teacher’s accuracy for instance grammar, word choice, spelling or pronunciation.
In the transcription, the writer found out the sentence does anybody here can describe
what it looks like (appendix 1 line 36). The use of word “does” is not exactly correct.
Whereas the use of words “looks like” are intended to or influenced by Indonesian culture. The writer also found another example as can be seen in the appendix 1 line 133 here “why do chameleon change
colour?” The teacher should use “does” for
singular subject. Yet, sometimes the students cannot realize those things. It becomes a problem if the students follow or imitate those mistakes. Whereas for the spelling or pronunciation, the writer did not find any mistakes as far as the students can understand and comprehend the utterances.
Besides, the aspects of classroom interaction were classified into two categories; teacher talk and student talk. Both of those aspects had important roles in supporting and getting the classroom achievement. In an ideal classroom, teachers and students engage in meaningful dialogue, questioning, and conversation. They could increase the students’ knowledge and skill, sharpening their ability in learning language, mastering the vocabulary, and developing their communication skill and building their confident.
When observing the classroom, the teacher talked too much rather than the students. It seems that the teacher does not give any opportunities to speak anymore. The proportion of talking of students was less in the classroom but the students listened actively. The writer found out that there was not balance between the teacher and student. The teacher should make a strategy to engage the students enthusiasism in the class.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Conclusion
The research finding concluded two languages that the teacher used in the classroom interaction, i.e. English and Indonesian. In the transcription, the writer found out that there were 2,540 words in English and 600 words in Indonesian. In other words, there were 80, 1% interaction used in English and 19, 9% interaction used Indonesian. Therefore, from these numbers of the interaction, the writer noticed that English was the dominant language used in the interaction between teacher and students in the classroom.
Besides, there were also some aspects of each interaction found in the interaction. The aspects of classroom interaction were classified into two categories. First category was teacher talk that consist of many aspects, e.g. deals with feeling, praises and encourages, jokes, uses ideas of students, repeats students’ response verbatim, asks questions, gives information, corrects without rejection, gives directions, and criticizes students’ response. The second category was students talk that consist of students
’ response in specific, students’ response open minded or students initiated, silence, silence-AV, confusion work oriented, confusion non-work oriented, laugher, uses the native language, and nonverbal. They were used to investigate the nature of teacher-students interaction in the classroom. The teacher-student relationships impact productively on a student's self-esteem and enhance their skills. Teacher-student interactions are very important for the development of the students' academic self- concept and enhancing their enthusiasm.
Teacher-student Interaction has an impact on classroom management and affects learning and growth. According to developmental perspective, the establishment of a positive teacher-student relationship aids a student's cognitive, social and emotional growth and enhances their mental well-being.
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Consistent interaction among students in the classroom in personal or group level helps support academic expectations among students and gives a presence they can count on classes where students have opportunities to communicate with each other help students effectively construct their knowledge. Provides opportunities for students to work in pairs and small groups and use multiple modes of communication (e.g., discussions, making presentations, brainstorming) is needed in teaching learning language.
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REFERENCES
Since this current study only covers the language used in interaction and the teacher-students talk in classroom interaction, the writer wishes and suggests to the next researcher to conduct the research concerning about teacher’s fluency in teacher talk in the classroom interaction.
Meanwhile, for the students, interaction analysis in students talk can help them to learn language better. The use of teacher and student talk in the classroom can help the learners understand the material comprehensively, sharpening their ability, increase their language storage in mastering the vocabulary, developing their communication skill, building their confident, and strengthening their social relationship.
The teacher should respond it by using simple words but in appropriate grammar and spelling or pronunciation even when translates the words into Indonesian. The teacher is a bridge for the students to comprehend the material when the students learn language.
This research discusses the natural condition happened in the classroom. This research gives positive contribution in English teaching and learning process at Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 2 Pontianak. The students could learn more from the teacher deeply through interaction with the teacher actually but in fact, the teacher dominated the class. The students need to be active in the classroom. For the teacher, it could be one of the strategies in teaching English as Foreign Language in order to enhance the students’ improvement and understanding when learning language especially in learning.
Recommendation
Social Sciences Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 672-687.