The role of teacher`s introductory language in teaching english to senior high school students - USD Repository

  

THE ROLE OF TEACHER’S INTRODUCTORY LANGUAGE

  

IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

A Thesis

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Pramusinta Korniawati

  Student number: 041214040

  

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2009

  

THE ROLE OF TEACHER’S INTRODUCTORY LANGUAGE

  

IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

A Thesis

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Pramusinta Korniawati

  Student number: 041214040

  

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2009

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Proverbs 23:18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

  Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

  This thesis is dedicated to: My late father Yohanes Sugito

  My beloved mother Sutini My lovely sister Yunita

  All English Teachers vi

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost, I thank my Lord, Jesus Christ for His greatness and love. I praise Him because of His blessing so that I can finish my thesis well.

  My deepest and sincere gratitude goes to Gregorius Punto Aji, S.Pd.,

  

M.Hum., my thesis sponsor, for his willingness to read my thesis and patience to

  guide me in writing my thesis. I really thank him for his support, advice and guidance in helping me to finish my thesis.

  I would like to express my gratitude to all of teachers and staff SMA

  

Negeri 1 Klaten , especially Drs. Widiyarto, M.Pd., Drs. H. Ridwan, Mrs. Etik,

Mr. Val Bambang and Mr. Tri Jatmiko who have allowed me to conduct the

  observations. My gratitude also goes to Mr. Agus Djumadi who has given recommendation to conduct the research in SMA Negeri 1 Klaten.

  I would like to express my special gratitude to my beloved parents, my late father Yohanes Sugito and my mother Sutini for their never ending love, support, prayer, and understanding as well as patience in finishing my thesis. I also thank my sister Mbak Yunita, my brother in law Mas Agus, my niece Dik Valerie and all family members who have given encouragement, support and prayer for me.

  I would also like to thank my best friends: Anas, Wulan, Wida, Lia,

  

Dias, Mita, Markus, Alit, Endang and Kresen for the wonderful friendship and

  encouragement. I also thank all of my friends in PBI Sanata Dharma University whose name could not be mentioned one by one for the friendship and cheerful moment during my study in Sanata Dharma University. I would also like to thank vii

  

Ms. Iin, Ms. Nikma, Mr. Herujiyanto, Yuni and all kids in Sanggar Plura

  Talenta for giving me support and advice. I thank my friends in Asrama Putri

  

Brojowikalpo 1 for friendship that we have had for six month. My gratitude also

  goes to ABDIEL crews and Sunday school family in GPdI Pesu (Nanto, Rita, Abeth, Nita, Nike, Mia, Budi, Agus, Ida and Hana) for prayer and support.

  Last but not least, my special gratitude goes to Ferry Wahyu Adhi for the wonderful care, love, attention, help, encouragement as well as understanding during my difficult time in finishing my thesis. May God bless all of them.

  Pramusinta Korniawati

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Page

  

TITLE PAGE............................................................................................... i

PAGE OF APPROVAL............................................................................... ii

PAGE OF ACCEPTANCE…………………………………………….… iii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY.......................................... iv

PAGE OF DEDICATION …...................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................. viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION......................................................................... xi

LIST OF APPENDICES............................................................................... xii

ABSTRACT................................................................................................. xiii

ABSTRAK...................................................................................................... xiv

  CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background..................................................... 1 B. Problem Limitation......................................................... 5 C. Problem Formulation....................................................... 6 D. Research Objectives........................................................ 6 E. Research Benefits............................................................ 6 F. Definition of Terms.......................................................... 8 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Theoretical Description.................................................. 10

   1. Cognitive development.................................................... 10

  2. Linguistic Development Stage.......................................... 14

  a. First Language Acquisition.............................................. 14

  b. Second / Foreign Language Acquisition......................... 14

  3. Teacher’s Introductory Language.................................... 15

  a. Characteristics of Teacher’s Introductory Language...... 18 ix

  1) Language Used......................................................... 18 2) Speech Modifications............................................... 19

  b. Purposes of Teacher’s Introductory Language.......... 20 1) Giving Explanation.................................................... 20 2) Asking Question........................................................ 21 3) Correcting Error ........................................................ 23 4) Providing Feedback................................................... 24

  4. Communicative Language Teaching.............................. 25

  B. Theoretical Framework.................................................. 26

  CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Research Method............................................................... 30 B. Research Participants ....................................................... 31 C. Setting................................................................................. 32 D. Research Instruments......................................................... 32 E. Data Gathering Technique................................................... 33 F. Data Analysis...................................................................... 34 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS RESULTS A. The teacher’s Introductory Language................................ 37

  1. Indonesian........................................................................... 38

  2. English................................................................................ 43

  B. The Role of the Teacher’s Introductory Language............. 48

  1. Giving Explanation............................................................ 49

  2. Asking Questions............................................................... 50

  3. Correcting Error................................................................. 53

  4. Providing Feedback........................................................... 55

  C. Other Findings..................................................................... 58

  CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusion……................................................................. 60 B. Suggestions……................................................................ 61

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  1. Suggestions for English Teachers.................................... 62

  2. Suggestions for Future Researchers................................. 62

  

REFERENCES............................................................................................... 63

APPENDICES................................................................................................ 65

  xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

  Page L1: First Language...............................................................................

  14 L2 : Second Language.........................................................................

  14 FL: Foreign Language.........................................................................

  14 CLT : Communicative Language Teaching........................................

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  LIST OF APPENDICES

  Page APPENDIX 1: The Request Letter to Conduct the Research.................... 65 APPENDIX 2: Interview Questions for the Teachers................................ 67 APPENDIX 3: Tape Script of Tenth Grade Teacher.................................. 68 APPENDIX 4: Tape Script of Eleventh Grade Teacher............................. 72 APPENDIX 5: Tape Script of Twelfth Grade Teacher.............................. 77 APPENDIX 6: Interview Tape Script of All Grades Teachers.................. 86 xiii

  

ABSTRACT

  Korniawati, Pramusinta. 2009. The Role of Teacher’s Introductory Language

  

in Teaching English to Senior High School Students. Yogyakarta: English

Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

  The teacher’s introductory language is quite central in the roles of the teacher in teaching and learning activities. Therefore, considering the fact that teacher’s introductory language plays important roles, this research is conducted to answer the problems related to the teacher’s introductory language. The problems investigated are: (1) What is the language used mostly by the Senior High School teachers? (2) How is the role of teacher’s introductory language in teaching English to Senior High School students?

  The research gathered many books and electronic sources that have supported to answer the research problems. This research was a descriptive qualitative research in which the source of the data was gained in a natural setting. In addition, descriptive method was useful for getting problem variation which concern with educational and human behavior The source of the data was three English teachers of Senior High School from different grades. The data were taken using audio recordings and interviews. The audio data recordings from the observations and interviews were transcribed to analyze the language used mostly by the teachers and the role of the teacher’s introductory language. In addition, this research also employed classroom note to record all important things during the observations.

  The first result showed that the Senior High School teachers used English for almost in the teaching and learning activities, especially for the eleventh and twelfth grade teachers. However, the tenth grade teacher used Indonesian in teaching students. It showed that the tenth grade teacher perceived the students having a lower level than the other grades. In addition, the teacher combined the use of both English and Indonesian to make the students understand what was explained by the teachers. In the twelfth grade, the teacher sometimes combined the use of English and Indonesian because of certain reasons.

  The second result showed that the role of teacher’s introductory language was categorized into four parts namely, to give explanation, ask questions, correct mistakes and provide feedback to the students. Therefore, it could be concluded that the role of teacher’s introductory language was a means to facilitate the students in speaking English, motivate the students to do better than they did before by providing a positive feedback and correcting error, prepare an English knowledge by giving explanation related to the lesson and maintain the classroom by asking question related to the lesson so that the students can study well.

  This research give recommendation to the English teachers, especially Senior High School teachers to use the target language in teaching English to the students. In addition, this research also recommend to the future researchers to conduct the same research. The findings can be used for the additional data or it can be refused if the future researchers do not agree with the findings. xiv

  

ABSTRAK

  Korniawati, Pramusinta. 2009. The Role of Teacher’s Introductory Language

  

in Teaching English to Senior High School Students . Yogyakarta: Program Studi

Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Aktivitas belajar mengajar masih berkaitan erat dengan peranan guru, khususnya peranan bahasa guru. Oleh karena itu, berdasarkan fakta bahwa bahasa guru masih berperan penting dalam aktivitas belajar mengajar, adapun tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menjawab permasalahan yang berkaitan dengan peranan bahasa guru di kelas bahasa Inggris. Masalah yang diteliti adalah (1) Bahasa apa yang paling sering digunakan oleh guru untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris? (2) Apa peranan bahasa guru dalam mengajar Inggris murid SMA?

  Penelitian ini menggunakan berbagai buku dan bahan dari internet yang telah mendukung untuk menjawab permasalahan dalam penelitian. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif dimana datannya bersumber dari pengamatan yang natural. Tambahan pula, metode penelitian ini berguna untuk menjawab masalah yang diteliti yang berhubungan dengan pendidikan dan tingkah laku manusia. Sumber data dalam penelitian ini adalah tiga guru bahasa Inggris yang mengajar ditiga tingkatan kelas yang berbeda. Data yang diperoleh berupa rekaman suara guru dalam observasi dan wawancara. Data dan rekaman tersebut di transfer ke dalam bentuk tulisan untuk menganalisa bahasa yang sering digunakan oleh guru-guru dalam mengajar bahasa Inggris dan peranan bahasa guru dalam aktivitas belajar mengajar. Sebagai tambahan, penelitian ini menggunakan catatan kelas yang berperan untuk mencatat setiap hal penting yang tidak dapat terekam dengan alat perekam.

  Hasil pertama dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa guru-guru SMA menggunakan bahasa Inggris dalam proses belajar mengajar, khususnya guru kelas sebelas dan kelas duabelas. Mereka menggunakan bahasa Inggris karena bahasa Inggris merupakan target bahasa yang dipelajari. Namun, guru kelas sepuluh sering menggunakan bahasa Indonesia dalam mengajar. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa guru menganggap murid kelas sepuluh berada di level yang lebih rendah daripada tingkat kelas yang lain. Guru juga terkadang menggabungkan pengunaan kedua bahasa supaya murid memahami apa yang dijelaskan oleh guru. Hal ini dapat dilihat dari kelas duabelas, guru terkadang mengombinasikan penggunaan bahasa Inggris dan Indonesia karena alasan tertentu.

  Hasil kedua menunjukkan bahwa peranan bahasa guru dikategorikan dalam 4 hal, yaitu untuk memberi penjelasan, pertanyaan, mengoreksi kesalahan murid dan memberi komentar yang membangun kepada murid. Meskipun demikian, peranan utama yang terdapat dalam bahasa guru SMA adalah alat untuk memasilitasi murid dalam proses pembelajaran bahasa Inggris, memotivasi murid untuk melakukan hal yang lebih baik lagi dengan memberi umpan balik dan membetulkan kesalahan murid, menyediakan pengetahuan dalam berbahasa Inggris dengan memberikan penjelasan sesuai dengan pelajarannya dan mengatur xv kelas supaya kondusif dan terarah sesuai dengan pelajaran yang sedang dipelajari dengan memberi pertanyaan sesuai dengan pelajarannya.

  Penelitian ini memberi rekomendasi kepada guru bahasa Inggris, khususnya guru SMA untuk menggunakan target bahasa untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris. Tambahan pula, penelitian ini merekomendasikan kepada peneliti yang mendatang untuk mengadakan penelitian tentang bahasa guru. Hasil temuan penelitian ini dapat digunakan sebagai data tambahan atau ditolak bila tidak sesuai dengan peneliti mendatang. xvi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter presents research background, problem limitation and problem

  formulation. In addition, this chapter also states research objectives, research benefits and definition of the terms.

A. Research Background The introductory language of the teacher is well-known as teacher’s talk.

  According to Krashen (1985), the language that students have as comprehensible input, is the language which students can understand the meaning of the language spoken which is still on their own level of understanding. Therefore, the best input in language teaching is from the teacher’s talk.

  The teaching and learning activities are quite central in the roles of the teacher. It is because the teacher plays an important role in delivering the materials to the students. According to Hoyle (1969), the teacher has two main roles in the classroom. The first role corresponds with the functions of instruction, socialization and evaluation. Then, the second role concerns on motivating students, maintaining control, and creating an environment for learning. The latest curriculum in Indonesia requires the students to use English not only in written but also in spoken. It means that the objective of the teaching and learning activities is not only a matter of graduation but also the students’ ability in using English as the medium of international communication. In other words,

  2 Indonesian’s school should not only think about how to make all the students pass the final examination but also prepare them with a means of international communication that is English.

  A teacher is a person who is responsible for teaching and learning processes. Even though the latest curriculum says that the teacher has less chance to talk in class because it is a student-centered activities, the teacher still plays a vital role in teaching English. Wattenberg (1951) in The Role of the Teacher also says that there are many sub-roles of teacher in the classroom, one of which is as resource of knowledge. it means that the teacher possesses knowledge and skill. Consequently, as a teacher of foreign language in Indonesia, the teacher has to use the target language so that the students would become more familiar to the target language and they are used to using English in daily conversation in the classroom.

  Teacher’s introductory language or teacher’s talk plays an important role in conveying the lesson to the students. According to O’Neill (1994), the teacher’s talk is a matter of what the teacher talks in the classroom. There is a controversy whether the teacher’s talk is a good or bad thing. However, a language classroom cannot be separated from teacher’s talk since this is the main source of teaching- learning activities. Therefore, a teacher has to be able to assess the students with English and transfer the knowledge to the students because the teacher is the only person who can provide comprehensible input in the classroom.

  Teacher’s talk is related to the language acquisition. Language acquisition is divided into two parts, the first language or mother tongue and the target

  3 language or second language. The first language has been learned by the students since they are babies, whereas, the second language or target language are commonly learned in school. Therefore, the teacher has to work hard in teaching English and make English become easier to be understood for the students. In the processes of acquisition, teacher’s talk is the source of target language which will be attained by the students. In this case, the students’ target language is English.

  Teacher’s talk can be divided into two major parts. They are talk in the first language or mother tongue and talk in the target language. The teacher may speak in both languages, as in linguistics area is known as a code switching. The purpose is to help the students acquire difficult vocabularies while studying English. In fact, many teachers in Indonesia often use the first language that is Indonesia rather than the target language in teaching. Code switching is often made by the teacher to make his explanation clearer to the students.

  Nunan (1989) says that teacher’s talk cannot be separated from speech modifications made by the teachers. In a language classroom, teacher modifies the speech to non-native speakers in different ways to make the language more comprehensible. Therefore, his or her speech becomes more comprehensible. An investigation done by Pica and Long (1986) says that the language which has been modified by the teachers is meaningful and interesting to the students and can help the students to acquire the target language. Besides, it can facilitate the language acquisition process faced by the students.

  Teacher’s introductory language in classroom includes the teacher’s explanations, questions, feedbacks and error corrections. It cannot be ignored that

  4 the teacher’s talk is a valuable source in a language classroom. The teacher’s questions aim to determine whether students know the basic information of subject learned or not. Whereas, Chaudron (1991) shows that declaratives and statements are used by teachers more than the use of questions in the language classrooms. Declaratives and statements are often found in the teacher’s explanation, feedback and error correction. Therefore, it is not surprising if declarative sentences take a big part of teacher’s talk.

  In this research, it refers to the teachers who teach Senior High School students. Morever, the Senior High School students are included in adolescence stage of psychological development Therefore, the teacher’s talk will be less dominant than the students’ talk. According to O’Neil (1994), some lessons maybe good if they are carefully organized in such a way that students do a good deal of the talking and at the same time get a lot of feedback, both formally and informally, from the teacher about their performance. It depends on one belief that the teacher’s talk is a good or bad thing. It means that if the teacher thinks and believes that the students can learn better by actually practicing in the target language, the teacher could try to organize classroom activities so that the amount of the students’ talk is increasing. On the other hand, if a teacher thinks that teacher’s talk is a vital source or a comprehensible input, the teacher’s talk will be more dominant.

  Concerning the statement above, this research would investigate the teacher’s introductory language and the role of teacher’s introductory language in teaching English to Senior High School students. Senior High School students

  5 have already known English well, so that is not necessary for the teacher to talk too much. However, not all students understand English well. Moreover, English lesson becomes a terrifying lesson since it is considered as a difficult language. Therefore, teacher’s talk is still important to deliver the materials and explain the lesson to the students. Through teacher’s talk, Senior High School teachers can take advantage on songs, language games, role plays and problem solving tasks (Larsen-Freeman, 2000) so that students will not be bored in studying English.

  Consequently, they will be accustomed to spoken and written English.

B. Problem Limitation

  According the latest curriculum implemented in Senior High School, the method that is generally used in Senior High School is Communicative Language Teaching. This method is considered relevant because English is seen as a means of communication. Therefore, the teacher is also demanded to practice English in the talk, especially in teaching the students.

  Therefore, this research limits its investigation on two major problems. They include the language used mostly by the teachers and the role of the teachers’ introductory language in teaching English for Senior High School students. Particularly this research explores the implementation of teachers’ introductory language in teaching all grades of Senior High School students.

  These problems are discussed because this research would show how the teacher still plays an important role in teaching and learning activities.

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  C. Problem Formulation

  Based on the research background and purposes, the researcher formulated two major problems in this research. The questions to be solved in this research are:

  1. What is the language mostly used by the teacher in teaching English?

  2. How is the role of teacher’s introductory language in teaching English to Senior High School students?

  D. Research Objectives

  This research is conducted to find out whether the teachers speak in English or Indonesian in English classroom. It means that this research would find out when the teachers talk in English and Indonesia in English class.

  This research also aims to know the role of the teachers’ introductory language in teaching Senior High School students. It can make this research clear that the teacher’s introductory language still plays an important role in English classroom.

  E. Research Benefits

  This research is expected to give benefit to English teachers, especially Senior High School teachers and the future researchers.

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  1. English Teachers The teacher will be more encouraged to use English in delivering the lesson to the students. The teacher can become a facilitator for the students if they want to practice English in daily conversation. Besides that, the teacher can know that how important the teacher’s talk in the language classroom. This research is also expected to encourage the teachers to use English as the medium to transfer knowledge in the foreign language classroom and they can use the appropriate language in classroom. Therefore, the students can practice English not only in written but also in spoken remembering that the students will face the university life or work life after the graduation which demands to use English as the medium of international communication.

  Even though, the curriculum in Indonesia tells that it should be students- centered activity the teacher’s talk is still needed in the teaching learning process. The teacher should become more creative in designing an English material so that the students become enthusiastic in learning English.

  2. Future Researchers For the future researchers, this research is expected to encourage the researchers to dig out deeper on teacher’s talk. It is hoped can bring any information about teacher’s talk. Therefore, the next researchers are interested in doing teachers’ talk research.

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F. Definition of Terms

  This section describes all the key terms appear in this research. They are:

  1. Teacher A teacher is a person whose job is teaching. A teacher has a responsibility to the whole teaching learning process in the classroom.

  2. Teacher’s introductory language or teacher’s talk The teacher’s introductory language which is known as teacher’s talk is language used by the teacher in classroom to teach the students whose complexity varies according to the level of the learners. Language is for communication. It means that the teacher’s introductory language is a tool to communicate between the teacher and students in the classroom. In addition, according to Ellis (1985) teacher’s talk is a means to deliver the lesson and all kinds related to the learning to the students Therefore, the teacher needs to adjust the language he uses to the students level.

  The teacher’s introductory language consists of all speeches of the teacher which occur in the teaching and learning activities. In this research, the speeches refer to the explanations, questions, error corrections, and giving feedback to the students.

  3. Senior High School Students Senior High School students are those young people between the ages of 15 and 18. They are included in the formal operational stage as proposed in the cognitive development theory. They can be considered as independent learners but they still need comprehensible input from their teacher. However, according

  9 to Harmer (2001), Senior High School students are adolescents who have learned secondary school and they are called as teenagers.

  4. The role of teacher’s introductory language There are many roles of the teacher’s introductory language in teaching

  English to Senior High School students. The role is to facilitate the teaching learning activities. By teacher’s introductory language, the teacher can control the classroom and the teacher can create conducive classroom because the teacher adjusts the talk on students’ proficiency level. The other roles as said by Nunan (1989) in Language Classroom, they are to organize the students and classroom, assess the students using the target language, to provide the best source of the target language since the students meet the teacher every day, to explain the materials to the students, to give questions, to correct students’ mistakes and to provide feedback to the students

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter discusses the theories related with the research. This chapter

  is divided into two parts, the theoretical description and the theoretical framework. The writer explores the theories that support the research from the books, journals and articles downloaded from the internet. By finding out the theories, it is expected to have strong base for the research . The theories explored are the theories related with the theory of cognitive development and the theories of language acquisition. In addition, this chapter also uses the theory of teacher’s talk, theory of a teacher’s talk purposes, theory of language teaching methodology and theory of discourse analysis.

A. Theoretical Description

1. Cognitive development

  This theory will deliver to the understanding of children characteristics. As stated by Piaget in electronic source, the Senior High School students are included in Adolescence stage or in the formal operational stage. He also said that the students at Senior High School are egocentric. It means that they create their own environment which they do like. In this stage, they also try to find their goal of life and their personality since in this stage their emotional are unstable.

  Piaget as written by Suherman, et al (2003) adds that cognitive development occurs to each individual since he is a boy until an adult. This theory

  11 also says that the thinking way of children is not same as adults. Cognitive development stage or thinking ability of each person depends on the age. The more a person is grown up the more the thinking ability increases.

  As a teacher of young adults, the teacher has to consider the students’ emotional. Therefore, the teacher does not only play role as an educator but also as a mediator or facilitator for the students. In this case, the teacher’s talk is not only a medium for teaching but also a medium for facilitating the conversation between the teacher and students. In other word, the students are used to using English in daily conversation.

  Piaget identifies four stages in cognitive development from each individual: a. Sensorimotor stage (Infancy, 0 to 2 years).

  In this period, children still use their intelligence through motor activity without using a language as used by adults. In the children concept, world is limited but it is still developing because it is based on physical interactions or experiences. Children at the age of seven month can use their mind to memorize some objects. Motor activity which is done by children allows the children to begin developing new intellectual abilities. They start to define some physical object into symbols, for example they can imitate animal voice or car engine sound. Some language abilities are developed at the end of this stage.

  b. Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood, 2 to 7 years).

  In this period, children intelligence is demonstrated using language. This stage is also called as the preparation of concrete operation stage. The operation

  12 in this stage means that cognitive actions, such as classifying object, arrange objects position in sequence and counting. Their memory and imagination are developed, but their thinking is done in a non-logical way because the children’ thought is based on concrete experience. Therefore, when children see different objects they will also think it differently. In addition, the children in this stage are egocentric.

  c. Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence, 7 to 11 years).

  In this stage, children start using their concrete thinking because operational thinking develops. It means that the children can do mental action as not done by children at lower stage. Intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Children’s egocentric diminishes in this stage because they start socializing their life with other children.

  d. Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood, from 11 through adolescence).

  This stage is the last stage as proposed by Piaget cited by W. Huitt and Hummel, J. (2003). In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Therefore, children in this stage are not related to the existence of concrete objects but they are related to thinking type. The Senior High School students whose age around 15-18 are included in this stage. Early in the period, they return to egocentric thought. Only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood. They prefer

  13 entering non formal education or Vocational school because they will face work field life. However in Indonesia, some adolescence prefer to enter vocational school and the rest choose common Senior High School. As in the cognitive development stages above, Senior High School students are included in the stage of formal operational stage. In this stage, it can be concluded that the children have already been mature and can be independent in learning. In other word, unlike children the Senior High School students have more creative and abstract thinking. In this stage, thinking becomes more formalized and their thinking deals increasingly in abstractions. Senior High School students are at a stage in life when they increasingly want to start taking responsibility for their own lives, including forming views about their own education, and the manner in which it is conducted as said by Ur (1996) cited at Asian EFL journal.

  In other word, the Senior High School students can learn the target language in the classroom by themselves without being forced as children. Even though they can learn by themselves, they still need an input from the teacher which is believed as an influential input. Therefore, a foreign language teacher has more complicated duty in teaching the lesson than kindergarten or elementary school teacher has. In the Senior High School, the students have more chance in speaking since it is a student-centered classroom. Thus, the teacher lets the students to be more active and creative in English class but still in the teacher’s supervision.

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2. Linguistic Development Stage

  a. First Language Acquisition (L1)

  Language is the main instrument by which one knows about other people's thoughts. Learning the first language is easy for children and they do it successfully even without formal education because it is their mother tongue. In the early age, children have learned and mastered their native language well. A native language foundation can serve as a support for learning English as a second language. Cummins (1984) as cited at Journal of Education says that it can make the learning process easier and faster. Therefore, knowing how the students learn their first language can help the teacher to teach them a foreign or second language. The first language acquisition concerns on the development of language in children.

  All students, especially Senior High School students, can speak well at least two languages. The first language, Indonesia or Bahasa, is their native language which they have learned since their childhood. Consequently, the use of the first language in the English classroom should be practiced less frequent considering the demand of the recent curriculum.

  b. Second or Foreign Language Acquisition (L2/FL)

  Second Language Acquisition is the process by which people learn languages in addition to their native language. The Second Language Acquisition here is the language studied after the native language or mother tongue. Lennerberg as cited in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Brown, 1987: 43) says, "Plasticity of the brain prior to the puberty enables children to

  15 acquire not only the first language but also the foreign language." It is clearly explained that children can learn new language as they learn their first language.

  English in Indonesian school is taught widely since kindergarten. Thus, Senior High School students who learn English as second or foreign language have already had good knowledge of the target language. The teacher has to realize that each student has different characteristics. Therefore, the teacher can adjust his or her talk to the background knowledge of the students in order to teach English as second or foreign language.

  There is a belief saying that the earlier children learn the second language the better they master it. It is a true statement because according to it, brain of the young learners is still elastic so they can easily learn the target language. However, it is also not late for the adult learners, such as Senior High School students, to learn the second language. The most affected facilitation to learn the second or foreign language is a teacher’s talk. The teacher’s talk or the teacher’s introductory language is believed as not only influential source for teaching and learning activities but also it is an easy thing to get since the teacher and students meet in the classroom and school environment regularly.

3. Teacher’s Introductory Language

  The teacher’s introductory language which is known as teacher’s talk is the language used by the teacher in classroom to teach the students whose complexity varies according to the level of the learners. The theory of teacher’s talk is used to find out the purpose of the teachers talk in both English and Indonesian in English

  16 classroom. Some kinds of the teacher’s talk according to some researchers are bad. Other kinds of the teacher’s talk are good and essential in language classroom. The teacher’s talk is perceived as a negative because there is a belief, as stated by O’Neil (1994) says that the less the teacher talks and the more the students talk the better the class goes. However, in order to achieve the goal of the classroom management, i.e. to create a classroom atmosphere conducive to interact in English in meaningful ways, the teacher need to talk in class. It is through meaningful interaction that the students can make progress in learning English.

  There are so many roles played by the teacher in language classroom as written by Harmer (2001: 57). They have many roles such as a controller who control the teaching learning activities or the teacher takes charge on the teaching learning processes, as an organizer who organizes the class activities. In other word, the teacher as an organizer acts to give the students information, tell them how they are going to do an activity in classroom, put the students into pairs or in groups and finally close the activity down when the time is up. Another role is as an assessor who assesses the students which knowledge is vary, gives feedback to the students and grade them in various ways according to the students’ performance. The teacher, overall, plays all those roles which are believed providing comprehensible input in the language classroom.

  Considering the statement, the teacher is the most influential input in teaching-learning activity. The teacher’s talk is a means to deliver the lesson and all kinds related to the learning to the students. In the teaching learning activities,

  17 the teacher’s talk plays an important role because it is essential in the organization of the teaching learning processes in the classroom and the processes of second language acquisition. The teacher’s introductory language can be used as a determiner for the teacher failure or success in implementing his or her teaching through the language. However, in the processes of acquisition, the teacher’s talk is the main input or source of target language which will be gained by the students.

  Not surprisingly, the classroom observations have found that the teachers tend to do much of the talking.

  

In content classrooms...it has been found that teachers tend to talk for about

two-thirds of the available class time, leaving just a third for the learners.

In some language classrooms, it has been shown that teacher talks for up

to 89 per cent of the available time.

  Nunan (1991: 26) It is a good thing or not that the teacher’s talk is more dominant than the students’ talk in the teaching learning activities depends on what one believes about the role of the language input in acquisition. If a teacher believes that the students learn best by actually practicing in the target language, the teacher probably tries to manage classroom activities so that the amount of the students’ talk is increased. On the other hand, if a teacher believes that the teacher’s talk is a valuable source or comprehensible input, the teacher will be much less worried by the teacher dominance.

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a. Characteristics of Teacher’s Introductory Language 1) Language Used

  The languages used by the teacher when he or she taught a foreign language to Senior High School students are target language and mother tongue. The teacher speaks both languages to deliver the lesson to the students.

  The role of the target language is important in providing learners with the only substantial live target language input which the students will learn. It is expected that the teacher talks English in the classroom as the main language for communication. The teacher should talk a lot in language classroom to the students because the students need to practice English. The more English the students hear, the more the students will learn.

  Nevertheless, the teacher also uses mother tongue to teach the foreign language to the Senior High school students. The use of mother tongue also helps the teaching learning activities. According to Slattery and Willis (2001: 12), the teacher uses the mother tongue to support when teaching a new activity or if no one understands. The teacher also lets the students use their mother tongue for communication because many Senior High School students often need to talk it in order to learn the target language.

  In English classroom, the teacher often switches the use of both languages which is known as a code switching. Zilm (1989) states that code switching is affected by the following factors:

• The nature of the activity in the classroom. It means that teacher should realize how the class activity is going on.

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