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THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

Rosyana Diva Lolyta 112013004 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA SALATIGA 2017

PERNYATAAN TIDAK PLAGIAT

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN AKSES

APPROVAL FORM

  Students’ Use of the Standard Variation of Indonesian Self-Reference

  Addressing Terms of Aku and Saya toward Teachers

  THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

  of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

  Rosyana Diva Lolyta 112013004

  Approved by:

  Supervisor

  Examiner

  E. Titik Murtisari, S.Pd, M.TransStud, Ph.D

  Joseph Ernest Mambu, Ph.D

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

  This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.

  Copyright 2016. Rosyana Diva Lolyta and E. Titik Murtisari, S.Pd, M.TransStud, Ph.D

  All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.

  Rosyana Diva Lolyta

PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION

  Students’ Use of the Standard Variation of Indonesian Self-Reference Addressing Terms of Aku and Saya toward Teachers ABSTRACT

  The Indonesian language has two standard variations of address terms to refer to oneself, which are aku and saya. Students are traditionally expected to use saya instead of aku to teachers because it is considered to be the more formal and polite form. However, the use of the personal pronouns seems to have been shifting in recent years. Therefore, this study aims to investigate high school students’ use of self-reference addressing terms aku and saya to teachers. Questionnaires were used to obtain the data from 127 participants of the second grade of Senior High School 1 Salatiga. To explore further information, stimulated response cards also were used to examine 10 students who chose both aku and saya. The general results demonstrate that the majority of the respondents still used saya exclusively, and only one student used aku. Nevertheless, there were also a significant number of students who used both aku and saya. The biggest factors that affect the term selection were the relationship with teachers and teachers’ personality.

  Key words: self-reference, address terms, saya, aku, language shift, politeness

INTRODUCTION

  In communicating with someone, there are many things that need to be considered by

  a speaker, and one of them is the code selection of self-reference addressing terms. People have many kinds of variations to address themselves depending on the formality, social status, age difference, and relationship (Djenar, 2007). Meanwhile, Indonesian language has a large range of self-reference which is different from English since it has “limited set of pronoun” (Flannery, 2009, p. 1) to say ‘I’. However, aku and saya are the only standard variation of Indonesian self-reference, which can be found in the Indonesian Dictionary. Nevertheless, these terms of variation are used differently depend on many factors including their formality and politeness. According to some researchers, such as Djenar (2007), Dewi (2009), Flannery (2010), and Yoong (2011), the term aku is considered as informal and often used casually with close friends or person with low status, while saya can be considered as a speaker, and one of them is the code selection of self-reference addressing terms. People have many kinds of variations to address themselves depending on the formality, social status, age difference, and relationship (Djenar, 2007). Meanwhile, Indonesian language has a large range of self-reference which is different from English since it has “limited set of pronoun” (Flannery, 2009, p. 1) to say ‘I’. However, aku and saya are the only standard variation of Indonesian self-reference, which can be found in the Indonesian Dictionary. Nevertheless, these terms of variation are used differently depend on many factors including their formality and politeness. According to some researchers, such as Djenar (2007), Dewi (2009), Flannery (2010), and Yoong (2011), the term aku is considered as informal and often used casually with close friends or person with low status, while saya can be considered as

  However, several studies haves indicated that nowadays some students seem to shift the pronoun saya to aku in communicating with their teachers. Whereas, there should be boundaries between students and teachers regarding their differences in terms of age, group, and status (Dewi, 2009).

  Moreover, politeness is also included in someone’s consideration to choose the term of address when they speak. As Trans (2010) pointed out “politeness also impacts on the choice between different address forms.” (p. 13). In addition, Yui (2012) stated that terms of address is a tool to adjust the relationship between the speaker and the hearer, and they are deeply related to politeness. Thus, the concern of this study will highlight the politeness as one of the factors which affects students’ choice of address terms since the use of aku and saya reflects people’s values, including of politeness.

  Hence, if we take a look on the issue above, students are supposed to change the language choice and apply saya instead of aku since it is suggested as a polite form to adress themselves to teachers. Regarding this assumption, it is necessary to pay attention to the use of personal pronoun choice by students in Indonesia.

  Furthermore, the previous finding by Rahardjono (2016) focused on the use of singular form self-reference in English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University shows that the majority of students consistently use saya, and some of them use both aku and saya depending on the situation. Although the previous study has found relatable result, it is necessary to have further study under the same topic since it has limitations. Besides, the researcher is interested in investigating the use of self-reference by the students in different context such as in public school. Therefore, this study intends to find out what self-reference Furthermore, the previous finding by Rahardjono (2016) focused on the use of singular form self-reference in English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University shows that the majority of students consistently use saya, and some of them use both aku and saya depending on the situation. Although the previous study has found relatable result, it is necessary to have further study under the same topic since it has limitations. Besides, the researcher is interested in investigating the use of self-reference by the students in different context such as in public school. Therefore, this study intends to find out what self-reference

  By conducting this study, the researcher wants to discover about the current trend in the use of aku and saya by students to teachers, and map students’ use of aku and saya. By doing so, these can inform language policy in Indonesia about the use of standard variation of Indonesian personal pronouns. Moreover, this study might become an input for the future language planning of Indonesian in term of self-reference addressing terms.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE Code Selection and Term of Address in Communication

  In communicating with someone, there are many factors as a speaker to consider. According to Hymes (1972) in Johnstone and Marcellino (2010) there are eight factors influencing people in speech that known as SPEAKING, which stands for:

  (S) Setting including the time and place, physical aspects of the situation such as arrangement of furniture in the classroom; (P) participant identity including personal characteristics such as age and sex, social status, relationship with each other; (E) ends including the purpose of the event itself as well as the individual goals of the participants; (A) act, sequence or how speech acts are organized within a speech event and what topics are addressed; (K) key or the tone and manner in which something is said or written; (I) instrumentalities or the linguistic code i.e. language, dialect, variety and channel i.e. speech or writing; (N) norm or the standard socio-cultural rules of interaction and interpretation; and

  (G) genre or type of event such as lecture, poem, letter (p. 8).

  Furthermore, Holmes (2013) believed that there are four main factors which affect a person to talk, which are social distance scale (intimacy of participants), status scale (position of participants), formality scale (setting or type of interaction), and functional scale (purposes or topic of interaction).

  In daily communication, addressing terms related to self reference is a crucial aspect that really matters when speaking with someone. Hence, different use of address terms really In daily communication, addressing terms related to self reference is a crucial aspect that really matters when speaking with someone. Hence, different use of address terms really

  According to Oyetade (1995) in Afful (2007) address terms is “an expression used in

  a face-to-face situation to designate an addressee” (p. 180). To Wardhaugh (2006), the use of address terms can be used to indicate the extent of ‘a power differential’ between the speaker and hearer. With all this in mind, it can be concluded that terms of address are forms to address or refer to someone or something to indicate the differential of power and distance between the addresser and addressee when they are communicating to each other.

  Furthermore, the code selection use of self-reference or personal pronoun is very substantial in daily communication between the speaker and the interlocutor. According to Moghadam et al (2013) address terms are very important to show interpersonal relationships, and become an indicatior of politeness in a society. While Djenar (2007) noted that they vary depending on the formality, social status, age difference and relationship between the addresser and addressee. Both of them state that the relationship of the speaker and interlocutor(s) could become the main concern to someone to choose the term of address they use while communicating with the interlocutor.

Term of Address in Indonesia

  Different from English which has a finite pronoun to say ‘I’, Indonesian has a large range of words to refer to oneself (Flannery, 2009). Therefore, there is possibility for someone to choose several codes in terms of addressing themselves. Moreover, Court (1998) in Thomason Everett (2005) claimed that Southeast Asian languages are more likely to use

  ‘open’ pronoun systems, where there are some alternative ways to say ‘I’ and ‘you’. This is very contrast with the Europe language that has ‘closed’ pronoun system, which only has one pronoun for person. Therefore, the people of Southeast Asian, especially Indonesian need to make selection of address term whenever they communicate with someone.

  This research focuses on self-references which are used in Indonesia. According to Kamus Bahasa Indonesia (the Indonesian Dictionary) the term aku refers to the informal variety to communicate with close friends or to a person with lower status, while saya can be used for both formal and informal setting or to a person who have higher status. Besides, a past study by Mintz (1994) in Djenar (2007) pointed that “Formality is suggested as corresponding to neutrality; and neutrality as corresponding to non offensiveness”. Moreover, Morgan (2010) elaborated that “aku is generally considered more intimate, and is often used when speaking to children and between equals who have a close relationship” (p. 28), while saya is the neutral version of ‘I’ and endorsed as the standard formal Indonesian pronoun. (Sneddon, 1997; Quinn, 2001; Sneddon, 2003) in Morgan (2010).

  Thus, from this opinion, it can be concluded that on the one hand, the pronoun saya is considered as a neutral pronoun that can be used to speak with anybody in any situation, which potentially cause less offensiveness. On the other hand, pronoun aku is considered as informal and may be offensive when inappropriately used. For instance, to someone who never met before, the use of aku may be very offensive.

Code Selection of Address Term in Relation with Politeness Theory

  One of the most important aspects in communicating with someone is politeness. According to Tran (2010) “Politeness is one of the key factors in the value and, thereby, an indispensable part of effective communication” (p. 12). He also added that a polite conversation is considered by many factors of the interlocutor such as age, social position, social context, and how close the relationship between the interlocutors. The expression of One of the most important aspects in communicating with someone is politeness. According to Tran (2010) “Politeness is one of the key factors in the value and, thereby, an indispensable part of effective communication” (p. 12). He also added that a polite conversation is considered by many factors of the interlocutor such as age, social position, social context, and how close the relationship between the interlocutors. The expression of

  Furthermore, politeness in the choice of address terms normally includes the consideration of interlocutor feeling. As Holmes (1992) in Tran (2010) says that “the more polite a person is the more comfortable others feel” (Tran, 2010, p. 17). This is also supported by Brown Levinson (1987) who claimed that it is important to make all the parties comfortable with each other. In addition, the function of positive politeness is to make other parties feel comfortable by showing respect to the hearer (Yui, 2012).

  However, Brown Levinson (1987) in Moghadam et al (2013) elaborated politeness become positive politeness and negative politeness. Positive politeness is when the speakers are intimate to each other whereas negative politeness is when the participants formal to each others to show awareness of social distant which is frequently obtained through address forms of honorifics and titles.

  In educational context, the relationship between students and teachers is considered as

  a formal relationship. Thus, in normal context the students are expected to use saya instead of aku. In spite of this, the use of self reference seems to be shifting. As Holmes (2013) claimed that language changes over time. In addition, he also mentioned that one of the factors influencing the language change is the social factors, like who you are talking to, the social context of the talk, the function and topic of the discussion. In this case, the language shift occurrence contradicts with the theory of politeness between the students and teacher, where there should be boundaries between them since there are differences in their age, group, and status (Dewi, 2009). In addition, those gaps between the students and teachers should make a formal relationship. Thus, in normal context the students are expected to use saya instead of aku. In spite of this, the use of self reference seems to be shifting. As Holmes (2013) claimed that language changes over time. In addition, he also mentioned that one of the factors influencing the language change is the social factors, like who you are talking to, the social context of the talk, the function and topic of the discussion. In this case, the language shift occurrence contradicts with the theory of politeness between the students and teacher, where there should be boundaries between them since there are differences in their age, group, and status (Dewi, 2009). In addition, those gaps between the students and teachers should make

  However, in recent study by Djenar (2007), the result showed that there has been a significant increasing number of using pronoun aku by celebrities when they were interviewed by the media television in several broadcast of infotainment or celebrity newsgossip program. They did such things not to show their arrogance or offensive speech, but to create such a familiar atmosphere to the viewers. This change may also affect students’ code selecting pronoun saya to aku is the celebrity speech. By watching this thing, the shift pronoun to aku may be applied by the student consciously or unconsciously in daily communication, including with their teachers. Regarding this, it is necessary to pay attention to the use of personal pronoun choice by students to their lecturer nowadays. As Tran (2010) suggested that “students should be made aware of the different forms of address, which consider the age, relationship and social status of the person they are talking to, since people of different ages have several ways of expressing politeness” (p. 19). Furthermore, he also mentioned that older people conversation tend to be more formal, polite, and use the standard forms of address, while young people is more informal since they are more flexible and have new ways in their talk to maintain politeness.

  Previous Studies

  A number of researchers have conducted studies to investigate address terms and code

  selection. For instance, a study by Flannery (2009) pointed out the differences of Indonesian and English self-references and addressee-references. He used Australian-English, and took the Indonesian data from forty years of Kompas newspaper (1965 to 2005), a mainstream Jakarta daily, and other official media channels, such as the government sanctioned news station TVRI (Television Republik Indonesia). The result showed that English commonly use selection. For instance, a study by Flannery (2009) pointed out the differences of Indonesian and English self-references and addressee-references. He used Australian-English, and took the Indonesian data from forty years of Kompas newspaper (1965 to 2005), a mainstream Jakarta daily, and other official media channels, such as the government sanctioned news station TVRI (Television Republik Indonesia). The result showed that English commonly use

  A similar study was conducted by Djenar (2007). This research focused on self

  reference in Indonesia. The study entitled ‘Self Reference and its Variation in Indonesian’ aims to examine the self referring variation in Indonesia which focused on the pronoun aku, saya, guegue, and proper names. She claimed that “there is no uniformity in the speakers’ choice of term. Some speakers consistently use one term, while others shift between two or more terms within the same interview” (Djenar, 2007, p. 38). However, this study only concentrated on celebrity pronoun choice on the media television. Thus, what makes the writer wants to find out the use of self pronoun in the educational context, especially from the

  students to their teacher.

  Another study, which was conducted by Dewi (2008), investigated the shift in the use of aku and saya among children and teenagers from the students and teachers’ perception. The data were taken in elementary and junior high school in Jakarta. Generally, students participants are sure know the difference concept of the use aku and saya since they believe that their parents already taught them how to use it appropriately. However, the students agree that the television influence them, so that the practice shows lower percentage than those who know it. In addition, the teachers who think the students are influenced by the media television are higher than the students’ perception. Although the percentages of students’ and teachers’ perception about the use of aku and saya showed different number, it was not significant. Overall, this quantitative study revealed that there is twenty percent shift of the students self reference choice from saya to aku while speaking to their teacher.

  Moreover, a recent study entitled ‘Students’ Attitude in Using First-Person Reference Addressing Terms of Aku and Saya To Teachers’ has been conducted by Rahardjono (2016)

  to see the code selection of standard variation self reference in Indonesia aku and saya by the to see the code selection of standard variation self reference in Indonesia aku and saya by the

  Therefore, though the previous study has found such a relatable result, it is necessary to have further study under the same topic for it have not specifically addressed the concern and only analyzed it on the surface. Moreover, the researcher is interested to learn about specific concern like politeness which is related to the students’ use of the standard variation of Indonesian self-reference.

THE STUDY

  Research Questions

  The following research questions have been made to complete the objective of this

  study:

  1. What personal pronoun do the students use to refer to themselves when communicating with their teachers?

  2. What are the factors that affect students in choosing self-reference Aku and Saya while communicating with the teachers?

Context of the Study

  This present study is part of an umbrella research project entitled ”High School Students’ Use of Saya and Aku in Salatiga” led by Dr. E.T. Murtisari (Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana).This qualitative study was taken in one of public Senior High School which is located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Specifically, the study was conducted in Senior High School 1 Salatiga. The writer chose this place since it is one of favorite high schools in the town which is assumed that it has well-mannered students. Moreover, this school has been chosen due to researcher’s convenience and familiarity.

Participants

  The subjects of this study were 127 students who are in the second grade of senior high school. Senior high school students have been chosen since it is assumed that they have more experience in communicating with their teachers and more understand how to apply the self-reference appropriately. Moreover, the writer chose second grade students since they are suitable to represent senior high school students who are not in the transition period like first grade or third grade students.

Methodology

  The researcher used qualitative method to conduct this study. ‘Qualitative descriptive study is the method of choice when straight descriptions of phenomena are desired’ (Sandewolski, 2000, p. 334). The writer wanted to describe and analyze about the students’ preference of using Indonesian self-reference aku and saya while speaking to their teachers.

  Moreover, the participants were divided with the criteria as follows: (a) students who tend to use aku exclusively when communicating with teachers, (b) students who tend to use saya exclusively when communicating with teachers, and (c) students who tend to use both Moreover, the participants were divided with the criteria as follows: (a) students who tend to use aku exclusively when communicating with teachers, (b) students who tend to use saya exclusively when communicating with teachers, and (c) students who tend to use both

  Data Collection

  There were some procedures the researcher had done to collect the data, which were:

  1. Piloting the questionnaire to 5 participants and the stimulated response card to 3

  participants to know the validity and reliability of the instrument.

  2. Making appointment with teachers who taught the second grade students to spread the

  questionnaires in the classrooms.

  3. Spreading the questionnaire to the students on the second grade of Senior High School 1

  Salatiga.

  4. Analyzing the data using Excel.

  5. Selecting 10 students who chose both saya and aku to be interviewed using stimulated

  response cards.

  Furthermore, below were the steps of using the stimulated response cards done by the researcher:

  1. Asking 10 students to go out of their classrooms to play stimulated response cards and do

  interview.

  2. Asking each student to answer all of the situations and conditions from the cards one by

  one.

  3. Taking notes of the students’ answer.

  4. Investigating each of the students by asking follow-up questions to constrict the factors

  of their selections.

Data Analysis

  After the data were collected, the researcher used a categorical or thematic analysis and took the themes from the participants’ answers from the questionnaire. Afterwards, the

  researcher compiled the data and classified them according to the themes and then analyzed it qualitatively. The result of this study would be used to describe the students’ use of Indonesian self-reference aku and saya with their teachers in Senior High School 1 Salatiga

  Research Instrument

  To collect the data from the participants, the researcher used questionnaire (Appendix

  1) which was adapted from Rahardjono (2016) by this study’s umbrella research team as the instrument. In each questionnaire, there are 4 parts of questions. On the first part, there was one closed-ended question to determine students’ preference of self-reference. On the second part, there was an open-ended question to answer the reason why they consistently use saya. On the third part, there was also an open-ended question for the students who use aku exclusively. The fourth part was designed for those who used inconsistent term of self- reference depending on the situation. There were seven items of close-ended questions, three items of open-ended questions to explain their answer related to their choice, and seven questions of likert scale to find out the factors affect the students’ choice. The selected students later had been investigated using stimulated response cards (Appendix 2) to get further information about the factors influence their choice based on Hymes (1972) and Holmes (2013). In the stimulated response cards, there were six factors needed to be considered by the students when answering each of the card, which were: age of teachers (senior vs young); social-status of teachers (principal vs ordinary teachers); relationship with 1) which was adapted from Rahardjono (2016) by this study’s umbrella research team as the instrument. In each questionnaire, there are 4 parts of questions. On the first part, there was one closed-ended question to determine students’ preference of self-reference. On the second part, there was an open-ended question to answer the reason why they consistently use saya. On the third part, there was also an open-ended question for the students who use aku exclusively. The fourth part was designed for those who used inconsistent term of self- reference depending on the situation. There were seven items of close-ended questions, three items of open-ended questions to explain their answer related to their choice, and seven questions of likert scale to find out the factors affect the students’ choice. The selected students later had been investigated using stimulated response cards (Appendix 2) to get further information about the factors influence their choice based on Hymes (1972) and Holmes (2013). In the stimulated response cards, there were six factors needed to be considered by the students when answering each of the card, which were: age of teachers (senior vs young); social-status of teachers (principal vs ordinary teachers); relationship with

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

I. Questionnaire

  This section will discuss the findings which were obtained from the questionnaire answered by the students.

1. Students’ selection of using ‘Saya’ or ‘Aku’

  Figure 1. When you are speaking to teachers, how do you call

  yourself in front of them?

  Saya

  Aku

62 Both, depending on

  1 the situation(s)

  Number of respondents : 127

  Figure 1 represents the students’ choice of address terms saya, aku, or both when they spoke with teachers. From the total number of 127 respondents, the majority of the students, which were 79 respondents (62) chose saya to speak with their teachers, while only 1 respondents (1) chose aku. However, as many as 47 respondents (37) chose both saya and aku under the consideration of the situation they faced when they were communicating with teachers. This finding is very interesting since there was a significant number of the students who used both saya and aku, while they were expected to use saya only to speak with teachers.

a. Students who use ‘Saya’ exclusively

  Figure 2. Reasons for Always Using 'Saya' when Communicating with Teachers

  Number of respondents : 47

  Figure 2 describes the reasons of the 47 students who always use saya to speak with their teachers. An open-ended item was designed, so that students could express their reasons freely why they used saya constantly. Most of the respondents gave more than one reason. From the students’ answers, the data were categorized into 8 themes. The result shows over half of the respondents (67 students) used saya because they thought it was the polite term to speak with teachers. It may be assumed here that the students were aware if saya is the polite term to use as the self-reference to teachers. At the same time, the students’ tendency was also identified with a significant frequency of respect theme (41 students). It means the students really honor the teachers in their school since they also stated that teacher is the person who has taught them many things, so they need to be respected. Furthermore, some of them also related the age factor with respect and appropriateness. They said that if they spoke to older people, they had to be respectful and used appropriate language. These can be seen in students’ answer, which mentioned the age of teachers (15 students) and the appropriateness of language by 9 students (e.g. correct language; good language; suitable or proper term). Other factors Figure 2 describes the reasons of the 47 students who always use saya to speak with their teachers. An open-ended item was designed, so that students could express their reasons freely why they used saya constantly. Most of the respondents gave more than one reason. From the students’ answers, the data were categorized into 8 themes. The result shows over half of the respondents (67 students) used saya because they thought it was the polite term to speak with teachers. It may be assumed here that the students were aware if saya is the polite term to use as the self-reference to teachers. At the same time, the students’ tendency was also identified with a significant frequency of respect theme (41 students). It means the students really honor the teachers in their school since they also stated that teacher is the person who has taught them many things, so they need to be respected. Furthermore, some of them also related the age factor with respect and appropriateness. They said that if they spoke to older people, they had to be respectful and used appropriate language. These can be seen in students’ answer, which mentioned the age of teachers (15 students) and the appropriateness of language by 9 students (e.g. correct language; good language; suitable or proper term). Other factors

b. Students who use ‘Aku’ exclusively

  There was only one student who chose aku to address herself when speaking with teachers. The reason why she used aku instead of saya was because she wanted to

  be close to teachers by using a term of address that suggests a close relationship.

  2. Students who use both ‘Aku’ and ‘Saya’, depending on the situation

  This section reveals the results of students who chose both aku and saya to communicate with teachers.

a. Students General Preference between ‘Aku’ and ‘Saya’

  Figure 3. Which form do you prefer to use when speaking to teachers in general?

  Saya Aku

  83 No Preference

  Number of respondents : 47

  Figure 3 shows sudents who chose both aku and saya preference when

  speaking to teachers in general. From the total number of 47 respondents, 39 students (83) chose saya while only 2 students (4) reported to choose aku, while 6 students (13) had no preference. This demonstrates that even though they chose both aku and saya, the majority of the students still preferred pronoun saya to speak with teachers.

  This finding correlated with Indonesian culture which value saya as appropriate address term to speak with teachers.

  When asked for their reasons for their preference, they gave more than one answer. Most of the respondents who chose saya to speak with teachers stated that it was because saya is the polite term to use to teacher (34 students). Other reasons that had written by students were because: they have to respect the teachers; saya is used to speak with older people; and saya is more formal. Again, politeness became the most frequent reason why the students chose saya. On the other hand, the students who chose aku reported that they often use it when speaking to the teachers whom they familiar with. This finding reflects the views of Holmes (1972) in Tran (2010), Yui (2012) and Djenar (2007) which stated that relationship or social-distance become the prominent factor influence the speaker to use the variation of language to communicate with someone.

  Meanwhile, students who chose no preference explained that it depends on who the person is heshe speaking with, the age of teachers, and the formality (situation and topic of the talk). Thus, the students might think since the meaning of both address terms is the same, so they would refer to what situation or who the teacher they were talking to in selecting which one was the better form to use.

b. Students' General Use between 'Aku' and 'Saya'

  Figure 4. Which form do you use more often when speaking to

  teachers in general?

  21 Saya

  Aku Both, frequently the

  same

  Number of respondents : 47

  Figure 4 presents the frequencies of the first personal pronouns used by the

  students who reported to use both aku and saya to speak with their teachers. The data shows that more than a half of the students, which were 25 students (53) chose saya,

  12 students (26) chose aku, and 10 students (53) chose both frequently the same. This finding is quite surprising since when it is compared with their perception on the use of aku and saya (see Figure 3), the number of students who used aku increased in quite significant number (22). It proves that their perception is not the same as the reality when they have to face real situation, or they have teachers they feel comfortable to talk to using aku in SMA 1.

  When they asked for their reasons from the previous question “Which form do you use more often when speaking to teachers in general?”, most students gave more than one answer. This question was created in an open-ended question. For students who chose saya, they reported that the reason is because (1) it was a habit, (2) saya is the polite term to use to teachers, (3) they have to respect teachers, (4) saya is used to speak with old people.

  Meanwhile, the students who chose aku claimed that it because they are comfortable to use aku and it was a habit. This is because perhaps they have some Meanwhile, the students who chose aku claimed that it because they are comfortable to use aku and it was a habit. This is because perhaps they have some

  From the results above, we can conclude that the students are probably aware of the appropriate use of self-reference to teachers. However, their perceptions is different from the practice of self-reference use, since the selection of address terms seems affected by the topic of the talk, setting of the talk, and interlocutor regard to the personality and relationship with the teacher.

c. The setting in which the students use aku and saya Figure 5

  Figure 5. In which situation do you usually use 'Saya' or

  'Aku' when communicating with teachers?

  Formal situation

  Informal situation

  Both, depending on to which teacher I am speaking

  Number of respondents : 47 with

  This figure demonstrates the setting in which the students who chose both aku and saya used when they communicating with teachers. There were two items given to students to obtain this data. The first one is “In which situation do you usually use saya when communicating with teachers?”, and the second one is “In which situation do you usually use aku when communicating with teacher?”. As indicated in figure 5, 12 students (26) reported that they used saya only in formal situation, and none of the This figure demonstrates the setting in which the students who chose both aku and saya used when they communicating with teachers. There were two items given to students to obtain this data. The first one is “In which situation do you usually use saya when communicating with teachers?”, and the second one is “In which situation do you usually use aku when communicating with teacher?”. As indicated in figure 5, 12 students (26) reported that they used saya only in formal situation, and none of the

  22 students (47) used aku only in the informal situation, and none of them used it in formal situation. In addition, 25 students (53) used aku depending on the teacher they speak with. From this result, this seems to show that all the students in this public school are aware if saya is used for formal situation, while aku is used for the informal situation. However, who the teacher is became the important aspect to choose aku or saya in this public school.

d. The type of teachers students use aku and saya

  Figure 6a. To which teachers do you usually use 'Saya' with?

  um teacher Senior

  teacher

  teacher Young teacher

  All N 47 who has teacher teacher known All who has teacher teacher senior known who is young who is

  structur who is

  as

  structur who is as

  friendly teachers

  al

  strict not friendly

  Figure 6a reveals the type of teacher they use saya with. Students could choose more than one type of teacher in the question given. Besides, a blank space was given in case students had other types of teacher which were not mentioned in the questionnaire. According to the data above, most of students ticked all senior teachers (68). Next, both senior teacher who have structural position and who are not familiar have the same percentage (32). Another senior teacher who was chosen by students to use saya with was senior teachers who are strict (28). However, only 1 student (2) used saya to senior teacher who was known as friendly person.

  Moreover, the data also indicates that the students used saya to young teachers. It shows as many as 25 students (53) used saya to young teacher who is not familiar, and 24 students (51) used it to young teacher who has strict personality. Moreover, there were 19 students (40) who chose young teacher who has structural position. However, there were 11 students (23) who used saya to all young teachers. As we can see, the percentage of students who used saya to young teacher is more than the percentage of students who used saya to senior teachers. It can be concluded that age was not the only factor which became students’ consideration, but the teachers’ personality, the relationship with teachers, and sometimes position also have significant role which affect students to choose saya as the self-reference address term.

  However, there were 26 of students who ticked both all senior teachers and all young teachers, which mean that they used saya to all teachers. It is not merely mean that they were not consistent of their choice, but they are deemed that the use of self-reference only based on the topic or setting of the talk, not who the teacher they are talking to.

  Figure 6b. To which teachers do you usually use 'Aku' with?

  pondent 17 es

  Senior Senior

  teacher

  Young Young

  teacher known

  who

  teacher known

  N 47 senior has teacher who is

  young

  has teacher who is Others

  structur strict

  not

  familiar friendly

  s

  structur strict

  familiar friendly

  person

  person

  position

  position

  Percentage

  2 0 36 17 2 0 2 68 28

  Further, the students were asked about the type of teachers they usually use aku with. The finding clearly implies that the tendency of students in SMA 1 use aku to teacher who has friendly personality. This can be seen from figure 6b that most students ticked young teachers known as friendly person (68) and senior teacher known as friendly person (36) to use aku with. Furthermore, there were 13 students (28) who wrote other teachers since the questionnaire provide limited type of teachers. Most of the students reported that they used aku with teacher who is close with them, while others stated they use aku with teacher from outside the school, such as private course teacher. Meanwhile, there were only 8 students (17) who chose all young teachers. Therefore, from this data, it can be concluded that the most frequent factor which influence students to use aku is the personality of the teachers. This finding shows consistency of students’ answer when they were asked which type of teachers they usually use saya (Figure 6a), since it had low percentages on both senior teachers who has friendly personality (2) and young teachers who has friendly personality (9). Nevertheless, the age of teachers and social-distance also affect students’ use of address terms.

e. The factor which makes students choose ‘Aku’ or ‘Saya

  Table 1.

  Factors that Make Students Choose 'Aku' or 'Saya' when Communicating with Teachers

  INFLUENTIAL FACTOR

  NEVER SELDOM SOME OFTEN ALWAYS MEANS

  Teacher’s age

  Teacher’s personality

  (strict, friendly, funny,

  My relationship with the

  teacher (close, distant, etc)

  Teacher’s position

  (ordinary teacher, principal, OSIS

  supervisor, etc) Context of the

  conversation (place

  Teacher’s comfort (when ‘saya’ or ‘aku’ is used) 3.89

  Objectives of the

  conversation (small talk,

  asking for evaluation test,

  etc)

  Table 1 describes the factors that frequently considered by students to choose the personal pronoun saya or aku to speak with the teachers. From the data above, it shows the common factor which influenced students to choose their preference was the relationship with the teachers, which has the means 4.15 out of 5. As many as 19 students (38.78) often consider the relationship with the teachers while 20 students (40.82) always consider it. Not far from this, the second most common factor that influenced students was teachers’ personality, which has 4.11 as the average number. It shows 21 students (42.86) often take it into consideration and 18 students (36.73) always consider it. The third position was the teachers’ comfortability (3.89), which shows that 22 students (44.9) ticked often. Next, both teachers’ age and position had the same number of average (3.66). The two last factor which affect students is the context of the conversation (3.60) and objectives of the conversation (3.57).

  From the table above, it can be concluded that the factors affecting students in choosing aku or saya was who the teacher is, especially the relationship with the teacher and the personality of the teacher. The students did not really pay attention to where and when the conversation occurs and the topic of conversation. This is also supported in the From the table above, it can be concluded that the factors affecting students in choosing aku or saya was who the teacher is, especially the relationship with the teacher and the personality of the teacher. The students did not really pay attention to where and when the conversation occurs and the topic of conversation. This is also supported in the

  However, this finding is really correlative with the previous finding, which explicitly explained that the tendency of students’ choice depends on whom the teacher they speak with (see Figure 5).

f. Students perception about politeness of ‘Aku’ and ‘Saya’

  Figure 7a: Which term is polite to be used when communicating

  with teachers

  Saya Aku

87 Both

  Number of respondents : 47

  Figure 7a indicates the students’ perception about which term is the polite one to be used to teachers, aku or saya. This question involved 47 students who chose both aku and saya. The data shows that from the total number of 47 students, 41 students (88) chose saya, zero students (0) chose aku, and 6 students (13) chose both aku and saya as the polite term to be used when communicating to teachers. It is obvious that the students could distinguish which term is the polite one since there were zero students who chose aku. This finding correlated with the previous finding when they were asked for their reason to choose saya for their general preference (see figure 3) and general use (see figure 4) since the most frequent reason appeared was politeness.

  Figure 7b: Students Reasons to which term is polite to be used

  with teachers

  Appropriateness Respect the Age of teachers

  Others

  teachers

  Students who chose 'Saya'

  Students who chose both 'Aku' and 'Saya'

  The reason why students chose their preference of which term is the polite

  term can be seen in Figure 7b. The result shows that 23 students said that because it is indeed the polite term. Moreover, 16 students considered about the formality. Some of them explained that it is because they usually speak with teachers in the school and in the formal situation. As many as 13 students reported that it was because they have to respect the teachers, hence saya is the polite term to use. This finding correlated with Yui (2012) who claimed that respect the hearer is one of the functions of politeness. Other 5 students’ answers were equivalent with Holmes (1972) as cited in Tran (2010) who pointed that age is also the factor of politeness. However, there were 4 students whose answers were categorized in appropriateness and said that saya is the good and correct terms whatever and whenever the situation is. In addition, they reported that it is offensive to say aku with teachers. Meanwhile, students whose answer categorized to others informed that it is because they were comfortable to use that, and it showed that the teachers have higher status than them. However, for students who chose both aku and saya reported that it all depends on the situation, the personality of teachers, and the relationship with teachers.

  This finding shows students’ consistency in choosing their preference which is correlated with most of the previous figures since it represents that the biggest number of students’ reason for choosing their preference was because of the politeness. Therefore, most of the students in SMA 1 seems really understand that saya is the polite and appropriate term to be used toward teachers.

II. Stimulated Response Card

  This section will discuss the findings which were obtained from the stimulated response cards answered by the students. To obtain the data, 10 students who chose both aku and saya were selected. Then, the students were asked to answer all of the 16 stimulated response cards one-by-one randomly, which had different situations and conditions on each of the card. Afterwards, students were investigated by follow up questions to gain deeper information.

  Figure 8a. Factors affecting students' in choosing 'Saya' to

  Teeacher's senior age

  Teacher's position as a principal

  Student-Teacher Distant Relationship

  Lesson Topic