T1 112006100 Full text

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Use of Indonesian Language in Bilingual Science Classes

at SMA RSBI in Central Java

Radita Linggar Safitri

Abstract

This study examined the use of L1 in Bilingual Science classes at SMA RSBI in Central Java. The participants in this study were science Teachers in SMA RSBI in Central Java. This research used observation technique to collect the data. Observations were done by recording teaching learning processes that were used in class. This study was descriptive research. For data analysis, the data were analyzed to identify the purposes of teacher talk based on Moskovitz (1971) classification. The findings show that the main aims from teachers’ direct and indirect talks were to make students understand about the explanation and help the students to think critically. Teachers’ talks also played important roles in stimulating interaction between the teachers and students.

Key words

: Bilingual class, Teachers talk, L1 use.

Introduction

Nowadays, the use of L1 in bilingual classes becomes a controversial issue. The controversy concerns not so much the value of using the Target Language (TL) since, as ‘there is near consensus that the teachers should aim to make maximum use of the TL’ (Turnbull & Arnett, 2002:211), Atkinson (1993), Cook (2001), Nation (2001) and Turnbull (2001) all agree that the maximum use of the target language is necessary to serve as a good model and exposure for the students who have a little opportunity to listen and make use of the language.

In Indonesia, some educational institutions still prefer to adopt the monolingual approach. This is likely motivated by the government in positive attitude towards the globalization era in which English plays in important role in the science and technology, socio-political relation, and economical growth (Dardjowidjojo, 2002, pp. 50-51) as quoted in

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Manara (2007). The policy, therefore, may have influenced and shaped teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the use of English for the whole lesson in class.

Although the monolingual approach is still preserved by some institutions in Indonesia, teachers and students have their own individual beliefs and attitudes towards how the language of communication should be used in the classroom which, as Johnson (1995) points out, is a vital aspect that mediates teaching, learning, and second language acquisition. The emphasis on monolingual teaching of English also implies that the native speaker is the ideal teacher. Atkinson (1993) also cautions the danger of the overuse of the mother tongue in the classroom. He said that the mother tongue should be used to make meaningful communication and should also be used as a technique to encourage the learners to be able to find a way of expressing their meaning in the target language (TL).

Cianflone (2009), in his experiment, shows that the teacher prefers to use L1 in explaining grammar, vocabulary items, difficult concepts and for general comprehension. He agrees to avoid the use of mother tongue in testing but seems better disposes to its use in building a relaxed environment and for contrastive analysis in linguistic/cultural matters. The aim is to make students become proficient language users

According to Dharma (2007), the use of L1 in bilingual classes is done several steps. In the first year, use language of instruction in English 25 percent and 75 percent of the Indonesian language. In second grade, English use in 50 percent and 50 percent for Indonesian language. In the third grade will be use 75 percent of English and 25 percent of Indonesian. However, it is still unclear how much mother tongue can be used or allowed in the bilingual class so as to draw the line between the use and overuse of the mother tongue.

Some studies have been done on the use of L1 in Indonesia schools. For example; Setiawan, (2010) analyzed English communication skills of RSBI teachers in SMPN 1 Salatiga. He concluded that the teachers should improve their English competency. Another

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study by Nugroho (2010), showed that the teachers used Indonesian language in EFL class in 70% of the class time. A study by Yulianti (2007) discussed the use of Indonesian in the English classrooms. She found two general purposes of the teachers using Indonesian language in English class to help the students understand materials and to manage the classroom.

Based on the discussion above there has been a movement promoting the use of mother tongue (L1) in the language classroom. There are several justifications for its use. Firstly, the mother tongue is a resource for the learners to draw their existing knowledge from and perceive the new language. L2 learners refer to their knowledge of L1 in order to help them to learn the L2. Their L1 is the resource in understanding the target language. Auerbach (1993, p. 7) asserts that students’ L2, linguistic resources can be beneficial for learners at all levels of proficiency. So, we can say that the mother tongue is useful in the procedural stages of classes, for example: setting up pair and group work, sorting out an activity which is clearly not working and checking comprehension.

Secondly, L1 use is a preferred learning strategy. Atkinson (1987, p. 42) states that the mother tongue used in the form of translation technique is a preferred learning strategy for most learners. This idea has been expressed earlier by Danchev (1982), who states that “translation is a natural phenomenon and an inevitable part of second language acquisition even where no formal classroom learning occurs”. However, L1 is particularly effective at beginner level to check the instructions and to ensure that concepts have been correctly understandable for general classroom management.

Thirdly, L1 use reduces the affective barriers to L2 acquisition. According to Manara (2007) some researcher said that the use of L1 lowers students’ language anxiety and enhances positive affective environment for the students to make a progress in their L2 learning. The most important fact is that using the L1 in the classroom “allows for the

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language to be used as a meaning-making tool and for language learning becoming a means of communicating ideas rather than an end in itself” (Auerbach, 1993, pp. 10-11). In other words, using a mother tongue is an efficient way of arriving at meanings.

Furthermore, L1 can be used as a tool for thought. Quoted in Manara (2007), Vygotsky (1986) asserts that “L1 would quite naturally serve as a tool to help students thinking about and making sense of (i.e., mediate their thinking about) the structures, content and meaning of the L2 texts they read”, Upton and Lee-Thompson’s (2001, p. 491) argue that the use of L1 to mediate L2 reading comprehension is not only for reading strategy (translation) but also a tool for creating a cognitive space in which the readers can facilitate their own understanding of the text. Therefore, to ban the use of L1 in the classrooms removes two important and powerful tools for learning, i.e. the L1 as a tool to mediate the learners’ thinking about a subject and effective collaboration among the learners. Particularly, the biggest potential advantage of having a knowledge of the learner’s mother tongue is that it enables the teacher to contrast the language with English and to know which structures are difficult and, possibly even more importantly, which structures are easy and need little more attention. Therefore, teachers with knowledge of the mother tongue are in a good situation to know potential problems in students learning.

The use of L1 in learning foreign language is influenced by some factors. There are three factors that are important in learning process: the learner, the teacher and the environment where the learning process take place (Ellis, 1987). The level of successful learning process is determined by judging the learners’ performance in performing TL. Motivation from the learners is another influence that supports learners to learn TL. According to Krashen (2005), the learners who are highly motivated in learning English are supposed to be better prepared and be successful in the new language learning. Another statement from Schultz (2005), talked about less motivated learners who might find

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difficulties in comprehending the new language. It’s clear enough that students’ motivation has a role in learning. Students who have low motivation usually do not take the risk. They prefer using L1 to taking any risk by using L2 that they are not sure about.

The second aspect that influences students’ use of L1 is the language teacher. English teachers in Indonesian public schools are non-English speakers and they prefer L1 in classroom to L2 in order to avoid the risk, because they feel comfortable using their mother tongue. They are not confident enough to teach using English. Moreover, they use L1 to reduce the mistakes in teaching.

In bilingual classes, teacher talk is so important that affects students’ understanding and language skill development. The classroom is the main place where they frequently practice the target language. The language type used to teach in the classroom is called Teacher Talk.

Teacher talk in bilingual classrooms can be regarded as one special variety of the English language use. It has its own specific features which other varieties do not share. What is more, teacher talk is a special communicative activity. Its goal is communicating with students and developing students’ language proficiency. As a result, learners practice the language by responding to what their teacher says. Besides, teachers use the language in order to encourage the communication between learners and themselves. Therefore we can say that teacher talk is a kind of communication or interaction that is based on talking. According to Parrish (2004) teacher language or “teacher talk” falls into these categories: Warm-up chats, Direct Instruction, Giving Directions, Giving Feedback, Making Transitions and checking understanding. According to Moskowitz (1971) as it is applied in bilingual classroom, teacher talk is divided into two categories: direct and indirect teacher talk. Those categories are explain below.

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Figure 1 : Foreign Language Interaction Analysis (FLINT) System T E A C H E R T A L K IN D IR E C T I N F L U E N C E

1. Dealing with feeling: in a nonthreatening way, accepting, discussing, referring to, or

communicating understanding of past, present, or future feelings of students.

2. Praises or encourages: Praising, complimenting, telling students that what they

have said or done is valued. Encouraging students to continue, trying to give them confidence, confirming answer are correct.

2a. Jokes: Intentional joking, kidding, making puns, attempting to be humorous,

providing the joking is not at anyone’s expense. Unintentional humor is not included in this category.

3. Use ideas of students: Clarifying, using, interpreting, and summarizing the ideas of

students. The ideas must be rephrased by the teacher but still recognized as being students’ contributions.

3a. Repeats students’ response verbatim: Repeating the exact words of students

after they participate.

4. Asks questions: Asking questions to which the answer is anticipated. (Rhetorical

questions are Not included in this category).

D IR E C T I N F L U E N C E

5. Giving information: Giving information, facts, own opinions or ideas, lecturing or

asking rhetorical questions

5a. Correcting without rejection: Telling students who have made a mistake the

correct response without using words or intonations, which communicating criticism.

6. Gives directions: Giving directions, request, or command which students are

expected to follow; directing various drills, facilitating whole-class and small-group activity.

7. Criticizes students’ behavior: Rejecting the behavior of students; trying to change

the non-acceptable behavior; communicating anger, displeasure, annoyance, dissatisfaction with what students are doing.

7a. Criticizing student’s responses: Telling the students about their response that is

not correct or acceptable and communicating by words or intonation criticism, displeasure, annoyance, rejection by word or intonation.

S T U D E N T T A L K

8. St udent response, specific: responding t o t he t eacher w it hin a specific and limit ed range of available or previously pract iced answ er. Reading a loud, dict at ion, drills.

9. St udent response open-ended or students-initiated: Responding t o t he t eacher w it h st udent s ow n ideas, opinions, react ions, feelings. Giving one f rom among many possible answ ers t hat have been previously pract iced but from w hich st udent s must now make a select ion, init iat ing t he part icipat ion.

10. Silence: Pause in t he int eract ion. Periods of quiet during w hich t here is no verbal int eract ion.

10a. Silence-AV: Silence in t he int eract ion during w hich a piece of audiovisual equipm ent , e.g. a t ape recorder, filmst rip pr oject or, record player, et c., is being use t o com municat e.

11. Confusion, w ork-oriented: M or e t han one person at a t ime t alking, so t he int eract ion cannot be recorded, St udent s calling out excit edly, eager t o part icipat e or respond, concern w it h t he t ask at hand.

11a. Confusion, work-oriented: M ore t han one person at a t ime t alking, so t he int eract ion cannot be recor ded. St udent s out of order, not behaving as t he t eacher w ishes, not concer ned w it h t he t ask at hand.

12. Laught er: Laughing and giggling by t he class, individual, and/ or t he t eacher .

13. Uses t he native language: Use of t he nat ive language by t he t eacher or t he st udent s. This cat egory is alw ays combined w it h one of cat egories 1 t o 9.

14. Nonverbal: Gest ures or f acial expressions by t he t eacher or t he st udent s t hat comm unicat e w it hout t he use of w ords. This cat egor y is alw ays combi ned w it h one of t he cat egories of t eacher or st udent s behavior.

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This study identified the purpose of using Indonesian in bilingual science classes by the teachers. Hopefully, this research would bring benefits for English Department teachers and students. The practical benefits of this study would be for Science teachers’ who could identify language problems in bilingual classes. They could find ways to improve their teaching. They also could learn deeper about using English while teaching, so the students can adapt to minimize using Indonesian during teaching learning process. Then, the theoretical benefit from this study is for other researchers who would use the result of this research as a model in conducting other research and provide useful information on the same topic.

The Study

This study was a descriptive research. It described the use of L1 in bilingual science classes. This study analyzed the use of L1 in bilingual classes by the teachers in SMA RSBI at central java. The participants of this research were Science Teachers at SMA RSBI in Central Java. They have been teaching in for around 10 years. They started teaching Science in bilingual classes from around 2007.

The data were collected by using a tape recorder during the classroom observation. The teachers’ language was recorded during teaching.

The data were first transcribed and labeled based on direct and indirect strategies using Moskovitz (1971) classification. The second step was classifying the coded data in the transcript according to the similar strategies of teachers talk. The next step was analyzing and interpreting the data to answer the research question.

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Discussion

This part presents the analysis of the purpose of the use of Indonesian language by the teachers in bilingual science classes. First, it explains the teachers’ purposes for using L1 in bilingual science classes through direct teacher talk. Then, continues by explaining the teachers’ purposes in using L1 through indirect teacher talk.

Direct teachers talk 1. Giving information

Giving information refers to teachers’ explanation of the material. Giving information by the teachers according to Moskovitz (1971) includes giving information, facts, opinions or ideas, lecturing or asking rhetorical questions. In this study the teacher tried to explain the lesson using information and facts about how to study or do an assignment. It aimed to make students understand the explanation and also teachers tried to explain the lesson using their own opinions to improve their ideas. Not only lecturing, the teachers also gave the students some rhetorical questions. The rhetorical questions aimed to guide the students when the teachers explained the exercise. This can be seen in the 3 excerpts below. Excerpt 1 discusses about giving information which uses facts that are related to the materials.

1. T : Jadi untuk besarnya gaya columb or a electric force secara qualitative kita bisa melihat, if double 1 of the chart, jadi kalau muatan itu kita dua kalikan, maka akan menghasilkan gaya dua kalinya….

In this excerpt, the teacher used Indonesian language to explain that Columbs energy (Physics terms) can make double energy. According to Mozkowitz (1971), the statements belongs giving information, fact, opinion or idea, lecturing or asking a rhetorical question. The first example above shows that the teacher gave factual explanation to the students’ through Physics theory in order to explain the lesson to

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the students. This aimed to make the students believe the explanation by the teacher and students could understand the material. It is shown by the teacher by saying “secara qualitative…” (Physics formula) in the excerpt above.

Another example showing the teacher’s explanation is presented in excerpt 2 below: 2. T :….jika q+ (q positive) mengganti eee…salah satu muatan. Jenisnya,

salah satu jenis muatan. So, the force changes direction. Maka pasti arah gayanya akan berubah. Kemudian if change side of both chart jika kita mengganti kedua jenis muatan yang diganti jenisnya maka, e…. gayanya akan tetap sama, ya…

The example above shows the Physics terms about the force changing direction. So the position of the force would also change. The teacher pointed out to the students about “q+ influence toward the force” (q+ (q positive) mengganti salah satu muatan.). The teacher used Indonesian language to explain the force in Physics class. The teacher tried to explain the Physics term in Indonesian language to the students in order to make them understand the topic.

Another form of giving information can be seen in excerpt 3 below.

3. T : Jadi 60% nya dari 0,2, 0,berapa, inikan 6 ₁₀ x 2 ₁₀ ya to? 12 ₁₀₀, 0,12 hooh?(rumus kimia) 0,12 molar, berarti punya sisa berapa? 0,08? Ya to kan dikurangi? Lalu kalau ini oe… kalau ini 0,12 yang bereaksi sini berapa? 2 : 3, 0,18? 0,18? 2 : 3 lo… kalau 0,12 berarti sana berapa? Heeh? 0,18 nek sini berarti 0,06 ya to? Kan bandingannya 1 kan? 2, 3, 1 jadi yang bereaksi harus sesuai dengan perbandingan apa? Koifisien? Lalu untuk sini kalau yang sebelah sini kan mula-mula ndak ada berarti disini kan turun 0,06 disini, ini dikurangi ini? 12, eh ini 3 Ok 0,12? Nah… reactanya mana? a sama b to? Ini bener ndak? Hasilnya… yang…yang

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masuk berumus lajunya… rumusnya tadi apa? K…a…b ber-orde 2… gitu to? Nah laju ini kan tadi kata-kata itu ternyata a telah bereaksi sebanyak 60% telah bereaksi. Berarti bukan saat bereakasi tapi setelah bereaksi 60% berarti pada saat sisa laju reaksinya berapa? Jadi kita masukkan kesini harga tetapan 0,01 konsentrasi anak ini yang masuk, 0(nol)? e… ini kali ya 0,08 lalu 0,12 kuadrat

The explanation above has a lot of rhetorical questions used by the teacher, for example; “reactanya mana? a sama b to?”. It shows that the teacher wanted to make the students participate while doing the exercise. Although all questions didn’t have to be answered by the students, the teacher continued explaining. The teachers’ purpose was involving the students in teaching learning process.

The excerpts above are different in the way the teacher used explanation: using information related to materials, giving some explanation to make students understand, giving some rhetorical questions to make students involved in the class. 2. Correcting without rejection

According to Moskovitz’s (1971) statement, correcting without rejection is telling students who have made a mistake the correct response without using words or intonations when communicating criticism. Based on his statement, he said that if the students made mistakes, it was easier for the teacher to identify their mistakes when the teacher articulated their first language in explaining. The teacher’s goal was to make learners understand the teacher’s’ points. Sometimes the students misunderstood the teacher’s explanation. As a result, the teacher should correct the student’s answer. This way was done by using Indonesian to make the students aware of their mistakes. It is shown in the excerpt below:

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T : kalau dalam fisika ini yang kita melihat kelebihannya itu apa, nah kalau kelebihan electron berarti kita katakanlah dia bermuatan negative, ya?

S : Na+

T :e… bukan-bukan… kalau mungkin di kimia Na+ Positif itu pasti ya. Tapi ini kita hanya mau lihat jumlah proton jadi ketika saya menyebutkan bahwa dia bermuatan itu berarti dia sebenarnya kelebihan kelebihan salah satu jenis muatan gitu tu artinya fisika.

Based on the data above the teacher tried to explain about an electron that has Na- but the students’ answered with Na+. Teacher said “bukan…bukan…” which aimed to correct the students’ mistake. The data above shows that the teacher explained the students’ mistake without making a rejection. The teacher said “kalau mungkin di kimia Na+ Positif itu pasti ya. Tapi ini kita hanya mau lihat jumlah

proton jadi ketika saya menyebutkan bahwa dia bermuatan itu berarti dia sebenarnya kelebihan kelebihan salah satu jenis muatan gitu tu artinya fisika.” It is indicated that the explanation is not a rejection sentence because that sentence are explanation to correct the students’ mistake.

3. Giving direction

In giving direction, the teacher gave routine classroom directions or directions for students to be understood. Giving direction, according to Moskovitz (1971), covers things like a request or command which students are expected to follow; directing various drills and facilitating whole-class and small-group activities. In the excerpt below, the teacher explains the direction step by step. Excerpt 1 below is about the teacher giving directions in the first step.

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1. T : Jadi setelah anda eeeeeeh… menumbuk tadi, silahkan anda eeeeeeh… perhatikan disitu akan terjadi pelepasan isinya jadi ada cairannya begitu eeeeeeh… kemudian nanti kamu tuangkan 2cc larutan berocsida dalam gelas, dalam apa… tabung reaksi itu.

The illustration above shows that the teacher gave directions to the students using Indonesian in order to make it clear what the students had to do. The teacher told the students to follow the direction, “Jadi setelah anda eeeeeeh… menumbuk tadi”. After that, the teacher continued the direction by saying, “silahkan anda eeeeeeh… perhatikan disitu akan terjadi pelepasan isinya jadi ada cairannya begitu eeeeeeh…”. Then the teacher continued giving direction by asking the students to do something by saying, “kemudian nanti kamu tuangkan 2cc larutan berocsida dalam gelas, dalam apa… tabung reaksi itu”. After that, the teachers asked the students to do the second steps, like excerpt 2 below.

2. T : Di perhatikan ya, jadi kalian teteskan hati-hati kemudian ditutup ya, ditutup kemudian diuji pake lidi membara, ya…silahkan di…..ya! two drops or three. notice the glow, dimasukkan …ia…test true, oke. Oke The example above shows the direction to continue the first direction above that the teacher gave. The teacher said, “Di perhatikan ya, jadi kalian teteskan hati-hati kemudian ditutup ya, ditutup kemudian diuji pake lidi membara, ya”. It shows that after the teacher had done the first direction, it was continued in excerpt 2 to give another direction. The teacher gave the instruction in Indonesian language as a goal to make the direction clearer and helped the students to successfully comprehend the direction.

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After giving some directions, the teacher also gave some commands. Giving command is a part of giving direction. Giving a command is asking to the students to do something in class. The teacher asks the students do the exercises in group. It is shown in the third excerpt below.

T : Yuk candra…bergabung…bergabung disini….gabung dengan yang dua itu. Ayo gabung. Iya…sana…yo sek gabung sek. Sekarang gabung sana. Ya…. Oke…sudah ya…oh…sini aja mas ….ya…empat…empat…ya….

S : Ya Bu….

The example above indicates that the teacher’s purpose was to give a command to the students to make groups of four to discuss the exercise. The teacher used Indonesian language to ask the students to follow the teachers’ command by saying, “Yuk candra…bergabung”. Here, the teacher decided to use Indonesian language to give a guide instruction. This shows that after the teacher used Indonesian to give a command, the students’ should follow the instructions.

4. Criticizing students’ behavior

Criticizing students’ behavior refers to the students when they do something wrong in class. According to Moskovits (1971), rejecting the behavior of students is trying to change the non-acceptable behavior; communicating with anger, displeasure, annoyance, and dissatisfaction with what students are doing. From the data, criticizing students’ behavior is shown in the excerpt below:

T : about your mind test I think a…you are careless…kalian ceroboh ya? … em… your score didn’t get the minimal criteria, some of you. Just…just ya…one, two, three, four, five, six, ya…

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The excerpt above shows that the teacher was dissatisfied with the test. The teacher told the students that they were careless when they did the test. It indicates that the teacher was disappointed with the test results. The teacher asked the students to be aware of their bad test results. The teacher said, “kalian ceroboh ya ?”. After teacher used English, he switched to Indonesian to make students’ aware. The purpose was to make the students fix the test results by studying hard to improve their test results.

Indirect teacher talk

According to Wragg (2005), on the negative side of Moskovitz’s FLINT System could be said to have ideological components in that it looks specifically for “Indirect” teacher talk which it would be easy to associated value terms. It showed that the research findings point in the direction of indirect teaching being associate with various measures of effectiveness as the review of this data showed. Indirect teacher talked will be explained in the discussion below.

1. Using student ideas

Using students’ ideas means the teachers use the students’ perception to develop the idea. It is followed by an explanation in Indonesian. According to Moskovitz (1971), using student ideas could be clarified by using the students’ perception or using interpretation from the students to develop new idea. The teacher can also make the summary by using ideas from students. The idea is rephrased by the teacher but it is still recognized as the students’ contributions. It means that after the teacher gave some explanation, the teacher asks question to the students and then students answer the teacher’s question. After that, teachers use students’ answer as ideas to explain the correct answer. On some occasion, the teacher articulated and rephrased the students’ ideas to be developed, as indicated in excerpt 1 below.

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1. T :…. kalau q + punya dua muatan positive itu kan tolak menolak kalau kita ganti dua-duanya dengan muatan negative maka juga akan menghasilkan gaya yang arahnya sama itukan kemudian e…. if double distance between chart jika jarak kita dua kalikan, what happened ? if double distance between chart ? ya jadi empat kali lebih lemah atau lebih kecil empat kali?

S : seperempat kalinya nya bu

T : seperempat kalinya iya … itu lebih mudah mem… mengistilahkan lainya ya…times…. And the last double both chart kita buat muatanya menjadi dua kali masing – masing. e…. we have force four times stronger, stronger jadi kita akan mendapatkan gaya empat kali lebih kuat.

Based on the data, the teacher used the student’s ideas and elaborated on them. Rephrasing data was shown in words “seperempat kalinya”. When the teacher rephrased the students’ ideas, he repeated the students’ answer and elaborated on it by saying “ seperempat kalinya iya … itu lebih mudah mem… mengistilahkan lainya ya…times…. And the last double both chart kita buat muatanya menjadi dua kali masing – masing. e…. we have force four times stronger, stronger jadi kita akan mendapatkan gaya empat kali lebih kuat”. The teacher still recognized them as the student’s ideas. It shows that the teacher developed the idea to give explanation for the students’ by using Indonesian to make the material clearer. It is because too much explanation in Physics terms which is difficult to be explained in English by the teacher. The purpose is to make students understand with the explanation.

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2. Praising or encouraging

Praising and encouraging refers to the teacher praises students’ performance, encourages and reassures students in their efforts. Students should be told what they do is praiseworthy. According to Moskovitz (1971), praising and complimenting is telling the students about what they have said or done is valued. Encouraging students is to make the students to continue the lessons, trying to give them confidence and confirming their answers are correct.

An example of praising is shown in the excerpt below:

T : Yak oke, we will check your answer from numb one Ardian please read the problems … for us a… your answer.

S : (students answer in Physics terms) T : Yak…ya…bagus sekali!Oke thank you.

Based on the excerpt above, the teacher provided positive encouragement as a means of praising the students in Indonesian language. The teacher said, “Yak…ya…bagus sekali!Oke thank you”, after the students answered the question. The teacher used Indonesian and English because it may be easier to speak using mixed languages.

3. Joking

According to Moskovitz (1971), joking includes: intentional joking, kidding, making puns and attempting to be humorous. Joking would probably happen in which the teachers want to apply the jokes as a way of making students interested in the topic of instructional plan. The excerpt below shows that joking was used in the class. The teachers made a joke, and the joke was done in the Indonesian that was mixed with the English.

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T :… with the gravitational field near earth gravitational forced equal M cross G ya? And not OMG lho ya…a…for electric…

This data shows that the teacher tried to make a joke with the students by saying “OMG lo ya” which is in English means “Oh My God” but the ending uses Indonesian by saying “lho ya…”, It was the teacher’s attempt to have a sense of humor with the students, so the students were not sleepy during learning. When the teacher said the word “OMG” and ended with “lho ya…”, then, the students laughed. The purpose was probably to make students refresh their mind for a while before going back to the lessons.

4. Asking questions

Asking a question refers to the teacher asks a question while drilling, quizzing or in conversation to the students which he expects a response. According to Moskovitz (1971), a question should have an answer. In this study, sometimes, the teacher asked questions using Indonesian or English. The teacher used a different language in different situations to make students understand. Excerpt 1 below shows that the teacher asked a question to the students.

1. T : Mungkin kalau dalam kimia anda menyebutnya bermuatan Ion Positif artinya dia kelebihan muatan apa?

The excerpt above is the teacher’s question for the students. The teacher asked question by saying, ”Ion Positif artinya dia kelebihan muatan apa?” in Indonesian to make it easier to understand and get the students’ attention from the topic discussed in the class. As a result, the teacher and students were involved in the teaching learning process. Then, the students should think critically about the answer to the question above. The teacher wanted to know about the ability of students to understand the

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material. The teachers used Indonesian to make students understand the question above.

Conclusion

According to the research result, teachers’ direct and indirect talk’s categories influence the teacher to use Indonesian. Teachers’ direct and indirect talks that are used as data in this research are divided into several types based on FLINT system by Moskovitz (1971). Based on the data, it can be seen that the teachers in SMA RSBI at Central Java used Indonesian in direct talk to give information, correct without rejection, give direction, and criticize students’ behavior. The main aim is to make students understand the explanation. It is easier for the teachers to identify the students’ mistakes by correcting the students. The teachers also give directions to the students using Indonesian in order to make it clear what the students had to do.

Other categories that influence the use of Indonesian by the teachers are indirect teacher talk. Teachers’ indirect talk’s categories found in this data are used to explain a lesson by using student ideas, ask questions, joke and praise or encourage. The teachers use Indonesian in their indirect talks because it may be easier to speak using Indonesian than English. The point is that the teachers focus on explanation and give some jokes to make the students refresh their mind for a while before going back to the lessons. Besides that, the reason why the teachers ask questions using Indonesian is to get the students’ attention on the topic discussed in the class. As a result, the teachers and students were involved in the teaching learning process. It also helps the students to think critically.

As a conclusion, it can be said that teachers’ talks played important role in stimulating interactions between teachers and students for that reason, teachers should try to understand what language would be more efficiently used in creating an environment in which students

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feel more comfortable and confident and become more involved in interactive activities in the classroom. Teachers in Indonesia especially, in SMA RSBI at Central Java pointed out that the use of Indonesian was dependent on the goal of the task. The goal of the task could be better achieved by the learners by using Indonesian in their discussion to completing the task. This is because students will absorb the knowledge easier without having a wrong perception about the teacher’s explanation. It means that the teachers should use Indonesian wisely because, the maximum use of Indonesian isn’t perceived as a chance to give students minimum exposure to the English.

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2. Praising or encouraging

An example of praising is shown in the excerpt below:

T : Yak oke, we will check your answer from numb one Ardian please read the problems … for us a… your answer.

S : (students answer in Physics terms) T : Yak…ya…bagus sekali!Oke thank you.

Based on the excerpt above, the teacher provided positive encouragement as a means of praising the students in Indonesian language. The teacher said,

“Yak…ya…bagus sekali!Oke thank you”, after the students answered the question.

The teacher used Indonesian and English because it may be easier to speak using mixed languages.

3. Joking

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T :… with the gravitational field near earth gravitational forced equal M cross G ya? And not OMG lho ya…a…for electric…

4. Asking questions

1. T : Mungkin kalau dalam kimia anda menyebutnya bermuatan Ion Positif artinya dia kelebihan muatan apa?

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material. The teachers used Indonesian to make students understand the question above.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, it can be said that teachers’ talks played important role in stimulating interactions between teachers and students for that reason, teachers should try to understand