A study of teacher talk in elementary school English class.

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A STUDY OF TEACHER TALK

IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

ENGLISH CLASS

A THESIS

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum)

In English Language Studies

MAYLISIAS WAN Student Number: 116332019

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2013

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all I would like to express my deepest gratitude to God, Jesus Christ, who has guided, helped, and given me an opportunity to continue my education at the graduate program in English Language Studies (ELS) Sanata Dharma University. I realized that, without Him, I cannot finish this thesis well. May He always be with all of us who seek and share our knowledge to others.

Second, I would like to express the deepest thank my beloved adviser, Drs. FX. Mukarto, M.Sc., Ph.D. for his guidance and constructive feedback throughout the various stages of this research. I also thank for his effort, love, supports, and guidance during my study in Sanata Dharma University. As my beloved lecturer, I also have got a lot of insights and knowledge from his lectureres during my study at the ELS Program.

Third, I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Dr. Bismoko, Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A., and Dra. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons), Ph.D, who had facilitated me with conductive learning environment during my study and ecouraged me to finish this research. I also give my thank to mbak Lelyana, as the administrative staff of the ELS program for giving me the information I need to know concerning my study administrations.

Then, I would like to express my great honor and thankfulness to H. Drs. Budiman Arifin, M.Si (Bupati Kabupaten Bulungan) for giving me the opportunity to take my Magister Degree in ELS program at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta through the scholarship program supported by Pemerintah Kabupaten Bulungan. It was a big surprise for me to be the first Elementary school teacher in Bulungan Regency to take this great opportunity.

Next, I would like to give my special thanks to Hj. Juariah, S.Pd.SD, as the school principal of SDN 010 Tanjung Selor, East Kalimantan for her good cooperation and allowing me to do my research in this school. I also would like to thank all of the participants who have participated in this research, for their time, cooperation, helps, and also allowing me to observe their teaching practices.

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vii

Finally, special thanks must goes to my beloved familly for their prayer, support,encouragement, and love. My wife, Deswati Panel, my sons Gilbert Immanuel and Gevin Sanata, and my daugther Grace Tiara who have given a great contribution for me to finish this very hard job and study.

Thanks, may God bless us always!

Yogyakarta, July 18th, 2013

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viii WISE WORDS

“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn”

(John Cotton Dana)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL SHEET ... ii

THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN ... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi

WISE WORDS ... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ix

LIST OF TABLES ... xiv

LIST OF FIGURES ... xv

LIST OF EXCERPTS ... xvi

CODING SYSTEM ... xvii

ABSTRACT ... xviii

INTISARI ... xix

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background ... 1

B. Problem Identification ... 5

C. Problem Limitation ... 6

D. Statement of Research Question ... 6

E. Research Goal ... 6

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x CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theoretical Review ... 1. Teacher talk ... a. Difinition ... b. The Role of Teacher Talk in Foreign Language Learning ... c. The Function of Teacher Talk ... 1) Teacher’s Questions ... 2) Teacher’s Feedback ... 3) Translation (Code-switching) ... d. The Categories of Teacher Talk ... 2. Krashen’s Input Theory ... 3. Output Hypothesis ... 4. Paul Nation’s Four Strands ... 5. Classroom Interaction ... a. Interaction in EFL Classes ... b. Teacher’s Role in Teaching and Learning Process ... 6. Elementary School ... a. Difinition ... b. Characteristics of Elementary School Students ... 7. Foreign Language Learning and Teaching ... a. Foreign Language Learning ... b. Foreign Language Teaching ... B. Related Studies ... C. Theoretical Framework ...

8 8 8 11 11 11 14 16 17 20 22 23 25 25 27 30 30 32 33 33 34 35 37

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Plan ... 38

1. Research Method ... 38

2. Nature of Data ... 38

3. Data Sources ... 39

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b. Research Setting ... 40

4. Research Instruments ... 41

5. Data Collection Technique ... 42

a. Observation ... 42

b. Interview ... 43

6. Data Analysis ... 43

7. Trustworthiness ... 44

B. Actualization of the Research Problem ... 45

1. Conducting Class Observation ... 45

2. Analysing of Class Observation Data ... 49

3. Ensuring Trustworthines of the Research Result ... 51

a. Constructing the Interview Questions ... 51

b. Conducting the Interview ... 52

c. Analysing the Interview data ... 54

CHAPTER IV: RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Result of Data Analysis ... 1. Indirect Influence ... a. Dealing with feeling ... b. Praising or encouraging... c. Using idea of students ... d. Asking questions ... 2. Direct Influence ... a. Giving informations ... b. Correcting ... c. Giving directions ... d. Criticizing ... e. Translating (code-switching) ...

55 55 55 57 59 60 62 62 64 65 67 68 B. Discussion ...

1. Indirect Influence ... 2. Direct Influence ...

70 71 72

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CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Conclusions... 73

1. Indirect Influence Category... 74

2. Direct Influence Category ... 75

B. Recommendations... 76

BIBLIOGRAPHY... 80

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Transcript of Audio-Video 1 (participant A)... Appendix 2: Transcript of Audio-Video 2 (participant A)... Appendix 3: Transcript of Audio-Video 1 (participant B)... Appendix 4: Transcript of Audio-Video 2 (participant B)... Appendix 5: Photos of Teaching Learning Activity (teacher A)... Appendix 6: Photos of Teaching Learning Activity (teacher B)... Appendix 7: Language Function Categories and Coding... Appendix 8: List of Interview Questions for the Participants... Appendix 9: Flander’s Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC)...

84 95 104 108 111 113 115 118 123

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Foreign Language Interaction Analysis (FLINT) System

(adapted from Brown 2007: 217)... 19 Table 3.1 Teacher Talk Categories and Coding... 44 Table 3.2 The Sample of Classroom Observation Data Transcript

(Participant A)... 47 Table 3.3 Language Function Categorization (Brown 2007: 217)

Concerning Teacher Talk... 50 Table 3.4 The Blueprint of Interview Questions... 52 Table 3.5 Sample of Interview Result... 53

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Four Core Strands in Language Program (adopted from

Nation, 2007)... 25 Figure 2.2 The Relation between Plans and Outcomes (Allwright

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LIST OF EXCERPTS

Excerpt 1 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 01 B)... 55

Excerpt 2 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 01 B)... 57

Excerpt 3 (Video 02 A/01 A and Video 01 B)... 59

Excerpt 4 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 01 B)... 61

Excerpt 5 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 02 B/01 B)... 63

Excerpt 6 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 02 B)... 65

Excerpt 7 (Video 02 A and Video 01 B/02 B)... 65

Excerpt 8 (Video 01 A/02 A and Video 02 B)... 67

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CODING SYSTEM

The coding used for the categorization of teacher talk as follow:

Example: 1. II.1 (Acpt.)

II. : Indirect Influence

1 : Function 1

Acpt. : Accepting

2. DI.1 (Giv. Inf.)

DI. : Direct Influence

1 : Function 1

Giv. Inf : Give Information

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xvii ABSTRACT

Maylisias Wan (2013). A Study of Teacher Talk in Elementary School English Class. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

Teacher talk (TT) is an essential part in a language teaching learning process. The sucess of language teaching learning is very much affected by how effective a teacher manages the class activity and the way a teacher talks as the main resource for the students to learn and get the target language input.

This study tries to describe and interpreted the functions of teacher talk in Elementary school English class. Thefore, this study is focussed on the language used by teacher to get the deeper understanding about the functions of the language used during teaching-learning process.

This study was a descriptive qualitative research which used classroom observation and interview as the main data collections. The data were collected from SDN 010 Tanjung Selor. The participants were two teachers of that school. There were two sessions of teaching practice in which each participant in different classes were audio-video recorded. The duration of each session was approximately 75 minutes. This study was conducted during the first two weeks of second semester of 2012/2013 academic year in January 2013. The audio recordings concerning teacher talk were transcribed in the form of transcriptions and categorized the transcripts according to the category of teacher talk. The transcripts were also analyzed in the process of coding. Then, the researcher analyzes the functions of each category. Based on the class observation data analysis then interview was conducted. The interview was designed to investigate the reasons and opinions of the participants about the utterances they used in the class during teaching-learning process.

The results show that the language used by the teacher in the elementary school English class were classified into two categories namely, indirect influence and direct influence. Indirect influent category has four subcategories consisting some functions. While direct influence category has five subcategories and some functions. Some of the findings revealed that, (1) the expression of greeting used by the teacher is both in Arabic and English. Teacher greeted the students to invite them to be ready participate in the teaching-learning process, (2) teacher praised the students to make them more confidence in expressing their ideas, (3) teacher used less English in the class considering of the students’ knowledge and ability. Thus, the interpretation of this study hopefully contribute to the Elementary school English teachers including the teacher participants and also the reseacher becoming more reflective, efficient, and commited in teaching English professionally.

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xviii INTISARI

Maylisias Wan (2013). A Study of Teacher Talk in the Elementary School English Class. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

Ungkapan guru merupakan suatu bagian yang sangat diperlukan di dalam suatu proses pembelajaran bahasa. Keberhasilan dari suatu aktivitas pembelajaran bahasa sangat dipengaruhi oleh bagai mana seorang guru mengatur aktivitas di kelas dan sebagai suatu sumber belajar utama bagi siswa, guru memanfaatkan sebaik-baiknya setiap ungkapan yang digunakan di dalam kelas.

Penelitian ini mencoba untuk mendiskripsikan dan menginterprestasikan fungsi-fungsi bahasa pada ungkapan guru di dalam kelas bahasa Inggris Sekolah Dasar. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini difokuskan pada bahasa yang digunakan oleh guru guna memperoleh pengertian yang mendalam mengenai fungsi-fungsi bahasa yang digunakan selama proses belajar mengajar.

Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif yang memanfaatkan observasi kelas dan wawancara sebagai instrumen utama dalam pengumpulan data. Data diperoleh dari SDN 010 Tanjung Selor, Provinsi Kalimantan Timur. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah dua orang guru pada sekolah tersebut. Dilaksanakan perekaman video dalam dua sesi kegiatan pembelajaran oleh masing-masing partisipan pada kelas yang berbeda. Lama waktu setiap sesi sekitar 70 menit. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan selama dua minggu pertama semester ke dua tahun pembelajaran 2012/2013 pada bulan Januari 2013. Kemudian suara dari rekaman yang diperoleh pada observasi kelas mengenai ungkapan guru ditranskripsikan ke dalam bentuk transkrip dan dikategorisasikan sesuai dengan kategori dari ungkapan guru. Transkrip tersebut juga dianalisa dalam proses pemberian kode. Kemudian, peneliti menganalisa fungsi-fungsi bahasa pada setiap kategory. Berdasarkan pada hasil analisa data observasi kelas, kemudian dilaksanakan tanya jawab. Tanya jawab dirancang untuk memperoleh alasan-alasan dan pendapat-pendapat yang benar dari kedua partisipan mengenai ungkapan-ungkapan yang mereka gunakan di dalam kelas selama proses belajar mengajar.

Temuan dari penelitian ini mengungkapkan bahwa bahasa yang digunakan oleh guru di dalam kelas bahasa Inggris Sekolah Dasar dapat diklafikasikan kedalam dua kategori yaitu indirect influence dan direct influence. Kategori yang pertama (indirect influence) memiliki empat sub kategori yang terdiri dari beberapa fungsi. Sedangkan kategori yang ke dua (direct influence) memiliki lima sub kategori dan beberapa fungsi. Beberapa temuan lain menunjukan bahwa (1) ungkapan sapaan yang digunakan oleh guru adalah sapaan dalam bahasa Arab maupun dalam bahasa Inggris. Guru menyapa para siswa bertujuan untuk mengajak mereka siap berpartisipasi dalam proses pembelajaran, (2) guru memberikan pujian kepada para siswa supaya mereka lebih percaya diri dalam mengekpresikan pendapat-pendapat mereka, (3) guru menggunakan bahasa Inggris dalam kapasitas yang masih kurang dengan alasan pertimbangan kemampuan dan pengetahuaan para siswa. Oleh karena itu, interpretasi dari hasil penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan kontribusi kepada guru – guru bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar termasuk para partisipan dan juga peneliti sendiri untuk

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menjadi lebih reflektif, efisien, dan berkomitmen dalam pengajaran bahasa Inggris secara profesional.

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1 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This study is concerned with the teacher talk (TT) in the Elementary

school English class. It aims at describing the functions of the language used by

the teacher in Elementary school English class. This chapter contains several

sections: the background of study, problem identification, problem limitation,

statement of research question, research goals, and research benefits.

A. Background

In the globalization era, it cannot be denied that English has been an

international language, used by people all over the world to communicate to each

other both in spoken and written interactions. Thus, it is not surprising that the

teaching of English is carried out in many parts of the world including in

Indonesia. Seeing the reality of English as an international language, our

government has stipulated that English as the first foreign language in Indonesia.

Therefore, English has been given more special attention in many institutions

including in educational field. Hence, English is not only taught at Junior High

School, Senior High School, and Vocational School, but it has also been

introduced early from the primary level of education like Kindergarten and

Elementary school as a local content (Muatan Lokal). In the new curriculum of

2013, our government still allows the English language taught in the Elementary

school as an extracurricular. Many schools, especially in the city, have stipulated

English as a compulsory subject. The importance of English, therefore, does not

only come from the government but it is also initiated by society who assumes

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believe that by mastering English will benefit their children to have more

opportunities to gain economic, cultural or educational advantages (Brewster et

all, 2004).

Teaching English in Elementary school is very different from teaching

English in higher levels. In terms of content materials or techniques, Elementary

school students have different needs, related to their competences and cognitive

development. According to Piaget‟s cognitive development stage, children age 7 -11 are at concrete operational stage (Wood, 2001). Intelectual development in this

stage related to the concrete objects. The way to teach English for children in this

stage must be provided activity related to their cognitive development.

Besides, teaching English at Elementary school is also related to their

characteristics. In this stage, they are very enthusiastic to play and use their

imagination (Willis, 2001). The aim of teaching English in the Elementary school

is also related to one of the most common beliefs about age and language

learning. Young children seem to have a greater facility for understanding and

imitating what they hear than secondary school pupils (Brewster et all, 2004). By

introducing English early to the Elementary school students, they are expected to

acquire the target language easily. By studying English, the students are expected

to have a means to develop their knowledge of science, technology and culture.

Thus, they can grow up with enough insight that can improve their live quality.

The Basic Course Outline of English as a Local Content Course of Study at

Elementary School 2004, explains that as a local content subject, English is taught

to students of fourth grade to sixth grade (Depdiknas, 2004). Teaching English to

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communication limitedly to language accompanying action in the school context

(Depdiknas, 2004).

In addition, teaching English in the elementary school can motivate

students to be ready and be self-confidence in learning English at the next higher

level of education. The material more or less contains about spelling, listening,

vocabulary, writing, reading and functional skills as the basis to get a simple

language skill. At the functional stage, students are able to use the language to

support their daily needs such as reading newspaper, instructions, etc. (Depdiknas,

2004).

In Indonesia, English is learnt by the students as the foreign language

because they already have their mother tongue and also native language (bahasa

Indonesia). Most of the English learning activities take place in the language classroom and in a non-supportive environment. Students usually do not use the

target language when they talk to their friends outside the classroom or when they

are at home. Therefore, the interaction (teacher talk) in the classroom is likely to

be the major, or even the only one source of the target language input. Krashen

(1985: 78) with his SLA theory says “Teacher Talk determines successful language learning by providing plenty of and high quality input for the target language.” In terms of acquisition, teacher talk is important because it is very likely as the major source of comprehensible target language input for the

langauge learners to recieve. Teacher talk is a crucial importance, not only for the

organization of the classroom but also for the process of acquisition (Nunan,

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Teaching the Elementary school students is very much different from

teaching adult in a way that they often have more enthusiastic and give possitive

response about learning. These lively learners usually find it easier to meet the

target language than adult learners. These conditions are compulsing the teacher

to be able to find the best ways to construct sucessfull lesson and activities which

place students at the very heart of teaching and learning. Language becomes

essential in provides young learners with a new tool, opening up a new

opportunities for doing things, and for organizing information through the use of

words and simbols. Constuctive talk is one of the most essential ingredients of a

good lesson, a vital part to engage any student in their learning, an instrument to

transform relationships (Coultas, 2009: 1).

However, lessons that encourage and organize students to talk about their

learning are not easy to teach. Teachers should make use of their talk as a „central point‟ to gain effective teaching and learning process (Vygotsky, 1978). Wood as cited in Cameron (2001 pp.8-9) makes it clear that teacher talk is very effective in

scaffolding young learners in various ways, thus, they have to manage their talk to

become meaningful. It makes young learners are able to improve their skills in the

target language. Nunan (1989) states that teachers always modify the language

they use to make it easier to comprehend. This, in turn, help the learner to acquire

the target language input.

Therefore, teacher talk is an indispensable part of foreign language

teaching in organizing activities, and the way the teachers talk do not only

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students will learn. “Teacher talk is particularly important to language teaching” (Cook, 2000: 144).

B. Problem Identification

Learning a language is not an easy task even for those who learn their

native language or L1. For language learners who learn English as a foreign

language such as in Indonesia, most classroom is the main place where they are

frequently exposed to the target language input. In the language classroom,

therefore, teachers should be able to establish what the appropriate languages they

use. It would be more efficient in creating an environment in which students feel

more comfortable and more confidence to get involved in interactive activities in

the language classroom. Appropriate teacher talk can create harmonious

atmosphere and at the same time it promotes more friendly relationship between

teachers and students. Consequently, it creates more opportunities between

teachers and students to use the target language in their communication.

There are several problems identified. Those are: (1) Learning language is

not easy, (2) Students in Indonesia learn English as a foreign language, and (3)

Classroom is the main place for the learner to learn English. Seeing this reality,

the teachers as the source and guide for the students to learn the target language, it

is important for them to be able to provide the best way in scaffolding the student

to learn. This is proposed the teachers make use their talk to provide the input

during the process of teaching in the classroom. This study, however focuses on

the teacher talk in elementary school English class. It aims to describe the

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6 C. Problem Limitation

Based on the problem identification above, the researcher focuses this

study primarily in exploring the teacher talk in Elementary school English class.

The crucial reason why the reseacher feels interested focusing this study in this

topic, is that the researcher himself is a teacher who teaches English in the

Elementary school. So, hopefully the findings of this study will contribute in

improving the quality of teaching-learning English in the Elementary school.

English teachers are able to use the appropriate talk in the process of

teaching-learning. Teacher can motivate, encourage, and improve the students‟ participation in teaching-learning language activities by using their appropriate

talk, to help the students achieve the target language input. By doing so, the

students are expected to build and develop their basic knowledge about English in

the early stage of their study to prepare them to be ready learn it in the next level

of education such as at secondary school.

D. Statement of Research Questions

From the identification and limitation of the problem, the question which

should be answered is what are the functions of teacher talk in Elementary school

English class?

E. Research Goal

In line with the research questions, this study is conducted to find out and

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7 F. Research Benefits

The goal of the study is to find out and describe the functions of teacher

talk in Elementary school English class. Theoretically, the research findings will

contribute to teaching-learning English in Elementary school, particularly related

to teacher talk in the English class. The Elementary school English teachers can

use the research findings as a guidance to determine the appropriate uses of their

talk in classroom. It can help students to achieve the target language input.

Practically, this research benefits the participants to be more aware about

their talk to perform in the process of teaching-learning English in classroom. It

can also serve as a reference for the teachers to improve their performances

during the process of teaching-learning. Besides, it also serves to be the model of

teacher talk in teaching-learning process. At least, other teachers can apply this

teaching model in their own classroom. By doing so, it is expected to increase

teacher talk productivity when they address the target language to their students.

Theoretically, the results of this study will provide scientific information

and multiple advantages in education in general, especially in motivating teachers

to make their talk more effective. The effective talk of the teacher will support

the lessons in teaching-learning activity. It should relate to what the students want

to achieve and need to improve in terms of the target language learning objective.

The result of this study is also usefull for teachers in preparing their

students to enter the next higher education level. It can help teachers in

developing the quality of teaching-learning process and enable them to motivate

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also be used as a reference for those who wants to conduct a study in English

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8 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with the review of related literature to the present study.

The study was designed to find out and describe the functions of the language

used by the teacher in Elementary school English class at SDN 010 Tanjung

Selor, East Kalimantan.

A. Theoretical Review

There are several major isues underlining in this study. They are teacher talk (TT), Krashen‟s input theory, output hypothesis, Paul‟s Nation four strands, classroom interaction, elementary school, and foreign language learning and

teaching.

1. Teacher Talk (TT) a. Definition

Many definitions of teacher talk (TT) have been given from different

perspectives by some experts. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and

Applied Linguistics by Richards (1992) defines that TT is as a variety of language sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching. Therefore in

the framework of classroom talk, Jhonson (1995) states that there is a tendency

for the teachers to control the pattern of communication. This control comes from

their special status and from the way they use the language. That means they

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classroom. For example, the teachers can control their speech in the classroom

through the way they allocate speaking turns to students by either specifying who

is to take it or by throwing it opens to the whole class. Teacher talk is the

language a teacher uses to allow the various classroom prosesses to happen, that is

the language of organizing the classroom. This includes the teacher‟s explanations, responses to questions, instructions, praises, corrections, etc. Ellis

(1985: 145 ) formulates his own view about teacher talk: “Teacher talk is a special language that teachers use when addressing L2 learners in the classroom.” In other words, Ellis (1994) also states TT means that teachers address classroom

language learners differently from the way that they address other kinds of

classroom learners. Teacher talk is therefore very important for both classroom teaching organization and students‟ language learning in the process of foreign language learning and the second languge acquisition, because teacher talk is an

instrument of implementating teaching plan. Teacher talk also defined as the kind of modifications in teachers‟ speech that can lead to a special type of discourse (Richards and Lockhart, 1996: 184). Richards and Lockhart explain that when

teachers use teacher talk, they are trying to make themselves as easy as possible to

understand and effective teacher talk may provide essential support to facilitate

both language comprehension and learner production.

While, according to Sinclair and Brazil (1985) teacher talk is the language

in the classroom that takes up a major portion of class time employed to give direction, explain activities and check students‟ understanding. As an indispensable part in foreign language teaching, teacher talk has its own features

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teacher talk can be called teachers‟ language, teachers‟ speech or teachers‟ utterances. In spite of these different shapes, they share the same characteristic,

that is, they are all the words spoken by the teacher in class.

From the definitions above, firstly the researcher can see that teacher talk

in English classroom is regarded as one special variety of the English language, so

it has its own specific features which other varieties do not share. Because of the

restrictions of the physical setting, special participants as well as the goal of

teaching, teacher talk has its own special style. Secondly, teacher talk is a special

communicative activity. Its goal is to communicate with students and develops

students‟ foreign language proficiency. Teacher talk is used in class when teachers are conducting instruction, cultivating their intellectual ability and managing

classroom activities (Cullen, 2002). Teachers adopt the target language to promote

their communication with learners. In this way, learners practice the language by

responding to what their teacher says. Thirdly, teachers use the language to

encourage communication between learners and themselves. Therefore we can say

that TT is a kind of communication-based or interaction-based talk.

Studies of teacher talk can be divided into two types of language. One is

the investigation of language that teachers use in their language classroom, and

the other is the investigation of language that they use in subject matter lesson

(Gaies, 1990) . In this study, the researcher will focus to describe the oral form of

teacher talk instead of the writen form. It refers to the language that teachers use

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b. The Role of Teacher Talk in Foreign Language Learning

As a tool of implementating teaching plans and achieving teaching goals,

Teacher Talk (TT) plays a vital role in language learning. In Indonesia English is

learnt as a foreign language and the students learn English mostly in a language

class with a non-supportive environment, therefore TT is likely to be the major or

even the only one source of the target language input. Krashen (1985) says TT

determines successful language learning by providing plenty of high quality input

for the language itself. In line with Nunan (1991), he points out that teacher talk is

a crucial of importance, not only for the organization of the classroom but also for

the process of acquisition. It is through language that teachers either succeed or

fail in implementating their plans. In terms of acquisition, TT is important because

it is probably the major source of comprehensible target language input the learner

is likely to recieve.

c. The Functions of Teacher Talk

In this study the researcher focuses on the function of TT mostly used by

the teachers when they address foreign language learning in the classroom. Hence,

in this section the researcher discusses several functions of language used by the

teacher.

1) Teacher’s questions

Question is one of the most common techniques used by teachers and

serves as the principal way when they want to control the classroom interaction

(Richards, 1996). As a technique used by the teacher in the classroom, questions

can be explained by the specific functions they perform. These functions can be

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diagnostic tool, questions allow the teacher to glimpse into the minds of students

to find out not only what they know or do not know and also how they think about

the topic. Through strategic questioning, the teacher can assess the current knowledge of student in their mind, and identifying students‟ gaps and misconceptions (Donald and Eggen, 1989). Second, as an instructional function,

questions provide an opportunity for students to learn new materials and integrate

them with the old one, they provide the practice and feedback which esessential

for the development, and they also alert students to the informations in a lesson.

Third, as a motivational function, questions allow teachers to engage students actively in the teaching and learning process, challenging their thinking and

posing problem for them to consider. From a lesson perspective, a question at the

beginning of the lesson can be used to capture students‟ attention and provide a focus for the lesson. In addition, frequent and periodic questions can encourage

active participation and provide opportunities in the lesson for continuous student

involvement.

According to Barnes (1969) the questions asked by the teacher can be

classified into four types, (1) questions concerning factual matters and apparently

ask for specific facts or data, that is the questions beginning with „what‟, „when‟,

„who‟, and „where‟; (2) questions beginning with „how‟ and „why‟ which are

classified as reasoning question because they appreantly require some reasoning

from students. Barnes further classifies the second type into, (3) closed question

and (4) open question. The closed question has only one acceptable answer while

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Meanwhile, Richards and Lockhart (1996) classify the questions into three

catagories in term of the purpose of question in the classroom. They are:

procedural, convergent, and divergent questions. Procedural questions have to do with the classroom procedures and routines and classroom management.

Convergent and divergent questions are designed to engage students in the content

of lesson, to facilitate comprehension, and to promote classroom interaction.

Convergent questions encourage similar students responses, or responses with

focus on a central theme, such as short answer „yes‟ or „no‟ questions which expect short answers from the students. Teachers do not require students to

engage in high level thingking. Divergent questions on the other hand, encourage

diverse students responses which require higher-level thinking. Further, Richards

and Lockhart (1996: 185) state that there are several reasons why questions are

commonly used in teaching. Those are: (1) Stimulate and maintain student‟s interest; (2) Encourage students to think and focus on the content of the lesson; (3)

Enable a teacher to clarify what a student has said; (4) Enable a teacher to elicit

particular structures or vocabulary items; (5) Enable a teacher to check student‟s understanding; and (6) Encourage students participation in a lesson.

Long and Sato (1983) identify two types of questions that may be asked by

teachers in teaching-learning process in the classroom: display and referential

questions. When the teacher know the answers of the questions but they want to

elicit or display particular structure, the teacher proposes display questions (e.g.

what is the opposite of word „slow‟ in English?). Referential questions are used when the teacher do not know the answer to but the teacher tend to elicit various

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Wu (1993) claims that both display and referential questions have

important fuctions to perform in teaching and learning language. They can also be

one of the ways for eliciting output. However, the use of different types of

questions does not guarantee that the quantitiy or quality of classroom interaction

will be improved. What is important that the questioning strategies used by the

teacher in order to elicit oral responses from the students and to develop their

grammatical competence in term of the target language input. Unfortunately, in

the classroom, teachers tend to ask more display questions rather than referential

questions (Long and Sato, 1983). Teachers who often ask display questions are

likely to encourage students to emitate fact without trying to develop it according

to their own understanding and it will make students less confidence to

communicate their own ideas in the target language (Tsui, 1995).

2) Teacher’s feedback

Besides questions, another very important aspect of teacher talk is providing feedback to student responses. Feedback is teachers‟ evaluation of the student response (Cook, 2000). When teachers do not give a feedback, the student

assume that there must be something wrong or unsatisfactory with their answer

and response (Tsui, 1995). Feedback may serve not only to let the learner know

how well they have performed but also to increase motivation and build a supportive classroom climate. In language classroom, feedback on student‟s spoken language may be a response either to the content of what a student has

produced or to the form of an utterance. Feedback by the teacher, where teacher‟s response to students contributions focuses on the content of what the student says

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the message rather than on the form such as the correctness of the grammar or

pronunciation (Cullen R., 1998).

Richards and Lockhart (1996) state that feedback can be given by means

of praise, by any relevant comment or action. Students learned how smart they

were, mainly from the teacher‟s feedback in the form of marks, comments and the degree and type of praise and criticism. Students show a higher achievment by

getting more positive feedback from the teacher as well as being given more

opportunities to perform, to be challenged and to serve as leaders. In the other

hand, students show a lower achievment by getting negative feedback, more

direction, and help giving as well.

Feedback has two main different components: correction and assessment

(Ur, 2000). In the process of learning, can not be avoided that learners will make

mistakes. Brown (2002: 205 ) says that: “A learner‟s error ... are significant in (that) they provide to the researcher evidence of how language is learned or

acquired, what strategies or procedure the learner is employing in the discovery of the language.” It is a vital part of teacher‟s role to point out students‟ mistakes and provide some corections on it mistakes. In correction, some specific informations

are provided on aspects of the learners‟ performance, through explanation, or provision of better or other alternative, or through elicitation of these from the

learner (Ur, 2000). Correction helps students to clarify their understanding of

meaning and construction of the language. Futhermore, it is good to praise the

learners for their success and correct them when they fail. Teacher can show their

praise through the use of encouraging words and noises (excellent, good, well

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2000). Assessment refers to the tool, technique, and procedure for collecting and

interpreting information about what learners can and can not do (Nunan, 1989). In

assessment, learners are simply informed how well or badly he/she has performed.

Comments such as excellent and very good are commons at the end of a written

assignment (Ur, 2000). The one important thing is that the teachers must not

forget that assesement is given with one purpose, that is to help and promote EFL

learning.

3). Translation (Code switching)

In teaching English the teacher sometimes use Indonesian or even mother

tongue when he/she wants to explain a concept or an idea to make it clearly rather

than using the target language. This way is known as translation (code switching).

This action can take place in a conversation when one speaker uses one language

and the other speaker responds in a different language. Code switching may

happen when a person start to speak in one language then change it to another one

in the middle of his speech, or sometimes even in the middle of a sentence

(Richards, et al, 1985).

The use of code switching in the language classroom depends on the

teacher and the learner beliefs about learning a language. According to Nunan

(1991), in many language classrooms, have been found that teachers and learners

make far greater use of their mother tongue than they do of the target language.

He also states that the code switching is affected by: (1) the nature of the activity, (2) the teacher‟s perception of how students learn, (3) teacher perceptions of the role and functions of the native and target language, and (4) student perceptions of

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the role of the target and native language and the use of the mother tongue by the

teacher.

d. The Categories of Teacher Talk

Brown in Malamah-Thomas (1987: 25) states there are some categories of

teacher talk. Those are: (1) responding, i.e. any acts directly sought by the

utterance of another speaker; (2) socializing, i.e, any acts to establishment or

maintenance of interpersonal relationship; (3) organizing, i.e. any acts which

serves to structure the learning task or environment without contributing to the

teaching-learning task itself; (4) directing, i.e. any acts encouraging non-verbal

activity as an integral part of the teaching-learning task; (5) presenting, i.e. any

acts presenting information of direct relevance to the learning; (6) evaluating, i.e.

any acts with rates another verbal act positively or negatively; and (7) eliciting,

i.e. any acts designed to produce a verbal response from another person.

Hughes (1978) also mentions some various language functions, especially

related to the classroom management. In his categories, he spells out the various

language functions that are explained by some proponents. These categories

include: (a) organization, (b) interrogation, (c) explanation, and (d) interaction.

Organization consists of giving instruction, sequencing, and supervision. In giving

instruction, the teacher can give an appropriate instructions related to recurrent

classroom activities, control the student‟s behavior by means of commands, requests, and suggestions, vary the form of instructions in order to show the range

of possibilities in the foreign language, and offer the student alternatives.

Flanders (1970: 34) uses the term Flanders‟ Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) to describe the categories of teacher talk. He devides the

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teacher talk into seven categories (see appendix 11). The first four concern with

how the teacher responds to the students by accepting feeling and clarifies

attitudes expressed by the students, praising or encouraging students‟ action or behavior, clarifying, building or developing students‟ ideas and use those ideas in problem solving, and asking questions. These four categories expand students‟ participation and express the authority of the teacher indirectly through their support of selected patterns of the student‟s behavior. The teacher assumes a less dominant acts, and the proportion of student talk increases. These behaviours are

sometimes called indirect influence. The other three categories are used by the

teacher to exert direct control. Those categories are lecturing, giving direction,

and critizing or justifying outhority. The teacher is directive in order to achieve

compliance or to correct misbehavior. In order for the teachers to do this, he

should talk more and take a dominant role in the classroom activity. These

behaviors are sometimes called direct influence.

Meanwhile, Moskowitz 1971 (in Brown 2007: 217) modified the

interaction analysis in more specific for foreign language teaching. Moskowitz

called this modified version as “Foreign Language Interaction (FLINT) analysis

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Table 2.1 Foreign Language Interaction Analysis (FLINT) System (adapted from Brown 2007: 217) Concerning Teacher Talk

TEACHER TALK

Indirect Influence Direct Influence 1. Deals with feelings:

In a non-threatening way,

accepting,discussing, referring to, or communicating understanding of past, present, or future feeling of students.

2. Praises or encourages:

Praising, complementing, telling students what they have said or done is valued.

Encouraging students to continue, trying to give them confidence, confirming that answers are correct.

2a. Jokes:

Intentional joking, kidding, making funs, attempting to be humours, providing the joking is not anyone‟s expense.

(Unintentional humor is not included in this category).

3. Uses students idea:

Clarifying, using, interpreting, summarizing the ideas of students. The ideas must be rephrased by the teacher but still be recognize as being students contributions.

3a. Repeat students response verbatim:

Repeating the exact words of students after they participated.

4. Asks questions:

Asking questions to which the answer is anticipated. (Rhetorical questions are NOT included in this category).

1. Gives informations:

Giving informations, facts, own opinion, or ideas: lecturing or asking rhetorical questions.

1.a. Corrects without rejections:

Telling students who have made a mistakes the correct response without using words or

intonations with communicative criticism.

2. Gives directions:

Giving directions, requests, or command that students are expected to follow, directing various drill; facilitating whole-class and small-group activity.

3. Criticizes students behavior:

Rejecting behavior of students; trying to change the non-acceptable

behavior, communicating anger, displeasure, annoyance, dissatification with what students are doing.

3a. Criticizes students response:

Telling the students his or her response is not correct or acceptable and communicating criticism, displeasure, annoyance, rejection by words or intonation.

In line with Flanders, concerning teacher talk, Moskowitz divides the

category of teacher talk into two broads categories “Indirect Influence” and

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with feelings, (2) praises or encourages, (3) uses of students idea, and (4) asks

questions. Meanwhile the second one is divided into three categories, (1) gives

informations, (2) gives directions, and (3) criticizes students behavior. In term of

the foreign language teaching therefore in this study the researcher uses the

FLINT analysis system to describe, analyze, and interpret the function of

languages used by the teacher obtained from the class observations data.

2. Krahen’s Input Theory

Input plays a critical role in language learning. There is no learning

without input. The language used by the teacher affects the language produced by

the learners, the interaction generate, and hence the kind of learning that takes

places. The problem is what type and how much of input is appropriate and useful

for language learners in the classroom. Krashen‟s Input Hypothesis proposes that comprehensible input is essential for the learner to acquire a language (Krashen,

1985). Krashen further maintains that learners will begin to produce the language

naturally when they have enough exposure to comprehensible input. According to

the input hypothesis explained by Krashen, the input must be comprehensible in that it is near the learner‟s current level of development, called i, and the level that the learner will get to next must slightly beyond the level at which he or she

already acquired, called i+1 (Krashen, 1982) in (Cook, 1993: 53). With regard to

teacher talk, comprehensible input refers to the utterances that learners understand

on the basis of context which they are used to, as well as the language which they

have learned. When a speaker uses language so that the acquirer understands the message, the speaker “casts a net” of structures around the acquirer current level competence, and this will include many instances of i+1 (Ellis, 1985).

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Several kinds of input that Krashen discusses are the foreigner speech and

teacher talk as form of the caracteker speech and interlanguage talk among

acquires of the second language. It can be refered that modifications in speech

addressed to learners and extralinguistic information both are important since they

can increase input comprehensibility (Krashen, 1985). According to Krashen, the

goal of the language instruction is to bring the students to the point where they are

able to use language outside the classroom in understanding and communicating

with native speakers of the language. Krashen (1985) claims that, if the students

reach this level of competence, they will be able to continue to improve they

language skill from the comprehensible input recieved on the outside.

Krashen stresses that two-way interaction is a particularly good way of

providing comprehensible input, because it enables the learner to obtain additional

contextual information and optimally adjusted input when meaning has to be negotiated because of communication problems. In Krashen‟s views, acquisition takes place by means of a learner‟s access to comprehensible input. He comments that the input, which is totaly incomprehensible to learners, is not likely to cause

learning to take place. Teacher talk actually serves as the main source of input of

language exposure in classroom learning. It is more important for foreign

language learning, so teachers should make their input comprehensible and in the right quantities. Cook (1993: 51) states “L2 learners acquire a new language by hearing it in contexts where the meaning of sentences is made plain to them.”

In conclusion, Krashen‟ input hypothesis proposes that language learners can acquire language that is directed at their actual level competence. Krashen further asserts that contextual cues in the message together with students‟

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knowledge of the word will also help the students to understand the language.

That is also include some structures that are somewhat beyond the students‟ level of competence. Krashen‟s input hypothesis posits that a language is picked up or acquired when the learners recieve the input from messages which contain

language a little above their exciting understanding and from which they can infer

meaning. Although Krashen‟s Input Hypothesis has been criticized in that there is no clear difinition of comprehensible input, many people feel that distinction has

at least an intuitive appeal and that it represents some psychological reality. In the

same way, many practitioners recognize the need to provide learners with

comprehensible input (Hadley, 2001).

3. Output Hypothesis

Swain in Ellis (2003: 48) argues that comprehensible output also plays a

part in L2 acquisition. English learners should not only increase the information

input but also efficiently output the language skills that they have learned such as

speaking, and writing. Swain suggests a number of specific ways in which

learners can learn from their output. At least, she proposes the functions of output

for the learners into: (1) output can serve a consciousness-raising function by

helping learners to notice gaps in their interlanguage, (2) output also helps

learners to test hypothesis, and (3) output can try out a rule and see whether it

leads to successful communication or whether it elicits negative feedback.

Besides, learners sometimes talk about their own output, identify problems

with it and discuss ways in which they can be put right. In short, the argument put

forward by Swain is that the students can improve their language level through

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using the language exposed to them in meaningful ways. So, a language teacher

plays a very important role during the process of language learning. He should

manage to push the students to produce the target language, gives some more

opportunities and much more time to the students to practice and use the target

language input they had.

4. Paul Nation’s Four Strands

Krashen and Nation have different perspective on how the learner learn the

language. Krashen believes that comprehensible input is the essential aspect for

the learner to acquire a language. While for Nation, in order for the student to

acquire the language they must have the opportunities to learn the language

through four activities at language course which are called four strands.

Nation (2007) classifies the activities which are called four strands into

four classifications, (1) meaning-focused input, (2) meaning-focus output, (3)

language-focused learning, and (4) fluency development.

Meaning-focused input is the kind of activity more or less similar with Krashen‟s input hypothesis. This strand involves learning through listening and reading by using language receptively. It is called „meaning-focused‟ because in all the work done in this strand, the learners‟ main focus and interest should be on the understanding and gaining knowledge or enjoyment or both from what they

listen to and read. Typical activities in this strand include extensive reading,

shared reading, listening to stories, watching TV or films, and being a listener in a

conversation.

The meaning-focused output involves learning through speaking and

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talking in conversations, giving a speech or lecture, writing a letter, writing a note

to someone, keeping a diary, telling a story and telling someone how to do

something.

While language-focused learning, involves the deliberate learning of

language features such as a pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and

discourse. Typical activities in this strand are pronunciation practice, using

substitution tables and drill, learning vocabulary from words cards, intensive

reading, translation, memorizing dialogues and getting feedback about writing.

The deliberate learning of strategies such as guessing from context or dictionary

use is also included in this strand. Most of these language-focused learning

activities can have positive effect on learning and language use, but it is important

that they are only a small part of the course and do not become the whole course.

In summary, (Nation, 2007) stated that language-focused learning strand should

not make up more than one-quarter of the time spent on the whole course.

Then, fluency development involves all the four skills of listening,

speaking, reading and writing. In this strand, the learners are helped to make the

best use of what they already know. Like meaning-focused input and output, the

fluency-development strands is also meaning-focused. Typical activities in this

strands include speed reading, skiming and scaning, repeated reading, repeted

retelling, ten-minutes writing and listening to the easy story. All of the four

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Meaning-focused

input

Meaning-focused

output

Fluency-based

activities

focused activities

Language-4 Strands

Figure 2.1 Four core strands in language program ( adopted from Nation, 2007)

5. Classroom Interaction a. Interaction in EFL Classes

Interaction occurred everyday in the classroom activities between the

teacher and the learners. It is managed by everyone, not only by the teacher, but

also the students. The development and sucsess of a class depending on a greater

extent the interactions between the teacher and students (Tsui, 1995). Interaction

is the collaborative exchange of thoughts, feeling or ideas between two or more

people. Through the interaction with teachers, students can increase their language

storage and use all languages they possess. Interaction therefore is an important

concept for English language teachers. Long (1996) argues that interaction

facilitates acquisitions because of the conversational and linguistic modifications

that occur in such discourse and that provide learners with the input they need.

Through the interaction, learners have opportunities to understand and use the

language that was incomprehensible. Additionally, they could get more input and

more opportunities for output. Van Lier (1988) states that interaction is essential

for language learning which occurs in and through participation in speech evens,

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Moreover, Allwright and Bailey (1991) state that through classroom

interaction, the plan produces outcomes (input, practice opportunities, and

receptivity). The teacher has to plan what he/she intends to teach (syllabus,

method, and atmosphere). The interaction provides learners with opportunities to

encounter input or to practice the L2. It also creates a „state of receptivity‟ defined as „an active opennes, a willingness to encounter the language and the culture.‟ So the importance of classroom interactions has important role in teaching-learning

process which can be seen from the figure below:

Planed Aspect Lesson Co-Produced Outcome

Syllabus Output

Method Practice opportunities Atmosphere Receptivity

Figure 2.2 The relation between plans and outcomes (Allwright and Bailey,1991)

Furthermore, Rivers (1987) states that the teacher in the process of

teaching-learning should not be focus on the best method, the teacher should be

looking for the most appropriate approach, design or materials, or set of

procedures in a particular situation. The teacher is being flexible while keeping

interaction central; interaction between teacher and learner, learner and teacher,

learner and learner, learner and authors of text, and learner and the community

that speak the language. Therefore, the teacher should not be directive and

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two-27

way, three-way or four-way. Students will learn most successfully when they are

given ample opportunities to interact in conversation.

b. Teacher’s Role in Teaching Learning Process

Teachers‟ role as a prompter needs to encourage the students to achieve more, feeding in a bit of information or language to help them proceed. By doing

so, the teachers will bring about students to think creatively. At other times, they

may need to act as feedback providers that help students to evaluate their

performance or as assessors that tell students how well they have done or give

them grades. There are times when teachers join an activity not only as a teacher,

but also as a participant. As a participant, he/she may acts as a student when they

are learning. Participating is often more instantly enjoyable than acting as a resource. Here, teachers‟ role as observers can function well, especially in oral communicative activities. Observing for success often give teachers a different

level on how well the students are doing.

Cameron (2001) has already given the general description about teaching.

She emphasizes that teaching is a process to construct opportunities for learning

and to help learners take advantages of them. Cameron (2001: 242) says that: “...teaching can never guarantee learning; all it can do is to construct opportunities for learning and to help learners take the advantages.” Therefore, in teaching -learning process the teachers should be able to help students in constructing

understanding toward the lesson.

Holtrop (1997) specifies the teacher‟s role in teaching-learning process. Those are: demonstrations, listening, empowering, and lectures. Demonstrations,

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wants to impart during the class. Although the teacher is still the center of the

action and the dispenser of knowledge, students can more easily see what they

need to know and more efficiently link to prior knowledge in their own ways.

Students remember much better what they have both heard and seen (or even

touched, smelled, or tasted). Listening is a very important teacher‟s role, something that we don‟t usually think of in connection with the lecturer‟s role. Listening is crucial for assessment of learning (checking comprehension and

appropriate challenge level), for collaboration between teachers and students

(coaching instead of just judging), and for giving students a real sense of

ownership of classroom activities as well as for allowing students to articulate and

internalize the learning processes. Teachers who listen can turn around and

provide very effective support structures to guide students into the next level of challenge. Empowering is really what teaching is all about. From the teacher‟s role explanation, it can be concluded that the teacher should not only give lectures

or explanation on the whole teaching-learning process, but also give a time to the

students to express their knowledge or understanding. The student should

participate in classroom activities.

Nunan (1989) states that only one of every forty minutes of class is

devoted to student participation. This statement shows that the kind of teaching

that the most of activities take place in the classrooms right now is that the teacher

tells and the students listen, then the students tell information on a writen test and

the teacher evaluates. This kind of method of teaching should not be applied any

longger because it does not give any change for the students to be independent

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teaching is seen when the teachers model strategies and knowledge making the

context of task completion, and then students attempt to do the task the way

teachers did it (Wilhelm, 2001).

Moreover, Chaudron (1988) states that there are two kinds of teacher

constitution in teaching-learning process, they are: (a) Teacher-centered: do not

speak unlesss you are spoken to; (b) Student-centered: if you have something to

say, say it.

Those kinds of interaction is negotiable, depends on the rules of speaking

established by the teacher. Teacher behaves in different ways and therefore there

are different types of classroom interactions. When teacher talks, commands,

restricts student‟s freedom to talk, it is teacher-centered. When teacher allows students to talk, ask questions, accept their ideas and stimulate their participation

in the class activities, it is student-centered. The other role of the teacher is

lectures. A traditional view of the teacher is someone who dispenses knowledge;

someone who lectures, tells, feeds, disseminates, covers material, teaches the

subject matter more than the students. The students sit passively while the teacher

is on show. Desks in rows and a blackboard and a podium up front are an

arrangement designed for this role of a teacher. However, lecturer are effective for

giving short sets of interaction, background information, guidelines, or other

information that is needed in a short time frame (e.g. before doing a class project,

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30 6. Elementary School

a. Definition

Elementary School is an institution where children receive the first stage

of compulsory education. In Indonesia it is known as Sekolah Dasar (SD) and this

is a very basic stage of formal education. Based on the national constitution, it is

compulsory to children ages 7–11 to follow this stage of education. Elementary school or Sekolah Dasar in Indonesia consists of six grades from one to six.

Students must study for six years to complete this level. After that they will

continue to next level called Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP) or Junior High

School for three years.

Children as individuals certainly experience intertwined developmental

processes that involve biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes.

According to Santrock (2007:1), biological processes produce changes in an individual‟s body. Genes inherited from parents, the development of the brain, height and weight gains, motor skills, and the hormonal changes of puberty all

reflect the role of biological processes in development.

Next, cognitive processes refers to changes in an individual‟s thought, intelegence, and language. Watching a colorful mobile swinging above a crib,

putting together a two-word sentence, momorizing a poem, solving a math

problem, and imagining what it would be a movie star all involve cognitive

processes. While socioemotional processes, after that, involve changes in an individual‟s relationship with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality. Therefore, an infant‟s smile in response to her mother‟s touch is one of its example.

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McDevitt and Ormrod (2004:18) devide the developmental periods into

five age periods. They are infancy (birth to 2 years), early childhood (2 to 6

years), middle childhood (6 to 10 years), early adolescent (10 to 14 years), and

late adolescent (14 to 18 years). However, Sandtrock (2007:17) classifies it into

the prenatal period (conception to birth), infancy (about 18 to 24 month), early

childhood (about 5 to 6 years), middle and late childhood (6 to 11 years), and

adolescent (about 10 to 22 years).

In the middle childhood, children become able to describe themselves, to

compare their own characteristics with those of their peers, and to speculate about

the causes of their strengths and weaknesses. The self-concept that has a major impact on children‟s self-esteem is a product of both cognitive capacities and feedback from others. Hence, support from parents and people beyond the family

is essential.

For socioemotional development, positive relationship exist between

self-esteem, valuing of various activities, and success at those activities. Berk (2008:

523) describes that in middle childhood self-conscious emotions of pride and guilt

become clearly govern by personal responsibility. They also seek time with

age-mates, especially friends of the same gender since the society of peers becomes an

increasingly important context for their development.

It can be concluded, at present we recognize that childhood is essential

time of development since children, as we know, are the future of society. When

they reach their potency, they are able to contribute effectively to society and take

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interplay of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes. In addition,

development is divided into some periods from conception through adolescent.

b. Characteristics of Elementary School Students

The age range of Elementary School students is between seven to eleven

years old, they have different characteristics and attitudes that contrast with the

high school students. It implies that teaching young learners is not the same as

teaching teenagers, because the students of the elementary school may have a

different motivation level towards learning. In this case, the teacher has to

challange and motivate the students to learn something new which is interesting

and enjoyable to them.

According to Scoot and Ytreberg (1990), the general characteristics of

students in elementary school are as follow: (1) they are competent users of

mother tongue; (2) they can tell the difference between fact and fiction; (3) they

love to play and they learn better when they enjoy themselves; (4) they are

enthusiastic and positive about learning; (5) they rely on the spoken word as well

as on the physical world to convey and understand the meaning; (6) they enjoy

working with others and learning from others; (7) Their concentration works for a

short peroid of time; and (8) they use their body parts to play and learn through.

McKay (2006: 1) defines young language learner as those who are

learning a foreign or second language and who are doing so during the first six or

seven years of formal schooling. In the educational systems of most countries,

young learners are children who are in primary or elementary school. In term of

age, young learners are between the ages of approximately five and twelve years

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33 7. Fereign Language Learning and Teaching a. Foreign Language learning

Learning a foreign language such as English for speakers of other

language is very important due to the current trend of globalization. It becomes an

essential competence for having contact with people from different countries for

diverse purpose, for instance: technology, education, tourism, business, and

politics. The circumstance motivates people to learn a foreign language that will

be helpful for their integration to the rhythm of the globalized world. According to

Harmer (1992) another perspective which has gained increasing prominance in language teaching is that of the student as a „whole person.‟ In other words, language teaching is not just about teaching language; it is also about helping

students to develop themselves as people. Besides, in order to get successful

results, the learner is required to increase motivation, since learning language is

necessarily intelectual and emotional.

Learning a foreign language is not as simple as learning a native language

because children acquire their mother tongue naturally and there is no interference

with another language system. Mohambest (2009) argues that learning a foreign

language is different from learning a native language because the students‟ environments in achieving their first language and a foreign language are

different. This situation is take place in our country where students learn English

as a foreign language, they of course find any difficulties in learn it because our

native language is very different pattern with English. Mohambest (2009) also

states that the degree of difficulty in learning is also determined by the degree of

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121

No Questions Responses

Teacher A Teacher B  Do you have special

intention in giving

direction to yous students?

TA: Yes of course, they will

understand well what or how to do a certain task.

TB: Yes, they can do a task properly if I give them clearly direction.

8 Criticizing

 When should you critic your students?

“You asked me when. Well, my experienced I will critic the students when they show inappropriate bahavior toward the lesson. For example, when I asked them to do a task but they do not do it well, so I will talk to them how to do it.”

“I usually critic my students when they did something not relate to the lesson during the process of teaching and learning. When I teach and they do not pay attention I will ask for their attention.”

 Do you have any intention when you critic your student?

“Iya, in order for them to show their positive behavior toward the lesson.”

“I hope them to participate seriously in the losson, so they can achieve the goal of the lesson.”

9 Translating (code-switching)  Based on the transcriptions of your teaching practices, you taught your student mosly in Indonesian, and less of using English, why?

“Well you know that they are still beginer English learners, they haven’t enough exposure of the terget language yet, if I used more English they will not understand well, therefore, I try to give them little by little of the input.”

“Yaa, they have not understand yet, if I used more English during the lesson. How can I teach them in English if they can not understand to what I talking about. Hopefully, in the future, I will teach them fully in English.”

 What do you think about using Indonesian-English in teaching?

“I usually used Indonesian and English when I teach my students, I think it is good way for guidance our students in

“Good for students in the elementary school, because they still need some inputs from their teacher, if teacher used mix

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learning the target

language.” language they can achieve the target language easily.”

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Appendix 9

Flander’s Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC)

Concerning Teacher Talk

Teacher Talk

Response Initiation

1. Accepts Feeling. Accepts and clarifies an attitude or the feeling tone of a pupil in a nonthreatening manner. Feelings may be positive or negative. Predicting and recalling feeling are included.

2. Praises or Enccourages. Praises or encourages pupil action or behavior. Jokes that release tension, but not at the expense on another individual; nodding head, or saying “um hm?” or “go on” are included.

3. Accepts or uses ideas of pupils. Clarifying, building, or developing ideas suggested by a pupil. Teacher extensions of pupil ideas are included but as the teacher brings more of his own ideas into play, shift to category five.

4. Asks questions. Asking a question about content of procedure, based on teacher ideas, with the intent that a pupil will answer.

5. Lecturing. Giving facts or opinions about content or procedures; expressing his own ideas, giving his own

explanation, or citing an authority other that a pupil.

6. Giving directions. Directions,

commands, or orders to which a pupil is expected to comply.

7. Criticising or justifying authority. Statements intended to change pupil behavior from nonacceptable to acceptable pattern; bawling someone out, stating why the teacher is doing what he is doing; extreme self-reference.

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ABSTRACT

Maylisias Wan (2013). A Study of Teacher Talk in Elementary School English Class. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

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INTISARI

Maylisias Wan (2013). A Study of Teacher Talk in the Elementary School English Class. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

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menjadi lebih reflektif, efisien, dan berkomitmen dalam pengajaran bahasa Inggris secara profesional.

A study of teacher talk in elementary school English class.