An Analysis of Speech Acts Used by EFL Teachers in Classroom Interaction.

ABSTRACT This research aimed to find out: (1) the types and functions of speech acts used by EFL teachers in classroom interaction, (2) the students’ perception toward EFL teachers’ speech acts in classroom interaction, (3) The implications of speech acts used by EFL teachers in TEFL. This research employed qualitative method. The subjects of this research were two English teachers and thirty students of the first grade in Senior High School 1 Pinrang which were taken through purposive sampling technique. The data of this research were collected by employing video recording, observation checklist and interview. The obtained data was analyzed in three major phases namely data reduction, data display, and draw conclusion. The results of the research revealed that (1) there were five types of speech act that were used by the English teachers in classroom interaction namely representative speech act, directive speech act, commisive speech act, expressive speech act and declarative speech act, and each type of speech acts used by EFL teachers in classroom interaction had particular function, (2) The thirty students who were the sample in this research gave positive responses toward the teachers’ speech acts in classroom interaction, (3) the implications of speech acts were found from the teacher such as: the teacher could raise the students’ participation by asking question. The teacher also could direct and motivate the students in learning process by using appropriate speech act. Moreover, the students could avoid the misunderstanding in learning process, build up the effective communication in English and Indonesian language, build up their understanding, know the communicative functions, stimulate each other and would be used to hear and use English. Furthermore, the implications of speech acts were the students weren’t bored in learning process, serious and ready in learning process. Key words: Speech acts, perception, classroom interactio