Classroom Interaction in the Teaching of Speaking fort the Eighth Graders at MTs Surya Buana Malang

This study is an attempt to examine classroom interaction in the teaching of speaking for the eighth graders at MTs Surya Buana Malang. This study is intended to answer three questions: (1) what categories of teacher talk are used by the teacher in stimulating the students in the process of teaching speaking, (2) How do the students respond based on the teacher’s instruction in the process of teaching speaking, and (3) what patterns of interaction occur during the process of teaching speaking. In order to answer those problems stated above, a descriptive case study was used in this study. The subjects of the study were the teacher of the eighth grade of MTs Surya Buana Malang and the male and female of VIII A students of MTs Surya Buana Malang. The data of this study are: (1) the way the teacher stimulates the interaction using teacher talk, (2) the students’ response based on the teacher’s instruction in the process of teaching speaking, and (3) patterns of classroom interaction in the process of teaching speaking. The data were elicited through non-participant observation, interview with the teacher and the students, field notes and recording of utterances between the teacher and the students. Data were analyzed using the ‘interaction model’ of Miles & Huberman, following FLINT system proposed by Flanders (1970) and Moskowitz (1971). The result shows that, first, in stimulating the students to be more active during the process of teaching and learning, the teacher tends to ask some questions to the students. The teacher talk in asking question sometimes is combined with the use of the native language. In other words, she often translates what she has talked about into the native language. Second, the student talk in responding the teacher talk with the specific answer appears more frequently than the other categories. Third, there are three patterns of classroom interaction that occur in this study. They are: (1) teacher-whole class (T-SS), (2), teacher-student (T-S), and (3) student-student (S-S). From those patterns of classroom interaction, the interaction between the teacher and the student (T-S) appears more frequently than the other patterns of classroom interaction. This study offers several suggestions. First, the teacher is suggested to apply various interactive teaching techniques to make the students speak up in the classroom and asks more referential questions which require critical thinking on the part of the students. Second, the students are suggested to be more creative in thinking by using open-ended responses in the teaching and learning process