Verbal input and interaction in the english reading comprehension class of the fifth semester of the social-science program of SMAK Santo Stanislaus

Ellis claims that there are five interrelated factors to be used as a framework for investigating second language acquisition, namely situational factors, linguistic input, learner differences, learner processes, and linguistic output. Although all these five factors appear to br essential for investigating second language acquisition, Amy Tsui Bik-may claims that the kind of language input that has been made available to the learners along with the kind of interaction that they have been involved in are the two factors that have the most important effects on the second language acquisition. In a foreign language environment, Krashen claims that classroom can serve as a place where comprehensible input and modified interaction are available. What happens in reality is different from what is expected. The writer finds that most Indonesian senior high school teachers-when they are teaching English reading comprehension-seem to be unaware of the important roles played by input and interaction in facilitating learners’ second language acquisition. Attempting to analyze what has actually gone on in the reading comprehension class at senior high schools in Indonesia in general and of SMAK Santo Stanislaus in particular, the writer conducted this study which aimed at determining whether the teacher in the English reading comprehension class of the fifth semester of the social-science program of SMAK Santo Stanislaus provided the students with comprehensible verbal input or not and whether this particular teacher created modified verbal interaction in the classroom or not. Whereas from the students’ side, this study tried to determine whether the students gave the immediate output to the teacher’s input and whether they were given opportunities to initiate the classroom discourse or to respond to the teacher’s initiation. This study was a qualitatively exploratory case study under the category of the descriptive research. This study was also a replication on Amy Tsui Bik-may’s and Lanawati Widjojo’s studies in a different place for different subjects. The subjects used in this study were 40 students of the fifth semester of the social-science program taking English reading comprehension lesson at SMAK Santo Stanislaus along with their teacher. The investigation was done during the odd semester of the 1989-1990 academic year. The writer used three tape recorders and three cassettes to record the verbal input and interaction taking place in the class under investigation. The recording was done once on 10 August 1989 from 10.00 to 11.45. To analyze the patterns of verbal interaction, the verbal language input provided by the teacher and its effects on the immediate output of the students, and the modified verbal input and interaction along with their effectiveness as a means of providing comprehensible input and enhancing interaction, the data covered in the cassettes were transcribed and analyzed using the Seventeen-Category System proposed by Amy Tsui Bik-may with a slight modification as proposed by Lanawati Widjojo. On the other hand, the non-verbal input and interaction and some of the categories such as ‘marker’, ‘aside’ and the like were out of the analysis. After analyzing the data, the writer found that the teacher neither provided the students with enough comprehensible verbal input nor created enough modified verbal interaction in the classroom discourse. This was proved by the fact that though the teacher modified the verbal input, the students could not give any immediate output to the verbal input provided since the teacher used more repetitions than simplifications. The data also show that the teacher dominated the classroom talk; hence, there were only few opportunities for the students to initiate the classroom discourse as well as to respond to the teachers’ initiation. It is suggested that the teacher should know the students’ level of proficiency. This is meant to enable them to provide input which is comprehensible to the students who, in turn, will enrich the interaction taking place in the classroom. Another suggestion to be taken into consideration is that the teachers should not dominate the classroom talk all the time; instead, they should modify the verbal input and interaction to facilitate the students’ second language acquisition. It is suggested, then, that the teachers are given more chances to take the upgrading courses as to find new proper strategies for improving their teaching. The results of this study cannot be generalized and applied to a larger population as it was a case study that only concerned with a particular subjects under study. Yet, due to its useful implications in the language teaching-learning, it is highly recommended to do other similar studies but which are quantitatively more accurate of which the results can be generalized and applied to a larger population