Jigsaw Technique in Reading Class of Young Learners: Revealing Students’ Interaction

Traditional reading class is carried out by the teacher‟s reading the text being discussed then by some students‟ reading in turns. The classroom interaction to discuss the text is then typically teacher-centered. The teacher asks a question; the students wanting to res-pond raise their hands; the teacher calls on one student and the student called on tries to state the correct answer. This particular class-room structure can be altered to make the class more interactive by jigsaw technique. Studies related to the implementation of jigsaw technique in language classes have in fact been carried out. Most of them focused on high school settings. Although much work has been done to date, more studies need to be performed to ascertain the implementation of jigsaw technique in other settings, such as those in elementary schools. This research deals with the implementation of jigsaw technique in young learners‟ reading class, and it is aimed to reveal the classroom interaction patterns. The result shows that the students initiated the discussion by asking others to commence, volunteering themselves, or reminding others to start the discussion. The students responded one another by doing or refusing what was expected: reading, answering, or translating. The students evaluated the responses or initiations by giving correction, confirmation, other answers, or by terminating the discussion neutrally. Key words: jigsaw technique, reading, classroom interaction