Verbal input and classroom interaction in teaching English at SD Katolik Xaverius II (an observational study)

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 effects on the second language acquisition while Krashen claims that classroom can serve as a place where verbal input and interaction are available. Moreover, the more they acquire take part in the interaction, the more they acquire the language. In fact, what happened in the writer's own experience is different from what is expected. Attempting to analyze what has actually gone on in the English classes at SD KATOLIK XAVERIUS II in particular, the writer conducted this study. This study aimed at knowing whether the verbal input and interaction in the classes were comprehensible as well as varied or not. This study was a replication of Amy Tsui Bik-may's, Lanawati Widjojo's and Rahayu Setiawan's studies in a different place for different subject. The subjects of this study consisted of the fourth grade students and the sixth grade students along with their teacher. The former was labeled as sample A and the latter as sample B. Their verbal input and interaction were recorded at different times and in two different cassettes. The data 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. After analyzing the data, the writer found that the teacher in sample B used more comprehensible verbal input than in sample A. In both samples, the interaction did not vary because the teacher dominated the classroom talk. The data also show that the classroom talk was predominantly in the form of the teacher asking questions and the students answering them. It is suggested that the teacher in sample A should provide more comprehensible input which enrich the interaction taking place in the classroom, a starting point towards students' target language acquisition and the teacher in both samples should vary the interaction model so that the class would not be monotonous. The results of this study cannot be generalized and applied to a larger population as it was an observational study that only concerned with a particular subject under study