THE ASSIGNMENT OF
SECOND LANGUAGE AND ACQUISITION SUBJECT
“TEACHER TALK”

BY
RAHMAT NURUDIN
07I3042038


















ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
THE FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY
2011





I. PREFACE/ INTRODUCTION
Teacher talk is particularly important to language teaching.(Cook, 2000:144). According to pedagogical theory, the language that teachers use in classrooms determines to a larger degree whether a class will succeed or not. Many scholars found teacher talk makes up around 70% of classroom language (Cook, 2000; Chaudron, 1988; Zhao Xiaohong, 1998).Teachers pass on knowledge and skills, organize teaching activities and help students practice through teacher talk. In English classrooms, teachers’ language is not only the object of the course, but also the medium to achieve the teaching objective. Both the organization of the classroom and the goal of teaching are achieved through teacher talk. In China, most people learn a foreign language in classrooms. Classroom language is the chief source of foreign language learning and in some places the only source. It functions not only as a major source of language learning but also as a tool by which a foreign language is taught. We have not learnt enough about second language acquisition (SLA), but it is believed that the language that teachers address to L2 learners will to some degree influences language learning, although how and to what degree it influences language learning still remains unclear. Since a better understanding of the use of teachers’ language can undoubtedly help students improve their learning, and students can make a better use of teacher talk to learn the target language, it is necessary to do some research on teacher talk from both theoretical and practical perspective.


In recent years, studies on the language that teachers use in language classroom has gradually drawn people’s attention, the attention paid to it has become gradually increasing both abroad and in Indonesia. In the past years, most of the researches on teacher talk have only devoted to the analysis of various phenomena about teacher talk and the objective description on teacher talk such as its characters and structure. However, few researches have explored the effects of TT on second language acquisition (SLA). TT, as a vital aspect of classroom-based language learning, is influenced by many factors. Students, though, count a significant part of teaching and learning in classrooms, have not been considered in the previous studies. It is clear that TT is influenced by many factors. As one of the important factors in language classrooms, the students, to be more exact, the students’learning needs and language proficiency can not be neglected. However, so far all the researches on TT have not taken the factor of students into consideration. After a long time classroom observation, we might find that quite a few teachers talk in classrooms. According to the teaching contents or examinations, and completely neglect the students’ learning needs. So the present study is conducted with a purpose to investigate how TT in foreign language classrooms in our country affects foreign language learning (the language is mainly English language) from a different perspective--comparing the students’ preferences towards the ideal teacher with the real TT. The specific purpose is to provide empirical evidence to the suggestion that the appropriate use of teacher talk would enhance foreign language teaching and learning, and teachers should talk consciously in classrooms. In this way, teachers can improve their language quality consciously so that English language teaching and learning can be facilitated. Although TT involves many aspects, this research just focuses on three aspects which are related closely to language learning, that is: the amount of teacher talk; teachers’ questioning; teachers’ assessment.

II. THEORiTICAL FRAMEWORK

As a critical part of classroom teaching, teacher talk did not arouse attention of academic field as early as those studies on teaching. A close study on teacher talk owes much to the development of the branch of micro-teaching -- classroom research. Classroom-centered research or classroom-originated research investigates the process of teaching and learning as they occur in classroom setting. “It simply tries to investigate what happens inside the classroom” (Allwright & Baily, 1991:3). Its aim is to identify the phenomena that promote or hamper learning in the classroom.
The growth of interest in the analysis of teacher language has been stimulated by the rejection of language teaching method as the principal determinant of successful learning. At first, the underlying assumption in teaching had been finding the right method. It was believed that the teaching effect was completely determined by the choice of teaching method. Studies such as those by Scherer and Wertheimer (1964) and Smith (1970) investigated the comparative effectiveness of methods such as grammartranslation, audio-lingualism, and cognitive code, but were not able to demonstrate that one was more successful than another (Ellis, 1985: 143). Despite the apparent differences in methodological principles, the various methods led to very similar patterns of classroom communication, with the result that the language learning outcomes were also similar.

The kind of language used by the teacher for instruction in the classroom is known as teacher talk (TT). For this term, Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines it as “that varietyof language sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching. In trying to communicate with learners, teachers often simplify their speech, giving it many of the characteristics of foreigner talk and other simplified styles of speech addressed to language learners” (Richards, 1992: 471).
Having studied the SLA for many years, Rod Ellis (1985) has formulated his own view about teacher talk: “Teacher talk is the special language that teachers use when addressing L2 learners in the classroom. There is systematic simplification of the formal properties of the teacher’s language.
studies of teacher talk can be divided into those that investigate the type of language that teachers use in language classrooms and thos that investigate in the type of language they use in subject lessons. “the language that teachers address to L2 learner is treated as a register, with its own specific formal and linguistics properties” (Ellis, 1985: 145). From the definitions, firstly we can see that teacher talk in English classrooms is regarded as one special variety of the English language, so it has its own specific features which other varieties do not share. Because of the restriction of the physical setting, special participants as well as the goal of teaching, teacher talk has its own special style. Secondly, we can see that teacher talk is a special communicative. Secondly, we can see that teacher talk is a special communicative activity. Its goal is to communicate with students and develops students’ foreign language proficiency.
Furthermore, Wong-Fillmore (1985) suggest that there are some characteristic of teacher talk that might work as input. The characteristic are :
1. The talk has clear separation of languages ( no alteration or mixing)
2. The talk emphasizes on comprehension, it focuses on communication by :
- Use of demonstration, enactment to convey meaning
- New information presented in context of known information
- Heavy message redundancy
3. The language used is entirely grammatical, appropriate to the activity by :
- Using simple structure, avoiding complex structures
- Repeating the use of some sentence pattern or routines
- Using repetitiveness, using paraphrase from variation
4. The talk use tailoring of eliciting questions to allow for different levels of participation from students
5. The talk has richness of language use, going beyond books, playfullness.

Meanwhile, Chaudron (1988) made a complete summary of teacher talk in second language classrooms. He summarizes twenty four studies involving teacher talk from different levels of study. He also compared studies of teacher talk based on the tasks and linguistic differences ( in term of phonology, lexical, sytactic and discourse differences). Chaudron stated that teacher talk in the classroom differs from speech in other context, but the differences are not systematic. The adjustment in the teacher speech to nonnative speaker learners were aimed at maintaining communication : clarifying information and eliciting learner’s response. In the term of baby talk, teacher talk, foreeigner talk show that there were attempt of native speaker to modify their speech. This modification were aimed at anabling nonnative speaker to understand the message and maintain their conversation with the native speaker.


III. DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE

Classroom observation and classroom tape-recording.
The whole process of teaching was tape-recorded to reflect what actually happens in classroom. Actually, twelve periods of lessons and 6 teachers’ classroom talk were recorded and transcribed, among which, four periods of lessons taught by 4 teachers respectively were chosen randomly. After the class, a detailed transcription of the recording was worked out and then we got a comprehensive written record of the 4 periods of lessons to be analyzed statistically. After the data were transcribed, the teacher talk was located and analyzed with regard to the three research questions which the study set out to address. The reason for choosing the case study is that classroom is a special and restricted setting. It is not possible to select so many teachers randomly to be in one class or another because of the huge task of detail analysis, and it is also impossible to control all the variables that might influence the outcome in a large-scale study.

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Script 1 :
Teaching Learning activities In the Class when teacher convey vocabulary lesson.

T : Good morning everyone?
S :Good morning sir
T :How are you today?
S :I am fine
T: Right, today i’m going to introduce you some kinds of animals........animals..... word. So that we will learn some wordsof animals....that......and.......here....there are picture ....i’m going to show you....first.....this word......we ......call that......pig...can you say that....PIG..
S : PIG...
T : that’s good
T : So, PIG.......we spell it.....P.....I.....G...PIG...!!!
S : PIG
T : can you say again...!!!..PIG
S : PIG
T : that’s very good..!!
T : Ok...one more word...this picture we call that....CAT
S : CAT...
T : Ok.....meow.....meow....
S : ( Laughing)
T: CAT.....(hehheh) we spell this word.....C....A....T......CAT...!
S : CAT
T : Can you read this word.....
S1 : CAT
T : that’s very nice.......everyone..!!!!
S : CAT
T : that’s good
T : we....one more.....just..... are very popular......popular pet in your house.....so....how do you call this one..???
S : DOG.....
T : DOG...that’s very nice....DOG...
S : DOG....!!!
T : How do you spell that?
T & S : D....O.....G
T : Again.....Please..!!!
S : DOG
T : miss....can you repeat that..!!
S2 : DOG
T : that’s very nice...!!!
T : alright...we have one more word.....HORSE....
S : HORSE....
T : we spell that.....H...O...R....S.....E.....HORSE.......
T : again....Please...!!!!
S : HORSE
T : That’s very nice......can you read this word!???
S3: HORSE
T : Ok...repeat of this..!!!
S4 : HORSE...!
All  laughing)
T : very nice...!!! good...!!
T : One more word.......one more word...!!! short word...one more really...!!( laughing)
S : (Laughing)
T : this is an interesting animal....like it......COW.....
S : COW....
T : How do you spell it..??
S & T : C.....O....W.....COW
T : again please...!!
S : COW
T : good...
S : I like a cow....(whispering)
T : One more.....One More.....TIGER....Which one do you like?
S : FUR
T : like the picture.....it is...
T : TIGER....alright....again please...!!
S: TIGER...
T : How do we spell this word...???
S : T.....I....G....E....R....
T : GREAT...!!! Great.....Again Please....!!!
S : TIGER...!!!
T : Good...!!!
T : We have two more......two more vocab....two more word....so everyone....an interesting.....an interesting picture.....what is this?
S : BIRD.....
T : Yeah....yah....BIRD.......do you like bird?
S : Yes...!!!
T : do you have any Hen?
S : No....!!!
T : but You still like that?
S : (laughing)
T : How do we spell that?
S : ...B...I...R....D
T : Oke...Very Good...B...I....R....D.......We call it bird...that’s very good...
Again.......one more word...The Last one....The last One.....here..!!!
S : FISH....
T : FISH....


Gaies (1977,1979), Henzl (1979), Long (1983b), Long & Sato (1983) observed all kinds of phenomena about teacher talk, and made some comparison between the language that teachers use in and out of language classrooms. Their main findings are as follows:
1) Formal adjustsments occur at all language levels. Henzl observed adjustments in pronunciation, in lexis, and in grammar.
2) In general, ungrammatical speech modifications do not occur.
3) Interactional adjustments occur. (Ellis, 1985:145)
Chaudron (1988:85), having investigated teacher talk for a long time and summarized some research results on teacher talk, proposed teacher talk in language classrooms tends to show the following modifications:
1) Rate of speech appears to be slower.
2) Pauses, which may be evidence of the speaker planning more，are possibly more frequent and longer.
3) Pronunciation tends to be exaggerated and simplified.
4) Vocabulary use is more basic.
5) Degree of subordination is slower.
6) More declaratives and statements are used than questions.
7) Teachers may self-repeat more frequently.

In China, some scholars observed teachers’ behavior in college English classrooms and drew the following conclusion which is similar to Chaudron’s:

1) The rate of teacher talk speed is obviously slower than the natural talk speed.
2) More and longer pauses happen between utterances.
3) Pronunciation tends to be clearer, exaggerated, higher and wider pitch range.
More stresses are used and rhythm is obvious and clear. Contracted form of language is
less used. For example, teachers use more ‘He will’ instead of ‘He’ll’ in pronunciation.
4) Basic and simply words are often used.
5) More unmarked words and structure are used. Degree of subordination is lower.
More statements and imperatives are used. More general questions are used than special
questions.
6) More self-repeat. (Hu Xuewen, 2003)
V. CONCLUSION
There are some types of signal:
(1) explicit statement or request for clarification,
(2) request for confirmation through repetition on the addresser,
(3) request for confirmation through modification of the addresser, and
(4) request for confirmation through completion or elaboration of the addresser.
The next is response, consisting of:
(1) switch to a new topic,
(2) suppliance of information relevant to the topic, but not directly responsive to addressee signal,
(3) repetition of the addressee’s modification of trigger,
(4) self modification of trigger,
(5) repetition of the addresser’s trigger,
(6) confirmation or acknowledgement of signal only, and
(7) indication of difficulty or inability to respond.
The last is follow-up moves that consist of:
(1) comprehension signal, and
(2) continuation move.

VI. APPENDIXES