The Analysis of Speech Acts Used by EFL Teachers’ in Classroom Interaction at SMAN 2 Mataram in Academic Year 2021/2022

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify the types of speech acts performed by EFL teachers in classroom interaction at SMAN 2 Mataram in Academic Year 2021/2022 on the basis of Searle’s theory of speech acts and to identify the most dominant kind of speech act. This research was the descriptive-qualitative approach. More specifically this research was classified as a case study. The object of this study was the utterances uttered by the EFL teacher of SMAN 2 Mataram during the teaching and learning process. The data were in the form of words, phrases, and utterances employed by the teacher. The researcher played the role of the primary instrument in which she was involved in all of the processes of this research starting from the research design until the data report. The data were obtained through conducting observations accompanied by an audio-video recording. The data were, then, transcribed into the written form, selected to fit the objectives of the study, recorded into the data sheets, interpreted, and analyzed using the theory of speech acts proposed by Searle. The data were analyzed by using the interactive qualitative method proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994). The researcher used theoretical triangulation. The researcher compared the data of this research to the related theory. The researcher checked the data of speaker utterances based on the directive speech acts theory of Searle. The research findings show that there were four kinds of speech acts performed by the teacher, namely, directive, representative, expressive and commisive. The most frequently used speech acts were directives (70%), while the least frequent speech acts went to commisive (3%). It is because commisive performance only appears when the end of the class. Directives were mostly dominant used by EFL teacher in teaching-learning process. Asking appeared to be the most dominant speech act. The use of directives was understandable since, in restricted discourse like a classroom setting, the relation between the teacher and the students was asymmetrical in nature. The teacher’s use of asking allowed the students to participate more actively in the lesson. By giving the question, the teacher can know whether the students understand or not about the lessons learned. Meanwhile, asking was employed to check the students’ background knowledge.