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REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 2, (2019), pp.100-125

p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
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An investigation into the classroom talk of

Iranian EFL novice vs. experienced teachers
Amir Ghajarieh
Department of Language Teaching and Translation,
University of Ershad-Damavand
Author’s email ghajarieh.amir@e-damavandihe.ac.ir
Nastaran Jalali
Department of Language Teaching and Translation,
University of Ershad-Damavand
Author’s email Nastaranjalali.71@gmail.com
Mohammad-Amin Mozaheb*
Department of Foreign Languages
Language Center, Imam Sadiq University
Author’s email mozaheb.ma@gmail.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i2.100-125
Corresponding Author*
Submission Track:
Received: 29-09-2019
Final Revision: 20-11-2019
Available online: 01-12-2019
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the classroom talk of Iranian EFL novice versus
experienced teachers with emphasis on the quality of communicative features
through a linguistic lens provided by the SETT (Self-Evaluation of Teacher
Talk) framework and TTFS (Teacher Talk Functional Scale) checklist. In so
doing, 10 intermediate-level classrooms running by five novice and five
experienced teachers were observed, each case twice. Eight distinctive
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Amir Ghajarieh, Nastaran Jalali,Mohammad-Amin Mozaheb
communicative features of TT emerged upon the initial analysis of database

obtained from the audio-recordings of 20 class sessions, totaling 30 hours of
naturally generated input. Subsequently, the audio-recorded materials were
carefully transcribed and analyzed in correspondence with the observation
data in an attempt to compare how novice and experienced teachers present
their talk. The results indicated both novice and experienced teachers enact
communicative aspects of classroom talk; however, the quality of presentation
in the case of the experienced group was far better. This in turn highlights the
importance of raising awareness regarding TT features in teacher training
courses. New communicative aspects of teacher talk highlighted in this study,
including the use of L1 and language gradation, would help define new
research paths exploring the classroom discourse. Further research inspired
by this study needs to explore other aspects of teacher-student interactions in
various educational settings.
Keywords: classroom talk, teacher talk, discourse, novice teachers, teacher
education
INTRODUCTION
Teacher talk investigation in the context of language learning
classrooms has been the focal point of a fair number of studies over the past
recent years. However, such element of the classroom discourse still appears
to be far from being fully understood and the teachers’ role in EFL classroom
context may need to be reconsidered (Rahmani Doqaruni, 2017). According to
Walsh (2002), teachers have been mostly criticized over their excessive TTT
(Teacher Talking Time). Additionally, in-service and pre-service courses have
suggested teachers to reduce their talking time. Thus, the focus was on quantity
rather than quality of how teachers communicate in the classroom. As he
mentioned (2002, p.4), this has to be otherwise; that is “the focus should be on
quality rather than quantity by recognizing the relationship between language
use and pedagogic purpose”.
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Upon addressing the dominance of teaching methods as the only route

to successful language learning, research into the communicative features of
language teaching in the post-method era has gain prominence in recent
decades. Prior to such a turning point and paradigm shift in the language
teaching disciple, the underlying assumption in language teaching
predominantly revolved around how one could find the “right method”. For
instance, Scherer and Wertheimer (1964) investigated the comparative
effectiveness of various methods such as grammar translation, audio-
Lingualism, and cognitive code, but they could not pin down which
methodology had more priority over others (Ellis, 1985, p.143, 2015).
Despite the outward differences of these language teaching methods in
their basic principles, they led to very similar patterns of classroom
communication and their plausible language learning outcomes were to a great
extent similar to one another. Emphasizing method as the basic principle was
revisited by researchers in language learning and practical teaching line of
research given that they began to make the assumption that the major variable
affecting SLA (Second Language Acquisition) was the classroom interaction.
As Ellis (1985, 2015) mentioned, “an offshoot of the comparative method
studies, then, was to direct researchers’ attention to the process of classroom
interaction by collecting language data from the classroom itself”. Further, he
contended the classroom process has different forms; namely, interaction
analysis, teacher talk and discourse analysis. In terms of his assumptions, all
classroom processes, including giving instructions, asking questions, providing
feedback, are in close contact with teacher talk and hence, an important part of
classroom research.
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According to Aisyah (2016, p.64), “teacher talk is a big influence on

students’ understanding and acquisition of a language. Students can learn a lot
from the talk that the teacher gives, both in first and foreign language.”
Teacher talk in communicative framework of post-method era

With the demise of method in language teaching, as Stern notes,
“several developments indicate a shift in language pedagogy away from the
single method concept as the main approach to language teaching” (1983, p.
477). Teachers and students as the main players in classroom interaction took
the center stage in the post method era with research into communicative
aspects of classroom interaction gaining prominence in recent decades (e.g. see
Incecay, 2010; Sert, 2013). No one can deny the role of teachers in constructing
and leading the classroom interaction, particular their active participation in
any talk around the text and classroom discussions. While in the post method
era, teachers’ cognitions and perceptions concerning language teaching have
been investigated in quite a number of studies, various aspects of their
performance in class and the discourses produced in interactions with students
would appear to require further detailed analysis due to the humanistic nature
of teaching and training that influence the mind and behavior of language
learners in the classroom context.
Teaching process and classroom interaction without examining
teachers' behavior--in particular the characteristics of teacher talk--is
incomplete. Teacher talk is what every learner can intrinsically benefit from
the moment he/she steps in class. The quality of such medium in an educational
setting would arguably be influential in the case of the learners as many of
whom consider the teacher as a trustable source of language knowledge and
frame of reference in debates and issue brought up in class. A growing number
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of studies, including Tsui, (2003) and Akbari and Tajik (2012), have
investigated experienced and novice teachers' talk in the literature. However,
previous studies on teacher talk were mostly focused on experienced teachers
(Asik & Gonen, 2016) with just a few aimed at highlighting the crucial factor
in in-experienced EFL teachers (e.g. Rahmani Doqaruni, 2017). Additionally,
few (if any) of these studies analyzed the teacher talk through the linguistics
lens with emphasis on both teachers' cognition and behavior. As such teacher
talk should be studied in detail to identify how various factors, including
experience, can affect teacher performance in an EFL context.
Teacher talk categories
Many researchers focus on various features of teacher talk classified

into different categories. For instance, in 1970 Flander developed a system of
interaction analysis (FIAC) with emphasis on how teacher talk can be viewed
in seven categories and two sub-categories of indirect influence as well as
direct influence. Indirect influence embodies accepting feeling, appraisal,
accepting students’ ideas and asking questions. Direct influence is divided into
giving directions and lectures as well as criticizing authority.
Each of these categories has different functions and affects students.
Hence, using the right portion of these categories would lead to an effective
teaching and learning process (Aisyah, 2016). A while after Flanders’ (1970)
study, Maskowitz (1971) developed ‘Flint’ system standing for the foreign
language interaction system that encompasses all of the categories in the
Flanders’ classification along with a number of other dimensions. She
developed the new model to describe another interaction analysis instrument
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for the foreign language classroom and to assess nonverbal communications as

well as the quantity of student and teacher talk in the target language.
Describing her model, she emphasized nonverbal behavior adopted by the
teacher. For instance, when the teacher without saying a word calls on students
by merely pointing at them or using the head nodding to have them speak. It
can be asserted that this is the main difference comparing Flint model with
FIAC model.
Walsh’s (2006a) SETT framework is founded upon social
constructivist theory has roots in conversation analysis with the SETT standing
for Self-Evaluation of Teacher Talk. The model used in the analysis of
classroom discourse mainly focuses on teacher-fronted classrooms,
highlighting the relationship between teacher talk quality and learners’
contribution in an EFL context. Additionally, it suggests that a relationship
exists between teacher talk and pedagogic purposes.
Walsh (2006a) holds the classroom context cannot stand in isolation
and that context is shaped by participants and through interactions with
pedagogic objectives. The term ‘mode’ (Walsh, 2006b, p.62) is defined as an
L2 classroom micro context which has pedagogic goals and interactional
features determined by the teachers’ use of language. Walsh’s model provides
a descriptive system which teachers can apply to understand interactional
processes in their own classrooms. The SETT framework (Walsh, 2006a,
p.140) is identified by four patterns of modes; namely, “managerial mode,
material mode, classroom context mode and skill and system mode.”
A thin number of Iranian researchers such as (Poorebrahim, et al., 2015;
Shamsipour & Allami, 2012), divided teacher talk features in two categories
of constructive (encouraging) and obstructive (interfering). According to their
investigations constructive features of teacher talk based on observations and
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visual-recordings contain confirmation check, scaffolding, direct error

correction, content feedback, extended wait-time, referential questions and
display questions. Obstructive features also encompass the areas of teacher
echo, teacher interruption and turn completion (Poorebrahim et al., 2015).
English Language Teacher Talk Functional Scale (TTFS) was another
model developed and validated by Iranian researchers (Khany & Malmir,
2017). The scale is aimed at developing a teacher talk analysis tool whose items
are confined to the ELT (English Language Teaching) classroom for “lack of
an existing assessment tool” (p. 39). One of the advantages of their scale over
other similar models is that it can be used for classroom interactions which are
not necessarily led by teachers (see appendix A and appendix B representing
TTFS developed by Khany and Malmir (2017) founded on major components
of TT from the literature).
A growing body of literature on the classroom discourse with a focus
on novice and experienced teachers has been carried out (e.g. Doganay &
Ozturk, 2011; Fereitas, Jimenez & Mellado, 2004; Melnick & Meister, 2008;
Rahmani Doqaruni 2017). One of these recent studies, Rahmani Doqaruni
(2017), compared novice and experienced teachers to scrutinize emerging
communicative features in their talk. He utilized audio-recorded materials and
semi-structured interviews, with the findings suggesting that the classroom
behavior of experienced teachers is more stable and less variable. Furthermore,
the study noted that due to the confrontation of experienced teachers with
different teaching contexts, they have become more aware of the details that
can affect their performance as a teacher.
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
With regard to the importance of intersection between teacher talk and
teacher training course for pre- and in-service teachers, this study is an attempt
to investigate distinctive communicative features of teacher talk through a
linguistic lens provided by the SETT framework and TTFS checklist with the
teaching experience focused as the potential influencing variable. For the
purposes of this study, the following research questions have been adopted:
1. What are the distinctive communicative features of an

experienced teacher versus a novice teacher based on recurring patterns of
teacher talk?
2. How such distinctive communicative features can affect the
quality of teacher talk in terms of experience?
RESEARCH METHOD
In this study, ten teachers hired at Safir English Institute, located in

Iranian capital city of Tehran were selected as the study cases for further
investigation and exploration in the classroom talk research area. Prior to their
recruitment at Safir Institute, all teacher cases had attended and passed pre-
service training courses. It is also worth noting that they taught intermediate-
level English courses and were categorized as novice and experienced teachers.
Upon examine the related studies, in the case of teacher education,
experienced teachers had at least four to five years of experience (e.g.,
Gatbonton, 1999; Tsui, 2003) and were coded as ET1, ET2, ET3, ET4 and ET5
in the present study. Novice teachers were those who had just completed their
training or they had less than four years of experience. This group of teachers
was coded as NT1, NT2, NT3, NT4 and NT5. All teachers were female with
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five of whom having related educational background holding a Bachelor's

and/or Master's in English Language Teaching. Teachers were not fully aware
that one of the researchers intended to examine distinctive communicative
features of experienced versus novice teachers and were simply informed that
the study aimed to investigate their talk.
A further note on the cases of this study is that ET1, ET2, ET3, ET4
and ET5 possessed teaching experience of over ten, seven, nine, ten and six
years of experience, respectively. Whereas NT1-NT5 had the teaching
experience ranging from one to three years. Ten intact EFL classes were chosen
for this study, each consists an average of ten students signing up for
intermediate level English courses. All the classrooms were equipped with high
quality video cameras. When need be, one of the authors checked the videos.
While the main instrumentations in this study were audio recorded material
and the observation, one of the authors made use of a checklist developed by
Khany and Malmir (2017) to further validate the observation data. Moreover,
an interview was conducted with a supervisor at Safir Institute regarding pre-
service courses organized by the managing board at the language teaching
center.
Instruments and procedure
This study rests upon a corpus obtained from observation of twenty

class sessions run by novice and experienced teachers with the number of
session being a “reasonable sample size” in a wide array of similar studies. One
of the authors observed ten classes each of them twice, with five+five running
by novice and experienced teachers. Additionally, in term of data collection
procedure, this study took the following measures. Initially, each classroom
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was observed twice by a validated checklist developed by Khany and Malmir

(2017) (See appendix A& B) with each session lasting for 90 minutes.
Additionally, a voice recorder was placed near each teacher in order to
record the teacher’s voice clearly and capture the classroom interaction. All
classes at Safir Institute are equipped with video cameras capturing high
quality visual data. The researchers accessed such data in case of more
clarification. Nevertheless, the major portion of data was gathered through
audio recorded materials alongside observations. As mentioned earlier, this
study is a case study and “one of the advantages is its unobstructiveness; the
presence of the observer does not influence what is being observed” (Ary et
al., 2014, p. 489). The observer did not interrupt the flow of communication
occurring in each observed class, instead she silently auditing classrooms while
taking notes if need be.
First step taken towards finding answers of research questions was to
analyze audio recorded materials and results obtained from each observed
classroom. By so doing, data in its entirety were transcribed followed by
identification of distinctive communicative features that emerged in novice and
experienced teachers’ talk. Distinctive communicative features were analyzed
and categorized based on the SETT (Self-evaluation of Teacher Talk)
framework (Walsh, 2006a).
RESULTS & DISCUSSION

The first research question adopted in this study deals with the
distinctive communicative features of experienced versus a novice teacher
based on recurring patterns of TT. The SETT framework (self-evaluation of
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teacher talk) developed by Walsh (2006a), was adopted for the purposes of this
study.
The SETT is a comprehensive framework aimed at evaluating the
interface between language in use and its possible pedagogic purpose in a
classroom micro-context called ‘mode’ (Walsh, 2006a). Different teacher talk
features were developed by Walsh among which 6 features were chosen to fit
the obtained data in this study based on the preliminary analysis of recurring
themes in teacher talk.
Different types of communicative features were coded into one of the
following patterns:
1. Display questions
2. Referential questions
3. Direct and indirect repair
4. Negotiation of meaning through clarification request and repetition
5. Content and form-focused feedback
6. Extended wait time
7. Language grading
8. Teachers use of first language
This typology was developed based on SETT and TTFS, with this study
further analyzing some other features as contributions to these models. Two of
the authors acted as the raters of the coded data, and the high index for inter-
rater reliability for the two was established (.90) using Cohen's Kappa. It is also
notable that in seeking to ensure the raters have not imposed any ideology
based on coded categories, thematic analysis was used to identify recurring themes
emerging from the data.
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Table 1. Coded themes investigated in teacher talk ( Walsh, 2006;

p.,141)
Features of Teacher Description

Talk
A 1 Reformulation (rephrasing a learner’s

Scaffolding contribution)
2 Extension (extending a learner’s
contribution)
3 Modeling (providing an example for
learner(s))
B Direct Correcting an error quickly and directly.
repair
C Content Giving feedback to the message rather the words
feedback used.
D Extended Allowing sufficient time (several seconds) for
Wait-time students to respond or formulate a response.
E Genuine questions to which the teacher does not

Referential know the answer.
questions
F Seeking Teacher asks a student to clarify something the
student has said.
clarification Student asks teacher to clarify something the
teacher has said.
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G Extended Learner turn of more than one utterance.

learner
turn
H Teacher Teacher repeats teacher’s previous utterance.
echo Teacher repeats a learner’s contribution.
I Teacher Interrupting a learner’s contribution.
interruptions
J Extended Teacher turn of more than one utterance.
teacher
turn
K Turn Completing a learner’s contribution for the learner.
completion
L Display Asking questions to which teacher knows the
questions answer.
M Form- Giving feedback on the words used, not the

focused message.
feedback
The second research question refers to the impact of teachers’

experience on the quality of teacher talk with regard to communicative
features. Investigating eight features of teacher talk revealed that experienced
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teachers are generally better in terms of quality of their talk. Moreover, the
findings of the research suggest that these TT features should be taught to
novice teachers as well as experienced teachers in pre-service teacher training
program which helps teachers to improve their performance, in this regard
Safir Institute had asked for the findings of this research. In order to address
the second research question concerning how such distinctive communicative
features could reveal the experience of teachers, this study analyzed data
gained from observation sessions and recorded materials. The following sub-
sections present the results of this study.
Analysis of display questions

Grounded on data obtained from observation and recorded materials,
one can argue that both novice and experienced teachers made use of display
questions in a wide range of modes or micro-contexts, particularly while
checking their students’ comprehension, mostly in the reading tasks.
Below is an excerpt from teacher talk in a classroom run by a novice
teacher
NT1: what is the meaning of “make an effort” here?
St: I don’t know
NT1: Ok, read the text again and try to guess the meaning.
An example of display question in experienced teacher talk:

ET2: what do we call people who travel a lot?
St: Travelholic? (students laugh)
ET2: (Teacher made more examples) for example Marco polo or Ibn
Battuta
St: …
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ET2: They love to travel we call them “globetrotter”

St: Globetrotter?
ET2: yes (with an enthusiastic voice) globetrotter
Both examples mentioned above were instances of display questions
with the teachers knowing the answers. Yet the example provided by the
experienced teacher appears to be far better in terms of quality, representing
more lexical items and repetition technique. One can see the experienced one
elaborated more and gave examples to get the idea across well to the students.
Thus, it can be argued that this is a favorable communicative feature emerging
in the talk of an experienced teacher due to her teaching experience.
Analysis of referential questions
In the analyzed data, both groups of novice and experienced teachers
frequently used referential questions to ensure comprehension with their
students. Below are two excerpts from novice and experienced teachers while
utilizing referential questions in their talk:
Excerpt from novice teacher
NT3: What do you think you will be doing 5 years from now?
St: I think I’ll be…um… I’ll be working in my own company
NT3: your own company?
St: yes, my own company
Excerpt from experienced teacher

ET4: Ladies? Is there any of these singers you wish you had been to
their concerts in the past?
St: Yes, yes, Amr Diab, he has a wonderful voice
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ET4: What would you have done if you had been to their concert?
(then she asked them to discuss this in groups)
The underlined questions in the above excerpts indicate how
referential question are represented in the case of both novice and experienced
cases analyzed in this study. Whilst both teachers used referential questions,
experienced teacher continued the example with group work and continued the
task with learner/ learner interaction. Such feature did not exist in the case of
in-experienced teachers.
Analysis of direct and indirect repair
Both groups of teachers mostly gave direct feedback on the students’
pronunciation errors. Nevertheless, it was identified that some novice teachers
either ignored the students’ grammatical errors while speaking or corrected
them on the spot. For instance, in the case of NT5 below, “very much cars”
was a sentence produced by a student which the teacher corrected its mistake
directly and immediately. Yet, most of the experienced teachers wrote their
students’ errors on a piece of paper so as not to distract them while speaking,
and at the end of each session they put their students' errors on the board,
indirectly corrected them with the help of the learners. Direct error correction
may seem far less time-consuming and the teacher opts for a very open and
direct approach to error correction as preferred by their learners. Safir Institute
seemingly took an opposing view on this issue and most teachers in their
classes were trying to correct errors indirectly, which based on Walsh's (2002)
assumptions reduces interruption and maintains the flow.
An excerpt of a novice teacher illustrating the direct repair

St: Very much cars
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NT5: there were many cars (she interrupted the student and explained
that “very” is used for adjectives and car is a noun)
An excerpt of an experienced teacher illustrating the direct repair

St: She want [sic] to went to the party
ET4: (remains silent and just takes notes, when all students finished
speaking then she wrote their mistakes on the board and asked them to identify
mistakes and correct them).
Negotiation of meaning through clarification request and repetition
Observations and recordings indicate that both novice and
experienced teachers negotiate meanings during their instruction as a
communicative feature of TT emerging in an L2 classroom micro context
(Walsh, 2006a). Clarification request and repetition as a way of meaning
negotiation were frequently used by both groups. Although experienced
teachers sometimes moved beyond the classroom subject and discussed the
students’ favorite topics, including books and movies, to engage them in
negotiation of meaning and interaction. This seemingly reflects the novice
teachers’ inclination to the content of the book rather than other subjects.
An example of repetition in a novice teacher talk:

St: All about his brave
NT4: All about his bravery?
St: yes, bravery
NT4: bravery that’s it
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An example of clarification request in an experienced teacher

classroom:
ET2: What is it about?
St: It’s a movie
ET2: about what? (a clarification request by the teacher)
St: Music, It’s musical
In the above example, ET2 asked “about what” to elicited more
clarification on the part of the student thereby making a connection between
the content of the book and the student’s personal experience beyond the
classroom context, which could lead to more learner involvement.
Experienced teachers mostly sought for clarification about subjects
beyond the content of the book. In this way, they could engage students with a
real communication. Otherwise, the focus of novice teachers was to a great
extent on the content of the book. Nunan (1987, p. 144) highlights that “there
is growing evidence that, in communicative classes, interaction, may in fact,
not be very communicative after all and there is also the feeling that the only
real communication between learners takes place during the break or after the
class”.
Content and Form-Focused Feedback
Both novice and experienced teachers participating in this study
demonstrated some level of focus on the message rather than form, though it
appeared that the experienced teachers’ emphasis on content was more
obvious. “Feedback on content involves responding to the content of what
learners are saying rather than commenting solely on the form” (Haydarova,
2018). In most cases, they tried not to interrupt students for correcting their
grammatical errors. In the case of grammatical problems on the part of students
they solely took notes. This is consistent with what Thornbury (1996) asserted
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as regards content-focused feedback which is one of the communicative

features of teacher talk.
Analysis of extended wait-time
Experienced teachers appeared to be more patient during the Q&A
tasks. After asking questions they waited for a few seconds, allowing the
student to think and process in their mind. The novice teachers, on the other
hand, allowed less than enough wait time. While, this was not true in the case
of all observed novice teachers, most of them had this problem. One can, thus,
argue that such issue may be due to their unawareness concerning the
importance of this communicative feature in teacher talk. Extended wait-time
by teachers can lead to more learner involvement which supports similar
findings by Huan and Wang (2011). Additionally, it can increase the number
of students’ responses and lead to more complex answers as well as
learner/learner interaction (Walsh, 2002).
An excerpt showing wait time in a novice teacher’s classroom:
NT4: How do you pronounce these words? “rid” and “ride” (she wrote
these 2 words on the board, then she waited only for 2 seconds and then she
pronounced the correct form)
NT4: this is rid /rId/ and this is ride /raid/
An excerpt showing wait time in an experienced teacher’s classroom:
ET1: what kind of play it is?
St: …
ET1: What kind of play? Think about it… (wait time)
St: music?
ET1: uhu, musical (she waited and gave the student a second chance
to think more)
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In the first example NT4 asked a question from students and waited
for only 2 seconds, which was not enough for the process of thinking.
Otherwise, ET1 asked a question and said “think about it” then waited for a
longer time to give the student a second chance to think about the answer.
Analysis of language grading:

Based on one of the researcher's talk with the institute's supervisor, all
teachers at Safir Institute passed some pre-service courses which had an
emphasis on this issue; all teachers should bring their talk to the level of
students, although it does not mean that they should understand each and every
word. Observations revealed that in some cases novice teachers overused
difficult words while speaking which means that they were not aware of how
difficult their language may appear to students. This is on the same note with
Stanley and Stevenson's assertion (2017) on difficulties novice English
language teachers have with level adaptation to make their speech more
understandable to learners. But all-in-all, the teacher educators in pre-service
courses of this institute did an admirable job in highlighting language grading
consistency.
Teachers’ use of first language: One of the strictest house rules that
applies at Safir indicates none of the students or teachers are allowed to use
their first language (Persian) in the classroom. All-in-all, teachers obeyed this
rule, yet in some cases teachers spoke only one Persian word to make sure
comprehension occurred. Thus, there was not a significant difference between
novice and experienced teachers’ use of L1.
The results indicated that in terms of display and referential questions,
both novice and experienced teachers used various questions in the process of
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their teaching; however, quality of display and referential questions in

experienced teachers' talk was more acceptable. Their instruction through
asking questions was followed by more desirable examples or group work.
Indirect and direct error correction was visible in the process of giving
instruction to learners by both novice and experienced teachers. Although
novice teachers sometimes seem to be impatient about students’ errors and
corrected them on the spot; experienced ones in most cases were trying to write
students’ errors on a piece of paper and share them with all students at the end
of conversation. Students appeared to be satisfied with indirect error correction
specially in the analyzed talk relating to experienced teachers as it represented
more comprehensive examples.
Asking questions by teachers is a kind of providing input (Hasan,
2006) and it is an integral part of classroom interaction (Ho, 2005). Language
learners have an opportunity to participate in the classroom interaction when
they are asked a question. Thus, questioning plays an important role in
language acquisition (Ozcan, 2010). Also, teachers’ directed questions can
increase the amount of time for students to talk. According to Ozcan (2010)
the most important factor within an effective EFL course is students’
participation, learners need to be stimulated through questioning. Therefore,
asking questions by teachers is one of the most common methods in facilitating
students’ involvements (Ozcan, 2010).
The focus of the present study is on display and referential questions
in teacher talk, since it is an effective way which enables students to be more
productive (Bozorgian & Fallah, 2017). Moreover, Long and Sato (1983) and
Van Lier (1988) emphasized that referential questions can create discourse
which produce a flow of conversation from students to the teacher and may
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create a more communicative speech. Referential questions are questions

which the teacher does not know the answer to them or more specifically, they
do not have a particular answer and thus, they are used to create genuine
communication. Additionally, these kinds of questions have a specific purpose
of allowing students to express their opinions and exchange information (Ellis,
1994; Thompson,1997; Thornbury, 1996). Furthermore, Ozcan (2010)
indicated that referential questions encourage more learner involvement in the
classroom and the answer to such questions are not limited. Thus, students can
provide longer answers, in other words, it can increase students’ talk time.
Besides, negotiation of meaning through clarification request and
repetition were frequently used by teachers. However, experienced teachers
sometimes went beyond the classroom's main focus and discussed students’
favorite topics. Novice teachers, on the other hand, appeared to be more loyal
to the content of the book. Moreover, the focus of both groups of teachers was
mostly on the content and message rather than form owing to the outcome of
pre-service courses offered at Safir Institute.
Additionally, teachers should be aware of the relationship between
their experience and the rate of professional growth through these courses
which help teachers feel more confident about their own talk. At the end of
practical phase of this study, one of the authors shared the results with Safir
Institute and had an interview with one novice and one experienced teacher --
both teachers claiming that they were neither aware of such frameworks which
help them to evaluate their own talk, nor were they informed of TT significance
on students’ involvement.
The results of this study are in line with the findings of previous
studies on teacher characteristics and language education such as Tsui (2003)
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and Akbari & Tajik (2012) highlighting experience as an intervening fact.

Additionally, such findings are quite in harmony with the observation
that Rahmani Doqaruni (2017, p.17) made regarding the experienced
teachers in his study who "used the least number of" communication
strategies. He assumed that the difference lies, out of other possibilities
mentioned, in the teacher education program.
In terms of contributions to the theory in the teacher talk research, the

findings show the SETT framework used as the foundation of many studies in
teacher talk need to be tailed based on the context as mentioned by previous
studies (e.g. Pande, 2019). Language Grading and Teachers’ Use of First
Language were two elements that should be incorporated into the model for
future studies on teacher talk in an EFL situation.
CONCLUSION
Research into teacher talk is of noteworthy significance in the literature
on teacher education and L2 language teaching. The results of this study lead
to a more profound understanding of the teacher talk function in the classroom
discourse and would benefit pre-service teachers on how to use language and
critique their own performance particularly through the use of SEET and the
TTFS frameworks. Moreover, using these frameworks help teachers to
encourage learner involvement in the classroom. As Asik and Gonen (2016)
believe, the SETT framework helps teachers develop a more critical eye by
evaluating their use of language.
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We are aware of this study’s limitations due to investigating eight

features of teacher in experienced and novice teachers based on the data
obtained from cases focused in this study. As such there is a need to examine
other features as well, including scaffolding, turn completion and teacher echo.
Additionally, this study investigated teacher talk in ten cases recruited at Safir
Institute, other institutes and schools can be the subject of study for further
analysis. Other researchers need to conduct their research with a larger number
of participants and in various teaching contexts.
We hope to have contributed to defining new research paths that

explore the potential of communicative aspects of classroom talk in the post
method era within the language teaching discipline and teacher education
studies. New lines of research in classroom talk can also highlight the
intersection of teacher-student interaction with pre- and in-service teacher
training courses.
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A Child Language Acquisition in Indonesian and

English Language: A Longitudinal Case Study
Somariah Fitriani
University of Muhammadiyah Prof. DR. HAMKA, Jakarta, Indonesia
somariah@uhamka.ac.id
Submission Track:
ABSTRACT
Learning a dual language at the same time during early childhood has caused
the wrong perception. Its false perception makes the parents delay the start of
learning a second /foreign language. Therefore, this study aims at analyzing
the first and second language acquisition of a child in the Indonesian
Language and English. The issues concentrated on the spoken utterances in
Indonesian and English and its affecting factors. The research adopted a
qualitative approach by using a case study, as the unit analysis is a child of 3
years old. For data collection, I employed the naturalistic approach, which I
kept daily notes on the progress of a child’s linguistic and recorded the
dialogues. Since it is a longitudinal study, the research was conducted for two
years, from 2014 to 2015. The research has revealed that utterances spoken
have primarily increased and the child has already understood the commands
by following the instructions. Some concepts such as feeling, taste, color, and
numbers as well as short phrases and simple words in Indonesian and English
at the same time can be understood and uttered. She also can change the
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affirmative sentence to question in term of objects she sees in her surroundings.

Factors such as linguistic input, imitation, environment, exposure, and
language acquisition device can all affect the child’s utterance. Thus, it
indicates that two languages can be taught at the same time at an early age,
and it doesn’t cause misunderstanding or confusion.
Keywords: utterance, language acquisition, exposure, L1 and L2.
INTRODUCTION
Research about language acquisition and its development, particularly

to certain ages of children is always thought provoking to conduct. Some
previous researchers conducted research on children language acquisition and
its development including Brown (1973), Fletcher (1985) and Halliday (1975),
Dye, C., Kedar, Y., & Lust, B., 2018), Pernille (2017) and research on
developmental sequences and the process of acquisition including Ellis (1994),
Lightbown and Spada (2006). The central questions of language acquisition
and its development relate to why and how a child succeeds in acquiring
language. One of the issues of a child language acquisition is some parents’
wrong perception about delaying learning a second or foreign language to their
children at the same time (Genesee, 2008). Some common beliefs and myths
are that the children will be at high risk for academic failure if they learn two
languages at the same time (Espinosa, 2008). They believe that learning two
languages is a burden and puts children at risk for delayed, incomplete, and
possibly even impaired language development, not to mention cultural and
social anomie. Likewise, parents are mostly worried that dual language
learning may result in confusion to their children or known as language
confusion myth (Cummins, 1981; Harry, 1992).
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Some studies have found the advantages of learning two languages in

early childhood to responding to the parents' skepticism. Bialystok and Martin
(2004) and Genesee and Gandara (1999) found that the children are better at
problem solving, demonstrate greater creativity and express more tolerant
attitudes. Genesee, Boivin, & Nicoladis (1996) said that research has shown
that even toddlers in the early verbal stages of simultaneous bilingual
development know how to use their languages separately, even with strangers
they have never met before. The study also revealed that bilingual children
have equal or more productive vocabulary skills than monolingual children
(Ferjan Ramirez, Ramírez, Clarke, Taulu, and Kuhl, 2016; Hoff, et al, 2012).
Genesee, Boivin, and Nicoladis (1996) acknowledged that research has shown
that even children in the early verbal stages of simultaneous bilingual
development know how to use their languages separately, even with unfamiliar
person they have never met beforehand. Correspondingly, the graph of a
simplified schematic of second language learning shows that despite adults’
cognitive superiority, infants and young children are genius and superior
learners compared to adults (Kuhl, 2011). Under this circumstance, I attempted
to investigate and analyze a female child’s language acquisition of Indonesian
and English since she was a baby. However, the research focuses on the
linguistic development of Indonesian and English language at the age of three
years to four years old and the factors affecting the child utterances in
Indonesian and English language.
The term of language acquisition is often used to refer to the learning
of language structures or rules, especially those of grammar, phonology and
soon, whereas, the term of development usually refers to the child’s use of the
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acquired language rules and structures in a widening variety of language

contexts (Wray and Bloomer, 2006). Nordquist (2018) acknowledged that
language acquisition refers to the language development in children and second
language acquisition (also known as second language learning or sequential
language acquisition) speak of the process by which an individual learns a
"foreign" language—that is, a language other than his or her mother tongue.
Krashen (1995) added that acquisition is the subconscious assimilation of the
language without any awareness of knowing rules. He also emphasized that
acquisition is the unconscious process that occurs when an individual uses
language in real conversation and ordinary conversation (Krashen, 2003).
Brown (2007), Johnson (2004), and Heidar (2012) summarized theories
on the language nature, which indirectly indicate how a language (L1 & L2) is
acquired. The behavioral approach postulates that language is acquired
behavior through conditioning and reinforcement. The behaviorists believe in
nurture that the child’s mind at birth is like a blank state (Hoff, 2001). Based
on this approach, a child learns language from the conditioning and
reinforcement of the environment involving family members, teachers, peers,
and society as a whole. As “good imitators,” children imitate what they hear
and see, and what people say and act in their surroundings. Fromkin, Rodman,
and Hyams (2003) highlighted that imitation plays a role to some extent.
Brown (2000) also pinpoints that language learning is the result of imitation,
practice, feedback on success, and habit formation. Also, Goldstein (1984)
reported that corrected practices enhance language learning, whereas, unlike
the behaviorists, cognitivist theory of Chomsky (1965) cognitivist theory posits
that language is predominantly cognitive, mental process and rule-governed
(universal grammar) in deep and surface structures (Brown, 2007; Green &
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Piel, 2016; Heidar, 2012; Orillos, 1998; and Tahriri, 2013). Chomsky reported
that linguists have proposed that a child’s brain contains a ‘language
acquisition device,’ which embodies rules of universal grammar. Because each
language expresses these rules in slightly different ways, the child must learn
the details, given that but the basics are already in the brain (as cited in Carlson
and Buskist, 1997). Chomsky also contended that the child is born with an
innate knowledge of or the predisposition toward language and that this innate
device (the LAD or UG, universal grammar) is universal in all human beings
(cited in Brown, 1994). It means a language acquisition device is not a
“device” like a tool inserted in the brain, but it is the human’s brain where
languages are acquired.
Studies on children’s language acquisition have received sufficient
attention to linguistics discipline up to now, especially, research on how
children acquire and learn English as a second or foreign language. For
example, Mushi (2010) researched parents’ role in their children’s English
language development, in which they are from immigrant families. The study
revealed that the role of parents supported the children’s language learning.
Lin, Cheng & Wang (2018) examined the contribution of cross-language
phonological and morphological awareness of reading acquisition in bilingual
children. Tong, McBride, Ho, et al. (2018) investigated the effect of
morphological awareness to students who learn Chinese, and English. In
Korean students’ experiences, Lee & Jeong (2013) examined the Korean–
English dual language immersion program to develop bilingualism. It can be
inferred that research about children’s acquisition on both L1 and L2 is still
interesting to analyze in different countries. In the Indonesian context, a similar
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study was conducted on the acquisition of Indonesian as first language and

English as a foreign language. This study emphasized on a three-year female
child of language acquisition and her development of two languages -
Indonesian and English. Therefore, the research questions are as follows:
1. What are the spoken utterances of a child in Indonesian and English
language at the same time?
2. What factors affect her utterances?
RESEARCH METHOD
Research design
The study was to describe how a three-year-old child acquires and
learns two languages, Indonesian (L1) and English (L2) almost at the same
time and its factors affecting her language acquisition. Since the study intended
to collect the data in the form of words and sentences rather than numbers for
around two years. The research employed a qualitative approach by using a
case study method. Yin (2003) highlighted this case is essential, unique,
typical, revelatory and longitudinal. Yin (2003) also added that a case study is
an empirical inquiry investigating a contemporary phenomenon within its real-
life context. Additionally, a case study is “an in-depth study of specific
circumstances used to reduce a vast field of research into one easily
researchable topic” (Shuttleworth, 2008).
Respondent of the study
The unit analysis is a person – a child named Addien as a respondent.
She was a three-year-old when I started conducting the research. She is the first
child of two other twin siblings. She was a kind of shy girl who didn’t want to
communicate with others if she didn’t recognize them. However, when she was
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at home, she changed to be a cheerful girl who loved dancing and singing.
Besides, she was remarkably good at posing in front of the camera. Without
any doubt, every time I took pictures of her, she directly posed with many kinds
of styles. She is a girl who enjoys observing people’s speaking, particularly in
English. For example, every time she heard a word in English from me, she
could repeat it in another day in a proper way, even though I did not teach and
say the meaning of the word. On account of living with her parents, uncles,
aunties, nieces, nephew and me (who often speaks English with her), she is
exposed to two languages; Indonesian as first and dominant language and
English as a foreign or additional language. Occasionally, some others talk to
English too, such as her mother, and her auntie. But she dominantly heard
English from me.
Data procedure and analysis
It took me about two years from 2014 to 2015 to investigate, record,
and analyze the data from the child. For data collection, I adopted the
naturalistic observation which in the naturalistic approach, investigators
observe and record children’s spontaneous utterances. One type of naturalistic
investigation is the so-called diary study, in which a researcher (often a parent)
keeps daily notes on the progress of a child’s linguistic competence as stated
by Denzin and Lincoln cited in Cresswell (2007). To analyze the data, I used
Miles and Hubberman’s (2014) model, which consists of data reduction, data
display, and conclusion and drawing/verification based on existed theory. I
also analyzed the notes through the content analysis technique. While for the
credibility of data, I used triangulation to make sure that the information and
its interpretation have already been in the right one. I used two kinds of
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triangulation; 1) source data triangulation by people surrounding the

respondent, such as her parents, her aunties and her uncles; in this triangulation,
the researcher did cross-check the information; and 2) method triangulation by
observation, interview and document analysis of her writing.
RESULTS &DISCUSSION
The spoken utterances at the age of three to four years
At the age of two years old, she was taught to call her mother Ami and
her father is Papa. However, she found it difficult to call me Mami. So she
called me Mimi. She also found it difficult to utter Tante Uki, my younger
sister, so instead of Uki, she uttered ui. She also couldn’t say Tante Asih, my
other younger sister but later after around three years old she could say te Aci
and te Uki, but later in the next few months, she could utter Tante. She could
not utter her name properly by Addien. She called herself “tata Endin” instead
of Kakak Endin, since she couldn’t pronounce consonant k. But she can
recognize the letter A, indicated her name. So every time there is a word with
a letter A, she must say “Addin” with long A-and emphasized the sound stress
of din with AAAddin.
At the beginning of three years old, she always asked questions such as
Apa ini? (What is this?), Apa itu? (What is that?) Then she started asking ada
apa? (What happens?), siapa? (Who). Here is one of the example
conversations between her and me. She quite often mixed up between ini (this)
and itu (that). She just said what she saw in her surroundings and jumped from
one topic to another. When we were in the restroom, I used English to request
her to do something such as stand up, sit down; stay there and amazingly she
understood the command and did what I asked her to do. I also sometimes sang
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a song like “wash your hand, wash your face, wash your hair and wash your
lip and mouth, wash your body, your legs, and your feet (while touching her
part of the body) to be healthy, to be fresh, to be beautiful”. To make it easy, I
use a letter R as my name, a researcher and A as Addien to show the dialog or
conversation.
R: Stand up
A: (follow my instruction)
R: Sit down
R: brush your teeth
A: (she took toothbrush from hands and brushed her teeth)
R: Do you want to use this? (Point to the soap)
A: Apa? (What?)
R: Merem, close your eyes
A: (follow my instruction) (DATA 1)
Remarkably, I never used the word “merem” to her but she could do it.
She might get it from someone else. She could also tell the story to her mom
with uncompleted sentences, especially after returning from shopping or going
out somewhere with me. Here is the dialog between Addien and her mother
(M).
M: Kakak Addien dari mana? (Where have you been?)
A: lihat balon (seeing balloon)
M: ada berapa balonnya? (How many balloons are there?)
A: banyak sekali (a lot, while raising her both hands up and making the
circle)
M: ngapain lagi? (What else?)
A: banyak anak anak. Main, mam ayam ice cream (A lot of children,
play, eat chicken, ice cream)
M: senang nggak? (Are you happy?)
A: ya
M: mau kesana lagi (Do you want to go there again?)
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A: Mauuuu (with long u) (I want) (DATA 2)
Since she started to produce some words, there are some words that she
never wanted to change even the family corrected again and again. For
example, the word yeye means gendong (carry on the back or hip). Every time
she wanted me to carry her, she always said yeye. Other words are mam means
makan (eat) abab means Allahuakbar indicating to take prayer. Mimi Iyah mau
abab ya? (When I was about to take a prayer), nen means asking for milk,
momon means Dora Emon (Japanese character), pupu pupu means Kupu kupu
(butterfly).
After dressing up, she wanted to go outside and I gave the wrong sandal
to her and she said: Salah (it’s wrong), Mimi Iyah. And then she saw a bike
falling and said “jatuh sepedanya.” She saw fish food and said “ ini mam ikan”
(Should be itu), “kakak kasih Ikan mam.” Other example dialogue is shown in
another day when she wanted to eat rambutan.
A: Mimi Iyah, ada rambutan (point to rambutan)
R: (I gave rambutan to her)
A; Kakak Endin mam rambutan (while eating rambutan)
R: ini punya siapa? (Whose rambutan is this?)
A: kakak Endin
A: ini nggak enak (not delicious while pointing to Duku)
A: mau pipis (I want to pee) (DATA 3)
After playing a game on I Pad with her cousin, Zein, she saw a sign of battery
and said:
A: “ ini udah abis, cas (Charge) dulu” (it’s out of battery, needs to be
charged)
A: “ini kotor, Zen no! (This is dirty)
A: “kakak Endin udah naik kereta api”(Kakak Endin took the train)
A: “abang Zein belum naik kereta api (Abang Zein hasn’t taken train yet)
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A: “abang Zein, no! (DATA 4)
One day after our dialogue she saw a butterfly and said “ itu sayap”
(that’s wing) but she tried to think first, it seemed that she tried to recall her
memory before producing the word “itu sayap.” She has also already expressed
her opinion and her feeling about taste. When I gave her a black bucket to soak
her body in the bathroom, she asked me a red one and said: “jelek” (ugly)
pointing to a black bucket.
She can give me praise too by saying “Mimi Iyah yang cantik.” (Mimi
Iyah is beautiful). When I asked my sister, she often said “Kakak Addin yang
cantik” One day in the evening when I was watching television, she carried her
teddy bear doll and said with a sad face, knowing the word “mati”, (dead) that
surprised me.
A: “papa Abu mati Mimi Iyah” (Papa Abu is dead. She called her teddy
bear with papa Abu even though the color is brown)
R: tidak mati, Papa Abu bobo (no dead, but sleeping)
A: oh bobo
R: iya, disayang ya (well, love him)
A: (hug the teddy bear) (DATA 5)
She often shows her high curiosity as well by asking a question, for
instance when I got a phone call by saying “siapa Mimi Iyah.” (Who is it?)
When I talked to someone in my graduation day, she said “ ada apa Mimi
Iyah.” (What happens?). When I got angry with my nephew and she heard my
voice from the room, she was in a rush going out said too “ ada apa Mimi
Iyah.” Sometimes I explained to her, but sometimes I just said “nggak ada apa
apa.” (Nothing happens). When I explained, she pretended to understand and
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said “oh.” Even to her aunty, every time her aunty returns from work, she
always asks what her aunty brings to her.
A: anti Asih bawa apa? (What do you bring?)
Aunty: bawa roti (I bring bread)
A: roti apa? (What bread?)
Aunty: roti coklat (Chocolate bread)
A: kakak Adin suka coklat. (I love Chocolate bread) (DATA 6)
Every time she finishes her activity, she quite often reports what she
has just been doing and pretending to do something like below dialogue.
A: Mimi Iyah, kakak Endin udah makan (I have eaten). (I am in front of
laptop
typing)
R: Kok cepat banget (so quickly)
A: Silent (it seems she doesn’t know to how to answer)
R: Makan apa? (What do you eat?)
A: Telor cepok (sunny side up eggs)
A: Kakak Endin mau photo booth (I want to take picture using photo
booth, application in I Pad)
A: Entar dulu ya Mimi Iyah mau kerja. (Wait a minute, I want to work)
R: (silent)
A: Adek mau bando nggak (Do you want bandana? showing a cartoon
bandana to Maryam, her cousin who is still a baby of 6 months old).
A: Mimi Iyah, Endin mau photo booth, itu ada tuh photo booth nya
(A few times said the same thing)
R: Sebentar ya, just a minute
A: a few minutes later
A: Mimi Iyah, Adik kembar bobo (Twin sisters are sleeping)
A: Mimi Iyah mau photo booth (DATA 7)
Finally, I let her sit in front of my laptop and she started to play a photo
booth, after about 2 minutes she got bored and I started to type again.
A: es cream, es cream (she shouted ice cream and played with Zein while
holding a drumstick)
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A: Mimi Iyah, ambil es cream (Please take ice cream, she pointed a drum
stick in front of me)
R: ini bukan es cream (this is not ice cream)
A: pura puranya es cream. (Pretend to be ice cream; I was amazed by
how she can say such a thing)
A: es cream es cream (she was shouting and laughing together with Zein)
A few minutes she saw Zein sitting on her younger sister, Maryam)
A: Mimi Iyah, Adikknya ditindihin. (Zein is sitting on Maryam)
A: diam nggak, nanti nggak diajak ke Tip top (Please be quiet, I won’t
take you to Tip Top supermarket while talking to zein)
A: Kakak Addien marah nih.( I am angry, She often says this thing to
Zein with protruding eyes, and loud voice) (DATA 8)
She often says “mana ya Mimi Iyah” (Where is Mimi Iyah) while
closing her eyes and wandering to look for me. Her mother often plays this
game to her. And she does it to me too. From some examples of the above
dialogues, it can be inferred that at the age of three to four year, she can produce
a complete sentence with some correct grammatical structure and able to create
many consonants correctly with all vocal sounds. She can also develop the
questions by using ini apa? (What is this), become ada apa? (What’s up), and
siapa? (Who is it?). Surprisingly, she could also change it’s a towel with is it
a towel? And point to other things by saying is it a towel? I said no, it is a tap,
it is a tub, etc.
At the age of three, Addien has already understood some concepts,
either in Indonesian or English since her mother and I use English when
communicating with her so that she can use Indonesia and English at the same
time.
1. The concept of part of the body:
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She understands when I say “which one is your nose, eye, ear, hair?” she
can point her part of the body but she can speak only nose, ear and eye.
Her mother has introduced her some part of the body particularly around
her face since she was about two years old and reinforced by me
especially when she takes a bath, such as a nose, eye, hair, and lips.
2. The concept of numbers: 1 -10 in English and Indonesian.
She can follow and repeat what I say about the number in Indonesian and
English. She memorizes number 1 to 5 either in Indonesian or English at
first but later on, she can say until 10. She also knows the number of
things, for example, two things or 4 things. Her mother put pictures of
animals, transportation, numbers, and fruits on the walls to make her
accustomed to seeing the objects.
3. The concept of feeling and taste.
She knows and understands the feeling of sadness, and happiness and
taste of food, sakit (sick), gatel (itchy), capek (tired), tidak enak (not
delicious), pedas (spicy), bau (smell bad) and wangi (fragrant) (especially
after using perfume or taking bath)
4. The concept of colors
The name of the color that she knows firstly is in English, that’s why
every time we ask what color is, she can answer red, merah, pink, but
when saying blue, he says lue or, biru. It seems she understands that red
is merah, blue is biru. But until almost four years old, she finds it difficult
to pronounce purple. So the colors she knows until now are blue, pink,
purple, red, green, brown and white.
5. The concept of animals
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The first time she utters fish with unyu unyu but later after we said that it
is fish, she changes it. But once after almost a year she never said unyu
unyu as a fish, one day she said that again. She knows some animals and
able to differentiate in English like fish, dog, cat, and horse. In Bahasa
Indonesia, she knows cicak (lizard), kucing (Cat), Gajah (Elephant),
capung (dragonfly),tikus (Mouse), semut (Ant).
6. The concept of objects
The first object she introduces is an umbrella, that’s why every time she
sees an umbrella; she must say “umbela.” Since she always sees me
making up, she knows some cosmetic terms such as lipstick, eye shadow,
bedak, (powder) shampoo, sabun (soap). Other things are piring (plate),
gelas (glass), sendok (spoon), botol (bottle), hand phone, remote control,
laptop, IPad, tas (bag). She also can differentiate between hand phone and
iPhone, between tablet and IPad.
7. The concepts of fruits
Some fruits that she can utter and recognize are rambutan, pisang
(banana), manga, papaya, melon, duku, jeruk (orange) since those fruits
are consumed regularly. She loves rambutan and banana very much.
8. The concepts of transport
She is familiar with some transport both in English and Indonesian such
as mobil, car, sepeda, pesawat, bis, bajay, odong odong, kereta api, train.
Even she cannot respond or reply to my questions in English, and it seems

she understands the meaning, like the below dialogue.
R: Put this bottle in the kitchen and wash it ok
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A: No
R: Sudah ketemu adik kembar (have you met twin sisters) and kiss?
A: No
R: Take it (a bottle on the floor) and put it on the table
A: (she took it and put it on the table) (DATA 9)
I was in the bedroom doing my work, when she was crying and saying
“Mimi Iyah” (the previous night, she slept in her mother’s bedroom), and I
opened the door seeing her going back to her room.
R: ada apa kakak Addien? (What happen?)
A: (she was still crying)
R: (I held her hand to go to my bedroom)
R: Kakak mau ikut ke kampus? (Do you want to come with me to
campus?)
A: (nod her head)
R: ok drink your milk and sleep first
A: (she lied her body on the bed while drinking a bottle of chocolate
milk)
R: (I continued typing)
A: mau mandi (I want to bathe)
R: sebentar ya, Mimi Iyah lagi nonton. (Wait a minute, I am watching)
A few minutes later after the movie ended
A: Mimi Iyah, mobil sudah dibetulin ama papa. (Car is already fixed by
Papa)
R: (I just nodded my head and took her to the bathroom)
A: Kakak Addien mau pakai sabun ini, sabun orang gede
(I want to use this soap, adult’s soap)
R: (I was washing clothes)
A: Mimi iyah pinter ya, Kakak Addien juga pinter (You are smart, I am
smart too. She took her panty and washed it)
A: Kakak Addien mau abab (means “sholat” take prayer)
(She followed my acts taking “wudhu.”)
R: ok stay there (after finishing her bath, I took a towel in a bedroom)
A; handuk baru ya! (New towel isn’t it?)
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R: ya (I took her to my bedroom), Mimi Iyah sholat dulu ya (I want to

pray first)
A: ya
R: kakak mau nonton Barbie? (I want to watch Barbie)
A: ya, itu kakak Addien udah punya, bisa terbang (I have Barbie’s movie,
she can fly)
(Barbie movie: a super girl who can fly) (DATA 10)
One day when she was playing and asking me to help her pretend she
was almost falling and she shouted “hep” means “help” since I said “help” a
few times to her and pretended to nearly falling. It seems that she saw what I
was doing and repeated it the action.
When she was about to go outside and asked Abang Zein to come with her, she
said: “come on bang Zein.” And every time I asked her to kiss her twin sister,
she directly kissed them or sometimes she said “no.” So far there are more
than 20 English words she can utter and produce from the simple ones of one
word such as, “ok,” “yes,” “no” “kiss” until two words such as come on, take
it, let’s go. She could produce a long sentence too, for instance, when we went
out to the pool after jogging, she could say a long sentence. “Wow, it’s so
beautiful, oh my God, come on Abang. Let’s go. Take a picture”.
Based on the above data, it can be concluded that a child of three to
four years old can utter and produce the second language in the early childhood
and she has some extent a good understanding of the meaning of the English
words as well. Thus, the use of two languages at the same time can be learned
without getting confused to differ the two languages. Lightbown (2008)
summarized that the children in early childhood have capability of acquiring
two or more languages. Genesee (2008) pointed out that no scientific reason to
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believe that the brains of young infants are equipped to learn only one language
in early childhood. Genesee (2002) and Lightbown (2008) also revealed that
there is no evidence that children get confused if they learn two languages
during the infant-toddler period. Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson (2003) even
emphasized the importance of rich learning environment to become fully
bilingual children. In this context, the researcher uses two languages in the
same sentence, which is referred to as code mixing or code switching to ensure
her understanding, especially if she seems unsure about the meaning of the
word.
The factors affecting her utterances
Linguistic Input
The role of input affects a child’s language development. Children, who
do not receive input or exposure to a language, will not develop their linguistic
ability normally. This linguistic input is called “positive evidence” as a part of
the language aspect discussed by Pinker (1995), which refers to the information
available to the child, about which strings of words are grammatical sentences
of the target language. Fromkin, Robert and Hyams (2003) contended
“Children who do not receive linguistic input during their formative years do
not achieve native-like grammatical competence.” Lenneberg (1967) called
the formative years as a critical age hypothesis that is a part of the biological
basis of language that the ability to learn a native language develops within a
fixed a period, from birth to puberty. During this critical period, language
acquisition proceeds easily, swiftly, and without external intervention
(Fromkin, Robert and Hyams, 2003). However, variation in input quantity (i.e.,
the amount of language children hear) significantly affects children’s
acquisition (Weisleder and Fernald, 2013). In addition, variation in input
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quality plays a role as well. Some important indicators of quality include the
use of decontextualized language, lexical diversity and properties of verbal and
nonverbal interaction (Hirsh-Pasek, et al., 2015; Rowe, 2012; Rowe, et al,
2016)
In the case of Addien, since she lives with a lot of immediate families
(there are eight adults altogether) and gets a lot of exposure either in Indonesian
and English (mostly from the researcher), her linguistic ability develops a lot.
Her utterances are like most normal children who start producing one word,
two words and more complete sentences consisting subject, verb, and noun or
adverb either in affirmative sentences or questions. She can understand what
people say and act, utter the words, produce the sentences, and respond to
people in her surrounding, even to the activities she watches on television. For
example, when she saw a man running on TV, she said “hati hati nanti jatuh”,
(be careful or you will fall down). She also remembers and recognizes all of
the things belong to us. “Ini punya Ami or ini punya Mimi Iyah, (This belongs
to Ami or This belong to Mimi Iyah) or when I wore my sister’s veil, she said
“ini punya tante Uki.” She can as well as express her own opinions when I ask
what color she wants or the kind of clothes she likes; what food she wants to
eat, and soon. Therefore, this critical period has a great impact on a child
language development. After this period, the grammar acquisition is difficult
and for some individuals it is never fully achieved. Like a case of Amala and
Kamala who were found in India, a case of Victor who was found in 1798 or
Genie who had been confined to a small room under the conditions of physical
restraint and had received only minimal contact from the age of eighteen
months until almost fourteen years. Regardless of the cause of isolation, none
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of these children could speak or knew any language at the time of

reintroduction to society. In can be inferred that their linguistic inability could
be because they did not receive linguistic input, showing that exposure to
language must trigger the innate neurological ability of the human brain to
acquire language (Fromkin, Robert and Hyams, 2003). However, no one is sure
how long the critical period lasts whether it will decline or increase throughout
adulthood (Hartshornea, Tenenbauma, and Pinker, 2018)
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Chomsky stated that the language acquisition device is an innate
language device that is owned by children who can acquire a language, which
embodies rules of “universal grammar”. It means that the child is born with an
innate knowledge of or the predisposition toward language and that this innate
property (LAD) is universal in all human beings (Brown 1994). In the case of
Genie, due to being isolated and minimal contact with other people until the
age of 14 years, she was unable to acquire the grammatical rules of English.
She couldn’t speak good grammatical structure, had a lack of auxiliary verbs,
and lacked the past tense marker, the third person singular agreement marker,
and most pronouns. But, after being trained, she could utter some words. So, it
means that as a human being, her innate language device exists. Pinker (cited
in Carlson, 1997) maintained that an innate language acquisition device guides
the child’s acquisition of a language, which is part of a general theory about
the cognitive structures responsible for language and its acquisition. The most
important components are as follows:
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a. Children learning a language make hypotheses about the grammatical

rules they require following. These hypotheses are corroborated or not
by the speech that they hear.
b. An innate language acquisition device (a part of the brain) guides
children’s hypotheses formation. Due to possessing this device, there
are certain types of hypothetical rules that they will never entertain and
certain types of sentences that they will never utter.
c. The language acquisition device (LAD) makes reinforcement
unnecessary; the device motivates for the child to learn a language.
d. Learning a language has a critical period. The LAD works best during
childhood; languages are difficult to learn and almost impossible to
master.
Imitation
Since the researcher quite often uses English to communicate with
Addien, she imitates some words that I taught to her such as teaching her
numbers in English. One of the examples of imitation done by her is as one of
the ways the child uses in language acquisition, as children are “good
imitators”. Even though the imitation does not work well and cannot say that
it gives a great impact on the child’s language development, in fact, in the
earlier stages, it can be applied and gives a contribution to her vocabulary.
Brown (1994, 2000) divided imitation into two types: surface-structured
imitation, where a person repeats or mimics the surface strings, attending to a
phonological code rather than a semantic code. It is this level of imitation that
enables an adult to repeat random numbers or nonsense syllables, or even to
mimic unknown languages. The data of semantic, if any, underlying the surface
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output are neither internalized nor attended to internalize. In the classes of

foreign language, rote pattern drills often evoke surface imitation: a repetition
of sounds by a student without the vaguest understanding of what the sounds
might mean. At the earliest stages of child language acquisition, they are likely
to exhibit a good deal of surface imitation since the baby might not have the
required semantic categories to assign “meaning” to utterances. Nonetheless,
as children perceive the importance of the semantic level of language, they
attend primarily if not exclusively to that significant level- the deep structure
of language as a second type of imitation. They participate in deep-structure
imitation. In fact, the deep structure imitation can block their attention to the
surface structure so as they become poor imitators.
This imitation, as a part of the habit – formation theory of the structural
linguists, plays as a significant role as repetition in its approach. Repeated
occurrences of the response form a constant pattern. The child is reinforced for
the correct response again after he imitates the adults he hears. This language
acquisition theory is based on the view that language is acquired behavior
resulting from habits. Such habits are formed by practice and repetition (Boey,
1975). This theory is similar to a behavioristic model of first language
acquisition would claim that practice-repetition and association- is the key to
the habit formation by operant conditioning proposed by Skinner (Brown
1994). Brown (2000) also believed that language learning is the result of
imitation, practice, feedback on success, and habit formation. In line with
practice, Goldstein (1984) shows that corrected practices enhance language
learning.
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Environment and immediate family

Conducive and positive environment, as well as interaction from
immediate family and media, contributes to the process of language
development, as language acquisition is a creative process. Her ability to
communicate is developed stunningly after the age of three years because of
the mentioned factors above. The stimulation of the environment affects
language ability. Ambridge, et al. (2015) and Reali and Christiansen (2007)
pointed out “the most-immediate environmental effect on language pertains to
the frequency of language use, which affects both acquisition and adult
language processing.” AlHammadi (2017) also found that child language
development is not only affected by environmental, but also by social and
genetic factors. It revealed that the social class, family history, environmental,
and genetic factors contribute to the prediction of child’s language
development. Foley and Thompson (2003) and Moon (2000) acknowledged
that correspondingly children in EFL settings are likely to enhance their
learning as long as they live in a “community” where people actively speak
English.
Chomsky (1965) highlighted “Basically, language learning is not
something that the child does, it is something that happens to the child placed
in the proper environment, much as the child’s body grows and matures in a
predetermined way when appropriate nutrition and environmental stimulation
are provided for the child”. Since she was a baby, she has already had exposure
to people in her surroundings. Her mother puts a lot of pictures to stimulate her
understanding and vocabulary. In the hierarchy of learning proposed by Robert
M. Gagne that the first stage of learning is a concrete concept, which means
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the children must see the things or objects (use five senses). By showing and
exposing a lot of pictures, it can help a child to know, understand, and utter the
words that contribute not only to his/her language acquisition but also to her
psycho motoric aspect. The researcher buys a lot of VCDs or DVDs so that
she, at least, is familiar with English since early childhood. When I bought her
a movie Barbie VCD of “Barbie & her sisters in a Pony tale” and watched it
several times, she knew a concept of horse and that horse is a tame animal that
she can ride on it. Beforehand, she was afraid of a horse, when I took her to
Pacuan Kuda and asked her to ride a horse. She also has plenty of words from
all of us (8 adult people) who communicate and have interaction with her. She
learns a lot from those things: environment, significant others (immediate
family) and media that support, and affect her linguistic ability. Hoff (2003)
emphasized that children’s surrounding and social interaction with the family
member and the community affect their language acquisition as well.
Last but not least, in addition to mentioned factors, according to Ball
(2010), some factors affecting the outcomes of dual language acquisition
include formal instruction, individual differences, socio cultural adaptation,
language spoken (exposure) at home, motivation, ethnic/gender
discrimination, physiological condition and family socio economic status.
CONCLUSION
Dual language learning is not confusing as some common beliefs or
myths occur to some parents. On the other hand, the children benefit some
advantages such as they are better at problem solving, demonstrate greater
creativity and express more tolerant attitudes. There are also some benefits the
children can obtain from learning a second/foreign language, especially if the
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language is learned in the early childhood since the articulation of children is

still developed until the age of 12 years old. They can also understand their
mother tongue better as in the case of Chinese’s children. They can recognize
whether the word is their mother’s first language or not. Therefore, the younger
the individual is exposed to a new language, the greater the probability of
acquiring native pronunciation as well as proficiency in that language.
To promote the child’s acquisition, the role of significant others – that

is immediate family; parents, grandparents, sisters, or brother is essential either
to stimulate a child’s brain or to affect their language development. The
conducive and favorable environment also has a profound impact on children’s
acquisition, that’s why, parents must provide positive environments such as
selecting good program television programs, having interaction with peers to
improve not only linguistics ability but also communication skills and
psychomotor of a child. Thus, it can be concluded that factors affecting
children acquisition include linguistic input or exposure, which will support
and develop their linguistic ability; language acquisition device that motivate
the children to learn; imitation, which such habits are formed by practice and
repetition; environment and immediate family.
The result of this research might be different if it is applied to other

children due to factors such as environment, social status, intelligence,
exposure and genetic. There are also some differences between children who
acquire the same language since each child is different about the process of
acquiring the languages. Accordingly, the individual differences (ID) must be
taken into a consideration, as there is a significant variation among speakers at
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any ages as well as across the lifespan. Therefore, future research about
individual differences (ID) needs to be addressed to analyze further potential
variables.
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The Use of Scientific-Based Approach in ELT

Class to Improve Students’ Achievement and
Classroom Interaction
Haerazi*
English Lecturer, Graduate School, Mandalika University of Education
haerazi@ikipmataram.ac.id
Rully May Vikasari

English Teacher, SMPN 4 Praya, Central Lombok, NTB
momvika@gmail.com
Zukhairatunniswah Prayati
English Teacher, SMPN 1 Jonggat, Lombok Tengah, NTB
anisprayati@gmail.com
Submission Track:
Received: 27-7-2019
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the use of the scientific-based approach in the ELT
class to solve students' learning problems. Those problems are students'
difficulties to complete their learning tasks, lack of vocabulary to complete
reading tasks, lack of grammatical competence, afraid of proposing questions,
afraid of speaking, and difficulties to complete the listening tasks. These caused
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Haerazi, Vikasari, Prayati
students to have low achievement and inactive classroom interaction. The

study was aimed at improving students' achievement and classroom interaction
of 8th-grade students of SMPN 4 Praya, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
This study was classroom action research. The procedure of actions included
two steps, namely the reconnaissance and the action. The reconnaissance
presented the students' learning problems and the action consisted of four
stages, namely planning, implementing, evaluating, and reflecting. The
research instruments of this study used observation sheets, a questionnaire,
and a test. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
The result of this study showed that the use of the scientific-based approach
was able to improve students' achievement and classroom interaction. The
students' average score was 82.76. Each student's score was higher than the
minimum passing grade (70). Meanwhile, the interaction classroom was
active. It was supported by significant changes. Those changes were that
students become more cooperative, active, and optimistic to complete reading
tasks, listening tasks, speaking activities, and writing assignments in the form
of group discussion.
Keywords: Scientific-Based Approach, Achievement, Classroom Interaction
INTRODUCTION
The change of curriculum in Indonesia is based on the demands to
compete internationally. To reach international competitiveness, the change of
national curriculum needs reinforcement. In doing so, the ministry of national
education recommends the new curriculum, namely Curriculum 2013
(henceforth K13). The concept of K13 is developed in accordance with the
educational practice development and educational theoretical paradigm.
Basically, the concept of K13 is to complete the previous curriculum, namely
KTSP (educational unit level curriculum). The main touch of applying K13 is
to increase students' competences in conducting observation, asking or
interviewing, thinking logically, and communicating and presenting what they
have got or knew as the result of understanding materials. To achieve the goals,
the scientific-based approach is employed in K13.
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The scientific-based approach has been increasingly applied in all junior

and senior educational levels in Indonesia from 2013 to now with some
revisions conducted by the ministry of education, social, and culture in each
year at both state and private educational schools. It is assumed that the
approach is able to cover newly all subjects including English. It emphasizes
on learner-centered approach. The main point of this approach is to change the
learning paradigm from the learning process to transfer knowledge to the
learning process to seek knowledge. In other words, the instructional approach
should be changed from the teacher-centered approach to the learner-centered
approach.
In Curriculum 2013, the use of the scientific-based approach is adopted
and recommended for ELT teachers. Learners are seen as the agents who need
to be invited actively in the instructional process in the class. The teachers play
a role as a facilitator that brings and guides learning activities. Based on some
research findings, this approach was able to improve students' critical thinking
in public senior high school (Wahono et al. 2017), grammatical mastery (Sodik
& Wijaya, 2017), and English achievement as senior high school (Zaim, 2017).
However, in teaching practice, some English teachers still face difficulties in
arranging their classroom management in limited instructional tools to support
the scientific-based approach to be more effective.
K13 has been providing for English teachers with elaborating scientific
instructional models such as genre-based instruction, project-based instruction,
inquiry-based instruction, problem-based instruction, and context-based
instruction. These instructions are recommended to be implemented under the
umbrella of the scientific-based instruction. For instance, the scientific-based
approach can be integrated with the genre-based approach in ELT classes. The
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scientific approach has five stages and the genre-based approach has five stages
as well. In teaching practice, the teacher can choose any scientific stages to be
started inserting the genre-based learning activities. According to Munir
(2015), the application of the scientific approach and genre-based approach can
be applied accurately as suggested in the Teacher Book (Kemendikbud, 2016).
In addition, Syafii (2018); Kristie and Listyani (2018) recommend online short
stories, role-play, storytelling, and song can be integrated with the scientific-
based approaches for English students. Therefore, the scientific-based
approach is directed students on what to learn and how to learn it.
This study is aimed at investigating the use of the scientific-based
approach in the ELT class to improve students' achievement and classroom
interaction. The effectiveness of the approach will influence the
implementation of K13 for all of the Junior high school students at Central
Lombok, NTB. The application of the scientific approach in this study was
subjected to ELT class at the 8th-grade students of SMPN 4 Praya. Based on
the observation in the preliminary study, the students’ problems that caused
students have low achievement and inactive classroom interaction include
difficulties to complete learning tasks; on vocabulary acquisition to complete
reading tasks; on grammatical competence to write English sentences;
proposing questions to teachers or other classmates; speaking ability in
discussion process; and listening problems to understand the native speaking.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Curriculum K13
In general, the implementation of the K13 is a reaction to the reality that

Indonesia is facing the respective years of the global world and its crucial
issues. Dealing with the educational quality, some international assessment
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programs presented that Indonesian students have a low quality such as PISA
assessment. As a response to this, the K13 was designed to prepare students'
character to be critical to participate in the global world in the upcoming years.
According to Nur and Madkur (2014), K13 offers “the building of character to
prepare students to face various opportunities, which could give positive and
negative effects for them ad society in general”.
Nooryastuti (2015) states K13 has characteristics such as: "(1) the
content of the curriculum is stated in the core competence and the basic
competence in detail; (2) the core competence is description of aspects of the
attitude, knowledge, and skill that have to be studied by students in the school,
class, and subject level; (3) the basic competence is competence for a theme in
all educational levels from elementary to middle level; (4) the core and basic
competencies have priority in attitude aspects for level of basic education while
cognitive aspects are the main point for middle education level; (5) all of basic
competences and learning process are developed to attain the core
competences; (6) the basic competence is developed accumulatively and
reinforced among subjects and educational level; and (7) the syllabus is
designed for a theme for elementary school and subjects for middle level".
Teaching English in Junior High Schools
Teaching English in TEFL context needs an appropriate way to make

learners master the target language. Teachers integrate the four language skills,
language elements, and language functions. Four language skills cover
speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Speaking and writing skills are called
productive skills because it relates to how learners produce the target language.
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Meanwhile, reading and listening skills include receptive skills because both
relate to how learners receive information based on both activities.
In Junior high schools, teachers provide language elements for learners
such as grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciation.
According to Yoshida (2010), the use of cognitive skills such as comparing
and constructing the target language with their own language is able to improve
learners’ linguistic skills. Therefore, teaching English in junior high schools is
necessary to build learners’ cognitive skills through scientific learning
activities.
Scientific-Based Approach
In K13, the learning approach recommended applying is a scientific-

based approach. It emphasizes the learner-centered learning. It is a must
because it becomes a part of K13 for Junior High Schools and the goodness of
the scientific approach itself. An approach in this study defines a set of
correlative assumptions relating to the nature of language teaching and
learning. It also defines as an axiomatic clear that doesn't need to be proved.
An approach highlights a learning model, method, strategy, and technique.
The scientific-based approach has some learning methods in its teaching
practice. The methods include project-based learning, problem-based learning,
discovery learning, inquiry-based learning, and contextual teaching and
learning. These methods are recommended for all subjects. For the English
subject, English teachers also recommend the genre-based learning model. The
terms ‘learning method' or ‘model' can be interchangeable because it depends
on teachers' practice in the class.
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Table 1. The Stages of Scientific-Based Approach

Teaching Stages Learning Activities Expected Competence
Observing o Students are invited to do observation To train the seriousness,
through reading, listening, or seeing carefulness, and look for
objects. information.
o Students are asked to determine the
object, its purpose, the way of
observation, and the limitation of the
object.
o Students are asked to report the result
of observation activities.
o Students are invited to comprehend the
results.
Questioning o Students are encouraged to learn To develop creativity,
actively and to develop questions of curiosity, the ability to
and for the objects. question formulation to
o Students are asked to raise their skills
build critical thinking.
in talking, asking questions, and giving
answers logically with proper and
correct grammar.
o Students are invited to develop their
abilities to think and draw conclusions.
o Students are involved in building an
attitude of openness to give and
receive opinions or ideas.
Collecting o Students are divided into 3-4 students To develop carefulness,
Information of each group. honest, polite, respects
o Students are asked to discuss the towards people argument,
learning objects and helped to make it
and communication
run well in the class.
o Students are involved to record the competence
finding. To collect information
o In the supervising process, students are through some ways.
invited to learn actively. To develop learning habits.
Associating o Students are asked to analyze and To develop the attitude of
associate the information occurred honesty, discipline,
within the group. obedient, hard work, the
ability to associate
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o Students are involved to associate the information, and the ability

relationship between one information of inductive and deductive
and other information. thinking.
o Students are asked to conclude the
information from the patterns found.
Communicating o Students are encouraged to conclude To develop the attitude of
the facts that have been observed and honesty, carefulness,
experimented. tolerance, and the ability of
o Students are asked to read their works
systematic thinking.
or conclusions in the class.
o The other groups are asked to listen To train to state the clear
and provide additional input in line
argument, and to develop
with the works of each group.
o Students are asked to give additional language literacy well.
explanation after the group discussion
ended.
o Giving some tasks and opportunities,
students demonstrate their attitude,
skills, and the substance of the learning
provided.
Zaim (2017) states a scientific approach is a teaching strategy employing

scientific steps. This approach has the trait of acting ‘science' that allows
teachers to increase the learning process by putting the processes down into
steps that reflect the detailed instruction for involving students to learn. In K13,
the aims of teaching EFL are to attain a functional and informational phase of
literacy.
RESEARCH METHOD
Research Setting
This study was conducted at the 8th-grade students of SMPN 4 Praya,

Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. SMPN 4 Praya is one of the
junior high schools in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. There are three
grades in it. Each grade has 5-7 classes and each class consists of 21-35
students. This study is carried out at 8th-grade students, which has 6 classes.
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The total numbers of students of SMPN 4 Praya in the academic year of

2018/2019 are 126 students. The study chose one class (VIIIA class) to apply
the scientific-based approach. It was taken as the place of this study because
the problems found by researchers and teachers were appropriate to be solved
using scientific-based approach. This approach was not thoroughly applied by
all the English teachers at the 8th-grade students.
Research Design
This study was collaborative action research. It is essentially an on the

spot procedure administered to deal with real problems in the schools.
According to Costello (2011), collaborative action research is "a form of
collective self-reflective inquiry in a real situation to improve educational
practices in an institution or schools". This study employed four stages;
planning, implementing, evaluating, and reflecting. These stages were done to
overcome the identified problems using scientific-based approach. The use of
the scientific-based approach is to improve students' ELT achievement and
classroom interaction of the 8th-grade students of SMPN 4 Praya, Central
Lombok.
The Procedure of the Action Research
To conduct action research, the researcher applied the procedure

suggested by Elliot (1991) and modified by Haerazi & Irawan (2019). There
are two main activities, namely the reconnaissance and the action.
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is an activity to identify the students' problems through
observation and questionnaire. The researcher collaborates with the real
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teacher to find the ideas, opinions, and suggestions to formulate the problems.
In this study, the problems are classified into three levels, which are very
difficult, medium, and easy. This study is focused on the medium levels faced
by students. The medium levels are selected and categorized into some levels
such as most urgent, urgent, and less urgent. The most urgent problems are
chosen to be solved by using the scientific-based approach.
Action
Planning
The problems found in the initial step would be handled by the
implementation of the scientific-based approach to improve students’ ELT
achievement and classroom interaction at the 8th-grade students of SMPN 4
Praya. To do so, the researchers administered the preparation of the
implementation of the actions. The research plans include syllabus, lesson
plans, materials, and teaching media.
Implementing
This stage is an action to implement what the researcher and teacher plan.
The teacher applies the scientific-based approach in the class to deal with the
lesson plan made. In this stage, researchers observe the interaction between the
teacher and students and the interaction among the students in the class during
the implementation of the learning activity. In addition, the researcher records
the process of learning activities.
Evaluating
The researcher and teacher discussed the process of learning and teaching
activities. The researcher makes some notes dealing with the interaction
between students and teachers, and among students in the class. Besides, the
researcher records the result of action by interviewing with students and
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teachers about their opinions, feelings, and suggestion about the actions. At the
end of this, the researcher and teacher discussed some changes and
improvisation of the interaction, materials, and stages of the scientific-based
approach. Then, the research team gives responses toward those changes and
improvements.
Reflecting
This stage is the last stage of action activities that aim to analyze and
evaluate the effects, obstacles, difficulties, and other possibilities. When the
ELT achievement and classroom interaction of the 8th-grade students of SMPN
4 Praya, Central Lombok in the academic year 2018/2019 is considered to be
better, the action is stopped. The students' ELT achievement is achieved with
5 meetings. Meanwhile, the classroom interaction better results in 4 meetings
in this study. The action is done through two cycles. One cycle is focused on
improving the English achievement and the second cycle is administered in
enhancing the classroom interaction in teaching and learning processes.
Data Collection Technique
To collect the research data, the instruments used in this study are a
questionnaire, observation, and test. The instruments are considered the
validity and reliability. It is proven by the result analysis using Cronbach’s
Aplha formula where its Alpha (0.730) is higher than the sig. level 0.05. After
this process, the researcher observes the ELT learning process and gives
questionnaires to the other research team members to identify the learning
problems. In the action stages, the researcher observes the classroom learning
processes.
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The data of students' achievement are collected by using a test. The kind
of test includes a posttest given by the teacher at the end of the teaching and
learning process. The indicator of achievement in this study is limited to the
individual passing grade of English subject which is 70. Meanwhile, classroom
interaction is limited to the process achievement indicators. It can be defined
by some improvement in the classroom interaction of the 8th-grade students of
SMPN 4 Praya in the instructional process. To ensure the trustworthiness of
the data and the objectivity of data, the researcher applies triangulation.
Data Analysis Technique

The data analysis of this study used the three concurrent flow activities;
(1) data reduction, (2) data display, and (3) drawing a conclusion. In the
process of data reduction, the data are selected, simplified, and abstracted in
the field note. It is done during the research activities. In other words, the
researcher reduces the information during the research activities because the
data do not support the research data needed. In displaying data, the selected
data are depicted and explained in the form of description or narration based
on the filed notes and interview transcripts. The last stage of data analysis is
taking a conclusion. The data reduced are concluded at the end of each action
deal with classroom interaction. Meanwhile, the students' English achievement
is concluded at the end of the posttest. The conclusions are about the
improvement of ELT achievement and classroom interaction of the 8th-grade
students of SMPN 4 Praya, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Reconnaissance
In this phase, the researcher identifies some problems faced by students

in ELT learning process of the 8th-grade students of SMPN 4 Praya by
observing the classroom activities. In this session, the researcher distributes
questionnaires to students and teachers. There are some problems relating to
the English language learning components. The problems are found as barriers
for students to learn English at SMPN 4 Praya. Those problems are classified
into three cases, namely problems with language skills, cognitive skills, and
language elements. Therefore, the feasible problems that can be solved in this
action research can be seen in Table 2 as follows.
Table 2. The Feasible Problems

No Learning Problems
1 Students do not understand the teachers’ instruction to complete their
learning tasks.
2 Students do not have enough vocabular to complete reading tasks.
3 Students do not have enough grammatical competence to arrange
sentences.
4 Students feel afraid of proposing a question.
5 Students are afraid of speaking in English during the instructional process
in the class.
6 Students had difficulties in listening to understand speaking.
The feasible problems to be solved include problems on understanding

teachers’ instruction to complete learning tasks; on vocabulary mastery to
complete reading tasks; on grammatical competence to write English
sentences; asking questions to teachers or other classmates; speaking ability in
discussion process; and listening problems to understand speaking. These
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problems are assumed as obstacles for students to achieve good achievement

in English subject.
Actions
The teacher and researcher agree to use the existing curriculum applied
in the school. The instructional materials are adapted from the course-book
provided by the school. The teacher modifies the materials in line with the ELT
instructional goals and learning objectives. The researcher helps the teacher to
design the materials in the form of learning tasks for reading, writing, and
speaking. These become some activities that are addressed to handle the
students’ learning problems. After the lesson plans are prepared well, the
teacher implemented in accordance with the time that has been scheduled.
Cycle 1
This subchapter depicts the implementation of the scientific-based

approach as the research action of the study. The aim of this subchapter is to
describe the process of the use of the scientific-based approach to solve the six
problems as mentioned in this study. The cycle proceeds through planning,
implementing, evaluation, and reflection.
Planning
Based on the result of pre-test and observation, the data indicate students
have low achievement in English subject and students have problems in
classroom interaction. The plan is to solve those problems using the scientific-
based approach. The plan includes four activities that are; (1) choosing the
topics and items of instruction, (2) designing the lesson plans that contain the
core competence and basic competence, (3) designing observation sheets, and
(4) providing teaching materials and teaching media. To find the improvement
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of students’ achievement, the post-test is overseen at the end of the action.

Meanwhile, to know the students’ improvement of classroom interaction, the
post questionnaire is distributed to be filled.
Implementing
In this phase, the researcher and teacher execute the plan that has been
agreed before. In each meeting, the researcher as an observer records the
learning activities. It is also assisted by one of the collaborators as the observer
and the other one plays a role as the teacher. In the first meeting, the steps of
the scientific-based approach are realized in the main activities. For instance,
in the step of observing, students are asked to pay attention to the provided
topics of texts. Under the teacher’s guidance, students analyze the texts dealing
with generic structures, contents, and linguistic aspects. Subsequently, the
students start giving comments relating to the topic of the texts. In this context,
feedback is promising input for developing the four language skills (Wahyuni,
et. al., 2019; Brumen, et al., 2018; Sumekto & Setyawati, 2019; Septiana &
Kadarisman, 2016).
Evaluating
Having done the action, it is important to see every progress of students’

classroom interaction and achievement. The evaluation is conducted by the
teacher and the researcher. The researcher assisted by the observer notices the
classroom process at every meeting in the first cycle. From the first meeting
into the fourth meeting, the researcher and the teacher evaluate the students’
progression of generic structure of the conversation text, content, vocabulary
acquisition, and students’ attitudes such as respecting classmates and the
teacher in the class. In addition, the researchers evaluate the interaction
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between students and the teacher that occurs but it is no significant changes
among students and between the teacher and students.
In the last meeting, students are provided a test to know their English
achievement after conducting the actions. The researcher and the teacher
distribute a test. A test is administered in line with the indicators of basic
competences breaking down from the core competencies. Based on the result
of descriptive analysis, the score of students can be seen in Table 3 as follows.
Table 3. The Students’ ELT Achievement at Cycle 1
Statistics
Score
N Valid 21
Missing 0
Mean 74.48
Median 70.00
Mode 68
Std. Deviation 8.646
Minimum 60
Maximum 88
Sum 1564
Reflecting
In Cycle 1, it can be concluded that the use of the scientific-based

approach was not effective to solve all of the students' problems in the ELT
classroom. Cycle 1 indicated that some problems faced by students were solved
by using the approach. Those problems included (1) students have difficulties
to understand the teacher's instruction to complete their learning tasks, (2)
students do not have enough vocabulary acquisition to complete reading tasks,
and (3) students have lack of grammatical competence to arrange sentences.
Based on the students' problems solved in Cycle 1, the researcher and the
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teacher agreed to continue to the second cycle (cycle 2). The teacher and the
researcher in the next cycle were focused on different students' problems.
Cycle 2
Planning
The previous cycle was addressed to some learning problems faced by
students in ELT classrooms. Those were solved by using the scientific-based
approach, but other problems would be handled in the second cycle by applying
the same approach. The learning approach was actually applied in line with the
feasible learning problems which are urgent to be elucidated. In this second
cycle, the action is focused on students’ problems dealing with speaking
abilities, asking activities, and listening activities. The use of the scientific-
based approach along with the proper learning materials and teaching media is
prepared well. It is in line with what Indrilla (2018) states the scientific
approach is effective to improve the 8th-grade students' language acquisition.
Also, Astuti (2015) and Sarwanti (2016) state the scientific approach is
possible for English teachers to improve students’ language skills.
Implementing
As mentioned in the planning, the learning activities are directed to
involve students in learning activities oriented to speaking abilities. The
teacher has divided students into 3-4 students of each group. Each group is
asked to observe any classroom pictures. The teacher carries out question-
answer activities about the pictures. Thus, the teacher provides students with
some exercise to ask questions in English correct grammar. The students
practice to imitate the sentences in groups between each member. Besides,
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students are asked to associate the topic being discussed with other relevant
topics in their question-answer activities. In short, the cycle is oriented to those
problems going to solve.
Evaluating
Having done the implementation, the researcher and the teacher evaluate
the students' progress relating to students' speaking ability, questioning
activities, and listening activities. In the first meeting, students are directed to
practice speaking skills through discussion activities. The teacher provides
interesting materials for students such as giving serial pictures and some
videos. It is intended to help students acquire ideas to practice expressing their
ideas in English. In doing so, the teacher divided students into small groups.
The learning process occurs in the form of group discussion. The interaction is
done in a dynamic discussion and almost all of the students are involved. The
three steps of the scientific-based approach are employed in this meeting,
namely observing, asking, and associating activities.
The activities are focused on practicing to express opinions through
speaking activities from the first meeting into fourth meeting. To strengthen
students’ speaking abilities, the teacher provides the topics of Sasak traditional
music such as rudat and gendang beleq. It is in accordance with what Haerazi
et al. (2018) and Aprianoto et al. (2018) recommend that cultural topics are
promising inputs to evoke the students’ speaking competences. To facilitate
students in doing so, the teacher offers students with interesting materials in
the form of videos. Huang and Hung (2012) state video can help students to
augment their English-speaking skills. In addition, video is used to evoke
students’ attention (Kuo et al., 2014). According to the teacher, the learning
processes are quite successful to facilitate students to familiarize themselves
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with native accents and pronunciation and to acquire new vocabulary. It is also
proved by the result of students’ achievement in cycle 2.
Table 4. The Students’ Achievement at Cycle 2
Statistics
Score
N Valid 21
Missing 0
Mean 82.76
Median 80.00
Mode 80
Std. Deviation 3.820
Minimum 78
Maximum 90
Sum 1738
Reflecting
The researcher and the teacher agreed that the implementation of the
scientific-based approaches was able to enhance students’ achievement and
classroom interaction by providing interesting learning materials. The
students’ problems were solved in two cycles. Cycle 1 was focused on the
students’ problems relating to (1) students’ difficulties to complete their
learning tasks, (2) lack of vocabulary to complete reading tasks, and (3) lack
of grammatical competence. Meanwhile, Cycle 2 was addressed to help
students to eradicate that they feel still (1) afraid of proposing questions, (2)
afraid of speaking, and (3) difficulties to complete the listening tasks. In the
second cycle, the result showed that almost 95% of students diminished their
learning problems in the ELT class.
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CONCLUSION
Having done the action in two cycles, the researcher concludes that the
use of the scientific-based approach for 8th grade students of SMPN 4 Praya is
effective to solve students' problems dealing with students' difficulties in
completing their learning tasks, lack of vocabulary acquisition to complete
reading tasks, lack of grammatical competence, afraid of submitting questions,
afraid of speaking in the class, and difficulties in conducting listening tasks.
The steps of the scientific-based approach include observing, questioning,
collecting, associating, and communicating. By providing students with
various interesting learning activities, assisted by interesting learning tasks and
materials, students are able to involve themselves in the teaching-learning
activities in the class. In addition, students brave to express their ideas or
opinions in English although the utterances are in simple sentences.
To solve those students’ problems, the teacher provided for students with
familiar topics to discuss in the form of small groups. In Cycle 1, the researcher
and the teacher conducted the actions in four meetings. The fifth meeting was
allotted to carry out the final test to know the students’ progress. The effect of
the scientific-based approach in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd meetings was not seen yet.
The effect of that approach could be seen in the 4th meeting. The mean score
of students' achievements was 74.48. It indicated that the passing grade was
achieved classically but not individually because of some students' scores
under the minimum achievement criteria. The significant change in this cycle
was that the students are able to diminish their learning difficulties. In cycle 2,
the actions are done in four meetings. The interaction among students and
between students and the teacher improved. It was proved that the mean score
of students' achievements was 82.76. The passing grade was achieved
individually in the second cycle.
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SUGGESTION
The teacher can keep going to use the scientific-based approach in the
teaching of ELT classroom for Junior high schools to overcome students’
problems relating to the students’ achievement and classroom interaction. The
problems derive from some difficulties such as (1) students’ difficulties to
complete their learning tasks, (2) lack of vocabulary to complete reading tasks,
and (3) lack of grammatical competence, (4) afraid of proposing questions, (5)
afraid of speaking, and (6) difficulties to complete the listening tasks. Based
on the result, the teacher can apply this approach regularly to maintain and
improve the students' achievement and classroom interaction. Also, the teacher
should give more guidance and clues when they complete learning tasks to
make the implementation of that approach more effective in the class or out of
the class. Besides, the teacher also should consider time management as
effectively as possible and ensure that students have enough time to do the
learning activities.
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Themes in South-East Asian Newspaper

Headlines on Rohingya Issue: Critical Discourse
Analysis
Arina Isti’anah
Universitas Sanata Dharma
arina@usd.ac.id
Submission Track:
ABSTRACT
Language is regarded as a tool to present the ideologies of its users, including

how media portray a particular issue in their headlines. Rohingya has gained
much attention from media, including South-East Asian newspapers. The
massive clearing done by Myanmar government triggers the attention of
media. Headlines are regarded as the important element of news since their
jobs are to attract the readers and frame the ideologies of the readers as well
as the media themselves. This paper attempts at discussing how South-East
Asian media present Rohingya in their headlines. Five newspapers were
involved: The Jakarta Post from Indonesia, Malaysia Kini from Malaysia,
Mmtimes from Myanmar, The Nation from Thailand, and Daily Star from
Bangladesh, taken during 2017. The analysis was focused on the choice of
Theme in the headlines as it is the departing message of the headlines. The
approach conducted was Faiclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis utilizing the
textual function of language offered by Halliday. The analysis revealed that
South-East Asian media had similarities and differences in portraying
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Rohingya issue. The similarities were seen from the reflected ideologies,
responsibility and blame, and the types of employed Themes. The difference
was found in the way each media portrayed the ideologies. However, all media
agreed to show their responsibility to end and solve Rohingya crisis to achieve
peace and harmony amongst South-East Asian countries.
Keywords: headlines, critical discourse analysis, Rohingya
INTRODUCTION
Rohingya case is one of the humanity issues that attracts media’s
attention, particularly in South-East Asia. News on Rohingya has been
published for years since the case seems unfinished. The number of refugees
keeps increasing and the clearing still happens until now. Rohingya’s attempt
to flee to Malaysia by sea are denied by Myanmar government, thus the
government called them as Bengalis and refused them as a national race
(James, 2006, p. 22). It is also reported that Rohingyas never have any type of
citizen and ethnic group (Steinberg, 2010, p. 73). Furthermore, the clearing has
sustained until early 2005, when “some 20.000 Muslim refugees from
Myanmar still remained refugee camps in Bangladesh. Malaysia has offered
political asylum to about 10.000 such persons” (Ganesan & Hlaing, 2007, p.
191). The facts mentioned previously triggers media to share information
related to Rohingya in the form of news.
Online newspapers are chosen by people nowadays since they are
easily accessed from their gadgets. “Newspapers function as a special tool of
language to propagate agendas of different social, political, and economic
pillars of power” (Lodhi, et al., 2019, p. 325). Hence, what is written in
newspaper reflects not only the writers’ or editors’ ideologies but also the
parties behind the media. Media news is described as “a news item or news
report, i.e. a text or discourse on radio, TV, or in the newspaper, in which new
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information is given about recent events” (Dijk, 1988, p. 4). The term “news
discourse” is thus preferred since media news involves the whole discourse:
physical shape and its contents which has a more semantic nature (Dijk, 1988).
What is interesting in “news discourse” is the choice of words as the title of
news, called headlines. Reah defines headlines as “the story in a minimum
number of words, attract the reader to the story and, if it appears on the front
page, attract the reader to the paper” (Mapunda & Keya, 2015, p. 59). Thus,
readers will catch the departing message of news from the headlines.
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) facilitates news discourse analysis
by considering how texts strive for social practice (Fairclough, 1995).
Fairclough proposes that careful analysis of textual form, structure, and
organization at all levels is needed for text interpretation. In news discourse,
the existence of headlines cannot be ignored as they portray the news summary.
The departing message in headlines is called Theme. Halliday defines theme
as “the initial part of a clause which gives prominence to particular information
and which, in CDA terms, is often an indication of taken-for-granted or
‘common sense’ assumption about the nature of things” (Locke, 2004, p. 49).
Finding out the Themes in news discourse can reveal newspaper’s ideology
since ideology is found in the discursive event itself (Fairclough, 1995).
Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) facilitates CDA by considering
language as a vehicle to express people’s thoughts in various ways and
purposes by means of wordings (Mathiessen and Halliday, 1997). Analyzing
text covers not only the linguistic feature description but also ideologies
brought by language use. The choice of text features “is regarded as potentially
ideological, including features of vocabulary and metaphors, grammar,
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presuppositions and implicatures, politeness conventions, speech exchange

(turn-taking) systems, generic structure and style” (Fairclough, 1995, pp. 1-2).
Halliday figures out that language functions to ideationally represent the
experience of the world, interpersonally constitute social interaction between
participants, and textually put the parts of text together into a coherent whole
(Fairclough, 1995, p. 6).
In the textual function, the linguistic features used to signpost the
speaker’s meaning are Theme and Rheme. Theme is the initial part of a clause.
It is the starting point for the message since it is what the clause is about
(Halliday,2004). Downing and Locke (2006) add that a Theme is the
communicative point of departure of the message. Eggins (2004) summarizes
three types of Themes: topical or experiential, interpersonal, and textual
themes. A topical Theme is the clause element in which a transitivity function
can be assigned in the first position in a clause (Eggins, 2004). Participants and
Circumstances as Themes in a clause are categorized as topical or experiential
theme. Interpersonal theme is in the form of “the unfused finite (in
interrogative) and modal adjuncts (mood, vocative, polarity, and comment).
Textual theme has a cohesive function to relate clause to its context, realized
in the form of continuity and conjunctive adjunct (Eggins, 2004).
Newspaper headlines are chosen as the main data since headlines serve
some functions, one of which is to present the truth (Metila, 2013). However,
Turner (2009) mentions that “headlines can be notoriously misleading,
inaccurate, or ambiguous” (cited in Metila, 2013). To avoid what mentioned
earlier, CDA is seen as the appropriate way to conduct as it analyses the
discourse to find the hidden meanings or ideologies (McGregor, 2003 as cited
in Taiwo, 2007). This paper focuses on figuring out Themes employed by the
South-East Asian newspaper regarding Rohingya issue. The dominance of
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Themes employed in the news discourse can reveal how South-East Asian
media regard Rohingya issue. As the case happens in South-East Asia, the
researcher expects that there will be some similarities among the media. To
prove the hypothesis, CDA is employed by focusing on the textual structure of
text, or how the message is packaged by media.
Studies on CDA have been exercised by some scholars. Umami (2013)
observed the discourse devices utilized in an opinion column title on
Polycarpus case. The research employed the meta-functions analysis, including
the appraisal and thematic analyses. The data were taken from news features
in The Jakarta Post newspaper, analyzed in terms of their micro level and
macro level of analysis. The employment of topic sentence, fullness
development, and coherence among paragraphs are used in the analysis. In the
textual analysis, the research paid attention to the use of conjunction and
theme. The use of marked theme is benefited by the writers to make the readers
easier grasp the meanings and plot of the articles (Umami, 2013).
Rohingya crisis also attracted the study by Afzal (2016) by concerning
the media’s strategies to frame Rohingya issue in the international stage. The
data were taken from Pakistani, British and American editorial opinions. The
research believes that frame may be used in a biased way to interpret different
political events. The Nation, a Pakistani newspaper, criticizes the Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for showing her dislike to the Muslims. The
newspaper also encourages readers’ emotions by framing Aung San Suu Kyi
as a discriminative leader. The similar frame is also shown in The Guardian
newspaper. Several emotional appeals (pathos) are used to frame Rohingya
crisis. From the Western point of view, The New York Times keeps the readers
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on the side of Rohingya Muslims. The research found that Rohingya crisis
itself is covered up by the readers’ emotions framed by the media (Afzal,
2016).
Bolte & Keong (2014) involved Fairclough’s CDA to observe the
representation of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants (RASIM) in three
Malaysian newspaper reports. The textual analysis covering Themes reveals
three main attributes to RASIM: refugee protection, people smuggling and
human trafficking, and policy and national security. The paper found that the
discourse in the three newspapers is influenced by its situational context and
ideological differences between newspapers. RASIM is represented in a
positive supporting way as the media is on the side of Malaysian government,
or pro-government. Malaysia Kini is concluded to have more balanced report
since it fulfills the ethics of proper journalism (Bolte & Keong, 2014).
Research on textual analysis, focusing Theme and Information parts of
clauses in Arabic and English news reports was utilized by Potter (2016). The
research compares how Arabic and English news presents Syrian refugees.
Influenced by the different language target readers, English news reports
present the ‘accusation’ against Syria and signpost the ‘evidence’ against Syria.
On the other hand, Arabic news employs new information as Themes to
emphasize Syria’s ‘cooperation’. Syria’s innocence is also shown in Arabic
news reports. The paper concludes that Arabic news tends to be a pro-Syria by
encouraging readers to perceive Syria as an innocent victim, whereas English
news favors a negative representation of Syria and encourages readers to
perceive Syria as the logical perpetrator of Hariri’s murder (Potter, 2016).
The papers reviewed above agree that ideology is embodied inside the
wordings. The presence of news discourse welcomes linguistic scholars to
criticize the representation of an issue, in this case is refugees, in various
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media. Headlines, analyzed in their textual functions, are designed in such a

way that readers are grasped to read the news. The textual analyses of
headlines, editorials, or news reports support Fairclough’s claim about
language, ideology, and power. The presence of discursive and social practices
cannot be ignored in the analysis. News media are also capable of framing an
issue and encouraging readers’ emotions. Thus, the analysis of textual
meanings of headlines is urgently needed. To be specific, this paper attempts
at figuring out how Themes are exercised in five online newspaper headlines
in South-East Asia regarding refugee case, Rohingya.
RESEARCH METHOD
This paper employed Fairclough’s CDA as its approach. Fairclough
argues that language is exercised to express ideology in various code, structure,
system, or formation (1995, p. 71). In Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG),
meanings are represented into three functions: ideational, interpersonal, and
textual functions. The textual function of language provokes the reading
positions ‘inscribed’ in texts (Talbot, 2007, p. 46). It is about how the message
is packaged. Fairclough proposes that wordings change or affect the
ideological meaning embedded in the text. The lexico-grammar structures are
ideologically chosen (cited in Bolte & Keong, 2014). Van Dijk adds that
reports are expected to be highly topicalized and intertwined with the notion of
positive US versus negative THEM construction (2000).
The data were taken from the online newspapers published by five
South-East Asian countries: The Jakarta Post from Indonesia, Malaysia Kini
from Malaysia, Mmtimes from Myanmar, The Nation from Thailand, and Daily
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Star from Bangladesh, taken during 2017. Those five countries were chosen
due to the close border to Rakhine, the place where Rohingyans stayed. The
headlines are coded as follows: INA refers to the Indonesia, H refers to
headline, 1 refer to the number of headlines. The same code is used for the
other countries: MAL for Malaysia, THAI for Thailand, MYAN for Myanmar
and BANG for Bangladesh. There were twenty headlines chosen for each
country. Thus, the number used in the third code will range from 1 to 20.
Each headline was carefully analyzed and categorized into its type:
experiential, interpersonal, or textual theme (Eggins, 2004). Since all headlines
were experiential, each participant or circumstance in the headline was grouped
in terms of its newspaper. Since five newspapers were included as the data, the
variations of Theme are displayed in a table to figure out how the wordings in
each newspaper similar to and different from the others. The participants
performing as Themes were thus related to the social context in which the
discursive event happened. This analysis is helpful to reveal the ideologies
embodied in the text.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION

The analysis shows that the observed headlines have experiential Theme,
meaning the Theme in which transitivity participants are involved. However,
the participants chosen as the Themes are different. The table below depicts
the participants in the headlines of the five newspapers.
Table 1. Summary of Participants in South-East Asian Newspaper
Headlines
Theme INA MAL MYAN BANG THAI
Actor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
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Goal ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Carrier ✓ ✓ ✓
Token ✓
Attribute
Sayer ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Verbiage ✓ ✓
Patient ✓
Circumstance ✓ ✓
The table above shows that Malaysian newspaper headlines have the
most various participants. Indonesian and Bangladesh newspaper headlines
have the same number of variants in their participants. Token is absent in
Indonesian headlines, but present in Bangladesh newspaper headlines. On the
other hand, Circumstance is found in Indonesian newspaper headlines, but not
in Bangladesh. Myanmar and Thailand newspaper headlines employ the least
variant of participants in their Themes. Both involve Actor, Goal, and Sayer.
Carrier is present in Thailand newspaper headlines, but absent in Myanmar.
Verbiage, on the other hand, is found in Myanmar newspaper headlines, but
not in Thailand.
There are two main ideological perspectives shared by the observed
media: responsibility and blame. In general, the South-East Asian newspaper
headlines portray Rohingya issue as “responsibility” that they have to fulfill.
The conflict in this region is seen as a serious one, thus the media choose
particular linguistic features to show their responsibility to put it as the
departing message in the media. The table below shows the representation of
responsibility and blame by the South-East Asian media.
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Table 2. Summary of Ideologies in South-East Asian Newspapers
“Blame” “Responsibility”
11
Indonesia 9
12
Malaysia 8
18
Myanmar 2
14
Bangladesh 6
13
Thailand 7
68
Total 32
The table above displays that all of the headlines in the five countries are
dominated by “responsibility” as the Theme. However, the linguistic choice in
the headlines is different from one newspaper to the others. The discussion
below shows proof.
Responsibility
Responsibility is the dominant ideology reflected in all media. The
table below shows the type of Theme which shows responsibility.
Table 3 Summary of Theme Showing Responsibility
South-East Asian Type of Theme Examples
Media
Indonesia Actor, Goal, Sayer Indonesia, Jokowi-Suu Kyi, More
Rohingyans refugee
Myanmar Actor, Goal, Sayer Government, refugee deal,
ministry, a strong commitment
Malaysia Actor, Sayer, Patient A mercy mission, Najib, DPM,
Malaysia
Bangladesh Actor, Sayer Bangladesh, Home minister,
Bangladesh-Myanmar
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Thailand Actor, Goal, Sayer, ASEAN credibility, ASEAN,

Carrier Thailand, ASEAN minister
The first Theme revealing responsibility is the employment of Actor which

refers to government as the Theme. The examples are as follows.
INA.H.2 Indonesia urged to initiate conflict resolution for
Rohingya
INA.H.16 Jokowi, Suu Kyi discuss Rohingya crisis
In the data above, the use of Indonesia and Jokowi-Suu Kyi indicates that the
newspaper intends to show the responsibility to solve Rohingya crisis. Jokowi
and Suu Kyi are the leaders in Indonesia and Myanmar. Their statement and
action regarding Rohingya issue are important to represent the position of the
country. The involvement of the Actors above strengthens the responsibility
which is seriously conducted by Indonesian and Myanmar government.
Another existence of Actor in Indonesian media takes “Indonesia” as
Actors. Below are the examples.
INA.H.2 Indonesia urged to initiate conflict resolution for
Rohingya
INA.H.10 Indonesia carries out intensive diplomacy on Rohingya
The above headlines employ “Indonesia” as the Actor. In the first datum above,
Indonesia is presented to have the power to initiate the conflict resolution for
Rohingya. As one of ASEAN initiators and Moslem country, Indonesia shows
its responsibility to overcome the issue. The previous analysis is supported by
the second headline shown above. Instead of initiating the discussion,
Indonesian media also spreads the country’s concrete action to carry out
intensive diplomacy.
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Responsibility is also seen in Myanmar newspaper headlines. However,

the Themes used in the headlines which reveal responsibility are different from
Indonesian headlines. In Myanmar newspaper, Goal and Sayer are also chosen
to show the government responsibility. Below are the evidence.
MYAN.H.11 Government team to visit Bangladesh to discuss
refugee repatriation
MYAN.H.7 Ministry vows speedier info release on Rakhine crisis
MYAN.H.8 Peace, stability restored in northern Rakhine, some
troops withdrawn
MYAN.H.9 Plans to repatriate refugees agreed
The use of Actor as the Theme in the first datum above signifies the Myanmar
government’s responsibility in relation to the crisis. By choosing an Actor,
Myanmar media aims at emphasizing the action done by the Actor. Bringing
similar ideology, headline 7 above is represented in different Theme. The use
of Sayer as Theme signals responsibility in terms of saying. Myanmar
government is represented in different Themes shown in headlines 8 and 9
above. The Themes in headlines 8 and 9 are Goals. In addition to mentioning
the references of Myanmar government, the media also picks the results of
what the government did as seen in headlines 8 and 9.
Similar to Myanmar newspaper headlines, the Malaysian newspaper
also employs Goal to show its government responsibility.
MAL.H.2 A mercy mission to the Rohingya refugees
There is an ellipsis found in the above headline. However, the preposition to
above indicates that the first phrase can be regarded as the Patient. The headline
can be paraphrased into A mercy mission is given to the Rohingya refugees.
The second phrase above, the Rohingya refugees, performs as the Goal. The
use of lexical choice “mercy” above is to emphasize the good deeds by the
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government to help Rohingyans. The media put action to help the refugees as
something “mercy”. In other words, praise is also attached to Malaysian
government.
Another type of Theme showing Malaysian responsibility is the
employment of Actor. In the Malaysian newspaper headline, the Actor is
attached to the government official to show their responsibility in accordance
with Rohingya crisis. Below is the datum.
MAL.H.18 Najib came through for Rohingya, give credit where
due
The use of material verb “came through” marks the material process. The
action done by Najib is a portrayal of Malaysian government responsibility.
The media intends to choose Najib as the Theme in order to emphasize
responsibility made by the government.
The other distinctive participant in the Malaysian headline is
Circumstance of place as seen below.
MAL.H.7 From Malaysian backrooms, Rohingya send what
little they can to fleeing relatives
The Theme in the above headline is in the form of prepositional phrase “from
Malaysian backrooms”. In transitivity process, it is categorized as
Circumstance of place. Instead of displaying Rohingya as the Actor who sends
their expectation, Malaysian media chose to put the circumstance as the
Theme. The effect inferred from the structure is readers can pay more attention
to Malaysian backrooms as the place in which Rohingya seeks helps.
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Bangladesh newspaper headline also uses Actor which refers to its

government to show responsibility dealing with the Rohingya crisis. Below are
the examples.
BANG.H.6 Bangladesh draws global attention to Myanmar
Rohingya crisis issue
BANG.H.8 Rohingya Refugees: Govt plans big to ease plight
The use of Bangladesh and government explicitly in the headlines signifies
responsibility by the Bangladesh government. An actor is presented as the
clause constituent which conducts an action. The use of verbs “draw” and
“plan” in the data above refer to the government’s concrete deeds to help
Rohingyans. In Bangladesh newspaper headlines, other Actors found in the
data are “Home Minister” and “Bangladesh”. The systematic actions done by
the government refer to their responsibility to Rohingyans since they are
located near the area where Rohingyans live. Moreover, the label that
Rohingyans are Bengalis also triggers Bangladesh’ actions.
Different from the previous linguistic features showing responsibility,
Thailand newspaper headlines show their neutral commitment towards
Rohingyans. In the headlines, Thailand media choose ASEAN and ASEAN
ministers as Actors in the Themes to show responsibility. Below are the proofs.
THAI.H.7 ASEAN has an obvious role in Rohingya crisis
THAI.H.17 Asean ministers express concern over Rohingya crisis
The involvement of ASEAN and ASEAN ministers as the Themes in Thailand
newspaper headlines show that Thailand as one of the founders of ASEAN is
involved in showing responsibility toward the Rohingya crisis. The indirect
involvement in the decision can be interpreted that Thailand is in a neutral
position.
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Blame
Despite the responsibility represented in various linguistic features in
South-East Asian newspaper headlines, “blame” is also found from the
employment of linguistic features in the data. The table below points out the
type of Theme showing “blame” in the headlines.
Table 4 Summary of Theme Showing Blame

South-East Asian Type of Theme Examples
Media
Indonesia Actor, Carrier, Goal Rohingya crisis, Rohingya
refugee influx, 600,000 Rohingya
children
Myanmar Verbiage Illegal immigration, terrorism new
global threats; over 70
Malaysia Actor, Goal, At least 6,700 Rohingya; at least
Verbiage 100 Rohingya; Suu Kyi
Bangladesh Actor, Carrier Nearly 90,000 Rohingyas;
Rohingya; 1992 criteria
Thailand Actor, Carrier Both Myanmar and Bangladesh,
Rohingya forced from Myanmar
In Indonesian newspaper headlines, “blame” is represented in the form

of Actor, Carrier, and Goal as the departing messages in the headlines. Below
are the examples.
INA.H.1 Rohingya crisis could affect ASEAN stability: Jokowi
INA.H.4 Rohingya refugee influx in Bangladesh now 507,000:
Report
In the Indonesian newspaper, “blame” is shown in the form of Actor and
Carrier. The Actor in the first datum displayed above shows the ability of the
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crisis to affect ASEAN stability. The serious issue which happens in Myanmar
is seen as blame towards the crisis. The solid and intimate relationships among
ASEAN countries is not stable due to the crisis. Here, Jokowi as the president
of the Republic of Indonesia shows his political statement regarding Rohingya
issue. As one of the founders of ASEAN, Indonesia takes its responsibility to
keep stability among ASEAN countries. The similar “blame” is shown as
Carrier in the second datum above. The huge number of refugees in Bangladesh
shows the failure of Myanmar government to solve the crisis. Bangladesh is
seen as the affected country which has to provide place for Rohingyans.
The other linguistic features showing blame by Indonesian media is
shown as a Goal in the headline. Below is the datum.
INA.H.14 Rohingya lives and limbs shattered by mines at
Myanmar frontier
The existence of the Goal above also shows “blame” since Rohingyans become
the participants directed to by the Actor, Myanmar frontier. The presence of
Goal instead of Actor above signifies that the media intends to portray
Rohingyans as the victim of the action. Herewith, blame is shown by the media.
The choice of the name Rohingya instead of refugees also shows that
Indonesian media acknowledges the existence of the race.
Unlike Indonesian media which show blame and responsibility in
almost equal existence, Myanmar media only put a few headlines which show
blame. Below is the datum.
MYAN.H.13 Over 70 killed in Rakhine after militants attack
The participant bold above is the Theme, represented as the Goal. The number
of people shown as the Goal above shows “blame” to the militants. What the
Actor did, militants, results in more than 70 people died. Myanmar media
blames the militant to kill more than 70 people in Rakhine. The choice of
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Rakhine instead of Rohingya shows Myanmar’s decision to follow the

government. The word “Rohingya” is prohibited to mention in Myanmar,
meaning they never acknowledge the existence of the race. Instead of showing
the enormous number of Rohingyans suffering from the clearing, Myanmar
media intends to share the news about what militants did in Rakhine. The
“blame” has different reference in Myanmar media. While other media blame
Myanmar government, Myanmar media blames the militants which refer to
Rohingyans who fought for their rights to stay in Rakhine.
In Malaysian media, the choice of Goal and Actor as the Themes in the
headlines is to show “blame” to the Myanmar government. Below are the data,
MAL.H.6 At least 100 Rohingyas drowned fleeing Myanmar last
2 months: UN
MAL.H.17 Suu Kyi condemns all rights violations in Rakhine state
Goal as the Theme is shown in “at least 100 Rohingyans”. The use of the
number as the departing message in the headline is to blame Myanmar
government. The Sayer in that headline is the UN. The involvement of what
UN utters also shows global attention toward the crisis. The number of
Rohingyans who were drowned when fleeing Myanmar is the responsibility of
Myanmar. The ignorance and clearing by the government result in the violation
of human rights. It is also strengthened by the second headline above.
Malaysian media chooses the name “Suu Kyi” as the Actor who is responsible
for the crisis. Blame is shown strongly in Malaysian media, referring to Suu
Kyi.
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In Bangladesh's newspaper media, domination is also responsibility to

solve the crisis. However, “blame” is also found in the headlines. Below are
the examples.
BANG.H.1 Nearly 90,000 Rohingyas escape Myanmar violence as
humanitarian crisis looms
BANG.H.2 Rohingya refugee crisis: Thousands take shelter in
no-man's land
The use of the number as shown in Malaysian media also appears here.
Furthermore, the use of Actor as the Theme in Bangladesh headline also shows
“blame” to Myanmar government. The number of refugees escaping and
suffering from the crisis is repeated in Bangladesh headlines, which signifies
that the crisis creates serious problems. To save themselves, Rohinyans are
represented as the Actor who conducts material actions. The only way for them
to keep alive is by escaping from Rakhine. Despite died, they choose to look
for protection by the neighbouring countries. Bangladesh is the first country
they choose since they are given camps and food by Bangladesh government.
In the headlines, Carrier is also selected as the Theme in Bangladesh
media to show blame. Below are the examples.
BANG.H.18 1992 criteria not realistic now
BANG.H.20 200,000 Rohingya children at risk in Bangladesh
camps: Unicef
The employment of “1992 criteria” as the Carrier above is attached to the
attribute “not realistic now”. This signifies “blame” to the Myanmar
government since the number of Rohingyans who died and escaped from the
country keeps increasing. It is proven in the following headlines which mention
the massive number of Rohingya children who are now at risk. The camps and
food provided by Bangladesh government are no longer able to provide healthy
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life to the children. Camps are not the best place for children as they need clean
environment to grow as healthy children. The limitation in the camps is
portrayed as the result of the clearing by Myanmar government.
In Thailand newspaper headlines, Patient is the only participant found
among South-East Asian media. It is shown in the datum below.
THAI.H.14 Myanmar beauty queen dethroned 'after posting
Rohingya video'
What Myanmar beauty queen accepted, being dethroned, is a result of her
action posting Rohingya video. Thailand media portrays that event as blame to
the government. The strict rule which forbids its citizens to mention Rohingya
is experienced by the beauty queen. She is portrayed as the affected participant
because of the rule.
Another participant revealing blame is Sayer, the participant who says.
The Sayer in Thailand media refers to Rohingyas as seen below.
THAI.H.18 Rohingya forced from Myanmar say army redoubling
push to clear villages
As the Sayer, Rohingya forced from Myanmar utters their experience of
clearing by the army. Thailand media portrays that event as blame to the
Myanmar army since Rohingyans experience unpleasant treatment by the
government. The systematic clearing has continued and become more severe.
The employment of “redoubling push” emphasizes the sad witness by
Rohingyans. They do not have another choice but leave the area.
Thailand newspaper media also shows its fair view of the crisis. The
employment of Carrier which involves both Bangladesh and Myanmar below
are the proof.
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THAI.H.19 Both Bangladesh and Myanmar are responsible for

the Rohingya
Blame is not only directed to the Myanmar government but also Bangladesh.
The initial conflict regarding the occupation of Myanmar territory by
Bangladesh is regarded as the initial conflict of Rohingya crisis. Thailand
newspaper media sees this as the blame of both countries. The negotiation
which should have been done a long time ago never happened. That is, why
the media put both countries as the Carrier which is attached to the
responsibility they have to make.
The five newspapers analyzed above reveal similar ideologies,
responsibility and blame. That finding can be understood since the South-East
Asian newspapers are produced in the same spirit as ASEAN members. The
presence of society cannot be ignored in discourse analysis. Rohingya issue is
seen as a shared problem by South-East Asian countries, thus the headlines
presented in five newspapers reveal similar ideology. This supports
Fairclough’s argument that CDA can be employed to describe, interpret, and
explain the language and power. CDA regards language as creating ideology
and revealing concealed agendas in language that may be ideological (Montejo
& Adriano, 2018). The language choice in the headlines is powerful to show
the countries’ responsibility and arise their readers’ emotion in the form of
blame.
In South-East Asian newspaper headlines, the Themes are represented
in different linguistic features. In Indonesian media, the employment of Actor,
Goal, Carrier, Sayer, and Circumstance is to represent different messages the
readers should pay attention to. The involvement of Indonesia and its
government as the dominating Theme is to show responsibility toward
Rohingya issue. The media also share some activities held in Indonesia to show
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its people’s responsibility as human beings who feel sympathy for the victims.
Indonesian newspaper presents as a pro-government organization to support
what the government conducts to solve the crisis. The finding supports Bolte
& Keong (2014) research on how media is influenced by its situational and
ideological context. As the biggest Muslim country, Indonesian newspaper
attempts at showing its government responsibility to protect Rohingyans.
Though the readers’ sympathy is not obviously inscribed in the headlines, the
readers are grasped to observe their government action regarding Rohingya
issue. Nevertheless, the choice of Actor referring to Myanmar is used by
Indonesian media to show “blame” toward Myanmar. The employment of
“Myanmar troops” and “Myanmar army” are some examples.
Malaysian newspaper headlines are rich in linguistic features put in the
headlines. The domination of Actor in the headlines at the same time show
responsibility and blame. The responsibility shared by the media is represented
by government official who shows its power to take particular decision toward
Rohingya issues, such as the choice of “Najib, DPM, and Shahidan”. To show
blame, Malaysian media repeats the choice of “Suu Kyi” as the Actor behind
the clearing. The representation of Suu Kyi as the Actor is in line with Afzal's
(2016) analysis of how Pakistani media frames Suu Kyi as a discriminative
leader. This also arouses the readers’ emotional appeals (pathos) toward
Rohingya crisis. It emphasizes that media produced in Muslim countries share
similar attitude toward Rohingya case.
Bangladesh's media has different referents of Actor though Actor also
dominates the headlines. Bangladesh chooses the number of Rohingya to be
the Themes in order to show how Rohingyans make effort to save themselves,
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which results in “blame” shown by the Theme. However, Bangladesh's media

also shows responsibility by means of Actor shown in the word “Bangladesh”.
Similar to Indonesian newspaper headlines, Malaysian and Bangladesh
newspapers are pro-government media. What their government and its
representatives conduct regarding Rohingya issue is signposted in their
headlines. Malaysia is also a country dominated by Muslims, while Bangladesh
shares its solidarity due to the close border to Rakhine. “Blame” is embodied
in Malaysian and Bangladesh media to encourage readers’ emotions toward
the actions done by Rohingya refugees. What triggers Rohingya crisis is
covered up by the emotions framed by the media (Afzal, 2016).
Different from the four media mentioned above, Myanmar newspaper
headlines are dominated by the Theme referring to responsibility by the
Myanmar government. The choice of Goal refers to things done by the
Government to recover Rohingya crisis, such as “refugee deal, peace, stability,
and plans to repatriate refugee”. The media intends to share the good points
Myanmar government makes. The use of Actor and Sayer referring to the
government also shows its responsibility. Similar to the other three newspapers
discussed previously, Myanmar newspaper is also on the side of its
government, seen from the absence of the word “Rohingya”. The newspaper
intends not to acknowledge Rohingya as a national race (James, 2006). The
neglect of race is intentionally and systematically conducted in Myanmar.
In the last media, Thailand newspaper headlines, it is found that the
media also shows its responsibility and blame toward the Rohingya crisis.
However, blame is not only directed to Myanmar government, but also
Bangladesh. Thailand newspaper headlines also involve ASEAN as the official
association among South-East Asian countries to solve the crisis together.
What is concerned in the media is the stability amongst South-East Asian
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countries. The readers are encouraged to recall the spirit of ASEAN which can
unite them. The conflict happens in South-East Asia is the countries’
responsibility. The “neutral” position Thailand newspaper headlines show is
influenced by the socio-political context in Thailand, as a country that is not
affected directly by the crisis. As one of the founders of ASEAN, Thailand
government is portrayed as the one mediates the conflict. The analysis
emphasizes that newspapers propagate agendas of different social, political,
and economic pillars of power (Lodhi, et al., 2019).
CONCLUSION
This research concludes the choice of wordings in the headlines can
create different discursive effects to the readers. Even though the textual
structures of the headlines are represented in the same type, they can bring
different ideological perspectives depending on how the texts are distributed.
The language choice in the headlines is capable of revealing the position of the
media, whether they are pro-government or not. Language is also benefited to
exercise power and encourage the readers’ emotions. The event behind the case
may be hidden by the emotions and actions signposted in the headlines. This
emphasizes that language choice in media is socially and politically influenced
by the social context. This research invites future scholars to enrich the present
findings so that the studies on how media bring Rohingya issue in the world.
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The Cultural Significance in Greeting Practices in

Belo Dialect of the Bima Language
Al e k
UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta-Indonesia
alek@uinjkt.ac.id
Submission Track:
ABSTRACT
Greeting personal name in local languages are unique and various from one
to another language, island, and cultural group. One of these is Bima
language, especially in Belo dialect. The recent study expects to reveal the
three main issues as follows (1) How many patterns of greeting name
variations using in Belo dialect of the Bima language? (2) How are the
variations pattern constructed in the greeting of personal names in Belo dialect
of Bima language? (3) What are the most often vocal sound patterns used in
greeting the personal names in Belo dialect of Bima language? The research
used a qualitative descriptive study. The collection used some procedures,
namely interviews, recording, documentation. The data analyzed with a
qualitative descriptive that followed Miles and Hubermann. The results show
that there are four patterns variation in greeting personal male names and
eight variations in greeting female names; the second, there are three ways of
constructing the patterns of greeting names, namely at the beginning, the
middle, and the end of the syllables; and the most often syllable vocal pairs
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Alek
used /e—o/ for male names and syllables /a—u/ and /e—o/vowel pairs for
female names. It is crucial to scrutinize the local languages and their cultures
contained within. This implication of recent study results expects to evoke the
speakers of regional languages have a responsible and sense of belonging to
their language and culture.
Keywords: Greeting practices, Bima language, and cultural significance
INTRODUCTION
Greeting of the personal name becomes a crucial aspect of daily human

interaction. Each language has unique ways or patterns in the greeting of
personal names. Bima language (BL) used in Bima regency, and it has some
dialects within; one of them is the Belo dialect (BD). It used in all aspects of
the Bimanese life from family, daily, culture, religion, rituals, education, and
event in the traditional interactions. Regarding the greeting of personal names
in the local languages, a scholar states that “Every language has at least two
relation systems, the term of greeting or addressing and term of reference”
(Koentjoroningrat, 1980 in Hamidsyukrie, et al., 1994, p. 3). There are some
researchers have done the investigation related to greeting names, among them
are (Yannuar, 2017; Felecan, 2015; Pennesi, 2017; and Croft, 2017).
Furthermore, Kridalaksana (1984, p. 171) states that terms of greeting

are morpheme or phrases that are widely used to chat with each other on certain
interaction circumstances and may be different based on the kind of
relationships between the communicators. To a similar extent, language or
speech plays a significant role in stabilizing the social structure. It also means,
the social status also have their unique variation of expression that is widely
used to survive their existence (Alwasilah, 1985, p. 102).
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Term of greeting in most of the Indonesian tribes divided into at least

three significant categories viewed at the social contact. The divisions are
ultimately required since one wants to communicate politely to the older men,
and to become more friendly to the same age, and to be wiser to the younger
age. The categories are (1) eleven old; (2) social context; and (3) friendship
(Depdikbud, 1988, p. 171). Concerning this opinion, Hamidsyukrie (1994, p.
3) expresses that there are at least nine terms of addressing that commonly used
by applied linguists. Still n the same paper, Hamidsyukrie et al. stressed that 4
of them are: pronoun, personal names, relative calls, and degree/title.
In Bima Regency, the Belo dialect is one of the dialects which exist in
the Bima language. This region located in Sumbawa island. The regency is
closer to Dompu regency through the land but closer to Ende through the sea.
Geographically, Bima regency consists of two regions; East Bima and West
Sanggar. The capital of Bima regency is Bima. (Bima District in Figure, 2000).
The difference between dialect and language lies in the mutually intelligible
among the language community. Finally, the way of greeting one's name
mostly similar, that is, by rewarding or honoring "lia" to the older or the
charismatic figure. Bima people use Bima language as their mother tongue and
for communication and interaction in their daily life in any activity of their life.
Like any other subdistrict in Bima regency. The Bimanese in the Belo sub-
district, use terms of greeting names differently for different level, degree, or
age.
The terms of greeting in any other region, the Bimanese language users
also have specific rules or principles. Those rules are crucial since the
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Alek
communicator(s) are afraid to produce rude or even uncivilized man.

Therefore, the communicator has to be able to employ the proper term of
addresses to the correct men (interlocutor). Concerning the pattern of greeting
name based on one's age, Hanafi (2001) states that Bima language uses
interesting patterns in greetings related to the personal names. These features
distinguished because of two things: (1) the greeter is younger than the one
called (at least the difference in age is 2 (two) years) and (2) gender is called
(male or female).
Furthermore, Hanafi (2001) also views that: “Bahasa Bima (BB)

merupakan bahasa yang unik dalam sentuhannya dengan sapa diri. Selain
karena konsonan yang lesap pada akhir pelafalan kata atau pemenggalan
berdasarkan silabel.” It also equivalents to English that Bima language is a
unique language in contact with. For instance, the disappearing of end
consonant(s) in its utterance. To a similar case, the adult names can be
exchanged (in the Belo dialect of the Bima language + lia). These facts are
different from any other local language in Indonesia. For example (1)
Sudirman, his syllable: /Sudi//Dirma //Ma) by older caller. (2) Syllable: /Sudi/
to become /Sedo//Dirma/ to become /Moa//Ma/ to become /Moa/
The pronunciation of personal names should be in the first syllable (s),

middle syllable (s), or the end syllable(s). But, it is impossible to pronounce
the end syllable, which indicates two forms of greeting personal names
(Hanafi, 2001). Regarding politeness Brown and Levinson (1987, p. 67) state
politeness in language indeed imperative to greet or address someone in social
life to avoid conflicts that might occur within every communication interaction.
However, politeness in speech is applied differently in each culture because
every text cannot be separated from the context. In line with Brown and
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Levinson, Ellen (in Chaer and Leonie Agustina, 2010, p. 21) state that
politeness is one of the principles in language use. In other words, it is crucial
to consider the other person’s feelings when communicating with others.
Through considering the other peoples' sense, it will enable communication or
interactions and social progress without threatening the face of the speakers or
speech partners.
RESEARCH METHOD
The method used in recent research is a qualitative descriptive. An

investigation with the qualitative approach is the research relied on verbal and
non-numerical data as the basis of analysis and solving the problem appears
(Farkhan, 2007, p. 6). Qualitative data obtained by asking questions indirectly
or directly to the informants so that they provide information that does not
restrict the participants’ opinions (Creswell and Clark, 2011). Before
undertaking the data, the informants were chosen based on fulfilling the
criteria. There were at least four significant points of consideration of
informants of the study, such as stated by Hamidsyukrie et al. (1994, p. 5), they
are: (1) the native speakers; (2); actively used the language investigated (3)
mentally and physically healthy; (4) up to 16 years old; and (5) to get ready to
give information needed.
The procedures of collecting data used interviews, recording while the

researcher conversation with the informants, documentation, note-taking, and
relevant sources that support the information needed. The researcher
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Alek
interviewed and communication with the informants directly in Belo dialect

used tape-recorder then transcribed carefully and concisely (Mahsun, 2012, pp.
95—96). The researcher also applied note-taking techniques.
The primary data of this recent research obtained directly from the
informants in the research sample areas, which were well representative Belo
dialect in the Bima language. The real procedures of analyzing the data
followed Miles and Hubermann (1984), which includes data presentation, data
reduction, and drawing conclusions and verification of findings. Furthermore,
to guarantee the accuracy and limitations of the data, the triangulation
technique applied to ensure the research methods, data collection, and data
analysis techniques valid and reliable.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The recent article expects to reveal the greeting system practice in the
Bima language, especially in Belo dialect (BD). After conducting a long
journey of investigation, reciprocating to the native speakers of the Bima
language, the researcher, then found out the uniqueness of Bima’s people or
Bimanese in greeting system of personal names mainly used by the Belo
people. During the investigation, he found himself really “melted together” to
the natives. So, he got the original facts of the matters discussed. There are two
main variations of greeting or addressing names usually used in the Belo
dialect. The variations of greeting/calling names are different from male and
female, which applied in daily interactions of Bima language. Under detail
explanations, the investigation divided into several components. There are four
patterns of variation in greeting male’s names in Belo dialect of Bima
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language. The first pattern is constructed from the syllable /e—o/. This pattern
of variation is the most number in Bima language variation in daily greeting
personal names use. The greeting of personal names shows the difference
based on who is the caller of the names. The sample of greeting names can be
seen in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Variation of Daily Greeting Personal Male Names in Syllable /e—o/

Greeting Variation Proper Name
Younger Older/same
Caller age Caller
Bedo Bidi Abidin
Beho Baha Baharudin
Beko Baka Abubakar
Bero Burha, Buru Burhan
Deo Nurdi Nurdin
Delo Dula, Dola Abdullah
Dero Dara Darham
Heko Haka Ishaka
Helo Hali Halik
Hemo Hami Hamid
Hima
Melo Mali Amlik
Semo Sama Samad
Kero Kari Karim
Mejo Maji Majid
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Alek
Keso Kasi Kasim

Deo Haidi Haidir
Jeo Hanja Hamjah
Kedo Kadi Kadir
Medo Sumadi Sumadin
Seno Suna, Sunardi Sunardin
Table 1 depicts patterns or variations of greeting personal male names in Belo

dialect of Bima language. To call/greet one’s name in Belo dialect, the people
use several rules, such as follows: the first variation of greeting names of the
younger caller to the older called. The way of greeting the older’s name meant
to consider the politeness, such as Bedo for the proper name Abidin, Beho for
the proper name Baharuddin, and Beko for the proper name Abubakar. The
second variation of greeting names of the older caller to the younger called,
such as in Bidi for the proper name Abidin, Baka for the proper name Abubakar,
and Nurdi for the proper name Nurdin. The third, the variation of calling names
of the same age/the same level callers. To this extent, the younger callers, for
instance, appreciate much the honor of the adults. Such polite expressions also
determine deep respect. Next, the most patterns greeting male names of older
and same-age callers to youngers tend to be greeted or called by omitting the
last letter of the proper name.
In regard the finding above, Brewer (1981) states that based on his
research under the title “Bimanese Personal Names: The View from Bima
Town and Donggo” Bimanese people has a unique pattern in addressing
personal names, even though among one to another subdistrict has slightly
difference each other. The result above can be viewed from the cultural
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perspective, Brown and Levinson (in Gunarwan, 1994, p. 6) explain that the
speaker chooses the strategy by considering the levels threat of "face" based
on the social distance of both the speaker and the speaker. The difference in
social status and power between speaker one and speaker two make the
strategies or patterns in their communication difference to each other. The
other aspect usually considered by the speakers in communication is a cultural
aspect or concern. In other words, the cultural perspective becomes a crucial
thing to be cared about in maintaining conversation continuity. In line with
Brown and Levinson, Nwoye (1992) stresses that politeness is an essential
aspect of verbal communication and involved the strategies for maintaining
social interaction among the speakers. Furthermore, Nwoy states that the actual
using of the strategies in certain social settings may differ from the other
tradition or cultural context. The next variation of daily greeting personal male
names constructed by syllable /i—a/ as in Table 2.
Table 2. Variation of Daily Greeting Personal Names in Syllable /i—a/
Younger Older/same
Caller age Caller
Hima Hama, Ahmad
Hima Muhama Muhammad
Table 3. Variation of Daily Greeting Personal Names in Syllable /o—e/
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Alek
Younger Older/same
Caller age Caller
Delo, Dola, Dula Abdullah

Dole
Abdula
Table 4. Variation of Daily Greeting Personal Names in Syllable /i—e/
Younger Older/same
Caller age Caller
Sile Sala, Salahudin,
Sile Mursali, Sali, Mursalim
Sile Sali Salim
Sile Sale Saleh
Based on results as depicted in Tables 2, 3, and 4 above, the results tell

us about the greeting variations of personal male names in Belo dialect based
on syllables of vowel pairs. From the three tables, it is apparent that Table 4 is
a more productive variation of greeting personal male names than Table 2 and
Table 3. Table 4 shows a similar pattern or way of greeting/addressing to some
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different names when greeted by the younger callers. Otherwise, the greeting
is variation when are greeted by the older or same age callers.
Tables 2 shows the less productive in greeting personal names in Belo

dialect (BD). The greeting constructed from the syllables /i—a/, as in proper
names Ahmad and Muhammad. Both names are greeted with Hima when they
greeted by younger callers. Furthermore, the greeting is different when the
names are greeted or addressed by the older or same-age callers.
Next, Table 3 depicts further finding regarding the pattern of

constructing the greeting of personal name in the Belo dialect. The personal
greeting names use syllable /o—e/ for the younger caller for Delo and Dole for
the proper name Abdullah. As happened in the personal greeting as seen in
Table 2 above, the variation of greeting personal names is more productive
when it is called or greeted by the older or same-age callers than younger ones.
Regarding these findings are in line with (Erwin Wayan & Arifin,
2013) under their research title Penggunaan Bahasa Mbojo Di Lingkungan
Masyarakat Bima Di Bima: Sebuah Kajian Variasi Bahasa state that personal
greeting names in Belo dialect of Bima language. Bimanese or Bima people
have some variations based on their age, sex, and position. Furthermore, they
express that there are two levels of politeness variations, namely moderate and
less politeness
The further result is the variation of greeting female names in Belo

dialect presented from Tables 5 up to Table 12 respectively.
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Alek
Table 5. Variation of Daily Greeting Personal Female Names in Syllable /a—

u/
Greeting Variation Proper
Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Bau Bia, Arabia, Arabiah
Bau Misba Misbah
Lau Ramla, Laila Ramlah,

Lailah
Jau Jahara Jaharah,

Jahora
Mau Muala Maulanah
Tau Mariati, Ati, Ti Maryati
Fau Darfia, Sarfia Darfiah,

Sarfiah
Hawu Hawa Siti Hawah
Janu Jana, Nurjana Nurjanah
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Nau Ratna, Misna, Ratnah,

Nuraeni Misnah,
Nuraeni
Table 5 shows the variety of greeting personal names for females in Belo
dialect (BD) of Bima language (BL). From ten female names show the
difference of greeting between the younger callers and older or same-age
callers. The younger callers to the older people have less choice or variation
than older and same-age callers. The younger callers have a unique greeting to
older people, as in Arabiah, Ramlah, Laila, Jahara, Maulana, and Mariati. But
for greeting names Fau for Darfiah, Sarfiah, Jau for Jahara and Jahora; Lau
for Ramlah and Lailah; Nau for Ratna, Misnah, Nur’aini; and Wau for
Ma’awiah and Marwiah.
Meanwhile the variety of greeting personal name which

addressed/greeted by older and same-age callers has more variations than
younger callers. Based on result in Table 5 above, it shows at least two ways
of greeting personal female names both older callers and same-age ones.
Table 6. Variation of Daily Greeting Female Names in Syllable /e—o/
Younger Older Name

Caller
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Alek
Caller/Same
Age
Eno Ani, Ma’ani Ma’ani
Geyo Gaya, Rugaya Rugayah
Eo Ma’ia, Ma, Ia Ma’iah
Eto Ma’atu, Atu Ma’atu
Heno, Hani, Hanifa Hanifah

Nefo
Jeo Jauhari, Jau Jauhari
Mero Mariati, Mariati

Asmara
Asmara
Feo Fia, Safia Safiah,

Sarfiah
Sero Sara, Sarfia Sarafiah
Table 6 above shows the different ways of greeting personal names for females
in Belo dialect (BD) of Bima language (BL). From eleven (11) proper names
found the difference of greeting between the younger callers and older and
same-age callers. The younger caller to the older people has only one choice
to greet or call older female names. But in greeting personal names by the older
and same-age callers has at least two ways or choices each name. There is a
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proper name Ma’iah is called or greeted with three ways Ma’ia, Ma, and Ia.
Besides, the proper name Hanifah can be greeted by the younger callers in two
ways, namely Heno and Nefo. Meanwhile, the proper names Mariati and
Asmara may be addressed or called by younger callers with one greeting,
namely Mero.
Table 7. Variation of Daily Greeting Female Names in Syllable /o—a/
Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Moa Salma, Ma, Salmah,

Mae, Sarmae Sarmae,
Fatma, Ma Fatmah
The finding, as seen in Table 7 shows the different ways of personal greeting
names for females in Belo dialect (BD) of Bima language (BL). From three (3)
proper names (Salmah, Sarmae, and Fatmah) which follow the pattern of
construction /o—a/ in greeting personal female names by the younger callers.
The three proper names called with one greeting name, namely Moa.
Meanwhile, the variation of greeting name by older and same-age callers are
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Alek
two ways, they are Salma and Ma for Salmah; Sarmae and Mae for Sarmae;
and Fatma and Ma for Fatmah.
Table 8. Variation of Daily Greeting Female Names in Syllable /a—o/
Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Rao Maria, Ria, Maria,

Mariama, Maria Mariamah,
Mariana, Maria Marianah
Juria, Ria, Juriah
Juhria, Ria Juhriah
Jumra Jumrah
Table 8 presents the results from the data analysis which used the pattern of
greeting female names. This finding shows the difference from the other
designs as in the previous tables. The finding in Table 5 above may be called
a unique construction, especially in greeting female names for younger callers
to older people, especially for female names. There are six (6) names may be
called with one greeting or addressing, such as Maria, Mariamah, Marianah,
Juriah, Juhriah, and Jumrah. Otherwise the greeting of female names is called
by the older and same-age callers are more variations. Each of the proper names
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has two variations, but only one name has no variation or other option, namely
Jumra for Jumrah.
Table 9. Variation of Daily Greeting Female Names in Syllable /e—i/
Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Jei Jaena, Junari Jaenab
Sei Samsia Samsiah,

Kalisom
Kaliso
Sei, Moa Sarmae, Mae Sarmaeh
Table 9 provides the result regarding the patterns of greeting female names
using syllable /e—i/. there are four proper names. There is a female name has
two ways for younger caller to older people, such as Sei and Moa for Sarmaeh.
Thre are two names that have one way of greeting the female names, as in
younger callers, Sei for Samsiah and Kalisom. Meanwhile the older and same-
age callers have only one way or choice to greet or call both Samsiah and
Kalisom. The last greeting variation in this pattern is the older and same-age
callers have two ways or choices to greet or address the proper name Sarmaeh.
Table 10. Variation of Daily Greeting Female Names in Syllable /o—i/
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Alek
Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Bodi Jubaida, Beda Jubaidah
Doji Dija, Hadija Hadijah
Losi Lisa, Halisa Halisah
Rofi Sarifa, Rifa Sarifah
Lomi Halima, Lima Halimah
As can be seen from Table 10 above, the pattern of greeting female names for
younger callers to older people using syllable /o—i/. From five female names
found that each name has only one way or choice to greet or call when it is
called or greeted by younger callers, such Bodi for Jubaidah; Doji for Hadijah;
Losi for Halisah. Rofi for Sarifah, and Lomi for Halimah. However, each of
five names as presented in Table 5 above has two ways or choices when they
are greeted or called by older and same-age callers.
Table 11. Variation of Daily Greeting Personal Names in Syllable /e—e/
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Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Mene Muna, Maemunah

Maemuna
Mini,
Rukmini
Rukmini
Table 11 shows the variation of greeting female names using syllable pattern
/e—e/ for younger caller to older people. There is only one choice of greeting
two female names, namely Maemunah and Rukmini. Both names greeted or
addressed with Mene. Meanwhile the older and same-age callers have two
ways or choices to greet and call them, such as Muna and Maemuna for
Maemunah; and Mini and Rukmini for Rukmini. But there is one proper name,
namely Rumini has the same greeting, both older callers and same-age callers.
It means that there is no omitting final phoneme ‘h’ in this name. In other
words, this name is unique to other Bimanese female names. Regarding this
finding, Hanafi (2001) stresses that: “Bahasa Bima (BB) merupakan bahasa
yang unik dalam sentuhannya dengan sapa diri. Selain karena konsonan yang
lesap pada akhir pelafalan kata atau pemenggalan berdasarkan silabel.”
Translation: Bima is a unique language along with its its personal address.
Instead of the ellipsis of consontant on the last part of the pronunciation or
the syllable division"
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Alek
Table 12. Variation of Daily Greeting Female Names in Syllable /o—o/
Younger Older Name

Caller
Caller/Same
Age
Bobo Habiba, Biba Habibah
It can be seen from the data in Table 12 that there is only one name
found using this pattern construction in greeting female names of Bima people.
The variation of greeting occurs only in older and same-age callers, such as
Habiba and Biba for Habibah. Meanwhile, as the most common of greeting
female names, especially the callers or greeters are younger than the people are
called or greeted.
Based on the results as shown in eight tables (Table 5 up to Table 12)

above, they can be classified into three levels of variations, namely high
variation, as in Tables 5 and Table 6; moderate level variation as seen in Tables
7, 8, and 9, 10; and low variety as in Table 11 and Table 12). The other exciting
aspect of greeting female names is the most variation of greeting names that
occur on older callers and same-age callers, as shown in all tables (Tables 5—
12). In contrast, the variation of greeting personal names of younger callers
tends to low productivity, but they still have politeness value.
Regarding the result of this study, Anchimbe (2011) based on his

research results under his research title “On not calling people by their names:
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Pragmatic undertones of socio-cultural relationships in a post-colony found

that to greeting people by their proper names in certain cultures is not only
disrespectful but also an indication that they have no respect or have no
politeness. In line with this opinion, Manno (2005) strengthens that politeness
comprises not only reducing the face-strengthening act (negative politeness)
but also creating polite acts, for example, compliment, greeting, etcetera
(positive politeness). The other research result comes from Schneider (2017)
with his research title “(Im)politeness and regional variation” supports the two
research result before, that in macro-social interaction, gender and age factors
may affect the language use, not only at the national, sub-national, and local
level.
Furthermore, to answer the second question posed before, which

related to how are the use of variations pattern in the greeting of personal names
in Belo dialect of Bima language? Regarding the answer to this question, it can
be revealed based on the above results. The ways of using variations in greeting
personal names in the Belo dialect of Bima language consists of three ways.
The three variation patterns of greeting personal names, namely at the
beginning, such as in proper names Kasim to become Keso and Hamid to
become Hemo or Hima; the middle, such as in proper name Abidin to become
Bedo, and Aldi to become Deo; and at the end of the syllables, such as in proper
name Ramli to become Leo and Hamdin to become Deo. These examples as
seen above are the most often used and natural occurrence when Bimanese
people interact in daily life. Related to this finding Ahn, H. (2017) stated in his
research finding that terms of greeting used by callers communication happen
the callers/speakers always consider the appropriately linguistic features and
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Alek
specific cultural embraced by the addressee (younger, older, or same age) as

a means of precisely designating individuals.
Regarding the results above, Belo dialect of the Bima language has
unique variation patterns and systems of greeting both male’s and female’s
names. In line with this finding, Montemurro at al. (2016), in any language,
there are many signals produced by complex systems, such as phoneme
sounds and words, and its meaning within. Besides that Malt, at al. (2003)
expressed another aspect of language use, it based on their research result
stated that in using language, the speakers need to know not only the individual
elements, such as his/her cultural aspect which they are embraced but also of
the language they speak. Regarding this concern. Alek (2018, p. 9) says more
explicitly in his book ‘Linguistik Umum’ that language is a variety. It means
that each language or dialect used by a group of the language community that
owned by a language society. The diversity of communication has an impact
on the patterns of the formation of specific systems that are adopted by a
language, such as in the variation of syllable of vowel patterns in greeting
system of people's names in the Belo dialect. Similar to Alek, Sri (2016) stated
that language is a unique sound pattern according to the way of the channel
and according to its acoustic properties (phonetic articulatory). Speech is the
process of producing air through the mouth and the role of all utensils.
Furthermore, Sri stressed that all utterances or sentences produced should have
meaning and meaningful.
CONCLUSION
The present investigation definitely answers the questions regarding

greeting practice of personal names in the Bima language, especially in Belo
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dialect. The results indicated that there are differences between males and
females in the greeting of personal names. There are four variations or patterns
in male’s greeting their personal names. In the meantime, there are nine
patterns of syllable of vowel variations in constructing the greeting of female’s
names in Belo dialect of Bima language. The other result related the process of
building the patterns or variations in greeting both male and female names
consist of three variation patterns, namely at the beginning (Kasim for Keso),
in the middle (Nurdin for Deo), and the last is at the end of the syllables (Bakri
for Reo). The variation found in this study not only the patterns of syllables or
vowel pairs but also the name variation in the way of greeting some personal
names, both in male’s name and female’s name when they are called by older
or same age speakers/callers. The other important result indicates that the most
syllable /e—o/ for male and syllable /a—u/ and /e—o/ for female names. The
other important uniqueness found in this study is that of all final letters or
phonemes in greeting personal names, both males and females in the Bima
language ending with ‘vowel letter.’ In societal life, personal greeting names
may differ from a language community to another language community; it is
strongly affected by the culture embraced and the level of closeness among the
speakers.
The finding of the recent study suggests that the language teachers, the
language planners of Bima language, includes Belo dialect to scrutinize the
aspects that have not revealed yet within the investigation. Last but not least,
the local language not only a means of communication among the speaker of
the language but also to support the development of the national language.
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Alek
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Proposing a Gaming Language Analysis

Procedure to Reveal Video Game Ideology
through Ludic Linguistics
SF. Luthfie Arguby Purnomo*
Institut Agama Islam Negeri Surakarta
theluthfie@gmail.com
Khristianto
Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto
Kristian.topz@gmail.com
Submission Track:
ABSTRACT
This study proposes a procedural analysis on the implementation of ludic
linguistics to analyze gaming language with wordplay, the core of focus in
ludic linguistics, as the point of departure. To formulate the procedural
analysis, theories of language play by Crystal ideology of influence and
ludonarrative model by Aarseth, wordplay in the gaming context by Paul,
intended meaning level by Stiles, wordplay transmission by Winter-Froemel,
game interface types by Stonehouse, and indexical storytelling by Fernández-
Vara were applied as the theoretical foundation. To provide a vivid application
of the proposed procedural analysis, wordplays appearing on game assets
from Konami’s Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater were taken as examples of analysis. The five-
step procedure is able to show how wordplays in the gaming context are
designed as mechanical cues to help gamers complete the games and as
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narrative cues to help them comprehend the story. Moreover, this proposed
procedure is able to indicate that the mechanical and narrative cues have a
particular ideology of influence, which affects gamers in reacting and
responding to particular problems presented by the games. The result of this
study discloses future research on the roles of wordplays in the gaming context,
signifying the importance of ludic linguistics as a bridge between language
studies and game studies.
Keywords: Wordplay; Gaming Language; Ludic Linguistics; Game Studies;

Metal Gear Solid
INTRODUCTION
Humans as Homo Ludens-playful creatures express their playfulness
through games (Huizinga, 1949). Structurally games are classified into ludus,
structured games, and paidia, unstructured games (Caillois, 1961). In playing
games, humans make use of language to formulate rules, devise tactics, and
achieve goals. Though game are diverse, in terms of types and how they are
played, they share a common trait of the narrative. Rules, tactics, and goals are
the game elements that contribute to the emergence of game narrative.
Language intertwines itself with those elements to ensure that the game
narratives are playful.
Perceiving how language is intertwined with playfulness, Crystal
(1996) urges the necessity to study how humans use language to express their
playfulness, which he calls ludic linguistics. Crystal (2001) emphasizes the
relationship between language and playfulness in terms of language play for
humorous purposes through wordplay as ludic rules. Since playfulness is not
only related to humor and the development of games, concerns on how games
are explainable from linguistics perspectives are taken into account. Before
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Crystal (2001) displays his concerns on the link between language and
playfulness, Sudnow (1983) has indicated how the language used in games
plays a significant role in establishing gameplay experience, further implying
that gaming language has particular power in influencing gamers. Regarding
this influence, Aarseth (1997) emphasizes on how human language and
programming language are molded to instruct gamers to traverse games
cybertextually. The traversing act by gamers indicates the presence of guidance
or system of traversal within the game. Mäyrä (2008) argues that in games,
language is a system that incorporates game rules and gameplays and provides
meaningful playfulness for gamers. Due to its status as a system, an interaction
commonly called human-computer interaction (HCI) occurs. Ensslin (2011)
specifies this interaction in terms of how linguistics contributes in displaying
the relationship between language use and ludic activities gamers perform.
Concerning the linguistics implied by Ensslin (2011), Purnomo et al. (2016)
emphasize the necessity to revisit ludic linguistics as argued by Crystal by
focusing on two major elements it offers namely patterns and preferences.
Patterns refer to how the game information is constructed while preferences to
how gamers devise gaming strategies based on the information given.
Departing from the combination of both, gaming identity or what they call as
luden is able to be revealed.
The gap left by the aforementioned studies is how to incorporate the
root of ludic linguistics, which is wordplay, in video game context to reveal
how ideology of influence is transferred through the use of wordplays. This
relationship might disclose a comprehension on the ideology particular games
have and the influences they have upon gamers from language perspectives.
To indicate how gaming languages have a link on the ideology of influence,
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this article employs language play by Crystal (2001), ideology of influence by

Aarseth (1997), wordplay in the gaming context by Paul (2012), ludonarrative
model by Aarseth (2012), intended meaning level by Stiles (1986), wordplay
transmission by Winter-Froemel (2016), game interface types by Stonehouse
(2014), and indexical storytelling by Fernández-Vara (2011). To display how
these theories are integrable for an analysis, Konami’s Metal Gear Solid, Metal
Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater were used
as an example. Expected results would indicate how the use of particular
lingual expressions has distinctive purposes in directing or distracting the
gamers from achieving in-game goals.
This study attempts to formulate a systemic tool of analysis, able to
indicate how ludic linguistics is able to explain how wordplays, as its essence,
contribute to the presence of ideology of influence. This tool will be beneficial
for (a) linguists in comprehending the relationship between gaming language
and the ideologies games have, (b) narrative designers in designing narrative
cues or pathways to predict how the designed games are expected to trigger
particular reactions and responses from the gamers, and (c) gamers in
comprehending how language works in the gaming context. This study limits
its scope on the phrase ‘gaming language’. Gaming language might refer to
computer codes, human languages delivered by computer codes, or human
languages delivered by gamers to gamers. This study highlights the second
with concerns over the first and the third to a particular extent. These three
types of gaming languages, though being different in nature, share a common
trait. They are constructed to indicate how game mechanics and narratives
could contribute to the process of meaning making, from which gamers
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embrace ludic values or commonly called as playfulness. In cognitive

perspectives as suggested by Lieberman (2014), playfulness is inseparable
from one’s creative cognitive style. This definition implies that the degree of a
product of being playful or not relies on the individual’s creativity through
cognition upon the product. Wordplays in the gaming context are designed to
be playful in a different sense from that of the non-gaming context. The
playfulness of a game might be revealed through replayability, ability games
have to attract gamers to play the games over and over (Newman, 2013).
Besides limiting the study on the types of gaming language, this study specifies
its range of gaming language by referring to the root of ludic linguistics,
wordplay. Focusing on wordplay in the gaming context with consideration on
its mechanical and narrative functions indicates a fusion between ludic
linguistics and game studies, from which making sense is constructed in the
sense that game mechanics and narratives are able to be analyzed from
linguistics perspectives for uncovering the ideology of influence.
RESEARCH METHOD
This qualitative study employed Giddings’ (2009) micro-ethnography
approach for video game studies. This approach was selected since it focuses
on the events resulting from the interaction between games and their gamers.
This approach is linear to the essence of the ideology of influence and thereby
employing this approach would generate a vivid picture of how wordplays, as
the root of ludic linguistics, are constructed as such to influence the gamers in
playing the games.
The data of this study were the game assets of Metal Gear Solid, Metal
Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater comprising
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tutorials, items, skills/abilities, equipment, non-battle, pre-battle, in-battle,

post-battle dialogues, music and song, and map. Metal Gear Solid was selected
as the source of data since this game, labelled as one of the greatest video
games of all time, laid the foundation of the so-called stealth genre, an action
game, which instructs the gamers to complete any missions without being
noticed. This game genre requires gamers to thoroughly consider every textual,
visual, audial, and kinetic aspect to complete the game.
The researcher played Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of
Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, procured the game assets, stored
and sorted them for analysis. The procured game assets comprise textual,
visual, audial, and kinetic elements, from which a multimodal relationship is
woven to generate meaning for the gamers. The game assets from Metal Gear
Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake
Eater were taken based on the perspectives of genotype, in which the game
elements do not stand by themselves in constructing a meaning but they work
together to signify the presence of game assets, from which meaning is
perceived.
RESULT & DISCUSSION

To make it more practical, the result of this study is presented in steps
on how wordplays as the essence of ludic linguistics, ludonarrative, intended
meaning level, interface design, indexical storytelling, and the ideology of
influence are intertwined to generate an underlying particular meaning for
games. Examples from Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,
and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater are presented to better illustrate the steps.
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Gaming language analysis procedures

Kernel analysis
To reveal video game ideology with wordplays as the core focus, five
steps of gaming language analysis are constructed. The first step is to reveal
the kernel of game assets. Kernel is what cannot be omitted or replaced since
its omission will totally change the narrative while the satellite is what can be
replaced (Aarseth, 2012). Kernel in its simplest sense shares common traits as
that of main idea of a text. The kernel of Spider Man, for instance, is spider
bite, which turns Peter Parker into Spider Man. Without that bite, there would
never be Spider Man. Thus, the kernel is spider biting. In the gaming context,
kernel is uncoverable through the characteristic or the nature of game assets.
The following table enlists regular game assets appearing on any game design
and the kernel they are constructed from.
Table 1. Game Assets and Their Kernels
Game Assets Kernels

Tutorial Tutoring
Items Effecting
Skills/Abilities Effecting
Equipment Effecting
Non-Battle Dialogues Informing (in relation to the other game assets)
Pre-Battle Dialogues Fighting/Indicating
In-Battle Dialogues Fighting/Indicating
Post-Battle Dialogues Informing (in relation to the other game assets)
Music and Song Indicating
Map Searching
Departing from understanding that each game asset has kernel,

wordplays related to the kernel are uncoverable. In-game equipment is
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onomastically named to indicate an aesthetic relationship between mechanics

and narrative elements. Chaff Grenade, one of iconic equipment in Metal Gear
franchise, is named after seeds separated by the process of winnowing. This
meaning aesthetically indicates its mechanical function, in which by throwing
the grenade, Solid Snake becomes unnoticed from any visual, camera-based
recording, separating him from the surveillance view. Interestingly when the
grenade is thrown out, winnowing like sound effect and seed-like dots are
heard and visualized on the screen. Chaff Grenade, as a part of the equipment,
has an effecting kernel and thus the word ‘chaff’ is played for the gamers to
think what effects it might have upon the player-controlled character, the
computer-controlled proponent character, and the computer-controlled
opponent characters.
Intended meaning level analysis

An analysis of the intended meaning level proceeds after the kernels
are revealed. Intended meaning circumnavigates around attempts to recognize
whether speakers disguise their hidden meaning through the use of particular
expressions (Stiles, 1986). In the gaming context, cues or hints to complete a
game might be explicitly or implicitly delivered to the gamers and it befalls to
the gamers to decipher them. This condition implies that games actually speak
to the gamers in a particular manner. Stiles (1986) classifies intended meaning
into six levels namely level 0,1,2,3,4,5. In this classification, the higher the
level the deeper the intended meaning is hidden. Level 0 and 1 are literal, level
2 hint, level 3 manipulation, level 4 secret, and level 5 self-deception. In
relation to the truth revealing functions, non-humorous wordplays in the
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gaming context are designed as such to deliver their intended meaning to the
gamers by requesting them to perceive the meaning of wordplays, not the way
it is presented.
In the case of Chaff Grenade, if a description on the grenade usage and
function is not existent, the intended meaning on the wordplay is of level two
since recognizing the usage and function of Chaff Grenade is not only
obtainable from deciphering the word ‘Chaff’ but also from trial and error by
the gamers. In the game, Chaff Grenade is presented along with its description
and thus making the wordplay falls into level zero, literal intended meaning.
To give a better understanding of how Stiles’ (1986) intended meaning level
works in the gaming context, a table is presented as follow:
Table 2. Intended Meaning Level Classification
Intended Meaning Name Description

Level
Level 0 Literal No hidden intended meaning
Intended meaning is explicitly delivered
through various assistive menu
containing explanation, description, or
procedure
Level 1 Literal No hidden intended meaning
Intended meaning is explicitly articulated
without the help of assistive menu
Level 2 Hint Intended meaning is hidden
Gamers are not required to reveal the
intended meaning but revealing it
discloses possibilities to play the game
efficiently and effectively
Level 3 Manipulation Intended meaning is hidden
Gamers are required to reveal the
intended meaning to proceed to next
missions or stages
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If gamers fail to reveal the intended

meaning, the game will provide
assistance
Level 4 Secret Intended meaning is hidden in the form
of cheat
Gamers need to perform specific actions
like button pressing, run special program
over the game or download extra content
to reveal the intended meaning
Level 5 Self- Intended meaning is hidden in glitch or
Deception bug due to errors in the game
Gamers do not perform specific
procedures to reveal the intended
meaning since gamers accidentally bump
over the glitches or bugs
As seen from the table, that the criteria employed to indicate intended meaning
level are game-to-gamer centric indicates that game acts as an addresser while
gamers as an addressee. This addressing relationship points out that both
attempt to communicate through a language with specific features. In the case
of ‘chaff’, that its level of intended meaning is of level zero is not only
indicated by the criteria of its level but also the way the played word is
presented, wordplay transmission, the next step of the analysis.
Wordplay transmission analysis

Wordplays require media to transmit their meaning, implying that
different media generates different approaches to comprehend the wordplays.
Winter-Froemel (2016) classifies three types of wordplay transmission namely
phonic, graphic, and combination of both. In relation to intended meaning, the
attribution of image, sound, and motion on the played words signify different
levels of intended meaning. In the case of Chaff Grenade, this weapon is
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visualized and sound-effected and thereby assisting gamers in recognizing the

mechanical function of the grenade. The presence of these visual and audial
attributes is also another proof that ‘chaff’, played on Chaff Grenade, is of level
zero in intended meaning. In the gaming context, visual and audial attributes
are not only the concerns but the way the attributes are displayed is also taken
into concerns. Video games, like any other computer programs, utilize
interface to allow gamers to interact with the game elements via visual and
audial attributes.
Four types of interfaces video games utilize are diegetic, meta-diegetic,
spatial, and non-diegetic (Stonehouse, 2014). On the diegetic interface, the
interface is blended within the narrative and game environment. In a simple
understanding, the diegetic interface does not explicitly display the interface
and thus making the immersion level of gamers high. Meta-diegetic shares
similar traits like diegetic in which the interface is not explicitly displayed.
What makes the two different is that in meta-diegetic, the interface is designed
in a 2D plane. If gamers want to chat with in-game avatars, for instance, the
interface displayed on screen might take a real-life communication tool instead
of symbols. The spatial interface relies on symbols to indicate where game
avatars should go so that gamers would not miss the intended direction. The
immersion level of this interface is lower than diegetic and meta-diegetic. The
lowest in immersion among the four is non-diegetic in which movements,
equipment, and other game elements are symbolized and thereby reducing the
immersive level of gamers in the narrative. Visual and audial attributes
attached to the wordplay, in the gaming context, are dependent on these
interface types. If immersion is graded like that of intended meaning, a
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relationship between wordplay transmission, interface, and intended meaning

level will be visible as follow:
Table 3. Wordplay Transmission Scales (Mechanical Functions)
Interface Types Immersion Level Wordplay Transmission Intended

Meaning Level
Diegetic High None 4
Visual 3
Audial 2
Audial-Visual 1
Visual-Audial 0
Meta-Diegetic Medium None 4
Visual 3
Audial 2
Audial-Visual 1
Visual-Audial 0
Spatial Fair None 4
Visual 3
Audial 2
Audial-Visual 1
Visual-Audial 0
Non-Diegetic Low None 4
Visual 3
Audial 2
Audial-Visual 1
Visual-Audial 0
Intended meaning level 5 is not included in the scale since level 5 in

the game deals with glitches and bugs, which indicate the presence of in-game
mechanical errors and troubles. Audial-Visual and Visual-Audial refer to the
cooperative relation both transmissions have with the first word being more
emphasized than the second. As seen from the table, wordplays transmitted in
a more detailed fashion have a more literal intended meaning. In addition, the
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more diegetic an interface has in transmitting the wordplays, the higher the
immersion level is. In Chaff Grenade case, the immersion level is low and the
intended meaning is of level zero. This low-zero combination points out that
Chaff Grenade is designed to have a direct influence on the gamers so that they
might engage its mechanical functions in a responsive manner.
In the context of narrative functions, wordplay transmission is
delivered in regard to the storytelling or story building types the games have.
Fernández-Vara (2011) proposes indexical storytelling, a story told through
indications or indices, terms borrowed from Peircean sign philosophy.
Indexical storytelling claims that stories in games are not only intended to tell
something to the gamers but also to indicate the gamers to do something. In
Revolver Ocelot case, for instance, the lines said by the gunman are not
intended only to tell that he is an experienced Colt user but also to indicate that
the gun has only six bullets and it requires time to reload. The first function is
what Fernández-Vara (2011) refers to as ‘what happened;’ the second, what
should be done. In brief, the former is better termed event and the second,
action. In event, the story attempts to immerse gamers in ‘telling’ while in
action, the immersion lies on ‘building’. These different types of immersion
signify a different level of engagement, how gamers are exposed to particular
games or game elements (McMahan, 2003). In telling, gamers are required to
connect past and present events to predict and analyze what event will be
occurring in the future of the controlled character. Meanwhile, in building,
gamers have to connect cues hidden or exposed in the game environment. In
regard to wordplays and their transmissions, telling and building also share the
same transmissions as what mechanical functions have.
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Table 4. Wordplay Transmission Scales (Narrative Functions)
Indexical Storytelling Immersion Wordplay Inte

Types Level Transmission nde
d
Me
ani
ng
Lev
el
Event Telling None 4
Visual 3
Audial 2
Audial-Visual 1
Visual-Audial 0
Action Building None 4
Visual 3
Audial 2
Audial-Visual 1
Visual-Audial 0
In the case of Chaff Grenade, the indexical storytelling is action and thus
building becomes the focus of the played word. As it falls into building, gamers
are asked to reveal the cues of the grenade functions. To do so, gamers could
rely on themselves to know how the played word is transmitted, whether the
word is aided by visual, audial, both, or none. The way the word is transmitted,
as discussed before, is connected to the intended meaning level.
Ideology of influence analysis

The analysis on wordplay transmission encompassing both mechanical
and narrative functions are brought together along with the analysis on kernel
and intended meaning level to reveal the ideology of influence principle that
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the analyzed played word has. The ideology of influence falls into two
principles of delivery namely metamorphosis and anamorphosis (Aarseth,
1997). The former attempts to influence gamers in a literal way, implying that
gamers are free to configure any strategies with the existing features of the
games to accomplish particular goals. Meanwhile, the latter demands gamers
to traverse the games in a specific way to complete certain objectives, hidden
from the literal ones. In the context of wordplays, this specific traversal mode
is also required. This is due to the fact that wordplay might be utilized to
function as a veiled speech and a safe criticism (Ahl, 1984), to which politics
is primarily attached (Mitsis and Ziogas, 2016). Wordplay might also be
aesthetically employed to strengthen the poetic sides of art or the witty sides
of fictional characters (Mahood, 2003; Louden, 1995). To provide a clear
relationship among each step, the analysis is delivered through a hierarchical
process chart:
Chart 1. Wordplay Analysis Example
Equipment Game Asset
Chaff Grenade
Chaff
Seed Winnowing
Effecting
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Mechanical Functions Narrative Functions
Non-Diegetic Action
Visual Audial Visual Audial
Low-Zero Building-Zero
Metamorphic Principle Metamorphic Principle
As seen from the chart above, the word played in Chaff Grenade is
‘chaff’. This word has an effecting kernel since it belongs to the equipment
game asset. The effecting kernel occurs on the mechanical functions of the
word only. The mechanics are non-diegetically displayed with visual and
audial aids. These aids are the graphic and phonic realization of the meaning
behind ‘chaff’, semantically related to ‘seed’ and ‘winnowing’. Since the
meaning is realized through the use of non-diegetic interfaced visual and audial
aids, ‘chaff’ in Chaff Grenade is low in immersion and zero in intended
meaning. This condition indicates that the metamorphic principle is applied in
delivering ideology of influence, meaning that the word ‘chaff’ is not designed
to be deciphered by the gamers. What occurs in the case of ‘chaff’, which
emphasizes on the mechanism of using the equipment, is a type of equipment
naming in military games. A different case might occur when the equipment
naming is intended for a role-playing game (RPG) with all its derivative genres.
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Chaff in its narrative functions, as seen from the above chart, focuses
on action indexical storytelling. It implies, as suggested before, that the played
word ‘chaff’ is not intended to provide information regarding the story
occurring before and after the introduction of ‘chaff’. Chaff is indicated to lead
the gamers to perform particular actions through the controlled character. To
perform this action, in the case of ‘chaff’, the indication is delivered in intended
meaning level zero, meaning that the cues to operate the grenade are explicitly
delivered or metamorphically delivered. In the context of ludo-narrative, the
focus on mechanical function ‘chaff’ indicates that the mechanics of Chaff
Grenade builds the weapon’s narrative. When a game asset relies on
mechanical functions to establish its narrative, it points out that the game asset
is not story-related but gameplay-related. When game assets dominantly have
more focus on mechanics than narrative, it implies that the genre the game has
is gameplay-driven. On the other hand, the game genre is narrative-driven
genre when narrative functions dominate the game assets. If a game has a
balanced portion for both functions, the genre is gameplay and narrative-
driven. This classification of gameplay, narrative, and gameplay-narrative
conforms to the theory of Clearwater (2011) on game genre. The following
table might illustrate how the ideology of influence principles are intertwined
with mechanical and narrative functions:
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Table 5. Ideology of Influence and Mechanical-Narrative Functions
Mechanical Narrative
Functions Functions
Metamorphic Principle Anamorphic Metamorphic Anamorphic

Principle Principle Principle
Dominance Superior x Inferior x

Relationship Superior x x Inferior
x Superior x Inferior
x Superior Inferior x
Inferior x Superior x
Inferior x x Superior
x Inferior x Superior
x Inferior Superior x
The table shows that two types of dominance relationship are existent
namely superior and inferior. Superior dominance means that particular
ideology of influence dominates more than the other in mechanical or narrative
functions. If metamorphic and anamorphic principles are superior on
mechanical functions, it implies that the game focuses primarily on gameplay
with a different manner of presentations. Gameplay delivered by metamorphic
principle allows gamers to play the game without even learning it and vice
versa for anamorphic principle. On the other hand, if metamorphic and
anamorphic principles are superior in narrative functions, the game focus is on
its gamestory (narrative). Gamestory narrated through metamorphic principle
indicates that the story is presented in a conventional formula, in which gamers
are not required to perform a specific method to comprehend the story. In an
anarmophic principle delivered gamestory, a specific method to traverse the
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story is a requirement for the gamers to fulfill if they attempt to comprehend

the story.
Gameplay and gamestory are intermingled in video games and thus,
signifying that they are reliant to one another, meaning that gamers need to
perform particular action to advance the story. In the context of
metamorphosis, the action might be freely or conventionally exercised while
in anamorphosis, since the action is hidden, the first thing gamers have to do is
to reveal how to do it by connecting all the cues presented through wordplays.
In Metal Gear Solid, just like other AAA (triple A) game with role-playing
elements, has what is called as secrets or Easter Eggs. These secrets are not
delivered on the literal level of the intended meaning. In some cases, the cues
to reveal the secrets are not visually or audially accompanied. Hideo Kojima,
the creator of this franchise, is fond of employing references to famous films
and games in his games. One of the films Kojima refers constantly to is the
James Bond series. In Metal Gear Solid: Integral, the expanded version of
Metal Gear Solid, if the gamers are aware of this James Bond reference, the
gamers might be prompted to seek out for secrets by deciphering anything
related to James Bond and one of the game features which might provoke the
gamers to experiment is the Codec. This communication device is operated
through frequency searching. It asks gamers to search for the correct frequency
in five-digit inputs starting with 140. The last two digits disclose chances for
gamers to experiment. If the gamers are aware of the James Bond references
in the games in forms of themes, motifs, and plots, they might try to input
140.07. 007 is James Bond’s iconic number and by inputting it, the gamers will
obtain a secret in the form of the game staff commentaries in Japanese,
containing some of the game production agenda. This example signifies how
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anamorphosis influences the gamers to connect and relate all the cues to
uncover the hidden action and story.
Wordplay function analysis

The final step of this procedural analysis on gaming language is to
identify how the functions of wordplay in the gaming context are realized
through the played words. Wordplay in the gaming context circumnavigates
on rhetorical criticism, focusing on how particular artefacts weave a
relationship with the rhetors, audiences, situations, and messages (Foss, 2017).
This rhetorical nature of wordplay in video games implies the positioning and
functioning of words are in regard to the gamers, the symbols the games depict,
and the influences the words have upon gamers. Departing from this rhetorical
nature, wordplay in the gaming context takes a different form and function
from those of wordplay found in ludic linguistics or recreational linguistics yet
serving the same purpose of playfulness. Paul (2012) states that wordplay in
the gaming context has three primary functions namely facilitating analysis of
how games persuade, creating identiﬁcations, and circulating meanings.
A descriptive analysis takes place to explain how wordplay functions
namely persuasion, identification, and meaning circulation are embodied and
exercised through the played word. In the case of ‘chaff’, since the word is
attached to a grenade, the persuasion it has toward gamers is that it is used to
explode something in a far range usage. Recognizing the function, gamers are
persuaded to use Chaff Grenade when a surveillance problem occurs. Two
types of persuasion are existent namely compulsive and resistible persuasion.
In compulsive persuasion, the problems gamers meet have only one solution
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and thereby in wordplay context, gamers have to locate and decipher the played
word and its intended meaning. Meanhwile, resistible persuasion frees gamers
from solving the problems they meet with or without comprehending the
wordplay. ‘Chaff’ is the only solution for a surveillance problem since without
having this grenade, Solid Snake will be detected by the surveillance camera
and this condition makes the persuasion falls into a compulsive persuasion. If
this type of persuasion ‘chaff’ case displays is wrapped in the metamorphic
principle, it indicates that ‘chaff’ as the played word functions as an aesthetic
attribute only. If the compulsive persuasion is delivered through an anamorphic
principle, it points out that the wordplay works as a functional attribute. In
Metal Gear Solid, this type of persuasion is found from the aforementioned
case of Psycho Mantis. Another case showing compulsive persuasion in
anamorphic principle appears on Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater when Snake
has to face The Sorrow. This boss takes the shape of a ghost. Snake cannot kill
him but he can kill Snake. If the gamers are observant, they will notice that The
Sorrow keeps on saying lines with the kernel ‘returning’ like ‘go back to your
own world’, ‘wake up’, ‘now you will know the sorrow of those whose lives
you have ended’. These lines are supported by visuals of the characters Snake
has killed before, signifying the kernel ‘returning’. The solution to defeating
The Sorrow lies on allowing Snake to die first and taking a pill called Revival
Pill to return Snake to life. Doing so, The Sorrow will be defeated.
Identification comes after persuasion. The difference between
persuasion and identification lies on the target or addressee. In persuasion,
what appears on the game forces the gamers to react and respond while
identification deals with how gamers cognitively perform a mechanical
adjustment through button pressing, difficulty setting, or game configuration
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as a physical embodiment of reaction and response. Since a mechanical

adjustment is required, it implies that the adjusment might not only be singular
in method but plural. In ‘chaff’ case, the identification is singular since all the
gamers need to is to browse for the grenade and throw it off without
configuring any mechanical adjusment. Identification might also take in the
forms of button pressing.
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, gamers have to face a woman
boss by the name Fortune. Her name signifies her combat ability. Any shots
directed to her will be missed. Any traps set for her will be malfunctioning.
Her luck is her combat ability. Fortune’s lines are in line with her name
meaning. ‘Maybe you can give me death?’, ‘My name is Fortune. Lucky in war
and nothing else’, ‘And without death to call my own’, ‘Hurry, kill me please’
are the lines which indicate that nothing can harm Fortune. If nothing can harm
her, it means the only way to complete the fight is to escape or to survive. Since
the fight takes place in a locked room, the only option gamers have is to
survive. This method of completing the fight, besides being indicated by a
visual aid in a form of a scene, showing Raiden hiding behind a giant crate and
jumping to avoid Fortune’s attack, which destroys the crate. Identifying this,
the adjusments made are plural in terms of hiding and jumping action. The
plural identification comes from the arbitrariness games have in choosing
which crates to hide behind and to which direction gamers move Raiden.
After the persuasion and identification functions of the analyzed
wordplay were revealed, meaning circulation takes place. In meaning
circulation, the analysis focuses on summarizing how the meaning carried by
the played word circulates around the kernel of the game narrative and
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mechanics. In Metal Gear Solid, the game narrative kernel is Metal Gear, a
gigantic nuclear launching bipedal robot or mecha and the game mechanics
kernel is stealth action. In the case of ‘chaff’, the word is related to the game
narrative and mechanics kernel since the meaning of ‘chaff’ is also related to
missile deployment and ‘chaff’ is utilized to make the thrower remain unseen
in action. This type of meaning circulation, where the played word is connected
to the kernels of game narratives and mechanics, is called componential. The
following table provides the types of meaning circulation:
Table 6. Meaning Circulation Types
Types Played Word and Played Word and

Game Narratives Game Mechanics
Componential Connected Connected
Constituential Connected Not Connected
Elemental Not Connected Connected
Ingrediential Not Connected Not Connected
The presence of componential circulation indicates that the played

word is substantial in terms of game narratives and mechanics. In the case of
‘chaff’, gamers will have to rely on it from the beginning to the end of the
games since surveillance is one of the primary issues gamers have to face.
Different from componential circulation, constituential circulation signifies
that the played word plays a key role in comprehending the flow of the game
story. The mobile weapon Metal Gear is visually depicted to resemble that of
T-Rex, from which a narrative of the food chain is constructed, thereby
characters controlled and fought by gamers in the game are based on animal,
indicating that T-Rex stands on the top of the food chain. Moreover, the names
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of the bosses are related to the word gear, weapons. Revolver Ocelot, Sniper
Wolf, and Vulcan Raven with exception being Liquid Snake since he fights
with a variety of weapons bear them the names of weapons. This focus on
weapon functions as a hint for game mechanics, from which gamers could take
advantage. This weapon-related name is the example of elemental circulation.
The last circulation, ingredential, as the name implies, it refers to trivial or
promotional function. As discussed before, most games with franchise have
what is called Easter Egg. This Easter Egg primarily functions as a tool to
evoke fun and nostalgia. The presence of Konami games, Policenauts, Mario
statuette, Yoshi statuette, adult model posters and other Easter Eggs in Metal
Gear franchise serve ingredential circulation when related to particular played
words.
CONCLUSION
Ludic linguistics roots from wordplays for humorous purposes,
implying that wordplays through their construction have the power to influence
its recipients to react and respond to the messages the wordplays bear. This
concept is applicable to explain how gaming language works by highlighting
the functions of wordplays in the gaming context. Those functions are
facilitating analysis of how games persuade, creating identiﬁcations, and
circulating meanings. These three functions are intertwined with ideology of
influence, how game elements influence gamers in taking decisions to solve
particular problems or challenges the games offer. In delivering ideology of
influence, two principles are known namely metamorphosis, a literal traversal
of delivering ideology of influence, and anamorphosis, a specific traversal.
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In explaining how gaming language works in regard to how wordplays

along with their functions contribute to the emergence of ideology of influence
in games, five proposed steps should be taken. First, kernel analysis on game
assets is exercised on the analyzed wordplay to reveal the primary message of
the game asset in regard to the wordplay. Second, after the kernel is revealed,
the intended meaning level of the wordplay is revealed. Third, in tandem with
intended meaning analysis, wordplay transmission is analyzed to reveal how
the way the wordplay is presented influences its intended meaning. Fourth,
ideology of influence is revealed through a tree chart to easily notice the causal
relationship previous steps have toward the emergence of particular ideology.
Fifth, a descriptive analysis on how the wordplay serves its three primary
functions is exercised in regard to the ideology of influence.
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The Global – Local Planes of English Needs in

Indonesian Contexts
Christine Manara
Graduate School of Applied English Linguistics
Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya
christine.manara@atmajaya.ac.id
Submission Track:
ABSTRACT
This article reports one part of a larger study on exploring the global and
local English needs in nine secondary-level schools in several Indonesian
regions (i.e. Sumatera, Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara). The study
investigates: 1) teachers’ and students’ perceived understanding of the
existence of English in their local contexts; 2) opinions of their current local
and global needs of English in today’s globalized era; and 3) their opinions
of the teaching and learning of English. Data were collected from
questionnaires and interviews. The results show that students in different
regions have slightly different views and perceptions of English use and how
it needs to be learned and taught for their current and future needs for
English. Although slightly different in their perceptions of needs, there seems
to be a coordinated understanding of English needs between the students and
teachers. The findings also indicate that there is a growing awareness of the
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need to teach the communicative aspects of English via online activities.

Therefore, the teaching of English needs to be conducted by providing more
English exposure, integrating blended learning, adopting the ESP approach
(English for Specific Purposes), and teaching pragmatics knowledge and
intercultural skills.
Keywords: Global and local English needs ESP Approach, Pragmatics

knowledge, Intercultural Skills, ELT.
INTRODUCTION
Globalization is the buzzword in the literature of English Language
Teaching today. The existence of globalization can be immediately felt in
many local contexts around the world. Along with globalization, English has
often been given prestigious statuses, such as the language of globalization,
prosperity, and modernity. Numbers of English learners and speakers are
growing and have even outnumbered the Inner Circle countries (Crystal, 2003).
The wider use of English as a Lingua Franca has also been perceived as one of
what is considered to be 21st-century skills. Contrary to this positioning of
English in the globalization flow, the allocated time for the English subject is
reduced to 2 hours/week in the framework of Indonesia's current 2013
curriculum (often referred to as K13). This controversial decision of limiting
English lessons to 2 hours/week was a result of a bipolar tug-of-war between
the fear of English as a threat to Bahasa Indonesia (and local languages) and
the needs of English as a lingua franca. Teachers are left alone with their
judgment and available resources to fit themselves into the new policy.
This study was inspired by these dilemmatic conditions and
perspectives in the teaching of English in Indonesia. It is specifically interested
in investigating the local-global gravity force of the use, learning, and teaching
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of English in several Indonesian local contexts. This study particularly focuses

on the high school level of education in several contexts in Indonesia.
Therefore, this research is guided with the following research questions:
1. What are the Indonesian teachers’ and students’ perceived
understanding of the existence of English in their local contexts?
2. What are the teachers’ and students’ opinions of their current local and
global needs to teach and learn English in today’s globalized era?
3. What are the teachers’ and students’ opinions on ways to teach and
learn English?
The making of English as the language of globalization

The development of English language teaching has also responded to
that of the status and roles of English from past to present. From the perspective
of sociolinguistics, the positioning of language use and status in a particular
context is always influenced by non-linguistics factors (namely, power and
ideology). Crystal (2003) mentions two major factors that contribute to the
spread of English. In the beginning, it was the result of the expansion of British
and American colonialism and the migration of English-speaking individuals
to other areas in the world, which peaked towards the end of the 19th Century.
In relation to this, Phillipson (1990) coined the term “linguistic imperialism”
in describing the early expansion of English as the language of colonialism
through military, political, trading, and economic power of the British Empire
during the colonialism era. He describes how English, at that time, was
mandated to be used as the official language in the colonized countries. Some
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scholars (Canagarajah, 2005; Graddol, 1997, 2006; Phillipson, 1990) view this
colonization act as the first wave of globalization that helped the spread of
English to different parts of the world. By mandating English as the official
language to be used in those countries, the language was taught to the locals to
accommodate communicative purposes and other needs of the colonizer. The
teaching of English is, therefore, orientating to the so-called "Standard
English" as set by the colonizer. The development of English teaching
methodologies and learning theories in the early years until the late 80s had
drawn heavily from the perspective of English as the First Language
acquisition for monolingual speakers, excluding the fact that bilingual speakers
approach the acquisition of languages differently.
The second major factor is the emergence of the United States as the
leading economic power of the twentieth century (Crystal, 2003).
Globalization, at that time, was associated with the idea of westernization and
‘Americanization’ with the expansion of many leading American-based
transnational corporations across the world establishing “global supply
structures in mass market conditions” (Schneider, 2011, p. 52). Schneider
(2011) describes that the wave of American cultural dominance was also
brought by the media (through American TV series and Hollywood movies) as
well as political influence.
Canagarajah (2006) adds that the advancement in digital technology
and information has intensified the widespread of English in a very complex
way. The rapid flow of information, languages, cultures, ideas, technology, and
people has increased across borders, making languages, cultures, contact, and
interaction a common phenomenon today. Along with this border-crossing
phenomenon (physically and/or virtually), English has often been used as a
Lingua Franca for intercultural communication in this globalization era. The
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users of English today are mostly bilingual (McKay, 2002). As a Lingua

Franca, English is "far removed from its native speakers' linguacultural norms
and identities” (Seidlhofer, 2001, p. 134). Additionally, English today has been
used for utilitarian purposes (Feak, 2013) to serve local needs and functions.
Therefore, the teaching of English grounded on native-speakerism ideology has
been questioned since it is no longer relevant to the present time. The attention
in English Language Teaching (ELT) has shifted from teaching learners to
acquire English native-speaker competence to specific and contextual English
communicational needs (Feak, 2013).
English in 2013 National Curriculum (K13)

The decision to have English as a Foreign Language within the National
Curriculum dated back to the time following Indonesia’s independence.
Surviving the Dutch military aggression I and II (1945-1949), the government
was able to reorganize the country’s education sector in the early 1950s. During
this time, as Buchori (2001) explained, the government felt the importance of
acquiring another language for the country’s international relations and
encouraged the learning and acquisition of a Foreign Language. Due to the
long Dutch colonization in Indonesia, the Dutch language was obviously not
an option to be included in the country’s language learning and acquisition
planning. The government, then, turned to English as the preferred foreign
language to be included in the National Curriculum. In the early 1950s, the
Indonesian government approached the US and UK embassies for assistance
in teacher education, which marked the beginning of a long history of, what
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Phillipson (1992) termed, the “English Language Teaching Aid” Programs in

Indonesia (as cited in Manara, 2014b).
Within the National Education framework, English is still taught as a
Foreign Language. It is a required subject to be learned at public and private
schools all over Indonesia starting from grade 7 up to grade 12. English within
the National Curriculum framework has been one of the main subjects tested
in the National Exam (NE). However, for a subject that is being tested in the
NE, English is only given 2 hours/week—now two hours short compared to
the previous curriculum (KTSP). This decision seems to go against the reality
today in which English, as Canagarajah (2005) explained, is being used as a
medium for the locals to express their identity and culture to the global
audience or participants.
The reduction of the time allocated for English in K13 has created a
range of reactions and responses from teachers, parents, schools, and
communities. To some parties, it is considered necessary to enhance the sense
of nationalism. The argument is that Indonesian learners need to first be
proficient users of Indonesian instead of other languages, and this can happen
when Bahasa Indonesia is used from an early age in higher frequency and with
maximum exposure at school. For this reason, English is considered to be a
threat for the youngsters who are still learning and developing their Bahasa
Indonesia. From this perspective, a direct link between language and the sense
of nationalism is assumed. The learning of other languages at an early age may
be considered a hurdle in the acquisition of the ‘pure’ First Language (L1) and
First Culture (C1). Therefore, L1 learning needs to be treated in isolation with
a high L1 exposure environment (closer to a monolingual environment, instead
of a plurilingual one). The existence and use of other languages are seen as
tainting the purity of L1 and C1 (hence, the sense of nationalism).
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The other parties, however, question the idea of adopting this

monolingual perspective towards language learning. They consider that
minimizing English in a context with little and limited English speech domain
means limiting the opportunity to English learning and use. In Indonesia,
English use domains are mostly limited to schools (either learned as a subject
lesson or used as the medium of instruction at some schools), transnational
companies (mostly in big metropolitan cities), and tourism sites. Considering
the scarcity of these English use domains in Indonesia, the decision of reducing
English lessons to 2 hours is not accommodating the learning and acquisition
of English, making it challenging for some teachers and schools to provide an
English use environment during the lesson in the classroom.
To complicate matters, the contexts of English learning and use in
Indonesia is also very diverse, ranging from schools located in areas with high
access and exposure to English, well-established IT infrastructure, and tourism
sites and schools located in rural areas with lower access and exposure to
English. Some schools, especially private ones with high fees, offer an
intensive English-speaking environment and treat English as a Second
Language to be used at their schools (inside and outside the classroom). Other
schools choose to apply two-hour English lessons in their classrooms whereas
other ones experience teaching English as something so foreign to their
immediate context (rural schools). Considering these different teaching
conditions, English learning and teaching will certainly be perceived, valued,
and approached differently. Knowing the diversity of contexts in Indonesia,
this study is an attempt to explore the contextual needs of English use and
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learning in several Indonesian local contexts in today’s globalized era as

perceived by the local teachers and students. It is hoped that the information
gained from this study will provide a contextual understanding of the
interaction between local and global English communication.
RESEARCH METHODS
This article is one part of a larger research project. The project adopts
the mixed-methods research framework combining quantitative and qualitative
approaches in its investigation. As explained by Hansen, Creswell, Clark,
Petska & Cresswell (2005), mixed methods “involve[s] the collection, analysis,
and integration of quantitative and qualitative data in a single of multiphase
study” (cited in Hesse-Biber, 2010, p. 3). The quantitative approach is adopted
in the attempt of understanding the trends in English Language needs while the
qualitative approach is adopted to gain specific information on particular
aspects of the English language needs in the schools' context. Both quantitative
and qualitative data are triangulated and worked to complement each other to
gain better insights into the foci of the research.
The Quantitative research instrument used a questionnaire to survey the
general trend in English competencies needed for English communication in
today’s globalized era. The questionnaire consists of two major sections that
look at the current use of English in the participants’ local context and the
future use of English as well as the competencies that the students and teachers
perceived as needed in the two settings (present and future use of English). To
avoid any language barrier in filling out the questionnaire, the questionnaire is
written in Bahasa Indonesia.
The Qualitative research instruments used in-depth semi-structured
interviews and classroom observation field notes. The interviews were adopted
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to gain a deeper understanding of the issues and concerns in teaching English

in the globalized era. The interview participants were volunteers. Among the
32 teachers who filled out the questionnaire, nine teachers stated their
willingness in the last section of the questionnaire to be interviewed and
observed. The interview was conducted after the classroom lesson. For ease of
communication, the interviews were conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. The
interviews were audio-recorded and were approximately 40– 45 minutes long.
A classroom observation scheme was also adopted as an instrument to record
the teaching and learning activities of the participants. Due to conflicting
schedules between the researcher and the teacher participants and limited
available time of the teachers, classroom observation was only conducted once
for each teacher. Most teacher participants had to attend to their additional
responsibility of preparing third-year students for the National Exam (UN)
after school hours. In trying to understand the contexts of each school, more
background information on the school was sought out in the interview sessions.
Participants and settings

A total of 18 participants of this study were recruited during the
“English Teaching Assistant (ETA) and co-Teacher short enriching program”
by the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF). ETA program
is a 10-month program offered to American citizens to be English Teaching
Assistants in schools in Indonesia (Lawson, 2018). In their fifth month,
AMINEF holds a Mid-Year Enriching Program for both the ETAs and their
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co-Teachers (high school teachers). It is in this event that the researcher

distributed the questionnaire to the co-Teachers. A consent form was also
distributed and explained to the teacher participants. The explanations covered
the participants’ rights to participate and to withdraw from the research at any
stage in the research process. A guarantee of anonymity was also explained to
the teacher participants to protect the identity of the teacher participants. From
18 participants who fill out the questionnaire, nine participants agreed to be
further interviewed and observed at their schools.
After requesting their permission, more questionnaires were distributed
to their English colleagues (teachers) in their school. In total, 32 teachers and
248 students of nine Senior High schools in five provinces (i.e. North
Sumatera, West Sumatera, East Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi, and
Gorontalo) in Indonesia participated in this study. The types of schools visited
were quite varied and unique with their particular characteristics, i.e. public
school, private school, and boarding school (MAN). The demography and
socio-economic contexts of the schools also range from urban to rural areas.
Table 1 displays a brief profile of the nine schools visited, and Table 2 provides
background information of the teacher participants being interviewed.
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Table 1. Schools Profile
Exposure
Teaching
School code School Type Location to and use
context
of English
1 School A (SA) SMA (Top North Sulawesi

Public high Rural Very low
school)
2 School B (SB) MAN (Public North Sulawesi
boarding Rural Very low
school)
3 School C (SC) SMA (Top North Sulawesi
Quite
Private high Urban
high
school)
4 School D (SD) SMA (Public West Sumatera Semi-

Very low
high school) Rural
5 School E (SE) SMA (Top West Sumatera
Semi-
Public high Very low
Rural
school)
6 School F (SF) SMA (Private North
Rural Very low
high school) Sumatera
7 School G (SG) SMA (Top North

Rural Very low
Public school) Sumatera
8 School H (SH) SMA (Private East Nusa Semi- High

high school) Tenggara Rural exposure
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(tourism
site)
9 School I (SI) SMK (Private East Nusa Semi-

secondary Tenggara Rural High
vocational (tourism exposure
school) site)
Table 2. Interview Teacher Participants Profile
Participant Teaching
Gender School code Qualifications
(pseudonym) experience
1 Eli F School A (SA) MA-TEFL 16 y
2 Nia F School B (SB) BA-TEFL 12 y
3 Ernest M School C (SC) BA-English Lit 9y
4 Lea F School D (SD) MA-TEFL 14 y
5 Tini F School E (SE) MA-TESOL 21 y
6 Ari M School F (SF) BA-TEFL 6y
7 Dita F School G (SG) BA-TEFL 14 y
8 Neli F School H (SH) BA-TEFL 10 y
9 Tomi M School I (SI) BA-TEFL 5y
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Students’ and teachers’ perceived opinions on English use in their local
contexts
One of the aims of this research is to investigate the students’ and

teachers’ perceived opinions on English use in their local contexts. This data
is obtained from the questionnaire (section 1). Despite the different teaching
conditions, there are similar views among students and teachers across
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contexts. Table 3 displays the comparison of the average score of students’

answers between those who live in the area with high (and active) exposure to
English (SHEE) and those in the area with low exposure to English (SLEE).
Table 3. Students’ opinions on English use in different local contexts

(in average score)
High Low
Q1. English in my local contexts is mostly used:
exposure exposure
A. in education (learned as a subject matter) 3.4 3.6
B. to upgrade someone’s social status 2.7 2.8
C. in economy 3.0 3.0
D. in marketing (branding) 2.8 2.8
E. as ELF between the local and international institutions 3.2 3.0
F. in politics 3.0 3.1
G. in social media 3.3 3.2
H. for socio-cultural purposes to promote local cultures 3.3 3.2
I. as professional English (language of profession) 3.1 3.0
J. in intercultural communication with foreigners 3.1 3.1
K. in tourism 3.4 3.1
There is a slight difference in the average score between SHEE and SLEE in
item A (education), E (ELF), and K (tourism). Education sector receives the
highest average score compared to other items in this section. This indicates
that their real active encounter with and use of English is mostly at school
during the English lesson rather than in other domains. For SHEE, the average
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score among the items is quite evenly spread out. The five domains that
received a higher score as reported by SHEE are in education, in tourism, in
politics, in social media, for socio-cultural purposes, and in intercultural
communication and as the language of professional English. This is quite
acceptable since SHEE has more opportunities and exposures to use English
among these different contexts. Surprisingly, the average score of SLEE
among the items is also evenly spread out just as SHEE. This may indicate that
SLEE has the awareness of other English use beyond formal schooling, or at
least their “imagined” (Anderson, 1983) use of English.
Interestingly, the average score of the teachers’ answer is quite close to
the students'. Table 4 shows the calculation of the average score of the teachers’
response to questionnaire item 1.
Table 4. Teachers’ opinions on English use in the local contexts

(in average score)
Average
Teachers’ opinions on English use in their local context
score
A. in education (learned as a subject matter) 3.4
B. to upgrade someone’s social status 2.8
C. in economy 2.9
D. in marketing (branding) 3
E. as ELF between the local and international institutions 3.2
F. in politics 3.1
G. in social media 3
H. for socio-cultural purposes to promote local cultures 3.4
I. as professional English (language of profession) 3.3
J. in intercultural communication with foreigners 3.3
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K. in tourism 3.2
Five areas that obtained higher scores are English use in education, for socio-
cultural purposes, as professional English, in intercultural communication, as
ELF (local-international institutions), and in tourism. There seems to be a
coordinated understanding between the teachers and students about the
growing functions of English in other sectors although still limited in its use
for most areas in Indonesia.
The highest score within this range of use was in the education field
especially in the context of English lesson in class. This is a highly common
response that the teachers shared in the interview sections, in particular,
teachers who taught in the low English exposure area. This is best represented
in Tini’s account as follows,
[English is used] in education… but, in this context, English is not

even used for communication in class. The teachers communicate or
to teach English to the students using Indonesian. (Tini, 12/02/18)
Several teachers (Ernest, Tomi, and Neli) in high English exposure area
(THEE) shared the immediate reality of English presence in their context and
perceive English as the language of tourism and intercultural exchange. Tomi,
a teacher at vocational high school (SMK), express his view on the role of
English in his teaching context as follows:
Honestly, English is a basic need here. Aside from the fact that
English is studied as a subject lesson here, and, well, since this town
is a tourism site, English, for this young generation, becomes a
medium to enter this industry [tourism]. So, the learning needs to be
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professional-based English learning. I’m talking about the context of

vocational high school. It needs to be tailored to the needs in the field
[of local tourism], but it doesn’t mean that we need to ignore the
curriculum’s demands. So, I’m thinking of mixing the two because
tourism atmosphere is strongly felt here.
In high English exposure areas where English is quite actively used, teachers
have very high positive attitudes on English. These teachers assign additional
values to English as the language of opportunity, prosperity, and international
communication. Therefore, these teachers (Tomi, Ernest, and Neli) feel the
need to teach intercultural skills side-by-side with the basic competence
demanded by the National Curriculum.
Students’ and teachers’ opinions of their current local and global English
needs
Questionnaire item 2 aims to find out the students’ and teachers’
perceived current needs of English in their local context. In this section, there
is a significant difference in the average score between SHEE and SLEE
answers as displayed in table 5.
Table 5. Students’ opinions on their current English use in different local

contexts (in average score)
Q.2. My current English needs High Low

exposure exposure
a. to pass National Exam 2.5 3.3
b. to study other subjects 3.1 3.2
c. to participate in academic activities outside of school 3.1 3.1
d. to speak out my voice at social media 2.7 2.7
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e. to participate in international academic discussion

3.0 3.1
through the Internet
f. to introduce local culture internationally through social
3.3 3.2
media
g. to enjoy other foreign cultures through the Internet 2.9 2.9
h. to socialize with other foreign speakers of English
3.2 3.2
It can be seen from the table that SLEE reported higher urgency in learning
English to pass the standardized National Exam (Ujian Nasional) than SHEE.
This result supports SLEE perceived view (from questionnaire item 1) that
English is mostly felt in the education sector and learned as a subject lesson at
school. For other items of Question 2, the average scores are quite similar in
nature. There is a slightly higher score result for SLEE for item B, E, and F
compared to the SHEE result. This may indicate that students feel the
importance of English for the purposes of studying other subjects, participating
in international academic discussion, and introducing local culture
internationally through social media through the medium of the Internet.
When asked to rank the language skills and knowledge that they
urgently need in the order of importance, both SHEE and SLEE still rank basic
language skills, vocabulary, and grammar knowledge as the five important
skills. Table 6 shows both groups perceived language skills and knowledge of
their current needs.
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Table 6. Rank of English skills and knowledge for students’ current

needs
Q.3. Rank the language skills & knowledge that you High Low
need right now based on the order of importance exposur exposure
(1 = most important to 9 = least important) e
Reading 4 2
Writing 5 1
Speaking-Listening 1 3
Grammar 3 4
Vocabulary 2 5
Communication Strategies 6 6
Pragmatics 7 7
Intercultural Communication skill 8 8
Transfer skill 9 9
The result may not be a surprising result since these language skills and
knowledge (grammar and vocabulary) have been given so much attention in
the National Curriculum that they experienced since grade 7. It is, therefore,
quite understandable that communication strategies, pragmatics knowledge,
intercultural communication skill, and transfer skill are less recognized by both
groups.
Comparing the result of both groups, it can be seen in table 4 that
writing and reading are placed to be the two most important skills to be learned
by SLEE group. This result is in line with their reported urgent need for passing
the National Exam that tends to test their reading and writing skills. SHEE,
however, place speaking-listening skill and vocabulary as the two most
important learning skills to be learned for their current English needs. The
focus on vocabulary and spoken production skill can be related to the two
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highest scores on Question 2 (see Table 3): to introduce local culture

internationally through social media (item 2F) and to socialize with other
foreign speakers of English through the Internet (2H). The connection seems
reasonable since these two language aspects are needed to serve the purpose of
social communication through social media on the Internet that is interactional
by nature.
Teachers, however, have quite different perceptions of the students'
current English needs. The average score of the teachers' response on the
questionnaire shows that the students heavily need English for their virtual
activities through the Internet (item F, G, and H) as shown in table 7.
Table 7. Teachers’ opinions on their students’ current English needs
My students' current English needs Average

score
a. to pass National Exam 3
b. to study other subjects 2.9
c. to participate in academic activities outside of school 2.8
d. to speak out my voice at social media 2.7
e. to participate in international academic discussion
2.8
f. to introduce local culture internationally through social
3.2
media
g. to enjoy other foreign cultures through the Internet 3.2
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h. to socialize with other foreign speakers of English

3.3
The teachers believe that their students spend more time on the Internet
rather than in real life studying at school or at home. Therefore, they view that
item F, G, and H are more relevant and realistic needs for the students today.
Students interact more online rather than face-to-face interaction. This is quite
a common theme that the teachers shared during the interview. This belief is
best depicted by Eli’s account in which she compared her time as a student
with her current students’ life.
…if I looked back to my time as a student, I studied English just to be

able to answers the questions of the test in English lesson. But, today's
generation, they are so curious about everything they see and find on the
Internet, or even the apps they use on the Internet. All are in English.
(08/02/18)
Students’ and teachers’ opinions of their future local and global English
needs
To understand students’ attitudes towards English learning, the
questionnaire also seeks information on students’ opinions of their near future
needs of English. Table 8 shows the average score of students’ responses.
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Table 8. Students’ opinions on their future English use in different local

contexts (in average score)
Q.4. My future English needs High Low

exposure exposure
a. to participate in academic activities in local/national
3.3 3.5
university
b. to study abroad at countries that use English as the First
3.3 3.5
Language (e.g. USA, UK, Australia, etc.)
c. to study abroad in other countries that use English as a
3.2 3.3
Lingua Franca (e.g. Thailand, Singapore, German, etc.)
d. to work abroad in countries that use English as the First
3.1 3.4
e. to work abroad at other countries that use English as a
3.1 3.3
Lingua Franca (e.g. Thailand, Singapore, German, etc.)
f. to work in transnational companies in my local area 3.1 3.3
g.to enjoy foreign products and culture 3.0 3.0
h. to create and promote local culture internationally 3.1 3.3
Surprisingly, SLEE gives a slightly higher score in almost all the categories
compared to SHEE score. The three categories that received the highest score
by SLEE are to participate in academic activities in local/national university
(item A), to study (item B) and to work (item D) abroad at countries that use
English as the First Language (item B). SLEE projection of their future English
need to participate in the local/national university may indicate their awareness
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that English has been one of the basic requirements for university entrance and
that they will still have to learn English in the university level. Item B and D
may indicate SLEE long term desire to use English for studying or work abroad
particularly in the so-called inner circle countries. It may also indicate their
high exposure to English which they perceived as coming from the inner circle
countries.
For SHEE, three categories that received the highest score are almost
similar to SLEE. These categories are to participate in academic activities in
local/national university (item A), to study abroad at inner circle countries
(item B), and to study abroad at other countries that use English as a Lingua
Franca (item C). The focus is more on continuing further education either in or
out of the country. There is no specific preference of either being in an inner
or outer circle abroad.
As regards their future English needs, students were asked to rank the
language skills and knowledge that they would need to acquire in the near
future. Interestingly, there is a slight change in priorities that the students set
for their future English needs. This shift of priorities can be seen in Table 9.
Table 9. Rank of English skills and knowledge for students’ future needs
Q.5. Rank the language skills & knowledge that you High Low
need in the near future based on the order of exposure exposure
importance (1 = most important to 9 = least important)
Reading 4 2
Writing 6 6
Speaking Listening 1 1
Grammar 3 4
Vocabulary 2 3
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Com. Strategies 5 5
Pragmatics 7 7
ICC 8 8
Transfer skill 9 9
In the previous section (Table 6), both SHEE and SLEE reported higher
priorities in learning the five basic skills and knowledge (grammar and
vocabulary). In table 9, it can be seen that “writing” has been pushed down by
“communication strategies”. This is an extreme shift reported by SLEE group
that voted writing at the first place in their current English skill need, and now
being placed on the sixth place for their future English need. SLEE score shows
that “speaking-listening” skill was given the first priority. There is also an
interest in including communication strategies in their main five categories.
Although the ranking order of current and future English needs does
not change that much for SHEE, there is a similar tendency as SLEE for
preferring communication strategies to writing skills. In the current English
needs section, writing was previously put in fifth place and now it is being
placed in the sixth-placed. There seems to be a growing awareness in the two
groups of the communication function of English today and in the future
requires the knowledge of communication strategies.
Different from the students’ view of their future English needs, teachers
assigned a quite different projection of needs. Table 10 shows teachers’ view
on their students’ future English needs.
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Table 10. Teachers’ view on their students’ future English needs
My students’ future English needs Average

score
a. to participate in academic activities in local/national 2.9
university
b. to study abroad at countries that use English as the First 3.1
c. to study abroad at other countries that use English as a 3.1
Lingua Franca (e.g. Thailand, Singapore, German, et.c.)
d. to work abroad in countries that use English as the First 3.1
e. to work abroad at other countries that use English as a 3.1
Lingua Franca (e.g. Thailand, Singapore, German, et.c.)
f. to work in transnational companies in my local area 3
g.to enjoy foreign products and culture 3
h. to create and promote local culture internationally 3.1
The average score of the teachers' response shows almost equal attention to the
different use of English. Most future English situations that the teachers
imagined are related to the use of English (for studying and working) abroad.
This is understandable since English has no official status in Indonesia and that
its intensive use is mostly found in the context of English being taught as a
lesson in class. There is still very limited domains of use for English in
Indonesia. Even in the big cities like Jakarta and Surabaya, the domain use of
English exists mostly in transnational companies or in international
transactions through the media of Internet, and bilingual schools (as the
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language of instructions and language of socialization at schools among the

students).
Students’ preferred learning style and teachers’ opinions on English

teaching methodology
Based on the students’ reported view on their future English needs, the
students were asked about their preferred English learning style to
accommodate their needs. Table 11 provides the details of the questionnaire
items with the students’ response average score.
Table 11. Students’ preferred learning style

High Low
My learning methodology
exposure exposure
a. taking extra English lesson outside of school 3.2 3.2
b. taking English lesson online 2.9 3
c. joining an English-speaking community 3.3 3.1
d. using English with friends or family members 3.2 2.9
e. reading English texts or news online 3.2 3
f. listening to English songs and watch English movies 3.5 3.3
g. using English applications on my mobile phone 3.3 3.1
h. making friends with foreigners through the Internet 3.2 3.1
i. writing a journal or diary in English 2.9 2.7
j. writing a blog in English 2.7 2.8
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The preferred learning styles that received a higher score by SHEE and SLEE
are almost similar in range. Both groups seem to agree that exposure to English
is very important that both groups preferred learning through pop culture
(listening to English songs and watch English movies) more than the others.
Both groups also seem to agree that learning English at school is not enough
for their needs and that both reported the need to take extra English lesson
outside of school. Other traces of exposing themselves with more English can
be seen from their preferences of wanting to use English apps on mobile phone,
join an English speaking community, read English texts or news online, and
make friends with foreigners through the Internet. These activities are in line
with what the teachers pointed out during the interview in which students today
has depended so much on IT advancement in most of their daily activities.
These teachers' observation can actually be captured from their reported
opinions on how English teaching needs to be learned and taught in the
following paragraph.
Table 12. Teacher’s opinions on English teaching methodology
strongly agree disagree strongly Average

English Teaching Methodology agree disagree score
a. English should be learned since 20 11 0 1 3.6
elementary school level
b. using English as the medium of 11 15 6 0 3.2
instruction in class
c. creating an English environment 17 15 0 0 3.5
(e.g. bilingual Indonesian-English
announcement, signs, billboard)
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d. providing more English resources 16 16 0 0 3.5

(e.g. reading books, textbooks, video,
etc.)
e. integrating technology and media 15 17 0 0 3.5
into English teaching in class
f. adding more lesson time than 3 11 21 0 0 3.3
hours/week for English lesson
g. adopting English for Specific 13 19 0 0 3.4
Purposes approach
h. teaching pragmatics knowledge 8 24 0 0 3.3
i. teaching Intercultural skill 8 24 0 0 3.3
j. teaching intercultural communication 8 23 1 0 3.2
strategies
k. introducing varieties of genres 8 23 1 0 3.2
(multimodal texts) often encountered
in the Internet
In finding out the teachers' understanding between the needs and ways of teaching
English, the questionnaire also asks teachers to give their opinions on ways to
approach the teaching and learning of English. Table 12 lists the average score
on teachers’ approach to the teaching of English.
Concerning the teachers' opinions on limited English use domain in
most part of Indonesia, they view that this condition provides little opportunity
for students to intensively learn, practice and use English for real-life purposes.
Moreover, teachers shared their concerns about the short allocation of time for
the English lesson at school (2 hours per week). This explains the teachers'
view on the importance of teaching English from early age at the elementary
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school level (item A). The limited time of English lesson students received
from grade 7 to 12 is considered insufficient in helping learners to learn and
acquire English once they graduated from high school. This belief is further
reinforced by providing higher exposure (item C and D), integrating blended
learning (item E), and adopting English for Specific Purposes approach (item
G). There is also raising awareness on the teaching of pragmatics knowledge
and intercultural skill that are in line with their projection of students' future
needs in Table 10 (for studying and working abroad). The teachers realize that
it is likely for their students in the future to use English in a more interactive
nature in such context of studying and working abroad in which pragmatic
knowledge and intercultural skill are highly needed.
In the interview, all nine teacher participants described that students
need more time and exposure to English in order to catch up with the demand
of using English in this globalized world. While remaining faithful to K13,
teachers pointed out that 2 hours/week was not enough to provide students
opportunities to practice using English in class. As a response to the need for
creating an English exposure media at school, the teachers and together with
AMINEF ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) organized an English club (an
extra-curricular activity) for students who are motivated to upgrade their
English knowledge and performance. This English club, as the teachers
explained, focuses more on English communication skill since this is the skill
that the students have little opportunity to do in the classroom.
CONCLUSION
This study found that there are slightly different perceptions between
students in high English exposure areas (SHEE) and those in low English
exposure areas. It is understandable that SHEE would have a wider perception
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on the use of English besides the education sector since the use of English in
other sectors (e.g. transnational companies, and tourism sites) is visible in their
immediate surroundings. Although they may have to encounter English
through the Internet or other media, it is only in the classroom that SLEE
experienced exposure to English (through the medium of instruction in
Indonesian or a mixture of Indonesian and English). There is also a
corresponding result between the students’ perception of the use of English and
their current needs. Since English is intensively encountered by the students at
school, SLEE reported their immediate needs for learning English to pass the
National Exam. In contrast, SHEE reported other needs that lean towards the
learning of English for communicational purposes (especially through the
medium of the Internet). These English needs, however, are still being received
from a traditional learning standpoint. Both groups still rank the learning and
acquisition of English by focusing on basic language skills and knowledge
(grammar and vocabulary). This may not be a surprising result since the focus
on English language teaching at school is mostly on these basic skills and
knowledge. This result is also quite linear with the teachers’ questionnaire
results in which they perceived English to have communicative functions in
students’ social activities in the virtual world.
Students’ perceptions of their future English needs also display quite
similar results. Both groups seem to be aware of their near future English needs
after their high school life. The highest score was assigned to the activities of
studying in local/national universities, studying abroad, and working abroad.
For these purposes, interestingly, there is a slight change in priorities of
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learning for both groups. SLEE, who reported earlier to give the highest
importance on learning writing (in Question 3: current English needs section),
only ranked this skill sixth and promoted speaking-listening skill as their
priority, and the inclusion of communication strategies as the fifth priority. A
similar tendency can also be captured in SHEE response for preferring
communication strategies to writing skills.
Interestingly, students and teachers seem to agree on how English
should be learned and taught. In general, students (of both groups) realize the
need for exposure to a lot of English use through various media (namely, taking
extra lessons outside of school, online courses, using English apps, listening
and watching English movies, and having foreign friends online). Teachers are
also of the opinion that English needs to be taught by providing higher
exposure, integrating blended learning, and adopting English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) approach. There is also a growing awareness of teaching the
pragmatics knowledge and intercultural skill to accommodate the students'
future English needs for intercultural communication use. In their effort to
providing more opportunities for English use, these teachers organized an
English extra-curricular activity, the English Club. The activity is held once a
week (90 minutes) in which the teachers focus on developing students' spoken
communicative skills.
Despite the results explored in this study, there are a few limitations for
future projects to consider. Firstly, the study only surveys nine schools in
several contexts in Indonesia with very limited time to conduct classroom
observations without interviewing the students. Therefore, it would be more
interesting if further studies targeted an individual school in a more holistic
manner that includes several classroom observations, students' interviews, and
providing a more contextual background of individual school's condition. This
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holistic approach of studying the school, teachers, students, and the local use
of English will provide much deeper insight into the understanding of the local-
global attractions and how teachers and students respond to such conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank Universitas Katolik Atma Jaya, Jakarta
and AMINEF for funding this project.
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Coinage and Neologism in Hausa Political

Programs: A Sociolinguistics Perspective
Abdulkadir Abubakar Zailani

Department of Nigerian Languages and Linguistics
Kaduna State University,
Kaduna- Nigeria
abdulkadirzailani@yahoo.co.uk
Submission Track:
ABSTRACT
Linguistic aspect of language development is not an event that occur abruptly;

rather, it pass through processes that take place gradually over time, in a stage
by stage development. This paper dwells on linguistic issues on coinage and
neologism arising in Hausa political programs in the media (radio), from the
sociolinguistic perspective, which gave birth and rebirth of words/phrases
meaning. New words/phrase are created, the existing ones are lexically and
semantically expanded to accommodate new meanings in Hausa language
usage. It observes and explains how some Hausa lexical items as well as
sentences are used in the media (radio) political programs in such a way that
the language has new words and meanings; and instances of coinage and
neologism in Hausa in the media are discussed.
Keywords: Coinage & neologism, Hausa political programs, Sociolinguistics
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INTRODUCTION
The speakers of a language can coin new words according to their needs
with the help of already existing words or word-forming elements in the
language. Hausa as a language do coin new words, and the language is one of
the three major Nigerian languages others are the Yoruba and Igbo. The
language is widely accepted and used as lingua-franca by many people from
different ethnic groups in northern Nigeria. Furthermore, the language is also
been used across Nigeria and West Africa. It is used in both print and non-print
media houses. That is in newspapers and radio stations for news broadcast,
education, entitlements, political programs and a host of others. Hausa
language has served as a tool which radio use for social engineering and
mobilization. It has long been the language of politics, religion (Islam and
Christianity alike) and broadcasting before Nigerian independence and after
independence. The language almost up to date is the Nigerian language that
enjoys the highest patronage of Western media stations especially the BBC,
VOA, RFI, DW and a lot of others. It is also in Hausa that the media assessed
and evaluate the performance of the elected representatives and the elected
public office holders for the benefit of the electorates. An example of such
programs is on the Hausa radio station across the Northern region of Nigeria,
“An ce, ka ce” of Nagarta Radio Kaduna, and the likes.
Mohsin (2013:1) argues that the amount of newly generated information

that we utilize in our daily lives far surpasses the accumulative amount of
information that we produced in past generations. Therefore, we need to create
or coin a huge number of new labels and names for everything new that has
come into existence in recent times.
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Therefore, this paper attempts to view the existence of new

words/phrases created by politicians and presenters for different purposes and
motives in radio political programs specifically, the Nagarta Radio Hausa
political program. “An ce, Ka ce”. That made the meaning of the word shifts
away from its primary senses to acquire multiple senses. However, it studies
coinage and neologism as the process of word creation and extension in
meaning of words and phrases, which develops new words in the language by
the users, particularly because radio has great influence and appeal on them.
RESEARCH METHODS
Inventing new words is especially reflected in language as needs of

society in terms of new concepts and ideas, constantly arising from the
development of science, technology, culture, public relations, politics, etc.
Coinage and neologisms reflect the socio-cultural situation in Hausa political
programs too. In this way to identify the coinage and neologisms and its
process, the data was taken from the Hausa political program in a Northern
Nigeria Radio “Nagarta Radio”. This means that data were gathered from
primary and secondary sources, which include; observations at participants and
not participants’ level, in the radio political program.
The selection of this political program is due to the high number of

coining new words in the program, and also high number of listeners of the
program. This will make data acquisition easy to collect due to the above
factors. It is likely that people have encountered new words in the program due
to their exposure and interaction with the program.
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The program is broadcast from Monday to Friday of every week, and

those programs presented in year 2015 and 2019 were selected through
purposive sampling. Among these, 2015 and 2019 were years for Nigerian
general elections. This was informed by the fact that political activities were
high and would help trace any change in language that may be experienced by
the listeners and presenters of the program. The researcher also listen the
program on regular basis.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
Language, Media (Radio) and Politics
According to Gabari (2012) radio is the major medium of disseminating

information to a large number of people no matter the distance. Human
language is most exacting and demanding. It deals with the formal theories
about the linguistic knowledge human beings need, for generating and
understanding language. Poret (2009:14) notes that media in the past hard
greatly helped in reviving democracy when it successfully, in partnership with
other civil society groups exterminated military rule in the country. Nigeria
today has many electronic and print media houses and stations, through which
the voice of the masses could be heard. However, Cheggs (1960) states that
mass media consists of the various means by which information reaches people
such as television, radio, movies, newspapers and the internet. Mass media is
one of the great agents of change in any ideal society. It influences the general
thinking of the populace, educated and non-educated (Balarabe, 2013:15).
Mukhtar (2004:108) argues that, the manipulation of sentence by the

media can be seen as intentional with a view to achieving particular purpose or
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effect. In most cases, the purpose is to attract attention of readers and front
page headlines or lead stories are particularly structured in such a way to
achieve that effect.
Language and political campaign indeed are synonymous, because

campaign can not be carried out without a language a persuasive language for
that matter. In support of this assertion, Sani (2011:47) argues that political
campaign is a persuasive communication aimed at mobilization of support and
influencing action. Campaign therefore, denotes the activities of an individual
or group in a particular context designed to manipulate the behavior of a wide
number of people.
The primary role of political language is to solicit response and preserve

relationship among people. The rejuvenation and revitalization of Hausa
political words has taken a new dimension beside the traditional process of
word formation. The word formation devices of compounding derivative and
affixation, traditionally has to do with the form of the word itself, whereas the
coinage and neologism are concurrently, dealing with the meaning of the word
sense. Really, in no small measure, the expansion of political terms has been a
breakthrough in the field of linguistics (Abba, 2013:120).
However, Gandu (2014) argues that Hausa political graphics contain

images and inscribed messages on paper, fabric, leather, polyester products,
panels, screens and flat surfaces. The graphics are important infrastructure or
media through which political metaphors are used as linguistic resources for
the attainment of political objectives.
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Coinage and Neologism in Radio (Media)
Neologisms or coinage is one of the processes of creating new words. In

the media, journalists often coin new expressions with the help of different
word formation processes (compounding, shortening, hybridization, claque
and affixation etc). People try to outdo each other with more attractive and
unique expressions to name their products, which results that these trademarks
names are adopted by the common person and become “everyday words of
language” (Yule 2006, 53).
Coinage is the method of creating new words or phrases. The coined

items are puts to use by the Speech Community. Similarly, new concepts and
ideas are coming into the body of the existing lexicon. However, coinage is a
process whereby new words are totally invented to name objects, ideas or
concepts (Nasir 2008:52 in Abba 2013:117).
This is in line with, Safire (1978) opinion where Sani (2011:33) notes
that two types of coinages do exist: Chorus and Phantom. Chorus coinage is
where a word or phrase pops into political language without recoverable coiner
while the Phantom is where a coinage enters the language by osmosis. Though
some words and phrases have been in the Hausa lexicon, by the coming of
modern politics, it pops into political discourse and took several
interpretations. For strong political culture of the people, the words and phrases
became a political language that electorates reckon with.
Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures that are changing rapidly
and also in situations where there is easy and fast propagation of information.
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The new terms are often created by combining existing words or by giving
words new and unique suffixes or prefixes.
After being coined, a newly coined word invariably undergoes scrutiny

by the society and by language experts to determine its suitability to the
concerned language. Many of newly coined words are accepted very easily
where as some are rejected. Non-experts who dislike the neologism sometimes
also use this argument, deriding the neologism as “abuse and ignorance of the
language.” Some neologisms, especially those dealing with sensitive subjects,
are often objected to on the grounds that they obscure the issue being discussed,
and that a such word’s novelty often leads a discussion away from the root
issue and onto a sidetrack about the meaning of the neologism itself.
Proponents of a neologism see it as being useful, and also helping the language
to grow and change; often they perceive these words as being a fun and creative
way to play with a language. In addition, the semantic precision of most
neologisms, along with what is usually a straightforward syntax, often makes
them easier to grasp by people who are not native speakers of the language
(Banjar, 2011).
Neologisms are accepted as parts of the language. Other times, however,

they disappear from common use just as readily as they appeared. Whether a
neologism continues as part of the language depends on many factors, probably
the most important of which is acceptance by the public. If a newly coined
word continues to use by the masses, it always eventually sheds its status as a
neologism and enters the language even over the rejection of its opponents.
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Abba (2013:118) argues that, politics is one of most productive sources

of generating new words. Neologisms in this field often are used to make some
political or rhetorical point. And some words are powerful enough to shape
peoples attitude towards certain issues.
Mohsin (2013: 821) states that neologism can be a brand new word
gaining usage in a language, or a new meaning for a word already in existence.
Such a term isn't typically in common use, but may become so if it is used
often. Neologisms can come from a variety of places and might be gleaned
from scientific or technical language, come from other languages, be derived
by putting two words together, or they may be solely invented. Language
specialists suggest new words often migrate into a language most with great
cultural changes or with the integration of two cultures that speak two different
languages.
Furthermore, in support of the above submission, Wurma (2002) believes

that, in virtually all languages, words meaning is broadened to encompass new
ideas and concepts introduced by speakers. He stress that widening of meaning
is a sign of language development. And, virtually in all societies, new ideas,
senses and opinions are being created to meet the challenges of modern life.
Coinage and Neologisms in “An ce ka ce” (They said you say)
According to Martan (2008:75) neologisms are new words that are use
in society, and are deemed to have been non-existent in the past. Neologisms
are very important in the generative capacity of natural languages; they are the
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elements that make languages living rather than dead…” and “are an indicative
of language death”.
The slogan used by politicians and presenters of radio political

programs in the daily use of like has demonstrated a birth and rebirth of Hausa
vocabularies from linguistics perspectives, indeed a breakthrough in expanding
the Hausa lexicon. For example words and phrases like:
Hausa Gloss
1. Naka Sai Naka Yours is yours

2. Daram-dam Unshakable
3. Ka yi mun gani You did, we saw
4. Ta ware To separate
5. Dawo-dawo Return-return
6. Ya hau kan Katanga He cross a fence
7. Hannun Jarirai Children hands
8. Sabarta Juyata Change from one side to other
9. Janar Buzu-Buzu General with bears.
10. Farfesun Tarugu Soup of pepper
11. Amanawan katambaluwa Trustees of Katambaluwa
12. Baba Ojo gwanin rawar banjo Father Ojo, master of dance
13. Namu duka sabo tumaki ours all hold sheep
14. Labarum mako News week
The Nagarta Radio Hausa Political Program “An ce, ka ce” is a political
program the presenters use some words and phrases in the program which are
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meant to hide the actual names of the personalities being referred to, at the
same time coined a word or phrase giving a description of those personalities.
Here, presenters twist and twill language to suit the purpose and amuse the
largest audience.
In relation to the above, some words and phrases are already in the
realm and vocabulary of the Hausa language. Eventually due to the advent of
modern politics, some of them have taken several connotations as used in the
radio political program. They are diverted from the literal traditional meaning
and are motivated by the mental representation of the speaker and hearer as
well as metaphorical features association to the word which makes it well
understood within the domain of politics. With this, we can say coinage and
neologism took place in the radio (media).
However, coinage and neologisms can be found in the below data:
15. Kúrmusàa-kúrmusàa Gloss: Defeat
Meaning: Yin nasara a kan ‘yan hamayya
16. Qákkàvín kavár Gloss: Destroy Meaning: Rushewa

17. Shaaranáyè Gloss: Lie Meaning: Shara qarya
18. Hántánmantán Gloss: What was not understand
Meaning: Abin da ba a fahimce shi ba
19. Hadariín tsígèe-tsíigèe Gloss: Cloud of removal
Meaning: Tsige masu riqe da mukamai

20. Yaakice–kice Gloss: Conflict Meaning: Hatsaniya
21. Siibàree–na-báiyee Gloss: Injustice Meaning: Zalunci
22. Shílloríiyà Gloss: Light Meaning: Abu mara nauyi
23. Zuuqìi tàa málli Gloss: Lie Meaning: Karya
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24. Bòsórùwaa Gloss: Unserious Meaning: Shìríiritaa

25. Hara da bálliyaa Gloss: Difficult situation
Meaning: Rikitaccen al’amari

26. Hárqumaaquma Gloss: Discomfort Meaning: Baqe-baqe
27. Giríngishìxii da gírgixìi Gloss: Meaning: Kujera na rawa
28. Màgúrmàagùxín Gloss: Fraud Meaning: Maguxi
29. Kaafatàni Gloss: Altogether Meaning: Gaba xaya
In the data, one can see how coinage and neologism is in Hausa political
program, which results from media, in the sense that the actual word/phrase
has been modify to suit the interest of the presenters and to capture the minds
of the listeners as well. This enriched Hausa vocabulary, basically the media
or the program as effective tools of disseminating changes and diffusion of
innovation, which could accelerate the adaptation of Hausa lexical used created
by the media. Since, word could be created either deliberately or accidentally
without using the word formation processes.
Based on Sani’s (2011:92) argument which argues that, coinage ranges from
single to multiple words. However, the following are some of their
characteristics which the data possessed:
i. Absence of definition of terms,
ii. Only equivalence are provided;
iii. Predominance of translation;
iv. Little use of morphological resources of the language;
v. Resistance to creativity and innovation in coining new terms;
vi. Provision of more than one equivalent to a term;
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vii. Lack of general principles, methodological guidelines and

convention governing the selection and adoption of loanword;
and
viii. Lack of clear strategy of dissemination of the terms for use in
different spheres of human activities.
Coinage as the creation of totally new words or phrases in language,

took place as in the above examples. Neologism is associated with the
formation of new words that represent ideas, objects and concepts in a
language, has took place also. This is in accordance with Rey (1995) who notes
that neologism as a lexical unit perceived as recent by language users. He
identifies three core areas of neology: formal, Semantic and Pragmatic
neology. Formal neology is a result of application of grammatical rules to the
morphology of the language e.g suffixation, pre-ffixation etc. while Semantic
neology is a feature found in all neologisms. Pragmatic neology is identified in
relation to communication. This means that the neologism is used in a social
context depending on its appropriateness in communication.
Neologism passes through three stages as it is in the above data:

creation, trial; and establishment. Once it gained widespread usage, it becomes
stable. Stability is indicated by appearance in glossaries dictionaries and large
corpora. Some of the above lexical or phrases are used by individual in
communication, not necessarily in political discourse.
In support of this argument Abba (2013:18) argues that the pre-election

campaign with the help of electronic media has opened up a new window in
the socio-linguistic land map. The word senses have moved from their primary
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meaning and taken up new shades of meaning. New words are created; the
existing ones are lexically expanded and semantically redressed in another
sphere of meaning.
CONCLUSION
Politics is a fertile ground for the use of language to express political

thoughts and opinions in the political processes. The language of politics
reveals certain peculiarities in the communication process and in context
perspective, as well as effective disposition of the recipients. This can be seen
in the radio political program as presented above. The primary concern is to
ascertain radio contribution towards such changes, which in turn develop
Hausa language vocabularies. They contain specified features and served
specified functions in the political oval. The role of radio is very important to
introduce these new words in the language; a new word is popular by way of
radio political program because the program introduces these words. Presenters
of the program often coin new expressions to make the program interesting and
effective which sometimes results the coinage and if these newly coined words
are accepted by the masses, they become the part of the language.
Generally speaking, the paper has addressed issues relating to coinage

and neologism in Hausa political program “An ce, ka ce” of radio Nagarta, the
voice of unity which helps in language development. One other contribution of
this research could be seen relatively to the vocabulary of Hausa language and
portrayed how important they are to political preparation. Sometimes these
newly form words become the accepted part of the language or disappear from
common usage just as readily as they appear. The acceptance by the speakers
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is most important factor of a neologism for being a part of the language. If its
speakers continuously use a newly coined word, it gradually enters the
language even over the rejection of its opponents but finally in that of the many
neologisms created, adapted, mutilated, very few survive.
It’s hoped that this paper will draw the attention of more researchers
towards finding how Hausa radio political program do contribution towards
language development; and consider others morphological processes in the
analysis of the collected data not only on radio but on various media outfits.
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REGISTER JOURNAL

Vol. 12, No. 2, (2019), pp.100-125

An investigation into the classroom talk of

communicative features of TT emerged upon the initial analysis of database

Upon addressing the dominance of teaching methods as the only route

According to Aisyah (2016, p.64), “teacher talk is a big influence on

Teacher talk in communicative framework of post-method era

Teacher talk categories

Many researchers focus on various features of teacher talk classified

for the foreign language classroom and to assess nonverbal communications as

visual-recordings contain confirmation check, scaffolding, direct error

1. What are the distinctive communicative features of an

In this study, ten teachers hired at Safir English Institute, located in

five of whom having related educational background holding a Bachelor's

Instruments and procedure

This study rests upon a corpus obtained from observation of twenty

was observed twice by a validated checklist developed by Khany and Malmir

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Table 1. Coded themes investigated in teacher talk ( Walsh, 2006;

Features of Teacher Description

A 1 Reformulation (rephrasing a learner’s

E Genuine questions to which the teacher does not

G Extended Learner turn of more than one utterance.

M Form- Giving feedback on the words used, not the

The second research question refers to the impact of teachers’

Analysis of display questions

An example of display question in experienced teacher talk:

ET2: They love to travel we call them “globetrotter”

Excerpt from experienced teacher

An excerpt of a novice teacher illustrating the direct repair

An excerpt of an experienced teacher illustrating the direct repair

An example of repetition in a novice teacher talk:

An example of clarification request in an experienced teacher

as regards content-focused feedback which is one of the communicative

Analysis of language grading:

their teaching; however, quality of display and referential questions in

create a more communicative speech. Referential questions are questions

and Akbari & Tajik (2012) highlighting experience as an intervening fact.

In terms of contributions to the theory in the teacher talk research, the

We are aware of this study’s limitations due to investigating eight

We hope to have contributed to defining new research paths that

Strategies. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 11(3), 1320-

Poorebrahim, F., Talebinejad, M. R., & Mazlum, F. (2015). Constructive or

A Child Language Acquisition in Indonesian and

affirmative sentence to question in term of objects she sees in her surroundings.

Keywords: utterance, language acquisition, exposure, L1 and L2.

Research about language acquisition and its development, particularly

Some studies have found the advantages of learning two languages in

acquired language rules and structures in a widening variety of language

study was conducted on the acquisition of Indonesian as first language and

triangulation; 1) source data triangulation by people surrounding the

A: Mauuuu (with long u) (I want) (DATA 2)

A: “abang Zein, no! (DATA 4)

1. The concept of part of the body:

Even she cannot respond or reply to my questions in English, and it seems

R: ya (I took her to my bedroom), Mimi Iyah sholat dulu ya (I want to

of these children could speak or knew any language at the time of

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

a. Children learning a language make hypotheses about the grammatical

output are neither internalized nor attended to internalize. In the classes of

Environment and immediate family

language is learned in the early childhood since the articulation of children is

To promote the child’s acquisition, the role of significant others – that

The result of this research might be different if it is applied to other