A STUDY OF CLASSROOM INTERACTION CHARACTERISTICS IN A GEOGRAPHY CLASS CONDUCTED IN ENGLISH: THE CASE AT YEAR TEN OF AN IMMERSION CLASS IN SMA N 2 SEMARANG

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sita Nurmasitah. 2010. A Study of Classroom Interaction Characteristics in A Geography Class Conducted in English: The Case at Year Ten of An Immersion Class in SMA N 2 Semarang. Thesis. Linguistics Graduate Program. Diponegoro University Semarang. Advisor: Dr. Sugeng Purwanto, M.A. An immersion Class is a special program intended for junior (SMP) and senior high schools (SMA) in which seven subjects (Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, History and Geography) are delivered to the students in English. For these reasons, the interactions in the immersion classes are supposed to be different from the general ones. This condition motivates the writer to focus the study on the classroom interaction. The objectives of this study are to explore the classroom interaction characteristics and to find out whether or not the English classroom activities as used to teach at year ten of Immersion Class at SMAN 2 Semarang have met Walberg’s teaching effectiveness. The subject of the study was 30 students and one teacher at year ten of immersion class at SMAN 2 Semarang. The observation used three instruments to analyze the data; Flanders Interaction Analysis (FIA) to identify the classroom interactions, teaching effectiveness elements based on the Walberg’s theory, and Likert Scale to measure the students’ opinion results from questionnaire. The results of the analysis showed that the most dominant characteristic in immersion classroom interaction was the content cross. It reflected that most of the teaching-learning time was devoted to questions and lectures by the teacher. The teacher spent 57.43% of the teaching-learning time, while the students spent 22.20% of the teaching-learning time. It showed that the students were active enough in the classroom interaction. The interaction in this immersion classroom was in three-way communication; there were interaction between teacher-students, students-teacher, and students-students. The immersion classroom interaction also met the requirements of teaching effectiveness elements made by Walberg (1986). The teaching effectiveness elements used in the classroom were in the form of; academic learning time, use of reinforcement, cues and feedback, co-operative learning, classroom atmosphere, higher order questions, advance organizers, direct instruction, indirect teaching, and the democratic classroom. Based on the students’ opinion, the teaching-learning process in the classroom was good enough, however some students felt uncomfortable with the classroom atmosphere and the teacher’s discipline of time. Keywords: classroom interaction, teaching effectiveness, immersion. INTISARI Sita Nurmasitah. 2010. Penelitian Karakteristik Interaksi Berbahasa Inggris Dalam Mata Pelajaran Geografi: Studi Kasus Pada Kelas X Program Imersi SMA N 2 Semarang. Tesis. Magister Linguistik. Universitas Diponegoro Semarang. Pembimbing: Dr. Sugeng Purwanto, M.A. Kelas imersi adalah suatu program yang ditujukan untuk SMP dan SMA dimana tujuh mata pelajaran (Matematika, Fisika, Biologi, Kimia, Ekonomi, Sejarah dan Geografi) disampaikan kepada siswa dalam bahasa Inggris. Karena alasan tersebut, interaksi di dalam kelas imersi seharusnya berbeda dengan kelas umum. Kondisi tersebut memotivasi penulis untuk meneliti interaksi di dalam kelas, khususnya di kelas imersi. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik interaksi di dalam kelas imersi dan untuk mengetahu apakah kegiatan belajar mengajar di dalam kelas imersi memenuhi unsur-unsur efektivitas dalam proses belajar mengajar. Subyek dari penelitian ini adalah 30 siswa kelas X dan satu guru Geografi di SMA N 2 Semarang. Tiga instrumen analisis digunakan untuk menganalisis data di penelitian ini, yaitu Flanders Interaction Analysis yang digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi karakteristik interaksi kelas; unsur-unsur efektivitas dalam proses belajar mengajar berdasarkan teori Walberg; dan Likert Scale yang digunakan untuk menganalisis data kuesioner yang telah diisi oleh para siswa. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa karakteristik yang paling dominan di kelas imersi adalah Content Cross. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar waktu belajar mengajar dihabiskan oleh guru untuk bertanya dan menjelaskan materi. Guru menghabiskan rata-rata 57.43% dari total waktu belajar mengajar, sedangkan siswa menghabiskan rata-rata 22.20%. Hasil tersebut menunjukkan siswa cukup aktif dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar. Interaksi di dalam kelas imersi dapat dikatakan sebagai interaksi tiga arah; interaksi antara gurusiswa, siswa-guru, dan siswa-siswa. Kegiatan belajar mengajar di kelas imersi juga memenuhi unsur-unsur efektivitas mengajar berdasarkan teori Walberg, yaitu; academic learning time, use of reinforcement, cues and feedback, co-operative learning, classroom atmosphere, higher order questions, advance organizers, direct instruction, indirect teaching, dan democratic classroom. Para siswa berpendapat bahwa proses belajar-mengajar di kelas cukup baik, namun ada beberapa siswa yang kurang nyaman dengan suasana kelas dan disiplin waktu guru. Kata Kunci: interaksi kelas, efektivitas mengajar, imersi