THE PATTERN OF CLASSROOM INTERACTION AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF TURN TAKING: A STUDY IN TWO DIFFERENT CLASSES IN JAMBI

Abstract

This study deals with the classroom interaction pattern and the turn taking distribution. These two aspects are essential in classroom discourse whose aspects different from those of the other types of discourse. The study aims to investigate the nature of classroom interaction patterns and turn taking distributions during the classroom activities in two different classes. Besides, it attempts to reveal the implication of classroom interaction patterns and turn taking distributions in teaching learning practices. This study uses descriptive qualitative research design which employed two data collection techniques, i. e. observation and voice recording. The data are, then, analyzed by using two models of analysis, i.e. classroom interaction pattern (e.g. Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975) and turn taking distribution (e.g. Allwright, 1980). The results of the research indicate that: First, the researcher finds few variation of interaction pattern in class A, while class B has more variation. Second, the researcher discovers that the distribution of turn taking in class A is not equal, while in class B it is more equal. Third, the implication of class A, based on the research findings, is that the class which is observed is teacher-centered class. Besides, the teacher in class A does not maximize the students’ participation. On the other hand, the results of the findings imply that the teacher gives more opportunities to the students to participate in the interaction in class B.