Full Text PDF Register Journal December 2019 Iain Salatiga

REGISTER JOURNAL
LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE TEACHING JOURNALS
Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN (PRINT) :1979-8903 ISSN (ONLINE): 2503-040X
Editor in Chief
Faizal Risdianto
Editors
Muhammad Istiqlal, IAIN Salatiga
Dr. Saad Boulahnane, University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco
Agung Guritno, IAIN Salatiga, Indonesia
Fahmi Gunawan, Scopus ID: 57199720154, IAIN Kendari, Sulawesi
Hari Prastyo, Language Center of Islamic Institute of Uluwiyah, Mojokerto,
Norwanto norwanto, SCOPUS ID:57204006221, IAIN Salatiga
Hanung Triyoko, IAIN Salatiga
M. Zaini Miftah, IAIN Palangka Raya
Rahmat Yusny, Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh
Setia Rini, IAIN Salatiga
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REGISTER JOURNAL
LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE TEACHING JOURNALS
Vol. 12, No. 2, December 2019 ISSN (PRINT) :1979-8903 ISSN (ONLINE): 2503-040X
TABLE OF CONTENT
An Investigation into the Classroom Talk of Iranian EFL Novice Vs.

Experienced Teachers
Amir Ghajarieh, Nastaran Jalali, Mohammad-Amin Mozaheb……100-118
A Child Language Acquisition in Indonesian and English Language: A

Longitudinal Case Study
Somariah Fitriani………………………………………………..…119-140
The Use of Scientific-Based Approach in ELT Class to Improve

Students’ Achievement and Classroom Interaction
Haerazi, Rully May Vikasari, Zukhairatunniswah Prayati……..…..141-156
Themes in South-East Asian Newspaper Headlines on Rohingya Issue:

Critical Discourse Analysis
Arina Isti’anah…………………………………………………….….157-174
The Cultural Significance in Greeting Practices in Belo Dialect of the

Bima Language
Alek…………………………………………………………………175-190
Proposing A Gaming Language Analysis Procedure To Reveal Video
Game Ideology through Ludic Linguistics
SF. Luthfie Arguby Purnomo, Khristianto……………………..……191-208
The Global – Local Planes of English Needs in Indonesian Contexts
Christine Manara…………………………………………………….209-231
Coinage and Neologism in Hausa Political Programs: A Sociolinguistics

Perspective
Abdulkadir Abubakar Zailani ………………………………………..232-246

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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.v12i2.100-118
Submission
Track: ABSTRACT
Received:
This study investigates the classroom talk of Iranian EFL novice
29-09-2019 versus experienced teachers with emphasis on the quality of
communicative features through a linguistic lens provided by the
Final Revision: SETT (Self-Evaluation of Teacher Talk) framework and TTFS
20-11-2019 (Teacher Talk Functional Scale) checklist. In so doing, 10
intermediate-level classrooms running by five novice and five
Available online: experienced teachers were observed, each case twice. Eight
distinctive communicative features of TT emerged upon the initial
01-12-2019 analysis of database obtained from the audio-recordings of 20
class sessions, totaling 30 hours of naturally generated input.
Corresponding Subsequently, the audio-recorded materials were carefully
transcribed and analyzed in correspondence with the observation
Author:
data in an attempt to compare how novice and experienced
Mohammad teachers present their talk. The results indicated both novice and
experienced teachers enact communicative aspects of classroom
Amin Mozaheb talk; however, the quality of presentation in the case of the
experienced group was far better. This in turn highlights the
Name & E-mail Address importance of raising awareness regarding TT features in teacher
training courses. New communicative aspects of teacher talk
Mozaheb.ma@gmail.com
highlighted in this study, including the use of L1 and language
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Amir Ghajarieh, Nastaran Jalali,Mohammad-Amin Mozaheb
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”.
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’
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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.
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 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-
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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 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
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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 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.
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
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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 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.
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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 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
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TT. The SETT framework (self-evaluation of 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.
Table 1. Coded themes investigated in teacher talk ( Walsh, 2006; p.,141)
Features of Teacher Talk Description
A Scaffolding 1 Reformulation (rephrasing a learner’s contribution)

2 Extension (extending a learner’s contribution)
3 Modeling (providing an example for learner(s))
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B Direct repair Correcting an error quickly and directly.
C Content Giving feedback to the message rather the words used.

feedback
D Extended Allowing sufficient time (several seconds) for students to
Wait-time respond or formulate a response.
E Referential Genuine questions to which the teacher does not know the
questions answer.
F Seeking Teacher asks a student to clarify something the student has said.
clarification Student asks teacher to clarify something the teacher has said.
G Extended Learner turn of more than one utterance.

learner turn
H Teacher echo Teacher repeats teacher’s previous utterance.
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 answer.
questions
M Form-focused Giving feedback on the words used, not the message.

feedback
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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 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: …
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
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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
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
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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
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 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
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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)
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.
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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 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 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
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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) 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.
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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.
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
Received:
Learning a dual language at the same time during early childhood has
12-02-2019 caused the wrong perception. Its false perception makes the parents delay
Final Revision: the start of learning a second /foreign language. Therefore, This study
aims at analyzing the first and second language acquisition of a child in
20-11-2019 the Indonesian Language and English. The issues concentrated on the
Available spoken utterances in Indonesian and English and its affecting factors. The
online: 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
01-12-2019 naturalistic approach, which I kept daily notes on the progress of a child’s
Corresponding linguistic and recorded the dialogues. Since it is a longitudinal study, the
research was conducted for two years, from 2014 to 2015. The research
Author: has revealed that utterances spoken have primarily increased and the
child has already understood the commands by following the instructions.
Somariah
Fitriani Some concepts such as feeling, taste, color, and numbers as well as short
Name & E-mail phrases and simple words in Indonesian and English at the same time can
Address: be understood and uttered. She also can change the affirmative sentence
to question in term of objects she sees in her surroundings. Factors such
Somariah as linguistic input, imitation, environment, exposure, and language
Fitriani
acquisition device can all affect the child’s utterance. Thus, it indicates
Somariah
@uhamka.ac.id 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.
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Somariah Fitriani
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).
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
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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 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 & 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
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Somariah Fitriani
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 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
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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 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
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.
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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 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,
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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?)
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)
A: “abang Zein, no! (DATA 4)
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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 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)
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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)
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.
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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:

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
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
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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
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
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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?)
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 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
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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
1. 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 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
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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 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)
2. 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:
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.
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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.
3. 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 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
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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.
4. 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 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
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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 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.
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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 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: ABSTRACT
Received:
This study investigated the use of the scientific-based approach in the
27-7-2019 ELT class to solve students' learning problems. Those problems are
students' difficulties to complete their learning tasks, lack of vocabulary
Final Revision: to complete reading tasks, lack of grammatical competence, afraid of
20-11-2019 proposing questions, afraid of speaking, and difficulties to complete the
listening tasks. These caused students to have low achievement and
Available online: inactive classroom interaction. The study was aimed at improving
students' achievement and classroom interaction of 8th-grade students
01-12-2019 of SMPN 4 Praya, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. This study
was classroom action research. The procedure of actions included two
Corresponding steps, namely the reconnaissance and the action. The reconnaissance
presented the students' learning problems and the action consisted of
Author:
four stages, namely planning, implementing, evaluating, and reflecting.
Haerazi The research instruments of this study used observation sheets, a
questionnaire, and a test. The collected data were analyzed
Name & E-mail quantitatively and qualitatively. The result of this study showed that the
Address use of the scientific-based approach was able to improve students'
achievement and classroom interaction. The students' average score
Haerazi was 82.76. Each student's score was higher than the minimum passing
grade (70). Meanwhile, the interaction classroom was active. It was
haerazi@ikipmata
supported by significant changes. Those changes were that students
ram.ac.id
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
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Haerazi, Vikasari, Prayati
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.
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
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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
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 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”.
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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. 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
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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.
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 actively To develop creativity,
and to develop questions of and for the curiosity, the ability to question
objects. formulation to build critical
o Students are asked to raise their skills in
thinking.
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 of To develop carefulness, honest,
Information each group. polite, respects towards people
o Students are asked to discuss the learning argument, and communication
objects and helped to make it run well in the
competence
class.
o Students are involved to record the finding. To collect information through
o In the supervising process, students are some ways.
invited to learn actively. To develop learning habits.
Associating o Students are asked to analyze and associate To develop the attitude of
the information occurred within the group. honesty, discipline, obedient,
o Students are involved to associate the hard work, the ability to
relationship between one information and
associate information, and the
other information.
o Students are asked to conclude the ability of inductive and
information from the patterns found. deductive thinking.
Communicating o Students are encouraged to conclude the To develop the attitude of

facts that have been observed and honesty, carefulness, tolerance,
experimented.
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o Students are asked to read their works or and the ability of systematic
conclusions in the class. thinking.
o The other groups are asked to listen and
provide additional input in line with the To train to state the clear
works of each group. argument, and to develop
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. 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
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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.
1. Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is an activity to identify the students' problems through observation and
questionnaire. The researcher collaborates with the real 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.
2. 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.
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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 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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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 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 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.
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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 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
151
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 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
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with some exercise to ask questions in English correct grammar. The students practice to imitate
the sentences in groups between each member. Besides, 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 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
153
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.
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.
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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.
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
Received:
Language is regarded as a tool to present the ideologies of its users,
20-07-2019 including how media portray a particular issue in their headlines.
Rohingya has gained much attention from media, including South-East
Final Revision: Asian newspapers. The massive clearing done by Myanmar government
21-11-2019 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
Available online: ideologies of the readers as well as the media themselves. This paper
attempts at discussing how South-East Asian media present Rohingya in
01-12-2019 their headlines. Five newspapers were involved: The Jakarta Post from
Indonesia, Malaysia Kini from Malaysia, Mmtimes from Myanmar, The
Corresponding Nation from Thailand, and Daily Star from Bangladesh, taken during
2017. The analysis was focused on the choice of Theme in the headlines
Author & E-mail
as it is the departing message of the headlines. The approach conducted
address:
was Faiclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis utilizing the textual
Arina Isti’anah & function of language offered by Halliday. The analysis revealed that
arina@usd.ac.id South-East Asian media had similarities and differences in portraying
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
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Arina Isti’anah
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 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
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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,
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 Themes employed in the news discourse can
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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 metafunctions 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 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).
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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 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).
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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 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 headline. 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 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Goal ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Carrier ✓ ✓ ✓
Token ✓
Attribute
Sayer ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Verbiage ✓ ✓
Patient ✓
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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.
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
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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
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 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
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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.
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
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responsibility toward the Rohingya crisis. The indirect involvement in the decision can be
interpreted that Thailand is in a neutral position.
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 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.
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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 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.
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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.
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 neighboring
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 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'
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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 is the proof.
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
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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 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, 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
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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 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
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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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Metila, R. A. (2013, May). A Discourse Analysis of News Headlines: Diverse Framings for a
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Montejo, G. M., & Adriano, T. Q. (2018). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Headlines in Online
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Steinberg, D. I. (2010). Burma/ Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford
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Note: Some parts of this article were presented in LOOW 6 by Petra Christian University,
entitled “Rohingya in Media: Critical Discourse Analysis in Myanmar and Bangladesh
Newspaper Headlines”
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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
Received:
Greeting personal name in local languages are unique and various from
13-08-2019 one to another language, island, and cultural group. One of these is
Final Revision: Bima language, especially in Belo dialect. The recent study expects to
reveal the three main issues as follows (1) How many patterns of
21-11-2019 greeting name variations using in Belo dialect of the Bima language?
(2) How are the variations pattern constructed in the greeting of
Available online:
personal names in Belo dialect of Bima language? (3) What are the most
01-12-2019 often vocal sound patterns used in greeting the personal names in Belo
dialect of Bima language? The research used a qualitative descriptive
Corresponding
study. The collection used some procedures, namely interviews,
Author: recording, documentation. The data analyzed with a qualitative
descriptive that followed Miles and Hubermann. The results show that
Name & E-mail
there are four patterns variation in greeting personal male names and
Address
eight variations in greeting female names; the second, there are three
Alek ways of constructing the patterns of greeting names, namely at the
beginning, the middle, and the end of the syllables; and the most often
alek@uinjkt.ac.id
syllable vocal pairs 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
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Alek
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).
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,
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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 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 Levinson, Ellen (in Chaer
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Alek
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 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.
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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 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
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Alek
Hemo Hami Hamid

Hima
Melo Mali Amlik
Semo Sama Samad
Kero Kari Karim
Mejo Maji Majid
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
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
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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/
Younger Older/same
Caller age Caller
Delo, Dola, Dula Abdullah

Dole
Abdula
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Alek
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 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.
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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.
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
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Alek
Hawu Hawa Siti Hawah
Janu Jana, Nurjana Nurjanah
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
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
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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 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
185
Alek
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 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,
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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 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/
Younger Older Name

Caller
187
Alek
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/
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
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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"
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
189
Alek
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: 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 tworesearch 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 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
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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 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.
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Alek
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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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
Received:
This study proposes a procedural analysis on the implementation of
21-07-2019 ludic linguistics to analyze gaming language with wordplay, the core
of focus in ludic linguistics, as the point of departure. To formulate the
Final Revision: procedural analysis, theories of language play by Crystal ideology of
21-11-2019 influence and ludonarrative model by Aarseth, wordplay in the gaming
context by Paul, intended meaning level by Stiles, wordplay
Available online: transmission by Winter-Froemel, game interface types by Stonehouse,
and indexical storytelling by Fernández-Vara were applied as the
01-12-2019 theoretical foundation. To provide a vivid application of the proposed
procedural analysis, wordplays appearing on game assets from
Corresponding 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.
Author:
The five-step procedure is able to show how wordplays in the gaming
Name & E-mail context are designed as mechanical cues to help gamers complete the
Address games and as narrative cues to help them comprehend the story.
Moreover, this proposed procedure is able to indicate that the
SF. Luthfie Arguby mechanical and narrative cues have a particular ideology of influence,
Purnomo which affects gamers in reacting and responding to particular
theluthfie@gmail.com 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
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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 humour and the development of games, concerns on how
games are explainable from linguistics perspectives are taken into account. Before 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.
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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, 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 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
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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) microethnography 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 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.
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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.
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
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Departing from understanding that each game asset has kernel, wordplays related to the
kernel are uncoverable. In-game equipment is 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 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:
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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
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-Deception Intended meaning is hidden in glitch or 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
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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
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 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
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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
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
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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.
Table 4. Wordplay Transmission Scales (Narrative Functions)
Indexical Storytelling Immersion Wordplay Transmission Intended Meaning

Types Level Level
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 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
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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
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
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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.
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 ludonarrative, 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 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
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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 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
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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 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 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
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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 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
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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 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.
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
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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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Crystal, D. (2001). Language play. University of Chicago Press.
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Philological Association (1974-), 125, 27-46.
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Mahood, M. M. (2003). Shakespeare's wordplay. Routledge.
McMahan, A. (2003). Immersion, engagement and presence. The video game theory
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Mitsis, P., & Ziogas, I. (Eds.). (2016). Wordplay and Powerplay in Latin Poetry (Vol. 36).
Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Newman, J. (2013). Videogames. London: Routledge.
Paul, C. A. (2012). Wordplay and the discourse of video games: Analyzing words, design,
and play. Routledge.
Purnomo, S. L. A., Nababan, N., Santosa, R., & Kristina, D. (2016). Game time: Revisiting
ludic linguistics for video game analysis. PROSIDING PRASASTI, 689-694.
Stiles, W. B. (1986). Levels of intended meaning of utterances. British Journal of Clinical
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Stonehouse, A. (2014). User interface design in video games. Retrieved August, 3, 2014.
Sudnow, D. (1983). Pilgrim in the Microworld. New York: Warner Books.
Winter-Froemel, E. (2016). Approaching wordplay. Crossing languages to play with words.
Multidisciplinary perspectives, 11-46.
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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
Received:
This article reports one part of a larger study on exploring the
11-03-2019 global and local English needs in nine secondary-level schools
in several Indonesian regions (i.e. Sumatera, Sulawesi, and
Final Revision: East Nusa Tenggara). The study investigates: 1) teachers’ and
21-11-2019 students’ perceived understanding of the existence of English
in their local contexts; 2) opinions of their current local and
Available online: global needs of English in today’s globalized era; and 3) their
opinions of the teaching and learning of English. Data were
01-12-2019 collected from questionnaires and interviews. The results show
that students in different regions have slightly different views
Corresponding and perceptions of English use and how it needs to be learned
and taught for their current and future needs for English.
Author:
Although slightly different in their perceptions of needs, there
Name & E-mail Address: seems to be a coordinated understanding of English needs
between the students and teachers. The findings also indicate
Christine Manara that there is a growing awareness of the need to teach the
communicative aspects of English via online activities.
christine.manara@atmajaya.ac.id
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.
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Christine Manara
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 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
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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 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 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
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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 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 Indonensia 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,
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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).
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 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.
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Christine Manara
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 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.
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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 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.
Table 1. Schools Profile
Exposure to
Teaching
School code School Type Location and use of
context
English
1 School A (SA) SMA (Top Public North Sulawesi
Rural Very low
high school)
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2 School B (SB) MAN (Public North Sulawesi

Rural Very low
boarding school)
3 School C (SC) SMA (Top North Sulawesi
Private high Urban Quite high
school)
4 School D (SD) SMA (Public West Sumatera
Semi-Rural Very low
high school)
5 School E (SE) SMA (Top Public West Sumatera
Semi-Rural Very low
high school)
6 School F (SF) SMA (Private North Sumatera
Rural Very low
high school)
7 School G (SG) SMA (Top Public North Sumatera
Rural Very low
school)
8 School H (SH) SMA (Private East Nusa Semi-Rural
High exposure
high school) Tenggara (tourism site)
9 School I (SI) SMK (Private East Nusa
secondary Tenggara Semi-Rural
High exposure
vocational (tourism site)
school)
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
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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 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
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average 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
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
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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 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.
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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
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
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grammar knowledge as the five important skills. Table 6 shows both groups perceived language
skills and knowledge of their current needs.
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 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
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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
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)
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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.
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
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
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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
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
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“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.
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
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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 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
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)
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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.
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.
Table 12. Teacher’s opinions on English teaching methodology
strongly agre disagre strongly Averag

English Teaching Methodology agree e e disagre e score
e
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 (e.g. 17 15 0 0 3.5
bilingual Indonesian-English
announcement, signs, billboard)
d. providing more English resources (e.g. 16 16 0 0 3.5
reading books, textbooks, video, etc.)
e. integrating technology and media into 15 17 0 0 3.5
English teaching in class
f. adding more lesson time than 3 11 21 0 0 3.3
hours/week for English lesson
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g. adopting English for Specific Purposes 13 19 0 0 3.4

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
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 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
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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 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 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
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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 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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English for Specific Purposes (pp. 137-154). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English: A guide to forecasting the popularity of the English language
in the 21st century. London: The British Council and The English Company Ltd. Retrieved from
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Graddol, D. (2006). English next: Why global English may mean the end of ‘English as a foreign
language’. London: The British Council. Retrieved from
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Hansen-Thomas. H., Richins, L.G., Kakkar, K. and Okeyo, C. (2016). I do not feel I am properly
trained to help them! Rural teachers’ perceptions of challenges and needs with English-
language learners, Professional Development in Education, 42(2), 308-324.
Hesse-Bibber, S.N. (2010). Mixed methods research: Merging theory with practice. New York:
The Guilford Press.
Lawson, S. (2018). English Teaching Assistants in Indonesia: An examination of their
intercultural experiences and co-teaching partnerships. An unpublished research report
for the Ministry of Research and Technology, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Manara, C. (2014). Intercultural Dialogue on English Language Teaching: Multilingual
teacher educator’s narrative of professional learning. Newcastle upon Tyne:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
McKay, S.L. (2002). Teaching English as an International Language. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Phillipson, R. (1990). Linguistics Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schneider, E.W. (2011). English around the world: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge
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Seidlhofer, B. (2001). Closing a conceptual gap: The case for a description of English as a
lingua franca.
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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
+2348036026297
Submission
Track: ABSTRACT
Received:
Linguistic aspect of language development is not an event that
09-02-2019 occur abruptly; rather, it pass through processes that take place
gradually over time, in a stage by stage development. This paper
Final Revision: dwells on linguistic issues on coinage and neologism arising in
21-11-2019 Hausa political programs in the media (radio), from the
sociolinguistic perspective, which gave birth and rebirth of
Available online: words/phrases meaning. New words/phrase are created, the
existing ones are lexically and semantically expanded to
01-12-2019 accommodate new meanings in Hausa language usage. It
observes and explains how some Hausa lexical items as well as
Corresponding sentences are used in the media (radio) political programs in
such a way that the language has new words and meanings; and
Author:
instances of coinage and neologism in Hausa in the media are
Name & E-mail Address discussed.
Abdulkadir Abubakar Zailani Keywords: Coinage & neologism, Hausa political programs,
Sociolinguistics
abdulkadirzailani@yahoo.co.uk
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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 examples of such programs are 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.
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
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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 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.
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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.
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
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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. 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
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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.
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 elements that make languages living
rather than dead…” and “are an indicative of language death”.
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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 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.
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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
24. Bòsórùwaa Gloss: Unserious Meaning: Shìríiritaa
25. Hara da bálliyaa Gloss: Difficult situation Meaning: Rikitaccen al’amari
26. Hárqumaaquma Gloss: Discomfort Meaning: Baqe-baqe
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27. Giríngishìxii da gírgixìi Gloss: Meaning: Kujera na rawa
28. Màgúrmàagùxín Gloss: Fraud Meaning: Maguxi
29. Kaafatàni Gloss: Altogether Meaning: Gaba xaya
In the above 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;
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.
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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,
preffixation 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 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
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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 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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