A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE TEACHER TALK AT EYL
CLASSROOM
Liani Setiawati
SMPK 1 BPK Penabur Bandung
email: liani_stwt@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract: The use of constructive teacher talk (TT) is very important and effective in
scaffolding young learners to improve their skill in target language. Nevertheless, there is
an argument that too much teacher talk can even decrease students‟ motivation. The
present study tries to reveal the suitable amount and the students‟ perception of teacher
talk. Apart from that, there is an attempt to find out the features of teacher talk, the
frequency of either display and referential questions or teachers‟ assessments and ways in
giving feedback. This descriptive study is conducted to find out how teachers make use of
their teacher talk naturally in classroom settings. To gain deeper insight and
understanding, both qualitative and quantitative research design were employed. The
qualitative data were obtained through direct observation and teachers – students‟
interview. Moreover, the teachers – students‟ questionnaire, video recording and field
notes also added significant value towards the findings of this study. Quantitative data, on
the other hand, were gained from the calculation of students‟ questionnaire scores which
are represented in percentage. Both qualitative and quantitative data were coded,
categorized, interpreted, descriptively described and finally displayed in the form of
tables. The research findings show that despite the teacher talk‟s capability to be good
model for young learners, most students found the class more motivating, interesting, and
challenging when the teachers minimized their teacher talk and made use not only more
constructive teacher talk but also interesting activities. In conclusion, since teacher talk
serves not only as a medium to achieve young learners‟s learning objectives but also as a
tool to build better dynamic interaction between teacher and students in classroom
settings, it is advisable for all EFL teachers to improve their effective constructive talk
towards their students.
Key words: SLA, TT (Teacher Talk), TTT (Teacher Talk Time), discourse Analysis,
code switching, conversational analysis, ST (Students Talk) , STT (Student Talk Time)