Analyzing speech acts of teacher talk in the EFL classroom: A case study at one of Islamic junior high school in Indramayu

Hakim, Aziz (2025) Analyzing speech acts of teacher talk in the EFL classroom: A case study at one of Islamic junior high school in Indramayu. Sarjana thesis, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.

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Abstract

This study investigates the use of speech acts in EFL classrooms, focusing specifically on how English teachers at MTsN 9 Indramayu employ various speech acts and the politeness strategies during instruction and to manage students' misbehaviour. The research seeks to classify the types of speech acts teachers use and explore how these are applied to address common disciplinary issues, particularly "talking out of turn" and "slowness." Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with three EFL teachers across grades 7, 8, and 9. Classroom interactions were transcribed, coded, and analysed based on Cutting’s five categories of speech acts—directives, representatives, commissives, expressives, and declaratives—and the distinction between direct and indirect speech acts. The frequency and function of these utterances were calculated and interpreted to determine their pedagogical implications. The three teachers have the same distribution of speech acts, namely directive, representative, expressive and commissive speech acts. The usage of speech acts has a number of benefits, including enhancing students' comprehension of speech acts, boosting motivation and classroom atmosphere, and fostering positive teacher-student interactions. Regarding students’ misbehaviour, the three teachers have almost the same use of sub-categories, namely using directive speech act with requesting and expressive speech act with complaining. According to politeness strategies, teachers in classroom observations use bald-on-record strategies that can offend students. Therefore, teachers need to consider positive and negative politeness to discipline students. However, even the use of appropriate speech acts is not the main factor in regulating students' behavior but students' own internal factors such as the desire to learn, lack of motivation, and family background. As for the teacher, it is necessary to set rules and prepare lessons carefully in order to minimize students' problematic behavior. This study concludes that teachers try to develop students' communicative skills. Although teachers still dominate the utterances in the lesson which results in minimal student participation, the teachers try to utter many directive speech acts in the form of questions to encourage student participation. The speech act is not the main factor in regulating students' behavior. However, student-related factors such as motivation, willingness to learn, and family background have a greater influence on classroom behavior. Therefore, successful classroom management requires a balanced approach that includes clear rules, teacher flexibility, and reflection, along with an understanding of students' personal contexts.

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