SPEECH FUNCTIONS OF MALE AND FEMALE TEACHERS IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION

This study deals with the speech function of Male and Female teachers in classroom
interaction. The objective of this study was to investigate the type of speech functions
made by male and female teachers in the classroom interaction at SMP Negeri 1
Sibolga. The research design in this study was descriptive qualitative. The data of this
research were utterances of male and female teachers in the classroom. The data were
collected by observing, recording, and interviewing. The finding of this study
revealed that male teachers used three types of speech function: statement (45 clauses
or 30.6%), question (53 clauses or 36%), and command (38 clauses or 25.8%) , and
the female teacher used four types of speech function: statement (30 clauses or 22%),
question (35 clauses or 25.7%) , offer (1 clause or 0.6%) , and command (42 clauses
or 30%) . The male teacher in the classroom more often uses the question, then it is
followed by statement and command. While the female teacher uses the command
more often, it is followed by the question, statement, and offer. For the reasons in the
realization of speech functions in classroom interaction by the male teacher; (1).
Initiating question was to build the students’ confidence in the class; (2) Initiating
statement was to increase knowledge and give the students new information about the
topic of the study that will be learned in the class; (3) Initiating command was
pointed to make the students more active and focus on the learning process, and for
the female teacher: (1) Initiating command, can make the students more active in
learning. (2) In initiating the statement, teachers give new information about the topic
that they will learn. (3) Initiating questions, can measure the students’ understanding
of the related topics. (4) Initiating an offer was to measure the student to get more
information about the topic.