Input-Output Interplay in Indonesian EFL Classrooms: A Conversational Analytical Study

Although classroom interaction has received a great deal of focus during the last 40 years, its investigation from a conversation analytic stance using video recordings and stimulated recall interviews is rather limited, especially at the primary schools level. This paper presents the findings of a study on actual classroom practices in primary schools in West Sumatra, Indonesia, specifically, the language used by teachers and its impact on the language used by students in EFL classrooms. Taking as a basic premise that exposure to the foreign language is conducive to language learning, transcript of classroom discourse were analysed. This will contribute to research on classroom interaction by elucidating various aspects of turn-taking and sequence organization of talk at school, and by specifying the exact constraints under which participants –teachers and students – operate. The classroom data presented reveal teachers’ variation and frequency range in oral input and students’ output. There was a modest use of L1 and a greater impact of the language used by teacher on students language output. The results suggest that students’ language output was influenced by teachers’ language choice. While not indicative of a cause–effect relationship, teachers might wish to consider encouraging quality of her target language use as well as quantity.