ELVITA HANDAYANI MS (0743042010)

AN ANALYSIS OF SIGNAL AND RESPONSE IN THE NEGOITATION OF MEANING IN INTERACTIONS BETWEEN UPPER AND LOWER LEVEL BY USING INFORMATION GAP TECHNIQUE

( THE ASSIGNMENT OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUSITION )



By
NAME : ELVITA HANDAYANI MS
SRN : 0743042010











ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY
2010


INTRODUCTION

Negotiation of meaning is defined as a series of exchanges conducted by adressors and addressees to help themselves understand and be understood by their interlocutors. It implies that negotiation of meaning is very important because it helps us to understand and be understood. When interactants are involved in an interaction, both interactants work together to solve any potential misunderstanding or non-understanding that occurs by checking each others’ comprehension, requesting clarification and confirmation, and by repairing and adjusting speech. (Pica, 1988).
Negotiation of meaning is a process that speakers go through to reach a clear understanding of each other. For example, Asking for clarification, rephrasing, and confirming what you think you have understood are all strategies for the negotiation of meaning. In the classroom, Information gap activities such as jigsaw readings or listenings, group story building, spot the difference and communicative crosswords are examples of activities that give learners the opportunity to develop their communicative competence through negotiation of meaning as they share information.
Van den Branden (1997) defines negotiation of meaning as a side sequences to the main flow of conversation aimed at signaling and solving problems of message comprehensibility, that is, aimed at restoring mutual understanding. On the other word, negotiation of meaning solves our problem in conversation so that we get understanding of the conversation.

Varonis and Gass (1985) proposed a simpler model for the exchanges that create negotiation of meaning. The model consists of four primes called:
a. Trigger (T) which invokes or stimulates incomplete understanding on the part of the hearer;
b. Indicator (I) which is the hearer’s signal of incomplete understanding;
c. Response (R) is the original speaker’s attempt to clear up the unaccepted-input; and
d. Reaction to the response (RR), which is an element that signals either the hearer’s acceptance or continued difficulty with the speaker’s repair.

While Pica (1989) suggest that negotiation of meaning basically consist of four interrelated moves: trigger, signal, response, and follow-up moves. Trigger is defined as an utterance or portion of utterance on the part of the speaker, which results in some indications of non-understanding on the part of the hearer. Signal is an indication of non-understanding on the part of the hearer. Signal can be classified into two signals. The signals are signal of clarification request and signal of confirmation check. Response is the reaction to the signals. Response can be classified into nine responses. They are switch to a new topic, repetition of trigger, modification of trigger, repetition of indicator, confirm indicator, inability to respond, ignore indicator, and response unnecessary. Follow-up is the reply that is given in the case that trigger has been understood by hearer or it is an indication of understanding on the part of the hearer.

Definition and examples of negotiation of meaning exchange and its elements as adapted from Pica et al (1989):
a) NNS Trigger: utterance followed by NS signal of total/partial lack of understanding
b) NS Signal: of total or partial lack of understanding
- Explicit statement or request for clarification
-Request for confirmation through repetition
- Request for confirmation through modification
- Request for confirmation through completion or elaboration
c) NNS Response
- Switch to a new topic
- Supply of information relevant to the topic
-Repetition of the modification trigger
-Self modification of trigger (production of modified language :
phonological modification, semantic modification through synonym or -paraphrase, morphological modification through addition, substitution, or deletion, syntactic modification through embedding and elaboration
- Repetition of trigger
- Confirmation or acknowledge of signal only
- Indicators of difficulty or inability to respond


d) Response to NNS
- Comprehension signal
-Continuation move

From explanation above, we find out that signal and response can be classified into some kinds of signal and response. But, we do not know yet which signal and response that are more frequently used in negotiation of meaning in a conversation. For this reason, the researcher conducted a research to find out which signal and response that are more frequently used in negotiation of meaning in a conversation titled An Analysis of Signal and Response in the Negotiation of Meaning in interactions between upper and lower level by using information gap technique.

1.1 The Problem of the research

Considering the background above, the researcher formulates the problem of research as stated below:
Which signal and response are more frequently used in the negotiation of meaning in interactions between upper and lower level?



1.2 The objective of the research

As stated in the background and the problem of the research, the researcher states that the objective of this research is:
To find out which signal and response are more frequently used in the negotiation of meaning in interactions between upper and lower level.

1.3 The uses of the research

The researcher describes the uses of research as follows:
1. Theoretically, the results of this research are expected to confirm and clarify the previous theories about negotiation of meaning.
2. Practically, the results of this research can be used as an alternative consideration in developing second language acquisition.

1.4 The target of the research
GROUP 1
ARI (UPPER) : a second grade of SMPN 22 BANDAR LAMPUNG
LIA (LOWER) : the first grade of SMPN 22 BANDAR LAMPUNG.

RIANI (UPPER) : is a third grade of SMPN 22 BANDAR LAMPUNG
DEWI (LOWER) : the second grade of SMPN 22 BANDAR LAMPUNG

DISCUSSION

A. CONVERSATION I
In this part, we will analyze the process of negotiation meaning occurred in non-native speaker (upper level) and non-native speaker (lower level). This interaction involves two junior high school students.The upper level is a second grade of junior high school and the lower is the first grade of junior high school. They are given different worksheet aband have to complete the information. The process of the record was on Thursday, December 21, 2010 at 3 pm in the course.

Group 1:
1. U: Hello……
2. L: hello ……
3. U: Ok… here I have worksheet 1.It’s about MTV chart edition 43. Starting
from now..
4. L: Ok..
5. U: First.. the title of song is hotel room service.
6. L: hotel room service (repeat what the upper said)
7. U: Yap.. hotel room service and the singer is Pitbull.
8. L: Pitbull ( seems not sure for what she heard)
9. U: Can you get it?
10. L: Spell that one……
11. U: Ok.. p-i-t-b-u-l-l.. Pitbull
12. L: Ok.. pitbull, right?
13. U: Then the kind of music is hip hop.
14. L: Oh, in my paper there’s no information about kind of music. So, the
kind of music is hip hop.
15. U: Ok.. here I don’t know the album of Pitbull. Do you know about the
album?
16. L: The album? According to my worksheet, first train home
17. U: First train home. So, the name of Pitbull’s album is first train home.
18. L: Ya.. the name of Pitbull’s album is first train home.
19. U: Ok.. For number two I don’t know the title of song. How about you? Do
you know the tittle of song?
20. L: Hey.. (pause) soul… (pause) sister.. (sister)
21. U: Ok.. hey soul sister..
22. L: Hey soul sister.. yeah…
23. U: Here I know the singer of this song. The singer is train.
24. L: train? ( not sure for what she heard)
25. U: yeah.. train.. Hhm.. kind of transportation…
26. L: Hhm.. oh.. train.. t-r-a-i-n , right..
27. U: yeah…good! And the album of this song is boat behind.
28. L: both? Boat? (Sound confused)
29. U: Yah.. boat…
30. L: hhm.. boat… in the river? Boat…
31. U: Yah… so the album of this song is boat behind.
32. L: Oh yah..I know how to write it..
33. U: And the kind of music is pop rock.
34. L: Ok…
35. U: For number three.. the title of song is new perspective.
36. L: new.. perspective… (make repetition)
37. U: Yah.. but I don’t know the singer of this song.
38. L: Singer? The singer of this song is panic at the disco (starting to say it
with complete and correct structure, but make a wrong pronunciation)
39. U: Oh.. you mean panic at the disco.
40. L: Yah.. Panic at the disco.
41. U: Ok.. how about kind of music?
42. L: Kind of music? Oh.. kind of music is dance pop.
43. U: Oh.. dance pop.
44. L: And I don’t know the album.
45. U: Ok..the album is dirty it up.
46. L: What?
47. U: dirty.. (pause) it (pause)… up…
48. L: Dirty? (sound confused)
49. U: yah.. dirty.. it.. up…
50. L: dirty it? Eat?
51. U: not eat.. but it.. i-t..
52. L: Oh.. yah.. dirty it up..
53. U: Yah….
54. L: Ok.. then number four.. hhm... (can’t make question)
55. U: Ok.. the title of song is all the right moves
56. L: repeat?
57. U: all.. the right.. moves
58. L: Ok.. all the right moves…
59. U: and the singer is one republic.
60. L: Yah.. one republic..
61. U: but I don’t know the album of this song and the kind of music.
62. L: One republic… the album is ready to rock.
63. U: Ok the album of one republic is ready to rock.
64. L: yah.. and kind of music is rock.
65. U: Ok.. then the last one.. I don’t know the title of song. Do you know?
66. L: The title? The title is million dollar bill. (make a wrong pronunciation)
67. U: pardon me?
68. L: Hah?
69. U: repeat..
70. L: Oh.. million.. dollar.. bill.. (wrong pronunciation)
71. U: Oh.. you mean million dollar bill … (say it with right pronunciation)
72. L: yah.. million dollar bill.. (make repetition).. Hhm.. and I don’t know the
singer..
73. U: Ok.. the singer of this song is Whitney Houston. You know that one I
guess..
74. L: Whitney? Oh.. Whitney Houston… I will always love you.
75. U: yah.. that’s one of her hits.
76. L: and the album?
77. U: The album of this song is big love. It’s still about love
78. L: Ok.. big love.
79. U: Yah.. and kind of music is of course pop.
80. L: ya…

RESULT OF DISCUSSION :
Turns 8-12:
8. L: Pitbull ( seems not sure for what she heard) ( T )
9. U: Can you get it?
10. L: Spell that one……(NS signal)
11. U: Ok.. p-i-t-b-u-l-l.. Pitbull ( R )
12. L: Ok.. pitbull, right? (RR)

In this case, lower got difficulty in hearing ‘pitbull’, It is called Request for Confirmation through repetition of NNS. she asked upper to spell that word. It is one of lower’s way to negotiate the meaning.

Turns 15-18:

15. U: Ok.. here I don’t know the album of Pitbull. Do you know about the album? ( NS Signal )
16. L: The album? According to my worksheet, first train home
17. U: First train home. So, the name of Pitbull’s album is first train home.
(R )
18. L: Ya.. the name of Pitbull’s album is first train home.( RR )

In this case, upper made a question first, and the lower would think what the upper mean. Then, in turn 16 (L: The album? According to my worksheet, first train home) the lower answered the question with incomplete structure, so in turn 17 the upper show how to say it completely (U: First train home. So, the name of Pitbull’s album is first train home).


Turns 23-30:

23. U: Here I know the singer of this song. The singer is train.
24. L: train? ( not sure for what she heard) ( T )
25. U: yeah.. train.. Hhm.. kind of transportation…(I)
26. L: Hhm.. oh.. train.. t-r-a-i-n , right..( R )
27. U: yeah…good! And the album of this song is boat behind.
28. L: both? Boat? (Sound confused)( I )
29. U: Yah.. boat…( R )
30. L: hhm.. boat… in the river? Boat…(RR )

In this case, upper tried to negotiate the meaning by telling what train is. In turn 24 the lower level (NNS) gave response do the repetition of indicator. Then, the lower could catch the meaning and expanded by spelling the word ‘train’, such in turn 26 (L: Hhm.. oh.. train.. t-r-a-i-n , right..). It also happened in turn 30 (L: hhm.. boat… in the river? Boat…). When upper said ‘boat’, lower tried to negotiate meaning by telling something about boat.


Turns 38-40:

38. L: Singer? The singer of this song is panic at the disco (starting to say it with complete and correct structure, but make a wrong pronunciation)
( NS Signal )
39. U: Oh.. you mean panic at the disco.(R )
40. L: Yah.. Panic at the disco.(RR)

In this case, lower started to show a progress by saying statement with complete and correct structure, but she made a wrong pronunciation. Then, the upper gave modeling in order to be imitated by lower.

Turns 45-52:

45. U: Ok..the album is dirty it up.
46. L: What? ( NS Signal)
47. U: dirty.. (pause) it (pause)… up…(RR)
48. L: Dirty? (sound confused) ( I )
49. U: yah.. dirty.. it.. up…(RR)
50. L: dirty it? Eat? (T)
51. U: not eat.. but it.. i-t..( R )
52. L: Oh.. yah.. dirty it up..(RR)

In this case, the lower get difficulty in hearing ‘dirty it up’, The upper tried to say it slowly, such in turn 47 (U: dirty.. (pause) it (pause)… up…), but lower still couldn’t understand. Then, lower guessed that the upper said ‘eat’ not ‘it’ (L: dirty it? Eat?). And the upper negotiated the meaning by spelling ‘it’.

Turns 54-58:

54. L: Ok.. then number four.. hhm... (can’t make question)
55. U: Ok.. the title of song is all the right moves
56. L: repeat?
57. U: all.. the right.. moves
58. L: Ok.. all the right moves…


In this case, the lower got difficulty in making question. Then, upper indicated what the lower’s need so that upper told the title of song to lower.

Turns 65-72:

65. U: Ok.. then the last one.. I don’t know the title of song. Do you know?
66. L: The title? The title is million dollar bill. (make a wrong pronunciation)
67. U: pardon me? ( R )
68. L: Hah?( I )
69. U: repeat..(NS Signal)
70. L: Oh.. million.. dollar.. bill.. (wrong pronunciation) ( R )
71. U: Oh.. you mean million dollar bill … (say it with right pronunciation)
72. L: yah.. million dollar bill.. (make repetition).. Hhm.. and I don’t know the singer..(RR)

In this case, the lower made a wrong pronunciation. She also didn’t understand when upper said ‘pardon me’ in turn 67. Then, the upper change it into ‘repeat’. Again, the upper gave modeling to say it in right pronunciation.

According to the whole conversation, lower got difficulty in opening conversation, so that the upper handle this situation. The upper also helped the upper when the lower made wrong pronunciation.


B. CONVERSATION II
In this part, we will analyze the process of negotiation meaning occurred in non-native speaker (upper level) and non-native speaker (lower level). This interaction involves two junior high school students.The upper level is a third grade of junior high school and the lower is the second grade of junior high school. They are given different table aband have to complete the information about music . The process of the record was on Thursday, December 22, 2010 at 2 pm in the course.

Group 2:
1. L: Hi…
2. U: Hi…
3. L : I have a table.. (trying to open conversation)
5. U: Ok.. You have a table….
L: but still blank…
6. U: You mean you have incomplete information in your table.
7. L: yah.. incomplete information. And I know the title of song.
8. U: yah.. I know.. The title of the first song is hotel room service.
9. L: yah.. and singer pitbull.
10. U: yes.. the singer is pitbull (say it in complete grammar)
11. L: and the album is first train home.
12. U: Ok.. first train home.
13. L: Kind of music? Hhmm…
14. U: Oh.. you don’t know kind of music. Let me tell you. Kind of music of Pitbull is Hip hop.
15. L: hip hop.
16. U: yeah.. hip hop.
17. L: and second song….
18. U: Hhm.. I don’t know what the title of second song is. Can you tell me?
19. L: Hhm.. hey (pause) soul (pause) sister…
20. U: hey soul sister…
21. L: and do you know the singer?
22. U: the singer is train.
23. L: train? Can you spell it?
24. U: yes.. t-r-a-i-n
25. L: Oh train..
26. U: yah.. Kind of transportation…
27. L: and album? Do you know about the album?
28. U: the album is boat behind.
29. L: boat behind…boat behind….
30. U: yah boat behind..
31. L: and…..
32. U: Ok.. you first ask me…
33. L: Ok.. for second, I don’t know the title of song
34. U: the title of second song is new perspective.
35. L: (still confused)
36. U: new.. perspective…
37. L: oh..new.. perspective…
38. U: and I don’t know the singer and kond of music. Do you know?
39. L:Yah .. I know.. The singer is panic at the disco.
40. U: Ok.. panic at the disco. I know that one.
41. L: and I don’t know about the album.
42. U: Ok.. the album is dirty it up.
43. L: Dirty what?
44. U: dirty it up..
45. L: and do you know kind of music?
46. U: I don’t know and I ask you. What is kind of music of panic at the disco?
47. L: Kind of music is dance pop.
48. U: dance pop.. ok…
49. L: Ok.. for next song.. what is the title of this song?
50. U: Oh.. number four.. the title of this song is all the right moves.
51. L: what?
52. U: all… the right… moves…..
53. L: And do you know the singer?
54. U: Yes.. the singer of this song is one republic. But I don’t know the album and kind of music.
55. L: The album is ready to rock.
56. U: Ok.. ready to rock…
57. L: and kind of music is rock..
58. U: Ok.. for the last song what is the title of the last song?
59. L: million dollar bill (make a wrong pronunciation in ‘dollar’)
60. U: million dollar bill… (say it in right pronunciation)
61. L: million dollar bill…And I don’t know the singer.
62. U: The singer is Whitney Houston. She’s the famous singer.
63. L: Ya.. whitney Houston. And do you know the album?
64. U: The album is big love.
65. L: kind of music?
66. U: The kind of music is pop.
67. L: Ok.. thanks for the information
68. U: Ok.

Turns 3-7 :

3. L : I have a table.. (trying to open conversation) (T)
4. U: Ok.. You have a table….( R)
5. L: but still blank…
6. U: You mean you have incomplete information in your table. (NS Signal)
7. L: yah.. incomplete information. And I know the title of song.( R )

In this case, lower tried to open conversation and the upper tried to catch what she mean by confirming the statement.


Turns 9-11:
9. L: yah.. and singer pitbull. (T )
10. U: yes.. the singer is pitbull (say it in complete structure)(R )
11. L: and the album is first train home.

In this case, the upper made a complete structure, such in turn 10 (U: yes.. the singer is pitbull (say it in complete structure) in order to be imitated by lower. And it worked because in turn 11 the lower can say with complete and correct structure.

Turns 13-15:

13. L: Kind of music? Hhmm…(NS Signal)
14. U: Oh.. you don’t know kind of music. Let me tell you. Kind of music of Pitbull is Hip hop.(R )
15. L: hip hop.(RR)

In this case, the lower signaled that she couldn’t make question. Then, the upper told the kind of music to the lower.




Turns 21-25:

21. L: and do you know the singer?
22. U: the singer is train. (T)
23. L: train? Can you spell it?(NS Signal )
24. U: yes.. t-r-a-i-n (R )
25. L: Oh train..(RR)

In this case, they negotiated the meaning by spelling the word ‘train’.

Turns 46-47:

46. U: I don’t know and I ask you. What is kind of music of panic at the disco?
47. L: Kind of music is dance pop.
In this case, upper made a question with complete and correct structure in order to be imitated by lower. And in turn 49 (L: Ok.. for next song.. what is the title of this song?) the lower could make question with complete and correct structure.

Turns 58-61:

58. U: Ok.. for the last song what is the title of the last song?
59. L: million dollar bill (make a wrong pronunciation in ‘dollar’)
60. U: million dollar bill… (say it in right pronunciation) (NS Signal)
61. L: million dollar bill…And I don’t know the singer. ( R )
In this case, the lower made a wrong pronunciation in saying ‘dollar’. So that, the upper gave modeling to the lower and followed by lower in order to make the lower understand.

Turns 62-68:
62. L: million dollar bill…And I don’t know the singer.
63. U: The singer is Whitney Houston. She’s the famous singer. (R )
64. L: Ya.. whitney Houston. And do you know the album?
65. U: The album is big love. (R )
66. L: kind of music?
66. U: The kind of music is pop.(R )
67. L: Ok.. thanks for the information(R )
68. U: Ok.(RR)
As we see above, no longer obstacle happened in the last turns.


CONCLUSION

From the discussion above, the writer can conclude that negotiation of meaning is defined as a series of exchanges conducted by addressors and addressers to help themselves understand and be understood by their interlocutors. Furthermore, Pica et al (1989) suggest that negotiation of meaning basically consist of four interrelated moves. The moves are trigger (T), signal (S), response (R), and follow-up,moves(F).

Most signals that are used in those conversations above are made through request confirmation through repetition. While on the response, the responses that are used are done through giving repetition of modification of the trigger or by making utterance by supplying information relevant to the topic. Then, comprehension signal and continuation moves are used for the follow up in this conversation of negotiation of meaning.

From those conversation of negotiation of meaning, there are no differences for gender on how the get the message. One aspect that gives most impact in the negotiation of meaning is background knowledge and educational background. This can be seen from the amount of words produced by the students per minute, and also are their utterances grammatical or not. In average, the students produced forty five words grammatically with fewer pauses for students who have good background knowledge and educational background toward the topic and for students who lack of them produced about thirty words ungrammatically with long pause.


REFFERENCES

Suparman, M. 2007. Materials for Psycholinguistics. Lampung : Lampung
University.

Yufrizal, Hery. 2008. An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition. Bandung:
Pustaka Reka Cipta

www.dictionary30.com/meaning/Negotiate
www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/