310 EEJ 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej The Use of Deixis in Online Classroom Interaction Among the University Students M. Rizki Giffary, Widhiyanto Widhiyanto Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Article Info ________________ Article History: Accepted 30 January 2023 Approved 8 March 2023 Published 20 June 2023 ________________ Keywords: deixis, classroom interaction, online learning, context ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ Pragmatics is the study related to linguistics used by a person. It is the study of language and its content. Therefore, it becomes the basis for knowing the meaning of a language. Pragmatics is focused on the investigation of importance as conveyed by the speaker (or author) and deciphered by the audience (or reader). This research aimed to find the use of deixis in online class interaction among the third-semester students of the graduate school Universitas Negeri Semarang 2020/2021, the data of this study were the students' interactions in the WhatsApp application during the class of the graduate school Universitas Negeri Semarang. This research was a form of qualitative research proposed by Creswell (2009). We were required to be able to classify, collect, analyze, and draw conclusions through the phenomena that have been analyzed without making a generalization. The findings showed that from 26 students' discussion results, 1.156 deixes were found in the students’ discussions. Then, the deixis were categorized into five categories based on Levinson’s theory. There were 529 personal deixes that equal to 45.76%, 55 temporal deixes that equal with 4.75%, there are 108 in spatial deixis that equal to 9.34%, 329 in social deixis that equal with 28.46%, and 135 in discoursal deixis that equal to 11.67%. This study in like manner expected to give inspiration for the readers who are intrigued on the deixis study and it will be an additional reference for readers who are intrigued on examining this examination. Correspondence Address: Kampus Pascasarjana Unnes, Jl. Kelud III Semarang 50237 E-mail: rizkigiffary@students.unnes.ac.id p-ISSN 2087-0108 e-ISSN 2502-4566 M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 311 INTRODUCTION Pragmatics is the study related to linguistics used by a person. According to Levinson (2004) pragmatics is the study of language and its content, therefore it becomes the basis for knowing the meaning in a language. It very well may be reasoned that pragmatics has a connection among language and setting with composed language. One of the issues that frequently emerge in pragmatics is deixis. Deixis is a specialized term for one of the main root words identified with pronunciation (Yule, 2010). Levinson (1983) states that the word deixis comes from Greek, it means "pointing or indicating". This means that deixis has the meaning of pointing or referring to something that has a meaning in it. Meanwhile, people tend not to realize how to use deixis in the conversations they have every day. Deixis often appears in every word or writing that everyone uses to communicate every day. The use of deixis also often appears in every online conversation that students have when discussing in online presentation forums, they provide opinions, questions, answers, and supporting facts for each material being presented through the chat application that they are using on their gadgets. Based on that perspective, the researchers searched and analyzed the data related to the use of deixis in discussions used in online presentation forums through the WhatsApp application used by a number of students in online learning during online learning. The unit of analysis of this study is the students turn taking during the discussion, the researchers will also analyze the reference from each the data. The purpose of this study is to find out and evaluate the deictic words in the online classroom interaction based on the Assessment in English Language Teaching class via WhatsApp application. Several researchers have conducted research related to research related to deixis, classroom interaction and online learning. The writer classified several previous studies related to the topics discussed in this study. There have been studies that are concerned with deixis. The studies were conducted by Adetunji (2016), Chevron (2020), Hu (2015), Juliasti (2015, Pangaribuan (2015), and Rahayu, 2018). The purpose of their studies was to find out the use of deixis on several occasions. They explained how their subject of the research used some deictic expressions and related them in the reference. Note-taking was wont to collect the data from the entire population during public speaking in PSE (performative Spoken English) classes and the national speech. Moreover, some researchers likewise studied classroom interaction which there was about students’ interaction. The research was conducted by Hassaskhah (2013), Huang (2022), Khodadady (2013), Shomoosi (2004), Song (2014), Lee (2001), Rastiani (2019), Wang (2020), and Wibowo (2016). One of the researchers conducted inquiries, referrals, and displays. He conducted research on several examples of how to greet and the intuitive impact of which was taken through the views of non- participants. They conducted research on student exchanges for the presence of talk systems that happen in the zone of proximal turn of events. This is done to understand the students' social- full of feeling reactions in working together and communicating on a daily basis. The data were taken from diaries, surveys, and student meetings. There were also the previous researchers who conducted the study about online learning as their media from their research. Those researchers were Chowkse (2022), Dhawan (2020), Horeunnisa (2019), Janet (2004), Liu (2021), Nguyen (2015), Al Rahmi, et.al. (2015), and Dewi (2020). In this case, they focused their research on investigating students' perspectives, evidence of the effectiveness of online learning, and assessing the performance of the e-learning used. Online learning should help students in facilitating their learning activities, students can study anywhere and anytime. Some students claim that a single lesson empowers them to take a higher level of responsibility for their own learning and to adapt independently. There are many similarities in terms of the data that will be analyzed by the researchers in M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 312 this study, we will both analyze the deixis used during a certain period. The difference is only in the opportunity to take the data. In this study, researchers will obtain the data by using an online-based chat application. The explanation about the evaluation of the use of personal deixis in classroom interaction will provide some contributions. Theoretically, this study are able to explain and evaluate the use of deixis in classroom interaction and give us information on the reference meaning. Pedagogically, the researchers expect this research would give the advantages for the readers on deixis. This research is not just for deixis but also for the overall population. Since learning about deixis, and knowing the referent importance from people expression. Practically, this research is trusted can give significant information about deixis speculation, especially in the further exploration. This exploration in like manner expected to give inspiration for the readers who are intrigued on deixis study and it will be an additional a reference for the readers who intrigued on examining this examination. Unequivocally, it might be the inspiration of the others researcherss to complete their endeavor in doing pragmatics exploration or just to be data. From all the studies that the researchers has written above, it could be concluded that the researchers found a gap between the research that he will do with some existing studies. The research gap that the research conducted is examining deixis that had been used in online class interactions through the WhatsApp application. The unit of analysis of this research is students' turn taking during discussion, the researchers will also analyze the reference of each data. METHOD The objective of this study explain the use of deixis and its contexts in the online class interaction at the Assessment in English language teaching class. In this study, the researchers used descriptive qualitative research. The collected data were the experiences and opinions of the participants. By observing the phenomena available in online classroom interactions, many students expressed their opinions and questions in free form. In this case, any important data could be shared via online messages. The application that the researchers observed in this study was WhatsApp, the researchers have the opinion that students would expand communication because they were allowed to communicate their questions and comments without feeling worried, students would feel free to give their responses because they did not meet directly with teachers and other students. Thus, the expressions that would be studied were different and would find various deixis during the interaction of online learning activities. In the data collection procedure, the researchers took an assessment class. There were 26 students in the class each week. The researchers took the data once per week by using the WhatsApp application. The student interactions in each discussion in the form of a presentation was analyzed by filling out the previously prepared instruments. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The researchers finally wished to explain the findings that have been explored in this section to address the research problems after evaluating the data and classifying on the categories of deixis and the context meaning of those deixis the research's findings made it clearly visible that the English students' sentences displayed several deixis types. Levinson's categories of deixis were used by the researchers to investigate the sentences used by English students in a WhatsApp group discussion. According to Levinson's theory, there are five different categories of deixis texts: personal deixis, temporal deixis, spatial deixis, social deixis, and discoursal deixis. The students used these deixis throughout the discussion of assessment in English language teaching, and they also had context meaning significantly. The main purpose of this chapter is to answer the research problems that have been written in chapter one. Researchers have analyzed the data obtained from the results of student discussions M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 313 during the learning process. In the end, the researchers found that some students often used deixis during the discussion either intentionally or not. Several deixis that emerged from this discussion has various and different contexts and meanings. Table 1. Types of Deixis Based on Levinson’s Theory Type of Deixis Frequency Percentage 1. Personal Deixis 529 45.76 2. Temporal Deixis 55 4.75 3. Spatial Deixis 108 9.34 4. Social Deixis 329 28.46 5. Discoursal Deixis 135 11.67 Total 1.156 100 Table 1. shows the use of deixis that has been made by students. There are 45.76% personal deixis, 4.75% in temporal deixis, 9.34% in spatial deixis, 28.46% in social deixis, and 11.67% discoursal deixis. These deixis types illustrate the use of deixis that students often use during the discussion. The results of this study are related to one of the previous studies. Rahayu (2018) explained how her research subjects used some descriptive expressions and connected them. No data was collected from the whole population during public speaking in PSE (Performative Spoken English) class. She showed that all types of direct statements were used, except at the discourse level. Initially, the students were assumed to ignore the rules of direct statements. However, after the focus group discussion (FGD), it turned out that some students only made mistakes when using direct language. Therefore, it is recommended that students practice more. There are many similarities in terms of the data that will be analyzed by researcherss in this study. We will both analyze the deixis used during a certain period. The research gap and novelty are to examine the deixis that will be used in online class interaction through the WhatsApp application. The unit of analysis of this study is the students turn taking during the discussion; the researchers also analyzed the references from each of the data point. Types of Deixis Used By Students in The Online Class Interaction A. Personal Deixis According to Yule (1996, p. 10) personal deixis is used to designate someone. Ingram cited by Levinson (1983, p. 62) states there are three ways in grammar if we want to appoint someone. The first is the first person, the second is the second person, and the third is the third person. Table 2. Personal Deixis Identification Writer/ Speaker Sentence Type of Deixis GA I think that evaluation is always in the end of teaching of learning process. Personal Deixis Based on the table above, GA uses the word "I" in the discussion which refers to her own opinion as a participant in the discussion. The word "I" indicates the first – person personal deixis which refers to the first – person pronoun in a sentence. According to GA evaluation is always at the end of the teaching and learning process. She concluded that each evaluation was carried out at the end of the lesson. B. Temporal Deixis According to Levinson (1983, p. 77), temporal deixis describes the time a speaker spends in the context of speech. Thomas (1995, p. 9) states that temporal or time deixis, such as tomorrow, now, and yesterday, will be meaningful if you know the exact time at which the expression was pronounce. M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 314 Table 3. Temporal Deixis Identification Writer/ Speaker Sentence Type of Deixis Presenters the students in condition or situation like now. Temporal Deixis Based on the data in the table above, Presenters as a writer or speaker in the question- and-answer session uses the word "now" which has the meaning of temporal deixis in this study. The word "now" is a second expression that refers to a time. The word refers to the current condition where all students in Indonesia are using an online-based learning system due to the COVID-19 pandemic. C. Spatial Deixis According to Levinson (1983, p. 80), spatial deixis will be deixis identified with the area of the speaker during a discourse. There are a couple of spatial deictic words in English as verb modifiers here and there and the demonstrative pronouns this and that. Table 4. Spatial Deixis Identification Writer/ Speaker Sentence Type of Deixis Presenters Here, we provide an example of behavioral assessment rubrics Spatial Deixis In the table above, one of the presenters in the presentation at that time used the word "here" which was indicated as spatial deixis. “Here” is an adverb of place, “here” is a general description of a place. It indicates location relative to the speaker. A verb of movement, here means "towards, in the direction of, or with the speaker”. D. Social Deixis The fourth deixis that will be discussed by researchers in this study is social deixis. Social deixis is a deixis that is identified with the piece of the actual sentence. Sentences that control and reflect genuine elements that are accessible explicitly from the social circumstance where the discussion/discourse happens (Levinson, 1983, p. 85). Table 5. Social Deixis Identification Writer/ Speaker Sentence Type of Deixis GA In addition, evaluation cannot be done equally or place every student in the same situation because their needs are different Social Deixis In the table above, one of the audiences in the presentation at that time used the word "student" which was indicated as social deixis. The word “student” refers to a group of children who study at an educational institution called a school, the word “student” here functions as a social identity, at this time the student's word refers to absolute social deixis. The “student” above implies the association which will incorporate no relationship of the situation of the speaker and beneficiary. It suggests that there is no association between speakers and beneficiaries. E. Discoursal Deixis As indicated by Levinson (1983, p. 85), discoursal deixis is the utilization of articulation in a sentence or expression that alludes to the substance of the actual talk (ascertaining the utilization of the actual expression). For instance: beneath, next, this, that. The deixis utilized here is the illustrative various things. The word this can be utilized to suggest the talk fragment and the past portion. M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 315 Table 6. Discoursal Deixis Identification Writer/ Speaker Sentence Type of Deixis GA This happens because teachers find two different level of students. Discoursal Deixis F. Contexts According to Leech (1983, p. 13), context is a world that contains human speech, they have different social status, culture, identity, beliefs, needs, knowledge and goals. Context is the internal aspects of an utterance/writing and everything that encompasses an utterance/writing externally. In the use of a deixis, context becomes a very important part to explain a condition and situation of a speaker so that the reader or listener knows what the words or sentences that have been said or written mean. Table 7. Context Identification Writer/Spe aker Sentence Context GA If this domain is applied for SMK Linguistics Presenters Well according to this question I think Linguistics MH This is valuable information Linguistics Based on the data in the table above, we can see that one of the audiences has written a discourse deixis, namely "this". The word "this" here is classified as a discoursal deixis based on Levinson's theory, which has the meaning of a prior portion. The word "this" here refers to the knowledge domain, which aims to assess students' understanding and learning outcomes. So, in this context, this domain will be very suitable if used for learning in vocational schools (SMK) because SMK students learn specific, detailed, and focused knowledge. Thus, high school will be the same, probably because our country has a "sistem penjurusan". Students choose the science focus they want to develop, such as engineering, computer science, or workshop classes. The next word is "this" written by one of the presenters at the time of the presentation. The word "this" here is classified as a discoursal deixis based on Levinson's theory, which has the meaning of a prior portion. The word "this" here refers to a question that has been asked to the presenter, where this question discusses how to assess knowledge in written tests that will be carried out by students in this pandemic situation. So, in this context, how was knowledge assessment conducted during the pandemic? Is the knowledge assessment achievable by all students with good results as their feedback on the material the teacher has given them? Do teachers consider the aspect of how students answer questions, especially in written tests, while they do not observe the process carried out by students? These questions are aimed at the presenter in relation to the material being discussed at the time. The third discoursal deixis on the table above is "this" and written by MH. The word "this" here is classified as a discoursal deixis based on Levinson's theory, which has the meaning of an upcoming portion. The word "this" here refers to new information that can be used by teachers to design lesson plans to achieve learning targets. So, in this context, MH, as one of the discussion participants at that time, considered that the material that the presenter had provided was valuable information for teachers to use in designing lesson plans to achieve learning targets. This is a good step when teachers have to map the dimensions of knowledge and cognitive processes. The results of this study are related to one of the previous studies. Rahayu (2018) explained how her research subjects used some descriptive expressions and connected them. No data was collected from the whole population during public speaking in PSE (Performative Spoken English) class. She showed that all types of direct M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 316 statements were used, except at the discourse level. Initially, the students were assumed to ignore the rules of direct statements. However, after the focus group discussion (FGD), it turned out that some students only made mistakes when using direct language. Therefore, it is recommended that students practice more. There are many similarities in terms of the data that will be analyzed by researchers in this study. We will both analyze the deixis used during a certain period. The research gap and novelity are to examine the deixis that will be used in online class interaction through the WhatsApp application. The unit of analysis of this study is the students turn taking during the discussion; the researcher also analyzed the references from each of the data points. The next previous study is Adentunji (2016). This study examines the use of deixis for the personal, spatial, and temporal anchorage of political discourse. Using two thematically and contextually different speeches of Nigeria's president Olusegun Obasanjo as its database, the paper establishes how politicians can associate with and dissociate from actions taken by them or their officers at different times. He concludes by locating some of the antics of political leaders to conscript their subjects into accepting their views on controversial issues or positions. He analyzed two speech texts that were held in his country during the campaign between the two camps that would compete to become president of the country. The similarity with my research is in the analysis technique that uses Levinson's theory (1983), but we also have differences. Namely, in my research, I analyzed 5 deixis. In his research, he only analyzed one deixis, namely personal deixis. CONCLUSION The research's findings made it clearly visible that the English students' sentences displayed several deixis types. Levinson's categories of deixis were used by the researchers to investigate the sentences used by English students in a WhatsApp group discussion. According to Levinson's theory, there are five different categories of deixis texts: personal deixis, temporal deixis, spatial deixis, social deixis, and discoursal deixis. The students used this deixis throughout the discussion of assessment in English language teaching, and they also had context meaning significantly. This study was qualitative research. The findings of this research had been analyzed descriptively. The findings show that from 26 students discussions results, 1.156 deixis were found in the students’ discussions. Then, the deixis was categorized into five categories based on Levinson’s theory. They were personal, temporal, spatial, social, and discoursal deixis. There were 529 personal deixis that equal with 45.76%, 55 temporal deixis that equal with 4.75%, there are 108 in spatial deixis that equal with 9.34%, 329 in social deixis that equal with 28.46%, and 135 in discoursal deixis that equal with 11.67%. As explained before, the most frequent or the highest deixis was found in the students’ discussion is personal deixis. The frequency shows 529 times (45.76%). Personal deixis is the coding of the speaker with regards to the discussion that has been passed on. The main person alludes to the speaker, the second person to the recipient, and the third person is the individual who requests different members in the setting from the discussion. This research still has limitations because the analysis based on Levinson's theory produces data based on variables, behaviors, and phenomena that occur in real time during the research process in qualitative form. Futhermore, the researchers would like to suggest other researcherss to do further research on this topic. Future studies may explore the same topic with different data. Due to this limitation, future researchers who are interested in pragmatics can use other analysis methods to get more accurate results to cover a wider range of pragmatics than this study, especially deixis features. In addition, the researchers hopes that other researcherss will be interested in analyzing pragmatics from other taxonomies to make this research better and more complete. M. Rizki Giffary & Widhiyanto Widhiyanto./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 310-317 317 REFERENCES Al, Rahmi., Othman., & Yusuf. (2015). The effectiveness of using e-learning in malaysian higher education: A case study University Teknologi Malaysia. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 11(5), 2039-2117. Ary, D et al. (2010). Introduction to research in education. Thompson Wadsworth. Boboc RG, Dumitru AI, Antonya C. (2015). 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