Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 pp. 1-14 P- ISSN: 2614-5960 e-ISSN: 2615-4137 http://jurnal.unswagati.ac.id/index.php/RILL Copyright © 2019 Juvrianto Chrissunday Jakob, Sri Ananda Pertiwi 1 AN ANALYSIS OF INTERRUPTION IN SEMINAR SETTING Juvrianto Chrissunday Jakob Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia Sri Ananda Pertiwi Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia ABSTRACT Interruption is a phenomenon when one person takes the turn while another is already talking. Most of the time, phenomena of interruption has been considered as disrespectful act or kind of rude. Contrast, Interruption could be supportive and cooperative act. This study aimed at describing what type of interruption is and reason of doing interruption made by English lectures and students in proposal seminar. This research used qualitative method which the data of interruption were taken from participants in three different proposal seminar conducted by graduate students of UNM by using recording technique. The results show that types of interruption appeared in seminar are simple interruption, silent interruption, and butting interruption. Otherwise, the reasons of interruption which appears are seeking clarification, correcting, disagreeing, giving clarification, doubting and giving explanation. This is due to the fact that interruptions in this seminar were not violation. Keywords: Interruption Category, Interruption Reason, Proposal Seminar Sari Interupsi adalah fenomena ketika seseorang mengambil giliran sementara lain sudah berbicara. Selama ini, interupsi telah dianggap tidak sopan atau kasar. Sebaliknya, interupsi bisa menjadi acuan yang mendukung dan koperatif. Studi ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan jenis interupsi dan alasan melakukan interupsi dalam kegiatan perkuliahan, khususnya dalam seminar proposal. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif. Data interupsi diambil dari peserta dalam tiga seminar proposal berbeda yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa pascasarjana UNM dengan menggunakan teknik perekaman. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa jenis interupsi muncul dalam seminar ini adalah interupsi sederhana, interupsi tenang dan interupsi tuba-tiba. Dalam hal ini, alasan interupsi yang muncul mencari klarifikasi, mengoreksi, tidak setuju, memberikan klarifikasi, meragukan dan memberikan penjelasan. Hal ini disebabkan oleh kenyataan bahwa interupsi dalam seminar ini bukanlah pelanggaran. Kata kunci: Kategori Interupsi, Alasan Interupsi, Seminar Proposal Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 2 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 Received 25 April 2018 last revision 28 April 2018 published 24 January 2019 Introduction Communication is human interaction verbally to share feelings, thought or event to subject ideas. I become fully aware that communication has probability to lose the others face or create barriers in seeking understanding. Communication is closed to academic setting, we have seminar to be concerned to. Seminar is a group of advanced students studying under a professor with each doing original research and all exchanging results through reports. (Merriem Webster Dictionary). Some issues will be appeared in term of losing the others face and having barriers in conversation processes, such as questions and answers, agreement and disagreement and interruption. Interruption is an interesting issue to study. Tannen (1994) defines interruption as when a second speaker takes the other’s right to speak by taking the floor forbid them accomplishing their words. The study of interruption has been conducted by many scholars in many areas of communication. There are some related researches have been done previously. Siswi (2014) have conducted a research about the analysis of interruptions in the Interview session in “Larry King Now” Talk Show. She provides data that functions of the interruptions appeared in Larry King talk show are supportive, neutral, and disruptive. The reasons of the interruption are correctness, agreement or disagreement, clarification, and altering the topics. Yueyuan (2010) have done a research about “A Comparison between The Verbal Interruptions by Speakers of English as A Lingua Franca (ELF) And Speakers of English as A Native Language (ENL)”. He discovered that interruptions are frequently cooperative to pursue the previous speaker’s topic. On the other hand, the idea of interruptions as cooperation is very different from the common perception of interruption, that interruptions are disruptive and lead to make barriers in communication. Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 3 Hartono and Gunawan (2013) conducting a research about “Interruptions and Overlaps Occurring in An Indonesian Television Talk Show Indonesia Lawyers Club”. They found that interruptions occurred more than overlaps. The common reason was seeking of clarification, and the other reason was confirming, completing, breaking up, and showing agreement. Based on previous description, some scholars have conducted research relate to interruption in many different setting. Those are talk show, interview program and in ordinary conversation. Thus, the author moves to investigate the production of interruption in academic setting. Specifically, the interruption phenomena are produced by lectures and students in proposal seminar. This study will be focused on what types and reasons of doing interruption in seminar setting. Research Methodology This mini research deals with types and reasons ointerruption used by lecturers and students during research proposal seminar in English Graduate Program of UNM in 2015-2016. Therefore, This study employs descriptive qualitative methods with the presence of a data for describing the occurrences of the intended features. The data were taken from the conversations among participants (lecturers and students) in three different research proposal seminar on 4 th May 2016. Duration of each seminar is about 50 minutes. The data had been collected through these steps: first, I recorded the whole process of research proposal seminar from opening statement to the closing. Then, it is formed into transcription. Last, the transcription had been analyzed further based on Ferguson interruption category and Wardhaugh reasons in interruption. Findings and Discussion This part presents the findings of the research and the discussion of the research findings. The findings of the research cover the category and reason of interruption in proposal seminar of graduate students at UNM. Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 4 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 A. Findings The following part presents the types and reasons of interruption used by lecturers and students during the research proposal seminar conducted by English graduate program in State University of Makassar. To find the exact data the writer divided the analysis into two part types of interruption and reasons of interruption during seminar process. In having conversation, people may convey different categories of interruption and reasons. 1. Types and Reasons of Interruption in the Seminar a. Simple Interruption Simple interruption is exchange of turns, simultaneous speech occurs and the utterance of the first speaker is incomplete. Extract 1: Student and Student This conversation was taken in the thirds research proposal seminar. An audience in the seminar (Ad1) was questioning a case and trying to make the question clear to the examinee. Three times of interruption were appeared. (5)Ad1: saya pak. Duduk maki dulu. (Me sir, seat down first (Ad1 is asking the examinee to seat)) Thank you very much aaa my name is Ad1 aaa my question is the first, how many English teacher include in your research.… (6)Pr : that will be my participant? (7)Ad 1:ya, that will be participate. I don’t know exactly SMA Athira Antang aaa maybe there is available how to say CCTV aaa maybe u can find is a normally because if you take a record maybe the English teacher the students will be how to say setting is not normally. (8)Pr: natural. (9)Ad1: aaa natural sorry, not natural aaa just, this is my question. just only about that. No, no (10)Pr: question and suggestion? question and suggestion, thank you. In the extract 1 above, in turn (5) an audience (Ad1) asked the examinee by saying “………my name is Ad1 aaa my question is the first, how many English teacher include in your research. …..”. At that time, Ad1 was talking, then the examinee took the turn in turn (6) by saying “that will be my participant?”. The examinee was confirming the question to the questioner. Then, the turn was back to Ad1 in turn (7), “……if you take a record maybe the English teacher the students will be how to say setting is not normally.” The examinee (Pr) took the turn in the second time while Ad1 still in her words in turn (8) by saying “natural”. The examinee was trying to give a simple word Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 5 for Ad1’s statement. Next, Ad1 responses examinee in turn (9) “aaa natural sorry, not natural aaa just, this is my question. just only about that. No, no”. the examinee took the turn again for the third time when the questioner in turn (10) stating in doubt by saying “question and suggestion? question and suggestion, thank you.”. Examinee helped the questioner clearing intended statement. Overall, there are three times of interruption during the present expressions above. a.1 Seeking Clarification One of the functions of interruption was seeking clarification. This reason was appeared in seminar which produced by examinee (student). Sometimes the speaker cannot deliver an obvious explanation about what he or she was trying to communicate or explain. The examinee (Pr) considered that it was what the questioner intended to say in turn (6, 8 and 10). So, the other speaker interrupted the speaker in order to seek clarification from the questioner. Another example can be seen in the following extract. Extract 2: Lecturer and Student The Examinee (Pr) was trying to answer a question from an audience in the seminar and an interruption appeared, as follow: (16) Pr: …I think after The analysis of the first teacher. I think this is not enough for my data and then I look another teacher… (17) P2: saturated, saturated data. (18) Pr: ya’, and then aaa video (19) Ad1: iya, video. In extract 2 above, turn (16) the examinee (Pr) answered the question in term of participants involved in her study by saying “…I think after The analysis of the first teacher. I think this is not enough for my data and then I look another teacher …”, while explaining a supervisor (P2) interrupted in turn (17) by saying “saturated, saturated data.” P2 said a proper term for the explanation. Then, Pr was trying to answer the second question related to the use of video in her study in turn (18) by saying “ya’, and then aaa video”, Ad1 confirmed by saying “iya, video.” in turn (19). Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 6 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 a.2 Correcting In this part, interruption occurred for correcting the speaker in term of proper term related to what the examinee uttered in turn (17). This happened because the second speaker felt that the previous speaker gave incorrect term. Extract 3: Lecturer and Student Examinee (Pr) was trying to support her argument to an examiner (E1) which expressed as follow: (36)Pr: …if the teacher do not English use as much as possible in the classroom I will ask them why you don’t dominantly use the target language in the class … (37)E1: but you need some other question if you come to that. In extract 3 above, the examinee (Pr) supported her argument related to the research questions that she used in turn (36) by saying “...if the teacher do not English use as much as possible in the classroom I will ask them why you don’t dominantly use the target language in the class …” Pr did not finish her explanation yet, the examiner took the turn in turn (37) by saying “but you need some other question if you come to that.”, Examiner (E1) disagreed about the statement by delivering other view. a. 3 Disagreeing In this occasion, interruption occurred to convey disagreement. The examiner considered that the examinee needed to provide something if she wanted to research about that case in turn (37). Sometimes the speakers interrupted in a conversation because they stand in opposite position. Those kinds of interruption are categorized as simple interruption according to Ferguson (1997) cited by (Beattie 1981) and the reasons of the interruption are to clarify, correct and convey disagreement. b. Silent Interruption Silent interruption is an interruption without overlapping. It is almost the same as a simple interruption except for the occurrence of simultaneous talk. Extract 4: Lecturer and Lecturer The second Examiner (E2) was suggesting the examinee which expressed as follows: Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 7 (58) E2: okay, Pr. Ok yang realistis kalau meneliti. yah you can use interview and also research in order to cover for all teachers. Nanti anda bunuh diri ndak selesai-selesai kalau observasi satu-satu dari satu sekolah ke sekolah lain. Ya’, satu ok.aaa (be realistic in conducting a research, yah you can use interview and also research in order to cover for all teachers. you will kill yourself, doing everlasting research, observing one by one, one school to another school Yeah, one of schools ok aaa) (59) P2: ndak di sekolah anuji, disekolah Athira. (no, it is only in one school, Athira school) (60) E1: biar di Athira tidak bisa juga banyak diteliti disekolah. (event, in Athira you cannot observe many teachers) (61) E2: berapa guru di Athira?(how many teacher in Athira school?) In extract 4, turn (58) the second examiner was suggesting the examinee about how to conduct good research by saying “…Nanti anda bunuh diri ndak selesai-selesai kalau observasi satu-satu dari satu sekolah ke sekolah lain…(you will kill yourself, doing everlasting research, observing one by one, one school to another school )”, while E2 was unfinished his explanation yet, the supervisor (P2) interrupted in turn (59) by saying “ndak di sekolah anuji, disekolah Athira.(no, it is only in a school, Athira school)”. E2 confirmed P2 about previous explanation from the examinee (Pr). Then, the first examiner took over the turn in turn (60) by saying “biar di Athira tidak bisa juga banyak diteliti disekolah. (event, in Athira you cannot observe many teachers)”, E2 conveyed his disagreement relate to that statement. After that it turned back to E2 “berapa guru di Athira?(how many teacher in Athira?)”. b.1 Giving Clarification The interruption occurred for giving a clarification. This happened because the second speaker felt that the previous speaker gave incorrect assumption related to the case above. So, second speaker clarified it in turn (59). b.2 Disagreeing In this occasion, interruption occurred to convey disagreement. When the second supervisor tried to clarify that examinee will observe one school only as the second examiner expressed in turn (59), but the first examiner (E1) interrupted in turn (60), he considered that the examinee could not observe many teachers even in one school. Sometimes the speakers interrupted in a conversation because they stand in opposite position. Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 8 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 Extract 5: Lecturer and Lecturer The supervisor (P2) was suggesting the examinee which expressed as follows: (76) P2: …kalau dia membuka itu, oh ini bagaimana caranya, dalam proses pembukaan saja, dia sudah lucu-lucu dalam bahasa inggrisnya untuk merangsang itu siswa… (if the teacher opened the class, oh this the way she is, in the opening, the teacher may use humor in English language to engage students) (77) E1: dia bilang itu how are you today, iya itu, selalu itu, good morning, how are today. (one will say, how are you today, as always, good morning, how are you today) (78) P2: Mungkin ada cara lain. (probably, there will be another way) (79) E1: Jadi biasa variasinya itu saja. (There will not be another way) In extract 5, in turn (76) the supervisor (P2) were suggesting the examinee what to do while observing the teacher in teaching by saying “…kalau dia membuka itu, oh ini bagaimana caranya, dalam proses pembukaan saja, dia sudah lucu-lucu dalam bahasa inggrisnya untuk merangsang itu siswa... (if the teacher opened the class, oh this the way she is, in the opening, the teacher may use humor in English language to engage students). Then, the first examiner interrupted in turn (77) by saying “dia bilang itu how are you today, iya itu, selalu itu, good morning, how are today (one will say, how are you today, as always, good morning, how are you today).” It appeared the examiner considered that the teacher would be monotonous. Next, P2 took the turn in turn (78) by saying “Mungkin ada cara lain. (probably, there will be another way). P2 emphasized on probability that the variation will appear in teacher ways of teaching. But, E1 were doubtful about that by saying in turn (79) “Jadi biasa variasinya itu saja. (there will not be another way)”. b.3 Doubting In this occasion, interruption occurred in case of conveying doubtful. The examiner conveyed in turn (77/79) the probability what will happen if the researcher conduct that research. It will be predictable that the teacher will be monotonous. The speakers interrupted in a conversation because they felt doubt about what another speaker say. Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 9 Those kinds of interruption are categorized as silent interruption. Silent interruption is an interruption without overlapping and almost as same as simple interruption but in this case there is no simultaneous speech, (Ferguson, 1977) cited by (Beattie 1981) and the function of those interruption are to clarify and convey a doubt. c. Butting Interruption Butting interruption is an unsuccessful attempted interruption, the interrupter stops before gaining control of the floor. Extract 6: Lecturer and Student The examiner (H) was asking some questions to the examinee which expressed as follows: (187) H : itu tadi teorinya, gitu ya? teori turn taking? itu teori anda dapat dari mana? hasil pemikiran orang atau hasil penelitian? (that was what the theory called yeah, theory about turn taking, where did you get the theory, was that a kind of opinion or result of a research) (188) NF : hasil penelitin, sir. (from a research, sir) (189) H : hasil penelitian? (research?) (190) NF : yes, sir. From the (191) H : if you bla bla bla.. if you bla bla bla. Itu saran begitu ya? (if you bla bla bla.. if you bla bla bla. is it a suggestion yah?) In extract 6, in turn (187) an examiner (H) was asking some questions about the taken theory of examinee’s (NF) proposal by saying “…Hasil pemikiran orang atau hasil penelitian?(were that a kind of opinion or result of a research)” , H seemed unsure about a case, then the examinee responded by saying “hasil penelitian, sir. (derive from a research, sir)”. Next, H seemed still unsure by saying “hasil penelitian?(research?)”. Then, the examinee was trying to explain by saying “yes, sir. From the”. NF just in the beginning to explain, but the examiner took the turn by saying “if you bla bla bla.. if you bla bla bla. Itu saran begitu ya?( (if you bla bla bla.. if you bla bla bla. is it a suggestion yah?) Extract 7: Lecturer and Student The examiner (E1) was questioning cases to the examinee which expressed as follows: Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 10 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 (33) E1: but why, here! You have aaa difficulties and strategy, strategy when. what you are trying to study because the question is only when and what ways. (34) Pr: for the (35) E1: and then you come to teacher difficulties. How come? In extract 7, in turn (33) E1 was questioning how come kinds variable appear in examining the research meanwhile the research question does not involve that. E1 expressed it by saying “but why, here! You have aaa difficulties and strategy, strategy when. What you are trying to study because the question is only when and what ways.” Pr was trying to take the floor in turn (34) by saying “For the” But, the turn is taken by E1 in turn (35) by saying “and then you come to teacher difficulties. How come?” c.1 Giving Explanation In extract 6 above, interruption occurred in case of conveying explanation. The examinee wanted to explain a case as expressed in turn (190) but the examiner (H) stopped her. It is also happen in extract 7, the examinee wanted to explain a case as expressed in turn (34) but the examiner (E1) stopped her gaining the floor. The interruption occurred because someone wants to give an explanation to the speaker but the speaker stops her/him gaining the floor. Those kinds of interruption are categorized as butting interruption. The reasons of students doing interruption (extract 6 and 7) are to convey an explanation to the examiner, but both were unsuccessful gaining the floor. Butting interruption is an unsuccessful attempted interruption, the interrupter stops before gaining control of the floor. (Ferguson, 1977) cited by (Beattie 1981). This kind of interruption is functioned as explaining. B. Discussion In this research, as the object of the study were to categorize and find the reasons of interruption in proposal seminar of graduate students of UNM. The conversation during three different seminars, I discovered that the conversation was comprised by turn- taking irregularities of interruption because there was a tendency for the examinee and the supervisor to rely on their argument, to clarify and to maintain their point in the conversation. Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 11 In this mini research, I found that there were three types of interruption were produced by the examiner, examinee and supervisor. Those are simple interruption, silent interruption and butting interruption. Number of interruption in term simple interruptions is appeared. The interrupters are the examinee (student) and supervisor (lecturer) and examiner (lecturer), it occurs 3 times. The reason are seeking clarification, correcting and disagreeing. The number of silent interruption is also appeared. The interrupters are the supervisor (lecturer) and examiner (lecturer), it occurs 3 times. Giving clarification, disagreeing and doubting are the reason of doing interruption. The silent interruption was dominated by the examiner. Last, butting interruption appeared twice. It was dominated by the examiner while talking to the examinee and the interrupter’s reason is to explain. In sum, the reasons of interruption existing in the proposal seminar were seeking clarification or giving clarification, correcting, disagreeing, doubting and giving explanation. The data will be displayed as follows: Table. 1 Types and Reasons of Interruption No Types Example Reasons Interrupter Ext. 1. Simple interruption - that will be my participant? -natural. - question and suggestion?... Seeking clarification Examinee 1 - saturated, saturated data. Correcting Supervisor 2 - but you need some other question if you come to that. Disagreeing Examiner 3 2. Silent Interruption -ndak di sekolah anuji, disekolah Athira. (no, it is only in one school, Athira school) Giving Clarification Supervisor 4 - biar di Athira tidak bisa juga banyak diteliti disekolah. (event, in Athira you cannot observe many teachers) Disagreeing Examiner 4 -dia bilang itu how are you today, iya itu, selalu itu, good morning, how are today. (one will say, how are you today, as always, good morning, how are you today) -Jadi biasa variasinya itu saja. (There will not be another way) Doubting Examiner 5 3. Butting Interruption -yes, sir. From the Explaining Examinee 6 - for the Explaining Examinee 7 Conclusion Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 12 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 In this mini research, the writer has analyzed interruption in terms of categories and reasons of speaker (interuptee). Interruption happens when the second speaker cuts another turn while speaking. The writer found some part of conversation comprises of interruption. It was between participants in three different proposal seminars (examinee, examiner, supervisor and audience). In findings, the writer found that three types of interruption appeared in seminar. Those are simple interruption, silent interruption, and butting interruption. Otherwise, the reasons of interruption which appears in seminar are seeking clarification, correcting, disagreeing, giving clarification, doubting and giving explanation. From all of this reason the writer conclude that interruptions in this seminar were not violation. References Beattie, G.W.1981. Turn-taking and Interruption in Political interviews: Margaret Thatcher and Jim Callaghan Compared and Contrasted. Monton Publisher. Amsterdam. Hartono, Y., Gunawan, S. 2013. Interruptions And Overlaps Occuring In An Indonesian Television Talk Show Indonesia Lawyers Club – Tv One.A Thesis. English Department, Faculty Of Letter, Petra Christian University, Siwalankerto 121-131, Surabaya 60236, East Java, Indonesia. Siswi, Utari Try. 2014.Interruptions In The Interview Between Larry King And The Stars Of The Walking Dead Tv Series On Larry King Now Talk Show: A Conversation Analysis.A Thesis. Bina Nusantara University: Jakarta Tannen, D. (1994). Gender and Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yueyuan, Li.2010.A Comparison Between The Verbal Interruptions By Speakers Of English As A Lingua Franca (Elf) And Speakers Of English As A Native Language (Enl).Mastter Degree Thesis. Lingnan University Coon, C. A. Biography Juvrianto Chrissunday Jakob is a fresh graduate student from the department of English Education, Universitas Negeri Makasar. His research interest is including language learning and teaching and also pragmatics. He can be contacted at juvrianto.chrissunday@yahoo.com mailto:juvrianto.chrissunday@yahoo.com Research and Innovation in Language Learning Vol. 2(1) January 2019 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137 13 Sri Ananda Pertiwi is a fresh graduate student from the department of English Education, Universitas Negeri Makasar. Her research interest is about language learning and teaching. She can be reached sriananda_mei@yahoo.co.id Jacob, J.C., & Pertiwi, S.A. 14 p-ISSN 2614-5960, e-ISSN 2615-4137