Understanding tenor in spoken texts in year XII english textbook to improve the appropriacy of the texts

Abstract

The goal of English Language Teaching is communicative competence. To reach this goal, students should be supplied with good model texts. These texts should consider the appropriacy of language use. By analyzing the context of situation which is focused on tenor, the meanings constructed to build the relationships among the interactants in spoken texts can be interpreted. This study aimed at investigating the interpersonal relations (tenor) of the interactants in the conversation texts as well as the appropriacy of their realization in the given contexts. The study utilized discourse analysis by applying a descriptive qualitative method. Four out of eight texts were selected to analyze based on the variety of the speakers' roles and on the assumption that they potentially showed a high possibility of inappropriacy. Those samples were coded, segmented into single clauses and labelled based on their mood category. Then, the realization of the tenor of the texts was further analyzed in terms of appropriacy to suggest improvement. The results of the study show that the tenor indicates relationships between mother-son, teacher-student, student-student, and friend-friend; the power is equal and unequal; the social distances show frequent contact, relatively frequent contact, relatively low contact, high and low affective involvement, relatively informal, and relatively formal language. There are also some indications of inappropriacy of tenor realization in the four texts. They should be improved in the realization of establishing power, social distance, the use of degree of formality, and affective involvement.