i

AN ANALYSIS ON WORD SEARCH IN CONVERSATION

BETWEEN NON-NATIVE SPEAKER AND NATIVE SPEAKER OF
ENGLISH

THESIS

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

By
Apolonia Diana Sherly da Costa
Reg Number : 121 06 052

ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

LANGUAGE AND ART DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE FACULTY
WIDYA MANDIRA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
KUPANG
2010

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AN ANALYSIS ON WORD SEARCH IN CONVERSATION

BETWEEN NON-NATIVE SPEAKER AND NATIVE SPEAKER OF
ENGLISH

Approved by

Advisor I

Advisor II

Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed

Dra. Floribertha Lake, SS.MA

Acknowledged by
Head of English Department Widya Mandira
Catholic University Kupang

Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed

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This Thesis was presented on Saturday 28, 2010
Before the examination board

Team of Examiners
No.

Name

Position

1.

Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed

Chairman

2.

Dra. Floribertha Lake, SS.MA

Secretary

3.

Dr. Drs. Kletus Erom, M.Hum

Examiner I

4.

Drs. Clemenz Ataburan, M.Hum

Examiner II

5.

Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed

Examiner III

Signatures

Acknowledged by

Dean of Faculty of Teacher Training

and Educational Sciences

Head of English Education

Study Program

Drs. Blasius Radja, M.Si

Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, the writer would like to express her deepest gratitude to God for the
love, blessing and guidance in finishing this thesis.
The writer would like also to give her appreciation for the following people who
had helped and supported her during the process of writing this thesis.
1. Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed, the first advisor and Dra. Floribertha Lake, SS.MA the
second advisor for their advice, suggestion and close monitoring of the progress of
her thesis.
2. Dr. Drs. Kletus Erom, M.Hum and Drs. Clemenz Ataburan, M.Hum, the examiners
for their suggestions in improving this thesis.
3. Drs. Blasius Radja, M.Si, Dean of English Education Study Program for his
permission to do the research.
4. Drs. Aleksius Madar, M.Ed, Head of English Education Study Program for the
support and assistance in guiding her during her study in the English Department.
5. All the lecturers in English Department for their assistance, contribution and inputs
during her study in the University. May God bless them.
6. Dra. Meliana Tauk, Administrative staff who helped and supported the writer during
her study in the English Department.
7. The Participants of the study (a married couple); Non-native speaker and Native
speaker of English (Canada); Mr. Yohnson Gibeon Dethan and Mrs. Merlyn Debour
Dethan, with their children; Rebecca, David, Victor and Bertho for their sincerity of
the valuable contribution to become the participants of this study.

v
8. Her best friends; Diana Guteres, Anjelina Dhiki, and all colleagues in the English
Study Program.
9. Her beloved family; her parents, Augusto da Costa, SH and Sophia Lekipera; her
brother and sisters, Tony, Ria, Una and Angel, her beloved cousins, Lily, Lucy,
Lucky, Talia, Kael, Teguh and Bastian and her uncle Hans and the whole delight
families for their sincere contributions, supports and love whether in happiness or
sorrow, the ups and downs of life especially during the preparation and writing of this
thesis has made possible.
This work is presented to you all as her deep affection thank you.
May God bless us always and forever.

Kupang, August 2010

The Writer

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MOTTO AND DEDICATION

MOTTO

Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the

believers, in word, in conversation, in charity,
in spirit, in faith, in purity
(I Timothy 4:12)

DEDICATION
This thesis is especially dedicated to:
My beloved parents; Augusto da Costa, SH and Sophia Lekipera.
My beloved brother and sisters; Tony, Ria, Una and Angel.
My beloved grandfathers and grandmothers.
My Almamater Widya Mandira Catholic University Kupang.

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ABSTRACT
This study is entitled An Analysis on Word Search in Conversation between Nonnative Speaker and Native Speaker of English. The aims of this study are to answer
the following questions: (1). What are the word search strategies used in conversation
between Non-native speaker and Native speaker of English? (2). What are the resources
of word search used in conversation between Non-native speaker and Native speaker of
English? (3). What are the frequencies of word search actions used in conversation
between Non-native speaker and Native speaker of English?. While, the objectives of this
study are as follows: (1). To know and to find out the word searches strategies used in
conversation between Non-native speaker and Native speaker of English. (2). To know
and to find out the resources of word search used in conversation between Non-native
speaker and Native speaker of English. (3). To know and to find out the frequencies of
word search actions used in conversation between Non-native speaker and Native speaker
of English.
The method used in this study was Interpretative Qualitative method. The study was
conducted in East Nusa Tenggara Province at Noelbaki of Kupang Regency. The
participants of the study were a married couple. They are Non-native speaker (i.e.,
husband) and Native speaker (i.e., wife). Non-native speakers first language is Bahasa
Indonesia while Native speakers first language is Canadian English.
The result of the study shows that (1) The word search strategies used in conversation
between Non-native speaker and Native speaker of English were repetition (self initiated
self repair and other initiated repair), similar sounding words, rising intonation, codeswitching and turn-taking. The word search strategies in verbal actions used in
conversation between them were Most people here, The use of modals Have to, The use
of candidate word They dont, How to, To, You, Bird, Afford, WH-Question Whats a
bird, Yes-No Question Is it a bird, They would their children, The main, Lets say,
Payment school, What they have, Curriculum, Classroom, Very, Book, When, Whatever,
The use of candidate word This subject, Dana Bos, Turn non-competitive Incomings
and Turn competitive. While, the word search strategies in non-verbal actions used
between them were Body movements (shaking and moving hands), Noddings, Word
search marker strategy in language assessment hm, Swinging hands, Scratching head,
Clicking sound, Mutual gaze and The use of turn medial Yeah. (2) The resources of
word search in verbal actions used in conversation between Non-native speaker and
Native speaker of English were lack of knowledge, misunderstanding or lack of
information, hesitation of speech productions due to lexical uncertainty, problems in
hearing due to noises, speechless of tongue phenomenon, speaking fluency, confirmation
checks/ensuring the correctness, emphasized comprehension /understanding, showed
comprehension due to participants status/category members and competitive completion.
While, the resources of word search in non-verbal actions used in conversation were nonlexical speech perturbations or backchannels, such as: cut-off, sound stretch and pause or
post. (3) The frequency of word search strategies in verbal actions used in conversation
between Non-native speaker and Native speaker of English is 64. While, the frequency of
word search strategies in non-verbal actions is 19. Thus, the total occurrence of this word
search action in verbal and non-verbal actions is 83. The frequency for resources of word
search in verbal actions used in conversation between Non-native speaker and Native

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speaker of English is 29. While, the frequency for resources of word search in non-verbal
actions is 103. Thus, the total occurrence of this word search action in verbal and nonverbal actions is 132.
Based on the result of this study, the writer would like to give some suggestions for the
following persons. (1) The participants (a married couple), Non-native speaker (NNS)
and Native speaker (NS) of English, especially Non-native speaker in the free
conversation has to be more patient in correcting or completing the Native speakers
offered word search. Thus, there were not competitive performance between Non-native
speaker and Native speaker of English while there were not only good collaboration but
also non-competitive occurred and kept as their good listenership in their spouses
interaction. (2) For Non-native speakers (NNSs) of English have to practice casual
conversation with Native speakers (NSs) or Non-native speakers (NNSs) of English, not
only by constructing verbal communication (actions) but also non-verbal communication
(actions) in their daily activities in order to get more vocabulary stock to develop their
basic conversation therefore they can improve their speaking. Thus, the same way, for
Native speakers (NSs) of English have to practice also casual conversation with their
partners whether NNSs or NSs of English in order to keep on improving their own
language even they lived in another setting. (3) The students of English Department have
to conduct further research about the ordinary or casual conversation in another field or
aspect of conversation analysis.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER .............................................................................................................

APPROVAL SHEET .......................................................................................

ii

TEAM OF EXAMINERS................................................................................

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................

iv

MOTTO AND DEDICATION........................................................................

vi

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................

ix

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... xii

LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................. xiii
CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION................................................................
1.1 Background of the Study .................................................
1.2 Statement of the Problem .................................................
1.3 Objective of the Study .....................................................
1.4 Significance of the Study .................................................
1.5 Scope and Limitation .......................................................
1.6 Definition of Term ...........................................................

1
1
4
5
5
6
6

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ........................

2.1 Conversational Interactions in Second Language
Acquisition (SLA) ............................................................
2.1.1 Comprehensible Input ...................................................
2.1.2 Comprehensible Output ................................................
2.2 Conversation ....................................................................
2.3 Conversation Analysis (CA) ............................................
2.3.1 The Aims of Conversation Analysis ............................
2.3.2 The Aspects of Conversation Analysis ........................
2.3.2.1 Turn taking ...............................................................
2.3.2.2 Repair .......................................................................
2.3.2.3 Word search .............................................................
2.3.2.3.1 The Definition of Word search ..............................
2.3.2.3.2 The Types of Word search strategies
in Conversation ......................................................
2.3.2.3.2.1 Repitition (self intiated repair and

9
9
10
12
12
14
15
15
16
16
17
17
18

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other initiated repair)............................................ 18
2.3.2.3.2.2 Rising Intonation .................................................. 20
2.3.2.3.2.3 Similar Sounding Words ...................................... 20
2.3.2.3.2.4 The Explicit Word search marker or the Formulaic
expression in form of WH-Question .................... 22
2.3.2.3.2.5 The Retrieval at talk in Conversation as
the mutual collaborative partnerships .................. 22
2.3.2.3.2.6 Code Switching .................................................... 23
2.3.2.3.2.7 Turn Taking ......................................................... 24
2.3.2.3.3 Word search and Interactional Techniques ............ 25
2.3.2.3.3.1 Direct Invitation ................................................... 26
2.3.2.3.3.2 Indirect Invitation................................................. 26
2.3.2.3.4 Interactional Resources .......................................... 26
2.3.2.3.5 The Counts of Word search in Conversation ......... 27
2.3.2.3.6 The Types of Non-lexical speech Pertubations ..... 27
2.3.2.3.6.1 Cut-off .................................................................. 27
2.3.2.3.6.2 Sound stretch ........................................................ 27
2.3.2.3.6.3 The turn-medial yeah........................................ 28
2.3.2.3.7 Word search in Second Language
(L2) Learning ......................................................... 28
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ..............................................................
3.1 Research Design...............................................................
3.2 The Participants ...............................................................
3.3 Data Collection ................................................................
3.3.1 Instrument .....................................................................
3.3.2 Data Recording .............................................................
3.4 Data Analysis ...................................................................
3.4.1 Tool of Analysis ............................................................
3.4.2 Coding and Procedures .................................................
3.5 Description .......................................................................

31
31
32
32
33
33
33
33
34
36

CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCCUSION ...........................

4.1 Data Collection ................................................................
4.1.1 The Participants ............................................................
4.1.2 The Topic of Conversation ...........................................
4.1.3 The Length of Conversation .........................................
4.2 Data Analysis ...................................................................
4.2.1 Word search strategies used in Conversation
between Non-native speaker and Native speaker
of English .....................................................................
4.2.1.1 Repitition (self initiated repair and other
initiated repair) .........................................................
4.2.1.2 Rising Intonation ......................................................
4.2.1.3 Similar Sounding Words ..........................................
4.2.1.4 Code-Switching........................................................

37
37
38
40
40
40

41
41
49
51
59

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4.2.1.5 Turn Taking .............................................................
4.2.2 Resources of Word search Strategies used in
Conversation between Non-native speaker
and Native speaker of English ....................................

60

63

4.2.3 The Frequencies of Word Search Actions used in

Conversation between Non-native speaker
and Native speaker of English .....................................
4.2.4 Finding and Classification of Data Analysis ...............

68
73

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ...............................

5.1 Conclusion .......................................................................
5.2 Suggestion ........................................................................

86
86
88

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................

89

APPENDICES ................................................................................................

91

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 :

Table 2 :

Frequency of Occurrence of the Word Search Strategies in

Verbal and Non-verbal Actions ...................................................

69

Frequency of Occurrence of the Resources of Word

Search in Verbal and Non-verbal Actions ...................................

72

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LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

Transcription Conventions ...............................................

92

APPENDIX 2

Conversation Data Transcription .....................................

95

APPENDIX 3

Research Recommendation Letters.................................. 103

APPENDIX 4

Recommendation Letter that have done the

Research ........................................................................... 104