The Implementation of Types of Seating Arrangement to Enhance Students’ Participation in English Class

Abstract

Classroom management refers to the process where a teacher organizes and controls student movement, behavior and interaction pattern during a lesson so that teaching and learning process can run well and the students can understand what the teacher transmits. The objectives of the study are: 1. To describe classroom activities to enhance the students’ participation 2. To describe types of seating arrangement that are implemented in the classroom and its effect on students 3. To describe students’ responses toward the teacher’s classroom management in enhancing their participation The research is descriptive qualitative. This study was conducted in SMPN 1 Tuban. The subjects of the study were the English teacher and the students in English class at 7-A grade first semester academic year 2017/2018. The data were obtained from field note, observation, and interview. Based on the analysis, the researchers found that the English teacher had applied four instructional strategies and seven classroom activities on three types of seating arrangements to enhance the students’ participation in English class. Whole-class strategies: lecture, working as individual: individual task were applied on traditional seating arrangement. Small-group strategies: project groupings, discussion, presentation, working in pairs: student partnerships were conducted on modular seating arrangement. And working as individual: retelling written information was applied on horseshoe arrangement. The students felt comfortable with the change of classroom activities and seating arrangements and they became more active to participate. From the findings above, it could be concluded that the teacher could enhance the students’ participation in English class by implementing various classroom activities on various types of seating arrangement.