The Sociolinguistic Context in the Text Materials of English Text Books

Abstract

The student's experience in the practice of the use of English in daily communication must be supported by a sociolinguistic context. Sociolinguistic context is the rule concerning whether something is say able in a given context. In short, understanding the sociolinguistic aspect is very important to be aware of the norm, variability, and appropriacy in communication. This research is conducted for the following objectives (1) to identify the sociolinguistic context that is included in interpersonal and transactional communication, (2) to analyze the sociolinguistic contexts in the conversations (setting, participant, channel, and topic). This research use evaluation research. The research object is an English textbook for Junior High School. The conversations in the textbook cover both interpersonal and transactional communication. In this case, a basic kind of oral communication can use to practice in real conversations. In daily life, interpersonal and transactional communication reveals the learner to the basic communication. Interpersonal communication is interactional speech. It contains greetings, compliments, telling jokes, and natural conversation. The setting is only dominated by one set. The role relationship is only represented by that between friends, teacher-student, and a few children-parents.It is shown that 80% of conversations in the textbook are dominated by a classroom setting while the other 20% are not even exposed to clear settings As a result, it cannot support real-life communication for the students. Textbooks should be designed in the sociolinguistic context.