Teacher's Verbal Violence in the Indonesian Language Teaching and Learning Process at SMP Negeri 4 Keerom Regency
Background: Verbal violence by teachers in classroom interactions may affect students’ psychological well-being and learning motivation, particularly in situations characterized by unequal power relations. Objective: This study aims to describe forms of verbal violence committed by an Indonesian language teacher in Class VIII of SMP Negeri 4 Arso, Keerom Regency, and to examine teacher domination through conflictive, competitive, and collaborative speech acts. Methods: This descriptive qualitative single-case study involved one Indonesian language teacher and 83 Class VIII students, consisting of 24 boys and 59 girls. Data were collected through classroom observation, interviews, questionnaires, video recordings, and field notes. The primary data consisted of teacher utterances containing elements of verbal violence and students’ statements related to these experiences. Data were analyzed using the Miles-Huberman interactive model. Results: Thirty verbal utterances were identified. Competitive speech acts were the most frequent, comprising 14 utterances (50%), followed by conflictive speech acts with 13 utterances (43%) and collaborative speech acts with 3 utterances (7%). Teacher domination was manifested through satire, warnings, commands, protests, belittling, mocking, cursing, threatening, demanding, stating, and announcing. Student responses included tolerance, fear, discomfort, and reduced motivation to learn. Conclusion: Teacher verbal violence in this case was predominantly expressed through competitive and conflictive speech acts. The findings emphasize the importance of respectful and child-friendly communication in classroom interactions.
Aleda Mawene, Riana Wibawati, Robert Masreng