Leily Widyaningrum, 0203518076 (2020) THE RELATION BETWEEN COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES, LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY, AND GENDER DIFFERENCES AMONG THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS OF IAIN KUDUS. Masters thesis, UNNES.

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Abstract

In foreign language classes, frequently students want to express their ideas to the listener, but they realize that their linguistic or semantic structure is not available, then they give pause before continuing their utterances. It means that they used communication strategies to close the gap between linguistic competence and communicative competence. Furthermore, many aspects related to the students’ communication strategies, one of that is language proficiency and gender differences. This qualitative case study is set to investigate: (1) the use of communication strategies of students; (2) the language proficiency level of students; (3) the gender differences of students; (4) the influence of communication strategies to the language proficiency; (5) the influence of gender differences to the communication strategies, and; (6) the influence of gender differences to the language proficiency. There are twelve students with high and low proficiency levels as the subject of this research which is taken purposively. They are the second-semester students of the English Education Department at IAIN Kudus in the academic year of 2019/2020. In this study, the researcher used multiple data sources, namely observation, interview, and documentation. It is intended to address the research questions. The results revealed that (1) The students used stalling or time-gaining type and sub�types, namely fillers and self-repetition in which the most popular form of filler was “ehh, eee, and ehmm”; (2) High proficient students were rarely to produce the error of words. While low proficient students often ordered non-verbal language. It means that high proficient students more utilize to make their utterances are understandable; (3) Female students usually speak in detail and choose to discuss their privacy, but male students prefer to share their hobby and direct to the point in communication; (4) Communication strategies influenced the language proficiency. It because high proficient students are able to share their ideas and opinions freely than low proficient students who regularly produce errors of grammar; (5) Gender differences are influenced the communication strategies. Which female students used all the sub-types of stalling or time-gaining strategies, but male students only used filler strategies. It was caused female students liked to repeat their utterances because of their sensitivity in seeing their interlocutor’s understanding; (6) Gender differences are influenced language proficiency. It can be seen from the high proficient male students who always speak loudly and confidently, but high proficient male students who always speak softly. While low proficient male students always confident than low proficient female students who not confident to speak up even though they are equally incapable in English. Based on those results, this research provides valuable contribution in introducing communication strategies, language proficiency, and gender differences. Besides, this study also raising students’ awareness to actually use English in real-life communication.

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