Meaning Negotiation, Tenor, and Generic Structure in English Department Virtual Proposal Seminar Interaction (EDVPSI)

Abstract

This study attempts to discover the meaning negotiation, tenor realization, generic structure, and to elucidate those realizations in English Department virtual proposal seminar interaction (EDVPSI). The research design applied in this study was qualitative content analysis. The location of the research was in English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara and Platform Zoom Meeting since the proposal seminar. The time of the research was from June-July 2022. The source of data was taken from five sessions of EDVPSI at Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The data to answer research question one and two was in the form of utterances (including word, phrase, and clause) uttered by examiner and examinee. Meanwhile, for research question three, the whole interaction of EDVPSI. From the analysis, it was found that meaning negotiation is realized by speech function (Statement-Acknowledge Statement, Question – Response Statement to Question, Command – Response Offer to Command, Offer-Acknowledge Offer), Mood (Declarative, Imperative, and Interrogative) that is in congruent and metaphorical realization, and move (K1, kl ^ k2f, k2 ^ kl, kl ^ k2f ^ k1f, k2 ^ k1 ^ k2f, dk1 ^ k2 ^ k1, k2 ^ k1 ^ k2f ^ k1f, a1, a1 ^ a2f, a2 ^ a1, a1^a2f^a1f, and a2^a1^a2f^a1f) along with its dynamic of move including confirmation (cf) – response to confirmation (rcf), challenge (ch) – response to challenge (rch), and clarification (cl) – response to clarification (rcl). Tenor configuration in EDVSI was realized in seven patterns. Then, the patterns of generic structure include some stages such as opening ^ proposal content delivery ^ question and answer session ^ result announcement ^ closing statement. Genre complexity is also found in the data including the variation in opening (descriptive), proposal content delivery (descriptive, explanation, exposition), question and answer session (descriptive, explanation, discussion, exposition), and result announcement (announcement). The reasons why there is variation in meaning negotiation is due to tenor realization. The move variations appeared in the data are affected by speech function and mood realization along with the sequence (stage) of the examination. Tenor realization is various in the data because of the different status of the participants in the interactions. The generic structure appears as it is due to some reasons including the compulsory things and the genre complexity was also affected based on the diversity of knowledge possessed by the presenters (students).