INVESTIGATING PRAGMATICS OF APOLOGY STRATEGY: A CASE STUDY OF THE SIXTH SEMESTER ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS AT INSTITUT

ABSTRAK Penelitian deskriptif ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk mengetahui macam-macam strategi permintaan maaf yang digunakan oleh Mahasiswa Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris di IPTS Padangsidimpuan dan alasan penggunaannya. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian studi kasus tunggal yaitu penelitian kualitatif deskriptif yang artinya penelitian kualitatif menggambarkan kualitas. Data diambil dari DCT (Discourse Completion Test) dan wawancara. Tes tersebut mencakup situasi tentang pelanggaran dalam kehidupan seharihari. Partisipan penelitian adalah Mahasiswa Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris semester enam di IPTS (Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan) yang telah lulus mata kuliah Pragmatik. Mereka terdiri dari 2 kelas; A dan B, dan dengan menggunakan teknik purposive sampling, dipilih 10 siswa menjadi partisipan. Dari hasil analisis data, sebanyak 10 situasi yang diberikan kepada peserta, diketahui ada 5 strategi yang digunakan oleh siswa yaitu; Janji kesabaran, permintaan maaf tidak langsung / pengakuan tanggung jawab, tawaran perbaikan, penjelasan atau penjelasan dan permintaan maaf / ungkapan permintaan maaf secara langsung dengan berbagai sub kategori. dan untuk alasan satu sama lain. Dari strategi yang digunakan oleh siswa, strategi yang paling sering digunakan adalah permintaan maaf tidak langsung / pengakuan tanggung jawab sebanyak empat kali dalam situasi 2, 4, 5, dan 6.


INTRODUCTION
In 1970s, the term pragmatics developed as a subfield of linguistics. It concerns the speaker`s intended meaning ant the listener's interpretation of that meaning. Pragmatics is the study of communicative action in its sociocultural context (Kasper, 2001, p. 2-3). Pragmatics consists of two main components, namely pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics. Pragmalinguistics is concerned with the appropriateness of form, and the sociopragmatics is concerned with the appropriateness of meaning in social context (Leech, 1983, p.10). Pragmatics competence refers to the knowledge of the speaker's language and the use of appropriateness and politeness rules, by which speaker formulates and understands speech acts.
Speech acts such as apologies, complaints, compliments, rejections, requests, and suggestions are considered as one of key interest areas for linguistics pragmatics. In linguistics, understanding how listeners interpret speakers is pragmatic study. According to Yule (1996, p.3) pragmatics "relates to the study of meaning as communicated by the speaker (or writer) and interpreted by the listener (or a reader)". Meanwhile, Leech (1975, p.6). It believes that pragmatism is "the goal of linguistics, as the study of meaning in relation to the situation of speech". Mey (1993, p.6) also defines pragmatic study as "the use of language in human communication, as determined by society". Therefore, pragmatics is understanding the meaning of human communication between the listener (reader) and the speaker (writer). Everyone does various activities every day. One of them is communicating. They communicate to build good relationships with others. Vallence and McWilliam (in Dimmick, 1995, p.21) state that communication is the basis of all interpersonal relationships: through communication we reach some understanding of each other, learn to like, influence and trust one another, start and end relationships, and learn about ourselves and how others see us. Communicating means expressing certain behaviors, and the type of speech act performed in accordance with the type of behavior expressed. For example, apologies express regret. Apology is very important because it can guide us to understand the daily communication of individuals (Alfattah, 2010). Apologizing requires action to regulate matters between the apologizer and the recipient of the apology and understand the apologizers' reactions. Facial reactions are also important in apologizing for showing support or being threatened. This can be a fact that motivates someone to submit an apology. Speaker needs, power relations, and social distance are related to the use of apologies (Wouk, 2006).
An in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of apology is needed because anyone can make mistakes in communication. Such mistakes can damage the relationship between the speaker and the listener. To maintain a harmonious relationship, making mistakes must be followed by making an apology. Olshtain and Cohen (in Wolfson & Judd, 1983, p.20) explain that the act of apology occurs when the behavior has violated social norms and that it requires actions or remarks intended to "regulate rights". Leech, furthermore, defines that the social purpose of apologizing is to restore the balance between speaker and listener (1983, p.125).
The way people apologize to others is unique and each person has a different way of making an apology. In apologizing, one must use several strategies to make an effective apology. Apology strategies that usually occur in real-life conversation also exist in various forms of communication. Through communication humans can meet the needs they need as social creatures. According to Brown and Levinson, apology is a politeness strategy. Apology is an important and essential social action. This is in the interest of relationships between participants. To apologize means to ask politely, both in the local language and in a more technical sense by paying attention to the needs of the intended face.
Apology is a fundamental act of speech that is part of human communication that occurs in every culture for good relations between the interlocutors (Brown and Levinson, 1987: Olshtain, & Cohen, 1983. In short, a compilation of apologies, there are four promises that must be made. First, the speaker believes that the action has been taken. Second, the speaker believes that the action offends the listener to a certain extent. Third, the speaker believes that he has responsibility in actions that offend the listener. The last is the speaker's regret to some degree. There are a lot of English students who do not study English in broad sense. In communicating using the target language, they only focus on grammatical competence, on how to be able to communicate in English grammatically without considering any other aspects such as situation and context, and social and culture background. In this case, the communication in grammatically correct is not enough, but also should be appropriate and natural according to situation, context, and socio culture. By discussing apology speech act realization in interlanguage pragmatics, it is able to facilitate the students to learn cross cultural understanding and cultural norms in English context, such as how English native speakers perform apology in various context and situation, so it can help them to be able to communicate in English appropriately and naturally.
A large number of such situations can occur in society in connection with other speech acts such as apologies. However, in the context of learning English language education students in the sixth semester at Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan, the main focus is learning about language rather than learning how to use language. Thus, teaching grammar in language classes, language learners must be very [43] aware of how to use language in different contexts and situations. On the other hand, using speech acts occurs in the community.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study uses qualitative approach which discusses some facts that help and explain social phenomena that are carried out without consulting. "According to Creswell in his book Educational Research qualitative research type of research in which researchers depend heavily on information from the object / participant in: a broad discussion space, questions that support the general, collect data which consists mainly of words / texts from participants, explain and analyzing words and doing research subjectively". (Creswell, 2008, p.46). The strategy to be applied in this research is a case study that according to Creswell (2010, p.20) is a research strategy that involves research, events, activities, processes, or a collection of individuals. Cases are agreed upon by time and activity, and the researcher collects complete information using various data collection procedures based on a predetermined time. Creswell further revealed several characteristics of a case study, namely:  Identify "cases" for a study.  This case is a "system that is needed" by time and place.  Case studies use various sources of information in gathering data to provide a complete and in-depth overview of responses from an event.  By using case studies, researchers will "spend time" in considering the context or setting for a case. Based on the discussion above, it can be reported that the case study is an exploration of "a system that discusses" or "a case / various cases" which from time to time through data collection that contains various sources of "rich" information in various relationships. The system here is based on time and place that can be reviewed from programs, events, activities or individuals. In other words, case studies are research that finds certain phenomena (cases) in a certain time and activities (programs, even, processes, associations or social groups, as well as collecting complete and in-depth information using various data collection procedures over a certain period.

Research Site
The location of the research at Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan toward the sixth semester of English Education Students. The school located on Sutan Muhammad Arif street Kel. Batang Ayumi Jae 22711 Padangsidimpuan. The reason researcher chose this location is because it is closer to where she lives, is easily accessible and economical. In addition, because students at Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan are students who have learned in terms of absorption and mastery of the material. This reason is a consideration so that research can be generalized for students concerned in general, namely students of English education, so for ease in conducting research the Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan was chosen as a place of research.

Participants
Participants are subjects who are involved in the mental and physical activities of the participants who respond to activities carried out in the teaching-learning process and support the achievement of objectives and are responsible for their findings. Participants who concluded in this study amounted to 10 participants consisting of three English language education classes at Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan Padangsidimpuan.

Data Collection Techniques
Data collection methods are methods that can be used by researchers to collect data. The technique of pointing to words is abstract and is not manifested in objects, but can only be seen through: observation, examination. Researchers can use one or a combination of techniques depending on the problem taken or accepted. The activity of collecting data in principle is an activity using predetermined methods and instruments. Data collection is determined as a process or activity carried out by researchers to uncover or collect various phenomena, information or research locations in accordance with research.
In practice, data collection is done through quantitative and qualitative research. In qualitative research methods, data is usually collected with several qualitative data collection techniques, namely; a). interview, b). observation, c). documentation, and d). focused discussion (Focus Group Discussion). In this study, data collection techniques used by researchers are DCT and interviews.

Data Analysis Technique
Data analysis is the process of systematically searching and compiling data obtained from interviews, observations, and documentation, by organizing data into categories, describing into units, synthesizing, organizing into patterns, choosing which ones are important and which will be learn, and make conclusions so that they are easily understood by themselves and others. Data analysis in qualitative research was carried out since before entering the field, also in the field and after completion in the field. An interactive model in data analysis is shown in the picture below: Figure 1. Components in data analysis (interactive model)

RESULT
There are eight apology distribution strategies with each sub and the researcher will find out what strategies English students will use to respond to the situation in question. It is known that many of the strategies in their apologies, such as expressions of regret, apologies, explanations, offer improvements, and other strategies. [45]

Apology Strategy Used by English Education Students at IPTS
It is found that the respondents use many strategies in their apology, such as an expression of regret, a request for forgiveness, explanation, offering repair, and other strategies. Below is the table displaying apology strategies used by the respondents in all situations as an answer to the first research question.

The An Apology Strategy Used by Participants in All Situations
Situation Response From table above shows the apology strategy used by English language students in ten situations presented through Discourse Completion Test as research instruments. The table above shows all the apology strategies that students use in all situations. The results reveal that Promise of forbearance, Indirect apology/ Acknowledgement of responsibility (Expression of lack of intent), Offer of repair (repair), Indirect apology/ Acknowledgement of responsibility (Explicit acceptance of the blame), Indirect apology/ Acknowledgement of responsibility (Expression of lack of intent), Indirect apology/ Acknowledgement of responsibility (Expression of lack of intent), Explanation or account (Explicit explanation), Direct apology/ Expression of apology (Expression of regret), Explanation or account (Explicit explanation) and Direct apology/ Expression of apology (Offer of apology). To find out more about the apology strategy in each situation, below is an analysis that explains the use of an apology strategy in each situation. From the ten situations above, the most commonly used apology strategy is the Indirect apology / acknowledgment of responsibility with different sub categories with each situation. The use of such expressions is found in situation 2, situation 4. Situation 5 and situation 6. It can be concluded that the apology strategy used by English students at Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan is in accordance with the given situation and context.

Reasons for Using Strategy by English education students at IPTS
In each situation students use different strategies for apologizing. In this case, the writer needs to know what is the reason they used the strategy they used in the apology strategy given the situation by interviewing 10 participants. The table below presents the reasons for the apology strategy used in each situation (on September 7 th , 2019). as an answer to the second research question. therefore I am responsible for apologizing right away.
6. The student was late to submit the assignment to the lecturer (Mahasiswa terlambat menyerahkan tugas kepada dosen) I use the strategy because it states that offenders have no intentional element to make mistakes and for the mistake because I must take my mother to the hospital so that I am late in handing over my task to the lecturer. 7. The lecturer was late in scoring the students' final exam (Dosen terlambat mencetak nilai ujian akhir siswa) I use the strategy because it explains the situation explicitly. Therefore my situation at that time is really busy so I am too late to submit the final student`s exam scores and I will print that grade next week.
8. The speaker was late to see his friend in ten minutes (Pembicara terlambat untuk melihat temannya dalam sepuluh menit) I use the strategy because, it explains the expression of regret by using several terms such as; really and for the mistakes that I make I am very sorry make my friend wait because I am stuck in traffic. Therefore I apologize immediately.
9. Tourist guide was late to pick up the tourists (Pemandu wisata terlambat menjemput wisatawan) The reason I use the strategy because, it explains the situation explicitly. For my mistake because I have to buy something so, I am late and apologized to them.
10. The head master forgot to inform one of the teacher to join the meeting (Kepala sekolah lupa memberi tahu salah satu guru untuk bergabung dalam rapat) I use the strategy, because it explains about offering an apology for the violation. I apologize for my mistake because I forget to remind one of the teacher to attend the meeting.

DISCUSSION
From the findings above, researcher found five apology strategies used by English education students at IPTS. They are; Promise of forbearance, Indirect apology / Acknowledgment of responsibility, Offer of repair, Explanation or account and Direct apology / Expression of apology with different sub categories. The use of an apology strategy that is often used is Indirect apology / Acknowledgment of responsibility four times in situations 2, 4, 5, and 6. In using an apology strategy and to convey an apology it is not always explicitly said in the form of words -sorry, forgive me, I apologize to me, and so on, but to convey an apology can be in other forms according to conditions and contexts as found in situations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. There are several words that are often used in apology strategies as explained in this chapter. They are like: "sorry", "forgive me", "forgive", "sorry" and sometimes add "really", "sorry". Unfortunately, in this study the authors believe that although there are some expressions / words involved in the characteristics and refer to the above classification, words do not measure that they can always be applied in the strategy, it can be seen in the analysis data described above, because researchers tend to use context in Indonesian conversations as well as some sort of violation to classify data and apology strategies. This fact shows that a word or expression of apology can show more than one apology strategy. This is based on the word apology and the context of the situation. From the distribution of students' apology strategies, not all apology strategies are used by students. They are; Evasive strategies / Minimizing offense, Expressing concern for hearers, Rejection. Overall, the goal of all apology strategies is to reduce the violations committed by the apologizers made and also to apologize.
As such, this research is related to previous research in terms of methodology (research design, data analysis, analytic techniques). So, based on Trosborg, 1994, the apology strategy is a way to apologize after we have done something wrong. It is already known from the answers and reasons of students of English education at IPTS, the use of this strategy is in accordance with the context of each violation. Likewise in the pragmatic outline described by Levinson, namely the study of the relationship between language and context that underlies the explanation of language understanding, one of which is an apology strategy. From the above findings, in ten situations that contain apologies and strategies used, students use different strategies for each other's reasons.