ABSTRACT
The ability to use language is the most distinctive human characteristic. Without language people cannot communicate with others. People can communicate by having conversation. And conversation can be occurring in faceto-face or mediated conversation. Online chatting as a kind of mediated conversation where there is absence of face threatening act (FTA) will affect power relation between participants involved.
There are two aims in this study, they are (1) Describing the power relation established between participants involved in the conversation under study, (2) Describing how the more powerful participant enacted power over the less powerful participant.
Method that is used in this study is qualitative. The data were taken from printed out text of online chatting and analyzing it. The data was analyzed through the analysis of the number of turns and clauses, subject choices, mood and modality as well as speech function.
The finding shows that there is unequal power between the participants in the online chattings under study. It was indicated by the subject choice they chose, the selection of mood and modality, and the selection of moves type. However, they also shared equal power in turn taking system. Therefore, they can be said as productive participants.
From the finding, it can be drawn that Anne_Ikz was more powerful participant in chatting 1. She exercised power by the framing of subject choice of “you-I” referred to her counterpart. She also exercised power by assuming superiority which was indicated by the uses of imperative mood type, modality of obligation. Then in chatting 2, Roopmag tends to be more powerful than Maharanisyihab. He exercised power by the framing subject choice of “you-I”. He also assumed superiority by introducing more topics and producing high number of various mood types.
Finally, by having casual conversation between teacher and students in the classroom will be more valuable than memorizing and negotiation meaning. And by using internet in language classroom and asking the students to chat with foreigner/native speaker using natural communication language with lexicogrammar choices they produce, it might provides students with a lot of comprehensible input and increase their knowledge.
