72 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License eISSN 2721-5016 | pISSN 2721-5024 Journal of Research on English and Language Learning http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v3i2.17646 Volume 3 | Number 2 | p. 72-78 Published on August 5 th , 2022 Verbal Interaction in the Classroom at SMP Negeri 6 Majene : An Analysis Flanders Interaction Categories Askiah Hasan 1 , Putu Wahyu Sudewi 2 1 English Education Department, Sulawesi Barat University, Majene, Indonesia 1 askiahhasan98@gmail.com, 2 putuwahyu.sudewi@unsulbar.ac.id *) correspondence: askiahhasan98@gmail.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal interactions of students in class VIII of SMP Negeri 6 Majene, by analyzing the verbal interactions between teachers and students in class VIII of SMP Negeri 6 Majene in the 2020/2021 school year. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. Data collection techniques used checklist observation and video tapping. Researchers took 10 grade VIII students of SMP Negeri 6 Majene as research subjects. The results showed that in the teacher category more often appeared to accept feeling, ask question, criticizes / justifies authority. Furthermore, in the student category the most dominant was student talk response. In this case, researchers assess, that teachers and students are still lacking in verbal interaction and there are still many categories that have not been fulfilled. Furthermore, students also sometimes experience confusion and difficulty in proper verbal interaction. Then they don't really understand what is being discussed so they are afraid of being wrong even though students know what to say to the teacher. Keywords: verbal interactions; category INTRODUCTION Language is something that is very important in human life. Language is used by humans to communicate with others in everyday life. Language is one way to communicate between people in words. There are many different languages in the world. Today, English is the most important language. As we can see that English has been used as a common language used to communicate throughout the world. Teaching is to facilitate the learning process and as a guide the process of teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) takes place in the classroom. Shomossi, (2004) recommends that interaction help students to achieve better learning and provide opportunities to practice their competencies. They gain competence by listening to teachers and students, and communicating with teachers and students. The teaching and learning process is a fundamental interaction process between teachers and students. However, creating communicative interactions between teachers and students is one of the obstacles in the teaching and learning process. In the teaching and learning process, there are teachers who do not get a response at all from students, even though the students know and want to give the response. Therefore, this is the time for the teacher's role to act as a controller; the teacher must carry out interactive techniques and make interactive classes successfully. In this case, teachers and students must negotiate the meaning of achieving certain goals during the teaching and learning