Counseling Pedagogy during Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study of Communication Accommodation Theory

Abstract

Education field has experienced a number of obstacles during Covid-19 pandemic which the greatest impact has been felt by students and teachers. The online learning program was one of the ways used by the government and schools so that the teaching and learning process can continue even in the middle of a pandemic. The research problem in this study is how Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) has been situated in the interaction between counseling teacher and students at SMA Petra 1 Surabaya during the pedagogy shift in the pandemic situation. The purpose of this study is to explain the Communication Accommodation Theory that was carried out between counseling teacher and students at SMA Petra 1 Surabaya. This study uses a qualitative approach within a data collection method in the form of interviews and the study of documents. The result of this study shows that Communication Accommodation Theory occuring among counseling teacher and students is applied in online pedagogy in which they need to adapt their communication behavior and language pattern while interacting with each other. Communication Accommodation Theory is used to explain the process of adaptation during online pedagogy within the accommodation, unaccommodating actions, and symmetrical communication among students and counseling teacher. The pivotal adaptation in online pedagogy is adaptation to learning the latest technology, then moving on to a new way of learning. Counseling is held via Zoom application and chat devices and counseling material is delivered briefly so that students don’t get bored and stay focused on their pedagogy. Obstacles are unavoidable when the Internet network is bad, when there are differences in perception between the counseling teacher and students, also when there is a concentration decrease when online pedagogy takes place. To maintain accommodation and reduce unaccommodating action, symmetrical communication is needed between the two parties.