PROMOTING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AMONG PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS THROUGH TEACHER CAMPS

With a mission to enhance the quality of EFL teachers, the Regional English Language Office (RELO) of the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia has conducted a pre-service teacher camp where practical teaching innovations are taught alongside reflective practices and the development of social and intercultural competences. This paper aims to examine how the participants, who are pre-service language teachers, perceived their professional identity as potential EFL educators after attending Camp EPIC and to what extent the program contributed to this process of professional identity formation. The study employed a mixed-methods survey where a total of 45 participants of Camp EPIC 2018 were purposively selected. They were asked to provide descriptions of themselves as teachers before and after the teacher camp, which were then analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. As for the quantitative data, a set of thirty-three Likert-scale items were examined using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The triangulated data indicated that the participants’ perception was positively altered after the camp. While some mentioned that they were more resourceful and creative with teaching ideas, others showed a higher level of self-efficacy concerning their competence. These changes could be attributed to four major features of the camp: reflection, feedback, resource exploitation, and collaboration.

THE FACTORS CAUSING ENGLISH SPEAKING ANXIETY ON NON-ENGLISH MAJOR ACADEMICS WHILE USING ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

This qualitative study aims to reveal the factors causing English speaking anxiety on non-English major academics while using English as a medium of instruction. Eight non-English major academics with the experience of teaching in English participated in the present research. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews and e-mail interviews, which are qualitative data collection techniques, were used as data collection tools. Manual coding of qualitative data that requires in-depth reading of the transcripts and assigning codes and themes was used to interpret the data. The results reveal the situations that provoke speaking anxiety among the non-English major academics. They can be grouped under five main themes: academics’ English proficiency, academics’ self-evaluation, learner behaviors, learner inadequacies, and cultural differences. These five main themes can also be confined to individual factors, learner factors, and cultural factors. It can therefore be assumed that the factors causing English speaking anxiety on non-English major academics have to be considered within multidimensional aspects rather than simply originating from academics themselves

READER-TEXT CONNECTION: REPORTING THE ENGAGEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH CULTURALLY RELEVANT TEXTS

Maintaining students’ engagement with reading texts that reflect their background knowledge has positive effect on their comprehension. Culturally relevant materials provide more equitable opportunities to students, in the sense that more of them can reap the benefits of being able to connect to the text (Christ & Sharma, 2018). This article aims to identify the characteristics of texts, particularly those categorized as culturally relevant, which make them appropriate for a specific group of students. Three data gathering methods were used: ratings of texts, reflective journals, and discussion points during Literature Circles. Results indicate that the students participating in the study consider that similar experiences, relatability of the story in terms of feelings and motivation conveyed, actions of the characters, and possibility of experiencing the same event are the main factors that made reading texts culturally relevant to them. These text characteristics can guide classroom teachers, materials developers, and curriculum designers in choosing materials and preparing lessons for specific groups of students, as these underscore the importance of text relatability in building and keeping the students’ reading interest and motivation.

UNDERSTANDING ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ VIEWS OF TEACHER RESEARCH: A REPORT FROM INDONESIA

This article reports on a study investigating the perceptions of EFL teachers in schools and language courses (henceforth, teachers) and EFL lecturers in tertiary educational institutions (academic staff) from Indonesia regarding their definitions of and their engagements in teacher research. An online questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data from almost 400 EFL teachers and academic staff from Indonesia. The questionnaire was followed by in-depth interviews with some respondents who met the criteria set and agreed to be interviewed. Results from the study show that both teachers and academic staff align research with evidence-based practice, survey, literature-driven practice and professional communication, and observation-based popular article. In terms of engagements, most of the teachers and academic staff read research papers occasionally, and more academic staff did research compared to teachers. Research done by both teachers and academic staff is largely associated with internal and external factors, such as, professional awareness and professional obligation, with academic staff seem to receive more support to engage in research. The findings of the study provide insights for future continuous professional development (CPD) activities for English teachers and academic staff. The activities might involve exploring ways to integrate teacher research into teachers’ and academic staff’s teaching responsibilities and integrating teacher research into the short-term and long-term goals of CPD.

ENGLISH TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENT EVALUATION OF TEACHING IN AN INDONESIAN UNIVERSITY

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) has been proven to improve teachers’ teaching practices and students’ learning experiences despite being used commonly for accountability purposes. Indonesian teachers’ perceptions of SET, however, remain largely unexplored. This qualitative study therefore investigated how four Indonesian university teachers perceived SET, how SET impacted their teaching practices and what roles they believed the university should play in implementing SET properly. The participants taught English to undergraduate students in an Indonesian private university. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using qualitative methods. The teachers perceived SET positively, had made conscious changes to improve their teaching practices and students’ learning, and believed the institution had facilitated teachers in meeting students’ needs, especially during the campus closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a transition to online learning. The institution where the participants taught implemented SET only for formative or improvement purposes. Using SET for such purposes is important as it is more likely to cause teachers less pressure and anxiety. Hence, teachers are willing to act upon the student feedback. Meanwhile, using SET for accountability purposes may create extra work for teachers and make them feel manipulated and untrusted.

TEACHING FACTORS THAT AFFECT STUDENTS’ LEARNING MOTIVATION: BANGLADESHI EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

Research literature consistently suggests that EFL (English as a foreign language) students’ motivation is affected by some teaching factors (Falout et al., 2009; Kim et al., 2018; Lamb, 2017). The main purpose of this study is to identify exactly which teaching factors adversely affect students’ motivation to study English at higher secondary (HS) level (grade 11 and 12) in Bangladeshi EFL context. To collect qualitative data an interview protocol was developed based on the teaching factors identified in some selected studies conducted in Asian EFL contexts (Kikuchi, 2009; Sakai & Kikuchi, 2009; Trang & Baldauf, 2007; Quadir, 2017). A total number of 40 grade 12 completers were interviewed to collect students’ perceptions. Miles and Huberman’s (1994) qualitative data analysis procedure was applied to analyze the data. From the analysis five distinct factors, which adversely affect students’ motivation, are identified in descending order: teachers’ instructional styles and teaching method, private tutoring, teachers’ personality and behavior, teachers’ competence and classroom management, and teachers’ attitude and commitment. Most of these factors comprise further sub-components which detect the underlying sources of students’ disinterest. For amelioration of the situations some feasible implications are discussed addressing the identified factors.

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN AN INDONESIAN EFL WRITING CLASSROOM

The global, national, and local top-down technology-related policies and initiatives indicate the essential place of technology in education. However, little is known about classroom-based and self-reflective understandings of how the integration of technology can facilitate or distract students’ writing processes in the context of higher education in Indonesia, specifically from the eyes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing lecturers in the country. In response, this qualitative study aims to delve closely into the lecturers’reflection of integrating technology to support their students in completing English language learning tasks in an EFL writing classroom. Data were gathered from three female writing lecturers. They completed four self-reflective checklists and were interviewed to clarify the checklists and their technological practices related to five stages of process writing, namely planning, drafting, editing, revising, and submitting. The analysis of the data indicated that the most successful experiences in using technology were in the planning stage. Meanwhile, technology applications in the drafting, editing, and revising phases were mainly used to submit work and provide feedback. Various technology applications used in the writing class, some issues in using the technology in the writing stages, and directions for further research are discussed.

EFL TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AND THEIR (NON)-COMMUNICATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES

This study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (TSEBs) about instructional strategies, student engagement and classroom management strategies they adopt for teaching. It also examined the relationship between TSEBs concerning the three sub-efficacies and teachers’ use of (non) communicative instructional practices. The participants of the study were 48 EFL teachers in Iranian language institutes. A survey questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations were administered to collect the data needed. The results demonstrated that teachers regarded themselves as high-efficacious, and there was a moderate positive relationship between TSEBs in terms of the three sub-efficacies and communicative instructional practices. TSEBs towards instructional strategies had the highest contribution to explaining communicative practice, which was also confirmed by the interview results. The data from observations indicated that TSEBs were not realized regarding instructional strategies, but student engagement and classroom management strategies were reflected in teachers’ instructions.

A CASE STUDY ON WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH IN THE IRANIAN TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

Willingness to communicate (WTC) in English is specifically important because L2 (foreign/second language) communication is considered to be a key factor in L2 learning. When the opportunity to speak English arises, there are generally two options: speaking or avoiding it. Several factors might exert influence on the choice of either option by different individuals. In this vein, the current study investigated the underlying factors that lead to (un)willingness on the part of Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) tertiary students. Through a purposive sampling procedure, this classroom-based case study recruited and examined 10 EFL learners in Iran over a period of three weeks. Data were collected employing semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and stimulated-recall interviews. Thematic analysis was performed to identify common themes from the participating students’ ideas. Results reveal that participants’ L2 WTC emerges as a result of the complex, dynamic and non-linear interaction between individual, contextual, and linguistic factors. These three factors interdependently exerted either facilitative or inhibitive impacts on an individual student’s WTC in class at any point in time. The current study, therefore, reinforces the need for teachers to be aware of the multiple factors which lead learners to be more or less willing to communicate in L2 classrooms.

SOCIO-CULTURAL CHALLENGES OF ENGLISH TEACHING IN REMOTE AREAS OF INDONESIA

The development of English language learning in any country is interdependent with its socio-cultural experiences. Learning is determined by the social, historical, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of its context. This study aims to explore the socio-cultural challenges of teaching English in a remote area. It was conducted in Pemana Island (East Nusa Tenggara) using the ethnography exploration. Pemana is one of the Indonesian government’s target locations for a teaching program to improve educational quality and overcome the problem of limited number of teachers in remote areas. This program involves bachelor degree holders of English being deployed to teach in the frontier, outlying and underdeveloped region. Several challenges of English teaching and learning emerge due to socio-cultural aspects. These include the economic situation of the society, the community beliefs about English teaching, and the ill-fitting curriculum with the social condition. The teaching implications are then discussed here.