181 As we can see in this excerpt, Joko engaged in various professional activities to improve
himself as a teacher. He wants to learn to be a better teacher and continuing his study is a way to achieve this outcome.
Joko’s professional experiences include teaching writing, extensive reading, and classroom action research CAR. During the semester in which this research was
conducted, Joko was a part-time teacher at KUM. He taught writing and extensive reading subjects with a total of 14 credits per week or around 11 hours per week. Joko
also taught at other private universities in Malang and, as a result, he had a very full teaching schedule. Joko reported that he was always required by the department to teach
writing because a number of teachers were not enthusiastic about teaching this subject. They considered teaching writing to need extra energy from the teacher in order to
correct students’ writing drafts. Joko commented, “teaching writing is tiring since I have to give feedback on students’ writing regularly. Moreover, sometimes the students
do not understand about our feedback and repeat their mistakes. Yup, I have to be extra patient” Interview 1, 1910 2011.
7.3 Joko’s capital
As discussed in Section 2.6.1 of Chapter 2, Bourdieu categorised capital into three basic forms: economic, cultural embodied, objectified, and institutionalised state,
and social. In this study, Bourdieu’s forms of embodied and institutionalized cultural capital are elaborated by dividing embodied cultural capital into two forms of physical
and personal, and institutionalized cultural capital into two forms of personal and professional. With reference to those categorisations, Joko has a range of physical
embodied cultural capital, and personal and professional institutionalized cultural capitals that have power within his field. Embodied cultural capital includes particular
styles, modes of presentation, including use of language, forms of social etiquette and competence, as well as a degree of confidence and self-assurance Bourdieu, 1986.
Joko’s tall body and loud voice become his physical embodied cultural capital. Indonesian people are typically of average height of 155 cm, but Joko is approximately
175 cm. As such, his tall body adds to his authority as a teacher. Furthermore, Joko also has a very loud voice that plays a significant role in the delivery of his lessons.
Joko also attains personal institutionalized cultural capital because of his ability to speak English fluently, his punctual behaviour, his great enthusiasm for the subject
being taught, his self-confidence, and his choice of attire. He speaks English fluently,
182 and all explanations are delivered to the class in this language. In addition, Joko always
begins his class on time and his students regard him as a disciplined teacher. All of these factors enhance his capital and his legitimacy as an effective teacher within his
field. As Joko recalls, “there was a student who told me that I was incredible because I never be late” Interview 1, 29 December 2011. Joko is also very enthusiastic about the
subject being taught and is full of energy when teaching. Thus, being on time and being an enthusiastic teacher are appreciated as Joko’s personal institutionalized cultural
capital. Furthermore, Joko always wears formal clothes to work such as a “batik” Indonesian traditional cloth, which also contributes to his image as a good teacher. In
other words, Joko’s specific ways of looking and behaving increases his personal institutionalized cultural capital and are valued within the social space of the English
class at KUM. Joko’s professional institutionalized cultural capital was acquired through his
education background. As discussed in Chapter 4, Indonesia public universities, which attract a greater number of student enrolments, are acknowledged as being of a higher
quality than private universities. Therefore, Joko possesses professional institutionalized cultural capital because he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees
from different public universities. He is perceived to be a competent teacher and his professional institutionalized cultural capital gives him resources to achieve his desired
goals within his field of English language teaching.
7.4 Joko’s initial pedagogic habitus
