139 affected by them” Bourdieu Wacquant, 1992, p. 133. In addition, Maya’s video
recording and student feedback data affirmed to her the monotonous nature of her teaching style. As a result, Maya became more self-conscious of her limitations and
subsequently made an effort to address her weaknesses by employing more attractive teaching strategies; most notably the use of more varied teaching materials in the
multimedia laboratory. This supports Roth’s 2002 claim that habitus can be changed through particular forms of self-consciousness and actions. The next subsection of the
chapter discusses the changes in Maya’s pedagogic habitus to formalitydistance.
5.6.2 Changes in pedagogic disposition to formalitydistance
Data from the video recording of Maya’s lessons – conducted after she participated in a series of teacher self-evaluation activities – her interview responses,
and researcher observation notes suggest that Maya has transformed herself into a friendlier teacher who has a more positive relationship with the students. In this sense,
Maya’s engagement in a series of teacher self-evaluation activities helped her to change her pedagogic disposition to formalitydistance and transform her identity as a teacher
and her teaching practice. Maya no longer makes discouraging comments to the students, she refers to them by their names, and she often compliments to the students
on their work. When Maya asks a student to answer a question and the student remains silent,
rather than making a discouraging comment, Maya is more willing to provide the student with more time to provide an answer as illustrated in the excerpt below:
[After listening to a recorded conversation, Maya asks some questions related to the content] MAYA: What excuse do they decide to use? [A student, Putri, seems want to answer] What is it?
Putri? PUTRI: Hmm … repeat please.
MAYA: Do you want me to repeat it? Okay then [replaying the conversation in the video]. MAYA: Yes, Putri? [waiting for an answer]
PUTRI: [Keeping silent for some time]. MAYA: Or others can help?
ALL STUDENTS: [keeping silent for quite long time]. MAYA: What excuses do they decide to use finally? [a student, Edo, wants to answer] Yes Edo?
EDO: Ehm … prior engagement. MAYA: Prior engagement? Okay, that’s the excuse they finally use.
140 As in the above excerpt, Maya displays greater patience towards the students when
seeking a response. When she directed a question to Putri, who asked Maya to replay the conversation, Maya acknowledged Putri’s request by replaying the conversation.
After providing Putri with adequate time to answer her question, and when an answer was still not forthcoming, Maya then directed her question to another other student. This
teaching action demonstrates how Maya has become more patient, sensitive, and responsive to the students. The above excerpt also reveals that Maya is familiar with the
students’ names e.g. Putri and Edo. Although Maya still predominantly responds to a correct answer from the
students with the expression, “okay”, she also includes other forms of praise towards students who are able to answer her questions correctly. One such example is her use of
the expression,” very good” and “well done”. The following excerpt taken from a video recording of Maya’s lesson is an example how Maya compliments the students.
[Maya is discussing a question in the textbook] MAYA: Okay, now we move to number 5. So what is it?
RINA: Play tennis on Sunday afternoon. MAYA: Play tennis on Sunday afternoon repeating and emphasizing Rina’s correct answer.
Very good And what is the answer? STUDENTS: No some students answer together.
MAYA: No repeating and emphasizing the students’ correct answer. What does she say? AHMAD: I have friends coming on Sunday afternoon I’m afraid.
MAYA: yup, well done
The above excerpt illustrates how Maya provides affirmative feedback to the student’s responses. Another example of Maya’s new positive approach, as shown in the excerpt
below, is how she shows her appreciation for the student’s response even though the response is not correct:
MAYA: [A student, Wihelmina, wants to answer] Yes, Wihelmina? WIHELMINA: Ee behind I don’t know the name but bla bla hotel.
MAYA: Behind bla bla hotel. Okay. More ideas? ROHMAT: They can stay bla bla bla building hotel
[Entire class are laughing] MAYA: Okay, nice try Rohmat [smiling]. [A student, Florence, is raising her hand] Ehm …
Florence, please.
141 Maya’s use of the expression, “nice try”, to compliment the student’s effort to answer
the question, is likely to motivate the students to be more active in class activities. In other words, Maya starts to use positive reinforcement more often and as a result the
students appear to be more relaxed and motivated throughout the lesson. Another change in Maya’s teaching behaviour is her use of the students’ names
when interacted with them. For example, she refers to the students by name e.g., Wihelmina, Rohmat and Florence when she asks them to answer her questions. The
following excerpt drawn from the video recording of her lesson provides further examples of how she is attempting to be more familiar with the students:
[The topic for the lesson is “invitation”. Maya chooses a video from the British Council. After watching the video, Maya poses some questions to the students]
MAYA: And what about the dress code for the gathering? STUDENTS: Formal dress [answering together].
MAYA: What does it mean? What does formal dress mean? What we call it? [A student, Ahmad, is raising his hand] Yes, Ahmad?
AHMAD: Maybe use ehm like almamaters [other students laugh]. MAYA: Okay, ? [A student, Katrine, is raising his hand] Katrine?
KATRINE: Use t-shirt. MAYA: Use or wear?
MAYA: Okay, so use and wear are not the same. Everything attached to our body, we have to use word wear: wear glasses, wear rings, wear trousers, wear shoes, wear socks. And for use,
you use something to do another thing. Let’s say: I will use my glasses to hit Neta. If I put it here [putting her glasses on], I’m wearing glasses. So you got the difference?
As evidenced in the above, and many previous excerpts, Maya now refers to the students by name e.g., Ahmad, Katrine and Neta when interacting with them. Thus,
Maya shows she is familiar with the students’ names and starts to use this knowledge to facilitate a higher quality level of interaction with them rather than use the expression,
“You”. Using the students’ names during the interactive process demonstrates to the students that Maya recognises them as individuals and this enables Maya to establish a
stronger teacher-student relationship. As a result, there is an increase in the level of student participation in the class activity.
142 Furthermore, based on the video recording of the lesson, Maya also makes an
effort to learn the students’ names by reading from the attendance list as shown in the following excerpt:
MAYA: Is there any music at the gathering? STUDENTS: Yes.
MAYA: Why? STUDENTS: [Answering differently].
MAYA: Okay, maybe I’ll ask one of you. Kistiana [checking the name from the student list]. Which one is Kristiana?
The above excerpts show that although May does not remember the names of all of her students she tries to familiarise herself with them by reading from the attendance list.
This indicates that Maya understands that knowing the students’ names is important to establishing positive teacher-student relations.
Further evidence that demonstrates how Maya has changed her pedagogic disposition to formalitydistance is her intention to occasionally include joke-telling into
her teaching practice. An example of this is provided in the excerpt below:
[Maya is discussing the exercises in the listening textbook. After listening to a taped conversation she poses the following question to the students]
MAYA: Who is calling? STUDENTS: Nigel [student answer together]
MAYA: Paijo? [mentioning an Indonesian name] STUDENTS: [Students laugh].
As in the above excerpt, Maya tried to create a more relaxed atmosphere in her classroom by making a joke. The students laugh when Maya uses the expression,
“Paijo” because in the Indonesian context, Paijo is a funny name for some people who come from a small village. Maya’s use of humour helps the students to feel more
comfortable in the class and to increase their level of enthusiasm. As such, the use of humour minimises Maya’s disposition to formalitydistance. Another example of Maya
use of humour during her listening class is shown in the excerpt below:
143
[The discussion topic of the lesson is personal profile and Maya is asking relatively personal questions to the students including Edo whose hair is coloured red]
MAYA: Mention your name and your phone number. EDO: Edo, I’m Edo and my number is 4857558846226
MAYA: Okay. Where are you from? EDO: Samarinda
MAYA: Oh from Samarinda. I thought you’re from America because your hair is red [students laugh].
In the Indonesian context, it is uncommon to see a person with coloured hair as most Indonesians have dark hair. When Maya said, “I thought you’re from America because
your hair is red” in response to the student’s answer, she once again displays her sense of humour to the class and this invites the students to laugh.
Overall, the findings illustrate that after engaging in teacher self-evaluation as a mediational activity, Maya’s teaching practice is no longer driven by a pedagogic
habitus to formalitydistance. Maya has transformed into a friendlier teacher who establishes a better relationship with the students. Maya agreed: “I now have a more
intense interaction with my students. I always try to be their friend so that they will feel comfortable to interact with me” Interview 3, 06062012. When asked about how
teacher self-evaluation helped her, Maya asserted:
What I can learn from the teacher self-evaluation activity is that I can see myself when I was teaching. I then have a kind of reflection like I should do this should
do that, trying to be better. I’m trying to be better, especially to have louder voice in explaining in front of the class. I’m also trying to give compliments to
my students though it’s not easy because I always forget to do that Interview 3, 06062012.
The above statements imply that the process of self-evaluation has helped Maya to reflect on her teaching practices to identify what aspects need to improve. As stated
previously, teacher self-evaluation ‘disrupts’ Maya’s identity as a teacher as well as her perspective of her teaching practice. These productive disruptions lead Maya to reflect
upon her teaching which in turn leads her to understand that her identity limits her fit in her field and that a new identity needs to be developed. As stated in Chapter 4, Maya’s
field values communicative and friendly teachers. Maya, therefore, needs to transform her identity in order to demonstrate a “feel for the game” in the field. This is in line with
144 Beauchamp and Thomas’ 2009 claim that reflection on practice should be considered
“as a key means by which teachers can become more in tune with their sense of self and with a deep understanding of how this self fits into a larger context which involve
others; in other words, reflection is a factor in the shaping of identity” p. 182. As a result, Maya now has the motivation to transform her identity and to identify a new
‘possible self’ in the sense of the “individual’s ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming” Stake, 2006, p. 954.
She said, “engaging in self-evaluation activity made me realize that I was sometimes too judgmental to my students and unfriendly so that they seemed afraid of me.
Actually, I don’t want to be that kind of teacher. I want to be a friendlier teacher Interview 3, 06062012. This statement indicated that productive disruptions that
emerged from the process of self-evaluation informed Maya that she was unfriendly and judgmental to the students. This ‘actual self’ encouraged her to make efforts to become
a friendlier teacher, an ‘ideal self’ by changing her pedagogic disposition to formalitydistance. In other words, the discrepancy between Maya’s ‘ideal self’ and her
‘actual self’ provides a motivational push to change Higgins, 1987. Furthermore, as explained in Chapter 2, Polman 2010 proposed the notion of a
zone of proximal identity development ZPID to explain the development of an individual’s identity. Maya was in the ZPID because she was able to transform her
“unfriendly and judgmental” identity into a “friendly” identity. This suggests Maya has developed her identity beyond the already-achieved state because she is capable of
recognising and exploring her past identity through her engagement in a series of teacher self-evaluation activities. We can thus see how the range of teacher self-
evaluation instruments including the lesson video recordings, teacher self-reflection questions, student feedback, and collegial dialogue provided significant scaffolding
enabling Maya’ zone of proximal identity development. The next subsection discusses the durability of Maya’s pedagogic disposition to accuracyperfectionism.
5.6.3 Durability in pedagogic disposition to accuracyperfectionism
