52 which a teacher or lecturer ‘transmits’ information to students, to a constructivist model
which attributes an active role in learning to students. Based on my review on Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, it seems that there are few
studies illustrating teachers’ pedagogic habitus. Exploring teachers’ habitus can provide information to develop their professionalism since habitus generates action. In this
sense, teachers’ practice can be seen as the product of habitus so that the theory of habitus can be used to interpret practice. Hence, my study adds to the limited scholarly
literature on the use of habitus to explain teacher professional development opportunities, in particular, with regard to teachers in Indonesia. In addition, as noted
before that Bourdieu’s concepts cannot be considered as discrete entities but rather each concept interrelates with the others; however, most studies focus more on just one
aspect of Bourdieu’s theory. In this sense, my study considers and uses Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, capital, and field together to interpret teachers’ practice. Furthermore,
some studies have been done to describe existing habitus and provided explanation of why changing habitus is difficult. Accordingly, my study explores the possibility that
the teachers can transform their pedagogic habitus through mediated self-evaluation and adds another way to explain of why and how habitus might be both reproductive and
transformative.
2.7 Summary
Three fundamental areas in this study have been reviewed in this chapter. They are teacher self-evaluation, Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspectives, and Bourdieu’s
sociocultural theory with its components of habitus, capital, field, and practice. The reviews of studies on teacher self-evaluation suggest that teachers should engage in
teacher self-evaluation regularly in order to create ongoing improvements in their practice. Unfortunately, most studies focus solely on the use of the use of a single
teacher self-evaluation instrument e.g., Lynes, 2012, Wright, 1998, and Morgan, 2000. Therefore, this study utilizes various teacher self-evaluation tools: teacher self-reflection
questions, student feedback, lesson video recording, and collegial dialogue in order to facilitate Indonesian teachers to get more comprehensive information about their
instructional practice. Based on the review of studies on
Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspectives ,
sociocultural theory functions as a useful lens to be applied in teacher professional development. Hence, this study uses sociocultural theory with its corresponding
53 concepts of mediation, internalization, and the ZPD to examine self-evaluation practice
as a form of mediational activity to reflect teachers’ practice and promote its improvement.
The activities in teacher self-evaluation such as class video-tape, observations, or focus group discussion provide scaffolding that may have a direct
effect on the teachers’ zone of proximal development and professionalism. The review of studies on Bourdieu’s theory of habitus indicates that few studies
have been done to examine teachers’ habitus in relation to their teaching. Therefore, this study will fill this gap and provide more scholarly literature on the use of habitus to
explain teacher professional development opportunities. It will also be the first study of its kind to be conducted in the context. The review also reveals that most research
concerns solely on one notion of Bourdieu’s theory. Concerning this issue, this study uses Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, capital, field, and practice to interpret the
development of Indonesian teachers. Moreover, this study explores the possibility that the teachers might transform their habitus through teacher self-evaluation; hence, it adds
another way of explanation of why and how habitus has a tendency to be both reproductive and transformative. Overall, this chapter argues that teacher self-evaluation
may provide effective sources of scaffoldings to support teacher development and serve
as a mediation tool opening up the possibility of transforming teachers’ habitus. The
next chapter on methodology discusses the research design employed in this study. It firstly explains the study epistemological position reflecting social constructivism. It
then outlines the theory, approach, strategies and analysis used in this study. Secondly, the chapter discusses the research procedures including details pertaining to sampling,
entire data collection process, and teacher self-evaluation activity. Thirdly, the chapter outlines research ethics including researcher position and other ethical considerations.
54
Chapter 3 Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The previous chapter outlined the literature related to teacher self-evaluation. It also elaborated on how Vygotsky’s sociocultural and Bourdieu’s sociological theories
were used to frame this study’s research questions. The research questions in this study are:
1. What is the nature of Indonesian English language teachers’ pedagogic habitus dispositions and beliefs?
2. To what extent are Indonesian English language teachers’ pedagogic habitus capable of change as a result of engagement in mediated self-evaluation?
This chapter presents the methods through which the above research questions were addressed. The chapter first describes the research design used in this study. This
includes an outline of epistemology, theory, approach, strategies and analysis. The second section of this chapter then outlines the research procedures, including details
pertaining to sampling, entire data collection process, and teacher self-evaluation activity. Lastly, this chapter discusses research ethics including researcher position and
other ethical considerations.
3.2 Research design
This section includes five main discussions: 1 epistemological position; 2 theory; 3 approach; 4 strategies; and 5 analysis, which are discussed further below.
3.2.1 Epistemology
All research studies make a particular claim about knowledge. According to Dimitriadis and Kemberelis 2005, p. 13, “Epistemologies are concerned with
knowledge and how people come to have knowledge”. There are two principal epistemologies: objectivism and constructivism. Objectivism postulates an objective
world in which meaning is independent of what is ascribed by human beings and their cultural systems. Alternatively, constructivism postulates meaning as a function of our
engagement with the world. In addition, Kundi and Nawaz 2010, p. 30 assert that
