Maya’s background Case 1: Maya

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5.2 Maya’s background

Maya, a 32-year-old female, is an English teacher who has been teaching English for more than ten years. Her professional experiences range from teaching pronunciation, speaking, and listening at university level, to being a private teacher for elementary and junior high school students while an undergraduate student at a well- known public university in Malang. During the semester in which this research was undertaken, Maya was pursuing a Master’s degree at the same university. Although her parents did not really support her in her decision to become a teacher because of the low rate of pay, Maya pursued her decision to be an English teacher as she had no other job options. Her parents work as traders and earn a considerable income. As a result, they perceived teaching to be a career, which provided little opportunity for wealth creation. After teaching for several years, however, Maya realised that she enjoyed working as a teacher because it provides her with the opportunity for on-going learning. She asserted: Initially, I did not want to be a teacher, but then I changed my mind. I know now that by teaching I receive many things. Teaching is a learning process for me. Before teaching, I have to learn and prepare first so that I will be ready to teach. Being teacher also requires me to dig more knowledge Interview 1, 17102011. Maya’s ways to improve her professionalism are by reading English books, watching English movies, sharing ideas and practices with her colleagues informally to develop new teaching methods, and joining an academic workshop at least once per semester. She points out that joining the academic workshops assists her to acquire new information about interesting class activities to apply in her English class to help the students to enjoy the class. Maya mentioned that her friends who are novice English teachers sometimes join her class to observe her teaching practices in order to learn how to teach more effectively. As such, Maya is considered to be an experience teacher by her friends. In addition, during the interview Maya expressed her willingness to take a short course: I want to take a short course in any kind of education and field. Now, I’m searching for the information. There is a kind of longing to be student. I want to learn more. It’s like recharging the batteries of my knowledge. I want to have it sometimes. When I knew some of my friends took a short course in Australia I really wanted to follow them Interview 1, 17102011. 111 As stated in the above excerpt, Maya believes in the need to always improve her professionalism as an English teacher and believes that taking a short course abroad can be an effective way to achieve that outcome. Moreover, she understands that taking a short course in a country in which English is used as the first language will improve her mastery of the English language as well as provide her with a great opportunity to learn a new culture. When asked what she needs to do to improve as an English teacher, Maya indicated that she still needed to develop her English vocabulary. Towards this objective, Maya choose to read a lot of books written in English and to watch English language movies. She also mentioned that if she encountered difficult words, she tried to look up the meanings in an English dictionary more often. In addition, she commented that she sometimes experienced difficulty with correct grammar usage, such as the use of articles and prepositions, when she wrote in English. Hence, she is always trying to develop her grammar knowledge and skills, often seeking assistance from a friend who helps her by providing feedback on her writing. Maya expressed her desire to be a permanent teacher at a particular university; however, up to now, she continues to work as a casual English teacher at two private universities in Malang, including Kanjuruhan University of Malang KUM, the institution where this research was conducted. Although Maya is a casual teacher, she has a full teaching schedule with Sunday as her only day off. She is required to teach listening, pronunciation, and reading. Being a part-time teacher means that Maya goes to the institution only when she is required to teach. She is only required to teach and does not have administrative duties or other responsibilities.

5.3 Maya’s capital