The lived experience of novice English teachers at a primary level

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THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF NOVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS AT A PRIMARY LEVEL

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) Degree in English Language Studies

by

Adesia Kusuma Wardani Student Number: 126332030

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2014

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated, are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else‟s ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.

Yogyakarta, February 10, 2014

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma :

Nama : Adesia Kusuma Wardani Nomor Mahasiswa : 126332030

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :

THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF NOVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS AT A PRIMARY LEVEL

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me-ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal : 10 February 2014

Yang menyatakan

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been completed without the help and support from many people. Therefore, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the following people who have assisted me in completing this thesis.

First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Jesus Christ for His guidance and never ending love in finishing this thesis and in breaking all problems I had during my thesis writing. Thank you for bringing me through all of this, Lord. I would also express my gratitude to my parents, brother, and my relatives for the spirit and financial supports that keep me strong in accomplishing my study.

I would also like to extend my appreciation to my thesis supervisor, Bapak F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D for his support, encouragement, supervision, and suggestion throughout my research work. Moreover, my appreciation also goes to all lecturers and all the staffs of English Language Studies for the help during my study.

I would also like to say my great thanks to Kiki and Jalu for their willingness to share their experiences in their initial years of teaching. Thank you for always making time for me though you both were very busy. I also thank to my best friend Jeng DewiKA for lending her ears to always listen to me, for her prayers, and her encouragement.

My thank also goes to Serenata „Bebek‟, Aditya W „Whe‟, Andyka „Cukong‟, Elise „Cicik‟, Sekar „Ika‟, Ian „Kutil‟, Arista „Oyob‟, Ogie, Dida, Putra,

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Priska, Amung, and Ester for kidnapping me from piles of papers and books. I owe Rifky „Qrick‟ my thanks too for letting me to hostage his headphone to collect and transcribe the data of my research.

Next, I would also express my thankfulness to all of my friends of the class of ‟12, especially Yustin, Mbak Pepy, and Mbak Hari for sharing many things during the study. Lastly, I would not be able to mention one by one those other helpful people. Simply thank to all of them who have accompanied and taught me a lot until I finish my thesis and my study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ………. APPROVAL PAGE ………... DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ……… STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY……… LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ………... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ….……….. TABLE OF CONTENTS ………... LIST OF TABLES ………. ABSTRACT ………... ABSTRAK ………. i ii iii iv v vi viii xi xii xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ………

A.Background ………...

B. Problem Identification ………...

C.Problem Limitation ………...

D.Research Question …....……….

E. Research Goals ………... F. Research Benefits ………...

1 1 4 6 7 7 8 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW……… A.Theoretical Review ………...

1. Novice Teachers ……….

a. The notion of novice teachers ……….…. b. Understanding novice teachers ……….……… c. Problems faced by novice teachers.……….………... d. Support for novice teachers ….………...

1) Source of support ………

a) Mentor………....

b) Coworkers ……….

c) Family………

d) Perceived efficacy ……….

2) How to support novice teachers...………

2. Primary Level ………...

a. Bilingual education ……….…..

b. Primary school in Indonesia ……….. c. Primary level students characteristics………..………….. d. Teaching English at primary level ………

3. Lived Experience ………

4. Review of Related Research ………...

B.Framework of Pre-Understanding.………. 10 10 10 10 12 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 20 21 21 23 24 26 28 30 33

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ………

A.Research Method ………...

B. Data and Data Gathering Technique ………. 1. Nature of data and data collection techniques ……….

2. Setting ……….

3. Participant ………...

4. Validation ………

C. Research Procedures …………..………... 1. Turning to a phenomenon of interest ...………... 2. Investigating experience as we live in it rather than conceptualizing it ……….……….. 3. Reflecting on the essential themes which characterize the

phenomenon ……..……….. 4. Describing the phenomenon-the art of writing and rewriting.………. 5. Maintaining a strong and oriented relation to the phenomenon...…… 6. Balancing the research context by considering the parts and the

whole ………... D.Text Composition and Interpretation……….

1. Text composition………..

2. Interpretation………

36 36 37 37 38 38 39 40 40 40 41 41 41 42 42 42 42 CHAPTER IV DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION ………...

A.Description ………

1. Participants‟ background (prologue)………

2. Life after graduation ………..………..

3. Joining the school where the participants work ………... 4. Orientation before teaching ...……….. 5. Dealing with administrative works for the first time ……….. 6. The participants‟ first teaching ………

7. Meeting with „special‟ kids ……….

8. Reminding and encouraging students to speak English ……….. 9. Participants‟ job besides teaching ………... 10. Participants‟ metamorphose ……… 11. Participants‟ reason to stay teaching……... 12. Wish (epilogue) ………... B. Interpretation ……….

1. Initial belief.………...………..

2. Reality shock………

3. Feeling.……….………

4. Problem ……….………..

5. Support ……….………...

6. Struggle and adaptation ………...

7. Current belief ………..

8. Good time management ………..

9. Autonomy ………

10. Understanding children ………... 43 43 44 45 48 50 53 56 62 69 71 75 79 80 81 81 84 87 90 91 93 95 97 97 99

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11. Creativity ………. 12. Need ………

100 101 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ………..

A.Conclusions ………..

B. Suggestions ………... 103 103 106

REFERENCES ……….. 109

APPENDICES ………... Appendix 1. Interview Questions Guideline ……….. Appendix 2. Kiki‟s Interview Transcripts ...……….. Appendix 3. Jalu‟s Interview Transcripts ……….. Appendix 4. Participants‟ Consents ...………

114 114 115 141 163

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Differences between Bilingual Education and Traditional Second- or Foreign Language Education ………... Table 2.2 Younger Learners and Older Learners Characteristics ……..

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xii ABSTRACT

Wardani, Adesia Kusuma. 2014. The Lived Experience of Novice English

Teachers at a Primary Level. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English

Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.

When novice teachers entered their new working environments for the first time, they would likely face difficulties. They would experience the reality shock in which the ideal that they had formed during their pre-service education programs was different from the reality of classroom language. Furthermore, they would also find that there was a gap between the academic course content in the language teacher education program and the reality that they faced in the real language classroom. Because of that, novice teachers needed to adapt themselves in their new working place. Hence, I was interested to conduct a study on novice English teachers‟ lived experience particularly at the primary school. I chose primary school as the context of my study because of my interest on teaching English to young learners, my previous working experience as English teacher at the primary school, and the fact that not few novice English teachers met the demand of English teachers for children resulted from the mushrooming of primary schools in Indonesia which offered English as the medium of instruction and as subject to attract parents to enroll their children there.

“What is the lived experience of novice English teachers at the primary level like?” was the research question investigated in this study. In doing this research I adopted an empirical phenomenological method which aimed to describe and interpret novice teachers‟ experience during their initial years of teaching. I involved two participants who were novice English teachers at a private bilingual primary school in Salatiga. I carried out in-depth interviews in order to obtain the data to compose the narratives. The narratives were composed based on the shared-events between the participants.

The finding of the study was the descriptions of the participants‟ stories and the interpretation of it. The description of the participant stories were divided into twelve parts in order to make it more organized and easier to understand. Those twelve parts were: (1) participants‟ backgrounds; (2) their lives after graduation; (3) joining the school where they work now; (4) orientation before teaching; (5) dealing with administrative works for the first time; (6) their first teaching; (7) their meeting with „special‟ kids; (8) reminding and encouraging students to speak English; (9) their jobs besides teaching; (10) their metamorphose; (11) participants‟ reason to stay teaching; and (12) wish.

The description of the participants‟ lived experience as novice English teachers at the primary school was then being interpreted to unveil the essential themes of their lived experience. The essential prefigured themes were: (1) initial belief; (2) reality shock; (3) feeling; (4) problem; (5) support; (6) struggle and adaptation; and (7) current belief. Moreover, the emergent themes were: (1) good time management; (2) autonomy; (3) understanding children; (4) creativity; and (5) needs.

xiii ABSTRAK

Wardani, Adesia Kusuma. 2014. Pengalaman Hidup yang Dihayati oleh Para

Guru Bahasa Inggris Pemula di Tingkat Sekolah Dasar. Yogyakarta: Kajian

Bahasa Inggris, Program Pasca Sarjana. Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Ketika guru-guru Bahasa Inggris pemula memasuki lingkungan tempat mereka bekerja untuk yang pertama kali, mereka akan menghadapi kesulitan-kesulitan tertentu. Mereka akan mengalami „reality shock‟ dimana mereka mulai menyadari bahwa hal-hal ideal tentang mengajar yang mereka bayangkan ketika mereka mengenyam pendidikan guru berbeda dengan realita yang sebenarnya. Kemudian mereka juga akan menyadari bahwa ada hal-hal penting untuk mengajar yang belum dipelajari saat mereka menempuh pendidikan guru. Oleh sebab itu, guru-guru Bahasa Inggris pemula ini perlu beradaptasi dengan lingkungan sekolah mereka yang baru. Menyadari hal ini, saya tertarik untuk melakukan penelitian tentang pengalaman hidup yang dihayati oleh para guru Bahasa Inggris pemula khususnya di tingkat sekolah dasar. Saya memilih tingkat sekolah dasar sebagai konteks penelitian saya karena ketertarikan saya akan pengajaran Bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak, pengalaman bekerja saya sebagai guru Bahasa Inggris di sekolah dasar, dan juga realitas dimana tuntutan pasar akan guru Bahasa Inggris untuk sekolah dasar yang menawarkan Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa pengantar dan juga sebagai salah satu mata pelajaran dipenuhi oleh guru-guru Bahasa Inggris pemula.

“Apa sajakah pengalaman hidup yang dihayati oleh para guru Bahasa Inggris pemula di tingkat sekolah dasar?” merupakan pertanyaan penelitian yang diselidiki dalam studi ini. Dalam penelitian ini, saya mengadopsi metode empirical phenomenological yang bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan dan menginterpretasikan pengalaman para guru Bahasa Inggris pemula di periode awal mereka mengajar. Saya melibatkan dua orang partisipan dalam penelitian ini. Kedua partisipan saya adalah guru Bahasa Ingris pemula di sekolah dasar swasta di Salatiga yang menerapkan system dwi-bahasa. Saya melakukan wawancara mendalam kepada kedua partisipan saya untuk mendapatkan data penelitian ini. Berdasarkan hasil wawancara mendalam saya kepada para participant, saya menyusun narasi tentang pengalaman hidup mereka yang dihayati. Narasi disusun berdasarkan kesamaan peristiwa yang dialami kedua partisipan.

Temuan dari penelitian ini adalah deskripsi dari pengalaman hidup para partisipan dan interpretasi dari cerita tersebut. Supaya cerita pengalaman hidup yang dihayati oleh para guru pemula di tingkat sekolah dasar dapat dipahami dengan mudah, deskripsinya dibagi menjadi dua belas bagian. Kedua belas bagian tersebut adalah: (1) latar belakang para partisipan; (2) kehidupan mereka setelah lulus; (3) bergabungnya para partisipan dengan sekolah dimana mereka bekerja; (4) orientasi sebelum mengajar; (5) mengerjakan tugas-tugas administrasi untuk yang pertama; (6) mengajar perdana; (7) berhadapan dengan anak-anak „spesial‟; (8) mengingatkan dan memotifasi anak untuk berbicara dalam Bahasa Inggris; (9) tugas-tugas selain mengajar; (10) metamorphosis mereka; (11) alasan mereka tetap bertahan untuk mengajar; dan (12) harapan.

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Deskripsi tersebut kemudian di interpretasikan supaya tema-tema essesiil dari pengalaman hidup yang dihayati oleh para guru Bahasa Inggris pemula di tingkat sekolah dasar dapat diungkap. Tema-tema essensiil yang sudah diduga terlebih dahulu adalah: (1) keyakinan awal tentang pengajaran; (2) reality shock; (3) perasaan; (4) permasalahan; (5) dukungan; (6) perjuangan dan penyesuaian; (7) keyakinan terkini tentang pengajaran. Kemudian, tema esentiil yang muncul kemudian adalah: (1) manajemen waktu yang baik; (2) otonomi guru; (3) pemahaman akan anak; (4) kreatifitas; dan (5) kebutuhuan.

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This first chapter provides the readers with an introduction to the research and what makes me interested in exploring this particular topic of research. It consists of six majors sections, namely (1) background, (2) problem identification, (3) problem limitation, (4) research question, and (5) research goal and (6) research benefits.

A.BACKGROUND

Teaching is a lofty yet demanding, time-consuming, and often thankless job. Teachers have demanding work since they have to deal with complicated educational issues and practical demands of classroom teaching. According to Pollard (2008), when teachers harmonize their personal ideals, performance standards, practicalities, and wider educational concerns, they might find it difficult and overwhelming. Novice teachers in particular are likely to face unique difficulties with reconciling those things and also adaptation during the initial years of teaching.

Huberman (1993) reveals that in their initial years of teaching, novice teachers experience the transformational process in which they undergo the real “learning to teach” process. In this transformational process from the state of “the learner” to the state of “the teacher”, novice teachers usually face what so called the “reality shock”. They have to face the reality of classroom life which is far

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different from what they have imagined during their pre-service education. During this transformational process in which novice teachers face the real classroom life, they often find difficulties and challenges. According to Kuzmic (1993) it is essential to understand novice teachers‟ experience in their initial years of teaching since it is a critical time for them which may determine their philosophy and attitude for the rest of their career.

Likewise, Farrell (2008) mentions that many language teachers experience the “reality shock” during their initial years of teaching because they have to learn how to adapt and survive in a new school culture. He put that in their initial year of teaching, novice English teachers usually find that there is a gap between academic course content in language teacher preparation programs and the reality that they face in the real language classroom. Hence, understanding the actual experiences of novice English teachers is essential since it might be beneficial for designing teacher training programs which would better prepare the next generation of teachers, particularly their transition to employment (Farrell, 2008). Though understanding novice teachers‟ experience, in particular novice language teachers‟ experience, during their initial years of teaching is important, only few in-depth studies which elucidate their experience have been documented in the TESOL education literature (Farrell, 2008). Therefore, I am interested in studying novice English teachers‟ lived-experience during their initial years of teaching.

In this study, my focus is on novice English teachers at bilingual primary school. I decided to study on novice English teachers at bilingual primary school because I am interested to the field of teaching English to young learners.

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Moreover, my first working experience as English teacher at primary level after leaving undergraduate college also provokes me to focus this study on novice English teachers at primary level. Another reason is the fact that not few novice English teachers meet the demand of English teachers for children resulted from the mushrooming of primary schools in Indonesia which offer English as the medium of instructions and as a subject to attract parents to enroll their children there.

The post-modernism or post-method era leads to the idea of modern progressivism in which education should help human to progress more. New progressivism perspective proposes that “the goals of education are not defined in terms of particular ends or products, but in terms of the processes and procedures by which the individual develops understanding and awareness and creates possibilities for future learning” (Finney in Richards and Renandya, 2001:73). Moreover, Finney puts that the emphasis of progressivism is on concepts of learner needs, interest, and human progress that leads to self actualization of each human being.

Expectedly, by conducting a study on the lived experience of novice primary English teachers, it would facilitate them to achieve their self actualization. Through their lived experience, novice primary English teachers might reflect on it in order to understand better, to be aware of, to improve themselves, and perform better in their job as primary English teacher. In other words, through the study of their lived experience, novice primary English teachers are encouraged to be autonomous. Pre-service language teachers and

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teacher educators might also reflect on it so that they would have better idea of the reality of classroom and thus could prepare better for employment. Furthermore, the school board and experienced teachers would also find it beneficial in order to understand the needs and the challenges of their new colleagues so that they could give appropriate support. For the common readers, they might get better and empathic understanding of the lived experience of novice primary English teachers so that they would humanize the job of primary English teachers, particularly the novice and language teaching.

B.PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Introducing English to children has become great vogue across the world. Graddol (2006) reveals that:

The age at which children start learning English has been lowering across the world. English has moved from traditional „foreign language‟ slot in lower secondary school to primary school-even preschool. The trend has gathered momentum only very recently and the intention is often to create bilingual population (p.88).

Likewise, Pinter (2006) and Nokolov (2009) mention that now ever more and ever younger children are learning English and English is compulsory in primary education in many countries around the world.

This great vogue results the mushrooming of primary schools in Indonesia which offer English as the medium of instructions and as a subject to attract parents to enroll their children there. The mushrooming of primary school which offers English as the medium of instructions and English as a subject in Indonesia results the high demand of English teachers for children. Undoubtedly, this high

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demand of English teacher for children is fulfilled by many novice English teachers who have just graduated from English teacher education program besides experienced teachers.

In their initial year of teaching, novice teachers experience what Farrell (2008) calls as “reality shock”. Novice English teachers face the real classroom language which is far different from what they have form as ideals during their pre-service education. They usually find their initial year of teaching as a time of much difficulty because of factors such as problem with classroom management, the learning and teaching process, motivating students, assessment and evaluation, insufficient and inadequate material, instructional planning and pacing, the workload, and relationship with colleagues and parents (McCann & Johanessen, 2004). Leaving novice teachers on their own with much difficulties would make them become worse and leave the profession. Crookes (1997) and Peacock (2009) state that when novice teachers are left to survive on their own in difficulties, they will leave their job early in their careers. Because of that, novice teachers need guidance and support from experienced educators (Boss, 2001).

Teachers in post-method condition, according to Kumaravadivelu (2006), should be autonomous since teacher autonomy is the heart of pos-method pedagogy. Teachers need to be encouraged, helped, and facilitated to be autonomous by promoting their ability to develop a reflective approach to their own teaching acts, how to initiate change in their classroom, and how to monitor the effects of such changes. Then, post-method teacher educator should not only transfer “a set of preselected and pre-sequenced body of knowledge” to the

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prospective teachers but also encourage and help the prospective teachers to be autonomous.

Hence studying novice English teachers‟ lived experience during their initial year, in particular novice English teachers at primary level as my concern toward the global trend of lowering the age at which children learning English, is needed to elucidate what they experience, thought, feel, believe, need, and aware of. When a clear and comprehensible understanding of novice primary English teachers‟ lived experience is obtained from the descriptions of their experience, appropriate guidance and support for them could be prepared and provided. Moreover, in order to encourage, to help, and to facilitate novice primary English teachers to be autonomous, studying their lived experience is needed because it would enable them to be reflective and self-directed.

C.PROBLEM LIMITATION

This study is limited to the lived experience of novice primary English teachers in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia who work at the private bilingual schools. Novice teachers in this study are defined as teachers who have just graduated from English Teacher Education study program and in their initial years of teaching. The initial years of teaching is defined as the period beyond practicum when the novice teachers move from teacher training institution to the real classroom to teach for the first time. In terms of time teaching, novice teachers in this study are teachers who have less than 3 years of teaching.

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This present study is an empirical phenomenological research. Phenomenological studies are, by nature, limited to the experiences of those who participate in the study. And although it is possible for readers to transfer the descriptions to other settings because of shared or similar situational characteristics (Creswell, 2007), generalization is not possible.

D.RESEARCH QUESTION

In order to obtain meaningful description of phenomenon on novice primary English teachers‟ lived experience, the researcher has to formulate question which can help to get the description clearly. Moreover, the question here helps to frame the construction of interpretation so that the narration will be meaningful. Thus, the question is: “What is the lived experience of novice English teachers at the primary school like?”

E.RESEARCH GOALS

This present study about the lived experience of novice primary English teachers is conducted to describe and interpret meaningful phenomenon experienced by novice English primary teacher during their initial year from the anecdote of the participants‟ lived experience. This study about novice primary English teachers‟ lived experience will bring significant and empathic understanding of the novice primary English teachers‟ adaptation and survival during the transmission process from college to real language classroom life.

8 F.RESEARCH BENEFITS

There will be two kinds of benefits offered in this present study: practical and scientific benefits. Practical benefits from this study are offered to the participants, the school board, experienced teachers, pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and the readers. This research, through in-depth interviews, would allow the participants to reflect on what they had experienced in their initial year of teaching. Through the texts or anecdote of the participants‟ lived experiences in their initial years of teaching English at primary level, the participants might learn a lesson from it and adjust themselves for improvement. In other words, it encourages, helps, and facilitates the participants to be autonomous teachers.

Through the description and the interpretation of novice primary English teachers‟ lived experience during their initial years of teaching, the school boards and the experienced teachers in the same site with the participants might get comprehensible and empathic understanding about what their new colleagues face during their initial year of teaching. By inferring to the comprehensible and empathic understanding of the novice primary English teachers‟ lived experience the school board and the experienced teachers might provide appropriate support and mentoring for the novice teachers. Similarly, teacher educators might also infer to this description and interpretation to prepare and provide suitable teacher education program. Pre-service teachers may also get better idea of the real classroom language, so that they can prepare themselves for, reduce, or even overcome the “reality shock” when they enter their in-service teaching. Practical benefits would also be obtained by common reader from this study that is

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comprehensible and empathic understanding of the lived experience of novice primary English teachers so that they would be able to humanize the job of primary English teachers, particularly the novice and language teaching.

In addition to its practical benefits, this present study also offers scientific benefits. The description and interpretation of participants‟ lived experience in teaching English at primary level during their initial years of teaching would become the property of the body of science which could contribute insight to the theory of English teacher education and development and teaching English to young learners, particularly in Indonesian context.

10 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This second chapter presents the theoretical review and theoretical framework of the research. The construct and concepts related to the research are reviewed and clarified and then being used to formulate the framework of pre-understanding.

A.THEORETICAL REVIEW

In this section, I would review and clarify concepts and constructs related to this research. Those concepts and constructs are (1) novice teachers; (2) primary level; and (3) lived experience. Furthermore, previous related studies are also being reviewed in this section.

1. Novice Teachers

In this section (a) definition of novice teachers; (b) understanding novice teachers; (c) problems faced by novice teachers; and (d) supports for novice teachers are being reviewed and clarified.

a. The notion of novice teachers

Though in the studies of beginning teachers the term “novice” has been used frequently, Farrell (2012) mentions that there is no distinct definition of a novice teacher in the literature. In terms of time teaching, Farrell (2012) says that there is no full agreement as to the exact definition of when a teacher ceases to be

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novice. In some research articles on novice teachers, the time teaching of novice teachers can be from “as little as one year to as many as five years” (Farrell, 2012:437). For example, Kim and Roth (2011) reveal that novice teacher is defined as teachers with less than five years of teaching experiences by some researchers. In addition, Hayness (2011) mentions that some researchers refer to a teacher with two years of teaching experience or less as novice teacher. Based on the time teaching, Farrell (2012) sees three years of time teaching as realistic measurement for teachers to be considered as novice teachers.

Farrell (2012) reveals that among the members of TESOL Quarterly editorial advisory board various definitions of novice teachers also emerge. Some board members suggest that novice teachers are “anyone teaching a new course for the first time” (Farrell, 2012:437). Other board members determine novice teachers as teachers who have entered “a new cultural context for the first time” (Farrell, 2012:437). Moreover, Farrell (2012:437) also mentions that there is also suggestion from the board members that novice teachers refer to “anyone who has received a second license or endorsement in English as a second language even though he or she may be an experienced teacher in other subjects”.

Because of those varied definitions of novice teachers, Farrell (2012) realizes that what exactly a novice teacher is needs to be defined. When there is a clear definition about novice teachers, people who are interested for the issue on novice teachers would know exactly what could be included and not into novice teachers. Farrell (2012) define novice teachers as

those who are sometimes called newly qualified teachers, who have completed their language teacher education program (including teaching

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practicum), and have commenced teaching English in an educational institution (usually within 3 years of completing their teacher education program (p. 437).

Based on Farrell‟s (2012) definition of novice teachers above, experience ESOL teachers who enter new culture or school context could not be considered as novice. Moreover, teachers who are returning to TESOL after many years off could not be considered as novice. Another important thing related to the definition of novice teachers is that age could not be used as the criterion. In other words, age does not have any relevance with novice (Farrell, 2012).

For the purpose of this study, novice teachers are defined as teachers who have just graduated from English Teacher Education study program and in their initial years of teaching. In terms of time teaching, novice teachers in this study are defined as teachers who have less than three years of teaching.

b. Understanding novice teachers

When beginning teachers enter their in-service teaching, they start to experience the real “learning to teach” process. In this “learning to teach” process, novice teachers change their prior state of “the learner” into the state of “the teacher” (Huberman, 1993). During their real “learning to teach” process or their initial years of teaching, novice teachers usually faced with “culture shock” or “reality shock” (Veenman, 1984, Huberman, 1993, Farrell, 2006, Farrell, 2008, and Farrell, 2012).

According to Veenman (1984:143) novice teachers experience the “reality shock” because of “the collapse of the missionary ideals formed during teacher training by the harsh and rude reality of classroom life”. Similarly, Huberman (1993) refers to the reality of classroom life which is very different from what

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novice teachers envisaged during their pre-service education as the “reality shock” faced by novice teachers during their initial years. Likewise, Farrell (2012:211) also reveals that the “reality shock” faced by novice teachers is the time when novice teachers realize that “the ideals they formed while training may not be appropriate for the realism they are faced with during their first year of teaching”. Regarding to the “reality shock” faced by novice teachers, understanding novice teachers is crucial in order to rescue them from abandoning their job. Crookes (1997) and Peacock (2009) reveal that novice teachers are left to survive on their own in less than ideal conditions too often and it results some drop out of the profession early in their careers. In addition, Farrell (2012:436) reveals that many novice teachers are travelling alone without the guides and guardians decided to “abandon the teaching path before ever discovering the joys of teaching”. Therefore, novice teachers should be understood and should not be neglected on their own.

Besides the “reality shock” in their initial years of teaching which might make them leave their profession, novice teachers need to be understood since what they experience in their initial years of teaching would determine their future practice. According to Karatas and Karaman (2013) the first years of teaching in teacher‟s career play a significant role in shaping their identity and future practice. Pitton (2006:2) also puts that “the success of new teachers is critically linked to their first teaching experiences and the opportunities they are given to talk through issues they face in the classroom”. Therefore, it is important to understand their struggle, survival, and adaptation during their initial years of teaching because

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when they were left alone with their challenges and start to fell ineffective, they believe that they are not suitable for the profession and quit their jobs.

c. Problems faced by novice teachers

During their initial years of teaching, novice teachers face with many problems and challenges (Pfister, 2006). The initial years of teaching is described as the discovery and survival phase of teaching by Huberman (1993). Others describe this first years of teaching as the period of uncertainty as “a sink-or-swim experience” since novice teachers are expected to take on many job responsibilities which they are not ready yet for (Huling-Austin et al., 1989). Odell and Ferraro (1992) describe this first period of teaching as vicious cycle during which novice teachers complain about the teaching workload.

Problems which might arise during the novice teachers‟ initial years of teaching are classroom management, the workload, the learning and teaching process, motivating students, assessment and evaluation, insufficient and inadequate material, instructional planning and pacing (Calderhead, 1991; McCann & Johannessen, 2004). There are five main areas of novice teachers concern identified by McCann and Johannessen (2004): (1) knowledge of curriculum; (2) relationship with students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors; (3) workload or time management; (4) evaluation or grading; and (5) autonomy or control. Similarly, Calderhead (1991) mentions that besides curriculum, teaching techniques, and methods, novice teachers usually face problems related to relationship with other teachers.

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Among those problems faced by novice teachers in their initial years of teaching, working load and classroom management are the two most outstanding problems they struggle with (Veenman, 1984, Clift et al., 1995, Alexander and Galbraith, 1997, Crookes and Arakaki, 1999, and McCann and Johannessen, 2004). According to Veenman (1984) and Alexander and Galbraith (1997), classroom management is one of the main concerns of novice teachers during their initial years of teaching. Veenman (1984) particularly mentions five issues perceived by novice teachers in classroom management: (1) motivating students; (2) dealing with individual differences; (3) assessing students‟ work; (4) relations with parents; and (5) organization of class work.

Working load is another problem faced by novice teachers during their first years of teaching besides classroom management. Crookes and Arakaki (1999) and McCann and Johannessen (2004) find that overwork associated with lack of preparation time is the main problem faced by novice teachers during their initial years of teaching which make them having apprehensive attitudes towards their professional development. Previously, Clift et al. (1995) also find that novice teachers are having so much heavy problems in their initial years since they are usually given the most demanding assignment, such as teaching difficult groups and completing paperwork assigned by administration, as well as an overload of teaching hours.

Another problem faced by novice teachers when they enter their in-service teaching for the first time is adaptation. Goodwin (2008) mentions that beginning teachers face challenge of understanding and fitting into the culture of their new

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school. Similarly, Pfister (2006) says that besides the classroom-specific and school problems, novice teachers also face problems with adjusting themselves to new situations.

d. Support for novice teachers

Since beginning teachers face so many problems during their initial years of teaching therefore supports, and guidance need to be provided in order to rescue them from abandoning their professions. Fox and Singletary (1986) mentions that support is highly needed in this phase in order to confront any problems which may arise in the classroom and at school. Likewise, Boss (2001) maintains that novice teachers need guidance and support in their initial years of teaching.

Below two constructs or concepts related to support for novice teachers: (1) sources of support and (2) how to support novice language teachers are being reviewed and clarified.

1) Sources of support

During their initial years of teaching, novice teachers need to be supported to pass their crucial period in their career. Working environment, the school where they work, might be the support provider for novice teachers during their initial years of teaching besides personal support (Karatas & Karaman, 2013). In their summary of studies related to novice language teachers, Karatas and Karaman (2013) put mentors and coworkers as the support provided by the school. Then, the source of personal support could be from novice teachers‟ family and their perceived efficacy.

17 a) Mentor

Mentor is more experienced teacher who supports the novice teacher (Lindgren, 2004). The mentor and novice teacher or the mentee build a good relationship upon openness and confidentiality in which the experienced and judicious teacher and the novice meet regularly for discussion according to the needs of the novice (McGee, 2001). Importantly, a mentor is not a problem solver and not a judge of the novice‟s problems and opinion (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, and Quinlan, 2001). According to them, the task of the mentor is to support the learning and reflective process of the novice. Likewise, Lick (1999) and Alred and Garvey (2000) emphasize that mentoring has a special goal to contribute to learning and thus the novice should be engaged and have a constructive self-awareness in order to make learning happen.

Mentoring a novice teacher is different from supervision a student teacher (Lindgren, 2004). The task of the mentor is to listen, to support, and to develop the thinking of the novice for his or her constructive progress, not telling the right things to do nor the right answer. On the other hand, supervisor has to control the outcome of the students. Hence, a mentor is required to encourage novice to learn from their own experiences in order to develop a vision of good teaching (Feiman-Nemser, 2001).

The mentor who is more experienced than the novice does not necessarily be a teacher who is way older than the novice. Man and Tang (2012:485) find that younger mentor is “a good source of emotional and practical support and is perceived as more approachable with more attainable suggestions”. Carter and

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Francis (2001) in Man and Tang (2012:485) also maintain that young mentor is “better at emphasizing and recalling what it is like to be a beginning teacher”. Hence, as the alternative, giving two mentors to guide and support the novice is suggested (Man and Tang, 2012). Those two mentors are the experienced mentor playing a more advice giving role and the relatively inexperienced mentor playing collaborative and empathetic role.

Related to the mentoring as the support and guide provided by schools for their novice teachers, Man and Tang (2012) state that novice teachers need to be given time table which is novice-friendly. It aims to give much time for novice teachers to observe experienced people‟s classes and learn from them. Besides observing experienced people‟s classes, novice teachers need to be observe too in order to contribute to novice teachers‟ development not to assess their performance (Man and Tang, 2012).

Man and Tang (2012) also mention that principal has a very important function in the process of mentoring novice teachers. If the principal does not recognize and support the mentors, this may limit mentors‟ effectiveness. In addition to valuing and supporting mentors, the principal should create opportunities for their training as well. In this way, mentors can contribute to novices‟ development process.

b)Coworkers

Colleagues are also the source of support which can be provided to the novice teachers. Brannan and Bleistein (2012) discover that supports from colleagues are useful for novice teachers. According to them, there are two kinds

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of support provided by colleagues: (1) pragmatic and (2) affective support. However, these kinds of supports are difficult to be distinguished. Brannan and Bleistein (2012:531) mention that “sharing ideas about teaching, classroom management, school policies, or logistics, as well as peer observation and sharing resources” are included to the pragmatic support provided by colleagues. While affective support are sharing experiences and offering encouragement.

Farrell (2012) also emphasizes the role of colleagues in novice teachers‟ adaptation period. Farrell (2012) describes how a director while observing his class stood up and told him he was not teaching correctly. At that time he felt like going to leave his job because he thought he was not suited to be a language teacher. Fortunately, Farrell (2012) was rescued by his colleagues who acted as his guides and guardians. His colleagues boosted his morale and provided wise counsel (Farrell, 2012:436). From the description of his experience when he was a novice teacher, Farrell (2012) shows how important support from colleagues is. c) Family

In their study, Brannan and Bleisten (2012) also found that family is one of the support providers for novice teachers. From their study, they reveal that family helps them to prepare materials for teaching such as purchasing supplies or organizing stapling papers. Furthermore, Brannan and Bleisten (2012) also reveal that helping a married novice teacher in taking care of the child so that they could work is also kind of helpful support for them.

Similarly, Howard and Johnson (2004) and Day and Gu (2007) also maintain that family is one of support provider for novice teachers to cope with

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their problems and challenges. According to Howard and Johnson (2004) family caring aids novice teachers to cope with workplace challenges. Similarly, Day and Gu (2007) find that having a supportive family might enhance teachers‟ capacity to cope with workplace challenges.

d)Perceived efficacy

Self efficacy is the extent to which individuals believe they can organize and execute actions necessary to bring about a desired outcome (Bandura, 1997). Novice teachers‟ self efficacy played an important role in supporting their development as language teachers too (Faez and Valeo, 2012). From their study on 115 novice teachers‟ self efficacy and how it plays a role in supporting their development as language teachers, Faez and Valeo (2012) reveal that novice teachers‟ self efficacy particularly their perceived efficacy should not be neglected since novice teachers build on their perceived efficacy and it can predict success and commitment to work. Hence, novice teachers‟ perceived efficacy as one of the personal supports should be boosted in order to help novices to cope with problems and challenges during their initial years of teaching and thus they can perform better in teaching.

2) How to support novice teachers

In order to support novice language teachers, Richards and Farrell (2005) suggest two kinds of strategies to assist novice teachers in dealing with their problems and retain them in the profession. Those strategies are institutional and individual strategies. The institutional strategies are providing sources for development, arranging visits to other schools, and providing time for ongoing

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reflections (Richards and Farrell, 2005). According to them, individual strategies are reflection, self-directed learning, and taking part in teacher support groups.

Another way to support novice teachers is by encouraging them to share the challenges they face in their first years of teaching and tell other people about what the experience (Farrell, 2012). Thus, Farrell (2012) encourages second language educators to collect the stories novice teachers share about their first years of teaching. From what they have collected, a corpus of the story of novice teachers first years of teaching could be created. This would help novice teachers overcome the challenges they face and reflect on their own teaching experiences (Farrell, 2012). Similarly, Shin (2012) also reveals that by sharing their stories, novice teachers are able to reflect on their own teaching practices and it is empowering.

2. Primary Level

In this section, constructs and concepts related to primary level particularly bilingual school are being reviewed and clarified. Those constructs and concepts are: (1) bilingual education; (2) primary school in Indonesia; (3) primary level students‟ characteristics; and (4) teaching English at primary level.

a. Bilingual education

Bilingual education at the elementary is defined as “education that aims to promote bilingual (or multilingual) competence by using both (or all) languages as media of instruction for significant portions of the academic curriculum” (Genesse, 2004:548). According to Genesse (2004) the distinctive characteristic or

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the hallmark of bilingual education is integrating language and academic instruction.

In her book entitled Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective, Garcia (2011) differentiates bilingual education and traditional education which teach a second or a foreign language. Below is the table of differences between bilingual education and traditional foreign- or second language education by Garcia (2011:26).

Table 2.1 Differences between Bilingual Education and Traditional Second- or Foreign-Language

Bilingual Education Second- or Foreign-Language Education Overarching Goal

Educate meaningfully and some type of bilingualism.

Competence in additional language.

Academic Goal

Educate bilingually and be able to function across cultures.

Learn an additional language and become familiar with and additional culture. Language Use Languages used as media

of instruction.

Additional language taught as subject. Instructional Use of

Language

Uses some form of two/more languages.

Uses target language mostly.

Pedagogical Emphasis Integration of language and content.

Explicit language instruction.

According to Garcia (2011) the remarkable difference between bilingual education program and traditional second- or foreign-language program is that the traditional second- or foreign-language program teaches the language as a subject, whereas bilingual education teaches content through an additional language other than the children‟s home language. Garcia (2011) mentions that bilingual

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education program uses the language which is other than children‟s mother tongue as a medium of instruction. Further, Garcia (2011) also emphasizes the aim of bilingual education is for developing multiple understandings about languages and cultures, and foster appreciation for human diversity through general education which is taught in two or more languages.

For the purpose of this study, bilingual education is defined as education program which does not only to teach English in order to develop the students‟ foreign language competence but also to teach content through English or in other words using English as the media of instruction. Though English becomes the language instruction, Indonesian is still being used to teach certain subjects which cannot or too difficult to be delivered in English.

b. Primary school in Indonesia

According to Law No. 20/2003, primary school and lower secondary school belong to the basic education. Basic education itself is general education with a duration of nine years: six years in primary school or elementary education and three years in lower secondary school or junior secondary education. This basic education is compulsory for the Indonesian citizens and it is well known as “wajib belajar sembilan tahun” or nine years compulsory education.

Seven until twelve year old children are required to attend Sekolah Dasar (SD) or primary school or elementary school. Primary school in Indonesia consists of six grades (grades 1 – 6). Primary schools in Indonesia are run either by the government (public school) or sectors (private schools). Nowadays, some private schools in Indonesia refer to themselves as “national plus schools”. National plus

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schools are schools which intend to go beyond the minimum government requirements, especially with the use of English as medium of instruction or having an international-based curriculum instead of the national one.

For the purpose of this study, primary school which is chosen as the context of this study is private primary school which uses national plus curriculum. This private primary school is also a bilingual school which uses English as a media of instruction. Most of the subjects in that school are delivered in English, however certain subjects such as Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) and Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan (Civics) are delivered in Indonesian. Moreover, English in this kind of school is given more than time slot than English in regular primary school. The students in this school learn English 6 hours of lesson a week (1 hour of lesson is 35 minutes).

c. Primary level students’ characteristics

Children in primary level are those whose ages are ranged between 7 until 12 years. Young learner in this level of education have different characteristics from adult as follows: (1) they have unlimited physical energy which makes them often need to be physically active; (2) they have various emotional needs; (3) they are emotionally excitable; (4) they are at their early stage of schooling so that they are still developing conceptually; (5) they are still developing their first language literacy; (6) they learn slowly and easily to forget things; (7) they are self oriented; (8) they have excellent ability in imitating; and (9) they do not have the same kinds of motivation in learning language as adults (Brewster et al., 2004).

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Nunan (2011) classifies young learners into two: (1) younger learners and (2) older learners. Children at grade 1-3 are included into younger learners, while children at grade 4-6 are included into older learners. Nunan‟s (2011:2-3) identification of younger learners‟ and older learners‟ characteristics is presented in the table below.

Table 2.2 Younger Learners and Older Learners Characteristics

Younger learners Older learner

They are at pre-school or in the first couple of years of schooling.

They are well established at school and comfortable with school routines. Generally, they have a holistic

approach to language which means that they understand meaningful messages but cannot analyze language yet.

They show growing interest in analytical approaches, which means that they begin to take an interest in language as an abstract system. They have lower level of awareness

about themselves as well as about the process of learning.

They show a growing level of awareness about themselves as language learners and their learning. They have limited reading and writing

skills, even in their first language.

They have well-developed skills as readers and writers.

They are more concerned about themselves than others.

They have a growing awareness of others and their view points. They have limited knowledge about

the world.

They have a growing awareness of about the world around us.

They enjoy fantasy, imagination, and movement.

They begin to show an interest in real life issue.

Children characteristics can also be identified through their developmental stages as they progress from birth to adolescence in which children‟s social; psychological; and intellectual development are build up through those four stages (Nunan, 2011). According to Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist, children develop through four stages in gaining knowledge about world, from

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birth to adolescence: (1) sensori-motor stage; (2) pre-operational stage; (3) concrete-operational stage; and (4) formal operational stage.

Children at primary level are already in the third stage, concrete-operational stage. Children in this stage are at age of 7 to 11 or 7 to 12 (Henniger, 2009 and Nunan, 2011). According to Henniger (2009), children in this stage are less egocentric and their ability to see other‟s perspective is gradually established. Furthermore, they are still developing their ability to think logically and also starting to make generalizations from the environment although it is limited (Henniger, 2009 and Nunan, 2011).

d. Teaching English at the primary level

Teaching English at primary level means teaching English to young learners whose ages are ranged from 7 to 12. Teaching English to young learners is not the same with teaching English to adults. The remarkable difference is the motivation owned by young learners and adults. Brewster et al. (2004) reveals that young learners do not have the same kinds of motivation as adults in learning English. Therefore, in teaching young learners, teachers need to engage them well in the learning process. Moreover, engaging children well in the learning process is needed since children‟s concentration span is shorter than adults (Brewster et al., 2004). It means that teachers need to create various attractive activities to engage the students in learning activities.

Moreover, children have their unique characteristics and are still in their psychological and intellectual development. Hence the way English is taught to children should be different from adults. Related to the children‟s psychological

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and intellectual development, Nunan (2011) reveals that in designing learning activities and creating tasks and materials for children, their psychological and intellectual development and also their characteristics need to be considered. In addition, each child has their own learning styles which need to be considered too (Clarke, 2010). Therefore in designing learning activities, teachers need to vary the activities in order to suit to the students‟ learning styles.

Classroom management in teaching English to young learners cannot be seen as a trivial thing since it will influence the smoothness of the overall teaching-learning activities. When the class and the students are under controlled, teacher can teach better and might achieve the teaching objectives well. Oliver and Reschly (2007) maintain that classroom management is important. They reveal that

The ability of teachers to organize classrooms and manage the behavior of their students is crucial to achieving educational outcomes. Although sound behavior management does not guarantee effective instruction, it establishes the environmental context that makes good instruction possible (Oliver & Reschly, 2007:1).

Hence, teachers need to have good classroom management skills in order to establish classroom context which enables learners to learn well.

Assessment is a necessary part of teaching and learning though it may threaten the children since it is not suitable with their nature (Ioannou-Georgiou & Pavlou, 2003). Cameron says that assessment brings a strong “washback” effect on children lives which then can influence their interest and motivation in learning English. Therefore the methods and techniques of assessing young learners should be selected appropriately so that the assessment is valid, reliable, and fair.

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Teaching English to young learners is different from teaching English to adults and it cannot be seen as a trivial and easy job. Children might be very unpredictable during the teaching-learning process, sometimes they are nice, but sometimes they are spoiled, naughty, and egoistic. Therefore, English teachers for young learners should not only have good knowledge and techniques about teaching but also passion and patience in teaching children.

3. Lived Experience

Dilthey (1985) in Van Manen (1990:35) suggests that “lived experience involves our immediate, pre-reflective consciousness of life: a reflexive or self-given awareness which is, as awareness, unaware of itself”. According to Dilthey (1985:223) as cited in Van Manen (1990), a lived experience

does not confront him as something perceived or represented; it is not given to me, but the reality of lived experience is there-for-him because he have a reflexive awareness of it, because he possesses it immediately as belonging to him in some senses. Only in thought does it become objective.

Furthermore, Dilthey (1985) in Van Manen (1990:36) also suggest that lived experience is “to the soul what breath is to the body”. According to Van Manen (1990:36) it is “the breathing of meaning”. Thus, lived experience has an essence or quality that could be recognized when we consciously retrospect on it.

Then, Van Manen (1990:36) states that lived experience is “the starting point and end point of phenomenological research”. Phenomenology, according to Van Manen (1990:36) aims to

transform lived experience into a textual expression of its essence – in such a way that the effect of the text is at once a reflexive re-living and a

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reflective appropriation of something meaningful: a notion by which a reader is powerfully animated in his or her own lived experience.

For Hegel in Moustakas (1994:26), phenomenology refers to “knowledge as it appears to consciousness, the science of describing what one perceives, senses, and knows in one‟s immediate awareness and experience.” According to Husserl (1962) phenomenology as a research method is an in-depth process of reexamining the things themselves. Powers and Knapp (1995) put that phenomenology is a way of thinking about what life experiences are like for people and is primarily concerned with interpreting the meaning of these experiences.

According to Creswell (2003) phenomenological research is a research in which the “essence” of human experiences concerning a phenomenon is identified. Phenomenon according to Moustakas (1994) is what appears in consciousness. Heidegger (1977:74-75) mentions that the word phenomenon comes from the Geek phanesthai. It means to flare up, to show itself, to appear. Moreover, the word phenomenon, according to Heidegger (1977:74-75), is constructed from phaino. Then, phenomenon means to bring to light, to place in brightness, to show itself in itself, the totality of what lies before us in the light of day. According to Husserl (1931:129) any phenomenon represents a suitable starting point for an investigation and it serves as the essential beginning of a science that seeks valid determinations that are open to anyone to verify.

For the purpose of this study the lived experience of novice English teachers at the primary school in this study is defined as their past experience which has essence of meaning obtained or recognized from conscious reflection

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on it. The lived experience of novice English teachers in their initial years is the phenomenon of this study.

4. Review of Related Research

According to Farrel (2006, 2008) the first years of teaching has been well documented in general education research, for instances: studies conducted by Bullough (1989, 1990, and 1997); Bullough and Baughman (1993); and Calderhead (1992). Recently, the first year of teaching has been recognized by language teacher educators as having enormous influence on the future development of language teachers (Farrell, 2006). Though, it is now crucial to study about novice teachers, “not many detailed studies outlining the experiences of language teachers in their first years of teaching have been documented in the TESOL education literature” (Farrell, 2006:212). For instances: Richards and Pennington (1998); Farrell (2006); Moore (2008); and Hayes (2008).

Richards and Pennington (1998), in their study of five first-year teachers of English in Hong Kong, find that those teachers focus their attention on two main themes: (1) establishing their role and their relationship with the students, and (2) covering the required material and preparing for examination in their initial years of teaching. According to Richards and Pennington (1998), the focus of those first-years teachers diverge from their beliefs formed during their pre-service education. It is happened because of number of factors, such as: the impact of larger classes, unmotivated students, examination pressures, a set syllabus, pressure to conform more experienced teachers, students‟ limited proficiency in

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English, students‟ resistance to new ways of learning, and heavy workloads. Study by Richards and Pennington (1998) shows that the reality of language classroom could change what teachers have formed as ideal during their pre-service education.

Farrell (2006) conducts a study on how a new Singaporean teacher balances a delicate and sometimes conflicting role between learning to teach and learning to become a teacher within a local school with an established culture in a neighborhood secondary school in Singapore during his first year. In his study, Farrell (2006) uses a story framework (orientation-complication-result). Farrell (2006) founds three major challenging situations faced by his participant: (1) teaching approach; (2) course content; and (3) collegial relationship. Moreover he also indentifies his participant responses with each challenging situation as he struggle to establish himself as a teacher.

A study on a Cambodian English teacher‟s first year of teaching in Cambodian high school is conducted by Moore (2008). He describes the first-year experience of a Cambodian teacher who is trained to teach English in local secondary schools but ends up teaching on the Bed (TEFL) program she has just graduated from. Based on his participant‟s experience, it is revealed that she has two kinds of issues: (1) institutional issues and (2) personal issues. The institutional issues are: (1) the program‟s transition from being taught by native English speakers to being taught by Cambodians; (2) the introductions of a student‟s contribution fee which created unrest among the students. The personal issues include: (1) the pride and responsibility associated with being a university

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lecturer; (3) teaching classes in class in which many students had not done their homework; (4) dealing with trouble-makers; and (4) the resistance of some students to the communicative teaching methodology. Besides revealing the issues faced by the participant, Moore (2008) also describes how she overcomes those issues and how she helps her students learn.

Another study is a study on Thailand teachers in their first years of teaching conducted by Hayes (2008). The participants of his study are four novice teachers who have never experienced any formal induction in their first year. In his study, Hayes (2008) documents how those four Thai teachers undergo their first year of teaching using a life history research method. Based on his documentation, he argues that new teachers need to be prepared for the reality of the classroom during training program and on-the-job guidance in dealing with school structures and collegial relationship would be reduce some of the burdens face by teachers.

Most of the previous studies on novice teachers‟ experiences during their initial years of teaching in TESOL context are case studies which only reveal the problems and challenges faced by them. Hence through this present study I want to not only reveal novice teachers‟ problems and challenges during their initial years of teaching English but describe their lived experience by conducting a phenomenological research, particularly the hermeneutic one. Through hermeneutic phenomenological research, the participants‟ meaningful experiences which they could reflect on could be described. Then form the description, their

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feelings, awareness, beliefs, problems, challenges, and thought could be elucidated.

B.FRAMEWORK OF PRE-UNDERSTANDING

Constructing a framework for research is important since it serves as the main guidance for a research (Creswell, 2003). Since this study, is a phenomenological research in which “the essence of human experiences concerning a phenomenon” (Creswell, 2003:15) is identified, the framework is also formed as the figured themes. The theoretical framework or pre-understanding of the lived experience of novice English teachers at primary level is formulated as follows.

Novice English teachers are teachers who have just graduated from English Teacher Education study program and in their initial years of teaching which is still less than three years. When they first enter their in-service teaching, novice teachers bring the ideals that they formed during their pre-service education. The ideal that they have formed during their pre-service education could be a set of beliefs about teaching English to young learners. However, when they start teaching in the real language classroom they might experience the “reality shock” in which they face reality which is far different from the ideal that they formed duting their pre-service education and then they start to realize that there is a gap between what they learnt in the pre-service education program and the reality of classroom language or their in-service teaching (Farrel, 2012).

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Therefore initial belief becomes the first theme and reality shock becomes the second theme.

Novice English teachers might feel sad, depressed, and stressful during their initial years of teaching since the reality is far different from what they have envisaged during their pre-service education. Many problems might arise during their initial years, such as: adaptation with the new school environment, classroom management, workload, learning and teaching process, evaluation and grading, relationship with students, parents, colleagues, and supervisors, and any other problems (Calderhead, 1991; McCann &Johannessen, 2004). Hence, feeling or what novice teachers fell in their initial years is the third theme, while problem is the fourth theme.

When novice teachers are being left alone with their problems, they would feel that they are not suitable for the job and start thinking to leave the job (Crookes, 1997; Peacock, 2009; Farrel, 2012). The institution where they work might realize this and then provide support for them. The support provided by the environment or the school where they work can be sharing and mentoring (Karatas & Karaman, 2013). Through sharing and mentoring, novice teachers receive support from their mentor and coworkers. If the school where they work does not provide any support for them, they might get support from their family (Karatas & Karaman, 2013). Moreover, novice teachers‟ perceived efficacy also might boost them to survive (Brannan and Bleisten, 2012). Thus, support becomes the fifth theme.

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Besides that, novice teachers‟ might also employ their personal strategies to cope with problems during their initial years of teaching (Richards & Farrel, 2005). They might have self reflection and self-directed learning as their personal strategies. They could see and reflect from what they have done and then take the lesson from it to improve themselves. In other words novice teachers also have their own strategies to struggle and to adapt in their new school. It makes struggle and adaptation becomes the sixth theme then.

Novice teachers‟ experience in their initial years of teaching might determine their philosophy and attitude for the rest of their career (Kuzmic, 1993). Furthermore, the first year of teching in teachers‟ career played significant role in shaping their future practice (Karatas and Karaman, 2013). The up and down of novice teachers‟ experience during their initial years might make them either abandon their job or make them keep teaching (Farrel, 2012). Hence, when they survive, what novice teachers have experienced might shape and change their initial beliefs about teaching English at primary level. Because of that, current belief becomes the last theme.

36 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology and the procedures that would be employed in this research. It was essential to this research since it elaborated the appropriate steps of how to answer the research question systematically. Hence the elaboration in this chapter covers four major parts, namely (1) research method, (2) data and data gathering techniques, (3) research procedures, and (4) text composition and interpretation.

A.RESEARCH METHOD

This research was a qualitative research, particularly empirical phenomenological research which aimed to describe and interpret novice teachers‟ experience during their initial years of teaching. This study was a qualitative research because it took place in natural setting, was fundamentally interpretive, and put the researcher to view the social phenomenon holistically (Creswell, 2003:181-183). It was a phenomenological since it described the participants‟ lived experience and described the meaning of the experience without “offering casual explanations or interpretive generalization” (Van Manen, 1990:54). It was also empirical because it “involved a return to experience in order to obtain comprehensive description that provided the basis for a reflective structural analysis that portrayed the essence of the experience” (Moustakas, 1994:13). In this study, the lived experience of interest was the participants‟ up and down

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experience in their first 3 years of teaching English at a private bilingual primary school in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia.

Phenomenology was a method which procedures “involve studying a small number of subjects through extensive and prolonged engagement to develop patterns of relationship of meaning” (Moustakas, 1994 as cited in Creswell, 2003:15). Therefore, in conducting this study I involved two participants who were willing to have an extended engagement to tell their experience during their initial years of teaching and to develop narrative stories of their experiences. In order to obtain the data or the lived experience of novice teachers in teaching English at primary level, I carried in-depth interviews with the participants. Narrative stories resulted from in-depth interviews was then categorized. After that, novice primary English teachers‟ lived experiences were described and interpreted based on the categorization.

B.DATA AND DATA GATHERING TECHNIQUES

The elaboration in this section covers (1) nature of data and data collection techniques; (2) setting; (3) participant; and (4) validation.

1. Nature of data and data collection techniques

All of the data needed to conduct this research would be in the form of texts, particularly narrative stories (anecdote). The texts were obtained from in-depth interviews. In-in-depth interviews were conducted in an informal atmosphere outside the work area and working hour so that the participants and I felt more comfortable. When it was not possible to have face to face meeting, with the

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mereka dulu ke kelas-kelas habis itu “Who join swimming

today? Siapa yang nggak?” terus nanti alasannya kenapa enggak.

Terus sudah. Kalau sudah baru diingatkan nanti kumpul di biasanya di parking area, terus baru nanti kita dijemput mobil dari Laras Asri. Terus nunggu di sana sampai mobilnya dating, terus udah gitu aja.

A20 Yang cerita orang tua murid protes karena soal kuis yang gambarnya ge jelas itu gimana sih detailnya, anaknya ga bisa kerjain karena gambarnya ga jelas atau gimana?

J20 Emm… kayaknya iya, soalnya kebetulan temen-temen guru di sana itu sering mewanti-wanti kalau parents-nya di sana itu pretty demanding gitu lho mbak. Jadi kalau misalkan kalau ada sesuatu yang ga beres sama anaknya itu protes. Nah salah satu yang gap rotes ini biasanya anakku dapatnya 8 ke atas atau 8 bahkan waktu itu ada yang dapet 60 tak kasih itu karena memang ngawur jawabnya. Usut punya usut bisanya dia dapetnya 8 sama guru yang sebelumnya, terus protes, cuman ga protes sih cuman

nanya “Mr, ini gambarnya kok kayak gini ga terlalu jelas terus soalnya juga mungkin anak-anak ga paham.” Aku jawab “Oh

gitu ya buk ya…” aku cuman bilang “Ini sudah tak konsultasikan ke Waka kurukulumnya”, soalnya khan yang tugas untuk

mengoreksi soal khan beliau. Itu satu-satunya pembelaanku dan

aku khan masih baru. Aku enggak tau… eemmm… masih belum

tau seberapa jauh konsep pemahaman anak-anaknya.

A21 Dari situ berarti ada pelajaran ya…? Oohhh kalau besok lagi buat soal berarti aku harus…

J21 He‟e kayak minggu kemaren yang tak sampein itu to mbak. Jadi

pokoknya KD nya apa, standard kompetensinya apa,

indikatornya apa, tak buat soal yang semudah mungkin kira-kira

anak yang paling eee… pencapainya yang paling rendah di kelas

itu bisa ngerjain, tapi juga ada tantangan juga buat anak yang pinter di kelas itu, jadi imbanglah.

A22 Yang ngajar di jam siang khan anak-anak suka rame, khan dulu juga pernah cerita ngalami sama kayak Kiki itu kamu serius diganduli gitu kakinya?

J22 Ee… diganduli gitu… kalau diganduli di kaki gitu enggak cuman

ada anak yang sukanya gelendotan. Aku ga sampai separah itu sih mbak, cuman gelendotan terus tak peringatin terus dia kembali ke tempat duduknya gitu. Atau waktu aku lagi ngambil sesuatu di bawah tau tau ada yang lari kayak minta gendong di

punggung mbak. Lhoh… apa ini hahahaha… tapi ya tak suruh kembali…

A23 Pas dari pertama ngajar masalah L1 sama L2 di kelas gimana dek? Masih banyak yang pake L1?

J23 Kalau sampai sekarang sih masih kadang-kadang perlu diingetin yang sudah terbiasa itu malah yang kelas 3 4 itu sudah terbiasa

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meskipun di kelas 3 dan 4 aku ngajarnya bukan Inggris. Jadi aku

di kelas 2 ini cuman ngingetin terus “In English please. Speak in English please.”

A24 Kalau anak-anak masih sering pake L1 jadi rame nggak sih di kelas? Khan mereka bisa ngobrol sama temennya?

J24 Emmm…. Kayaknya lebih ke suatu ketika mereka ingin

mengatakan sesuatu yang kelas 4 atau kelas 3 itu punya trik, mereka sebisa mungkin berbicara dengan Bahasa Inggris. Kalau ada satu kata yang pake Bahasa Indonsia mereka ada gesture nya gini (quotation mark). Tapi kalau yang kelas 2 belum bisa kayak itu. Jadi kalau mereka pengen mengatakan sesuatu dalam Bahasa Inggris tapi ga bisa, mereka langsung pake Bahasa Indonesia. Jadi effortnya mereka masih kurang, jadi ya tak ingetin terus tak ingetin terus.

A25 Di jam kosong pas ga ngajar khan ceritanya ngerjain administrasi, semua bisa selesai dalam jam-jam itu?

J25 Wah kalau mau diselesain yaa… tergantung pekerjaannya apa

mbak. Kalau misalkan buat soal, terus kisi-kisi gitu ya kadang di bawa di rumah terus diselesaikan di rumah. Bahkan kalau

mungkin misalkan pas ada tugas dari sekolah kayak kemaren beli bibit tanaman buat acara gowes itu khan kita harus ada sumbang sihnya ke departemen lingkungan hidup itu khan beli tanaman terus yaudah di waktu harusnya aku bisa ngerjain administrasi aku beli taneman. Yaudah kerjaannya tak bawa ke rumah.

A26 Berarti harus pinter ngatur waktu ya?

J26 He‟eh jadi ga harus selalu di rumah semua atau di sekolah semua

itu sih.

A27 Bedanya dulu sama sekarang berarti jauh lebih rapi ya untuk mengatur waktu?

J27 Aku bukan lebih rapi sih mbak lebih fleksible. Jadi dulu khan pertama-tama masih idealis, ini harus dikerjakan di sini ini di sini. Sekarang yaweslah kalau ga bisa dikerjakan di sekolah ya di rumah.

A28 Kalau ditanya nih… bedanya Jalu yang dulu pas di awal-awal kerja sama yang sekarang itu apa?

J28 Mungkin apa ya? Yang jelas anak-anak lebih familiar sama aku itu jelas pasti dan mereka kayak lebih seneng juga sama aku. Bahkan kemaren sempat ada guru baru juga yang masuk, aku harus ngajar untuk promosi sekolah ngajar art, khan guru art nya ga begitu fasih Bahasa Inggrisnya, jadi aku ngajar art sama guru artnya tapi aku lebih yang Bahasa Inggrisnya jadi asistentnya dia buat ngajar art sama music. Terus ada yang gantiin aku di kelas 2 itu ngajar terus anak-anak “Lhoo Mr. Jalu kemana??” sampai

kayak gitu mbak, aku ya kaget. Ya… gitu sih… lebih deket aja

sama anak.

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J29 Masalahnya ini mbak, ga pernah ada yang ngajarin cara apa bikin analisa nilainya, aku cuman dapat file excel nya dari guru yang lama itu untuk hasil test yang lama. Yaudah tak pelajari sendiri sampai puyeng pake rumus-rumus excel yang yang pernah tak pelajari. Akhirnya bisa buat sendiri. Dan itu rumus yang sama sebenernya ya cuman aku cari sendiri.

A30 Analisa nilai itu gimana sih?

J30 Jadi analisis nilai itu kayak misalkan kita punya 20 soal, emmm 10 pilihan ganda, 5 isian, 5 urain. Pilihan ganda itu pointnya berapa per soal, itu ditulis terus itu ada kolomnya untuk per-anak jadi anak ini di soal nomer berapa salah nomer berapa salah terus point totalnya untuk nomer ini misalkan di kelas 2 Sparkling itu berapa terus ada yang butuh remedial dan pengayaan itu khan ketauan dari situ, terus ada kolom untuk menghitung ini tuntas KKM atau tidak tuntas itu ada.

A31 Wow… detail sekali ya…?

J31 Nah itu makanya mbak, waktu bener-bener masuk situ tuh yang

stress out gitu… Waktu kuliah ga dikasih tau kerjaannya seperti

ini dan menurutku di sekolah-sekolah lain ga ada yang kayak gini. Tapi buahnya besok, itu malah membantu sendiri.

A32 Terus dulu yang cerita terakhir itu khan ga kerekam, yang mau test tapi malah workbooknya dikumpulkan itu, terus itu jadi belajar kalau culturenya di sekolah itu begini.

J32 He‟em mbak jadi belajar kalau ga semua anak punya textbook

dan workbook.

A33 Setelah melampaui semua ini dari awal kerja sampai sekarang sudah masuk 5 bulanan. Ada wish ga? Maksudku harapanya kamu ingin apa, perlu apa to perform better?

J33 Kayaknya perlu training untuk ee… untuk classroom

management. Soalnya aku merasa kayaknya ga cuman aku aja yang butuh tapi beberapa temen juga mengeluhkan itu. Jadi masih butuh. Apalagi kita masih muda khan kebanyakan dan masih sangat butuh kalau misalkan kita di training masalah classroom management khan kita lebih enak dan kita misalkan punya satu pemahaman yang sama ee…. untuk menghandle suatu kelas, jadi enggak tiap orang punya beda style sendiri, nanti khan anak-anak ada adaptasi sendiri kalau menurutku sih kayak gitu. Kalau kita punya konsep yang sama untuk

menghandle kelas nanti kita lebih enak jadi nanti gayanya di sekolah ini tuh begini.

A34 Jadi kayak ada standardnya apa, jadi semua guru sama, dan nanti muridnya pun ga wah nanti kalau sama Mr ini bisa gini kalau sama laini begini?

J34 He‟em… he‟em… iya … iya… soalnya aku masih merasa di

sekolah kayak gitu mbak. Wah aku kalau sama Miss ini kayak gini. Jadi style ku ngajar sama yang tak ganti khan pasti berbeda

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dan juga karekternya khan juga beda cuman kalau di sekolah ini ada suatu pemahaman tentang classroom management atau tipe pengajaran seperti ini nanti sepaham nanti lebih enak lagi.

A35 Apasih dek yang membuatmu bertahan sampai sekarang?

J35 Yang utamanya to mbak, aku juga ga terlalu apa ya … terlalu

yakin apa sih yang mebuat aku bertahan, ya itu tadi factor-faktor nya itu tadi mbak yang kayak di interview kemaren, ya cuman mungkin kalau dipikir-pikir yang utam itu aku sudah punya satu pekerjaan di Salatiga yang itu bener-bener tak doakan selama ini terus minta sama Tuhan kerja di Salatiga dan ini aku dapet gitu

lho… Kalau aku resign dan aku keluar berarti aku enggak

bersyukur sama Tuhan soalnya ini satu-satunya pekerjaan di Salatiga yang menerima aku, berarti ini khan jawaban dari Tuhan udah gitu. Kayak rasa syukur ke Tuhan, jadi religious aku mbak.

A36 Menurut Jalu dan pengalaman sampai saat ini, komunikasi antara guru dan orang tua itu penting ga?

J36 Kalau menurutku penting mbak. Ya soalnya kayak dalam materi itu khan setiap bulan kita khan buat namanya summary.

Summary itu isinya jadwal bulanan kita terus schedule nya bulanan. Jadi tanggal ini bulan Maret terus jadwalnya ini topik pembahasannya apa untuk kelas 2 Glowing dan kelas 2 Sparkling itu khan beda. Terus itu nanti disetor ke wali kelas nanti

dimasukan ke jadwal kelas yang nanti akan di upload ke website. Terus nanti kita buat summary, summarynya itu ringkasan materi yang akan dibahas di bulan depan gitu. Nah kadang-kadang …

eh… bukan kadang-kadanga sih kalau English itu aku mesthi scan materi dari buku cetak, nah di situ itu jadi polemic sendiri buat aku karena ada beberapa anak yang sudah punya buku dan itu cuman segelintir, satu atau 2 di masing-masing kelas, dan yang sisanya cuman punya workbook bahkan tidak punya buku sama sekali karena merasa sudah ada summary, biar hemat uang juga khan. Terus jadi akhirnya tetep tak scan aja. Suatu ketika aku mikir gini, kalau kayak gini terus kayaknya perlu ada deh

koordinasi ke orang tua mengenai materi eee… aku ketemu

orang tua sendiri menjelaskan materi yang akan tak pakai ke orang tua. Cuman itu kayaknya bukan hakku tapi wewenangnya wali kelas untuk menjelaskan itu semua.

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APPENDIX 4