165 having been structured by the questioning sequenced they experienced with their
own teachers p. 47.
Andi’s pedagogic disposition to dominance is consistent with his past experiences. Teacher-centred instruction has become an education issue in Asian countries including
Indonesia. Particular focus is placed on the issues related to the teacher dominating the classroom talk and with students being positioned as passive learners who are taught to
be obedient and respectful to teachers. As a result, there are few opportunities for students to demonstrate critical thinking related to the learning activities in the
classroom. Andi is the product of this old-fashioned instruction method and these methods have influenced his own teaching actions.
Similar to the case of Maya in the previous chapter, Andi’s pedagogic disposition to dominance significantly influences the students’ learning in the class.
They tend to be overly dependent on Andi for their learning content, direction, and goals as he alone determines what is taught and how it is taught. The students are not
encouraged to develop their skills during lessons. To create a more effective teaching and learning process which supports and encourages students to fully engage in the
class activities, Andi should work with the students to ensure they benefit from his lesson. Andi should allow space for the students to develop their thinking skills by
reducing the amount of time he spends talking during lessons, and by providing a sufficient amount of thinking time to the students. Andi also needs to provide more
opportunities for the students to express their ideas and opinion during the class activities rather than nominating which students are to speak. The productive
disruptions to Andi’s pedagogic disposition that emerged from his self-evaluation mediational activity are discussed in the next section of this chapter.
6.5 Productive disruptions resulting from teacher self-evaluation as a mediational activity
Andi is already familiar with the concept of teacher self-evaluation as he engaged in the practice regularly while working at TBI. Self-evaluation in the current
study was driven by data from video recorded lessons and my observation notes, student feedback forms, and through participating in collegial dialogue with other teachers. In
addition, similar to Maya in the previous chapter, Andi recognized that every self-
166 evaluation tool has its own affordances. When asked about the use of video recorded
lessons for teacher self-evaluation activities Andi remarked:
Lesson video recording is really useful for me. I can view the video multiple times wherever I want. We can also focus on certain aspect of my teaching when
I view the video. I think lesson video recording is the most effective tool to evaluate our teaching as it covers everything we want to evaluate Interview 2,
2022012.
Even though this was Andi’s first experience of having his lessons video recorded, he perceived the process to be beneficial for self-understanding.
In addition, self-reflection questions helped Andi obtain greater understanding of his teaching practices. He commented, “teacher self-reflection questions are really
useful as well because the questions are already systematically arranged based on the focus of aspects of teaching we want to evaluate Interview 2, 2022012. When asked
about the use of student feedback as one of self-evaluation instruments, Andi pointed out:
To me, student feedback helps me to know what students want from me and whether they enjoy my teaching or not. Besides evaluating my teaching by
myself, I always need the opinions from others especially my students to get more comprehensive information about my teaching Interview 2, 2022012.
The above statements indicate that Andi perceived particular value in student feedback as it provided an evaluation of his practices from different point of views, which will
help him to understand the extent of his teaching effectiveness and guide him on how to improve the quality of his teaching.
Andi also pointed out that collegial dialogues are a meaningful way to enhance teaching practice. He asserted, “collegial dialogues are really useful because I need
other teachers to give me more ideas about teaching techniques and methods” Interview 2, 2022012. An example of collegial dialogue transcriptions is presented
below.
167
ANDI: This semester is my first time to teach Reading Comprehension. Actually, I get difficulty to find good teaching methods for Reading Comprehension class. I know that my students
perceive Reading subject as a boring subject so that they do not have enough motivation to learn it. When I asked them in the first meeting about their perception of Reading subject, they said
that they did not really like it. I have tried to do peer-work and group-work but I am still not satisified with my teaching. I want to have more interesting teaching techniques to teach
Reading. JOKO: Actually there are a lot of teachniques in doing grouping. How many students are in one
group? ANDI: Around three or four students.
JOKO: Then how did you create the group? ANDI: Just randomly. I asked the students who sat next each other to be in one group.
JOKO: Although it takes time, it is sometimes also necessary to split the students into groups based on their ability. For example, you assign students with good ability to join different
groups. I have a cooperative learning book if you want to borrow. You will realize that actually there are many teachniques that you can apply in your Reading class such as Jigsaw.
HANI: Interesting ANDI: Yes. In my first meeting, I discussed an essay. I assigned each student in the group to
read a certain paragraph. After finished reading, each student then shared what he or she read to other students. They then made a conclusion based on what they read.
HANI: When you splitted the students into group, have you assigned each student to read different topic? For example, you have some topics to discuss. Students are then split into groups
with one member assigned to each topic. After that, each student learns about his or her topic and presents it to their group individually. Students then gather into groups divided by topic. Each
member presents again to the topic group. In same-topic groups, students combine information. Next, they create a final report. Finally, the original groups listen to presentations from each
member that provides all group members with an understanding of their own material, as well as the findings from topic-specific group discussion.
MAYA: Yes, right. So there will be an expert group ada home group. ANDI: I see.
The above transcription indicated that Andi learnt more about cooperative learning technique especially Jigsaw from collegial dialogue activity. It suggests that collegial
dialogues provide teachers with the opportunity to participate in collaborative problem solving around classroom issues. Generally, Andi perceived the use of varied self-
evaluation instruments in mediating the process by which he has come to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of his practices as well as to explore ideas about how to
develop his practice.
168 More specifically, the series of teacher self-evaluation activities mediated Andi’s
capacity to obtain productive disruptions to his identity as a teacher and his view of his instructional practice. Firstly, the mediated self-evaluation challenges Andi’s way of
thinking and how he sees himself as a teacher. For instance, Andi had not previously realised that he was not demanding enough. He remarked:
Recording a video of my own lessons was something new for me. After I viewed myself in the video I realised that I was not demanding enough to my students. I
tended to just accept and agree to what students want. I also always tolerated my students if they did mistakes. For example, the students did not study pretty
hard; I just understood them because I didn’t want to give a burden for them. I should be more assertive and give more encouragements to them. I also realised
that I was too dominant in the class. I can say that there were things I need to learn about teaching Interview 3, 13062012.
As evidenced in the above statements, the process of self-evaluating his practice enabled Andi to question his pedagogical disposition and to consider ways to change.
He begins to understand how his tendency to be flexible and accommodating with the students may not be effective in getting them to work harder. Andi also mentioned that
he saw himself as too dominant in the class. Additionally, as mentioned previously Andi is a beginner teacher. As such, the video recording of his lessons has helped him to
realise that he needs to learn much more about teaching. Developing this new understanding of himself as a teacher has provided Andi with the opportunity to build
on his existing identity as a teacher which is crucial to teacher professional development Hurt, Scott, McCroskey, 1978.
Another productive disruption to Andi’s pedagogical disposition that emerged from the teacher self-evaluation activities relates to the way he perceives his teaching
practice. Firstly, he came to realise that he dominated the classroom talk during lessons. He asserted:
Basically, I always want to be better in my teaching. Self-evaluation is a source for me to do a reflection so it becomes my foundation to improve my teaching. I
usually reflect my teaching only by using my feeling and concluding from my students’ response. If I found there was a student who did not active and was not
motivated, I feel like I’m not satisfied with my teaching and must try to be better in the next class meeting. After I viewed my teaching in lesson video recordings,
I feel a kind of surprised because I found out that I was really dominant and I talked a lot in the class. Moreover, from student feedback, some students said so.
I shouldn’t talk too much, should have given my students more opportunities to
169 talk. I didn’t feel satisfied with my teaching; I need to improve it Interview 3,
13062012.
Clearly, Andi acquired useful insights into his teaching practices as a result of the self- evaluation processes. He is now aware that he dominated the classroom talk and that he
needed to make some changes to the way in which he interacted with the students as he pointed out:
I understand clearly now that I need to improve my interaction with my students. I asked myself, why I talked like that? I should have been able to encourage the
students to talk more. I also tended to ask only the students who were active and ignored the passive ones. I should involve the passive students so that they will
have motivation to participate in class activities Interview 3, 13062012.
Thirdly, the series of teacher self-evaluation activities helped Andi to realise that he needed to provide more thinking time to the students when presenting them with the
opportunity to ask or respond to questions. He remarked, “I realised that I needed to give more waiting time for the students and encourage them to talk more by giving them
more opportunities to speak up” Interview 3, 13062012. In other words, the productive disruptions to Andi’s pedagogical disposition as a result of mediated self-
evaluation helped him to recognise the aspects of his teaching practice that needed improvement. Andi now has a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of his teaching
and his identity as a teacher. As a result, he can begin to implement strategies for change. This aligns with the notion expressed by Airasian and Gullickson 1997 that
the function of teacher self-evaluation is to help teachers identify and make decisions about the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching, with the intent of enhancing it.
The next section of the chapter examines the durability and changes in Andi’s pedagogic habitus through his engagement in mediated self-evaluation.
6.6 Durability and changes in Andi’s pedagogic habitus
