T1 112007216 Full text
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES, EXPERIENCES AND NEEDS TOWARD
TEACHING ENGLISH AFTER TEACHING PRACTICE IN SMP
Introduction
Nowadays English has become a global language all over the world. At the same time the
demand for English education is increasing. English is viewed as a prerequisite to access quality
education and job opportunities in non-English speaking countries, including in Indonesia. The
demand for English offers opportunities for Teaching English as a Second or Other Language
(TESOL) but at the same time it also creates many challenges, such as a lack of sound teacher
training (Nunan, 2003). Preparing student teachers to be professional teachers is not easy. There
is long process to aim at that level. Student teachers have to pass a stage which is called teaching
practice. Teaching practice can be described as a situation in which a teacher in training teaches
a group of students under supervision (Gower, 1995). Teaching practice is a very important stage
for pre-service teachers. It is a kind of simulation for pre-service teachers to prepare them to face
real class situation. The purpose of teaching practicum is to improve the trainee’s teaching skills
and develop the awareness of how students learn. In this stage pre-service teachers learn to face
the real class activity. Pre-service teachers bring their own perspectives on teaching. They have
their own personal views, they have teaching plans (Saban, 2003), and also prejudice about
teaching (Fung & Chow, 2002). They use all of those things as reference points, form new
experiences and perspectives (Ben-Peretz, 2003).
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Pre-service teachers have different impression toward teaching after their first teaching
practice. Previous studies showed that in the first teaching, pre-service teachers always find
themselves were not prepared enough to teach English. In their first teaching (Fung & Chow,
2002) they are expected to demonstrate abilities that they do not necessarily yet have, as the
result the work of teaching itself, being complex, uncertain and full of dilemmas (FeimanNemser, 2001). This kind of situation happens because there is a gap between the academic
courses which pre-service English teachers got in their preparation programs, with the real
language class condition that pre-service teachers are faced (Farrell, 2008). Furthermore, there
continues to be a mismatch between the expected and actual levels of competence, and educators
claim EFL pre-service teacher education is largely inadequate (Nunan, 2003).
English as Foreign Language (EFL) education has become a requirement in Indonesia.
Based on this situation, improvement to pre-service EFL teachers is needed in order to increase
the standard of teaching and learning (Cook, 1996). This requires pre-service teachers in
countries where English is a foreign language to be prepared to meet the challenges and
standards for EFL teaching (Wertheimer & Honigsfeld, 2000). Teaching practice has become
such a main part of student-teachers to develop their teaching ability in many countries. The
teaching practice is located at the final stage of the university-school of the teacher education
programs (Tang, 2002). Teaching practice is one of the most important aspects in teaching
education program (Henry, 1989). Through teaching practice student teachers can gain many
valuable things. Henry (1989) stated that, through teaching practice, pre-service teachers; (i)
establish a bond with the actual teaching environment, (ii) learn through try-and-learn, (iii)
develop high satisfaction, (iv) gain personal and professional development, (v) get the
opportunity of one to-one teaching, and (vi) gain the chance to take part in the future teachers. In
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
short, teaching practice gives pre-service teachers an opportunity to shift from being a student to
becoming a teacher who has the responsibility of teaching others (Conderman, 2005).
Previous studies acknowledge that pre-service teachers have their own perceptions and
attitudes on teaching. Attitudes can be described as a relatively enduring organization of beliefs,
feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or
symbols (Hogg & Vaughan, 2005). Pre-service teachers get their initial views on teaching from
at least two sources (Leon-Carillo, 2007). First, it comes from their personal experience as
students, consists of their interactions with and exposures to various teachers throughout their
school life (Ben-Peretz, 2003). And second, it results from their conceptual repertoires as they
undergo the formal training provided by teaching education programs (Nettle, 1998). Previous
studies showed that, pre-service teachers believe that teaching is easy and that teaching merely
involves transmitting information (Feiman-Nemser, 2001). Besides that, Nguyen and Hudson
(2010) found that, pre-service EFL teachers are motivated to learn to teach English as it is
enjoyable, popular around the world, a supportive skill for employment, and a means for critical
thinking, expression and communication.
Besides pre-service teachers’ attitude toward teaching English, previous study showed
that pre-service teachers faced difficult situations during their field experiences. Research on
learning to teach has also sought to uncover the problems pre-service teachers (Nguyen &
Hudson , 2010). Wang and Odell (2002) identify three types of problems that can confront
novices when learning to teach within school settings, that is: (1) emotional and psychological
stress, (2) lack of support, and (3) conceptual struggles about teaching and learning. Emotional
and psychological stress is “widely assumed to be the result of the relatively low professional
status of teaching, the uncertainty of classroom life, and difficult working conditions” (p.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
514). A lack of support can include a “lack of instruction routines, procedures, skills, and
techniques that are related to the contexts of teaching” (Wang & Odell, 2002). In the previous
studies showed that anxiety and ambivalence happens to pre-service teachers after their teaching
practice (Kyriacou & Stephens, 1999), some pre-service teachers feel that they are not
adequately prepared by the teacher education programs to meet the requirements of teaching in a
real classroom environment (Stuart & Thurlow, 2000), first-year teachers and student teachers
always find themselves in a paradoxical situation (Feiman-Nemser, 2001), pre-service teacher’s
belief about teaching changes after teaching practice (Leon-Carillo, 2007). Pre-service teachers
may be unprepared for the demands of upper secondary English teaching and more effective
models for pre-service EFL teacher development are required (Butcher, 2003). Student teachers
reported that they are not able to cope with the problems they face during teaching practice. Not
being able to practice the teaching skills they have learned throughout their training in the
teacher education programs causes student teachers to experience discouragement and
disappointment (Stuart & Thurlow, 2000). Wang and Odell (2002) reported that pre-service
teachers are challenged by the “conceptual struggle about teaching and learning” (p. 515). They
believe that effective teaching and learning may conflict with the reality of teaching in the school
context. According to Liu’s (2005) research, pre-service EFL teachers tend to follow their
school-based mentors’ examination-oriented English teaching methods. It appears that learning
to teach within the school context does not match the pre-service teachers’ university education
and current advocated practices. The connection between theory and practice (i.e., praxis) needs
to be more explicit in the school settings, which requires well-constructed mentoring programs.
Mentoring is typically described as a way to develop teaching practices that involves a
close relationship between a less experienced person and one who is more experienced, who
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
provides guidance, advice, support, and feedback (Haney, 1997). A mentor may be defined as
“one who is more knowledgeable on teaching practices and through explicit mentoring processes
develops pedagogical self-efficacy in the mentee towards autonomous teaching practices”
(Hudson, 2005). In previous studies it was found that, pre-service teachers in their skills and
knowledge development, require assistant from more experienced colleagues. It is established
that school mentors play important roles in effectively mentoring pre-service teachers
during their teaching practice (Borko & Mayfield, 1995). Mentoring programs should be devised
for mentors to assist their mentees (pre-service teachers) develop pedagogical knowledge and
overcome context-specific difficulties. Mentors need to display personal attributes that facilitate
a collaborative working relationship (Sinclair, 2003). Mentors need to display their expertise by
modeling effective teaching practices (Klausmeier, 1994). Finally, feedback in both oral and
written form can guide pre-service teacher development with clear expectations for improving
practices (Zachary, 2002)
In summary, there are studies exploring the aspects of pre-service teachers’ learning to
teach and the problems that face by pre-service teachers. However, few studies have reported on
pre-service teachers’ attitudes after teaching practicum, but there is little information on what
kind of attitudes, needs and experiences of pre-service teachers after their teaching practicum.
Teaching practicum in Junior High school (SMP) had been selected to narrow this study. This
study aims to find out pre-service teachers’ attitudes, needs and experiences about teaching
English after teaching practicum in SMP. The study designed in order to answer the following
research questions: “What are pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs after they
finish their teaching practice in SMP?”
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
The result of this study could be useful to pre-service teacher educators in preparing preservice teachers who will deal with SMP students in their teaching practicum and also in
designing such a pedagogical framework which could be useful for pre-service teacher in their
teaching practice. This study also may suggest other questions for further research on factors
which cause those different attitudes from pre-service teachers.
The study
This study involved Indonesian university students who have finished their job as preservice teachers in at least fourteen-week teaching practice in junior high schools. After studying
EFL teaching methodology courses, finally pre-service EFL teachers had to apply their
knowledge through teaching practice. Teaching practice is such a field experience for pre-service
teachers. The aim of teaching practice is to provide real-world teaching experience toward preservice teachers. There are many studies that explore pre-service teachers’ problems, however
the study about attitudes, needs and experiences that pre-service teachers have after their
teaching practice in Junior high school or SMP is rarely found. This study was conducted in
order to answer the research question; “What are pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences and
needs after they finish their teaching practice in SMP?”
Method
This study used a descriptive method to gain information about pre-service teachers’
attitudes toward teaching English, their experiences and needs. According to Shuttleworth
(2008), descriptive research method is a scientific method which involves observing and
describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way. The emphasis is on
describing rather than on judging or interpreting.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Participants
The participants of this study were five students who had passed their teaching practice in
Junior High Schools (SMP) in Salatiga. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants of
this study. The participants were selected because they had the criteria; that is, completion of
teaching practice program
Instrument
In this study in-depth interview questions were used to gain the data. The purpose of using
in-depth interview was to obtain more information so that the result of the study could be clearly
described. The interview questions were prepared based on the literature (Gourneau, 2002). Ten
main questions were designed to conduct the interview. The interview questions dealt with preservice teachers’ attitudes toward teaching practice, their needs and experiences.
Data collection
In data collection process, the first step was designing the instrument; that is interview
questions. The interview questions were designed based on related literature. Ten main questions
were made as the guidance in the interview. The next step was arranging an interview trial. The
purpose of the trial was to examine whether the questions were appropriate. Two students were
interviewed for the trial stage. After the trial, the interview recordings were transcribed. The
results of the trial were analyzed to find whether the questions were appropriate. And based on
the trial, there were several interview questions which needed to be developed for the real
interview. The real data collection was immediately conducted after the trial. Five participants
were interviewed. It took around 11 to 20 minutes for each interview. A mobile phone was used
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
as the recorder. The interview sessions were conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. Since both the
author and the participants were Indonesian, the purpose of using Bahasa was to reduce the
effects of possible language problems. The results of the interview were transcribed and then
analyzed.
Data analysis
The data were analyzed with some steps such as coding, classifying, and analyzing. The
data were coded or labeled based on the focus of the research. The second step was classifying
the data that had been coded or labeled into one group. There were ten labels, that is beliefs,
feelings, difficulties, emotional and psychological stress, disappointment, personal-awareness
toward ability to teach English, supporting knowledge, the importance of mentor teacher, kinds
of mentor during teaching, and pre-service teacher needs during teaching. When these two steps
were done, the data were analyzed. The last step was drawing a conclusion.
Findings and Discussion
After the data was analyzed, several aspects of attitudes, experiences, and needs were
found. The description of the data in this section had been arranged and presented in three
categories: (1) attitude that had two subheadings (belief and feeling toward teaching English), (2)
experience that had five subheadings (difficulties during teaching, emotional and psychological
stress, disappointment, personal-awareness toward ability to teach English, supporting
knowledge) and (3) needs which had three subheadings (the importance of mentor teacher, kinds
of mentor during teaching, pre-service teacher needs during teaching).
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Attitude
The pre-service teachers were asked about their attitudes toward teaching English in SMP
(Junior High School). It revealed beliefs and feelings toward teaching English and also some
factors which affected their attitudes toward teaching.
Beliefs
This part consists of pre-service teachers’ beliefs toward teaching English in SMP. Based
on the interview transcription, there were two kinds of beliefs found. First, teaching English in
SMP was easy, whereas the other one stated, teaching English in SMP was difficult. Those two
beliefs were affected by some factors, such as;
a. Students’ basic knowledge about English.
b. Students’ interest to learn English.
c. Teachers’ understanding about the students’ needs, ability and way of learning.
d. Teachers’ motivation to teach English.
The excerpt below was given by P4 who claimed that teaching English in SMP was easy;
1. Kalau mudahnya, aku pikir ketika anak yang saya ajar itu sudah punya basic bahasa
inggris, mereka sudah dapat di SD atau mereka ikut kegiatan luar sekolah yang
berhubungan bahasa inggris, mereka sudah punya knowledge bahasa inggris, jadi untuk
kita ngajarnya itu enak, karena materi yang kita ingin ajarkan pada mereka mereka
sudah tahu maksud dan tujuannya.
(I think, it could be easy when the students had the basic knowledge about English, they
had learned English when they were Elementary school or they had joined English
course. So, it would be easy for me to teach because my students had already known
about what I mean when I presented the materials.)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Based on the response above, P4 believed that teaching was easy since the students had basic
knowledge about English. To teach students who had basic knowledge about English such as
vocabulary and tenses was easier for pre-service teachers.
Another response was given by P2 who also thought that teaching English was easy. He
said;
2. Kalau mereka sudah suka dulu pada bahasa inggris, mereka akan lebih bersemangat.
Jadi begitu kita berikan kepada mereka seperti games, grammar, pronunciation dll,
mereka akan lebih mudah menerima itu, dan sekaligus membuat pekerjaan saya jadi
lebih mudah.
(When they (students) love to learn English, they would be more excited. So, when I give
them materials such as games, grammar, pronunciation, etc. The students would be easier
to accept the lesson, and of course it made my job easier.)
Based the response above, P2 thought that teaching English was easy when the students loved to
learn English, because they would be more excited to learn English and it made her job as a
teacher easier.
Besides pre-service teachers’ belief that teaching English was easy, there was another
belief which appeared in the interview transcription, that is, pre-service teachers believed that
teaching English in SMP was difficult. Below is the response from P1;
3. Sulitnya itu, terkadang siswanya itu belum memiliki basic bahasa inggris itu, jadi ketika
kita mengajar seperti mengisis botol yang kosong, jadi istilahnya, kita harus memberikan
input yang begitu banyak sebelum siswa itu dapat mengerti apa yang kita ajarkan. (P1)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(It was difficult because sometimes some students did not have basic knowledge about
English, so when we teach, it was like “filling up an empty bottle”, so we had to give so
many input to the students before they were able to understand about our materials.) (P1)
Based on the response above, P1 thought that teaching English was difficult because some
students did not have basic knowledge about English. As the result, the pre-service teacher had
to give so many inputs to the students before they were able to understand the materials.
The response from P3 below, also describes the difficulty to teach English. He stated;
4. Soalnya kita harus tahu apa yang dibutuhkan siswa, kita harus tahu bagaimana siswa
itu belajar, bagaimana siswa itu menyerap pelajaran jadi dalam mengajar Inggris itu
kita harus mempetimbangkan banyak sekali point-point yang harus dipikirkan untuk
mengajar bahasa Inggris, jadi kita tidak asal mengajar materi, tapi kita harus
mempertimbangkan kebutuhan dan kemampuan dari siswa tersebut.
(Because we had to understand about the students’ needs, we had to know how the
student learns, how they understand the lesson. So, in teaching English we had to
consider on many points such as students’ needs and students’ ability.)
The response from P3 indicated that, teaching English was difficult because a teacher must
understand about the students’ needs, about how they learns, and how they understand the
lesson.
Feelings
Besides beliefs, another kind of attitude was about the pre-service teachers’ feelings
toward teaching English in SMP. There was one type of feeling found in the data transcription,
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
that is, pre-service teachers’ motivation to teach English. Pre-service teachers’ motivation to
teach English was affected by some factors, such as;
a. Interesting learning experiences.
b. The importance of English.
c. Pre-service teachers’ willingness to share knowledge with others.
d. Pre-service teachers’ willingness to apply knowledge
The excerpts below are the responses from the participants. P1 revealed that,
5. Aku ketemu guru les yang enak cara ngajarnya, cara ngajarnya itu unik dan berbeda
dengan guru bahasa inggris di SMP ku, dan setelah diajar oleh guru les itu aku nyadar
kalau bahasa inggris itu ternyata menyenagkan. Dan sejak saat itu aku jadi mulai bepikir
untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris nantinya. Jadi motivasiku mengajar bahasa inggris ya itu
tadi terpacu dari guru les ku itu.
(I met an English course teacher who could teach really well, she was unique and also
different from my English teacher in my Junior high school. Since I taught by my course
teacher I realized English was so much fun. From that moment, I started to think to teach
English in the future. Yes, I got motivation to teach English from my course teacher).
Based on the response above, P1 was motivated by his past experience when he was a student.
He had a good English teacher when he was junior high school. Since he thought by his English
teachers, he found that English was interesting and he motivated to teach English in the future.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Besides his past experience, P1 also mentioned that he was motivated to teach English
since English had became a global language. It was good for students to learn English and used it
in daily life. Below is the response from P1;
6. Sekarang kan bahasa inggris sudah global dan penting banget. Jadi alangkah baiknya
anak2 di tingkat level SMP ini sudah bisa menguasai bahasa inggris, sudah bisa mengerti
bahasa inggris di kehidupan sehari-hari, jadi berdasarkan itulah aku seperti merasa
harus mengajar bahasa inggris untuk mengajari anak2 ketrampilan bahasa inggris.
(Nowadays, English had become global language and very important. So, it was better for
students in this level (Junior high school) to master English and use it in the daily life.
Based on that fact, I felt motivated to teach children English skill.)
The interview with P3 indicated that he was motivated to teach English because through
teaching English he could share his knowledge about English with his students, as he revealed
below;
7. Soalnya dengan mengajarkan English itu, saya bisa membagikan ilmu yang saya dapat
selama saya belajar di Universitas pada siswa-siswa saya sehingga mereka memiliki
pengetahuan yang mungkin akan berguna bagi mereka di masa depan.
(Because through teaching English I could share my knowledge which I got in university
with my students, so they had knowledge that might be useful for them in the future.)
Another interview result with P4 indicated that she was motivated to teach English since
she thought that teaching was an honorable job and she also wanted to share her knowledge with
others. Below is the response from P4;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
8. Ya, sangat termotivasi, alasannya ya karena saya kan belajar tentang bahasa inggris dan
saya ingin menerapkan ilmu saya. Jadi ya saya ingin membagikan apa yang saya punya
pada orang lain, karena menurut saya ya mengajar itu pekerjaan yang mulia.
(Yes, I was very motivated. The reasons were, since I learned about English I want to
apply my knowledge. So, I want to share about what I had with others. Because I think
teaching was an honorable job)
Based on the responses above, it revealed that the pre-service teachers had different attitudes
toward teaching English. Some pre-service teachers stated that teaching English was easy.
However, the other pre-service teachers reported that teaching English was difficult. Those
beliefs were affected by students’ basic knowledge about English, students’ interest to learn
English, teachers’ understanding about the students’ needs, ability and way of learning, and
teachers’ motivation to teach English. Besides that, the data also indicated that the pre-service
teachers were motivated to teach English since English had become a global language. The preservice teachers were also motivated by their past experience when they were students.
Experiences
The pre-service teachers were asked about their experience during their teaching practice
in SMP (Junior High school). There were several problems experienced by pre-service during
their teaching practice, such as difficulties, emotional and psychological stress, personalawareness toward ability to teach, and supporting knowledge.
Difficulties
Difficulties were common things which faced by pre-service teachers during teaching
practice. There were two factors which caused difficulties for pre-service teachers. First was
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
internal factor or factor which came from the pre-service teachers itself. Second was external
factor or factor which came from the surrounding. The table below is the factors;
Table 1: Factors which caused difficulties for pre-service teachers
Internal Factors
External Factors
Classroom management
Students’ basic knowledge of English
Mastery of the materials
Lack of vocabulary
Students’ lack of serious response
toward pre-service teachers
Lesson planning
Students’ lack of participation
Teaching technique
Unexpected students’ response
Material development
Lack of confidence
Lack of preparation
All of those factors above were implied in the following excerpts. The interview with P2 and P4
indicated that they faced difficulties in managing students and also mastering the materials.
Below are the responses from P2 and P4;
9. Kesulitan iya saya pernah menemuinya, contohnya kesulitan untuk meng-handle muridmuridnya. Selain itu kadang saya kurang menguasai materi jadi waktu pertanyaan
tentang kata dalam bahasa Inggris pernah lupa bahasa Inggrisnya tentang itu dan tidak
bisa menjawab.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Difficulties, yes I faced it for example, to manage the students. Besides that, sometimes I
was not really master the materials, as the result when there were questions from students
about vocabulary, sometimes I forgot about it and could not answer it.)
10. Tempat di mana saya PPL itu, tergolong murid yang nakal jadi agak susah, classroom
management-nya itu susah, mereka sangat susah untuk diatur.
(In the school where I served, had students that categorized as disobedient students, so it
was hard to manage the class, it was hard to make the students still in class.)
Besides managing students and mastering the materials, preparing the materials was also
difficult for the pre-service teachers. As stated by P3 and P5;
11. Kesulitan itu membuat mereka tertarik untuk belajar bahasa Inggris, jadi aktifitas apa
yang harus saya buat untuk mereka sehingga mereka bisa tertarik dan bersemangat
untuk belajar bahasa Inggris.
(The difficulty was to make the students interested to learn English. What kind of activity
that should I create to make the students interested and motivated to learn English.)
12. Kemudian kesulitannya ya mungkin dalam membuat materinya, kaya activitinya, kadang
menurut kita itu sudah menarik tapi, setelah disampaikan respon para siswa nggak
sesuai dengan yang saya harapkan, mungkin bagi siswa itu tidak begitu menarik jadi
tidak bisa membuat mereka antusias untuk belajar materi itu. (P5)
(Then the difficulty was in preparing the materials, for example the activity. Sometimes
we think that we had prepared an activity was really interesting, but in fact when it
presented in class, the students were not really interested to join the activity.) (P5)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
The responses from P3 and P5 indicated that to make students interested to learn English was
difficult. They had to create interesting activity to make students interested and motivated in
learning English.
Another response was given by P4; the response indicated that she faced difficulty in
managing time. Sometimes the time was not enough for teachers to deliver the materials
according to lesson plan. As P4 said,
13. Kemudian waktu, menurut saya itu waktunya kurang, karena biasanya kita sudah
menyiapkan lesson plan sedemikian rupa, kadang2 itu tidak sesuai dengan waktu yang
kita planning-kan, jadi mungkin kadang waktunya kurang tidak sesuai dengan yang
tertulis di lesson plan.
(It was about the time. In my opinion the time was not enough. Sometimes the time was
not enough for me to deliver the materials according to the prepared lesson plan. Running
out of time sometimes happened when I teach.)
Emotional and psychological stress
Besides difficulties, the pre-service teachers also faced emotional and psychological
stress during their teaching practice. This situation was also caused by external and internal
factors of pre-service teachers, as reported in the following excerpt.
For the external factor, students’ basic knowledge of English became the main factor
which caused emotional and psychological stress as stated by P1 below;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
14. Karena anak-anak itu kurang di basic bahasa inggrisnya jadi lama mudengnya, jadi aku
spend waktunya lebih banyak buat njelasin. Ya jadi itu cukup buat aku strees waktu
mengajar.
(Because the students did not have enough basic knowledge about English, so I must
spend more time to explain the materials. That was enough to make me stressed while I
teach.)
Another response was given by P4 which mentioned the external factor of emotional and
psychological stress. As stated by P4, classroom management became the main factor she got
stressed because she failed to manage her students to join the lesson. Below is the response from
P4;
15. Penyebabnya itu yang paling sering muridnya, karena murid2 itu kan kadang
mengganggap kita hanya guru PPL jadi mereka tidak serius buat mengikuti pelajaran
kita,
(The most factor was the students, because sometimes the students think that I just a preservice teacher, I was not their real teacher, so they did not really serious to join the
lesson.)
Disappointment
Besides difficulties and stress, the pre-service teachers also experienced disappointment.
Disappointment was common during teaching. It might happen when the lesson did not run
smoothly. This situation was also caused by internal factors and external factor. The table below
is the factors which cause disappointment;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Table 2: Factors which caused disappointment toward pre-service teachers
Internal Factors
Lack of creativity.
Lack of material mastery.
Lack of confidence.
External Factor
Unpredictable Situation
All of those factors were reported by the following excerpts. P1 revealed;
16. Kecewa ya aku pernah mengalami itu. Jadi ya cara mengajarku itu terlalu monotone,
kurang kreatif, akibatnya murid-murid jadi terlihat bosan.
(Disappointment, yes I had ever been faced it. I think the way I teach was too
“monotone”, I was not creative. As a result the students were bored.)
Based on the response above P1 stated, lack of creativity in teaching could make pre-service
teachers feel disappointed during teaching practice. The pre-service teacher was not creative in
delivering materials, as the result, the students were bored in joining the lesson.
Another issue was reported by P2 who also experienced disappointment in teaching
English. Below is the response from P2;
17. Ya pernah, waktu itu saya pernah kasih game ke anak-anak, ternyata tidak disangka
game tersebut malah membuat suasana di kelas jadi agak kacau. Ya itu jelas
mengecewakan ya karena materi yang tak pikir itu bagus dan murid2 bakalan antusias,
ternyata hasilnya tidak seperti yang diharapkan.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Yes, I had ever been faced it. At that time, I gave a game to my students but
unfortunately the game made the classroom situation was chaotic. Of course it made me
disappointed because sometimes I think that I had prepared good material and the
students would enthusiastic, but in fact, it was not as I thought.)
Based on the response above P2 stated, she felt disappointed when the classroom situation did
not run as expected. Sometimes pre-service teachers had to face unpredictable situation in
classroom which made them disappointed.
Besides lack of creativity and unpredictable situation, self-confidence problem also
caused disappointment. As P3 said;
18. Kadang saya merasa kurang PD (Percaya Diri) ya, contohnya saat saya harus
megajarkan materi ini, dan akhirnya saya gagal karena nervous, kadang muridnya
nggak mudeng tentang materi yang saya sampaikan ya itu contoh yang membuat saya
stress dan kecewa juga dan mungkin saya harus memperbaiki kesalahan saya itu.
(Sometimes I felt unconfident, for example when I had to teach a material, I got nervous
and finally I failed to deliver the materials properly because of my nervousness.
Sometimes my students did not understand about my explanation, which was the factor
that made me stressed and disappointed. May be I had to fixed my mistakes.)
Based on the response above, self-confidence problem became one factor which caused preservice teachers feel disappointed with their teaching. P3 could not deliver the materials properly
when he felt nervous.
The last response was given by P5 who also experienced disappointment in teaching
English. Below is the response from P5;
21
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
19. Saya pikir saya sudah menguasai materi semuanya sampai detail-detailnya, tapi dalam
kenyataan, ada pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang tak terduga sering muncul diantara muridmurid, dan saya tidak bisa menjawabnya. Dan itu membuat saya merasa kecewa.
(I thought I had mastered all of the materials, but sometimes in class there were
unpredictable questions from students, and I couldn’t answer it. And that made me
disappointed.)
The response above indicated that, materials mastery could also make pre-service teachers feel
disappointed. As stated by P5, she felt disappointed when she could not answer students’
questions about the materials.
Personal-awareness toward ability to teach
Pre-service teachers needed to be aware toward themselves, in this case their ability to
teach English. Based on their experience, the pre-service teachers were asked about their own
ability to teach English. They were asked whether their ability was sufficient to teach English.
Some pre-service teachers stated that their skill to teach English was sufficient, whereas the other
stated that it was not. Besides that, the pre-service teachers were also asked about their ability
which needed to be improved. The list below is the pre-service teachers’ ability which needed to
be improved;
a. Teaching technique
b. Ability to understand students’ ability
c. Designing games
d. Time management
e. Classroom management
f. Vocabulary
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
All of those facts above were reported by the following excerpts. P2 stated;
20. Untuk sekarang ya Insya Allah cukup. Kalau kemampuan yang perlu dikembangkan itu
kemampuan untuk menyampaikan materi, terus saya juga harus bisa belajar memahami
pemikiran murid-murid, jadi saya bisa menyesuaikan penyampaian materi dengan
kemampuan murid-murid, jadi muridnya bisa memahami materi yang saya sampaikan.
Terus kemampuan untuk membuat game-game yang bervariasi supaya penyampaian
materi jadi lebih menarik.
(Insya Allah It was sufficient. My ability which needed to be improved, I think my ability
to deliver the materials, then I had to learn to understand students’ thought, so I could
adjust the materials delivery with students’ ability, as the result my students were able to
understand the materials. And then I had to improve my ability to design various games,
so that the materials delivery would be more interesting.)
The excerpt above showed that P2 had enough skill to teach English. However, she needed
improvement on material delivery skill. Besides that, she had to understand students’ thought, so
she could adjust the material delivery with students’ ability. She also had to improve her skill in
designing various games so that the lesson would be more interesting.
Another response was given by P4 who also thought that her skill was sufficient to teach
English. Below is the response from P4;
21. Ya saya rasa kemampuan saya cukup memadai ya. Dan kemampuan yang perlu
dikembangkan itu mungkin yang pertama itu menejemen waktu, terus classroom
management, kemudian kreatifitas untuk membuat materi ajar yang menarik.
23
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Yes, I think my ability was sufficient. And I think, I needed to improve my skill in
managing time, managing classroom, and creating interesting materials.)
The excerpt above indicated that P4 had enough skill to teach English although some
improvement was needed for time management, classroom management, and creativity in
designing materials.
However, P5 was not satisfied with her ability to teach English. She thought that she had
to enrich her vocabulary. Below is the response from P5;
22. Bagi saya, saya belum puas dengan ability saya untuk mengajar bahasa inggris
padahal saya ingin mengajar bahasa inggris sebenarnya, tapi dari pengalamanpengalaman PPL kemarin guru mentor saya ada yang komentar kalo saya ini kurang
strict jadi, jadilah guru yang agak strict bagi murid2nya pada saat yang diperlukan.
Kemudian mungkin saya tidak terlalu kaya vocab, jadi harus ditingkatkan lagi itu (P5)
(I was not satisfied with my ability to teach English, whereas actually I wanted to teach
English. In my teaching practice, my mentor commented that I was not strict enough. I
should be strict teacher when it was needed. And may be my vocabulary was not to rich,
so I had to enrich my vocabulary.) (P5)
Supporting knowledge
Based on the pre-service teachers’ experience, they were asked whether the lesson they
had learned in the university was appropriate to be applied during teaching practice in SMP
(Junior high school). The following excerpts were the responses from P1 and P3;
24
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
23. kalau materi yang aku dapat di kelas, kayak TLS, TEFL, Grammar, Speaking, itu semua
aku pikir sudah cukup sesuai untuk basic mengajar.
(About the materials that I got in class, such as TLS (Teaching & Learning Strategy),
TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language), Grammar, Speaking, etc. I think those
materials were appropriate enough as basic to teach.)
24. kalau materinya hampir semua sesuai ya, seperti contoh penyusunan lesson plan dan
silabus, terus penyusunan materi, teknik mengajar itu bisa saya praktekan selama saya
PPL. Dan materi yang saya dapatkan di Universitas sangat membantu sebagai pedoman
pada saat saya PPL.
(I think almost all of the materials that I got are appropriate, for example designing lesson
plan and syllabus, designing materials, teaching method, all those knowledge could be
applied during my teaching practice. And what I got in University is really helpful as
guidance during my teaching practice.)
The comments from P1 and P3 indicated that the pre-service teacher’s knowledge which they
got in university was appropriate to be applied in the field experience. As P3 stated, it was really
helpful as guidance during teaching practice.
Based on the finding above, it showed that the pre-service teachers experienced
difficulties, emotional and psychological stress and also disappointment in teaching English. It
was caused by internal and external factors. Internal factors includes; material preparation,
teaching technique, classroom management, time management and self-confidence problem.
Besides that, some pre-service teachers thought that their ability was sufficient to teach English.
However, there were also pre-service teachers who thought that their ability was insufficient.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
The pre-service teachers thought that they needed to improve their skills, such as time
management, classroom management, and materials development. The data also indicated that
the pre-service teachers’ knowledge which they had learned in university were appropriate to be
applied in the field experience.
Needs
The pre-service teachers were asked about their needs for teaching practice. Based on the
interview transcription several kinds of pre-service teachers’ needs were revealed, such as
mentoring programs, expectation of ideal mentors, and pre-service teachers’ needs in learning to
teach. Below were the responses from the pre-service teachers about their needs;
The importance of mentoring programs
Mentoring had become main need for pre-service teachers in teaching practice. The
existence of mentor teachers was very important. As a mentor teacher, they guided the preservice teacher to make lesson plan, observed them and gave them comments or critique. It was
also important for pre-service teacher to learn from more experienced teachers, as reported by P1
and P3:
25. Aku pikir mentor itu justru sangat penting sekali, mereka membantu aku dalam hal yang
hubungannya dengan cara mengajar. Mereka juga memberikan feedback yang aku
butuhkan buat mengembangkan kemampuanku.
(I think mentors were really important. They helped me in case of teaching method. They
also give feedbacks that I need to develop my skills.)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
26. Menurut saya peran mentor sangat penting selama saya mengajar. Mereka membantu
untuk perencanaan materi, mereka memberi tahu saya tentang typical murid-murid, dan
kondisi situasi mengajar yang bagus seperti apa, ya mungkin karena mereka lebih
berpengalaman saya bisa belajar banyak dari mereka untuk mengenal situasi belajar.
(In my opinion, mentors were really important during my teaching practice. They helped
me to design materials, they told me about the students’ characters and how to create
good situation in class. Because of they were more experienced than me; I could learn
many things about teaching and learning situation.) (P3)
The comments from P1 and P3 indicated that the mentoring program during teaching practice
was really important. Mentors had important roles for pre-service teacher. As stated by P1 and
P3, that their mentors were really helpful and because of mentors were more experienced, preservice teachers could learn many things from them such as teaching method, feedback, how to
cope with certain class situation, cope with certain students’ characters, and so on. Based on
those findings, it was revealed that pre-service teachers needed mentoring program in learning to
teach.
Expectation of ideal mentors
Pre-service teachers agreed that mentor teachers were very important. However, they had
different opinions about what kind of mentor they were expected during their teaching practice.
The following excerpts are the pre-service teachers’ opinions about ideal mentors. P1 revealed
that;
27. Mentor yang mau memberikan masukan-masukan tentang situasi kelas, tentang cara
mengajar dikelas tersebut, kemudian cara mengajar yang bagus, itu aku butuhin banget.
27
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Mentor who want to give me tips about class situation, how to teach in a certain class,
and then how to teach well, those all what I need.)
The excerpt above showed that P1 needed mentor who could give him some tips about real class
condition, including class situation and students characters.
Another response was given by P2 who expected open-minded mentors who could
discuss and share anything she needed to know. The following excerpt is the responses from P2;
28. Mentor yang saya butuhkan itu ya, mentor yang “open-minded”, yang bisa diajak
diskusi, terus yang mau sharing tentang metode mengajar, dan juga materi-materi yang
bagus.
(I needed open-minded mentors, mentor who wanted to discuss, wanted to share about
teaching methods, and also shared about good teaching materials.)
P4 stated that she needed communicative mentors who were close to novice teachers. So,
she would feel more comfortable to share teaching experiences. Below is the response from P4;
29. Guru mentor yang saya butuhkan mungkin yang komunikatif, dalam arti yang bisa akrab
dengan guru PPL seperti kita, jadi kita enak buat sharing tentang pengalaman mengajar.
(I needed communicative mentors; it means they wanted to close with novice teacher like
us, so it wass more comfortable to share about teaching experiences.)
The last response was given by P5, she stated that she needed mentors who were able to
guide and give useful feedback used to improve her skill in teaching. Below is the response from
P5;
28
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
30. Ya mentor yang bisa membibing, jadi yang bisa jadi guide bagi kita. Trus kasih
feedback-feedback yang bemanfaat, itu kan bisa buat pembelajaran untuk lebih baik
mengajar pada pengajaran berikutnya.
(Mentors who were able to guide us, and then gave useful feedbacks, the feedbacks were
really helpful for the next lesson.)
Pre-service teachers’ needs during learning to teach
Besides mentoring program and ideal mentors, there were other things needed by preservice teachers. It included their psychological needs, skill, and their capability to deal with
school situations. The following excerpts were the pre-service teachers’ comments about the
other needs. P2 revealed that;
31. Kita juga perlu untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekolah maksudnya dengan guruguru dan staf, kemudian kita harus bantu-bantu seperti di perpustakaan, jadi dengan
begitu kita bisa merasa lebih nyaman di lingkungan sekolah.
(We also needed to interact with school environment, in this case with the other teachers
and staff office; we should help the other for example helped the librarian or the other
teachers. So, we would feel more comfortable in our field experience.)
The excerpt above showed that pre-service teachers needed to interact with school environment
including the other teachers and office staff. As reported by P2, It would make pre-service
teachers feel more comfortable at school.
Another response was given by P4 who thought that pre-service teachers needed to be
more creative. Below is the response from P4;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
32. Buat mempersiapkan materi, mungkin kita harus lebih kreatif contohnya dengan AVA,
game, variasi mengajar.
(We needed to be more creative in preparing materials, for example we could use AVA
(Audio Visual Aid), games and variation in teaching.)
The excerpt above showed that pre-service teacher needed to be more creative in preparing
materials. Pre-service teachers could use AVA (Audio Visual Aid), games and variation in
teaching.
The last comment was given by P5 who thought that pre-service teachers needed to have
strong mentality and high self-confidence to deal with their students. Below is the response from
P5;
~ Yang pasti mental dan percaya diri, itu yang paling penting menurutku buat PPL kita
harus punya mental baja dan rasa percaya diri tinggi buat menghadapi murid2 yang
berbeda-beda itu ada yang baik dan banyak juga yang nakal.
(Surely we had to have mentality and self-confidence. Those two are very important in
teaching practice I think. We must have strong mentality and high self-confidence to deal
with various students there are good students and also bad students.)
Based on the findings above, it revealed that mentoring program was very important for
the pre-service teachers. The mentors had an important role to guide the pre-service teachers to
develop their ability to teach. The pre-service teachers needed mentors who could give them
advice, sha
PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES, EXPERIENCES AND NEEDS TOWARD
TEACHING ENGLISH AFTER TEACHING PRACTICE IN SMP
Introduction
Nowadays English has become a global language all over the world. At the same time the
demand for English education is increasing. English is viewed as a prerequisite to access quality
education and job opportunities in non-English speaking countries, including in Indonesia. The
demand for English offers opportunities for Teaching English as a Second or Other Language
(TESOL) but at the same time it also creates many challenges, such as a lack of sound teacher
training (Nunan, 2003). Preparing student teachers to be professional teachers is not easy. There
is long process to aim at that level. Student teachers have to pass a stage which is called teaching
practice. Teaching practice can be described as a situation in which a teacher in training teaches
a group of students under supervision (Gower, 1995). Teaching practice is a very important stage
for pre-service teachers. It is a kind of simulation for pre-service teachers to prepare them to face
real class situation. The purpose of teaching practicum is to improve the trainee’s teaching skills
and develop the awareness of how students learn. In this stage pre-service teachers learn to face
the real class activity. Pre-service teachers bring their own perspectives on teaching. They have
their own personal views, they have teaching plans (Saban, 2003), and also prejudice about
teaching (Fung & Chow, 2002). They use all of those things as reference points, form new
experiences and perspectives (Ben-Peretz, 2003).
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Pre-service teachers have different impression toward teaching after their first teaching
practice. Previous studies showed that in the first teaching, pre-service teachers always find
themselves were not prepared enough to teach English. In their first teaching (Fung & Chow,
2002) they are expected to demonstrate abilities that they do not necessarily yet have, as the
result the work of teaching itself, being complex, uncertain and full of dilemmas (FeimanNemser, 2001). This kind of situation happens because there is a gap between the academic
courses which pre-service English teachers got in their preparation programs, with the real
language class condition that pre-service teachers are faced (Farrell, 2008). Furthermore, there
continues to be a mismatch between the expected and actual levels of competence, and educators
claim EFL pre-service teacher education is largely inadequate (Nunan, 2003).
English as Foreign Language (EFL) education has become a requirement in Indonesia.
Based on this situation, improvement to pre-service EFL teachers is needed in order to increase
the standard of teaching and learning (Cook, 1996). This requires pre-service teachers in
countries where English is a foreign language to be prepared to meet the challenges and
standards for EFL teaching (Wertheimer & Honigsfeld, 2000). Teaching practice has become
such a main part of student-teachers to develop their teaching ability in many countries. The
teaching practice is located at the final stage of the university-school of the teacher education
programs (Tang, 2002). Teaching practice is one of the most important aspects in teaching
education program (Henry, 1989). Through teaching practice student teachers can gain many
valuable things. Henry (1989) stated that, through teaching practice, pre-service teachers; (i)
establish a bond with the actual teaching environment, (ii) learn through try-and-learn, (iii)
develop high satisfaction, (iv) gain personal and professional development, (v) get the
opportunity of one to-one teaching, and (vi) gain the chance to take part in the future teachers. In
3
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
short, teaching practice gives pre-service teachers an opportunity to shift from being a student to
becoming a teacher who has the responsibility of teaching others (Conderman, 2005).
Previous studies acknowledge that pre-service teachers have their own perceptions and
attitudes on teaching. Attitudes can be described as a relatively enduring organization of beliefs,
feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or
symbols (Hogg & Vaughan, 2005). Pre-service teachers get their initial views on teaching from
at least two sources (Leon-Carillo, 2007). First, it comes from their personal experience as
students, consists of their interactions with and exposures to various teachers throughout their
school life (Ben-Peretz, 2003). And second, it results from their conceptual repertoires as they
undergo the formal training provided by teaching education programs (Nettle, 1998). Previous
studies showed that, pre-service teachers believe that teaching is easy and that teaching merely
involves transmitting information (Feiman-Nemser, 2001). Besides that, Nguyen and Hudson
(2010) found that, pre-service EFL teachers are motivated to learn to teach English as it is
enjoyable, popular around the world, a supportive skill for employment, and a means for critical
thinking, expression and communication.
Besides pre-service teachers’ attitude toward teaching English, previous study showed
that pre-service teachers faced difficult situations during their field experiences. Research on
learning to teach has also sought to uncover the problems pre-service teachers (Nguyen &
Hudson , 2010). Wang and Odell (2002) identify three types of problems that can confront
novices when learning to teach within school settings, that is: (1) emotional and psychological
stress, (2) lack of support, and (3) conceptual struggles about teaching and learning. Emotional
and psychological stress is “widely assumed to be the result of the relatively low professional
status of teaching, the uncertainty of classroom life, and difficult working conditions” (p.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
514). A lack of support can include a “lack of instruction routines, procedures, skills, and
techniques that are related to the contexts of teaching” (Wang & Odell, 2002). In the previous
studies showed that anxiety and ambivalence happens to pre-service teachers after their teaching
practice (Kyriacou & Stephens, 1999), some pre-service teachers feel that they are not
adequately prepared by the teacher education programs to meet the requirements of teaching in a
real classroom environment (Stuart & Thurlow, 2000), first-year teachers and student teachers
always find themselves in a paradoxical situation (Feiman-Nemser, 2001), pre-service teacher’s
belief about teaching changes after teaching practice (Leon-Carillo, 2007). Pre-service teachers
may be unprepared for the demands of upper secondary English teaching and more effective
models for pre-service EFL teacher development are required (Butcher, 2003). Student teachers
reported that they are not able to cope with the problems they face during teaching practice. Not
being able to practice the teaching skills they have learned throughout their training in the
teacher education programs causes student teachers to experience discouragement and
disappointment (Stuart & Thurlow, 2000). Wang and Odell (2002) reported that pre-service
teachers are challenged by the “conceptual struggle about teaching and learning” (p. 515). They
believe that effective teaching and learning may conflict with the reality of teaching in the school
context. According to Liu’s (2005) research, pre-service EFL teachers tend to follow their
school-based mentors’ examination-oriented English teaching methods. It appears that learning
to teach within the school context does not match the pre-service teachers’ university education
and current advocated practices. The connection between theory and practice (i.e., praxis) needs
to be more explicit in the school settings, which requires well-constructed mentoring programs.
Mentoring is typically described as a way to develop teaching practices that involves a
close relationship between a less experienced person and one who is more experienced, who
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
provides guidance, advice, support, and feedback (Haney, 1997). A mentor may be defined as
“one who is more knowledgeable on teaching practices and through explicit mentoring processes
develops pedagogical self-efficacy in the mentee towards autonomous teaching practices”
(Hudson, 2005). In previous studies it was found that, pre-service teachers in their skills and
knowledge development, require assistant from more experienced colleagues. It is established
that school mentors play important roles in effectively mentoring pre-service teachers
during their teaching practice (Borko & Mayfield, 1995). Mentoring programs should be devised
for mentors to assist their mentees (pre-service teachers) develop pedagogical knowledge and
overcome context-specific difficulties. Mentors need to display personal attributes that facilitate
a collaborative working relationship (Sinclair, 2003). Mentors need to display their expertise by
modeling effective teaching practices (Klausmeier, 1994). Finally, feedback in both oral and
written form can guide pre-service teacher development with clear expectations for improving
practices (Zachary, 2002)
In summary, there are studies exploring the aspects of pre-service teachers’ learning to
teach and the problems that face by pre-service teachers. However, few studies have reported on
pre-service teachers’ attitudes after teaching practicum, but there is little information on what
kind of attitudes, needs and experiences of pre-service teachers after their teaching practicum.
Teaching practicum in Junior High school (SMP) had been selected to narrow this study. This
study aims to find out pre-service teachers’ attitudes, needs and experiences about teaching
English after teaching practicum in SMP. The study designed in order to answer the following
research questions: “What are pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs after they
finish their teaching practice in SMP?”
6
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
The result of this study could be useful to pre-service teacher educators in preparing preservice teachers who will deal with SMP students in their teaching practicum and also in
designing such a pedagogical framework which could be useful for pre-service teacher in their
teaching practice. This study also may suggest other questions for further research on factors
which cause those different attitudes from pre-service teachers.
The study
This study involved Indonesian university students who have finished their job as preservice teachers in at least fourteen-week teaching practice in junior high schools. After studying
EFL teaching methodology courses, finally pre-service EFL teachers had to apply their
knowledge through teaching practice. Teaching practice is such a field experience for pre-service
teachers. The aim of teaching practice is to provide real-world teaching experience toward preservice teachers. There are many studies that explore pre-service teachers’ problems, however
the study about attitudes, needs and experiences that pre-service teachers have after their
teaching practice in Junior high school or SMP is rarely found. This study was conducted in
order to answer the research question; “What are pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences and
needs after they finish their teaching practice in SMP?”
Method
This study used a descriptive method to gain information about pre-service teachers’
attitudes toward teaching English, their experiences and needs. According to Shuttleworth
(2008), descriptive research method is a scientific method which involves observing and
describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way. The emphasis is on
describing rather than on judging or interpreting.
7
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Participants
The participants of this study were five students who had passed their teaching practice in
Junior High Schools (SMP) in Salatiga. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants of
this study. The participants were selected because they had the criteria; that is, completion of
teaching practice program
Instrument
In this study in-depth interview questions were used to gain the data. The purpose of using
in-depth interview was to obtain more information so that the result of the study could be clearly
described. The interview questions were prepared based on the literature (Gourneau, 2002). Ten
main questions were designed to conduct the interview. The interview questions dealt with preservice teachers’ attitudes toward teaching practice, their needs and experiences.
Data collection
In data collection process, the first step was designing the instrument; that is interview
questions. The interview questions were designed based on related literature. Ten main questions
were made as the guidance in the interview. The next step was arranging an interview trial. The
purpose of the trial was to examine whether the questions were appropriate. Two students were
interviewed for the trial stage. After the trial, the interview recordings were transcribed. The
results of the trial were analyzed to find whether the questions were appropriate. And based on
the trial, there were several interview questions which needed to be developed for the real
interview. The real data collection was immediately conducted after the trial. Five participants
were interviewed. It took around 11 to 20 minutes for each interview. A mobile phone was used
8
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
as the recorder. The interview sessions were conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. Since both the
author and the participants were Indonesian, the purpose of using Bahasa was to reduce the
effects of possible language problems. The results of the interview were transcribed and then
analyzed.
Data analysis
The data were analyzed with some steps such as coding, classifying, and analyzing. The
data were coded or labeled based on the focus of the research. The second step was classifying
the data that had been coded or labeled into one group. There were ten labels, that is beliefs,
feelings, difficulties, emotional and psychological stress, disappointment, personal-awareness
toward ability to teach English, supporting knowledge, the importance of mentor teacher, kinds
of mentor during teaching, and pre-service teacher needs during teaching. When these two steps
were done, the data were analyzed. The last step was drawing a conclusion.
Findings and Discussion
After the data was analyzed, several aspects of attitudes, experiences, and needs were
found. The description of the data in this section had been arranged and presented in three
categories: (1) attitude that had two subheadings (belief and feeling toward teaching English), (2)
experience that had five subheadings (difficulties during teaching, emotional and psychological
stress, disappointment, personal-awareness toward ability to teach English, supporting
knowledge) and (3) needs which had three subheadings (the importance of mentor teacher, kinds
of mentor during teaching, pre-service teacher needs during teaching).
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Attitude
The pre-service teachers were asked about their attitudes toward teaching English in SMP
(Junior High School). It revealed beliefs and feelings toward teaching English and also some
factors which affected their attitudes toward teaching.
Beliefs
This part consists of pre-service teachers’ beliefs toward teaching English in SMP. Based
on the interview transcription, there were two kinds of beliefs found. First, teaching English in
SMP was easy, whereas the other one stated, teaching English in SMP was difficult. Those two
beliefs were affected by some factors, such as;
a. Students’ basic knowledge about English.
b. Students’ interest to learn English.
c. Teachers’ understanding about the students’ needs, ability and way of learning.
d. Teachers’ motivation to teach English.
The excerpt below was given by P4 who claimed that teaching English in SMP was easy;
1. Kalau mudahnya, aku pikir ketika anak yang saya ajar itu sudah punya basic bahasa
inggris, mereka sudah dapat di SD atau mereka ikut kegiatan luar sekolah yang
berhubungan bahasa inggris, mereka sudah punya knowledge bahasa inggris, jadi untuk
kita ngajarnya itu enak, karena materi yang kita ingin ajarkan pada mereka mereka
sudah tahu maksud dan tujuannya.
(I think, it could be easy when the students had the basic knowledge about English, they
had learned English when they were Elementary school or they had joined English
course. So, it would be easy for me to teach because my students had already known
about what I mean when I presented the materials.)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Based on the response above, P4 believed that teaching was easy since the students had basic
knowledge about English. To teach students who had basic knowledge about English such as
vocabulary and tenses was easier for pre-service teachers.
Another response was given by P2 who also thought that teaching English was easy. He
said;
2. Kalau mereka sudah suka dulu pada bahasa inggris, mereka akan lebih bersemangat.
Jadi begitu kita berikan kepada mereka seperti games, grammar, pronunciation dll,
mereka akan lebih mudah menerima itu, dan sekaligus membuat pekerjaan saya jadi
lebih mudah.
(When they (students) love to learn English, they would be more excited. So, when I give
them materials such as games, grammar, pronunciation, etc. The students would be easier
to accept the lesson, and of course it made my job easier.)
Based the response above, P2 thought that teaching English was easy when the students loved to
learn English, because they would be more excited to learn English and it made her job as a
teacher easier.
Besides pre-service teachers’ belief that teaching English was easy, there was another
belief which appeared in the interview transcription, that is, pre-service teachers believed that
teaching English in SMP was difficult. Below is the response from P1;
3. Sulitnya itu, terkadang siswanya itu belum memiliki basic bahasa inggris itu, jadi ketika
kita mengajar seperti mengisis botol yang kosong, jadi istilahnya, kita harus memberikan
input yang begitu banyak sebelum siswa itu dapat mengerti apa yang kita ajarkan. (P1)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(It was difficult because sometimes some students did not have basic knowledge about
English, so when we teach, it was like “filling up an empty bottle”, so we had to give so
many input to the students before they were able to understand about our materials.) (P1)
Based on the response above, P1 thought that teaching English was difficult because some
students did not have basic knowledge about English. As the result, the pre-service teacher had
to give so many inputs to the students before they were able to understand the materials.
The response from P3 below, also describes the difficulty to teach English. He stated;
4. Soalnya kita harus tahu apa yang dibutuhkan siswa, kita harus tahu bagaimana siswa
itu belajar, bagaimana siswa itu menyerap pelajaran jadi dalam mengajar Inggris itu
kita harus mempetimbangkan banyak sekali point-point yang harus dipikirkan untuk
mengajar bahasa Inggris, jadi kita tidak asal mengajar materi, tapi kita harus
mempertimbangkan kebutuhan dan kemampuan dari siswa tersebut.
(Because we had to understand about the students’ needs, we had to know how the
student learns, how they understand the lesson. So, in teaching English we had to
consider on many points such as students’ needs and students’ ability.)
The response from P3 indicated that, teaching English was difficult because a teacher must
understand about the students’ needs, about how they learns, and how they understand the
lesson.
Feelings
Besides beliefs, another kind of attitude was about the pre-service teachers’ feelings
toward teaching English in SMP. There was one type of feeling found in the data transcription,
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
that is, pre-service teachers’ motivation to teach English. Pre-service teachers’ motivation to
teach English was affected by some factors, such as;
a. Interesting learning experiences.
b. The importance of English.
c. Pre-service teachers’ willingness to share knowledge with others.
d. Pre-service teachers’ willingness to apply knowledge
The excerpts below are the responses from the participants. P1 revealed that,
5. Aku ketemu guru les yang enak cara ngajarnya, cara ngajarnya itu unik dan berbeda
dengan guru bahasa inggris di SMP ku, dan setelah diajar oleh guru les itu aku nyadar
kalau bahasa inggris itu ternyata menyenagkan. Dan sejak saat itu aku jadi mulai bepikir
untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris nantinya. Jadi motivasiku mengajar bahasa inggris ya itu
tadi terpacu dari guru les ku itu.
(I met an English course teacher who could teach really well, she was unique and also
different from my English teacher in my Junior high school. Since I taught by my course
teacher I realized English was so much fun. From that moment, I started to think to teach
English in the future. Yes, I got motivation to teach English from my course teacher).
Based on the response above, P1 was motivated by his past experience when he was a student.
He had a good English teacher when he was junior high school. Since he thought by his English
teachers, he found that English was interesting and he motivated to teach English in the future.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Besides his past experience, P1 also mentioned that he was motivated to teach English
since English had became a global language. It was good for students to learn English and used it
in daily life. Below is the response from P1;
6. Sekarang kan bahasa inggris sudah global dan penting banget. Jadi alangkah baiknya
anak2 di tingkat level SMP ini sudah bisa menguasai bahasa inggris, sudah bisa mengerti
bahasa inggris di kehidupan sehari-hari, jadi berdasarkan itulah aku seperti merasa
harus mengajar bahasa inggris untuk mengajari anak2 ketrampilan bahasa inggris.
(Nowadays, English had become global language and very important. So, it was better for
students in this level (Junior high school) to master English and use it in the daily life.
Based on that fact, I felt motivated to teach children English skill.)
The interview with P3 indicated that he was motivated to teach English because through
teaching English he could share his knowledge about English with his students, as he revealed
below;
7. Soalnya dengan mengajarkan English itu, saya bisa membagikan ilmu yang saya dapat
selama saya belajar di Universitas pada siswa-siswa saya sehingga mereka memiliki
pengetahuan yang mungkin akan berguna bagi mereka di masa depan.
(Because through teaching English I could share my knowledge which I got in university
with my students, so they had knowledge that might be useful for them in the future.)
Another interview result with P4 indicated that she was motivated to teach English since
she thought that teaching was an honorable job and she also wanted to share her knowledge with
others. Below is the response from P4;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
8. Ya, sangat termotivasi, alasannya ya karena saya kan belajar tentang bahasa inggris dan
saya ingin menerapkan ilmu saya. Jadi ya saya ingin membagikan apa yang saya punya
pada orang lain, karena menurut saya ya mengajar itu pekerjaan yang mulia.
(Yes, I was very motivated. The reasons were, since I learned about English I want to
apply my knowledge. So, I want to share about what I had with others. Because I think
teaching was an honorable job)
Based on the responses above, it revealed that the pre-service teachers had different attitudes
toward teaching English. Some pre-service teachers stated that teaching English was easy.
However, the other pre-service teachers reported that teaching English was difficult. Those
beliefs were affected by students’ basic knowledge about English, students’ interest to learn
English, teachers’ understanding about the students’ needs, ability and way of learning, and
teachers’ motivation to teach English. Besides that, the data also indicated that the pre-service
teachers were motivated to teach English since English had become a global language. The preservice teachers were also motivated by their past experience when they were students.
Experiences
The pre-service teachers were asked about their experience during their teaching practice
in SMP (Junior High school). There were several problems experienced by pre-service during
their teaching practice, such as difficulties, emotional and psychological stress, personalawareness toward ability to teach, and supporting knowledge.
Difficulties
Difficulties were common things which faced by pre-service teachers during teaching
practice. There were two factors which caused difficulties for pre-service teachers. First was
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
internal factor or factor which came from the pre-service teachers itself. Second was external
factor or factor which came from the surrounding. The table below is the factors;
Table 1: Factors which caused difficulties for pre-service teachers
Internal Factors
External Factors
Classroom management
Students’ basic knowledge of English
Mastery of the materials
Lack of vocabulary
Students’ lack of serious response
toward pre-service teachers
Lesson planning
Students’ lack of participation
Teaching technique
Unexpected students’ response
Material development
Lack of confidence
Lack of preparation
All of those factors above were implied in the following excerpts. The interview with P2 and P4
indicated that they faced difficulties in managing students and also mastering the materials.
Below are the responses from P2 and P4;
9. Kesulitan iya saya pernah menemuinya, contohnya kesulitan untuk meng-handle muridmuridnya. Selain itu kadang saya kurang menguasai materi jadi waktu pertanyaan
tentang kata dalam bahasa Inggris pernah lupa bahasa Inggrisnya tentang itu dan tidak
bisa menjawab.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Difficulties, yes I faced it for example, to manage the students. Besides that, sometimes I
was not really master the materials, as the result when there were questions from students
about vocabulary, sometimes I forgot about it and could not answer it.)
10. Tempat di mana saya PPL itu, tergolong murid yang nakal jadi agak susah, classroom
management-nya itu susah, mereka sangat susah untuk diatur.
(In the school where I served, had students that categorized as disobedient students, so it
was hard to manage the class, it was hard to make the students still in class.)
Besides managing students and mastering the materials, preparing the materials was also
difficult for the pre-service teachers. As stated by P3 and P5;
11. Kesulitan itu membuat mereka tertarik untuk belajar bahasa Inggris, jadi aktifitas apa
yang harus saya buat untuk mereka sehingga mereka bisa tertarik dan bersemangat
untuk belajar bahasa Inggris.
(The difficulty was to make the students interested to learn English. What kind of activity
that should I create to make the students interested and motivated to learn English.)
12. Kemudian kesulitannya ya mungkin dalam membuat materinya, kaya activitinya, kadang
menurut kita itu sudah menarik tapi, setelah disampaikan respon para siswa nggak
sesuai dengan yang saya harapkan, mungkin bagi siswa itu tidak begitu menarik jadi
tidak bisa membuat mereka antusias untuk belajar materi itu. (P5)
(Then the difficulty was in preparing the materials, for example the activity. Sometimes
we think that we had prepared an activity was really interesting, but in fact when it
presented in class, the students were not really interested to join the activity.) (P5)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
The responses from P3 and P5 indicated that to make students interested to learn English was
difficult. They had to create interesting activity to make students interested and motivated in
learning English.
Another response was given by P4; the response indicated that she faced difficulty in
managing time. Sometimes the time was not enough for teachers to deliver the materials
according to lesson plan. As P4 said,
13. Kemudian waktu, menurut saya itu waktunya kurang, karena biasanya kita sudah
menyiapkan lesson plan sedemikian rupa, kadang2 itu tidak sesuai dengan waktu yang
kita planning-kan, jadi mungkin kadang waktunya kurang tidak sesuai dengan yang
tertulis di lesson plan.
(It was about the time. In my opinion the time was not enough. Sometimes the time was
not enough for me to deliver the materials according to the prepared lesson plan. Running
out of time sometimes happened when I teach.)
Emotional and psychological stress
Besides difficulties, the pre-service teachers also faced emotional and psychological
stress during their teaching practice. This situation was also caused by external and internal
factors of pre-service teachers, as reported in the following excerpt.
For the external factor, students’ basic knowledge of English became the main factor
which caused emotional and psychological stress as stated by P1 below;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
14. Karena anak-anak itu kurang di basic bahasa inggrisnya jadi lama mudengnya, jadi aku
spend waktunya lebih banyak buat njelasin. Ya jadi itu cukup buat aku strees waktu
mengajar.
(Because the students did not have enough basic knowledge about English, so I must
spend more time to explain the materials. That was enough to make me stressed while I
teach.)
Another response was given by P4 which mentioned the external factor of emotional and
psychological stress. As stated by P4, classroom management became the main factor she got
stressed because she failed to manage her students to join the lesson. Below is the response from
P4;
15. Penyebabnya itu yang paling sering muridnya, karena murid2 itu kan kadang
mengganggap kita hanya guru PPL jadi mereka tidak serius buat mengikuti pelajaran
kita,
(The most factor was the students, because sometimes the students think that I just a preservice teacher, I was not their real teacher, so they did not really serious to join the
lesson.)
Disappointment
Besides difficulties and stress, the pre-service teachers also experienced disappointment.
Disappointment was common during teaching. It might happen when the lesson did not run
smoothly. This situation was also caused by internal factors and external factor. The table below
is the factors which cause disappointment;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
Table 2: Factors which caused disappointment toward pre-service teachers
Internal Factors
Lack of creativity.
Lack of material mastery.
Lack of confidence.
External Factor
Unpredictable Situation
All of those factors were reported by the following excerpts. P1 revealed;
16. Kecewa ya aku pernah mengalami itu. Jadi ya cara mengajarku itu terlalu monotone,
kurang kreatif, akibatnya murid-murid jadi terlihat bosan.
(Disappointment, yes I had ever been faced it. I think the way I teach was too
“monotone”, I was not creative. As a result the students were bored.)
Based on the response above P1 stated, lack of creativity in teaching could make pre-service
teachers feel disappointed during teaching practice. The pre-service teacher was not creative in
delivering materials, as the result, the students were bored in joining the lesson.
Another issue was reported by P2 who also experienced disappointment in teaching
English. Below is the response from P2;
17. Ya pernah, waktu itu saya pernah kasih game ke anak-anak, ternyata tidak disangka
game tersebut malah membuat suasana di kelas jadi agak kacau. Ya itu jelas
mengecewakan ya karena materi yang tak pikir itu bagus dan murid2 bakalan antusias,
ternyata hasilnya tidak seperti yang diharapkan.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Yes, I had ever been faced it. At that time, I gave a game to my students but
unfortunately the game made the classroom situation was chaotic. Of course it made me
disappointed because sometimes I think that I had prepared good material and the
students would enthusiastic, but in fact, it was not as I thought.)
Based on the response above P2 stated, she felt disappointed when the classroom situation did
not run as expected. Sometimes pre-service teachers had to face unpredictable situation in
classroom which made them disappointed.
Besides lack of creativity and unpredictable situation, self-confidence problem also
caused disappointment. As P3 said;
18. Kadang saya merasa kurang PD (Percaya Diri) ya, contohnya saat saya harus
megajarkan materi ini, dan akhirnya saya gagal karena nervous, kadang muridnya
nggak mudeng tentang materi yang saya sampaikan ya itu contoh yang membuat saya
stress dan kecewa juga dan mungkin saya harus memperbaiki kesalahan saya itu.
(Sometimes I felt unconfident, for example when I had to teach a material, I got nervous
and finally I failed to deliver the materials properly because of my nervousness.
Sometimes my students did not understand about my explanation, which was the factor
that made me stressed and disappointed. May be I had to fixed my mistakes.)
Based on the response above, self-confidence problem became one factor which caused preservice teachers feel disappointed with their teaching. P3 could not deliver the materials properly
when he felt nervous.
The last response was given by P5 who also experienced disappointment in teaching
English. Below is the response from P5;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
19. Saya pikir saya sudah menguasai materi semuanya sampai detail-detailnya, tapi dalam
kenyataan, ada pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang tak terduga sering muncul diantara muridmurid, dan saya tidak bisa menjawabnya. Dan itu membuat saya merasa kecewa.
(I thought I had mastered all of the materials, but sometimes in class there were
unpredictable questions from students, and I couldn’t answer it. And that made me
disappointed.)
The response above indicated that, materials mastery could also make pre-service teachers feel
disappointed. As stated by P5, she felt disappointed when she could not answer students’
questions about the materials.
Personal-awareness toward ability to teach
Pre-service teachers needed to be aware toward themselves, in this case their ability to
teach English. Based on their experience, the pre-service teachers were asked about their own
ability to teach English. They were asked whether their ability was sufficient to teach English.
Some pre-service teachers stated that their skill to teach English was sufficient, whereas the other
stated that it was not. Besides that, the pre-service teachers were also asked about their ability
which needed to be improved. The list below is the pre-service teachers’ ability which needed to
be improved;
a. Teaching technique
b. Ability to understand students’ ability
c. Designing games
d. Time management
e. Classroom management
f. Vocabulary
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
All of those facts above were reported by the following excerpts. P2 stated;
20. Untuk sekarang ya Insya Allah cukup. Kalau kemampuan yang perlu dikembangkan itu
kemampuan untuk menyampaikan materi, terus saya juga harus bisa belajar memahami
pemikiran murid-murid, jadi saya bisa menyesuaikan penyampaian materi dengan
kemampuan murid-murid, jadi muridnya bisa memahami materi yang saya sampaikan.
Terus kemampuan untuk membuat game-game yang bervariasi supaya penyampaian
materi jadi lebih menarik.
(Insya Allah It was sufficient. My ability which needed to be improved, I think my ability
to deliver the materials, then I had to learn to understand students’ thought, so I could
adjust the materials delivery with students’ ability, as the result my students were able to
understand the materials. And then I had to improve my ability to design various games,
so that the materials delivery would be more interesting.)
The excerpt above showed that P2 had enough skill to teach English. However, she needed
improvement on material delivery skill. Besides that, she had to understand students’ thought, so
she could adjust the material delivery with students’ ability. She also had to improve her skill in
designing various games so that the lesson would be more interesting.
Another response was given by P4 who also thought that her skill was sufficient to teach
English. Below is the response from P4;
21. Ya saya rasa kemampuan saya cukup memadai ya. Dan kemampuan yang perlu
dikembangkan itu mungkin yang pertama itu menejemen waktu, terus classroom
management, kemudian kreatifitas untuk membuat materi ajar yang menarik.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Yes, I think my ability was sufficient. And I think, I needed to improve my skill in
managing time, managing classroom, and creating interesting materials.)
The excerpt above indicated that P4 had enough skill to teach English although some
improvement was needed for time management, classroom management, and creativity in
designing materials.
However, P5 was not satisfied with her ability to teach English. She thought that she had
to enrich her vocabulary. Below is the response from P5;
22. Bagi saya, saya belum puas dengan ability saya untuk mengajar bahasa inggris
padahal saya ingin mengajar bahasa inggris sebenarnya, tapi dari pengalamanpengalaman PPL kemarin guru mentor saya ada yang komentar kalo saya ini kurang
strict jadi, jadilah guru yang agak strict bagi murid2nya pada saat yang diperlukan.
Kemudian mungkin saya tidak terlalu kaya vocab, jadi harus ditingkatkan lagi itu (P5)
(I was not satisfied with my ability to teach English, whereas actually I wanted to teach
English. In my teaching practice, my mentor commented that I was not strict enough. I
should be strict teacher when it was needed. And may be my vocabulary was not to rich,
so I had to enrich my vocabulary.) (P5)
Supporting knowledge
Based on the pre-service teachers’ experience, they were asked whether the lesson they
had learned in the university was appropriate to be applied during teaching practice in SMP
(Junior high school). The following excerpts were the responses from P1 and P3;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
23. kalau materi yang aku dapat di kelas, kayak TLS, TEFL, Grammar, Speaking, itu semua
aku pikir sudah cukup sesuai untuk basic mengajar.
(About the materials that I got in class, such as TLS (Teaching & Learning Strategy),
TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language), Grammar, Speaking, etc. I think those
materials were appropriate enough as basic to teach.)
24. kalau materinya hampir semua sesuai ya, seperti contoh penyusunan lesson plan dan
silabus, terus penyusunan materi, teknik mengajar itu bisa saya praktekan selama saya
PPL. Dan materi yang saya dapatkan di Universitas sangat membantu sebagai pedoman
pada saat saya PPL.
(I think almost all of the materials that I got are appropriate, for example designing lesson
plan and syllabus, designing materials, teaching method, all those knowledge could be
applied during my teaching practice. And what I got in University is really helpful as
guidance during my teaching practice.)
The comments from P1 and P3 indicated that the pre-service teacher’s knowledge which they
got in university was appropriate to be applied in the field experience. As P3 stated, it was really
helpful as guidance during teaching practice.
Based on the finding above, it showed that the pre-service teachers experienced
difficulties, emotional and psychological stress and also disappointment in teaching English. It
was caused by internal and external factors. Internal factors includes; material preparation,
teaching technique, classroom management, time management and self-confidence problem.
Besides that, some pre-service teachers thought that their ability was sufficient to teach English.
However, there were also pre-service teachers who thought that their ability was insufficient.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
The pre-service teachers thought that they needed to improve their skills, such as time
management, classroom management, and materials development. The data also indicated that
the pre-service teachers’ knowledge which they had learned in university were appropriate to be
applied in the field experience.
Needs
The pre-service teachers were asked about their needs for teaching practice. Based on the
interview transcription several kinds of pre-service teachers’ needs were revealed, such as
mentoring programs, expectation of ideal mentors, and pre-service teachers’ needs in learning to
teach. Below were the responses from the pre-service teachers about their needs;
The importance of mentoring programs
Mentoring had become main need for pre-service teachers in teaching practice. The
existence of mentor teachers was very important. As a mentor teacher, they guided the preservice teacher to make lesson plan, observed them and gave them comments or critique. It was
also important for pre-service teacher to learn from more experienced teachers, as reported by P1
and P3:
25. Aku pikir mentor itu justru sangat penting sekali, mereka membantu aku dalam hal yang
hubungannya dengan cara mengajar. Mereka juga memberikan feedback yang aku
butuhkan buat mengembangkan kemampuanku.
(I think mentors were really important. They helped me in case of teaching method. They
also give feedbacks that I need to develop my skills.)
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
26. Menurut saya peran mentor sangat penting selama saya mengajar. Mereka membantu
untuk perencanaan materi, mereka memberi tahu saya tentang typical murid-murid, dan
kondisi situasi mengajar yang bagus seperti apa, ya mungkin karena mereka lebih
berpengalaman saya bisa belajar banyak dari mereka untuk mengenal situasi belajar.
(In my opinion, mentors were really important during my teaching practice. They helped
me to design materials, they told me about the students’ characters and how to create
good situation in class. Because of they were more experienced than me; I could learn
many things about teaching and learning situation.) (P3)
The comments from P1 and P3 indicated that the mentoring program during teaching practice
was really important. Mentors had important roles for pre-service teacher. As stated by P1 and
P3, that their mentors were really helpful and because of mentors were more experienced, preservice teachers could learn many things from them such as teaching method, feedback, how to
cope with certain class situation, cope with certain students’ characters, and so on. Based on
those findings, it was revealed that pre-service teachers needed mentoring program in learning to
teach.
Expectation of ideal mentors
Pre-service teachers agreed that mentor teachers were very important. However, they had
different opinions about what kind of mentor they were expected during their teaching practice.
The following excerpts are the pre-service teachers’ opinions about ideal mentors. P1 revealed
that;
27. Mentor yang mau memberikan masukan-masukan tentang situasi kelas, tentang cara
mengajar dikelas tersebut, kemudian cara mengajar yang bagus, itu aku butuhin banget.
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
(Mentor who want to give me tips about class situation, how to teach in a certain class,
and then how to teach well, those all what I need.)
The excerpt above showed that P1 needed mentor who could give him some tips about real class
condition, including class situation and students characters.
Another response was given by P2 who expected open-minded mentors who could
discuss and share anything she needed to know. The following excerpt is the responses from P2;
28. Mentor yang saya butuhkan itu ya, mentor yang “open-minded”, yang bisa diajak
diskusi, terus yang mau sharing tentang metode mengajar, dan juga materi-materi yang
bagus.
(I needed open-minded mentors, mentor who wanted to discuss, wanted to share about
teaching methods, and also shared about good teaching materials.)
P4 stated that she needed communicative mentors who were close to novice teachers. So,
she would feel more comfortable to share teaching experiences. Below is the response from P4;
29. Guru mentor yang saya butuhkan mungkin yang komunikatif, dalam arti yang bisa akrab
dengan guru PPL seperti kita, jadi kita enak buat sharing tentang pengalaman mengajar.
(I needed communicative mentors; it means they wanted to close with novice teacher like
us, so it wass more comfortable to share about teaching experiences.)
The last response was given by P5, she stated that she needed mentors who were able to
guide and give useful feedback used to improve her skill in teaching. Below is the response from
P5;
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Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
30. Ya mentor yang bisa membibing, jadi yang bisa jadi guide bagi kita. Trus kasih
feedback-feedback yang bemanfaat, itu kan bisa buat pembelajaran untuk lebih baik
mengajar pada pengajaran berikutnya.
(Mentors who were able to guide us, and then gave useful feedbacks, the feedbacks were
really helpful for the next lesson.)
Pre-service teachers’ needs during learning to teach
Besides mentoring program and ideal mentors, there were other things needed by preservice teachers. It included their psychological needs, skill, and their capability to deal with
school situations. The following excerpts were the pre-service teachers’ comments about the
other needs. P2 revealed that;
31. Kita juga perlu untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sekolah maksudnya dengan guruguru dan staf, kemudian kita harus bantu-bantu seperti di perpustakaan, jadi dengan
begitu kita bisa merasa lebih nyaman di lingkungan sekolah.
(We also needed to interact with school environment, in this case with the other teachers
and staff office; we should help the other for example helped the librarian or the other
teachers. So, we would feel more comfortable in our field experience.)
The excerpt above showed that pre-service teachers needed to interact with school environment
including the other teachers and office staff. As reported by P2, It would make pre-service
teachers feel more comfortable at school.
Another response was given by P4 who thought that pre-service teachers needed to be
more creative. Below is the response from P4;
29
Pre-ser ice teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs to ard teaching English after teaching in SMP
32. Buat mempersiapkan materi, mungkin kita harus lebih kreatif contohnya dengan AVA,
game, variasi mengajar.
(We needed to be more creative in preparing materials, for example we could use AVA
(Audio Visual Aid), games and variation in teaching.)
The excerpt above showed that pre-service teacher needed to be more creative in preparing
materials. Pre-service teachers could use AVA (Audio Visual Aid), games and variation in
teaching.
The last comment was given by P5 who thought that pre-service teachers needed to have
strong mentality and high self-confidence to deal with their students. Below is the response from
P5;
~ Yang pasti mental dan percaya diri, itu yang paling penting menurutku buat PPL kita
harus punya mental baja dan rasa percaya diri tinggi buat menghadapi murid2 yang
berbeda-beda itu ada yang baik dan banyak juga yang nakal.
(Surely we had to have mentality and self-confidence. Those two are very important in
teaching practice I think. We must have strong mentality and high self-confidence to deal
with various students there are good students and also bad students.)
Based on the findings above, it revealed that mentoring program was very important for
the pre-service teachers. The mentors had an important role to guide the pre-service teachers to
develop their ability to teach. The pre-service teachers needed mentors who could give them
advice, sha