SCHOOL TEACHERS’ VOICE IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT A THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) Degree in English Language Studies

SCHOOL TEACHERS’ VOICE
IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A THESIS

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

by
ASHADI
Student Number: 056332016

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2007

i

ii

iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

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

Yogyakarta, 28 May 2007

Ashadi

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I must express my deepest gratitude to God the Almighty, who has
guided my faith and provided me with all his kindness. Without Him, it would be
impossible for me to finish this thesis and to obtain the degree. May He always be with

us who seek and share knowledge and spread the merit of science.
This degree is dedicated to my beloved family, friends and colleagues. To my
wife Kesi, my sons Iban and Ahsan, my parents and the whole extended family, I must
thank you all for your greatest support and love you have shown to this far. You are the
inspiration of my life, the angels of my heaven, and the stars of my simple world.
I feel much indebted to Dr. J. Bismoko, who spent time reviewing my work and
guided me throughout the graduate program of English language studies. He has always
been very ‘dynamic’ and inspiring for all his students including me. I benefited a lot
from his teachings and being under his guidance during this thesis writing in particular.
To F.X. Mukarto, PhD., I would like to say many thanks for his advices and
opinions from a different angle. My gratitude also goes to Dr. B.B Dwijatmoko, M.A.
who always asked my thesis progress, Prof. Dr. Soepomo Pudjosudarmo for his
collections of stories, Dr. Fr. B. Alip., M.A. for his jokes in every class, Dr. Novita
Dewi, M.S. and Dra. Sri Mulyani., M.A. who kept us busy with weekly tasks.
I am very grateful to all my classmates in Batch V and Mbak Lelly of English
Language Studies, who shared problems and joys during the program. Finally I must
thank all participants and contributors of this study for their availability and
involvement. May God bless you all for your kindness.

Yogyakarta, 28 May 2007

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

………………………………………………………………….

APPROVAL PAGE

i

……………………………………………………………

ii

THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………….

iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

…………………………………………..

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

……………………………………………………..

vi

LIST OF TABLES

…………………………….………………………………

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

……….………………………………………………….

x

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ……………………………………………………

xi

ABSTRACT

……………………………………………………………………

xii

……………………………………………………………………..

xiii

ABSTRAK

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background

………………………………………………………………

1

B. Problem Identification ……………………………………………............

4

C. Problem Limitation

………………………………………………………

5

D. Research Questions ……………………………………….......................

5

E.

Research Goals and Objective

……………………………………………

6

F.

Research Benefits …………………………………………………………

7

G. Researcher’s Voice ……………………………………………………….

8

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Theoretical Description ……………………………………………………
1.

Teachers’ Voice

..……………………………………………………..

10

…..……….………………………………………

14

………………………………………………..

16

a. Teachers’ Roles
b. Teachers’ Identity
2.

Competency Improvement

…………………………………………..

Teacher Competency Standards
3

10

………………………………………

Teacher Professional Development
a. Are Teachers Professionals?

vi

18
20

…………………………………

22

………………………………………

24

b. Aspects of Professional Development

…………………………….

26

…………………………………………….

26

2) Teachers’ Learning ………………………………………………

29

3) Environmental Support

31

1) Motivational Factors

………………………………………….

4) Categories of Development

……………………………………..

32

B.

Theoretical Framework

………………………………………………

34

C.

Research Hypotheses …………………………………………………

37

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

A. Research Design

…………………………………………………………

39

B. Research Settings and Participants ...…………………………………....

41

C. Data Collection Techniques

44

………………………………………………

D. Techniques of Data Analysis …………………………………………….

46

E.

49

Trustworthiness of the Findings

………………………………………….

CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS
A. Data Analysis and Interpretation

………………………………………..

51

1. Initial Interview Data …………………………………………………

52

2. Classroom Observation and Document Data

57

………………………….

3. In-depth Structured Interview ……………………………………….

59

a. Construction of In-depth Interview Questions …………………….

59

b. Management of In-depth Interview Questions Data ……………….

61

4. Account of Teacher’s Individual Voice ……………………………….

63

5. Account of Teachers’ Collective Voice ………………………………..

64

B. Findings ………………………………………………………………...
1. Personal Voice of Individual High School English Teachers
a. Ito’s Voice in Professional Development

……..

66
66

………………………….

66

b. Gita’s Voice in Professional Development ………………………..

70

c. Rita’s Voice in Professional Development ………………………..

73

d. Hari’s Voice in Professional Development ………………………..

77

e. Ela’s Voice in Professional Development

81

…………………………

2. Teacher’s Collective Voice in Professional Development

vii

…………….

85

C. Discussions

86

1. Teachers’ Personal Voice in Professional Development ………………

86

a. Ito’s Personal Voice in Professional Development

……………..

88

b. Gita’s Personal Voice in Professional Development

……………

92

c. Rita’s Personal Voice in Professional Development

……………

94

d. Hari’s Personal Voice in Professional Development

……………

97

e. Ela’s Personal Voice in Professional Development

…………….

100

2. Teachers’ Collective Voice in Professional Development …………...

103

a. Control

…………………………………………………………..

104

b. System ……………………………………………………………

109

c. Program ………………………………………………………….

114

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION
A. Conclusions

….………………………………………………………...

119

B. Implications

…………………………………….……………………....

123

C. Suggestions ……………..………………………………………………

125

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………

127

APPENDICES
Appendix A

Initial Interview Transcriptions …………………………..

133

Appendix B

Observation Notes ……………………………………….

148

Appendix C

Copies of Relevant Documents

………………………….

159

Appendix D

Structured Interview Questions ………………………….

163

Appendix E

Structured Interview Transcriptions ……………………...

166

Appendix F

Snowball Interview Transcriptions ………………………

186

Appendix G

Participants’ individual accounts …………………………

202

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Theoretical Blueprint ………………………………………………

37

Table 3.1 Research Settings and Participants ………………………………….

43

Table 3.3 Research Strategic Steps ……………………………………………..

48

Table 4.1 Initial Interview Sample ……………….…………………………….

54

Table 4.2 Initial Interview Coding ………………………………………………. 55
Table 4.3 Observation Note Sample ………………..………………………….. 58
Table 4.4 Piece of Structured Interview Questions List ……………….………… 60
Table 4.5 Structured Interview Sample ………………………………………… 61
Table 4.6 Sample of Individual Account (Ito’s) ………………………………… 63
Table 4.7 The Participants’ Collective Voice ……….…………………………

65

Table 4.8 Sample of Participants’ Personal Voice ……………………………… 87

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1. The contexts of Teachers’ Professional Life …………………

16

Figure 3.2. Data Collection Techniques ……………………………………

46

Figure 5.1. Cycle of Professional Development

123

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…………………………

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

DP 3

: Daftar Penilaian Pelaksanan Pekerjaan

ESP

: English for Specific Purpose

ICT

: Information & Computer Technology

INSET

: In-service Training

JETA

: Jogjakarta English Teacher Association

KTSP

: Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan

LPMP

: Lembaga Penjaminan Mutu Pendidikan

LPTK

: Lembaga Pendidikan dan Tenaga Kependidikan

MGMP

: Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran

PD

: Professional Development

PGRI

: Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia

PPPG

: Pusat Pengembangan Penataran Guru

RELO

: Regional English Language Office

TEFLIN

: Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia

List of Codes
APPRSL

: Appraisal

MOTIVE

: Motivation

AUTNMY

: Autonomy

OPPORTY

: Opportunity

COLLEG

: Collegiality

PUNISH

: Punishment

COMMIT

: Commitment

SYSTM

: System

CONTRL

: Control

RECRUIT

: Recruitment

CREAT

: Creativity

RFLCTN

: Reflection

COMMIT

: Commitment

REGLR

: Regularity

DVLPMT

: Development

RELATE

: Relation

EFFICY

: Efficacy

REWRD

: Reward

EXPRCE

: Experience

RFLCTN

: Reflection

INDPCE

: Independence

LEAD

: Leadership

MAP

: Mapping

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ABSTRACT

Ashadi. 2007. School teachers’ voice in professional development. Yogyakarta: The
Graduate Program, English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
The role of teacher is believed to be very significant in the success of students’
learning especially at the school level. Therefore, school teachers need to really be
aware of what is required from their profession if they want to be considered
professionals. In order to improve the competencies required in their profession, they
usually take part in professional development programs. However the effectiveness of
such programs is in question because of the lack of authenticity that is link and match
between what teachers learn and what they experience in the classrooms.
This study tried to reveal high school English teachers’ personal and collective
voice in professional development. It is necessary to scrutinize their factual problems to
have a deep understanding on their life, concerns and feeling. The underlying belief is
that they work in an inter-correlated system where their competency and
professionalism are in questions. They have also been long considered as ‘teaching
students’ who must learn from teacher trainers and researchers without being asked to
contribute or to share ideas in their own development.
The current study is progressive qualitative research and employs interviews as
the main data collection instruments. Relevant documents, written statements,
observations and other artifacts serve as support data. Participants of this study, five
high school English teachers around Yogyakarta and surrounding towns, were selected
purposively to represent maximum variation and adequacy of information. The data
were analyzed systematically through coding process and constantly compared during
the course of the study to form significant sub-categories.
The final interpretation of the categories led to full understanding of teacher’s
personal voice in professional development matters which varied in terms of
motivation, manner and results of improvements on individual teachers. As a group,
teachers voiced their concerns on three main areas namely, (1) control over this
profession which is in form of regular, integrated and fair performance appraisal to
ensure teacher autonomy, (2) supportive system to help teachers develop and learn best
from their students and colleagues with the help from the principal as leader, and (3)
harmonious programs and communication among the related parties need to be
developed so that the effectiveness of the program can be beneficial for teachers and
eventually students too.
Key words: voice, professional development, progressive qualitative research,
interpretive approach.

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ABSTRAK
Ashadi. 2007. School Teachers’ voice in professional development. Yogyakarta:
Program Pasca Sarjana, Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Peran guru diyakini sangat berarti dalam keberhasilan penguasaan bahasa
Inggris siswa khususnya di tingkat sekolah menengah atas. Oleh sebab itu guru perlu
menyadari apa yang di butuhkan dalam profesi mereka. Untuk meningkatkan
kompetensi tersebut mereka biasanya mengikuti program-program pengembangan
profesi. Namun ke efektifan program semacam itu masih di pertanyakan karena
kurangnya otentisitas yaitu hubungan kesesuaian antara yang dipelajari guru dan apa
yang mereka alami didalam kelas.
Penelitian ini berusaha mengungkap suara pribadi dan kelompok guru bahasa
Inggris sekolah menengah atas dalam pengembangan profesi. Sangat perlu untuk
memerikan permasalahan mereka yang sesungguhnya dalam rangka mendapatkan
pemahaman atas kehidupan, keprihatinan dan perasaan mereka. Keyakinan yang
mendasarinya adalah bahwa para guru bekerja dalam suatu sistem yang saling
berhubungan dimana kompetensi dan professionalisme mereka di pertanyakan. Mereka
juga telah lama dianggap sebagau pelajar ‘mengajar’ yang harus belajar dari
widyaiswara dan peneliti tanpa diminta untuk menyumbang dan berbagi gagasan dalam
pengembangan mereka sendiri.
Studi ini adalah penelitian progresif kwalitatif yang menggunakan wawancara
sebagai alat pengumpulan data yang utama. Dokumen, penyataan tertulis, observasi dan
materi yang relevan berguna sebagai data pendukung. Peserta penelitian ini, lima guru
bahasa Inggris sekolah menengah atas di Yogyakarta dan kota sekitarnya dipilih sesuai
tujuan untuk merefleksikan variasi maksimum dan kecukupan informasi. Data
dianalisa secara sistematis melalui proses pengkodean dan secara terus menerus di
perbandingkan selama proses penelitian untuk membentuk sub-kategori yang signifikan
Interpretasi akhir dari kategori yang diskusikan mengarah pada pemahaman
menyeluruh tentang suara pribadi dalam pengembangan profesi berhubungan dengan
motivasi, sikap dan hasil perkembangan yang berbeda pada masing-masing guru.
Secara kelompok, guru menyuarakan keprihatinan mereka dalam tiga bidang yaitu: (1)
kendali atas profesi mereka dalam bentuk penilaian kinerja yang teratur, menyeluruh
dan adil untuk memastikan otonomi guru, (2) system pendukung yang membantu guru
berkembang dan belajar dari siswa dan kolega dengan bantuan kepala sekolah sebagai
pimpinan, dan (3) programs dan komunikasi yang harmonis antara pihak-pihak yang
berhubungan perlu dikembangkan sehingga kefektifan program bisa menguntungkan
guru dan pada akhirnya siswa juga.
Kata kunci: suara, pengembangan profesi, penelitian progresif kwalitatif, studi
interpertif.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Professional competency has been a major demand in the world of education and
sooner or later all teachers have to cope with this issue.

In attempts to raise

competency, teachers usually participate in professional development programs
provided by the authorities or they develop themselves independently. Unfortunately,
not all teachers are driven to enhance their competency for some different reasons. They
also respond differently to professional development programs despite the strong
professional demand to improve their performance in classrooms. This chapter
elaborates how the issue of professional development is perceived by teachers to have
deeper understanding in the world of high school English teachers.

A. Background
Professional development has been a major concern in the world of education
recently. It is a response to the school reform agenda which demands quality education.
Teachers as one of the school elements have also become important to consider because
of the impact they might have on education process and eventually students’
achievement. Moreover with the recognition of teachers as professionals, all
stakeholders of education need to pay more attention to this issue.
Our national education in general and English education in particular has
received various criticisms in the areas like curriculum design, teaching process,
teachers’ quality as well as funding. The recent issues of national education
standardization and teacher certification regulations are aimed to improve the criticized

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aspects. Education standardization and teacher certification are aimed at competing in
global culture and free trade. The coverage of the standard itself as mentioned in the
decree of National Education System Act no. 20/2003 Chapter IX of National Education
Standards Article 35, involves: content, process, graduate competency, teacher,
instrument and facility, management, funding and educational assessment which should
be improved systematically and regularly. It is in line with UNICEF’s definition for the
quest of quality education which includes dimensions of learners, environments,
educational content, process and outcomes.
There is a growing perspective that teachers as main actors in the process of
education, according to the new regulations, need to be standardized and certified to
ensure their professional competency. Its underlying reason is to be competitive in the
tight competition of modern world so that every institution, including education units
need to be managed professionally. Yet, it is still disputable if the world of education
should follow Western standards if it will only breed globalization instead of
glocalization that we seek. With regards to the current postmodernism view which
proposes the dissemination of local values in the global competition, it is necessary to
question the colonial attitude entailing the view.
Followed by Government Regulation no. 19/2005 of National Education
Standard, the implementation of the regulation will, to a certain extent, influence high
school English teachers’ professional development. This study tries to discover the true
voice of high school English teachers in response to the issue of professional
development as a reaction to teacher standardization issue. It is in line with the
definition found in Article 1.1 of Law No. 14/2005 on Teachers and Lecturers which
states, “Teachers are professional educators whose primary tasks are to educate, teach,

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guide, direct, train, and evaluate learners at the formal early childhood education,
basic education, and secondary education” (translated). There is a growing assumption
that in order to improve the overall outcome of education, teacher competence becomes
the main priority. Professional development is in demand because the world of English
education needs professional teachers who can cope with teaching tasks competently.
Article 10 of the respective Law mentions further the competencies required of teachers
which consist of pedagogical competencies, personality competencies, social
competencies, and professional competencies.
However, Johnson and Golombek (2002: 1) states,
“For more than a hundred years, teacher education has been
based on the notion that knowledge about teaching and learning can be
“transmitted” to teachers by others. In the knowledge transmission model,
educational researches, positioned as outsiders to classroom life, seek to
quantify generalizable knowledge about what good teaching is and what
good teachers do. Teachers have been viewed as objects of study rather than
knowing professionals or agents of change. Researchers have been
privileged in that they create the knowledge, hold it, and bestow it upon
teachers. Teachers have been marginalized in that they are told what they
should know and how they should use that knowledge. Even though many
teachers personally reject this model, most of them continue to work and
learn under its powerful hold in teacher education programs in the schools
where they teach.”
It has been a real condition in teachers’ professional development in which they do not
have their own ‘voice’. They have been viewed as ‘teaching learners’ who should
follow what the researchers, policy makers and educational authorities have designed
for them. However, with the recent emergence of the concept of teacher autonomy in
the field of second language education, in my opinion, professional development would
be more valuable aiming at such autonomous behavior.
This study attempted to discover the true voice of school teachers in their
professional development. It tried to understand the teachers’ development through their

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stories of professional experiences. In this description, lie the participants’ stories which
become sources of data to interpret the meaning of their professional development.

B. Problem Identification
The issue of professional development involves many aspects of teachers’ life in
the profession. They are not theory adopters or teaching learners who do not have voice
in their own realm. As individuals, teachers have their own voice based on personal
feelings, concerns and perspectives. Teachers as a professional group also have some
similar voice which is shared among the group members. It becomes the collective
voice of teachers because they might share the same feeling, perception, and concern
over their professional development. If empowered teachers are at the center of the
educational endeavor, their voice should be part of educational discussions. Teachers
with their interactive relation and classroom practices have the knowledge and
information about the responsibility of resolving day-to-day dilemmas that occur in
their profession.
Since this study focuses on teachers’ voice in their professional development,
experiences, facets of voices related to their experiences in professional development
would appear mostly. The problems in teachers’ professional development have always
been dealing with policies, system of education, theory and practice mismatch, and the
involvement of different institutions in the topic. With the facts that teachers have been
viewed as objects in the existing professional development programs, identification on
individual and collective voice among teachers can be interesting stories to understand
how they perceive the meaning of professional development. The base is their personal
and professional experiences before and during their service as teachers.

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C. Problem Limitation
With the identification of problem above, now it is quite obvious that in order to
find the meaning of professional development, this study tries to reveal the personal and
collective voice of the participant teachers. This study limits its enquiry on how high
school English teachers including those who teach in vocational schools make progress
in their teaching practices and learning process to become effective teachers. In order to
focus the enquiry, intense relation and communication with participants is necessary for
deep understanding on the individual and shared meanings and interpretation. Such
relation is expected to help the participants construct their experiences, concerns and
feelings which become a reflection of their professional lives.
With the limited number of participants, hopefully a deep and focused story of
teacher professional development can be elaborated. These participants vary across
gender, age, regency, kind of institution, and length of service experience which
hopefully may provide varied voices too. The variation is aimed at establishing wider
perspective so that a thick description in the issue of professional development can
contribute to teachers’ reflection. In addition, several contributors from related parties
also need to be listened to have a ‘thick description’ and unbiased voice in this issue.

D. Research Questions
As a consequence of progressive qualitative study, the research questions may
develop during the course of the study. In the context of qualitative study, Bogdan and
Biklen (2003: 2) suggest, “Research questions are not framed by operationalizing
variables; rather they are formulated to investigate topics in all their complexity, in
context.” Such questions can hopefully lead and reveal further findings and information

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to support the complete exploration of this study. They are ordered in such a way that
the processes of the research are systematic and progressive, as follows:
(1) What is high school English teacher’s personal voice regarding their professional
development based on his/her own experience?
(2) What is high school English teachers’ collective voice concerning their professional
development derived from their professional experiences?

E. Research Goals and Objectives
In response to the research questions stated above in, therefore, the main goals
of this study are:
1. To reveal the high school English teacher’s individual voice in professional
development.
2. To discover the high school English teachers’ collective voice in professional
development.
The individual and collective voices of high school English teachers lead to
further detailed practical objectives to be addressed through this inquiry, they are:
1. Identifying how individual high school English teachers assert themselves
individually in terms of competency required in their profession.
2. Understanding the high school English teachers’ individual and collective voice of
concern in competency development of their profession.
3. Exposing the factual concerns of the teachers’ professional development which is a
reflection of their personal and professional experiences.
4. Revealing how the teachers improve competencies in different contexts to
understand their interpretation of professional development

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5. Bridging the gap between theories adopted in professional development programs
and the teachers’ real practices in the class room to be more reflective and effective.

F. Research Benefits
The world of English education in general and English education in Indonesia,
particularly, can take advantages from the result of this study.
1. The result may provide empirical understanding of English school teacher’s voice
relevant to their professional experiences which is beneficial for school management
to provide required support for teachers’ professional development.
2. This study also contributes to a more comprehensive understanding from
universities with teacher training department in the way they review their education
program and process to meet the needs of real classroom practices.
Participant teachers and other school English teachers can get the benefit of this
study in forms of:
1. Sharing their individual and professional concerns to be self-empowered teachers.
2. Developing their capacity for teaching debate in an academic framework.
3. Increasing their self-awareness and sense of professional growth.
4. Enhancing their self-efficacy to manage their recent knowledge, current skills and
potentials for the best of teaching English.
5. Developing a critical input of educational policies at both local and national levels.
The authorities of National Education such as Education Quality Assurance
Body and Teachers Training and Education Institutions (BSNP, LPTK, PPPG and
LPMP or even independent professional organizations like MGMP and JETA) can also
get the benefit from this study. The benefits are as follows:

8

1. Better understanding of competency areas in which the English teachers really need
to increase for the sake of professional tasks.
2. This study may help the mapping process of teachers’ competencies for further
professional development needs analysis.
3. They can make use the findings of this study as considerations in the process of
further decision making related to English teachers’ education.
4. Every education stake holder can further channel voices, policies, inputs and
criticisms to have a dynamic discourse on English teacher quality improvement.
5. They can see how teacher participants view on them so that it becomes a feedback
for the authorities’ reflections.

G. Researcher’s Voice
Teacher professional development is a relevant topic for both of my positions as
an English teacher and a graduate program student. When I reflect on my position as an
English teacher, I always ask myself whether I am really a professional or just taking
my job for granted. To this point of time, I still feel doubtful about the future of
education condition which now is turning to ‘a profitable business’. As a teacher,
actually I am just an employee in this kind of business; therefore, I have to work in line
with the institution’s policy, vision and mission. It sometimes hurts me when a
condition or policy contradicts with my expectation and gets me low sometimes if the
employer does not give me adequate support.
I also feel that my professional identity is in question because often I think that
my knowledge is more than sufficient to teach my students and it gets me down in terms
of motivation to develop as professional. Therefore, I feel the necessity to look deeper

9

in the issue of professional development which according to Freeman as quoted in
Freeman and Richards (1996: 351) is an ‘unstudied problem’. Hopefully, it is beneficial
for the sake of mutual understanding and teacher empowerment, prominent issues in
recent days. Thus, this study is not aimed to reject or to bolster the certification plan, but
to see how high school English teachers view themselves, respond and interpret the
meaning of professional development when competency is in demand. I believe that any
party involved in this study can take the advantage from the result.
As a student of graduate program in English language studies, I need to examine
my reflection and compare it with other teachers’ perspective from different schools and
status that might reveal different experiences as well. This study becomes a requisite in
the program to obtain a Master’s degree but I also want it contributive to my own
knowledge and the English education in general. Therefore, I honestly admit that I am a
novice writer for this thesis writing, moreover with the employment of progressive
qualitative approach which demands the writer to be a sophisticated author.
I consider the participants as counterparts in my reflection and they really
become ‘good friends of mine’ especially outside this thesis writing business. Frankly, I
learnt a lot from these teachers’ experiences in order to make them ‘understandable’
stories. It is not my right, however, to judge the quality of my writing but its readership
perceived by anyone who wishes to read it that matters. Therefore, let it be mine and the
participants’ interpretations because everyone is entitled to their own interpretations.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter attempts to locate this study in the context of teacher professional
development research at large. As stated in the research questions of the previous
chapter, some empirical information is provided to have a base for the inquiry. Relevant
arguments, key ideas, research results and theories from various literatures are presented
to strengthen and direct further investigation. The title of the study suggests three main
notions to be explored, namely: teachers’ voice, professional development and the
application of interpretive research.

A. Theoretical Description
1. Teachers’ Voice
Teachers work in classrooms to carry out policies relevant to education practice.
Thus, it is reasonable if they are included in the decision making process. Unfortunately,
despite the establishment of school-based decision-making and other channels through
which teachers can express their opinions, many of them view decisions as being forced
upon them from a higher authority structure that enforces and controls mandates in a
top-down model. It eventually encourages fear and submission rather than trust and
collaboration which are the core of participatory decision making. Linda DarlingHammond explains that when prescriptive policies are created without teacher input, a
school’s ability to meet the needs of students and parents is reduced (DarlingHammond, 1997). If teachers are expected to work in partnerships with parents as well
as promote collaboration among their students, then policymakers should collaborate
with teachers as partners in decision making.

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Curriculum decisions, instructional decisions, accountability measures, and
disciplinary measures, have not involved teachers in the making. They become
educational workers and therefore should follow the rules set up by school supervisors,
curriculum designers, textbook writers and policy makers. With the current speed of
changes in the world of education, teachers demand for more essential roles in the
education policy. They and education pundits urge the policy makers to listen to their
voice for betterment and change in education.
It is both reasonable and undeniable as teachers witness themselves and know
very well what happens in the classroom and day to day education. Such phenomenon is
supported by the advice for teachers to conduct action research in their own classes as
an actualization of reflexive pedagogy. To some extent, the results of the action research
represent voices of their concern on the subject matter. In the educational literature we
often find that descriptions of teachers’ knowledge, ideas, questions, concerns, and
insights are validated and used in meaningful ways. Therefore, voicing the teachers’
knowledge became an important concept to exist in professional educator’s work.
Voicing, according to Pandian (2003: 41) refers to the act of engaging, validating and
communicating the understanding that teachers construct from their action. It also
implies the issue of who communicates what is being found out in the voice because
teachers need to study it themselves.
In her report, Navarro (as quoted from http://ncrtl.msu.edu/http/rreports/html/
pdf/rr925.pdf) mentions three perspective of teachers’ voice in the context of
professional development in education. The first is as personal/private development
which is described as the developmental process of teachers becoming empowered,
autonomous, efficacious, and discovering a sense of their own agency. It represents the

12
potential for action to participate in the transformation of self, teaching, and schooling.
Here, voice is a symbol for finding existential freedom, something private and personal.
The second notion of voice serves as representative action to have a say in a
public process that may or may not lead to change. As representational action, the use of
voice is seen as the fulfillment of public responsibility. However, in the end decisions
for change and actions toward change are left in the hands of the elite and authorities. In
an educational setting using voice in this way would indicate that teachers would be
welcome to have discourse, write letters, or otherwise express their views, yet, the basic
hierarchical structure of decision making would remain the same. Teachers as members
of the educational units not traditionally part of the authorities would not ordinarily be
included in the actual decision-making process. In my opinion, this definition is close to
the first concept of personal voice which is important for professional development
because it may drive action of change.
Finally, collectively political voice is the development of a critical individual
voice that makes possible a collective critical voice, which makes structural
transformation possible. This final idea consists of three descriptors namely
‘collectively’, ‘political’ and ‘critical’. ‘Collective’ means that the voice should be
expressed in groups unlike the first notion of personal development. ‘Political’ signifies
the involvement of teacher interest in the voice. The term ‘critical’ shows the teacher’s
reflection and concern on the existing phenomena. It is in line with Featherstone,
Munby and Russel (1997: 1-2) who, in their introduction, state that voice is the
connection between reflection and action. In their opinion, it can also be seen as a
connection between experience and authority which directly leads to ‘professional
confidence’. Thurber and Zimmerman (1997: 180) argue, “(teachers) develop a public
voice to affect change as a transformational and political act, either alone or in chorus

13
with others”. It is, therefore, necessary for policymakers to communicate with teachers
as individuals and a group to bridge the gaps when there are issues to solve.
Other researcher, Bailey in Freeman and Richards (1996: 263) argues that voice
is a communal product and cannot be reduced solely to the characteristics and or
performance of individuals. In order for group members to have a voice in their groups,
there had to be a social system which supported their participation. Teachers live in
different school systems with different regulations, structures and cultures and their
participation in the system also varies. The first requirement for the voice to occur is
gaining the floor as a medium of expression. This study can be a good floor for the
participants to establish their voice. Next, in order to have a voice in social setting,
Bailey (1996) suggests that the speaker must talk in a way that is both comprehensible
and demonstrates that s/he has something worth saying. It implies the necessity to
selectively consider the individuals to participate in this study and the trustworthiness of
the voice. The last quality of researching voice is the necessity for ‘listeners’ to hear the
voice of the participants. My role as a researcher also functions as the direct listener
followed by my counselors, board of examiners and readers of this thesis, definitely.
O’Hanlon argues in McBride (1996: 187) that expression of professional
concerns and intentions, allows the professional’s voice to be heard in a mutually
supportive, yet appreciative and evaluative environment which is ‘critical’ because it
provides perceptive and constructive critique of the ideas and evidence presented in the
group context. The teachers’ voice in this study, therefore, embraces all the three
concepts offered above and it can be meaningful to the teachers themselves as well as to
the ‘listeners’ and ‘readers’ who have the will to listen and to read their professional
stories.

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The voice in this study, then, refers to the individual and shared concerns
because I consider the participants as both individual adults with professional
experiences bound to their own working contexts and a group of professionals who need
to articulate their collective concerns. It is a reflection of what they feel, need, want and
feel based on their many years of experience in the profession. To put this issue in a
Master’s thesis is also an attempt to express their concern through a professional
channel so that teachers become well appreciated as professionals. This thesis can be
one of their ‘vehicles’ to express personal and professional feelings so that they become
more autonomous and empowered particularly in the way they develop as professionals.
The growing importance of teacher-based research has emerged, based on the
fact that this kind of research process values inquiry, collaborative work, and teacher’s
voice. Teacher research uses inquiry as a means of reflection about, and to improve the
teaching and learning processes. Teachers as practitioners engage in the process of
critically examining their practice and classroom reality to transform them in ways that
are meaningful to their school context. Therefore, inquiry of voice in professional
development advances from teaching and continues the learning process of teachers
relevant with their roles and identity.

a. Teachers’ Roles
Teachers have different roles attached to the context where they are. They do not
only live in school, they live in neighborhood with their families to feed. With regard to
this condition and reality of their complex life, it takes a deeper understanding and
investigation to interpret their concerns in their life stories. Brown (2001: 200) notes the
multiple-role of teachers depending on the countries they live in. They can be seen as
professionals, employees, parents and artists, particularly when the literature refers to

15
the process of teaching as an art rather than science. However, the last role lacks
evidence that supports the concept of teaching being an art.
At schools, they hold the responsibility as professional instructors who must
provide good samples of behaviors, demonstrate excellent teaching process and as
employees who must work up to standards and be obedient to rules. Still, at workplace
they are evaluators of students’ performance as well as facilitators in discussions and
other school activities. Their children wait at home and expect them to protect the
family’s economy and to be a caring-parent. Moreover when they actively organize
neighborhood activities, they actually share a social responsibility. Apart from those
roles, they are also friends, leaders and adult learners who learn the best teaching for
their development. Thus, it requires equal attention sharing for them to be seen as
normal people.
Professional development, of course, lies in their first two roles as professional
educators and as workers who need to improve performance and career. With this
regard, it is necessary to assume that a person's framework of thinking develops through
problem-solving action carried out in specific settings whose social structures have been
developed through historical, culturally-grounded actions. The framework is useful for
understanding the process of learning to teach, particularly in showing how teachers
choose conceptual and educational tools in their teaching. It leads our attention to the
principal value systems and shared practices that describe the setting in which learning
to teach occurs.
From a Vygotskian point of view, social structures provide the frameworks for
the ways in which people learn how to think, communicate, and act (Gawel, 1997).
Thus, teachers have to be good decision makers in the way they plan teaching, make
judgments, choose methods and practice teaching in general. In order to be good

16
decision makers, they have to make reflection on various relevant aspects for the best of
their students’ learning. It is not an easy task because teachers must take into account
many considerations for the best of their students with regard to their roles.

Effective instructors
(Aim of PD)

Adult learners
(Process of PD)

Teachers

Professional workers
(Need for PD to meet standards)

Figure 2.1 The Contexts of Teachers’ Professional Life

Burden and Byrd (1994: 8) notes that as decision makers, teachers make
decisions in various issues such as instruction planning, teaching presentation,
organization and management learners’ instructional needs, evaluative decisions,
professional decision: steps they take to improve their teaching. To improve their
effective decision making, teachers take a variety of means but reflection on their
decision making and instructional practice has proven to be helpful for them. Burden
and Byrd (1994) further add that reflection helps teachers reproduce their teaching
practices and help them reorganize or reconstruct for classroom practice transformation.

b. Teachers’ Identity
Teacher’s identity is a vital concern in teacher development; it is the basis for
meaning making and decision making. Teacher professional development would be
better, firstly, by exploring the teaching self. During the twentieth century, a huge
amount of research has been carried out in psychology and philosophy on issues such as

17
‘identity’ and the ‘self’. However, the topic of teacher identity has just recently begun to
attract the widespread attention of researchers in the area of teaching and professional
development.
Brumfit (2001: 165) argues that understanding teachers means understanding
ideologies, as well as identities. It means understanding attitudes to literacy and to
literature as socially constructed entities in different cultures. Teacher education
requires that teacher themselves see the role of such constructs in society as well as
understanding language in its more obvious aspects. With the regard to the importance
of self-identity which shapes the performance education professional, it is relevant to
reveal the story of each individual participating in this study. Based on his experience,
Rogers (1971: 74) recommended that a person drop one after another of the defensive
masks with which s/he has faced life; that s/he experiences entirely the unseen aspects
of her/himself; that s/he discovers in these experiences the stranger who has been living
behind these masks, the stranger who is her/himself. Rogers believed that becoming a
person is a never-ending process of being open and sensitive to experience and learning
to trust feelings as indicators of one’s state of being. Teachers learn to become good,
experienced and excellent ones, thus, they need to use their experiences and feelings.
In agreement with Rogers, Britzman (1991: 4) described a teacher’s conflict
between visualization of self as teacher and the hard realities of teaching in terms of an
identity crisis. For those who enter teacher education, their first shock may well occur
with the realization of the great complexity of becoming a high school English teacher’s
work and the ways this complexity is covered and misunderstood. At first glance,
becoming a teacher may mean becoming someone s/he is not. It is this twofold struggle
that works to construct the student teacher as the site of conflict. Professional identity

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exists as complex and dynamic balance where individual self image and beliefs are
balanced with a variety of social roles teachers have to play.
Teachers really have a responsibility to keep up to date in their profession. The
development of the individual teacher depends on continuous professional growth
experiences. As teachers are normally seen as the recipients of professional
development experiences, literature and research findings suggest teachers to be
actively involved in initiating, planning, and implementing staff development programs.
When teachers are involved in all aspects of the professional development program,
they become more empowered to develop the knowledge and skills obtained from the
program activities and more motivated to continue participation in professional
experiences.
The idea of professional identity actually refers to a set of approved attributes
used to separate one group from another. Hence, professional identity is a set of features
imposed upon the teaching profession either by outsiders or members of the teaching
society itself. From this angle, it is a restricted rather than inclusive ideal and it provides
a shared set of attributes, values that enable the differentiation of one group from
another. The following is Epstein’s definition of identity which is basically a concept of
synthesis, integration and action. It represents the process by which the person seeks to
integrate his various statuses and roles, as well as his diverse experiences, into a
coherent image of self (1978: 101). The implication in this study is that teachers should
be regarded as professionals who seek to develop for the sake of their task completion.

2. Competency Improvement
When to develop means to improve competencies, teachers, then, should seek to
increase all aspects of skills and knowledge to support their task completion
successfully. It is now necessar