Indonesian Student Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Teaching L2 Reading

Abstract

Abstract

Student teachers’ beliefs in Indonesian contexts are rarely explored. The aims of this case study are to answer the following questions: 1) What are Indonesian student teachers’ beliefs about teaching L2 reading?, 2) How do these beliefs manifest in Indonesian student teachers’ practice?, and 3) Are there differences between Indonesian students teachers’ beliefs and practices? What are some potential causes of the differences and similarities? Twenty-one Indonesian student teachers in the middle of their teaching practica participated in this study. Student teachers were attending an Islamic university and conducting teaching practica in mixed-gender, girls-only, and boys-only Islamic secondary schools in the same city. The data was collected through in-depth interviews and classroom observations. Five main themes of student teachers’ beliefs about teaching English as a second language (L2) reading were developed from the data: 1) beliefs about teaching materials, 2) beliefs about roles of teachers, 3) beliefs about teaching instructions, 4) beliefs about sociocultural contexts, and 5) beliefs about what learners learn. Class observations revealed that student teachers’ practices were mostly in line with their beliefs about teaching English and L2 reading. Student teachers provided extremely limited encouragement for extensive reading because they believed that reading was boring and less exciting. When teaching reading, student teachers utilized non-authentic materials and delivered them in L1 to accommodate students’ L2 proficiency. Student teachers demonstrated very little variation of teaching strategies when teaching L2 reading, in which group work occupied a large portion of instructional time. The teaching of L2 reading was focused on providing strategies to prepare students for major tests and rarely went beyond test-like activities. In general, the study also showed that student teachers associated student engagement with student busyness and they heavily depended on cooperating teachers in making many instructional decisions. Student teachers also maintained a low level of class discipline, which caused student teachers to have little control over the class. The fact that many of them attended and taught in religion-based schools did not influence their classroom instructions.