pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs

Pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences and needs toward teaching English after teaching in SMP

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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-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 (Feiman-

Nemser, 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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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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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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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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The result of this study could be useful to pre-service teacher educators in preparing pre-

service 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 pre-

service 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 pre-

service 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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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 pre-

service 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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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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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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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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(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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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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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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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 pre-

service 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, personal-

awareness 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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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

Mastery of the materials

Lack of vocabulary

Lesson planning

Teaching technique

Material development

Lack of confidence

Lack of preparation

Students’ basic knowledge of English

Students’ lack of serious response

toward pre-service teachers

Students’ lack of participation

Unexpected students’ response

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 murid-

muridnya. 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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(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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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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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 pre-

service 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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Table 2: Factors which caused disappointment toward pre-service teachers

Internal Factors External Factor

Lack of creativity.

Lack of material mastery.

Lack of confidence.

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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(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 pre-

service 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



22

19. Saya pikir saya sudah menguasai materi semuanya sampai detail-detailnya, tapi dalam

kenyataan, ada pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang tak terduga sering muncul diantara murid-

murid, 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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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


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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(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 pengalaman-

pengalaman 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;


25

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.


26

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 pre-

service 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.)


27

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, pre-

service 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.


28

(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;


29

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 pre-

service 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 guru-

guru 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;


30

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, share teaching method, teaching experiences and teaching materials, and also mentors

who were able to guide and give useful feedback. Besides that, the pre-service teachers also


31

needed to interact with school environment including other teachers and school employees. The

pre-service teachers also needed to have strong mentality and high confidence to deal with their

students. Moreover, they needed to be creative in designing good materials and teaching

methods.

Conclusion

This study examined EFL pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences, and needs toward

teaching English after teaching practice in SMP (Junior high school). The data suggested that pre-

service teachers had several kinds of attitudes toward teaching English. 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). The data

revealed two descriptions of attitudes; beliefs and feelings. There were two kinds of beliefs found.

First, teaching English in SMP was easy. It caused by several factors such as students’ basic

knowledge about English and also students’ motivation to learn English. The other kind of beliefs

which found was; teaching English was difficult. It caused by some reasons such as students’

basic knowledge about English, students’ motivation to learn English, students’ need and also

students’ ability to comprehend the materials. The other description of attitude was feelings. All

participants had same feeling toward teaching English; they were motivated to teach English. It

was caused by several factors such as the current issue of English, pre-service teachers’ pleasure

to teach English and share their knowledge, and also their experience in English teaching and

learning process during their school period.

The findings also indicated that pre-service teachers had some experiences during

teaching practice. It showed that they faced difficulties, emotional and psychological stress, and


32

disappointment. Classroom management, time management, and materials mastery were the

difficulties faced by pre-service teachers. Students’ failure to learn English and pre-service

teachers’ failure to manage the class were the factors which caused emotional and psychological

stress to pre-service teachers. Lack of creativity, confidence problem, and materials mastery

were the factors which caused disappointment to pre-service teachers. Besides difficulty,

emotional stress, and disappointment, some pre-service teachers also experienced that their

ability to teach English was sufficient to teach English. Whereas the other pre-service teachers

reported that their ability to teach was insufficient. The data also mentioned that pre-service

teachers experienced knowledge that they had learned in university was appropriate to be applied

during teaching practice.

The findings revealed that pre-service teacher had several needs such as mentoring

program, expectation of ideal mentors, and pre-service teachers’ needs in learning to teach. The

data showed that mentoring program was needed by pre-service teachers to develop their

pedagogical knowledge. With regard to expectation of ideals mentors, the data showed that pre-

service teachers needed some criteria of ideal mentors such as mentors who could give advices,

open-minded mentors who could share teaching method and materials, communicative mentors

who could inform about teaching experiences, and also mentors who were able to guide the pre-

service teachers and gave them useful feedback. Next finding was about pre-service teachers’

needs in learning to teach. Those needs were interaction with school environment including other

teachers and office staff, strong mentality and high self-confidence to deal with various types of

students, and creativity to design good materials and teaching methods.

Those findings revealed pre-service teachers’ attitudes, experiences, and needs in their

teaching practice. The result of this study could be useful to pre-service teacher educators in


33

preparing pre-service teachers who will deal with SMP students in their teaching practicum and

also in designing such a teaching strategy 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.


34

Acknowledgment

My first and much gratitude is for My Jesus Christ who has guide, protect and help me

every time and everywhere especially in finishing my thesis. This thesis would not have been

possible without the support of many people. I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor,

Prof.DR. Gusti Astika, M.A., who was abundantly helpful and offered invaluable assistance,

support, and guidance. And also, Victoria Usadya Palupi, MA-ELT who was given valuable advices

to enhance my thesis’ development. Moreover, I wish to express my love and gratitude to my

beloved families, my parents and my sisters for their support to my study. In addition, I would

also like to convey thanks to all my friends, 2007ers especially EDPinuk for the precious and

unforgettable moments we have spent together in our college time.


35

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