TEACHER BELIEF AND PRACTICE IN A SCHOOL-BASED ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM IN EASTERN INDONESIA

Abstract

This study examines an English language teacher’s beliefs and practices within the context of implementation of school-based curriculum in Eastern Indonesia. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between teacher belief and practice in the school-based curriculum through two research questions: “What are the teacher’s beliefs about teaching English in a school-based curriculum setting?” and “How does the school-based curriculum influence the teacher’s beliefs and practices?”. This case study adopts purposeful sampling involving a volunteered public junior high school English language teacher. It derives its qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, observation field notes and lesson plans. It identifies two themes of this teacher’s belief: “pragmatic views of teaching” and “conformity to practice”. When the beliefs were examined in relation to the practices, another two themes emerged, and they were “negotiation between expectations and practices” and “tension between conformity and practice”. The findings of this study indicate that negotiation was a constant practice while teaching within the context of the school-based curriculum. Although the teacher demonstrated autonomy in classroom management and teaching strategies, the freedom was not extended to the selection of teaching materials and activities. The identified tensions between conformity and practice highlight issues in teacher readiness and teacher support on the implementation of school-based curriculum. Keywords: Classroom practice, English language teacher, Indonesia, school-based curriculum, teacher belief. Cite as: Too, W. K. & Saimima, E. J. (2019). Teacher belief and practice in a school-based English language classroom in eastern Indonesia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(1), 211-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss1pp211-231