Exploring Teachers’ Beliefs and the Teaching Profession in Aceh

Sri Rahayu Jumiati Ningsih, Ika Apriani Fata

Abstract


Formal teaching is an intentional activity that requires teachers to have beliefs and experiences. Teachers’ beliefs are defined by Johnson (1994) as something that is formed early in life as a result of a person’s education and experience. Strong beliefs about learning and teaching are well established by the time a student completes schooling. This study intends to find out the beliefs of teachers of English at junior and senior high schools in Aceh. The study surveyed three qualified teachers as participants (in which one is also a vice-principal of his school) and used 15 questions to ascertain their techniques, beliefs and career paths. The results show that teachers’ beliefs are related to the teaching methodologies that they use. According to the teachers’ beliefs, the teaching methodologies should be varied from time by time according to the situation and the curriculum. Besides, each participant has committed to a career in the teaching profession persistently despite facing many obstacles and challenges during teaching and learning. The participants dreamt of being teachers since they were children. The authors suggest other researchers might see applications of this research for studying the benefits and weaknesses of different teaching methodologies based on teachers’ beliefs. 


Keywords


Teachers’ beliefs; teaching methodology and teaching profession

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In: V.S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 4, 71-81. New York: Academic Press.

Breen, M. P., Bernard, H., Marion, M., Rhonda, O., & Thwaite, A. (2001). Making sense of language teaching: Teachers’ principles and classroom practices. Applied Linguistics, 22,470-501.

Calderhead, J. (1981). Stimulated recall: A method for research on teaching. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 211-217.

Depdiknas. (2007). Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional UU No 14 tahun 2005 no. 16 Tahun 2007. Jakarta: Depdiknas.

Johnson, K. E. (1994). The emerging beliefs and instructional practices of pre-service English as a second language for teachers. Teaching & Teacher Education, 10(4),439-452.

Kagan, D. M. (1992). Implications of research on teachers’ beliefs. Educational Psychologist, 27(1), 65-90.

Kitzinger, J. (1995). Qualitative Research: Introducing focus groups. British Medical Journal, 311, 299-302.

Knobloch, N. A., & Whittington, M. S. (2003). Differences in teacher efficacy related to career commitment of novice agriculture teachers. Journal of Career and Technical Education, 20(1), [electronic version]. Available at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JCTE/v20n1/knobloch.html

Lan, X. Y. (1995). A study of the teaching beliefs of Mandarin teachers in public secondary schools and factors forming teaching beliefs in Taiwan. [In Chinese] Unpublished Master’s thesis. Institute of Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City.

McLeod, D. B. (1989). Beliefs, attitudes and emotions: New views of affects in mathematics learning. In D. B. McLeod & V. M. Adams (Eds.). Affect and mathematical problem solving: A new perspective (pp. 245-258). London: Springer-Verlag.

Mortimer, P. (Ed) (1999). Understanding pedagogy and its impact on teaching. London: Chapman.

Mohamed, N. (2006). An exploratory study of the interplay between teachers’ beliefs, instructional practices & professional development. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of Auckland, Auckland.

Ormrod, J. E. (2009). Essentials of educational psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

O’Loughlin, M. (1989). The influence of teachers’ beliefs about knowledge, teaching and learning on their pedagogy: A constructivist re-conceptualization and research agenda for teacher education. Paper presented at the Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Available at http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED339679.pdf

Pajares, F. (1992). Teacher's beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(39), 307-332.

Pearson, A. T. (1989). The teacher: Theory and practice in teacher education. New York: Routledge.

Richards, J. C., Gallo, P., & Renandya, W. (2001). Teachers’ beliefs and the process of change. PAC Journal, 1(1) 41-58.

Tang, R. Y. (1993). A study of the relationship between teaching beliefs and teaching behaviors of teachers in public primary schools. [In Chinese] Unpublished Master’s thesis. Institute of Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City.

Williams, M., & Burden, R. L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: A social- constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v2i1.2235

Article Metrics

Abstract view : 0 times
PDF - 0 times

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Print ISSN: 2355-2794, Online ISSN: 2461-0275

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


View Journal Stats