Teachers’ Perspectives On The Implementation Of English As A Medium Of Instruction In Indonesian Schools

Abstract

Implementing English as a medium of instruction in Indonesian schools has required teachers to employ specific strategies. While using English to teach, teachers also experience challenges.To mitigate the challenges during the implementation of English in the learning process, teachers experience various moments when applying the policy from their workplaces. This study aims to discover teachers’ perspectives when facing and dealing with challenges at school. Employing a narrative inquiry approach, this research involves three English teachers from three different teaching levels: an elementary school teacher, a junior high school teacher, and a senior high school teacher. The result of the interview showed that challenges to implement English as a medium of instruction come from teachers and students. Every teaching level of each teacher influences provides unique challenges and ways to mitigate them since teachers must deal with students with different learning preparation. However, most of teachers need to have English proficiency to support the delivery of lesson in the teaching process. Students must also have English background knowledge for understanding the material in English version. Students need to comprehend the various terms of English words in different lessons such as Math and Science. To tackle such challenges, professional development is an essential program for teachers. By getting professional development, teachers can increase their proficiency in English for facilitating the lesson. Students need to experience peer support to gain a better understanding of English communication. Acquiring English through daily communication with their friends at school can ease the process to learn the second language.