EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF AN IDEAL ENGLISH TEACHER

Abstract

Standards of being a professional teacher in Indonesia have been set by the government in the Teachers Law Number 14, 2005. One of the requirements is having four teacher competences; pedagogical, personality, social and professional competences. Yet, the empirical data show that Indonesian education quality and teacher competence are still below the standards, including English teacher. This concern leads curiosity about pre-service teachers’ awareness of this situation. Therefore, this study was aimed to discover EFL pre-service teachers’ perception on the criteria of an ideal English teacher within the framework of the four teachers’ standard competences, the most important competence and their consideration in choosing it. By using explanatory sequential mixed method, 100 EFL pre-service teachers were involved. The data were gathered through a questionnaire, then followed up by an interview to some participants. As the result, a divergence finding was found. Personality competence obtained the highest mean score on the criteria of an ideal English teacher while pedagogical competence was opted as the most important competence. Further, an interview was done to reveal considerations contributing to the divergence finding. The interviewees agreed with the criteria constructing the personality competence as teachers are role model who must set good example for their students. However, teaching is teachers’ main task where they need to deliver their knowledge to students in order to achieve the learning goals through pedagogical competence. This study concludes that not only pedagogical competence that mater in teaching, but teachers’ personality is also crucial.