The challenges of English Language Teaching in Indonesia (PART 2)

2. The Quality of Teacher

Quality of teacher has become one of the challenges in English language teaching in Indonesia, because the government is still focus on the quantity of teacher rather than on quality. Chodidjah (2015, p. 42) mentioned that,

Another measure of lack of quality of English teachers is shown on the result of the TOEIC Test given to hundreds of the practicing English teachers. In 2007, for example, out of 13,102 teachers more than 50 percent were categorized as within the novice level, and only 15 percent tested at intermediate or higher levels. Only about 4 percent of the total test takers demonstrated a basic working proficiency level or above and could be considered potentially effective teachers.

In 2013 the same test was given to 907 teachers from ten different regions. The result showed that only about 9 percent are at the appropriate English proficiency level to teach, and the largest group of these is at the elementary level (Research and Development Service and Assessment  Department  International Test Center, 2013, as cited in Chodidjah, 2015, p. 42).

The quality of teacher is one of important things in English learning teaching, because of the quality teachers will produce the quality students. Hence, the poor achievements of students can also be attributed to the poor quality of teachers in Indonesia (Jalal et al. 2009, p. 7).  The  new policy is the culmination of several previous attempts to improve the quality of teachers as a means to improving the overall quality of education, following a number of preceding policies and strategies initiated to improve the quality and competency of teachers. In conclusion, the quality of students is influenced by the teachers’ quality, in relation to create a good students’ achievement have to develop teachers’ quality.