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Teachers of English for Young Learners: An Analysis on Their English

Proficiency and Profile

Article · October 2015

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Teachers of English for Young Learners: An Analysis on Their English Proficiency and
Profile

Akhmad Habibi (1) & Muhammad Sofwan (2)

Email:) tjohor24@gmail.com (1) & sofwanpgsd@gmail.com (2)
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
University of Jambi

Abstract
The main objective of this study is to analyze the teachers’ of English profile and their
English proficiency in teaching young learners as a foreign language (TEYL). A total
of fifteen teachers who teach English to 4th – 6th grade students in the city of Jambi
and of Ma.Bulian, Indonesia are involved. Three instruments were used in this study.
One demographic questionnaire about the profile of the teachers which includes the
educational background, length of teaching experience and involvement in Teaching
English as Foreign language (TEFL) trainings was given, a focus group discussion
was conducted to obtain deeper perspective of the teachers, and an English
Proficiency Test (EPT), a test equivalent to Test of English as a Foreign Languge
(TOEFL), was administered in coorporation with a well-known English institustion in
Jambi. The data were then qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed and discussed.
The result of the research shows that most of the teachers are not qualified in term of
English proficiency and they lack involvements of TEFL training. The suggestions
and recommendations for the improvement of the teachers’ English competence and
performance of primary school teachers of English are also provided for all parties
intended to contribute for the development of educational system in Jambi
respectively.
Keywords: Teacher of English; Young Learners; English Proficiency; Teachers’ Profile
Introduction
Early studies of second or foreign language learning argued that there was a critical
period or sensitive period, prior to puberty in which children could acquire native-like
proficiency in a foreign language. That perspective found ready acceptance among adults
who thought children could pick up a language easily, often remembering their own
frustration at not having mastered another language (Oyama, 1976).
To provide a quality teaching, a program should be supported by such other factors as
institution, teachers, teaching process and learners. In additions, among those factors, it is
teachers who hold prominent role in teaching (Richards, 2001). Teachers therefore can be
said as the most important factor in determining the success of teaching learning process. A
high quality teacher would therefore ensure the students’ quality.
In addition, in teaching English to young learners (TEYL), a teacher should have both
professional and pedagogical competence in TEYL; professional competence includes
English proficiency, licensure, TEYL trainings, etc, and pedagogical one is about ability to
teach young learners. There are two sets of competences that characterize a successful quality
teacher: professional competence and pedagogical competence (Richard, 2011).
In Indonesia, Teachers’ competences of English teaching both professionally and
pedagogically have been an issue through years. Yusuf (2007) in his research finds that there
are limited numbers of Indonesian TEYL teachers who have good English and sufficient
knowledge on how teaching English to young learners. The improvement of teachers in term
of English proficiency and their profile should be considered as matters due to the importance

This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar, Faculty of
Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd, 2015
of teachers’ quality to produce students with high quality. Due to the explanations above, this
paper is aimed at analyzing on English teachers’ proficiency and profile.
The importance of Teachers Quality
In order to make students learn effectively and efficiently, a teacher has to
perform a large number of activities inside and outside the classroom. The teacher is expected
to possess a certain amount of knowledge, certain attitudes and skills, which is known as
teachers’ competence. In other words, teachers’ competence includes “the right way of
conveying units of knowledge, application and skills to students” (Richard, 2011). High
teacher competence is so crucial that can beneficially lead to positive individual student
development, and it even would lessen the aggressive behavior in the classroom.
Furthermore, research shows that what teachers know and what they are able to do has
a significant impact on the academic performance of their students. While there is no
conclusive evidence on what characteristics of teachers most influence student performance,
research studies almost universally demonstrate the importance of quality teachers. Research
on the Tennessee Value-added Assessment System, for example, estimated that more than 50
percent of a three-year achievement gap between two groups of students aged 8 and 11 was
attributable to the fact that they were taught by high-ability teachers (top 20 percent of
teaching staff?) and low-ability teachers (bottom 20 percent), respectively. As a result, by age
11, the upper group was scoring in the 93rd percentile and the lower group was scoring in the
37th percentile (Sanders and Rivers, 1999). The teacher’s quality of young learners can be
said as the most important factor not only to bring success of the teaching process but also to
promote students achievement.
Teaching English to Young Learners
Young learners are different compared to teaching English to adults or young adults
learners; they are more enthusiastic in the classrooms. In learning a new language, children
have no awareness on grammatical mistakes and less embarrassed to talk and they also tend
to speak like native due to their lack inhibition (Cameron, 2001). Teachers who deal with
young learners must have competence both professional competence and pedagogical
competence. Working with young learners gives opportunities for language teachers to
develop what the learners have already had. They, young learners, do not come to the class
of language empty-handed; they have already had well-established instincts, skills and
characteristics which help them to learn another language (Halliwell, 1992). Teachers of EYL
come from many backgrounds and have differences in all aspects of life but there are
knowledge and attitude that can be learnt (Scott & Ytreberg, 1990). The teacher is inevitably
the key element for the success of the teaching end learning process in the classroom.
TEYL in Indonesia and the Teachers
Teaching English to Young Learners is not a walk on the park in Indonesia. The
inconsistency of Indonesia Ministry of education policy of whether important or not to
include English as either compulsory or local content object in primary school curriculum has
been recently the real issue among educational stakeholders across the country. The latest
curriculum (2013) stated that English is not included both as a compulsory and a local content
object. It actually has controversially been a cancellation to the previous issued policy that
proposed English as a local content in primary school curriculum in Indonesia
(Permendiknas, 2007). Out of the dilemmatic phenomenon, some primary schools across the
country still provide English as a lesson taught.
Language proficiency constitutes the foundation confidence of non native speakers and
English teachers. Language competence has been at the most essential characteristic of a

This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015
good teacher (Lange, 1990). Berry conducted a study of two groups of teachers of English at
the secondary level in Poland. His aim was to determine which of three components
(methodology, theory of language teaching, or language improvement) they needed most.
Language improvement was ranked as the most important for both groups. The most second
factor was the methodology and the last one was the theory of language teaching.
In addition, teachers’ standards do matters in this developing country. Yusuf (2007)
found in some schools in Palembang, the teachers of English are not qualified. The mean of
their TOEFL test score is merely 414.10. It is certainly far below the standard of TOEFL
score of 500. There are specific requirements to be teachers of English to young learner.
Interests in English and willingness to teach young learners are not enough to equip them to
teach EYL. Those teachers whose backgrounds are irrelevant tend to ignore how children
learn and treat them properly and appropriately.
There is a major finding according to Sikki, Rahman, Hamra & Noni (2013) stated that
In Indonesia, teachers of English to young learners are classified into three types, namely: 1)
classroom teachers who have not been to English teaching college, 2) English teachers
who attend English teaching college but have no experience working with children, and
3) teachers who have English background and experience of working with children. The
result of test on professional competency shows that more than 50% of teachers are in the
category of poor and fair. The result of test on pedagogic competence shows that 181 (90.5%)
teachers are in the category of poor and fair”.
Studies show that teachers who teach English to young learners in Indonesia are lack of
the competence. Alwasilah (2004) prescribes that only few teachers comprehend the
principles of teaching English to young learners. Because there was no pre-service or in-
service programs to produce English teachers for primary school students.
Method
The method of this study is a qualitative study. The sample of this study was chosen by
using cluster random sampling. As a whole, the sample of this study consists of fifteen
teachers of eight primary schools in the city of Jambi and Ma. Bulian.
Data collection was conducted by a means of a demographic questionnaire, focus group
discussion, and test. To obtain information about the availability of school teachers’ profiles,
a questionnaire consisting of nine questions that are related to the was given to the
teachers. The questionnaire includes the educational background, length of teaching
experience and involvement in TEFL and TEYL trainings as well as teaching primary school
students training. A focus group discussion was conducted in the time after the EPT test
administered to obtain deeper perspective of the teachers in relation to the English teaching
and learning. Furthermore, English Proficiency Test (EPT) was administered to test their
proficiency in English if they can’t provide their EPT test result in which they did the test at
least one year before this research conducted.
The data from the demographic questionnaire were qualitatively discussed and
reported. In analyzing the data from the group discussion, the researchers transcribed the
recording, coded the data into the themes, analyzed them, interpreted to English (the focus
group was in Bahasa Indonesia), and reported the results qualitatively. The EPT test scores
were qualitatively analysed and presented to see the English quality of the teachers of English
in those cities. To keep the ethics of the research, the participants’ names are kept in
confidentiality.

This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015
Result and Findings
The findings of the study encompass two important things that influence the teachers
of English quality in the process of the teaching and learning in the classrooms, they are: the
teachers’ profile and their English proficiency
a. Teachers’ Profile
The teacher's 'mediator' role is a key factor in effective learning, in selecting and
shaping learning experiences and children's responses to them, ensuring the learner interacts
with the materials in various ways until they become self-directive. The learning experience
is considered by the teacher-researcher to be shaped through alternating classroom lighting
environments (Vygotsky, 1978) The teachers’ experience in teaching English to young
children is therefore considered the main thing to achieve the succes of the process.
Based on the data which were obtained through the questionnaire, all teachers or
participants of this research have officially graduated from undergraduate programs. Most of
them (11 teachers) finished their study in the program that is specifically intended to teach
primary school students (primary school teacher education) in one of state universities in
Jambi, one of them studied in a well-known private university majoring in economics, one
participant graduated from an Islamic university in south sumatra, and the other two
participants finished their study in the English departments of two different universities.
There are thirteen teachers who have officially been registered as government employees
under the ministry of education and culture. The teachers’ ages vary from 32 year old until 53
years old. In addition, all of them have already had teaching experiences more than five years
which can be considered that they have sufficient experiences to teach children in primary
schools respectively. In relation to their background of education, two teachers stated,
“I graduated from the faculty of economics and I don’t really know English better
than my friends who are majoring in English. So that’s why my ability in English
is not really good. I was asked to teach English but only the basic one. So,
hopefully I could keep learning”, (Teacher 5)
“the same with my friend opinion, I think that we have to provide ourselves with
the sustainable reinforcement of English. Not only for those who are majoring in
non-English faculties, but also for everyone teaching English in primary schools”.
(Teacher 13)
The data show that most of the participants (teachers of English in Jambi and Ma.
Bulian) lack involvements in English trainings. Furthermore, only have two participants ever
got involved in a training program of English; the program which is a class of TOEFL
training was conducted in one Islamic university in Jambi in 2004. This problem should be
considered and solved by the ministry of education and culture by holding more trainings of
English teaching or proficiency to improve the competence of the teachers of English who
teach young learners in Jambi. Considering this topic, one teacher said,
“the trainings of how to teach English to young learner are supposedly held, every
three months perhaps. We need those trainings to keep refreshing our mind of the
new materials, teaching methods, and etc because we lack of the things”.
(Teacher 12)
It is also revealed that all participants have ever participated in few trainings of how to
teach students in primary schools held by variuos institutions namely ministry of education
and culture, Jambi university, and state Islamic institute of jambi; however, the number of the
English teaching trainigs (teaching English to young learners) held is not so sufficient that the
participants could take many benefits from them. The lack involvement of the teachers of

This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015
English in attending those kinds of trainings should be decreased by providing more
trainings.
Considering the experts statements, “Teachers who deal with young learners must have
competence both professionally and pedagogically”, Working with young learners gives
opportunities for language teachers to develop what the learners have already had. They,
young learners, do not come to the class of language empty-handed; they have already had
well-established instincts, skills and characteristics that help them to learn another language
(Halliwell, 1992). Teachers of EYL come from many background and have differences in all
aspects of life but there are knowledge and attitude that can be learnt (Scott & Ytreberg,
1990). Teachers who teach English to young learners in Jambi must be trained to be creative
and attentive as well as skillful in the teaching the language.
b. Language Proficiency
Language proficiency constitutes the foundation confidence of non native speakers and
English teachers. Language competence has been at the most essential characteristic of a
good teacher (Lange, 1990). Berry conducted a study of two groups of teachers of English at
the secondary level. His aim was to determine which of three components (methodology,
theory of language teaching, or language improvement) they needed most. Language
improvement was ranked as the most important for both groups. The most second factor was
the methodology and the last one was the theory of language teaching (Berry, 1990).
Further, The test in this research which is English Proficiency Test (EPT), equivalent to
Test of English as a Foreign Language was administered to find out the scores of English
proficiency of the teachers of English who teach young learners in the city of Jambi. It was
followed by a total of fifteen teachers from eight primary schools. The test was in cooperation
with one of well-acknowledged English institution in Jambi which initiated by the
researchers.
The result shows that most teachers of English in the city of Jambi are not qualified
in term of English proficiency. Among fifteen teachers that are participants in this research,
only did one participant obtain score of 500 in the EPT test which is considered as a standard
score while the lowest score of EPT obtained by two teachers was 300. In addition, two
teachers obtained the EPT scores of 447 and 455. The mean score of the test is 363.06. This
mean score is generally regarded as a low achievement in test of English as a foreign
language with the exception of the best-scored achieved by one of the participants. The result
can be shown in the Table 1.
Table 1.
The participants’ EPT score
No Teachers EPT scores
1 Teacher 1 500
2 Teacher 2 447
3 Teacher 3 455
4 Teacher 4 375
5 Teacher 5 370
6 Teacher 6 364
7 Teacher 7 345

This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015
 8 Teacher 8 340
9 Teacher 9 335
10 Teacher 10 327
11 Teacher 11 325
12 Teacher 12 323
13 Teacher 13 320
14 Teacher 14 320
15 Teachers 15 300
Total 15 teachers of English Mean; 363.06

From the focus group discussion following the test, the teachers (especially those who
are not from English majors) admitted that the test was so much difficult that they sometimes
did not have any idea what to answer especially on the listening section, two of the teacher
reflected,
“what a test. It was very difficult and I think I can’t answer the question
especially on the listening section. We must have good understanding on this
section. It was very har indeed. I am sorry to say that but the truth hurt”,
(Teacher 5)
“I reckon the test was really hard. I did not have any Ideas what they are talking
about. O my god. It really gives me headache”. (Teacher 8)
The time constraint of the test was also considered as their problem in doing the test,
one of the teachers revealed,
“On the reading section, I think it was for about fifteen minutes left. When you
said 5 minutes left, I was shocked because 20 numbers are not done yet. It was a
very hard tests for me”. (Teacher 1)
This test results are not to be claimed to represent teachers profile and quality regarding
to their English proficiency in Jambi but it at least shows that teachers of English in Jambi
need to improve their English proficiency and involvement in teaching trainings to achieve
the success of the teaching and learning process.
Conclusion
Teachers are essential factors in education. High quality teachers would produce high
quality students. According to research, most teachers teaching English to young learners in
Indonesia are not qualified in term of professional and pedagogical competence. This reality
should be seriously considered as a main holdback in Indonesia educational system. It is
important to all stake holders of teaching English to young learners (TEYL) to get involved
actively in promoting teachers’ quality both professionally and pedagogically to produce
students with high quality.
Through the result of the study, the quality of the teachers of English in Jambi both
pedagogical competence and English proficiency is considered low. The factors that might
influence this reality are among others the lack trainings followed by those teachers in
teaching young learners and English trainings, the teachers’ background knowledge which is
mostly not English, and lack proficiency of English.

This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015
Suggestions
To improve teachers’ quality, the writer would like to propose some suggestions for the
authorities, schools and teachers of English; 1) government should conduct more trainings
regarding to teaching English to young learners and improving English proficiency for
teachers of EYL, 2) licensing teachers should be considered to certify teachers who have the
standard in not only teaching English to young learners but also in mastering English, 3)
school board should encourage their teachers to get involved in the training and licensure
activities, 4) the acceptance or input of teachers to be of English must be well-managed by
the governments, and 5) and the most important thing for the present days is that the teachers
had better keep motivating themselves to reinforce their ability in TEYL.
Further researches are encouraged and recommended on the field of teaching English
to young learners especially in jambi since there have been limited references on this research
interest to develop the sytem of education both in Jambi and in Indonesia. The involvement
of the authority is strongly suggested to develop the teaching and learning process of English
to young learners in Indonesia.
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This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015
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This paper has been presented at English Education Study Program-National Seminar,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, October 3rd,
2015

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