Teaching English in Poor-learning Environment: A Study of Language Teacher Identity with Special EFL Teachers at the Most Remote and Disadvantaged Schools in Indonesia (original) (raw)

Indonesia, with its unevenly distributed population, has been facing a challenge to ensure an equal distribution of services to all people in many different sectors, including education (Hugo, 2015; OECD/ADB, 2015). One of the recent educational issues encountered is the lack of qualified teachers, especially in rural and remote areas. In response, the Indonesian government established a new teacher scheme, known as Frontline teachers or Guru Garis Depan (GGD), which aimed to solve the teacher shortage problem by specifically recruiting and locating qualified teachers in the most remote and disadvantaged areas of Indonesia. This study explores the identity of GGD English teachers as special EFL teachers by examining their narratives regarding their perceptions about their roles, professional development, and how they construct their professional identity. In so doing, eight GGD English teachers working at different remote and deprived schools were recruited to be involved in this study. They were asked to share their stories and experiences through a questionnaire and diary, followed by an online individual interview via Skype. The overall collected stories were analysed by utilizing tools from narrative analysis and positioning theory. The results reveal that the roles of GGD English teachers become a double-edged sword: while the teachers, with their special ascribed status and various imposed positions, take up roles as “agents of change”, they have to deal with many different unrelated tasks that lead to discomfort in school. These issues, however, enable them to suggest ideas and changes in the programmes of teacher education, which are relevant to their contexts. Furthermore, as special English teachers, they are aware of their language competence and its improvement, and passionate about enhancing their future career and ongoing professional development in education.