1. The Professional Identity of Indonesian English Teachers
Ardian Wahyu Setiawan
Dr. Ian Green, Dr. Linda Westphalen & Dr. Cally Guerin

2. English and Its Speakers
• Used in 75 territories in the world (Crystal, 2003)
• A lingua franca → about 1.5 billion speakers
± 375 million native speakers
• Non-native : native speakers ratio → 4:1 (Crystal, 2003)
• 80% of English teachers in the world are non-native speakers
(Braine, 1999; Canagarajah, 2005; Graddol, 2006)

3. Discrimination against Nonnative English Teachers
The majority of English teachers → Non-native speakers
(Braine, 1999; Canagarajah, 2005; Graddol, 2006)
THEY ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST
Non-native English teachers → treated unequally
(Amin, 1997; Braine, 1999; Thomas, 1999; Kamhi-Stein, 2000; Mahboob, 2004; Clark & Paran, 2007)
Less preferred
(Braine, 1999; Thomas, 1999; Kamhi- Stein, 2000; Mahboob, 2004; Holliday, 2009)
Discrimination → racial
(Amin, 2004; Kubota & Lin, 2006; Lee, 2007; Aboshiha, 2008; Holliday, 2008 )

4. Native speakers will be given preference

5. It is racial
Blonde hair
Blue or green eyes?

6. What causes?
DISCRIMINATION
Native English teachers → Ideal teachers
Non-native English teachers → less competent teachers
(Kamhi-Stein, 2000; Lee, 2000; McKay, 2002; Ali, 2009)

7. Unequal Views → Why?
• The Legacy of Colonialism
Colonial discourse → operates → today
Affects linguists, applied linguists, and teachers
(Pennycook, 1994)
English Language Teaching → Images of the speakers
• Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
too much emphasis on native competence as its goal (Preston,1989; Berns, 1990)

8. Discrimination in Indonesia
IT IS PREVALENT

9. Discrimination in Indonesia
National school?

10. Discrimination in Indonesia
NOT Indonesian?

11. The Professional Identity of Indonesian English Teachers
Discrimination → Non-native English teachers’ identity
Identity is socially constructed and contextually related to
sociocultural discourse
(Duff & Uchida, 1997; Norton, 1997; Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson; 2005)
Students’ perception
H
Parents’ perception
O Other subject teachers’ perception
W Indonesian English teachers’ self-perception
• How do the stakeholders see Indonesian English teachers?
• How do these perceptions arise?
• How do the perceptions align?
• What impact might these perceptions have on educational
outcomes?

12. Research on Teacher Identity
100 Social Science Citation
90 Index – SSCI Journal
80
70
HOWEVER
60 The concept of identity
50
40
30
20
10
not clearly defined
(Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004;
Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009;
0 Mockler, 2011)
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

13. My Approach
EDUCATION
Identity → not clearly defined
Education (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004; Beauchamp &
Thomas, 2009)
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
WHO ARE YOU? WHO AM I?
(Vignoles, Schwartz, & Luyckx, 2011)
IDENTITY
IMAGE – REPRESENTATION
Criticized → ahistorical
Social (Hook, 2005; Okazaki, David, & Abelmann, 2008)
Postcolonial
Psychology
POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
History, Space, Discourse

14. Theoretical Frameworks
• POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
How colonial discourse operates; how stereotypes work
• SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
How individuals attempt to maintain their identity
positively valued / perceived
• DIALOGICAL SELF THEORY
Individuals have multiple voices; the others are intrinsic
part of the self

15. POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
The perceptions of the stakeholders
The Other Questions
Homi Bhabha
Fixity
COLONIAL DISCOURSE
STEREOTYPES Cultural – Historical – Racial
Fixed stereotypes of
Non-native English teachers
Stereotype works by using cultural – historical
racial differences

16. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
INGROUP OUTGROUP
Social Social Psychological
Social Identity
Categorization Comparison Distinctiveness
Useful concepts: prototypes, psychological distinctiveness
How do the teachers perceive their identity?

17. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
An example:
Black is beautiful movement
1960s

18. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
INGROUP OUTGROUP
Focuses on intergroup behaviour
What happens within the self?

19. DIALOGICAL SELF THEORY
The Theatre of Metaphor
The Multiplicity of the Self The Significant Others
Useful concepts: the multiplicity of the self, the significant others

20. Context
• A senior high school
• Access to data
MALANG, INDONESIA

21. Methodology
A Qualitative Exploratory Case Study
Exploring Perceptions
A Series of Focus Group Discussions
(8 – 12 students/session; themes: ideal English teachers, and
Indonesian English teachers)
Semi-Structured Interviews
(At least 12 students, 6 parents, 6 other subject teachers and 6 English
teachers)
FaceGen Software - interviews

22. FaceGen Software
Commonly used in psychology, also for biometric security and police applications

23. Significance
Personal Significance
• Research problem → Indonesia
• Professional background → An Indonesian English teacher
Practical Significance
• An in-depth understanding → Professional identity
• The result → useful for teacher training institutions
• Inform the policies → related to Indonesian English teachers
Research Significance
• Dealing with a problematic issue faced by non-native English teachers
• Addressing the gap → EFL context
• Multi dimensional study → Involving multi-groups of participants

24. THANK YOU
My Research Journal: http://www.indonesianenglishteachers.tk/