D Joseph Ernest Mambu Negotiationg the place Title

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Negotiating the Place of Spirituality in English Language Teaching: A Case Study in an Indonesian EFL Teacher Education Program

by

Joseph Ernest Mambu

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Approved November 2014 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee:

Paul Kei Matsuda, Chair Patricia Friedrich Matthew T. Prior

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UMI Number: 3666495

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i ABSTRACT

This dissertation delves into EFL stakeholders’ understanding of spiritual identities and power relations associated with these identities as performed in various ELT contexts in an undergraduate EFL teacher education program at a Christian university in Indonesia. This study is motivated by an ongoing debate over the place of spirituality, especially Christianity, in ELT. In this project, religions are considered to be windows through which one’s spirituality is viewed and expressed. Spiritually associated relations of power indicate discrepancies due to positioning of one person committed to a spiritual view in relation to those having similar or different spiritual views.

The purpose of exploring spiritually associated identities and power relations is to provide empirical evidence which supports the following arguments. The integration of spirituality in ELT, or lack thereof, can be problematic. More importantly, however, spirituality can be enriching for some EFL teachers and students alike, and be presented together with critical ELT.

To explore the complexity of power relations associated with some EFL

stakeholders’ spiritual identities, I analyzed data from classroom observations, four focus

group discussions from February to April 2014, and individual interviews with 23 teachers and students from February to September 2014. Findings showed that Christian and non-Christian English teachers had nuanced views regarding the place of prayer in ELT-related activities, professionalism in ELT, and ways of negotiating spiritually associated power relations in ELT contexts. Students participating in this study

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being very dogmatic or evangelical) or self-reflexive. Classroom observations helped me to see more clearly how Christian English teachers interacted with their students from different religious backgrounds. In one class, a stimulating dialogue seemed to emerge when a teacher accommodated both critical and religious views to be discussed.

This project culminates in my theorization of the praxis of critical spiritual

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this dissertation to my wife, Ella Victoria, and my son, Joel Rafa

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to the Divine Being who has inspired me in this project and allowed me to learn from great people at Arizona State University (ASU). First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Professor Paul Kei Matsuda for his guidance since the first year of my doctoral studies, and especially for providing full support to me in completing this dissertation. I really appreciate his valuable and constructive feedback on a number of drafts of this dissertation. I am greatly privileged to have such a world-class mentor, teacher, and dissertation chair whose advice is very essential throughout my graduate studies at ASU and for the ongoing development of my professional career as an English language teacher educator in Indonesia.

I would like to thank my dissertation committee members, Professor Patricia Friedrich and Professor Matthew T. Prior for their encouragement and insightful

comments on my dissertation project. I acknowledge Professor Friedrich’s perspective on critical applied linguistics. I am also indebted to Professor Prior for sharing with me very useful works related to critical spiritual pedagogy in general education.

Special thanks to Professor Stephanie Vandrick at the University of San Fransisco who read and provided very valuable feedback on an earlier draft of my first three

chapters of this dissertation when I was still doing fieldwork in Indonesia.

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Financial aids from Fulbright and DIKTI (i.e., the Indonesian Directorate General of Higher Education) are worthy of mention. I really thank the U.S. and Indonesian governments for helping me to accomplish my dream to study in the United States of America.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to these close friends: fellow Indonesian Fulbrighters at ASU—Lusia Nurani, Made Eka, and Taufik Hidayah who have shared the same apartments with me and cheered me up during difficult nights and days, especially when I worked on my dissertation; my friends at Church on Mill—Todd and Amy Diehl, Harry and Elizabeth Hahne, Kent and LeeAnne Hardy, and Roxanne Beasley, who have prayed for me and helped me in many ways; my Graduate Christian Fellowship friends— Jean Duerbeck and Bill Gentrup who have provided ample spiritual nutrients in many Bible study sessions; and friends in ASU’s Department of English—Junghwa Kim and Karen Foltz who have been tremendously kind to me, and Sarah Elizabeth Snyder for very kindly helping me improve my dissertation. Any remaining errors are my own.

Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family. To my late father,

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3 METHODS... 67

Context... 68

Indonesia... 68

A Christian University in Indonesia... 69

The Students in the EFL Teacher Education Program... 69

The Instructors in the EFL Teacher Education Program.. 70

My Role in the EFL Teacher Education Program... 70

Gaining Access to the Field... 72

Participants... 75

Criteria for Selecting Participants... 75

Recruitment Procedure... 76

The Participants... 78

Data Collection Methods... 83

Observations………... 83

Focus Group Discussions... 86

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CHAPTER Page

Collecting Relevant Documents………... 87

Data Analysis Procedure... 92

Transcribing Data... 92

Coding and Analyzing Themes... 93

4 EFL TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUAL IDENTITIES IN ELT CONTEXTS... 96

To Pray or Not to Pray in Public... 96

Being Professional... 100

Understanding Power Relations in ELT Contexts... 103

Endorsing Character Education in ELT Contexts Non-Coercively... 107

Endorsing Character Education in ELT Contexts by being Authoritative... 116

Being Alert about Belonging to the Minority Groups: A Race-Faith Interface... 118

Witnessing about the Gospel... 119

Conclusion... 128

5 EFL TEACHERS’ REFLECTIONS ON THE INCORPORATION OF SPIRITUALITY AND LIFE REALITIES INTO ELT CLASSROOMS... 130

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CHAPTER Page

Tim’s Experiences of Presenting Islam in Class... 133

Angela’s Experiences of Being Reflexive about Evangelism... 138

Toward Problematizing “Liberal Multiculturalism” in ELT Classrooms... 144

Conclusion... 150

6 EFL STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUALITY IN ELT SETTINGS... 152

Defining and Performing Spirituality Dogmatically: Calantha’s Case... 153

Defining and Performing Spirituality Evangelically: Monika’s Case... 155

Performing Spirituality as Dialogue... 166

An Additive Approach to Interfaith Dialogue: Karno’s Case... 166

Being Less Fanatical: Ellie’s Case... 171

Having an Interreligious Crush: Lucia’s Case... 171

Reflecting on the Pronoun “him”: Lucia’s Case... 173

Spirituality in ELT: A Source of Motivation or Otherwise... 175

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CHAPTER Page

Non-Shared of Spirituality as a Source of Bewilderment:

Ellie’s Report... 176 Conclusion... 177 7 EFL TEACHERS AND STUDENTS NEGOTIATING

SPIRITUALITY IN OBSERVED ELT CLASSROOMS OR

BEYOND... 179 Some Degree of Self-Reflexivity when Discussing Religion and

Culture: Marty’s Case... 181 Narrative Analysis #1: British and Indonesian Garbagemen.. 181

Narrative Analysis #2: Marty’s Evangelical Discourse... 186

Dealing with Life Realities and Religious Dogmas... 203 Being Relatively Closeted about One’s Own Religion:

Shinta’s Case... 203 Initiating Intra- and Inter-faith Dialogue: Celeste’s Case... 209 Teaching Students How to Read Logos Critically: Dika’s Case.. 220 Conclusion... 223

8 LOCALLY THEORIZING CRITICAL SPIRITUAL

PEDAGOGY: THE CASE OF ELT IN JCU... 225 Understanding the Local and the Indigenous in Theorizing

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CHAPTER Page

Three Components of Critical Spiritual Pedagogy being Locally

Theorized... 228

Understanding of Power and Power Relations Associated with Spirituality in ELT... 229

Defiant Discourses Seen through Spiritual and Critical Lenses... 231

Self-Reflexivity Nurtured Spiritually and Critically... 237

Limitation of the Study... 244

Concluding Remarks... 244

REFERENCES... 251

ENDNOTES... 265

APPENDIX... 268

A OBSERVATION PROTOCOL………... 268

B FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION PROTOCOL... 273

C INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS... 277

D LANGUAGE LEARNING (AND TEACHING) HISTORIES GUIDELINE... 281

E COMPETENCIES RELATED TO CRITICAL AND SPIRITUAL VALUES... 284

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APPENDIX Page

G SHORT CONSENT TEMPLATE... 289

H THE RECAPITULATION OF THE 23 OBSERVED CLASS SESSIONS... 292

I A SAMPLE OF EMERGING THEMES: THE FIRST STAGE OF CODING... 298

J A SAMPLE OF EMERGING THEMES: THE SECOND STAGE OF CODING... 304

K MUSTIKA’S INTERPRETATION OF PHILLIS WHEATLEY’S POEM... 308

L ANGELA’S NARRATIVE #1: CHRISTIANITY IN THE AMERICAN CULTURE AND LITERATURE CLASS... 312

M ANGELA’S NARRATIVE #2: CHRISTIANITY IN THE INTERMEDIATE WRITING CLASS... 317

N MUR’S COMMENTS ON MARTY’S TALK IN COMMUNICATION ACROSS CULTURES CLASS... 320

O LUCIA’S POEM ENTITLED “SQUARES”... 323

P KARNO’S LANGUAGE LEARNING HISTORY... 326

Q ELLIE’S INTEREST IN SOCIAL (JUSTICE) ISSUES... 330

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1 Focal Participants... 80

2 Non-Focal Participants... 82

3 Video-Recorded Classrooms... 88

4 Focus Group Discussions with Students... 89

5 Focus Group Discussions with Lecturers... 89

6 Individual Interviews with Lecturers Who are Focal Participants... 90

7 Individual Interviews with Lecturers Who are Not Focal Participants... 91

8 Individual Interviews with Students Who are Focal Participants... 91

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1 Some Prompts of “Your Worldview” that Marty would like his

Students to Think Over... 182

D Joseph Ernest Mambu Negotiationg the place Title

INFORMATION TO ALL USERS

DEDICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 METHODS... 67

4 EFL TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUAL IDENTITIES IN ELT CONTEXTS... 96

5 EFL TEACHERS’ REFLECTIONS ON THE INCORPORATION OF SPIRITUALITY AND LIFE REALITIES INTO ELT CLASSROOMS... 130

SPIRITUALITY IN OBSERVED ELT CLASSROOMS OR

8 LOCALLY THEORIZING CRITICAL SPIRITUAL

REFERENCES... 251

I A SAMPLE OF EMERGING THEMES: THE FIRST STAGE OF CODING... 298

O LUCIA’S POEM ENTITLED “SQUARES”... 323

LIST OF FIGURES