PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF THEIR COMPETENCE AND THEIR READINESS FOR TEACHING PROFESSION
THESIS
BY
LOU CHIEN GITA ARISTA NPM 21902073034
UNIVERSITY OF ISLAM MALANG GRADUATE PROGRAM
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM 2022
PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF THEIR COMPETENCE AND THEIR READINESS FOR TEACHING PROFESSION
THESIS Presented to
University of Islam Malang
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Magister in English Language Education
By
Lou Chien Gita Arista NPM 21902073034
UNIVERSITY OF ISLAM MALANG GRADUATE PROGRAM
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM 2022
ABSTRAK
Arista, Lou Chien Gita. 2022. Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception of Their Competence and Their Readiness for Teaching Profession. Thesis, English Language Education Study Program, Graduate Program, University of Islam Malang. Pembimbing: (1) Dr. Dzul Fikri, M.Pd., (2) Prof. Drs. H. Junaidi M., M.Pd., Ph.D.
Keywords: pre-service teachers’ perception, teacher competence, teacher readiness.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui persepsi guru pra-jabatan terhadap kompetensinya dan kesiapannya untuk profesi sebagai guru, serta mengukur hubungan antara persepsi guru pra-jabatan terhadap kompetensinya dengan kesiapannya.
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kuantitatif dalam melakukan penelitian.
Partisipan penelitian ini adalah 67 mahasiswa S1 Universitas Islam Lamongan yang telah mengikuti program praktek pengalaman lapangan. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kuesioner. Karena adanya aturan jarak sosial dan fisik, peneliti mendistribusikan instrumen melalui link Google Form kepada responden dalam mengumpulkan data. Hasil kuesioner dianalisis dengan mendeskripsikan skor rata-rata tertinggi dan terendah. Sedangkan hasil korelasi diinterpretasikan dengan melihat kriteria signifikansi.
Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa guru pra-jabatan mempersepsikan kompetensi mereka secara positif paling tinggi pada standar dan nilai etika dan paling rendah pada pengetahuan profesional. Mereka juga menunjukkan kesiapan mereka dalam kategori baik. Mereka berpersepsi positif terhadap kompetensi mereka di segala bidang dan siap untuk menjalani profesi sebagai guru. Namun hasil nilai signifikansi (2-tailed) menunjukkan .258 lebih tinggi dari .05. Jadi, berarti tidak ada hubungan antara persepsi guru pra-jabatan terhadap
kompetensinya dengan kesiapannya.
Saran yang diusulkan berdasarkan hasil ditujukan kepada guru pra-jabatan EFL serta peneliti lain yang ingin meneruskan topik terkait dalam penelitian selanjutnya. Saran-saran tersebut menyangkut pentingnya mempertahankan dan/atau mengembangkan kompetensi dan kesiapan guru pra-jabatan dalam menjalani profesi sebagai guru yang sesungguhnya dan perlunya studi lanjut mengenai faktor yang sama atau faktor lain yang mempengaruhi kompetensi mengajar dan kesiapan mengajar sebagai profesi.
ABSTRACT
Arista, Lou Chien Gita. 2022. Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception of Their Competence and Their Readiness for Teaching Profession. Thesis, English Language Education Study Program, Graduate Program, University of Islam Malang. Advisors: (1) Dr. Dzul Fikri, M.Pd., (2) Prof. Drs. H. Junaidi M., M.Pd., Ph.D.
Keywords: pre-service teachers’ perception, teacher competence, teacher readiness.
This research objective was to discover the pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence and their readiness for teaching profession, and measure the correlation between pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence and their readiness.
This research used quantitative as a method in conducting the research. The participants of this research were 67 undergraduate students of Universitas Islam Lamongan who had taken practice real teaching program. The instruments used in this research were questionnaires. Due to the regulation of social and physical distancing, the researcher distributed the instruments via Google Form links to the respondents in collecting the data. The results of the questionnaires were analyzed by describing the highest and the lowest of average scores. Meanwhile, the result of correlation was interpreted by looking the significance criteria.
The result of this research showed that the pre-service teachers perceived their competence positively the most at the ethical standards and values and least at the professional knowledge. They also showed their readiness was in good category. They perceived positively towards their competence in all areas and ready for teaching profession. However, the result of significance value (2-tailed) shows .258 which is higher than .05. So, it means that there was no correlation between pre-service teachers’
perception of their competence and their readiness.
Suggestions proposed on the basis of the result are addressed to EFL pre-service teachers as well as other researchers who wish to pursue related topics in future research.
Those suggestions concern about the importance of maintaining and/or developing pre- service teacher competence and readiness to face the real teaching as profession and the necessity of further studies on the same or other factors as they are affected to the teaching competence and readiness for teaching profession.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents an introduction that includes a general description in the preparation according to the title. It consists of background of the research, research question, research objective, hypothesis, assumption, limitation of the research, significance of the research, and key term of the research.
1.1.Background of the Research
In recent decades, people's interest for education has increased. Schools and teachers are also expected to have such good quality and train their students to function better in the future, in line with the changing challenging world of work.
In this respect, to help them survive in this world of work, schools should equip learners with a wide range of skills. This situation places a higher focus on the quality of education. In this respect, the question of the professional and the quality of teachers is more critical than ever.
Indonesia is expected to improve its educational quality through changing its educational system. Because teachers' quality has a significant and direct impact on students' comprehension of the knowledge materials being taught, it should take priority over other concerns such as parents and infrastructures (Ugbe
& Agim, 2009; Pangabean & Himawan, 2016).
Many factors contribute to the goals of the teaching-learning process, but the most important one is the quality and skill of teachers, who have control over their students in the classroom. Sadeghi and Babai (2009) said that qualified
teachers are critical to the proper operation of educational systems and the
improvement of learning quality. Therefore, teachers who have good competence and readiness need to be seen as a fundamental factor to bring about the
development of better education.
Indonesian government takes the issue seriously about the graduated teacher education who are considered not to have an establish ability to become
professional teachers in school so that the government launches an extra teacher education program for prospective teachers or graduates of a teacher education program that had to be taken for a year. The program was governed by the
Ministry of Education Regulations from 2009 onwards. This program was carried out after graduating from diploma IV or undergraduate program called Training for Professional School Teachers (TPST). Its main objective is to obtain pleasant, constructive, and reflective teaching experiences from participants.
The program affects all graduates of a teacher education program, including English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher. It inflicted some responses,
including teacher education university academics who do not agree with the implementation of the program. Their justification is based on the premise and argument that teacher education graduates have been well and adequately
qualified to become teachers in order to be prepared to work professionally. This statement then draws attention to the need for further examination of the inherent legitimacy of new teachers in Indonesia over their quality (Julia, Subarjah, Maulana, Sujana, Isrokatun, Nugraha, & Rachmatin, 2020).
The quality of teachers can be represented through their competence.
Teacher competence can be drawn during their pre-service education phase, qualities needed for the career must be provided. Improving the standard of teachers is critical in the field of education and it can be done from the start, to pre-service teachers where they will prepare themselves before getting teaching profession. Teacher training programs should therefore ultimately prioritize those skills and qualifications, such as teaching strategies based on facilities,
understanding the school, tracking student learning, understanding diversity, reflective teaching, acknowledging culture, choosing or planning authentic teaching and learning materials suitable for students with various types, methods, and strategies of learning, adult learning, evaluation strategies, communication and advice to equip their students with critical skills (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman & Yoon, 2001; Mangin & Stoelinga, 2010; PGG, 2011).
Although teacher competence is characterized in different ways, in this study it falls primarily into five circumscribed areas. They are; 1) capability to carry out activities, 2) combination of knowledge, skills, and personal
characteristics that are related to the education, 3) skills and experience that determines productivity, 4) evaluation category or standard of teacher appraisal, and 5) integral characteristic of individual (Akhmetova, Omarova, Kuznetsova, &
Sheveleva, 2013). Pre-service teachers should, therefore, prepare themselves for such things in advance, such as the level of knowledge and skill in their field of specialization.
Besides, the teacher's readiness to enter the workplace is very crucial.
Teachers who are not ready to conduct their duties will less contribute to teaching performance and a lack of interest will also be showed by students because teachers played a role for controlling the whole class, for creating human resources development potential as one aspect of the learning process. In this context, teachers teach not only to transfer of knowledge, but also to transfer values as an educator, as well as mentors who support and direct students in learning (Rahmatullah, 2016). Therefore, to be a teacher, readiness and
competence as an educator is needed as well as the quality of the learning process in schools.
The competence and/or readiness of teachers have become the focus to many studies. Mohamed, Valcke, & Wever (2016) focused at identifying the critical areas to be developed in these prospective teachers before they can actually become ready for-the-job, and especially the central role of their teacher educators in shaping their professional competence. It is ideal for pre-service teachers to consider themselves as competent and ready for the teaching
profession in this field. Because there are too many changes in the field, teachers are expected to be able to adapt to these changing conditions. The new teachers that have been prepared their competence will feel confident to face the
environment (Julia et al., 2020).
Several studies have been conducted to investigate the need of teachers developing and considering effective teaching skills which is not only refers to the expertise of performance in the classroom (Julia et al., 2020), lesson plan (Sural,
2009), knowledge in material and pedagogical, but also in personal and social competencies (Tutyandari, 2020). In addition, Tutyandari (2020) in her study said that pre-service teachers should comprehend the importance of a sense of
readiness for teaching in their future careers.
For this reason, pre-service students' perceptions of competence and readiness for the teaching profession need to be measured to determine whether pre-service teachers are well prepared in developing their competencies during the education phase and are ready for the teaching profession as EFL teachers.
Moreover, because English is a foreign language in Indonesia and a topic in the school curriculum, the language is rarely exposed outside the classroom, requiring the English teacher to play a big role in the classroom. Hence, teachers hold an essential role to run their work effectively in order to achieve the teaching goals.
Because of these doubts, this study focuses on investigating the perceptions of pre-service teachers who are undergraduate students about their competence and readiness for their teaching profession, and measuring the correlation between pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence and their readiness. In
addition, this competency is expected to help pre-service teachers to develop their knowledge and skills during their careers to become professional English teacher and also help to achieve educational standards.
1.2.Problem of the Research
Based on the background of the research above, the research questions are formulated as follow:
1. How do pre-service teachers perceive their competence for the teaching profession?
2. How is pre-service teachers’ readiness for the teaching profession?
3. How is the correlation between pre-service teachers’ competence and readiness?
1.3.Objective of the Research
Based on the research questions above, the research objectives are:
1. To investigate pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence for the teaching profession
2. To discover pre-service teachers’ readiness for the teaching profession 3. To measure the correlation between pre-service teachers’ competence and
readiness 1.4.Assumption
The researcher has assumption that there is correlation between pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence and their readiness. It means that if pre- service teachers’ perceive their competence as positive, their perception of their readiness show positive.
1.5.Hypothesis
In this research, the researcher aims to measure the correlation between pre- service teachers’ perception of their competence and their readiness. The
independent variable is pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence (X) and the dependent variable is pre-service teachers’ perception of their readiness (Y). The truth will be proposed and will be proven as follows:
H0 : There is no correlation between pre-service teachers’ perception of their competence and their readiness.
1.6.Scope and Limitation of the Research
Based on the background of the study, the researcher limited the problem area focus on how the pre-service teachers’ responses concerning on their competence and readiness for teaching profession and the correlation between their competence and their readiness. The pre-service teachers here are the
undergraduate students who take English Department as a majority and they have already done practice real teaching. The researcher conducted the research at Universitas Islam Lamongan because it is easily to be accessed.
1.7.Significance of the Research
The significance of this study is divided into two. They are theoretical significance and practical significance;
1.7.1. Theoretical significance
The researcher hopes that this research will give contribution to the readers related to the teacher’s competency and readiness. Also this research will give information and become useful reference for the next research.
1.7.2. Practical Significance
The result of this research aims at giving contribution to the pre-service teachers and other researcher as followed:
a. Pre-service Teachers
From this research, is hoped that pre-service teachers can take benefit
regarding to the information about teaching competency. The researcher hopes
they can also prepare more and well their competence for their teaching profession.
b. Other Researchers
The researcher hopes that other researcher can take the good information for further research related to teacher competency and teacher readiness.
c. The researcher
Hopefully the researcher can take benefits from this research and also can improve her competence and readiness as a teacher for teaching English in the future.
1.8.Definition Key Term of the Research
The term will be used in this research are perception and teacher competence. The meanings of those terms are explained below.
a. Perception is the pre-service teachers’ opinion according to what the
respondents (pre-service teachers) felt or experienced about their competence and their readiness for teaching profession.
b. Pre-service teacher is the university student who takes teacher training and education as a major in his/her study in the university and has already taken real teaching program. He/she is training to become a teacher in a teacher education program, and she/he has an experience of teaching individually in his/her own classroom.
c. Teacher competence is an ability possessed by pre-service teachers in doing their assignment or job as a teacher.
d. Teacher readiness is the preparedness by pre-service teachers in carrying out their roles as teachers, both emotionally, cognitively, behaviorally, and so on.
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSSION AND SUGGESTION
This chapter presents the conclusion and suggestion regarding result of this research. The conclusions are drawn based on the findings of previous chapter and the suggestion directs further researchers who are interested in conducting similar research.
6.1. Conclusion
This research has identified and discovered the pre-service teachers’
perceptions of their competence and their readiness for teaching profession. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers’ perceptions were positive towards their competence in all areas and ready for teaching profession.
The result showed that they perceived their competence positively the most at the ethical standards and values and the least at professional knowledge.
The pre-service teachers’ readiness cannot be separated from competence.
The result showed that the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their readiness revealed that they considered themselves as ready for teaching as profession. The respondents perceive their readiness confidently at their emotive attitudinal readiness
By realizing and considering their competence and readiness for the teaching profession, they will feel more confident and ready to face the real environment of teaching as a profession. This can also create conditions where their readiness will go a long way to improve their quality as a teacher.
However, based on the results of the correlation test, this research does not show a relationship between pre-service teachers' perceptions of their competence and their readiness for teaching profession. Although the variables showed
positive direction, but the result also showed there is no significant correlation between those variables. It is proven on the table 4.15 that showed p (.258) is higher (>) than ɑ (.05). So, it can be concluded that H0 is accepted, which means that there is no correlation between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their competence and their readiness.
6.2. Suggestion
Suggestions proposed on the basis of the result in this research are addressed to EFL pre-service teachers as well as other researchers who wish to pursue related topics in future research. Those suggestions concern about the importance of maintaining and/or developing competence and readiness, or other factors that would be important for pre-service teacher in preparing before facing the real teaching as profession.
Furthermore, the necessity for further studies on the same factors to find out more specifically from other sources, or other factors that affect teaching
competence and readiness for the teaching profession because there are still many unexplained factors that can contribute to pre-service teachers. The researcher also suggests further researchers to conduct research with a larger number of sample and population and wider scope that this research to get better results in the future.
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