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TEACHING ENGLISH PROBLEMS: AN ANALYSIS OF EFL PRIMARY
SCHOOL TEACHERS IN KUALA TUNGKAL
Mukhlash Abrar
Jambi University and a Doctorate Student at Queens’ University Belfast, UK
aabismyname@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to describe the problems faced by EFL primary school teachers in teaching
English by employing qualitative design research with case study approach. There were two
participants from two different primary schools for this research. They were interviewed to get the
data of this research. The interview data were analyzed by applying within-case and cross-case
displays and analyses (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The results of this research revealed that there
were three major problems faced by EFL primary school teachers in Kuala Tungkal in teaching
English, such as: 1) Lack of learners’ motivation, 2) Insufficient time, resources, and materials, and
3) Over-crowded English classes.
Keywords: Problems in teaching English,EFL primary school teachers.
INTRODUCTION
It is widely known that English is an international and universal language since it is spoken by many people
all over the world. Dewi (2015), Mydans (2007), and Jackson & Stockwell (1996) assert that English is
used in every corner of the world as a media to interact among people from different cultures, ethnic, and
social backgrounds. It indicates that English, nowadays, is being articulated by not only the citizens of
English speaking countries, but also the citizens of other countries. Aside from the world language for
international communication, English is internationally recognised as the language of science and
technology (Seargeant & Erling, 2011; Ammon, 2001). With this recognition, the language is used in most
of news, technological terms, and current spoken or written research reports.
In Indonesia, an incredibly diverse and multicultural country, English is regarded as one of the most popular
foreign languages. The 1989 Law gives English a place as the first foreign language in Indonesia (Lauder,
2008; Komaria, 1998). Its policy implication is that the language becomes one of the compulsory modules
to be taught in secondary schools and tertiary education. In primary school context, English, before the
curriculum change, is offered as an optional or local content subject in Indonesia, but it is only now offered
in some public and private schools, including in two primary schools in Kuala Tungkal, Indonesia.
Teaching English in primary school level is naturally much different from teaching the language in other
levels of education, such as secondary school or university.The difference may lie on numerous teaching
components, among others curriculum, learning environment, students, and teaching or content delivery.
Teachers at primary schools, in curriculum component, teach the basic of English for most of the time. One
of the basic English materials that the students learn is the list of words with their meaning glossaries known
as vocabulary (Brown and Hatch, 1995). The teaching of vocabulary can be manifested by learning simple
subjects, such as things around us, name of fruit, animals, sport, game and giving instruction. This might
not be easy because most of the students to learn English for the first time. In relation to teaching
component, Scott and Ytreberg (1990) as quoted in Arikan (2011) formulate in their book “introduction to
teaching English to young learners” that: 1) activities for young learner should incorporate the content with
body movements and senses, 2) pupils should experiment with the language they are learning while
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observing it rather than receiving grammar rules, 3) classroom interaction should foster interaction rather
than competition, 4) there must be variety of every component of classroom planning, teaching and
assessment. These formulations were based on the studying difference among young and adults learners of
English.
Due to its difference from other levels of education, in all components, teaching English to young learners
especially primary school students might come with many problems or constrains encountered by teachers.
Lynch (2008) points out three most crucial problems of English language teaching and learning classroom
such as 1) lack of learners’ motivation, 2) insufficient time, resources and materials, and 3) over-crowded
English classes.
For the last several years, study on teaching English at primary school has often been a topic of research
several researchers from several countries. O’Connor and Geiger (2009), for example, investigated
challenges facing ESL educators in Cape area Africa. Then, in 2011 Arikan focused on the study of primary
school English language teacher’s classroom activities and problems in Turkey. Another researcher who
conducted research on primary schools was Salahuddin (2012). He limited his research on challenges at
implementing English curriculum at rural primary schools of Bangladesh. Moreover, Zein (2012) did the
research on language teacher education for primary school English teachers in Indonesia. He investigated
the needs of English teachers at primary school levels including knowledge, skills and also problems in
teaching English.
This study was conducted to investigate the problems faced by English as a Foreign Language (hereafter
EFL) primary teachers in Kuala Tungkal. The findings of this study will be useful for English teachers to
identify the problems they might encounter at primary level. It also becomes the related-topic reference and
fills gap that might exist in previous studies.
METHODOLOGY
This research aimed to explore primary school teacher challenges in teaching English. To achieve the
purpose of the study, qualitative research with phenomenological approach was employed. The key
elements of phenomenological inquiry are to understand individual(s)’ lived-experiences in a specific
phenomenon, and to deeply explore and interpret the meanings from participants’ words, descriptions, and
perspectives on the phenomenon (Creswell, 2007; Merriam, 1998; Patton, 1990). In terms of sampling, a
purposive sampling was used to select the participant in this study. Initially, this research was planned to
involve all EFL teachers at primary schools in Kuala Tungkal city. The researcher asked their willingness
to be involved in this research. After confirming them, there were only two respondents from two different
primary schools who were willing to participate in this research.
In collecting the data, a semi-structured interview guided by the interview protocol was done as an attempt
to get in-depth insight about the topic. The interview was done individually and lasted approximately 15-
20 minutes with the language they were comfortable with. All of them elected to use English and, as a
result, any grammatical errors appeared in quotations. The researcher, in analyzing the interview data, used
within-case and cross-case displays and analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1994). To avoid the data
misinterpretation in final report, the researcher verified the interview data (Creswell, 1998) through member
checking. In this regard, the interview transcriptions (Bahasa/ English) were returned to all respondents in
order to get their feedbacks, and comments.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The interview was conducted to explore deeper information about EFL teachers’ constraints at primary
school in teaching English. There is actually one major question of this research: What are EFL teachers’
constraints in teaching English at primary schools? To answer the question, the researcher developed some
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questions related to the topic from three basic themes, 1) lack of learners’ motivation, 2) insufficient time,
resources and materials, and 3) over-crowded English classes (Lynch, 2008). Going through within-case
and cross-case displays and analyses (Miles and Huberman, 1994), the researcher identified interrelated
themes and sub-themes regarding constrains faced by primary school EFL teachers in teaching English.
The following table represents the themes and sub-themes of the finding:
Table 1. The findings’ themes and sub-themes
Themes
Sub-Themes
Lack of Learner’s Motivation
Shyness
Afraid of making mistakes
Not interested to study
Insufficient Time, Resources, and Materials
Limited time to study
Limited sources
Limited facilities
Difficult Materials
Over-Crowded English Classes
Too many students
Lack of Learner’s Motivation
According to Broussard and Garrison (2004), motivation is considered as “the attribute that moves us to do
or not to do something” (p. 106). This term refers to the causes which underlie someone’s behavior that is
commonly seen from his/ her volition and willingness. In classroom context, it deals with the students’
willingness to participate in classroom activities. When the students have no willingness or feel reluctant
to get involved in learning the language comfortably, it is an indication of lack of motivation. Based on the
result of interview with both teachers, this becomes one of the main problems that they faced in teaching
English at primary school. They revealed three causes of this problem such as shyness, afraid of making
mistakes, and also not interested to study.
Shyness
Shyness relates to a condition or state of being shy. In other words, shyness is the feeling of awkward and
lack of comfort particularly when someone is around the other people. This problem was often found in
teaching English to primary school students. Both participants - participant 1 and participant 2 (hereafter
P1 and P2) - mentioned this become the trigger of students’ lack motivation in learning English.
“One big problem [that] I faced in teaching English is the students’ motivation. I think they are shy to read
English texts aloud or [to] speak English” (P1)
“My students are shy to practice the language and it [caused] the silence in class” (P2)
Based on the participants’ statements above, they admitted that shyness is the major problem that they faced
during the process of teaching and learning in their classrooms. This problem mostly occurred when the
students were asked to do some activities related to the lesson, such as reading and also speaking. It, then,
affects the students’ activeness in learning activities. In terms of students’ activeness in the process of
teaching and learning, Salahuddin (2012) reported that 86% students were inactive to participate or to get
involve in classroom activities in his research sites and finally it affected the students’ motivation toward
learning.
Afraid of making mistakes
Another issue generated from the result of interview which relates to the problem or main theme is afraid
of making mistakes. This was raised by P1 in the interview.
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“Another problem in my English class [is] that most students [do not] want to read text or speak the
language because they are afraid of making mistakes. If their friends [find out that] someone is making
mistake, he or she is mocked” (P1)
This problem occurs, based on the teachers’ explanation, because of the further responses from the
classmates. The students’ reactions like mocking, teasing and insulting when they found out someone’s
mistakes affected the students’ responses to the teacher’s instruction. The obvious response showed by the
students was being hesitation to do activities.
Furthermore, the teachers pointed out at least two possible reasons why the primary school students felt shy
and afraid of making mistakes. The first reason is lack of confidence. Both participants P1 and P2 confessed
this reason in the interview.
“ … and I think the students don’t have [any] confidence to do those activities” (P1)
“shyness, hmmmm, maybe they [are] not confident to practice what they [had] learned” (P2)
Having a look at the excerpts above, both participants shared the same opinion about the first possible
reason why the students felt shy and afraid of making mistakes. Additionally, P1 mentioned another reason
which affects students’ shyness or worry in learning the language that is students’ low competence.
“beside not confident, many my students cannot do the activities. Every time I asked them to go to the front
of the class, they always say “I can’t” (P 1)
P1 believed that some of his students were not able to do the activities due to their low capability in
comprehending and also practicing the language. This reason led them to be shy or worried and greatly
influenced their motivation to learn the language in the classroom.
Not Interested to Study
The last sub-theme found by the researcher after conducting the interview is not interested to study. It
primarily concerns about students’ volition in participating the classroom activities. P2 expressed another
problem that she needed to endure while teaching English.
“the hardest part [of teaching] is [when] the students don’t want to study at all. They really like playing,
talking, and also laughing a lot in the classroom” (P 2)
This students’ attitude is considered as the most difficult problem for her (P2) related to students’ lack
motivation. She also informed that some students preferred to do other activities, such as playing, cheating
with friends, and also making some noise by laughing a lot instead of studying English.
Insufficient Time, Resources, and Materials
Lynch (2008) contends ‘insufficient time, resources and materials” is one of the major problems in teaching
and learning English. The three components of this theme need to elaborate one another in order to be
successful in teaching and learning. After it is asked to both participants, they admitted that this theme also
became their challenge in teaching their classes. There are three sub-themes found in this research; limited
time, limited resources, limited facilities and difficult materials to be taught.
Limited Time
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Time actually plays an important role in studying. It is believed that the more time we study, the more
knowledge we get. Because English was offered as a local content lesson or additional lesson in Indonesian
primary schools, it was not given the priority in terms of the ‘time’. P2 mentioned this sub-theme during
the interview.
“We did not have much time to study English because this is an only additional lesson” (P2)
Based on the excerpt, P2 obviously stated that English was not a compulsory subject in her school to be
taught. Besides, limited time also affects the students’ comprehension about the lesson. They may not be
able to get the comprehensive and detail materials as they and the teachers expected. Another participant
(P1) pointed out the same opinion in the interview.
“I taught English for 2X35 minutes, so it was difficult for me to explain the whole things to students. As a
result, I just taught them the points” (P1)
P1 told clearly that he was only given 70 minutes to teach his students in one week, while he had to teach
a lot of materials. Because of it, he could not explain the materials comprehensively and maximally. As a
result, he only explained the points of the lesson. The finding above was in line with the finding found by
Zein (2012). He noted that one of his participants raised the issue of insufficient time. The teacher argued
that 35 minutes was not enough to teach the students in terms of time.
Limited Resources
Resources means things which is used by someone or organization to function effectively. It means a
resource is the key to succeed in doing thing. In teaching – e.g book and worksheets – English, it is indeed
needed because it will help the students to cultivate what they have learned. Without any sufficient
materials, the students might feel difficult in comprehending the given lesson. One of the participants (P2)
explained that there was limited resource she used in teaching English at her class.
“I only used [text books] provided by the school in teaching and did not often use [any] other resources”
(P2)
The participant, based on the excerpt above, explicitly explained that she only used a textbook as the
resource for teaching and learning. This limited resource influences her teaching affectivity. This finding
is similar to the finding of O’Connor and Geiger (2009). In their paper, they mentioned resource was one
of the problems faced by primary school teachers in their research sites in which most of the teacher –
around 92, 5% - expressed for the need for specific language teaching resources for teaching the learners,
such as simple picture vocabulary theme books and worksheets.
Limited Facilities
Facility refers to equipment used in supporting the learning process. In other words, it is necessary to be
completed in order to achieve the goal in teaching and learning. Both participants expressed their opinion
related to this sub-theme.
“Well, the facilities in my school are not complete. That is the reason [why] I can’t teach English properly”
(P1)
“I need facilities in teaching English, but sometimes I can’t find them” (P2)
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Both participants mentioned that they had to face limited facilities in teaching English. This problem also
contributed to the effectiveness of teaching and learning activity. In relation to this challenge, Zein (2012)
found similar finding in which the teachers said that there were inadequate facilities in their school in
particular multimedia to integrate language skills.
Difficult Materials
Material is any systematic description of the techniques and exercises to be used in classroom teaching”
(Brown, 1995,p. 139). In terms of language teaching area, Tomlinson (1998) defines material as
“…anything which is used by the teachers and learners to facilitate the learning of the language” (p. 2).
That means materials are actually the instruction center and they are considered as the most crucial influence
on what is going on in the classroom. The appropriate teaching material with the students’ level might
determine the successful of teaching and learning process. On the other hand, inappropriate teaching
material possibly becomes a problem for both teachers and students. Based on the interview result, it is
found out that difficult material to be taught also becomes one of the problems faced by both P1 and P2 in
teaching English at primary schools. They admitted that the materials from the publisher’s textbook were
not easy to be taught to their students.
“I do not think I could teach my students [maximally] due to difficult materials to be taught” (P1)
“Because [of] difficult lesson, many of my students were confused when I [taught] them the
materials. (P2)
From what have been conveyed by both participants, it is obvious that the EFL teachers at primary schools
in Kuala Tungkal could not teach English maximally as they had expected due to inappropriate level of
materials to students. Another difficulty, in relation to this theme, was also faced by the students in which
they were not easy to understand the materials.
Over-Crowded English Classes.
A classroom is generally defined as a room in a school environment in which the lesson takes place. Tanner
(2009) concluded the ideal primary school class size is no more than 17 students. It needs to be implemented
to achieve the goal of learning. Moreover, the maximum number of students for a teacher in Indonesian
primary schools is 32 students (Permendiknas, number 15, 2010). When a teacher has more than the
suggested students’ number, the class is really crowd, known as over-crowded class. Over-Crowded class
is denoted by over capacity of classroom or too many students in a class. Related to the theme, there is only
one problem faced by EFL teachers at primary schools in Kuala Tungkal, that is lot of number of students
in a class. Imbalanced classroom capacity may create a chaotic problem for teachers. This was appointed
by P1 and P2 in the interview.
“In my English classes, there are approximately 35-38 students in a classroom. You know, English is not
our language. If it is taught in large classes, it [is] not effective” (P1).
“I did not enjoy teaching English because I have too many students in the classrooms. Hmmmmm., it is
around 35 students in each class” (P2)
Both participants mentioned that their classes are over-crowded consisting more than 32 students. This
condition affects the teacher’s feeling and expectation. P2 shared that she did not enjoy teaching the class,
while P1 confessed that the situation led to ineffective classroom atmosphere. In addition, both participants
also emphasized the further effect of too many students in the classroom, such as being noisy and loud.
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CONCLUSION
This study was intended to explore the challenges faced by EFL primary school teachers in Kuala Tungkal,
Indonesia. The findings of the present study revealed the facts that there were many problems faced by EFL
teachers at primary schools in teaching English. There are three major problems with the practice of
teaching and learning English at the research sites, including lack of students’ motivation (sub-themes;
shyness, afraid to make mistakes, and not interested to study), Insufficient time, resources, and materials
(sub-themes; limited time, limited resources, limited facilities, and difficult materials), and Over-crowded
English classes (sub-theme: too many students).
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