IST (In-Service Training) Model to Improve English Teachers’ Pedagogical and Professional Competencies in the Computer Science Department of Universities in Indonesia

IST Model to Improve English Teachers’ Competencies Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics Vol. 3 No. 2, 2018 eISSN: 2503-4197, pISSN: 2527-5070 www. indonesian-efl-journal.org IST (In-Service Training) Model to Improve English Teachers’ Pedagogical and Professional Competencies in the Computer Science Department of Universities in Indonesian Context Fransisca Endang Lestariningsih Duta Wacana Christian University; Yogyakarta State University email: John Hope University of Auckland, New Zealand Suwarsih Madya Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia Joko Nurkamto Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia Abstract: The fact that English teachers teaching in a computer science department may not really know detail about information technology (IT) as a subject, as well as its terminologies, brings about difficulties when deciding what kind of teaching materials are appropriate to the student’s learning needs. Another issue is that some computer science teachers do not have an English language teaching background. This can be a drawback for this group of teachers since they do not really know how to teach the language. The following discussion is a needs analysis used as a preliminary study to develop an in-service training (IST) model to improve English teachers’ pedagogical and professional competencies in a computer science department. Pedagogical knowledge, skill, and attitude, and professional competency became the core study since these two were the obvious difficulties faced by the two groups of teachers. This study involved English computer science teachers, the curriculum administrator, and the students in two private universities and one state university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Observations, open interviews, and questionnaires were used to gather the data. Keywords: In-service training models, pedagogical competence, professional competence, andragogy Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 3(2), 2018 115 IST Model to Improve English Teachers’ Competencies 1. INTRODUCTION The Law of the Republic of Indonesia states that all Indonesian teachers should demonstrate four competencies, namely pedagogic, professional, personal, and social. According to that Law, pedagogical competency is the teacher’s competences in managing the teaching and learning process, while professional competency includes teachers' mastery of the subject field. Personal competency refers to a teacher’ steady, excellent, and wise personality so that they are able to be an effective role model for their students. Social competency is the teacher’s competence in effectively and efficiently communicating and interacting with the students, other teachers, parents, and society. Among the four, pedagogical and professional competencies are seen as the core competencies since these two reflect the essential knowledge to teach and the teachers’ knowledge of the subject (computer science). Higher education teachers/lecturers (dosen in Indonesian language) are supposed to master those competencies, as well. Pedagogical and professional competencies are important in this study due to the fact that there are two groups of teachers teaching English to students of Indonesian computer science departments, English teachers who have an English language teaching (ELT) background (Group A) and English teachers who do not have ELT background (Group B), who very likely lack appropriate pedagogical and professional competencies. This is an issue in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Indonesia which states that lecturers have a duty to transform their knowledge and/or technologies to the students with respect to creating an engaging learning atmosphere, for the sake of the students’ potential development. This responsibility is related to the pedagogical aspect of teaching. The professional aspect is reflected in the requirements that as a scientist, a lecturer is obliged to develop his/her knowledge and/or a technological competence through scientific logic and research, and disseminate it; it is also a must for a lecturer to produce (write) a module or a book, which can be published by either the university or other publications. The Indonesian government expects that these two requirements ensure that a lecturer should have the qualities of being pedagogically competent and professional. The fact that a teacher teaching an undergraduate program must, at least, hold a master degree is also used as a measurement that the teacher has been professional. However, as can be seen later in this document, both groups of teachers are lacking in some aspects of being professional, such as they may never produce a module or materials used in their class, and may not exhibit pedagogical skills, such as the skill to motivate unmotivated students and achieve appropriate classroom behavior management. The interviews conducted in this study show that some teachers did not produce teaching material and didn’t know how to motivate the computer science students, who, according to the teachers, thought that English was not important to them. This paper presents a model intended to improve computer science teachers’ professional and pedagogical competencies for the sake of the computer science students’ English learning growth. Indonesian students have formally learned English since they were in middle school, so generally they have been learning English for 6 years before they continue to Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 3(2), 2018 116 IST Model to Improve English Teachers’ Competencies their higher education degree. In addition to the fact that they have studied English for quite a long time, the policy of the Department of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia states that English may even be taught earlier, started from elementary school, so it has been one of the extracurricular subjects in almost every elementary school in Indonesia. These provisions, however, do not guarantee that the English mastery of the students passing their high school level test is enough to meet the minimum requirement of English skill needed at the higher education level. It consequently requires higher education teachers to be creative in improving the standard of English necessary for the higher education students. Poor English language competency is seen as a barrier to increasing the higher education graduates qualifications in the work force. Based on a Trends in Skills Demand, Gaps, and Supply in Indonesia report written by the World Bank Human Development Department, East Asia and Pacific Region, it is stated that “The widest gaps across professional profiles are for English and computer skills followed by thinking and behavioral skills. Gaps in computer and English skills are likely to be more felt in export and technologically oriented sectors and sub-sectors” (p. 85). This document, further states that there are important gaps in creativity, computing and some technical skills for young workers, but (...truncated)