ILANNS 2014

CONCORDE HOTEL, SHAH ALAM

19 FEBRUARY 2014

The Dilemmas of non-native ESL

Teacher Trainees: A Case Study of
Malay ESL Teacher Trainee in Institute
of Teacher Education in Sarawak
Norsarihan bin Ahmad
Associate Prof. Dr Hamzah Omar
University Malaysia Sabah

*Institutes of Teacher Education

in Malaysia is a
very important institution to train and produce
potential teachers in primary schools in
Malaysia.

*The Ministry of Education, Malaysia has outlined

their concern to produce quality teachers in
Malaysia through Education Development Plan
and Standard Guru Malaysia

*Due to the demand of producing quality education,

teachers have to be able to produce quality
teaching.

*In preparing quality teachers, Teacher Education

Institutes have to seriously train and develop

potential teachers from all aspects. It would be
impossible to achieve the desired results unless the
teachers have the positive aspects. (Sunbul, 2000,
p.224)

*The philosophy of teacher education emphasizes

provide quality education relevant to the economy

and industry by creating a conducive and
stimulating environment that encourages total
development, continuous improvement and
lifelong learning.

*Ministry of Education under the Institute of

Teacher Education train primary school teachers

while Universities under Ministry of Higher
Education trains secondary school teachers.

i.

ii.

aims to provide quality education relevant to the

economy and industry by creating a conducive and
stimulating environment that encourages total
development, continuous improvement and lifelong
learning.
to prepare teachers and graduates for a future of
dynamic change, with relevant knowledge, lifelong
skills, character and continuous improvement.

The Dilemma
The situation and conflict of
interests that the Sarawak Malay
ESL teacher trainees have to
make in their preparation as
future ESL teacher.

The justifications to carry out this study:

i.outstanding frustration and unhappiness to look at the
majority of Malay ESL teacher trainees in their teacher
training endeavor in Institutes of Teacher Education (ITE) in
Sarawak.
ii.The constant complaints and hidden frustration reflected
among the Malay teacher trainees who excelled in their SPM
examination and obtained excellent grades in all their
subjects, especially English, are still lack the vibes as TESL
teacher trainees.
iii.They are being accused of not putting extra effort to learn
the language and practice the language in ITE. What are
their problems? Does the culture interfere their learning of
English, Are they not interested to be teachers? Are they
having problems blending in the system? How do they
survive the TESL program?

Aim of the Study

To describe and investigate the
dilemmas of Sarawak Malay ESL
teacher trainee in ITE in
Sarawak.

1. The findings of the research

could be used to better

understand Sarawak Malay ESL
teacher trainees cultural and
educational needs.

2. It can also be used to further

improve the support given to

prospective Malay ESL teacher
trainees in ITE in Sarawak.

*The data or the findings are

discovered through the interpretation

of qualitative method (De Vos, 2002)

*The detailed account generated

reflects the reality of the participants

(Patton, 2002, p.40-41)

*one Malay Teacher Trainee in one

ITE in Sarawak.
*wants to be known as Wak
*Wak is from Kuching, Sarawak
*Only speaks Malay Sarawak with
his family

1.The participant has to be

Sarawak Malay.
2.The participant is a teacher
trainee of TESL program in ITE.
3.The participant should be willing
to participate in this study.

*Observation was carried out in

the classroom and outside the
classroom.

*The field notes were taken on

the spot as soon as possible.

*The use of tape recorder or video

recorder as additional instrument
during the process of
observation.

Case

Semester

2012

2013

Wak

Jan - Apr

Jan - Apr

July - Sept

July - Sept

Observation
Time

0700 1245
1400 - 1800

Day

Mon - Thurs

Venue

Classroom
Cafeteria
Library

1. Semi-structured interviews (Bogdan & Biklan,

2006) with Malay ESL teacher trainees to tap
their views and perspectives of the dilemmas
they face in ITE.

2. Semi-structured questions.
3. Probing - to get the participant of talk about their
dilemmas in their quest to be ESL teachers.

Data Analysis Components

Institute of Teacher
Education
Malay ESL teacher
trainees
Qualitative Data
Collection

Interview
transcripts

Observation
transcripts

Analysis

Step
1. Analysing the
interviews

Focus
Malay teacher
trainees
dilemmas

Pre-analysis
Transcription of
data
Development of
sub-categories
within the
thematic
categories.

2. Analysing the
classroom
observation

Malay teacher
trainees actual
classroom
behaviours.

Transcription of
data
Identification of
main dilemmas of
Malay teacher
trainees.

Steps in
analysis

Outcomes

1.Identify key
words, phrases
and code them.
2. List the above
under relevant
categories.
3.Group key
words/ phrases
into subcategories.

Descriptions of
each category of
MTT dilemmas.

1.Cut and paste

the dilemmas into
sub-categories.
2. Compare and
contrast data
from observation
and interviews.
3. Tabulate
comparative data
of each case.

Descriptions of
each MTT
classroom
behaviours.

Identification of
patterns across
MTT dilemmas.

Individual and
group patterns of
classroom
behaviours and its
relation to their
dilemma.

*The objective of the preliminary

study is to identify preliminary data

which would help the researcher to
gain early insights of the study.

*The preliminary study was

conducted on one Malay ESL

teacher trainee in one ITE in
Sarawak.

* Occurred during writing and speaking

* Faced problems in the structure of English language
*
*

when Wak tried to communicate with his friends.

Unable to avoid the use of Sarawak Malay
language.
Wak was observed as very comfortable speaking
Malay language or Sarawak Malay language in the
classroom.

the differences between the languages when my mother

tongueMalay Sarawak and to learn the English
languagethe structure is confusingnot in order

* Wak felt lazy to complete all the work given by

*

the lecturers
Wak did not care if other people not happy
with his attitude

Attitudebut, yessometimes whatever I do, laziness

will still occur

I dont really care about peoples perception. They

can think what they want to think. Let them be

* Wak felt in love with the profession and

English language before deciding to
join the TESL program in ITE.

I feel I tell back why I choose TESL. Why I

choose TESL is firstly because I love the
language, I love the language. I love
speaking English la, love in English la, asal
suka la sebab asal memang asal bila kita
buat apa memang boleh la.

* Being a Sarawak Malay, Wak is

attached with his Sarawak Malay

language especially in communicating
with his friends.

For me lahwe have to use more of our

mother tongue (Bahasa Malaysia or Malay
Sarawak). The language that we use since
we were born that is Malay language

* Wak was labelled poyo or showing off by his

*
*

friends when he tried to speak English with them.

His friends from other program also made fun of
him when he speaks English with his TESL friends.
He had to be careful when he wants to speak
English with his TESL friends to avoid his friends
from other program make fun of him.

commonly they think I am showing off. They thought

like show offpoyowhy do I need to speak English
when I am talking among my Malay friends

1.The dilemma faced by Wak to either speak

English language or Malay language among

his Malay friends.
2.Wak has the motivation to be ESL teacher but
he has to face the tribulations in the ITE
especially among his Malay friends.
3.The conflict that Wak faces of his Malay
identity and as a Malay, he is expected to
speak Malay (Rajadurai, 2010).
4.Wak struggle to practice English language in
the ITE environment with many friends
opposing, mocking and making fun of him.

1.The Sarawak Malay ESL teacher trainees should be

supported by exposing them to real-life

environments of TESL site, which could provide
them with supportive environment to practice their
English language skills and share their ideas on
language learning.
2.The Sarawak Malay ESL teacher trainees should not
be accused, judged, scorned, and blamed for not
having the perfect and ideal stigma of excellent
ESL teacher trainees.

Limitation of the study

The preliminary study was conducted on one

Malay ESL teacher trainee. The responses
from the teacher trainee are based on his
encounter of the dilemma. Therefore, the
findings of this study cannot be generalized
to other Malay students in other Higher
Learning Institutions.

norsarihan_ahmad@yahoo.com