A Portrait of Professional EFL Teachers at Senior High School

Abstract

This research presents the portrait of professional EFL teachers at senior high school. As a country in which English stands as foreign language, the need of professional EFL teacher plays an important role. Therefore, the researcher then conducted a research with the goal to give a detail description on how the portrait of professional EFL teacher is by using two main competences that is Pedagogical Competence and Professional Competence. This research used a descriptive qualitative approach with a case study as the research design. The subjects are an English teacher at one of senior high school and an English teacher at Islamic senior high school in Malang. The subjects are chosen based on the consideration that both of subjects had their own way to achieve their professionalism in teaching English. To prove as well as investigate the professionalism of the research subject, the researcher implement the online-based research, those are; online interview, spreading the self-reflection form, and did a document analysis were employed as the methods of collecting data. The findings showed that the subjects are professional EFL teacher, it is seen by the pedagogical and professional competence they have. From the professional competence, it was found that the subjects got their educational certificate of field of study, got the educational award, joining the professional association that provides by the government or the school, and they always seek opportunities to increase their potentials. From the pedagogical competence, it was found that the subjects knew well about the curriculum, how to motivate the students, and having good relationship with the colleague and students. It can be concluded that the subjects met the competencies required to be professional EFL teacher. One thing stands out from the results of this research that whatever the condition and where they teach, the professional teachers have one thing in common: they are professional in the real sense of word. The researcher suggests that for the EFL teacher and future EFL teacher, the subjects can be used as an ideal example of how to be a professional EFL teacher. For the future researcher who wishes to conduct similar research, this study could also be used as a reference, yet the researcher expected that the parameters used would be based on the latest theory of professional EFL teacher.