Narratives of Indonesian pre-service English teachers’ agency in international teaching practicum
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28918/erudita.v6i1.14314Abstract
Teacher agency is a central component that highly influences a teacher’s perspective and practices. Despite extensive research on teacher agency among pre-service teachers, limited understanding of teacher agency within existing structures and system in education particularly in International Teaching Practicum (ITP). The present study explored narratives from two pre-service English teachers in terms of teacher agency. One participant had conducted ITP in Vietnam, while the other was in the Philippines. The data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews. Through a thematic analysis, the results of this study indicated that the two participants transformed their teacher agency as they practiced it under the influence of various aspects, including sociocultural differences, teaching challenges, and assistance from other teachers. Teachers can transform their agency by embracing the diverse cultural backgrounds of their students and incorporating culturally relevant teaching strategies. When it comes to teaching challenges, teachers can collaborate with their colleagues to share ideas, resources, and strategies. This collaboration can be through professional learning communities, mentorship programs, or even informal conversations. Seeking assistance from other teachers can provide valuable support and fresh perspectives. It pertains entirely to building a strong network of educators who can inspire and empower each other. This study provides empirical evidence of teacher agency in ITP that may serve as a starting point for further research in the same context.
Keywords:
References
Adada, L. (2023). Teacher agency and professional identity negotiation amid a curricular change. Lebanese American University.
Ahonen, E., Pyhältö, K., Pietarinen, J., & Soini, T. (2014). Teachers’ professional beliefs about their roles and the pupils’ roles in school. Teacher Development, 18(2), 177–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2014.900818
Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2015). The role of beliefs in teacher agency. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 624–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044325
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Canagarajah, S. (2005). Critical pedagogy in L2 learning and teaching. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 931–949). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410612700-65
Ketelaar, E., Beijaard, D., Boshuizen, H. P. A., & den Brok, P. J. (2012). Teachers’ positioning towards an educational innovation in the light of ownership, sense-making, and agency. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(2), 273–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.10.004
Kim, Y., & Choi, M. (2019). Out of the book and into the classroom: The experiences of Korean social studies pre-service teachers in an international teaching practicum in the United States. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 47(2), 176–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2018.1444142
Leander, K. M., & Osborne, M. D. (2008). Complex positioning: Teachers as agents of curricular and pedagogical reform. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(1), 23–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270601089199
Lestari, Y. B., Yusra, K., Hanafi, N., Nawawi, N., & Nuriadi, N. (2022). Personal and contextual factors influencing teacher agency in overcoming students’ learning difficulties. Eralingua: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Asing Dan Sastra, 6(2), 331–340. https://doi.org/10.26858/eralingua.v6i2.34196
Li, L., & Ruppar, A. (2021). Conceptualizing teacher agency for inclusive education: A systematic and international review. Teacher Education and Special Education, 44(1), 42–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888406420926976
Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2012). Teacher agency: An ecological approach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(5), 728–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.02.015
Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2013). Teachers as agents of change: Teacher agency and emerging models of curriculum. In M. Priestley & G. Biesta (Eds.), Reinventing the curriculum for the 21st century: New trends in curriculum policy and practice (pp. 186–206). Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472553195.ch-010
Priestley, M., & Drew, V. (2016, September 23–26). Teachers as agents of curriculum change: Closing the gap between purpose and practice [Conference paper]. European Conference for Educational Research, Dublin, Ireland.
Priestley, M., & Drew, V. (2019). Professional enquiry: An ecological approach to developing teacher agency. In D. Godfrey & C. Brown (Eds.), An ecosystem for research-engaged schools: Reforming education through research (pp. 154–170). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203701027-11
Sang, G. (2022). Teacher agency. In M. A. Peters (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Teacher Education (pp. 1731–1735). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8679-5_271
Setyaningsih, A., Diyanti, B. Y., & Nurhayati, L. (2023). Pre-service teachers’ voices of international teaching practicum in Indonesian elementary school. Diksi, 31(1), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v31i1.53146
Severance, S., Penuel, W. R., Sumner, T., & Leary, H. (2016). Organizing for teacher agency in curricular co-design. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 25(4), 531–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1207541
Uppal, J. (2022). Pre-service teachers in an international teaching practicum: (Im)possibilities, interstitiality, and encounters with difference [Doctoral dissertation, Simon Fraser University]. Summit Research Repository.
Wang, Q., & Li, S. (2019). The relationship between task motivation and L2 motivation: An empirical study. In Z. Wen & M. Ahmadian (Eds.), Researching L2 task performance and pedagogy: In honour of Peter Skehan (pp. 67–92). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.13.05wan
Published
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Nadya Loemongga, Willy Prasetya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Erudita: Journal of English Language Teaching is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. An author who publishes in Erudita: Journal of English Language Teaching agrees to the following terms:
- Author retains the copyright and grants the journal the right of first publication of the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal
- Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book) with the acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Author is permitted and encouraged to post his/her work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
