Teacher Competence: A Study of EFL Senior High School Teachers in Papua

Learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in senior high schools (SHS) in Indonesia in general and in Papua, in particular, has shown unsatisfactory results. Possessing good grades in English do not guarantee high school graduates could speak English even in a simple way. Numerous literatures indicated that there were many factors may cause the less success of the English teaching and learning in Indonesian schooling. One of them is the poor competence of the English teachers. There were insufficient studies on the EFL teacher competence in Papua. Hence, the study investigating this issue is valuable to conduct. This study aimed at investigating the perceptions of EFL SHS teacher in Papua towards the importance of their competences and its influence on the EFL teachers’ performance and the SHS students’ EFL learning achievement. The population of this quantitative survey research method was the EFL SHS teachers and students in Papua province. By applying multistage random sampling technique, 186 (48 males and 138 females) EFL SHS teachers and 462 students sample from various cultural and language background from 6 townships were selected. The data were collected using questionnaire, observation, test, interview and documentation. The data were then subjected to descriptive and multiple linear regression analysis using SPSS version 17. The results revealed that the teacher competence is paramount to be possessed, mastered, and actualized as perceived by EFL SHS teachers in Papua. The competence of EFL SHS teachers in Papua is rated relatively good by the teachers and students. The teachers’ performance is not, however, rated as highly as the teachers’ competence, indicating that the teachers have not shown and demonstrated their competence. Hence the students’ learning achievement is just fair, and there is not any significant influence of the students’ perception of the teachers’ competence on their learning achievement. A more in-depth study on how the EFL SHS teachers in Papua develop their competencies in order to be able to teach effectively needs to be done. Keywords: competence, teacher performance, student achievement, perception. i