CHOICE OF THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM: A SURVEY STUDY OF TEACHERS' BELIEF AND ATTITUDE

The use of mother tongue in target language classroom is being a controversy for decades. The dilemma of whether or not to use the students’ first language/mother tongue (L1) in English language classes has remained an unresolved issue in English language teaching, especially in culturally homogenous educational settings, where the majority of students are monolingual speakers. As in other EFL contexts, in Indonesia, too, English language teachers have long thought that using the mother tongue in language classrooms is a dreadful and risky action, one that they should avoid taking. This study examines English language teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards the use of Indonesian language in English language classes in Indonesian secondary schools. It also explores their reasons for doing or not doing so on the students’ English language learning. The data comprised English teachers’ responses to questionnaires gathering their views regarding the use of Indonesian language in English language classes, and in-depth interviews concerning their general opinion about employing Indonesian language in English language classrooms. The results of this study show that, as far as the beliefs and attitudes towards Indonesian language use in English language classes are concerned. They do generally believe that the amount of English language use should increase substantially as students’ progress. This identification of the teachers can raise teachers’ awareness of the relationship between beliefs and attitudes and classroom language use. It can also engage their reflection regarding the role of Indonesian language in English language classroom, as well as provide a common pedagogic language for teachers and educators to share and discuss issues from different contexts and cultures