TEACHER’S CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH AT

EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF ISLAMIC JUNIOR HIGH

SCHOOL JAMBI

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Disusun oleh :
Damisman Amin
NIM : 205190010

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING
THE STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SULTHAN THAHA SAIFUDDIN JAMBI
2022-2023
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................i

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................1

A. Background of the Study ...................................................................1

B. Limitation of the Research ................................................................3
C. Formulating of the Research ..............................................................4
D. The Purpose of the Research .............................................................4
E. The Significant of the Research .........................................................4
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................5
A. Teaching English Language ............................................................5
B. Keyterms in Teaching English ........................................................6
C. English Language Teacher ..............................................................7
D. Challenges in Teaching English ......................................................13

E. Teaching English in Indonesian Context .........................................18

F. Previous Research ............................................................................19

G. Operational of Keyterms in The Research .......................................21

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ......................................................22

A. The Method of Research ................................................................22
B. Setting and the Subject the Research ..............................................22
C. Kind and Sources of Data ................................................................23
D. The Technique of Data Collecting ..................................................24
E. The Technique Data Analyzing .......................................................25
F. Tringulation .....................................................................................26
REFERENCES ..............................................................................................28
APPENDIX .....................................................................................................30

H......................................................................................................

i
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the study
Demand for teaching and learning effective English is increasing
because English has become an international language that must be
mastered by many people. English as international language, develop fast
around the world make it used and taught as first language, second or
foreign language in the world. Since the independence of Indonesia,
English is one of the most essential international languages for
communication has been acknowledged by the Indonesian goverment
(Songbatumis, 2017). In communication, Indonesia applies English as a
foreign language besides their national language “ Bahasa” and their local
language (Marlina, 2012). Therefore , English is taught at various level of
education in Indonesia for now, especially in islamic boarding school.
Teaching English plays an important role since is taught in islamic
boarding school. Students generally only find a small amount of English
outside and inside in the classroom because English is used in English
lesson only. English is not used as their language class or communication
tool during the social interaction with their relatives. This weakness palces
a great responsibility for teacher to make a supportive environment and
encorage the students to learn English. Of course in handling the problem,
the teacher must certainly have to use variety of method fo teaching
english (Fatiloro, 2015).
English becomes of one compulsory subject in islamic boarding
school and manly thaugt only in classes. In eight grade students. When the
new students will adapt from elementary school become islamic boarding
school, they easily get bored when the teaching learning English is boring.
Also, the Engish lesson recently introduced while in islamic boarding
school. So, the teacher should attract students’ attention first to make the
learning become interesting and fun for them. Methods, teachers’ role,

1
students’ performance and environment affects in learning English as
foreign language (Mohammed, 2018).
Teaching English as a foreig languange in Indonesia has had limited
succes. It can be seen in the previous research by Abrar (2016) he stated
that , when teaching English the students sometimes shy to ask something,
not interested to study English, and afraid of making mistakes, it makes
the students lack of motivation to study. He also stated the times and
resources of material are crucial in order to create the effective teaching-
learning process. Over-crowded English class also led to the problem in
teaching English because teaching-learning process should be in good
environment.
Another research is by Sari (2017) at SMP N 1 Belanggu, she found
that, there were some problems that the English teacher faced when
teaching English in Curriculum 13 (K-13), such as; 1) the ability and
activeness of the students (the English teacher faced problem of having
passive students who show no willingness to speak in the class), 2) lack of
teaching media (teacher cannot operate the technology, only use text book
to teach), 3) and the ability of the teacher (The electronic tools is useful to
make the interesting lesson in the class, so the teacher supposed to know
the technology).
The other problem in teaching English as foreign language is
come from the facility in the school. Susiyanti (2019) in her thesis got that,
the teaching and learning processes in the classroom did not supported by
the facilities in the school. It makes the teacher difficult to organize the
material of the English subject in classroom.
Based on the preliminary observation and interview at Islamic Junior
High School Nurul huda Jambi, most of the eight grade students have a
little basic of learning English, they lack of English ability, such as
speaking, reading, listening, and writing. English teacher stated that those
things become the factor that caused the challenges while teaching
English. The teacher also said while teaching in eight grade students, they

2
 need extra patience to engage the students in learning English. Teachers
also have to select good strategies while teaching to build students’
interest in learning English. And that’s why the researcher wants to know
what are the challenges faced by them.
Yulia (2013) stated, teachers in their key roles must be able to
make interesting way to motivating the students in learning English.
Mohammed (2018, p. 1398) suggested that, if the teachers want to their
students enable to use the language, the teachers should use the proper
methods and strategies. Therefore, the teachers have to select good
strategies to teaching the foreign language learners so that the output of the
students is expected to have better quality in the future.
Because teaching English to Eight grade students has many aspects
that must be considered in order to create effective teaching-learning
process, the researcher more interested in knowing and observing what are
the problems or challenges faced by English teacher when teaching eight
grade students. So, the researcher gave the title of the research as
“Teachers’ Challenges in Teaching English at Eighth Grade Students
of Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda Jambi.” Hopefully this
research can be used by teachers and students to improve the teaching-
learning process for the better in the future.
B. Limitation of the Research
In the “Research Limitations” section, the researcher has the
opportunity to write about the main problems of the research study. This
not only gives researchers the opportunity to demonstrate to the peer
reviewers their awareness of the research problem, but also allows them to
write about how they tackled a particular research problem (O.Olufowate
James, 2017). Based on the background of the study above, the researcher
focused on the teachers’ challenges in teaching English at Eight Grade
Students, related to all of the activities teaching-learning English on
the class. This research conducted at Islamic Junior High School Jambi
and the participants of this research are English teachers at eight grade

3
 students and the eighth grade students of Islamic Junior High School
Nurul Huda Jambi.
C. Formulation of the Research
Based on the background of the study above, the researcher
formulate the problem as “What are the teachers’ challenges in teaching
English at Eighth Grade Students of Islamic Junior High School
Nurul Huda Jambi”?.

D. The Purpose of The Research

Based on the research questions above, the purpose of the research is
to identify the teachers’ challenges in teaching English at eighth grade
students in Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda Jambi.
E. The Significant of The Research
The researcher expects that end result of this research will be
beneficial each theoretically and pratically. Theoretically, the researcher
hopes this studies may be beneficial for reader and any similarly
researcher who wants to examine on the identical case with the researcher
about the teachers’ challenges in teaching English at Eight Grade of
Islamic Junior High School. nearly, the researcher hopes this studies can
provide contribution to the improvement of English teaching and may be a
consideration and input in overcoming the challenges which have been a
problem in teachingEnglish as a foreign language.

4
 CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Teaching English Language
Teaching is one of the most important factors in education. Of
course in teaching there is an interaction between teacher and learner.
According to Amidon (1967) cited in Rajagopalan (2019), Teaching is an
interactive process that involves direct communication which take place in
the classroom and occurs during certain activities that have been scheduled
before. The communication that occurs in teaching involves both the
teacher and learners.
According to Brown (2000, p. 8) teaching is “showing or helping
someone to learn how to do something, giving instructions, guiding in the
study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or
understand.”. Teaching is also defined an art to lead the learner in ways
that are assumed to learning, including the effort to induce students to so
behave (Schelechty, 2004). What the teacher do when the process of
teaching is transferring knowledge or skill to learner with the aim to
increase the knowledge of learner and their ability. In teaching, teacher
have to create situations to facilitate the learning process and then motivate
students to have interest in what is being transmitted from teachers to
them.
Teaching English in here means the teacher provides language
knowledge to students to make students able speak English. The aim of
teaching English in schools (cited in Rachmajanti, 2008) based on the
Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture No. 060/U/1993 dated 25
February 1993 and the 1989 Constitution on the System of National
Education that to make the students enable to be proficient in English on
the globalization era is the final goal of the English subject at the schools.
For now, teaching English is more than commodity beacuase English is
widely recognized as an international language as a tool for
communicating throrighout the wolrd which of course must be mastered,

5
 therefore, to improve the knowledge and skills of English teacher, many
research have been carried out i the field of teacher education and teacher
training with the aim of increasing in teaching English classroom(Lin &
Chien, 2010).
Every country teaches English to its citizen. Because, the teaching
English has been interpreted in several ways therefore the role of English
varies from country to other countries are different based n the political
situation and acceptances by people with their different characteristic and
proficiency ( Lin & Chien, 2010, p.2).
B. Keyterms in Teaching English

Chien & Lin (2010) in their book said that, teaching English can be
portrayed in three ways, such as; Teaching English as a Second Language
(TESL), Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), and Teaching
English as Other Language (TESOL).
a. Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)
Teaching English as a second language can be applied if the
Country used English as their official institutions language, societies
and communities. Kisno & Napitupulu (2014) said that, TESL is used
in a large number of territories which were colonized by the English. It
also commonly use in country which has many immigrant people in
there. The example of country that use English as a second language is
our neighbor, Singapore and Malaysia.
b. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)
Another term is teaching English as a foreign language, which is the
language serves no purposes with their own countries (Napitupulu & Kisno,
2014). What is meant by no purposes with their own countries is when the
language is used only as a tool of communication in the world with
different countries, instead it using as official language or primarily
educational language. TEFL is focus to the teachers and English learners with
a different mother tongue, such as Indonesia.

6
 c. Teaching English for Speaker of Other Languages (TESOL)
The last term of teaching English is Teaching English for speaker of
other languages (TESOL). TESOL is used for emphasize the methodologies
of learning and professions of teaching English. It usually applied by teacher
training institutions and instructor-education program for English teacher, or
language learning organization for learners of extending circle (Lin & Chien,
2010, p. 2).
With some of the terms above teaching English can be seen as a
form of activity in education to make various learners able to speak
English as a means of their international communication with others.
However, the general purpose of teaching English is to make the students
enable to communicate using the language itself.
C. English Language Teacher
1. Definition of English Teacher
The teacher is the most important person of educational system
who is the main backbone in advancing educational. According to the
UU RI No 14 (2005) about teachers and lecturers, teacher can defined
as professional educators with main task to educate, teach, guide, lead,
train, assess and evaluate students on formal education in early
childhood, basic education and secondary education. Susiyanti (2019)
defined teacher as an expert person that capable of imparting
knowledge which help learners to build, identify and to achieve skills
that will be useful to face the challenges in life. Teacher is the one of
components in the learning process which participates in efforts to
establish the potential of human resource in the field of development
(Sardiman, 2001, p. 123). Teacher is also associated to the education
of children in schools, in courses, in educational institutions, anad those
who have to know a teaching material in the curiculum.
A teacher can be said as an English teacher not only because
she/he teaches English, but also has requirements as an English teacher,
such as understand the linguistic aspects and masters English both
spoken and written (Sari, 2017, p. 23).

7
 Based on the explanation above, being a teacher is not an easy
task, where the teacher plays an important role in an education system
both at schol and elsewhere, therefore the teacher can be defined as a
person who has a job or profession to teach others so that learners are
able to use the English language as a communication tool.

2. The Role of Teacher in Teaching English

Teachers are probably the most important factors influencing the
process of learning. Directing students to learn at each level are very
personal and oddity. How teachers will teach students depending on
intensive attention from students. If students are enthusiasm and
respect the lesson in the class, the teacher will be enthusiastic about
providing material in the institution, the teacher has the task of
teaching his students to design learning and make reflexives from
material. At home, teachers are responsible for teaching their children
as educator. Likewise, in the society teacher has a duty of social
development, social motivator, sosial innovator, and socil agen (surya
muhammad, 2004). It derives from that the teacher has to act as good as
possible either at home or in the intitution. Good teacher is a person
who plays well all roles or put himself on appropriate function either in
the class or outside classroom. They take a part as:
1. Teacher as Demonstrator
Teacher must master the material well that will be learned to their
students. As a teacher, he must lear continously to enrich knowledge
about education. So that the teacher can explain the material clearly and
make students understand it well. The researcher takes conclusion,
those are: Mastering the material first, Explaining the material uses
simple language, Applying some media clearly, Teacher as Learning
Manager
Teacher should be able to manage their students in the
classroom. A good environment that is round be challenged and can
make interest students to learn, goving the students to satisfy and

8
comfort to rich in education purpose, teacher will manage all of about
school activities such as make calender academic, scheduing about
school ativity (Sanjaya Wina, 2005), the purpose are: Planning the
lesson, Organizing many source of learning to get learning purpose, As
manager, teacher can motivate and stimulate the students, Observing all
things and identify what were already or not to use in learning purpose
2. Teacher as Mediator and facilitator
As a modiator, the researcher must be able to interact with other
people. So researchers must be creative in using their knowledge to
interact and communicative with others. It aims to create a good
atmosphere to the maximum to achieve good social interaction. In
addition, the must provide learning resources that can be used to
achieve the objectives of the teaching and learning process. Assesing
the students, Planning the learning, Implementing the plan, Evaluating
the process
3. Teacher as evaluator
In the learning process, the teacher must be a good evaluator.
Therefore, in teaching and learning, they must complete several
learning activities so that all learning objectives can be achieved
properly. That’s why giving scoring must be done by the teacher to
know the goal of learning process (Moh. Usman Uzer, 1995:710).
It means that the teacher should be smart to evaluate something which
is lack in teaching learning process in order to make revise to be better
in the next section. The evaluation forms are follow:
a. Demonstration skill
Asking the students to perform indirectly helps the students to show
their mastery in certain material. By it, the teacher will know how far
the students understand about the lesson.

9
 b. Applying new idea with another situation
Being a creative teacher is highly expected. This makes students
challenged and enthusiastic to learn because they always have ideas
in various situations.
c. Expressing the students idea
The teacher asks the students to play a role-play then another pair
makes a comment about it. This help students to express their ideas,
hopefully teaching and learning becomes a students center where
students have taken more part in the class than the teacher.
d. Written exercise
To know the students progression, teacher can give some written
exercise by giving some questions dealing the material taught
directly to the students.
4. Teacher as informer
Precisely, the teacher as a source of learning materials such as
science, knowledge, technology, and etc. Likewise, the teacher informs
everything that the teacher see, hear, know to the students to share some
experiences to the students in the class.
3. Teacher Professional Development
The positive impact of professional development of a teacher on
students learning outcome is an indisputable fact. According to patnaik
an d davidson (2015:13-19) the role of professional development they
are:
a. Teacher as lifelong learner
Teacher as lifelong learner seem to be the only way to ensure
on going professional development. This continuous professional
development is the key to students’ achievement. Self – motivation,
willingnes to learn, and constant practice are the characteristic of a
successful language learner. An intellectual engaged teacher can
include these characteristic in students and guide the students better
though the process od acquiring language

10
 b. Means of ensuring on going professional development
Long term on going professional development as teacher have
many opportunities such as attending training, partcipating in
workshop, representing at seminars and and conferences, updating
ourselves with new technique and practice, reading journals,
comducting classroom research, discussing with colleagues,
becoming member of teachiing communities.
c.In service training sessions or certificate programs
One of the best ways for language teacher to update oneself is in
service teacher training. No matter how qualified and knowledgeable
a teacher become stagnant if the desire to update one selves is
lacking. It is mandatory for today’s language teachers are obliged to
not only develop knowledge of the subject but also to assess
themselves and develop skills for flexible teaching styles tailored to
the needs of students.
d. Teacher Support Groups
Teacher support group are another wonderful means of
collaborative learning. Though unofficial support group are part of
any institution where teacher often discusses and share aspect of
subject there are teaching, in the place of vague discussions and
probable ideas, a well- planned support group with clear goals and
constructive agenda help a lot in professional development of a
teacher.
4. Qualities of a good English teacher
Identifying the qualities of a good language teacher is very
cruicial because it is not only to be remembered by the students, but
also to inform the teacher selection processes, to lead the design and
delivery of quality development program, also to improve the teaching
process itself (Abu- Rahmah, 2008). A good English teacher can also
said as a teacher who has ideal and effective characteristic in English

11
teaching-learning process.
One of the pre-requisite to be good teacher is to understand the
teaching learning process in more depth. According to Al-khairi (2015)
there are several qualities of an ideal English language teacher,
especially in teaching EFL, those are; (1) willing to repeat an
explanation, (2) available to help students, (3) Welcome to the students
explanation and suggestion, (4) Serves as a role model, (5) treats
students as equal.
Based on Virgiyanti et. al. (2016), they argued there are several
characteristic of effective junior high school English teacher when
teaching from the teachers and students perspective, as following
a. From students perspective - The effective teachers are those teacher
who have a good personality such as; fair, friendly, enthusiast and
responsible, cheerful and entertaining, and calm.
b. From the teachers perspective - The effective English teachers shows
that the teachers more emphasize on pedagogical skill and personal
skill than the use of English. Pedagogical skills can be; prepare the
lesson well, using various materials, using a variety of techniques
and strategies, using IT to support learning process, make the
activities that provoke the students’ interest in learning, maintain
good classroom atmosphere, relating the lesson to previous and
future learning, encouraging dictionary use to promotes independent
learning, provides their own examples if textbook examples are
insufficient or ambiguous. Meanwhile, personal skills as the
characteristics that should be possessed by the effective English
teachers, such as; fair, friendly, cheerful and entertaining, and
humorous.

12
D. Challenges in Teaching English
The word of challenges comes from the word “challenge” which is
mean “(the situation of being faced with) something that needs great
mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore
tests a person’s abilitiy” ([Online]) Cambridge, n.d). It can be seen that
challenges mean something or problem that is not easy to do and it
requires more effort and skill to deal with it. Thus, the meaning of
challenges in this research is obstacles or problem that teacher have to
face when teaching English to EFL learners. To face the challenges, it
requires effort both mentally and phisically for the something to be
succesfully done and does not negatively affect the teaching and learning
process.
There are many things that must be considered in teaching and
learning process to create an effective learning situation. Something like
this needs some variety of methods and strategies in accordance with the
curiculum and the needs of the students themselves. Moreover, a good
teacher must have ability to create lesson programs. Of course it is not
easy to conduct while teaching. The teacher might face several problems in
teaching English which can hold up the teaching and learning process
itself.
According Songbatumis (2017) the challenges can come from
teacher, facilities at school and the students. Some of the problems or
obstacles the teachers have to face in teaching English, those are:
1. Different Teaching Methods and Techniques Application
There are numerous methods of language teaching that can be
implemented. Fatiloro (2015) states that “in handlling English teaching
problems, teachers must use a variety of methods for teaching English
language” (p.29). In addition, Pande (2013) also believes that through
applying various method, particularly in matching the method and
teaching topic, it will help teachers to estabilish an effective teaching
process. Additionally, applying various techniques in language teaching

13
 should be taken into account because it will enable teachers to create
suitable condition for students to deal with their learning English as
well as help students to deal with their learning challenges
(Holensinska, 2006). Therefore, students can be helped in their
langauge learning when teachers understand what best teaching
methods or technique meet the need of students.
2. Teaching Facilities in Learning
English teaching will nt achieve its objectives if the teaching tools
are not backed up. Hence, “special effort should be madde to ensure
that teachers get proper teaching facilities, inclueding space, books, and
teaching aids” ( Pande, 2013, p. 419). It is necessary to “confront
facilitation of teaching tools as to empower teaching and learning
English” (Fatiloro, 2015, p.29). Thus teaching language needs
equipment, particularly for those who teach in the milieu where English
exposure is limited.
3. Lack of Vocabulary
Hasan (2016) states that one of the most challenging tasks
students encountered is mastering vocabulary. Maruyama (1996) as
cited in Hoa and Mai (2016) point he reason why students believed that
they did not need to know words beacuse they were not common, even
rarely used used in their daily lives, therefore, they have no motivation
to learn the words”(p. 155). Consequently, students in English asa a
foreign language context are limited by their knowledge of grammar
and vocabulary of the target language and have to struggle to
comprehend the content (Chung, 2016).
4. Students’ motivation and interest
The learning achievement can be good if the student’s motivation
is good (Yulia, 2013, p. 4). Most students think English language is the
most difficult lesson after math. Students sometimes do not listen to the
teacher. It makes they do not get anything after the lesson end. Even
though they understand the lesson, they will forget it quickly. Students

14
 only think about how they pass the course and not get remedial. It can
be seen in Journal by Abrar (2016, p. 97) he said that, when teaching-
learning English, some students preferred to do other activities, like
playing, chatting with friends, and also making some noise. It is become
the indication lack of students’ motivation and interest in learning
English. The indication of students’ lack motivation is when the
students have no desire or feel reluctant to get involved in learning the
language comfortably (Abrar, 2016, p. 96).
5. Crowded Class
According to Emery (2012). One of the most pften mentioned
problems encountered by English teachers is that “overcrowded classes
and the effect of such condition can have on teaching and learning”
(p.4). Nurkamto (2003) also list one of the challenges in teaching
English that is the size of the classroom. Likewise, baker and westrup
(2000) state several problems of teaching large classes, such as “desks
and chairs arre fixed or difficult to move; students sit close together in
rows; little space for the classroom;walls between classrooms are thin,
and noise will disturb other classes”.
6. Not Enough resources and materials
Abrar (2016, p. 98) also mention about the limited resources and
materials can influence the English teaching affectivity. Lesson plan,
Book, worksheet, and module are include in main resources in teaching
English because it will help the students to cultivate what they already
have learned and it is become the teacher sources in teaching.
Permendikbub No. 19 of 2005 concerning national standard of
education article 20, “planning the learning process includes syllabus
and lesson plans which at least contain learning objectivites, learning
resources, and assessment of learning outcomes. So here developing
lesson plans, module, syllabus is included in teacher’s challenges in
teaching English

15
7. Mother tongue Interference
Since English is not used in everyday communication, this
problem is commonly happen when teaching English as a foreign
language. According to Fatiloro (2015), the cause of the incorrect in
English performance unconsciously is when the student and teacher talk
with their own mother tongue fluently. The problems in mother tongue
interference can be grammatical error, miss pronunciation, semantic or
morphological (Fatiloro, 2015, p. 27). This also supported by Malana
(2018, p. 33) who said, a major factor that affecting English language
proficiency and competence is the first language interference.
8. Psychological Problem
According Pande (2013) assert that “it is a coomon
misinterpation among students that English is the most difficult of all
subjects” (p. 416). Similarly, Fatiloro (2015) states that the challenging
difficulty in teaching English as a foreign language is meeting students’
awful attitude in practicing English. For instance, students can be
fearful to speak in front of their classmates, particularly when it comes
to the presence of a competitive student in the classroom. Another
example is related to students who entroll in English courses outside
schools. According to Khajlo (2013), these students have higher
academic level than others and when they “listen to repetitive low-level
content for them, they find it unattractive and boring” (p. 57). Such
psychological issues can affect students’ motivation and learning
attitude toward English language.
Aryana & Apsari (2018) divided the difficulties in teaching into
two factors, those are;
1. Internal factor
Internal factor are the problems which come from the teacher
itself, it happen while choose the method, preparing materials,
strategies, and techniques in teaching. Emery (2012) said that, this
thing can happen because of the inadequate teaching preparation as the
teachers’ own ability to deal with the problems that occurred in the

16
 teaching due to the lack of training, teachers’ poor language ability, and
teachers whose English is not their background education.
2. External factors
External factors can come from the facilities in the school, the
module, syllabus curriculum 2013, which does not come from the
teacher itself. Moreover, to ensure the teaching learning process can
going well, the school should provide the teaching facilities. “special
effort should be made to ensure that teachers get proper teaching
facilities, including space, books, and teaching aids” (Pande, 2013, p.
419).
According to Lynch (2008) in his articles he discussed that there
are 3 most critical problems in English language teaching and learning,
those are :
1. Lack of learner motivation
Students may lack any similarity of attention during class,
chatting with classmates, doodling in their notebooks even the worst
thing is when they skipped the class. The students cannot get involved
easily in classroom interaction and learn the language comfortably.
Those problems need more attention and motivation to increase their
interest in learning English.
2. Insufficient Time, Resources and Materials
Teaching English is need more time to make the students enable
speak the language, especially if English is not the first language.
Two hours in a week is a brief time to teach English lesson
considering there are many aspects in English lesson.
3. Over-Crowded English Classes
Over-crowded class is the most mentioned problem by other
researcher when teaching English. When the number of students are
more than 35 or 40 or even 50 more, the teacher would not have time
to give attention to each student individually. This sized group will
cause problems in English teaching-learning process such as;
discomfort in the class, individual attention, and noisy class.

17
E. Teaching English in Indonesian Context
English is taught and used as a foreign language in Indonesia. The
fact English is one of the most essential international languages for
communication has been acknowledged by the Indonesian goverment
since its independence; therefore, the goverment has recommended that
English become a compulsory subject in secondary schools (Nurkamto,
2003). Furthermore, Lie (2007) also argues that “ the maintenance of
English as a foreign language has been steady as it is officially taught
throughtout he secondary schools” (p. 2). Iie (2007) also stated that there
has been a tendency in several big cities in Indonesia to teach English
starting from the lower grades of primary schools and even from
kindergarten.
The aim of teaching English in schools is based on the decree of
the minister of Education and Culture No. 060/U/1993 dated 25 February
1993 and 1989 Constituion on the system of National Education that the
final goal of the English subject at the schools is to enable the students to
proficient in English in the globalization era (Rachmajanti, 2008).
Meanwhie, Nurkamto (2003) asserts that “ the aim of the teaching
of English in the schools has been to develop the students’ communicative
competence that would help the students in their university education “
(p.287). However, these aims have never been satisfactorily achieved.
Althought English is officially taught throught secondary schools,
competence and proficiency in this foreign language among high schools
are generally low (Lie, 2007; Nurkamto, 2003). Learners find English
particularly difficult when they are instructed to state their opinion in
English (Nurkamto, 2003). There are only few students who are able to
learn English to the next level, especially those who come from the middle
and upper socioecomic classes. Such students have “ the easy acces and
opportunity to enhance their English proficiency through private courses,
computer-aided language instruction, and exposure through Western
influences, TV channels, foreign movies” (Lie,2007, p,3). In addition, Lie

18
 (20070 added that outside the academic and professional worlds, English
has never been widely used as the population. This is beacuse the
geographic position of Indonesia is far away from English-speaking
countries as well as several particular cultural values that to some extent,
cannot motivate students to study English (Nurkamto, 2003).
F. Previous Research
A number of researcher had conducted rersearches related to
teacher’s challenges in teaching English at Eight Grade Students of
Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda in Jambi. There were some
previous relate researches that supported this research. Some of them are
presented as follows:
The first is research by Mukhlash Abrar (2016) with the title
“Teaching-English Problem: an Analysis of EFL Primary School
Teachers in Kuala Tungkal” this research is discussed about the
problems faced by Primary School teachers in Kuala Tungkal, Jambi.
This research is used qualitative method. In his journal he stated that,
there are three major problems with the practice of teaching and learning
English at the research sites, those are; (1) lack of students’ motivation,
in this point he revealed three causes of this problem such as shyness,
afraid to make mistakes and not interested to study. (2) insufficient time,
resources and materials. It is one of the major problems in teaching and
learning English. Three sub-themes are found that; limited time, limited
resources, limited facilities, and difficult materials. (3) overcrowded
classes because of too many students in the class.
Another research is by Songbatumis (2017) in her journal
“Challenges in Teaching English faced by English Teachers at MTsN
Taliwang, Indonesia” she concluded that, the challenges come from three
factors, partly from students, partly from teacher and other were come
from the school’s facility. Those are; (1) From the students; lack of
vocabulary mastery, low concentration, lack of discipline, boredom, and
the speaking problem, (2) Meanwhile from the teachers are; the shortage

19
of the teachers’ training, language proficiency issue, limited mastery of
teaching methods, unfamiliarity to IT, and lack of professional
development, (3) from the school’s facility issues with sub-themes;
insufficient resources and facility, and time constraint. The limited of
LCD projector and sound system is included in factors insufficient
facility.
Another research is thesis by Desri Susiyanti (2019), students of
teacher training and education Muhammadiyah University of Makassar.
The title is “Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English as a foreign
language at SMK Muhammadiyah 3 Makassar.” This research used
descriptive qualitative method and was done in February 2019. The
subject of this research is English teachers at SMK Muhammadiyah 3
Makassar. The object of this research focused on teachers’ difficulties
when teaching English as a foreign language. The researcher drawn some
conclusions in her thesis about the problems or difficulties faced by the
English teachers. Those problems are coming from the students, the
facility in the school and the English teacher itself. (1) The problem
come from students are; lack of students basic in English, overcrowded
classes, low concentration and motivation, the absence of students, and
students boredom, (2) facility in the school, (3) from teacher itself;
teachers’ knowledge and development about English lesson, the lack of
teachers training, limited mastery of teaching methods, Unfamiliarity to
IT, and lack of professional development.
From several previous studies that have been described, there are
similiarities and differences between previous research and the research
to be conducted. Furthermore, the difference of this research is the object
of the research, the researcher in this research focuses on English
teachers at eight grade students of islamic Junior High School.
Meanwhile, the previous research took English teachers in Primary
school and Senior High School that teaching in different grade students
as the object of the research.

20
G. Operational of Keyterms in The Research
Challenges : Something which need a great mental or
physical effort in order to be done
successfully and therefore tests a person's
ability” ([Online] Cambridge, n.d.)
Teaching English : Teaching is a scientific process, with the main
components are content, communication and
feedback (Ariyanti & Rindu, 2017).
English Teacher : The teacher who helping the students to identify
the concepts and key terms of the language and
how to use the language itself for communicate
(Miller, n.d., [online]).
Teachers’ Challenges : The problem that faced by the teacher during the
teaching learning process (Susiyanti, 2019).

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD

21
A. The Method of Research
The research method in this study used a qualitative method
descriptive approach. Qualitative was choosen because this study aims to
provide insight into the case of English teacher at eighth grade students of
Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda Jambi, particularly the challenges in
teaching English. A qualitative approach can be used if the researcher wants
to observe and reveal a situation or object with the aim of finding meaning
or a deep understanding of a problem encountered in the form of pictures,
words or phenomenom in a “natural setting” (Yusuf, 2017).

In this research, the researcher used the descriptive qualitative design

because this research describes the challenges that faced by English
teacher. It does not provide treatment, manipulation or alteration of the
variables under the study. Moleong (2000) said that, people and their
observed behavior can be collected into qualitative descriptive data in both
written or verbal words. The only treatment given is the research itself,
which include through the observation and interview.

B. Setting and Subject of the Research

1. Setting of the research
This research which conducted the English teachers at Islamic
Junior High School Nurul Huda in Jambi-Muaro Bulian KM 13 Desa
Mendalo Darat Kec. Jambi Luar Kota, Kab. Muaro Jambi, Provinsi
Jambi. The researcher conducted this research starting from March until
May 2023. There are some facilities to support teaching and learning in
this school. Some of them are library and school hall.
The researcher choose this school because the researcher knows
that some of the English teacher in here have more teaching experience,
but they still have challenges in teaching English at eighth grade
students. So, the researcher is interested to investigate what are the
challenges faced by them. Specifically teacher whose teach in eighth
grade students.
2. Subject of the Research

22
 The subject of this research was the English teachers of the eight
grade students of islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda in Jambi and
the situation on while teaching on eight grade students. There are 2
English teachers that teaching of Islamic Junior High School Nurul
Huda in Jambi. This research focused on teachers’ challenges in teaching
English at eight grade of Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda in
Jambi.
C. Kind and Sources of Data
1. Kind of Data
There was one kind of data in this research. From the data, the
researcher can know how the result of the research. Collecting data must
be relevant with the problem of the research. In this research, the
researcher collected the data from interview with the participants (about
the challenges in teaching English) which supported by the observation
to avoid the subjective of viewpoint.
All the information of the participants in teaching English lesson
analyzed in this research is from source, namely primary data.
Primary data sources obtained in the form of written or oral words and
the behavior of the subjects (informants) related to the challenges in
Teaching English which get it from interview and observation. The
primary data sources in this research were the 2 English teachers which
are teaching of Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda in Jambi.
2. Sources of Data
The source of data in this research were English teachers’ who
teach the eight grade students of Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda
Jambi and the process of teacher in teaching English at eight grade
students. The reason why researcher took the students is to support the
data and avoid the subjective viewpoint from interview with the English
teachers.
D. The Technique of Data Collecting

23
 In collecting data, the researcher collected the data with the
following procedures :
1. Observation
Observations are used to support interview with participants
about teachers’ challenges. Researcher was observed the condition in the
classroom to see the activities while teaching. Researchers used non-
participant observation in this study. Non-participant observation is an
observation is an observation in which the researcher as an observer is
not directly involved in the process (Sugiyono, 2013, p.145). Due to
observation, researcher notes about English teacher’s situation and
process when teaching English to eighth grade students in the class. The
observation conducted three-five meeting, until the data is saturated or
the data that is repeated is the same and the observataion are taken
according to the subject schedule. After several observations for
researcher will conduct interviews.
2. Interview
The researcher was collected the data through the interview. The
researcher conducted face-to-face interview English teachers who has
experienced in teaching English at eighth grade students of Islamic
Junior High School Nurul Huda Jambi. This Interview will be conducted
at the Islamic Junior High School Nurul Huda, to be precise in the
teacher’s office after learning is complete and the time needed during the
interview is flexible or at least around 30-60 minutes, considering the
researcher need more in-depth information about the topic. The interview
used Indonesian language to avoid misunderstanding during the
interview.
The researcher use semi-structured question in interview. Semi-
structured question conducted so that the researcher can dig deeper
information about the topic. More question in interview of this study is
attached in list of interviews in the appendix of this research. The

24
 purpose of this technique is to know the teachers’ challenges in teaching
English at eighth grade students.
3. Documentation
In terms of documentation to analyze data about the teacher’s
challenges in teaching English, researchers here need documentation
susch as lesson plans, syllabus how do teacher develop the lesson plan.
According Irnia Lisa (2020) lesson plan is a necessary component in the
teaching process for a teacher. Lesson plan help teacher pre-prepare
lessons to solve problems and difficulties, provide lesson structure,
provide a ‘map’ for the teacher follow, and provide notes on what has
been taught. it is in accordance with what is being taught and is it a
challenge for teacher in teaching, and what curriculum is used in the
process of teaching and learning activities, so the documentation needed
by researcher here is in the form of files or data to analyze how the
teacher’s challenges in teaching English.
E. The Technique Data Analyzing
In this research, the researcher used technique of data analysis based
on Miles and Huberman (1994) . There are 3 steps, those are :

1. Data Reduction
In analyzing the qualitative data, the first step is data
reduction. Reducing data here means when the data from the research
field is complicated and quite a lot, the data need to be summarized,
focusing on important things, look for themes and patterns. The
researcher was collected the data through interview and observation.
In data reduction, the researcher gathered the data, and then the
researcher selected and categorized the data based on the theory related
to the topic of the research. The irrelevant data is discarded.

2. Data Display
After collecting and reducing the data, the researcher displayed

25
 those data in form of descriptive. The researcher presented a set of
information that is structured about the teachers’ difficulties in teaching
English based on the result of the interview. In Qualitative research, the
data obtain usually in the form of descriptive, thus this is necessary for
the simplification of the data does not reduce its content.
3. Conclusion Drawing/Verification
The next step is drawing the conclusion. The researcher drew
the conclusion with the descriptive form because this research described
about the challenges faced by English teacher when teaching English.
So, the conclusion of this research was in the form of a description
about the situation in the form of conclusions that can be drawn when
the data has been collected by making a temporary conclusion. To
verified the data, the conclusions of this research were reconciled with
previous theory which related to the topic. If the researcher desire that
the purposed of the research itself has been achieved, the study is done.

F. Triangulation

In checking the validity of data, verification of data is required so

that the results can be accounted for its accuracy. The researcher used data
triangulation in this research to verify the collected data from the interview
with the participants to know their challenges in teaching English. The use
of data triangulation is already used in many sectors to strengthen the
conclusions of research findings and to reduce the risk of false
interpretation (Hales, 2010). The certain of the truth informant through
various methods and sources of data acquisition is a source of data in this
research. Thus, triangulation of data is needed because the researcher
gathers several sources of data in the same study with the researcher as
data’s checking from other sources and previous study so that the
researcher gets the truth.

26
 REFERENCES

"Challenge." (2021), Cambridge Online Dictionary, accesed at 13 June 2021,

from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/challenge

27
Abrar, M. (2016). Teaching English Problems : An Analysis Of Efl Primary
School Teachers In Kuala Tungkal. In The 16th Indonesian
Scholars International Convention, 94–101.

Fatiloro, O. F. (2015). Tackling the Challenges of Teaching English

Language as Second Language (ESL) In Nigeria. IOSR Journal of
Research & Method in Education Ver. I, 5(2), 2320–7388.
https://doi.org/10.9790/7388-05212630
Journal of Social Science and Economic Research Challenges Of Learning
English As A Foreign Language (Efl) By Non- Native Learners. 04,
1381–1400. Www.Ijsser.Org

Lin, G. H. C., & Chien, P. S. C. (2010). An Introduction To English Teaching.

In Online Submission. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED534554.pdf
Marlina, L. (2012). Literacies. November. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-
0136/CGP/v19i04/48801

Mohammed, M. H. (2018). Challenges Of Learning English As A Foreign

Language (Efl) By Non-Native Learners International
Napitupulu, S., & Kisno. (2014). Teaching English As A Foreign
Language (1st ed.). Halaman Moeka Publishing.
Rajagopalan, I. (2019). The Concept of Teaching. Journal of Philosophy
of Education, 7(2), 5–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.1973.tb00470.x

Sari, S. A. R. K. (2017). The Problem Faced By English Teacher In The

Implementation Of Curriculum 2013 Of The First Grade Students At
Smp 1 Delanggu In 2016/2017 Academicyear. The State Islamic
Institute Of Surakarta.
Songbatumis, A. M. (2017). Foreign Language Challenges in Teaching
English Faced by English Teachers at MTsN Taliwang , Indonesia.

Susiyanti, D. (2019). Teachers’ difficulties in teaching english as a foreign

language at smk muhammadiyah 3 makassar. Muhammadiyah
University of Makassar.

28
 Yulia, Y. (2013). Teaching challenges in Indonesia: Motivating students and
teachers’ classroom language. Indonesian Journal of Applied
Linguistics, 3(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v3i1.186

APPENDIX
INTERVIEW GUIDELINE
Individually Question for Teacher:

No Indicator Question
1 problems with the  Bagaimana minat siswa kelas

29
 students’ interest and delapan dalam belajar bahasa
motivation while learning inggris ?
(How is the students’ interest of
eighth grade students in
learning English?)
 Apakah mereka percaya diri
dan antusias ketika sedang
belajar bahasa inggris?
(are they confident and
enthusiastic while learning
English?)
2 problems with the facilities  Bagaimana kondisi kelas serta
in learning fasilitas di sekolah ini untuk
menunjang kegiatan belajar
bahasa Inggris?
(How the condition of the class
and facilities at this school to
support activities of teaching
English?)
 Apakah sudah mencukupi atau
belum dalam menunjang
kegiatan belajar bahasa Inggris?
(is it already sufficient or not in
supporting English learning
activities?)
 Bagaimana dengan fasilitas
dalam online learning, apakah
pihak sekolah menyediakan
fasiitas khusus untuk itu?
(how about the facilities in
online learning , does the school

30
 provide particular facilities to
support online learning?)

3 Teachers’ method in  dalam menjelaskan pelajaran

teaching English bahasa Inggris, metode apa
yang ibu/bapak gunakan?
(What method you use in
explaining English lesson?)
 apakah metode yang ibu/bapak
gunakan berbeda ketika
mengajar tiap skills dalam
bahasa Inggris?
(are the method that you use are
different when teaching English
skills?)
 Menurut ibu/bapak apakah
metode tersebut sudah sesuai
dengan pelajaran yang
diajarkan?
(do you think that method is
compatible with the lesson?)

4 Teachers’ ability  Apakah ibu/bapak handal dalam

mengoperasikan perangkat
elektronik untuk pembelajaran?
Seperti handphone dan
computer.
(are you reliable in operating the
elctroninic devices for
teaching?)
 Dalam mengajar, apakah

31
 bapak/ibu sering membuat
media pembelajaran sendiri
menggunakan aplikasi yang ada
dalam laptop/handphone?
(do you often make your own
learning media by using the
applications on
laptop/handphone?
 Apakah ibu/bapak puas dengan
hasil media pembelajaran yang
anda buat sendiri?
(are you satisfied with the result
of learning media that you’ve
created by yourself?)
5 Mother tongue interference  Ketika menjelaskan pelajaran,
apakah ibu/bapak menggunakan
bahasa inggris sepenuhnya?
Atau anda mencampurnya
dengan bahasa Indonesia
(when you explain the material
do you use full English rather
than Indonesian language? Or
you mix it with the Indonesian
language?
 Apa alasan anda melakukan itu?
(what is your reason for doing
that?)
6 obstacles in lesson hours  Apakah jam pelajaran saat ini
sudah mencukupi dalam
mengajar bahasa inggris?
mengapa?

32
 (is the lesson hours for now are
enough to teach English
lesson?why?)

REVISI 1
No Indicator Keterangan
1 Setting Menambah place and
time, tidak hanya tempat

33
2 Referensi Perbaiki penulisan huruf
dalam judul
3 Instrumen interview Perbaiki question of
interview dengan baik
dan benar
4 Theory BAB II Menambah theory di
BAB II mengenai
challenges/kata kerja
operational definition
mengenai challenges

34