Thesis Chapter Four: Findings

4.1 Overview of the chapter
This chapter presents the findings from the semi-structured interviews as described in the previous chapter. The findings are presented in two broad categories; firstly, the teacher’s adoption of the genre-based approach, and secondly, the teacher’s professional learning about the genre-based approach, with several themes for each category that emerged from the literature review and from the data.

4.2 Background information of the participants
Six teachers of English in Indonesia, four males and two females, participated in this study. Three of them were teaching at junior secondary school. One participant was teaching at several levels of education such as junior secondary school, senior secondary school, vocational school and tertiary education. Two participants were teaching at senior secondary schools and one of them was also a teacher trainer and actively involved in the training for the introduction of the 2004 curriculum which introduced a genre-based approach. Four of them were doing their Master of Education in TESOL and the other two were doing a Master of Education in different universities in Melbourne.
All of them stated that they were familiar with the genre-based approach for teaching English in Indonesian schools. Among the six participants, four have applied the genre-based approach to a certain extent in their classroom practice (Ali, Selly, Henry, Purwanto). The other two participants, Stanny and Anton, explained that they did not formally employ the genre approach in their classroom because it was government policy to use the genre-based approach only as pilot program in certain schools. Although their school was one of the pilot schools for this teaching, their school’s policy was only to teach using the genre approaches in certain grades and classes. Most teachers, who had officially implemented the genre-based approach in their classroom, had only used it for a short time. Only one participant reported that he had implemented the approach in his teaching since its early introduction in the 2004 curriculum.
Based on their background, the participants can be grouped into three groups. The first group consists of participants who are familiar with the genre-based approach, who already had, at least, one formal training program about it, and had experienced teaching using this approach in their class. They are Purwanto, Selly and Ali. The second group of participants comprises those who are familiar with the curriculum, already had at least one formal training program in the approach, but did not have formal experience teaching using it in their English classroom. They are Stanny and Anton. In the last group is the participant who is familiar with the approach and had experience teaching using it in the classroom, but never had any formal training in it. This participant is Henry. Attention is given to these categories because it is believed that these different situations contribute greatly to the participants’ points of view, perceptions and understanding of the genre-based approach itself. The findings show that in many cases, the five participants gave similar answers to the questions being asked. Only one participant, Purwanto, who was also a teacher trainer, gave answers that were quite different from the others.
The interviews were conducted in English because the participants wished to practise their English. This was beneficial for the researcher as it saved the time and energy that would otherwise have been spent translating if they had been conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. However, the participants were allowed to use code switching to clarify and express their ideas in a more relaxed and clearer manner. The transcript for these participants can be seen in Appendix 4. For the sake of confidentiality, I indicate the participants by giving them pseudonyms. The data from the interviews were coded following the procedure set out in Chapter Three. In this thesis, in order to retain the voice of the participants and do justice to their comments, they are quoted verbatim.

4.3 Teachers’ adoption of the genre-based approach
The data relevant to the teachers’ adoption of the genre-based approach fell into six categories, namely the conceptualization of the genre-based approach, the knowledge of genre being taught, the pedagogical principle of the teaching activities, ways of assisting students’ learning, the practice of the curriculum cycle, and the particular skills which the participants focus on when using the genre-based approach.

4.3.1 Conceptualization of genre theory
Most participants reported that they did not really understand the concept of the genre-based approach because teaching using this approach is quite new for them. Therefore, their perceptions about it were still blurred. All participants emphasised different aspects in their conceptualization of the genre approach.
Three participants – Selly, Anton and Stanny- believed that the genre approach is about the teacher’s focus on teaching using different types of texts. According to Selly, a genre-based approach is “an approach that mostly teachers use texts when they teach their student. The material of the teaching is based on the genre of certain text”. Similarly, Anton expressed that “teacher seems to teach English based on genre and most the time they are expected to use any kind of materials as far as reflected or compatible with this kind of genre; like narrative, recount or descriptive”. Stanny stated that teaching using the genre-based approach is “teaching texts such as description and recount for certain grade of students”.
Ali emphasized the genre-based approach as the teaching of “authentic texts that are related to the real life, students’ interest and encounter the real problem in daily communication”. Henry put more emphasis on the teachers’ opportunity to be creative. He believed that teaching using the genre-based approach “gives more opportunity to teacher to choose the texts that they think are interesting for their student. [It] motivates teacher to be more creative in selecting the texts that is needed to motivate students with their English”.
Purwanto defined the genre-based approach by emphasizing the communicative purposes of texts that students can apply in their life. He stated that:
The genre-based approach gives student not only one type of style, or writing style but it gives several of style for student to develop their knowledge of their writing. It will cover all aspect of students’ life, in term that they want to write about their experience, they can use recount, they tell their past event; if they want to describe something, they can use description; they want to tell other how to make something, they can use procedure

4.3.2 The knowledge of genre being taught
Almost all participants found it hard to answer when being asked about the knowledge of genre or the aspects of the texts that they teach to their students. Fortunately, the answer can be inferred from their lesson examples. Three participants indicated that they generally focused on teaching the linguistic features of texts such as vocabulary and tenses and content comprehension. Selly emphasized the importance of teaching vocabulary related to the topic. She further explained that it was her belief that providing students with adequate related vocabulary on the topic could help in developing students’ understanding and comprehension of the text. She argued that the “text should be understood”. She justified her opinion by exemplifying the benefit of developing students’ understanding of narrative text: “it is not just telling them a story but how from the story they get something valuable for their lives”. Therefore, in selecting the text to be taught to her students, Selly said that “I try to make content as close as possible to their real life”.
Ali gave the example of teaching a weather report to his students. He reported that after eliciting some related vocabulary about the weather from students, then, “I ask them to read in silence” and “discuss with their partner what information they get from the text” and then “I am going to ask them to find details information and main idea”. Similarly, Henry reported that he focused on teaching reading comprehension of the text and the linguistic features of the text such as the grammar and vocabulary. He reported that in modelling a text, “usually I do reading comprehension questions. Just to check whether they understand the text or not”.
Purwanto indicated that he focused on teaching the communicative purpose, generic structures and linguistic features of a text as well as text comprehension. He gave an example of teaching recount with his students. The lesson aimed at making students capable of retelling past experiences. In the lesson, he wanted his students to be able to produce a written or oral text which followed the generic structures of recount, such as orientation, events and resolution. It used the most common used tenses for explaining past events, such as simple past tense as well as developing the students’ understanding of the content information of the text itself. Stanny and Anton did not give answers on this aspect since they had not formally implemented teaching the genre-based approach in their classroom.

4.3.3 The pedagogical principle of the learning activities
The majority of the participants who had implemented the genre-based instruction in their classroom agreed that the principle of pedagogical application of the genre-based approach in the classroom is that students actively and independently learn the knowledge of genre through inquiry, questioning and experimenting. Therefore, they argued that learning activities used should be ones that encourage students to be more active and independent. All of them agreed that collaborative learning such as asking students to work in pairs or small groups is typical of activities used for active learning that can provide students with more opportunities to actively and independently participate in the learning process. Henry reported that group work encourages interaction between students; “when I form them in the group, the interaction occurred mostly within students and students” and it “will make students more free to speak”. Ali emphasized that in this way there would be a shared knowledge about the topic of the text among students when they worked in pairs or small groups. Purwanto emphasized that collaborative learning through group work gives students more self confidence.

4.3.4 Ways of assisting students’ learning
All participants agreed that teachers have an important role in supporting the students’ active learning as the language resources, monitors and facilitators of the learning. However, there are different perceptions on the way teachers should play their role and assist students’ learning. Three participants reported that teachers should limit their roles only to those of monitor and facilitator and provide necessary assistance when students ask for help. Henry reported that when students work in groups, he as the “teacher just walked around”. He also added that during the group work, he only interfered with the learning if the students encountered problems and asked for his assistance. Henry reported that he would not teach the knowledge of genre to his students explicitly; rather, he “lets students find themselves why this text different from this”.
Similar to Henry, Selly also tried to limit herself to give assistance to her students only if they “have problems, they have no idea what to do”. The assistance that she provided was “I just tell them …just exactly remember what I did to you during the class, and then you try to compose your assignment just the way I do”. Therefore, she wanted her students to be able to do the task exactly like the model that was previously given and learned. Ali shares a similar perception on this matter. He would like his students to learn the text independently after he has provided them with some related vocabulary of the text topic by asking students to read the text and discuss it with their friends.
if some points that they do not understand about the text and the teacher give gentle feedback and clue to make them understand. Not to the answer but the clue. Let them find the ‘aha’ moment by themselves; the moment for understanding by themselves.
For Purwanto, asking students to work on the knowledge of genre by themselves is a very difficult task, even for teachers, considering that this is a new concept for both of them. Therefore, he argued that he needed to teach his students the knowledge of genre explicitly. He reported that he explained the genre beyond the understandings students gained by analysing the text by themselves. Therefore, he believed that explicit guidance to the understanding of the text’s features or the knowledge of genre for students is paramount in teaching using the genre-based approach.

4.3.5 The practice of the curriculum cycle
All participants agreed that the curriculum cycle is the way of organizing the lesson. According to Ali and Henry, the stages of the curriculum cycle are similar to the stages of the traditional classroom activities such as pre-activities, while-doing activities and post- activities.
In the adoption of the curriculum cycle in the classroom, Selly believed that the classroom practice of the curriculum cycle should be flexible. She said that “if the content material is quite familiar with them, so I can skip the building of knowledge stage and then I jump to modelling”. Similar to Selly, Ali also agreed that the curriculum cycle should not be applied in a sequential order such as starting with building knowledge of the field first, then moving to modelling, joint construction and finally independent construction. He explained that “teachers have to improvise responsively, because teaching and learning process may not run as we predict. We need to improvise, to change, to adjust the setting and change the mode. Don’t be too rigid”
Anton pointed out that he believed that the curriculum cycle is the strategy that is best used for teaching writing; “I think this learning cycle is more suitable in teaching writing. I don’t think this will be working in speaking”. However, he could not say more about having this particular perception.
Purwanto and Henry suggested the opposite. They believed that the curriculum cycle should be applied in an orderly sequence; firstly starting with building of knowledge, continuing on to modelling, then to joint construction and finally independent construction. According to Purwanto, an important factor that should be considered in adopting the curriculum cycle is the time allocation for each stage of the cycle. He stated that “we have to give different time frame to that level [stages]”. Personally, he believed that the stage of building knowledge of the field “will require more time than the rest of the level”.

4.3.6 Particular skills which teachers focus on when teaching using the genre-based approach
All participants reported that teaching English using the genre based approach should be teaching integrated language skills. Ali stated that “we are supposed to integrate all kinds of language aspects. But in practice, it is quite difficult to implement regarding students’ culture, English proficiency, motivation and level of English.” He further reported that he focused more on teaching grammar because “the national exam focus (sic) on grammar”.
Purwanto said that in teaching using the genre-based approach, he mainly focused on the productive skills such as speaking and writing, as the main objectives of his lesson. Moreover, he also included the four language skills in the process of teaching the targeted skills. He stated that
if I start with reading, it means that at the end I want my student to be able to write similar text like the reading. And [if] I teach my students listening first, then at end of the teaching I would like my student to speak like what they heard.
Similar to Purwanto, Selly also reported that she “tends to focus on speaking” when she uses the genre-based approach in her class. However, she found it hard to teach writing skills using the genre-based approach to her students. She believed that is because her students’ level of English is still very basic. She argued that it is really hard for students to write if they are still struggling with developing their vocabulary and grammar.

4.4 Teachers’ professional learning on the genre approach
Five out of six participants reported that their initial learning of the genre-based approach was through the formal training or workshops that were provided by the government. They reported that the training is a one-shot workshop because it was conducted only in one short time, mostly around one to three days and there were neither follow-up programs nor evaluation after completing the course. Only one out of six participants who began his professional learning on the genre-based approach through formal training reported that the training he had had was an on-going program that included follow-up programs and evaluation after completing the training.
The other participant reported that he had never had any formal training in the genre-based approach and began his initial learning of the genre-based approach by studying the document curriculum and the textbooks available. He contended that he was familiar with the curriculum and the genres in the curriculum as the result of his independent learning on the curriculum document and available text books about the genre-based approach.

4.4.1 Confident to implement the genre-based approach as the result of the learning
Among the five participants who already had formal training in the genre-based approach, four reported that after returning to their school, they were still not confident to teach using this approach in their classroom. They argued that the training did not provide them with enough information to apply the target knowledge and skills when returning to their school. These participants further stated that this was because they had only one training session about the genre-based approach. They believed that the amount of training they had had greatly influenced their confidence to use the genre-based approach in their classroom. Ali argued that one-shot training was not enough to provide him with the information needed to understand the genre-based approach and its implementation in the classroom. He stated that “it is only one. I need more, three times or four times”. Therefore, he further explained that he still feels that the genre-based approach is “a dark area” for him to understand and to apply. In addition, Selly reported that not only did the training occur only once, but it was also very short. She explained that “to me, actually, it was not a real training. I have only one session. It was one day session with three or four speakers”. Selly suggested that it is the government’s responsibility to provide more training for teachers.
However, the case is different for Purwanto who was very confident about applying the genre-based approach after completing his training. He was the only participant who claimed that he was “very confident” and “could not wait to apply this [the genre-based approach]” when he returned to his school after completing the training. He mentioned his reasons for having that high level of confidence. The main reason is that the number of training sessions he had had were important for him in continuously gaining and shaping his knowledge on this approach. He reported that he had joined training “many times”. He further explained that “every time there is a workshop or training about this new curriculum, my school sent me. I have heaps of [training] certificates, because in one month, I involved in two trainings”. He further stated that “I have no doubt about this training because I am with the right person who involve in designing the curriculum”. Some of the trainers, according to Purwanto, were the designers of the new curriculum.

4.4.2 Teachers’ perceptions on design and components of the training.
Most teachers argued that the number of training sessions they had had was to blame for their lack of confidence to use the approach in the classroom. However, when being asked about the organization of the training they had had, such as the design and the components, their answer showed disappointment with these particular aspects. Five themes emerged related to these factors: activities involved, the information given, the importance of evaluation and follow-up programs, the inequalities of opportunity to enrol for the training and the timing of the training. These two last categories arose from the data.

4.4.2.1 The activities involved in the training
Most participants reported that the activities they did during the training were mostly dominated by the presentation of theory given by the trainer. Selly reported that “we just sit and listen. There was no practice at all”. Selly stated this kind of training delivery mode is a “conventional one”. Similarly, Anton said that “she [the trainer] just lectured, explained to us some principles of the new curriculum”. In line with this, Ali added that “there was no such activity [such as teaching practice, school visit, simulation or peer teaching]. They [the trainer] explain the curriculum, and then we did mini syllabus”. He also added that although he designed a mini syllabus, he did not practice how to teach the syllabus in class, so the designed mini syllabus “is then just kept as a portfolio”. Stanny reported that most activities she did in the training were that she listened and took notes from the trainer’s lecture.
However, not all participants agreed that the activities in the training did not meet their expectation. One participant, Purwanto, showed his satisfaction with the training that he had. He gave details that the activities involved in the training ranged from small group work, designing lesson plans based on the new curriculum, discussion, peer teaching, to peer assessment. He asserted that
I think the activities is good because relate with my real life. I mean this is what I was doing in my workplace. So I feel engaged with the activities and was very excited because it would help me in performing my job.

4.4.2.2 Information given in the training
Two participants stated that the course components they had in the training were problematic. It was not focused on the genre-based approach and its pedagogical application in classrooms. Ali and Anton reported that the information given was mostly about the comparison between the old curriculum and the new curriculum and emphasized the positive aspects of the new curriculum compared to the old curriculum. Ali argued that he needs more than just a theory. He needs “to practise the theory” by doing activities such as “we practice to design a syllabus, we practice how to implement this syllabus in class, we also need supervise a skilful teachers teaching using that in a class, so we have a clear picture”. In Anton’s case, he argued that although the trainer presented some models of teaching English language skills, such as reading, listening, speaking and writing, the models were not models of teaching using the genre-based approach. In his opinion, they were actually models of teaching English language skills using the communicative approach.
Purwanto, who shared the same experience as Selly regarding the material and information given during the training, reported they were given not only information about the new curriculum and the comparison to the old one, but they were also provided with the theory of the genre approach, the pedagogical application of the genre approach and the teaching strategy of the curriculum cycle. Both Selly and Purwanto further stated that they were given a module that contains some samples of text that are required to be taught to students and teaching models of using the strategy of the curriculum cycle.

4.4.2.3 The importance of course evaluation and follow up program
Four participants reported that there were almost no evaluation and follow-up programs related to the one-shot training they had had. All of them reported that this was due to their departure to study in an Australian university. They felt that two or three years after completing the training some evaluation and follow-up programs should have been conducted during the time they were absent from schools. In Selly’s experience, she reported that she had not had any single experience being evaluated or monitored regarding the training that she had received. She had the training in 2004 and it had been two and half years before her departure to study in an Australian university. Further conversation with her, she emphasized the necessity of a continuous training program and follow-up program to monitor teachers’ implementation of the genre-based approach in their classroom after completing the training as a vehicle for improving practice.
In Purwanto’s experience, he reported that there were always evaluation and follow-up programs for the training that he had. As a teacher and a trainer who was involved in the introductory training for the genre-based approach, he argued that “we conduct in-service and on-service training. It is like continuous program”. He described his experience being visited by the trainers, “they come to our school; they ask whether I apply the things that I got from the training”. According to Purwanto, this kind of evaluation is good; it does not mean that the trainer did not trust the trainee. It just aims to make sure that teachers have changed their teaching attitudes by adapting to the curriculum change effectively and makes sure that the changed attitude worked properly.

4.4.2.4 Inequality opportunity to enrol for the training.
Four participants have raised the issues of inequality of opportunity to enrol for the training. Anton reported that the government should “give training for English teachers all over the country. Not only the pilot project school teachers who teach in the urban area”. Therefore, he emphasized the need for equal opportunity for all teachers in Indonesia to have training. Selly reported that as a teacher who teaches in private school and does not hold the status of a government employee, her opportunity to enrol for the formal training provided by the government was very limited. She said private school teachers were kept until last in terms of the opportunity for enrolling in training. This was also the case for Henry, who never had any formal training. He said that because he was a freelance teacher, he was never offered to join any training for the new curriculum. Stanny reported that she had the opportunity to join training only as a replacement for her colleague teacher who was unable to attend because of her pregnancy. This teacher, Stanny further explained, was a core teacher in her school.

4.4.2.5 The timing
Another issue that arose from the data is the timing of the training. Three participants reported that they had had the training in 2004, in the same year when the genre-based approach was officially introduced and recommended to be used in Indonesian secondary schools. One participant said that she accessed the training a year after the official introduction of the new curriculum, that is in 2005. Only one participant reported that he received training in the year 2002 when the piloting project of the curriculum change began.
Selly, who had training in the same year with the official date for the curriculum to be implemented in schools, reported that it was difficult for her. She said that she was not confident about her knowledge of the genre-based approach but she had to implement it in her classroom. She further stated that she needed time to learn.

4.5 Concluding remarks
In this chapter, I have presented some findings using the categories based on the research literature and the themes that emerged from the data itself. The discussion of this finding in the light of literature and the research questions is presented in the following chapter.