UNTOLD STORY: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON STUDENT-TEACHERS’ TEACHING

Abstract

This article proposes strategies to handle classroom management problems commonly faced by English student-teachers. These propositions are inspired by a partial result of an action research involving 12 student-teachers undertaking a teaching practicum subject at five junior high schools in a municipally of West Sumatera, Indonesia. Based on the results of observations and interviews it was found that classroom management problems brought about several constraints for the student-teachers in reaching their teaching objectives. They frequently stopped their activities for a while for the disturbances made by the students and thus they often could not realize their plans well. Sometimes they were not able to organize the students and their activities which in turn caused problems. Thus, it can be concluded that problems are most likely due to the students’ low motivation and very limited English ability and the student-teachers’ lack of classroom management skills. The problems decreased after applying some strategies which were derived from discussions with the supervisors (i.e. the researchers). In fact, the student-teachers were able to focus more on what and how to teach rather than how to handle their students’ behavior problems. In effect, they could teach effectively. The strategies are setting classroom-agreed rules, personal approaches, and application of variety of techniques. Before explaining these strategies, an account of the student-teachers’ classroom management problems and how they handled them will be given briefly.