ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN MAKASSAR: TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

Abstract

Teachers are one of the most important parts in the discourse of education and the process of teaching and learning in schools. It was this that interested the writer to research their perceptions of English language teaching for primary students. The respondents are five participants from different primary schools in Makassar. They were asked to comment on their beliefs in terms of the materials used in the classrooms, the aims of teaching English for primary students, their problems in relation to professional knowledge, classroom practices and context (school and community), and their way to resolve many problems. The responses are grouped into four major categories in terms of the aims of the research and examined to explore similarities and differences. The result showed that when the materials are about familiar topics and are presented through songs, games, and pictures, in the classroom they result in positive student attitude and increase interest and motivation in learning English. Participants feel that the main aim of teaching English for young students is to provide them with as much vocabulary as possible before they move on to higher education. Finally, some constraints of the program are also found in the classroom practices.