Cultural Perspectives on Englısh Language Teachıng Styles: A Study in The Indonesıan Context

Abstract

This research investigates teaching style models employed by Western and Southeast Asian teachers in senior high schools in Toraja, Indonesia. It explores students' perceptions of these teaching styles using qualitative descriptive methods. Data was collected from ten randomly selected students, an English teacher from Toraja, Indonesia, and an English teacher from the Netherlands. Research instruments included observation, questionnaires, and interviews. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings reveal cultural differences in teaching styles between Western and Southeast Asian teachers. Western teachers prioritize facilitating student learning, valuing individuality, encouraging independent thinking, using group discussions as a mode of instruction, considering mistakes as part of the learning process, and exhibiting varying degrees of formality in student-teacher interactions. In contrast, Southeast Asian teachers adopt an authoritative teaching style, placing less emphasis on individuality, highlighting the importance of group dynamics, and observing hesitancy among students to aşk questions.