Teachers’ English Level Proficiency: Do Students Perceive It as a Threat or a Chance?

This study examines students’ expectations regarding teachers’ English proficiency level at Muhammadiyah Malang University (UMM), Indonesia. The concepts of proficiency are various among scholars and educators. Scholars vary in their concepts of proficiency; they also have multiple dimensions and methods when assessing teachers’ proficiency. However, students are rarely asked about their expectations of teachers’ English Proficiency level due to their supposed incapability and irrelevance in assessing the tutors. This study utilized an interpretive approach that explained the subjective reasons and meanings underlying social actions and viewed the world from specific individuals’ standpoints and experiences. Focus group discussion (FGD), and an open-ended questionnaire to gather the data, was employed. The FGD led to rich data because participants interacted at the same time about the topic being raised. The second-year students of the English Department at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) were invited to participate. Regarding the teachers’ proficiency, students’ expectations fell into three parts. Firstly, teachers were expected to use mixed languages as the classroom language of instruction. Secondly, students expected teachers to possess sufficient level of English proficiency since this will potentially help students to have a better level of communication. Third, students are expected to have both native-speaking teachers and local teachers as a model of their communication. This study implicates teachers with high English proficiency are supposed to be vigilant to apply it across different settings and situations. This behavior hopefully leads to the felicitous decision of the classroom communication types