Beyond Speaking Activities: Affective Safety, Diagnostic Differentiation, and Authentic Tasks in Indonesian PPG English Teachers’ Practices

In Indonesian EFL classrooms, the instruction of speaking skills is complicated by the issues of low student engagement, lack of confidence, and few chances for students to engage in meaningful verbal interactions. This paper analyzes the use of interactive speaking techniques by English teachers in Teacher Professional Education Programmes (PPG), focusing on their teaching practice and their pedagogical integration in junior secondary school. Using a qualitative multiple-case study design, this research focused on five PPG English teachers who undertook school-based practicum in junior secondary schools in Cirebon, Indonesia. Data were obtained via semi-structured interviews and non-participant classroom observations. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings indicated that interactive speaking instruction was realized through a web of connected pedagogical practices. To maximize students’ oral participation, teachers used authentic task-based interactions, context and culture-based verbal prompts, flexible teaching that was informed by the use of classroom diagnostics, engagement of affective supportive practices in the classroom, and teaching technology. This study also found that the teaching of speaking skills in PPG classrooms was a situated pedagogical practice that was flexible and responsive to the needs and readiness of learners, the interactions that took place in the classroom, and the context of the instructional setting. Findings also indicated that participation in the PPG enabled teachers to not only use speaking skills, but also enhanced their ability to integrate interaction and participation into contextual teaching practices in a communicative classroom. This study adds to the literature on communicative EFL teaching and professional teacher education in that it examines the pedagogical integration of interactive speaking instruction in resource-poor educational environments.