Reflective ESP Practice: Teachers' Beliefs, Methods, and Negotiating Institutional Realities

Authors

  • Salsabila Ramadhani Imanda Universitas Negeri Malang
  • Niamika El Khoiri Universitas Negeri Malang
  • Sari Karmina Universitas Negeri Malang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58230/27454312.3099

Keywords:

ESP teacher beliefs, reflective practice, conditional alighment, institutional mediation, classroom practices

Abstract

This single-case study explores the belief-practice dynamics of Pippa, an experienced English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teacher in an Economics Development program, utilizing a reflective practice approach. The study investigated the extent to which her pedagogical beliefs align with her classroom practices, and how institutional realities mediate this relationship. Data were triangulated through a pre-observation interview, classroom observation of an academic writing session (biography writing), and a critical post-observation interview. Thematic analysis of the data revealed a complex interplay characterized by conditional alignment and institutional mediation. While Pippa professed a belief in consistently correcting errors and promoting the use of English, her practice demonstrated strategic adaptation: L1 (Indonesian) use was tolerated to maintain student confidence, and pronunciation correction was applied selectively based on task demands (e.g., minimal correction during reading aloud versus stricter application during speaking tasks). Crucially, divergence was found to be largely driven by external constraints that emerged from the data, including the student level mismatch (low-beginner students in an ESP course) and the institutional culture emphasizing "fun but not strict.". These pressures compelled Pippa to assume the role of an adaptive mediator, resulting in a pragmatic redefinition of success (i.e., prioritizing that students "at least learn something" over achieving ideal ESP objectives). This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the conditional and evolutionary nature of experienced teachers’ beliefs, underscoring that belief realization is a constant negotiation between cognitive ideals and the empirical realities of the institutional context.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Basturkmen, H. (2014). Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410617040

Bleukx, N., Denies, K., Van Keer, H., & Aesaert, K. (2024). The interplay between teacher beliefs, instructional practices, and students’ reading achievement: national evidence from PIRLS 2021 using path analysis. Large-Scale Assessments in Education, 12(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40536-024-00212-z

Brevik, L. M. (2019). Explicit reading strategy instruction or daily use of strategies? Studying the teaching of reading comprehension through naturalistic classroom observation in English L2. Reading and Writing, 32(9), 2281–2310. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-09951-w

Cheung, A., & Hennebry-Leung, M. (2023). Exploring an ESL teachers’ beliefs and practices of teaching literary texts: A case study in Hong Kong. Language Teaching Research, 27(1), 181–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820933447

Dang, T. V. A., Haworth, P., & Ashton, K. (2024). Pre-service teachers’ belief changes in an English for specific purposes teacher education context. English for Specific Purposes, 73, 110–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2023.10.009

Fan, L., Cheng, J., Xie, S., Luo, J., Wang, Y., & Sun, Y. (2021). Are textbooks facilitators or barriers for teachers’ teaching and instructional change? An investigation of secondary mathematics teachers in Shanghai, China. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 53(6), 1313–1330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-021-01306-6

Farrell, T. S. C. (2018). Reflective Practice for Language Teachers. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching (pp. 1–6). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0873

Farrell, T. S. C. (2025). Reflective Practice for Language Teachers. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching (pp. 1–7). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0873.pub2

Farrell, T. S. C., & Guz, M. (2019). The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language “If I Wanted To Survive I Had To Use It”: The Power of Teacher Beliefs on Classroom Practices. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 22(4), 1–17.

Farrell, T. S. C., & Yang, D. (2019). Exploring an EAP Teacher’s Beliefs and Practices in Teaching L2 Speaking: A Case Study. RELC Journal, 50(1), 104–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688217730144

Fukuda, M., Fukaya, T., & Kusumi, T. (2024). Differences and Relationships Between Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs and Teaching Strategies Used at Different School Levels in Japan. Sage Open, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241281852

Gao, Y., Qin, L., & Gu, Q. (2022). Unpacking language teacher beliefs, agency, and resilience in the complex, unprecedented time: A mixed-method study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.958003

Habte, A., Bishaw, A., & Lechissa, M. (2021). Beyond policy narratives: exploring the role of pedagogical beliefs in classroom practices of secondary school Civics and Ethical Education teachers. Smart Learning Environments, 8(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-021-00171-w

Hassen, S. K., Adugna, E. T., & Bogale, Y. N. (2024). EFL students’ writing achievement via the execution of scaffolding strategies instruction. System, 125, 103439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2024.103439

John Lofland, & Lyn H. Lofland. (1984). THIRD EDITION SETTINGS A GUIDE TD QUALITATIVE DBSERVATIDN ND ANALYSIS John Lofland.

Llovet Vilà, X., & Nyström, F. (2023). Teacher cognition about oral skill development in the foreign language classroom: A literature review from Norway and Sweden. Nordic Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 11(1), 118–139. https://doi.org/10.46364/njltl.v11i1.1025

Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444817000350

Macaro, E., Tian, L., & Chu, L. (2020). First and second language use in English medium instruction contexts. Language Teaching Research, 24(3), 382–402. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818783231

Martinez, M. I., Díaz Lara, G., & Whitney, C. R. (2025). The role of teacher beliefs in teacher learning and practice: implications for meeting the needs of English learners/emergent bilinguals. Language and Education, 39(3), 717–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2024.2362305

Miles, Matthew B. Huberman, A. Michael Saldana, J. (n.d.). No Title.

Miller, R., & Brewer, J. (2015). Naturalistic Inquiry. In The A-Z of Social Research. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412986281.n232

Mitchell, V.-W., Harvey, W. S., & Wood, G. (2022). Where does all the ‘ know how ’ go? The role of tacit knowledge in research impact. Higher Education Research & Development, 41(5), 1664–1678. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1937066

Molway, L., Arcos, M., & Macaro, E. (2022). Language teachers’ reported first and second language use: A comparative contextualized study of England and Spain. Language Teaching Research, 26(4), 642–670. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820913978

Muliyah, P., & Aminatun, D. (2020). Teaching English for Specific Purposes in Vocational High School: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices. JET (Journal of English Teaching), 6(2), 122–133. https://doi.org/10.33541/jet.v6i2.1756

Nguyen, L. T., Hung, B. P., Duong, U. T. T., & Le, T. T. (2021). Teachers’ and Learners’ Beliefs About Pronunciation Instruction in Tertiary English as a Foreign Language Education. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.739842

Rahmiadji, A., Hendardi, H., Meilani, Z. F., & Fajriah, Y. N. (2023). TEACHER’S SCAFFOLDING IN ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING BY USING SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION IN UNIVERSITY LEVEL. English Education and Applied Linguistics Journal (EEAL Journal), 6(2), 81–86. https://doi.org/10.31980/eeal.v6i2.48

Schön, D. A. (2017). The Reflective Practitioner. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315237473

Stake, R. E. (1978). The Case Study Method in Social Inquiry. Educational Researcher, 7(2), 5. https://doi.org/10.2307/1174340

Sun, D., & Zhang, Q. (2024). Evolution of Teachers’ Teaching Beliefs About Mathematics in a Teacher Education Program. Behavioral Sciences, 14(10), 934. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14100934

Waluyo, B., & Apridayani, A. (2021). Teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices on the use of video in English language teaching. Studies in English Language and Education, 8(2), 726–744. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v8i2.19214

Wang, L., & Lam, R. (2023). Native English teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching oral communication: A multiple case study in China. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), 679–693. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v12i3.45538

Yang, X., & Wyatt, M. (2021). English for specific purposes teachers’ beliefs about their motivational practices and student motivation at a Chinese university. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 11(1), 41–70. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2021.11.1.3

Zheyu, L., Weijin, C., Jihui, Z., Yuan, W., Ghani, U., & Zhai, X. (2021). Investigating the Influence of Tacit Knowledge Transformation Approach on Students’ Learning Ability. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647729

Downloads

Published

2025-11-30

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 4 Nopember (2025): Didaktika Jurnal Kependidikan

Section

Articles

License

Dengan mengirimkan naskah artikel, berarti penulis setuju dengan segala kebijakan yang ditetapkan oleh jurnal dan penerbit.

Penulis menyatakan bahwa:

  • kebijakan ini telah diketahui dan disetujui bersama oleh semua penulis;
  • naskah artikel belum dipublikasikan secara resmi sebelumnya di media ber-ISSN atau ber-ISBN yang terdaftar, kecuali dalam bentuk abstrak atau sebagai bagian dari materi kuliah, atau skripsi/tesis/disertasi yang tidak diterbitkan;
  • naskah tidak sedang dalam proses editorial dan dipertimbangkan untuk publikasi di tempat lain;
  • publikasi naskah ini telah disetujui oleh semua penulis, institusi afiliasi penulis, otoritas yang bertanggung jawab, dan lembaga di mana kegiatan telah dilakukan;
  • naskah berisi materi yang aman dari pelanggaran hak cipta;

Perjanjian Hak Cipta dan Lisensi

  • Penulis memiliki hak cipta dan hak kepemilikan lainnya yang terkait dengan artikel.
  • Penulis memiliki hak dan diizinkan untuk menggunakan substansi artikel untuk karya-karya penulis berikutnya, termasuk untuk keperluan bahan/materi kuliah dan buku.
  • Penulis menyerahkan hak publikasi pertama kepada jurnal dengan di bawah Lisensi Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Pernyataan Lisensi CC BY 4.0

Anda diperbolehkan:

  • Berbagi — menyalin dan menyebarluaskan kembali materi ini dalam bentuk atau format apapun;
  • Adaptasi — menggubah, mengubah, dan membuat turunan dari materi ini untuk kepentingan apapun, termasuk kepentingan komersial.

Pemberi lisensi tidak dapat mencabut ketentuan di atas sepanjang Anda mematuhi ketentuan lisensi berikut ini.

  • Atribusi — Anda harus mencantumkan nama yang sesuai, mencantumkan tautan terhadap lisensi, dan menyatakan bahwa telah ada perubahan yang dilakukan. Anda dapat melakukan hal ini dengan cara yang sesuai, namun tidak mengisyaratkan bahwa pemberi lisensi mendukung Anda atau penggunaan Anda.
  • Tidak ada pembatasan tambahan — Anda tidak dapat menggunakan ketentuan hukum atau sarana kontrol teknologi yang secara hukum membatasi orang lain untuk melakukan hal-hal yang diizinkan lisensi ini.

How to Cite

Imanda, S. R., Niamika El Khoiri, & Sari Karmina. (2025). Reflective ESP Practice: Teachers’ Beliefs, Methods, and Negotiating Institutional Realities. Didaktika: Jurnal Kependidikan, 14(4 Nopember), 7233-7248. https://doi.org/10.58230/27454312.3099