1. Rationale: the Introduction to Research class introduced us to Parables of Halcom.

In one of the
strips, a guy tells Halcom that he wants to do a research but doesn’t know what topic to do.
Halcom then said, “What is your obsession?”. At first I was going to do another topic but the
deeper I went into the semester, the more I felt that I am not obsessed with my topic. However,
at the same time, I develop an obsession to another topic: native speakerism. The reason is
because I feel that it is eye-opening to me, it made me realize that I am also to blame in
perpetuating this ideology. I then recognize that spreading this awareness in my country is
crucial.

2. So my questions for this study are:

1. What is Indonesian English teachers' understanding of native speakerism in central and

peripheral areas of Indonesia? – because I want to know whether there is difference between
the teachers in the central areas (which in my opinion are more affected by Western
perspective) and the peripheral areas (which are not so affected by Western point of view). So I
need to prove this.
2. How is their teaching philosophy informed by their understanding of native speakerism?
I need to interview them about their practices to see how much they are influenced by native
speakerism.

3. A brief literature review:

Theories in linguistics has placed native speakers as the only reliable source of linguistic
knowledge shaping the construct of native speaker as an “ideal speaker-listener, in a completely
homogeneous speech-community” (Chomsky, 1965, p. 3).
• Standards used in research in the attempts to craft English teaching methods and achievement
tests still relies heavily on the native speaker perspective, aiming to gain native-speaker-like
proficiency, overlooking the unique resource of L2 learners (Cook, 1999)
• Nativization Vs Decolonation, the process of marginalization and the practice of self-
marginalization (Kumaravadivelu, 2003)
• Evidences of Native Speakerism in Indonesia: studies by Zacharias (2003) and Tanasale (2013).
In Zacharias’ study, it is found that tertiary English teachers in the central areas of Indonesia
prefer resource materials from English-speaking countries and bring up mostly anglo-saxon
culture in their teaching. Tanasale, on the other hand, studying tertiary English teachers in a
peripheral area in Indonesia, found that the teachers still rely heavily on native speaker norms.
As stated by two of the participants, “if something was accepted by a NNS it did not mean that a
NS would agree with it.” (Tanasale, 2013). Which means the consent from native speakers of the
language is very important to them.
• The gaps in these studies that I would like to fill: 1. the areas that they cover are limited, so we
can’t generalize the result. I need to cover both central and peripheral areas for the study. 2.
The lengths of teaching experience in both studies do not vary much. I would like to include
teachers with different lengths of experience. 3. I would also like to investigate through the
interviews, the use of L1 in their classrooms. 4. Zacharias used survey in her study, and Tanasale
used focused group study. I would like to do individual interviews to get them to be more open.
 4. Qualitative Approach – individual interviews
Research Site: two from java, 1 from Bali, one from sumatera, 1 borneo, 1 celebes
Participants: three tertiary English teachers from central and three from peripheral
• Interview Questions:

1. What is your understanding of English norms or standard English?

2. Why is English used instead of other languages?

3. What philosophy of language do you teach your students?

4. Has your past academic background influenced the way you perceive English norms

and Standard English?

5. How do you perceive “ideal English”?

6. Do you expect your students' language proficiency to develop to be as close to a native

speaker's proficiency as possible? (if yes, what practices do you engage in that helps your

students sound like native speakers?)

7. Do you correct your students when they do not employ English norms or standard

English?

8. Which textbook would you prefer for your teaching material: the ones published in

Indonesia or the ones published in English-speaking countries? Why?

9. Do you allow your students to use their mother tongue during classroom learning? If

yes, to what degree? If no, why?

The individual interviews will be recorded and transcribed before analyzed and discussed.

• Participants recruitment: I will use my connection as a Fulbright scholar to connect with other
Indonesian Fulbright scholars, request for contact information and ask the prospective
participants’ permission to interview them via skype.
 • Data analysis and interpretation: use Values Coding method to analyze the qualitative data
gathered from the individual interviews, since I am looking at to find in the data the reflection
of “participant’s values, attitudes, and beliefs, representing his or her perspectives or worldview.
… a value is the importance we attribute to oneself, another person, thing, or idea. “The greater
the personal meaning [of something to someone], the greater the personal payoff; the greater
the personal payoff, the greater the personal value” (Saldaña,1995,p.28). An attitude is the way
we think and feel about oneself, another person, thing, or idea. Attitudes are part of “a relatively
enduring system of evaluative, affective reactions based upon and reflecting the evaluative
concepts or beliefs, which have been learned” (Shaw &Wright, 1967, p. 3).” (as quoted in
Saldana 2009, p. 89). Following Saldana's coding manual, this grounded theory study analysis
will be done thematically, consisting of central themes and subthemes. Repeating and/or
interesting themes, similarities and differences in participants' transcripts will be identified and
highlighted to find salience. From these, potential themes will be generated and then turned
into more defined themes. Then, a clearer analysis will be generated.

 Reliability and Validity: To ensure the validity of my analysis, I have to make sure that
there is minimum perceptual mismatch between the participants and myself. I will
constantly check and recheck whether we have similar definitions of the terms we use in
the discussion or interviews (Creswell, 2014, p. 201). To maintain reliability, the whole
process should be dependable and consistent, which means I have to maintain
consistency of wording in questions and to make sure that they are clear to the
participants. The participants will be given a copy of the questions before the discussion
is started.

 Transferability: it is expected that the result of this study is more generalizable than the
previous studies.
Ethical Considerations and Limitations: To protect participants' anonymity and advocate
confidentiality, their identities, personal data, and transcribed discussion will be carefully
managed. Pseudonyms will be used in place of their real names, in the transcribed data as well as
in the analysis. Participants will also be informed of their rights to refuse to answer certain
question or to not allow certain information to be published. I will explain to them that this
discussion is a good opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices and the tremendous effect
that they have over their students. It will also give them the opportunity to share different point
of views with their fellow participants from different areas.
I have to acknowledge that to certain extent I carry bias into this research that come from my
understanding of the reading materials presented in the classroom during my study at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, that resonates with my background as a nonnative speaker of
English. Thus, such background inevitably affects my positionality and interpretation in this
study. Therefore, I have to state to my participants that their genuine answers are the ones that I
expect to gain. However, I am interested to see if my methods yield contrasting result or if
changes have occurred that makes my study findings different from those of the previous study
(Zacharias, 2003 and Tanasale, 2013) however slightly it is.