Attitudes of Pre-Service EFL Teachers Toward Research

Abstract

This paper discusses the findings of a study carried out to investigate the attitudes of undergraduate pre-service EFL teachers toward research in English Language Teaching (ELT). The respondents were 38 fourth year students of the English Education Study Program (ETSP) of the Christian University of Indonesia, Jakarta. They had just finished conducting researches they need to write their ‘skripsi' when this study was carried out. Questionnaire responses supplemented by interview data were analyzed to understand the respondents' (1) views on research training in ETSP, ELT research in general and its role in the undergraduate program and their future career as English teachers; (2) attitudes toward research (including research methods and topics preference and the most problematic research components), and (3) confidence to do research. Findings indicated that the majority of the respondents were positive toward the overall concept of research in ELT. Classroom action research and survey appeared to be the most preferred methods, while the most favored topics to study were teaching strategies and media and learners' attitudinal factor. At the end of this paper, implications and recommendations for future research are presented.