Articles

Speaking Skills Development in Indonesian Senior High School: A Mixed Methods Needs Analysis of Student Preferences, Challenges, and Teacher Support

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Despite widespread recognition of speaking proficiency as central to English language learning, senior high school students in Indonesia continue to exhibit significant difficulties in oral communication, and the specific preferences, challenges, and support needs driving these difficulties remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates two interrelated questions: (1) what types of learning activities do students prefer to enhance their speaking skills, and (2) what challenges do students encounter in learning English speaking skills, and what teacher support do they identify as most beneficial? A convergent mixed-methods design was employed, integrating quantitative data from a 25-item Likert-scale questionnaire administered to 15 students across five needs analysis dimensions Target Situation Analysis (TSA), Present Situation Analysis (PSA), Learning Needs (LN), Learners’ Wants (LW), and Learning Preferences (LP) with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews conducted with five purposively selected participants. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics; qualitative data underwent systematic thematic analysis following Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña’s (2020) interactive model. Findings revealed that students demonstrated Very High awareness of speaking importance (TSA M = 4.78) while simultaneously recognising significant deficiencies in current proficiency (PSA M = 3.83), particularly vocabulary limitations (M = 4.00) and difficulty expressing ideas fluently (M = 3.93). Students articulated strong learning needs (LN M = 4.41), prioritising frequent oral practice (M = 4.53), immediate constructive feedback (M = 4.40), and teacher modelling. Qualitative analysis identified six themes: linguistic challenges, affective barriers, peer influence, classroom contextual factors, out-of-class environmental factors, and desired teacher support. The consistent convergence of quantitative and qualitative strands strengthens the validity of the findings and generates evidence-based implications for speaking instruction design, teacher professional development, and curriculum policy in Indonesian EFL contexts.​

Between Readiness and Reality: EFL Teachers’ Deep Learning Implementation in Indonesia’s Merdeka Curriculum Amid Remote-Region Constraints

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This study investigates the readiness of EFL teachers in Toraja, a geographically remote region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, to implement the Deep Learning approach within Indonesia’s Merdeka Curriculum, and examines the systemic, pedagogical, student-related, and infrastructural challenges they encounter during implementation.A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed, involving six purposively selected junior secondary school EFL teachers. Quantitative data were collected through a validated 20-item questionnaire measuring four readiness dimensions (pedagogical, technological, psychological, and institutional) on a five-point Likert scale, analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis within Miles and Huberman’s interactive framework. Quantitative results revealed Very High overall teacher readiness (M = 4.28, SD = 0.470), with pedagogical and psychological readiness achieving Very High categorization (M = 4.40 each) and technological and institutional readiness achieving High categorization (M = 4.20 and 4.13 respectively). Four of six teachers (66.7%) were classified as Very High readiness. However, qualitative analysis identified four major challenge themes that systematically constrain implementation: (1) systemic institutional constraints inadequate sporadic professional development, rigid curriculum structures, and heavy administrative burden; (2) pedagogical instructional difficulties severe time constraints, challenges implementing inquiry and reflection phases, and authentic assessment design gaps; (3) student-related barriers uneven readiness, limited EFL vocabulary, passive learning habits, and cultural deference norms; and (4) infrastructure and technological limitations limited shared devices, unstable internet, and forced pedagogical regression reducing deep learning quality by up to 50%. This study reveals a critical readiness-reality gap: teachers demonstrate high internal readiness, yet face substantial external constraints that systematically undermine implementation quality. The findings contribute evidence-based insights to the emerging literature on Deep Learning implementation in under-resourced Indonesian EFL contexts and offer targeted recommendations for teachers, school leaders, district authorities, and national policymakers to achieve sustainable implementation in Toraja and comparable remote regions.​