摘要：Teaching English as a Foreign Language is challenging. The body of literature
has addressed the issue of the current challenges in teaching English as a
Foreign Language. However, only a few studies have investigated the issue in
remote areas of Indonesia. This qualitative study investigates the current
challenges in teaching English in the least-developed region of Indonesia
based on the following criteria: language comprehension, method and
approach, practical implementation, and socio-cultural environment. The data
were collected from four English lecturers in one of the teaching universities
in Indonesia. The participants were selected using purposive sampling
technique. The data were collected using in-depth interview and field
observation which were then analyzed descriptively. The results of the study
reveal that the participants have to deal with several obstacles in teaching
English. Those obstacles include the students’ low proficiency of language
comprehension, limited resources of materials, a communication gap between
lecturers and students, students’ lack of enthusiasm and participation in
learning and lack of environmental support from society. From the
observation, the participants show that the challenges are mitigated by
adjusting their choice of pedagogical instruction and learning materials
according to students’ level of language comprehension. The study suggests
that infrastructure development is strongly essential to establish a good
teaching environment. Besides, creating positive understanding and paradigm
about the sanctity of learning English for students might be able to help the
students’ to study English better.
关键词：TEFL; Teaching
Challenges; The LeastDevelop
Region
