EDUKASI: JURNAL PENDIDIKAN DAN PENGAJARAN

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Volume 10| Number 2|Dec 2023|

TEACHING ENGLISH IN RURAL AREAS: A CLOSER LOOK INTO

TEACHERS’ CHALLENGES
HERIZAL
Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Fatah, Palembang
Corresponding author: herizal_uin@radenfatah,ac.id

LENNY MARZULINA, DIAN ERLINA, MUHAMAD HOLANDYAH, BUDI ARSUH AMELIA

Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Fatah, Palembang

HIKMAH ZALIFAH PUTRI

Universitas Islam Negeri Malang, Malang

Abstract

Teaching English in rural areas remains several significant challenges. This study aimed to
explore the challenges encountered by English teachers in South Sumatera, Indonesia when
teaching in such environments. The research design employed for this investigation was
qualitative, utilizing a case study approach. Two English language teachers from the specified
region participated in this study. The research data were gathered through semi-structured
interviews with open-ended questions. Subsequently, the interview data were analyzed using
thematic analysis. This research revealed six distinct challenges faced by the teachers in
teaching English. These challenges include: (1) inadequate infrastructure, (2) insufficient
learning facilities, (3) inadequate learning resources, (4) low proficiency in English, (5)
unfavorable teaching conditions, and (6) limited opportunities for teacher development.
Addressing these challenges is crucial to create a positive environment for effective teaching
and learning English in rural areas.

Keywords: English teachers, rural area, teaching challenges, teaching English

Manuscript submitted: August 28, 2023

Manuscript revised: October 25, 2023
Accepted for publication: December 09, 2023

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Introduction

Education is a process that is carried out by someone to learn and know various things, both
in formal lessons and lessons related to the surrounding social environment. Therefore, Naziev
(2017) speculates that education is the socially controlled and regulated process of continual
transmission of socially meaningful experiences from previous generations to subsequent
generations. In general, education is constantly linked to the delivery of skills, the dissemination of
knowledge, and the internalization of value (Idris, Hassan, Ya'acob, Gill, & Awal, 2012). Thus,
education should be one of the key components in our society that might help to build our
generation.On that account, education is one of our most powerful weapons for changing the world
and enlightening ourselves (Thangeda, Baratiseng, & Mompati, 2016). Undoubtedly, education
occupies an important role to possibly let people achieve their dreams and maintain a brighter future
and that education is such a really important aspect for many countries around the globe.
However, it might still become a challenge for a developing country like Indonesia to make
the education function as expected since the current condition of the education is below standard.
Some organizations like UNESCO and UNICEF (2015) even found that more than one in ten
Indonesian students do not finish primary school, and the national gross enrolment ratio in lower
secondary education is 89 percent. Besides, in terms of education ranking PISA results confirmed
Indonesia's low ranking only positioned in no. 68 out of 74 countries.
One of the efforts made by the government is to improve the 2013 curriculum in the form of
developing the Curriculum Merdeka to meet new challenges for Indonesian education in the future.
Based on the national curriculum in Indonesia, students must have extensive knowledge,
technological literacy, and language skills (Duda, 2019). Therefore, language is one of the potential
skills today and in the future. The function of language is an essential part of human life to assist and
to get the context of what is being discussed is confirmed by many scholars. According to Amberg
and Vause (2009), language is the primary means of communication, and communication almost
always occurs within the context of social life.
Through language, people can display their point of view, our understanding of the situation,
the nation's and state's origins, our degree of education, our character, and even our language can be
a reflection of us, both as a nation and as individuals (Rabiah, 2018). Accordingly, in this era of
globalization, the importance of language is to connect people from various countries. People
worldwide agree to get one of the languages in common to communicate one to another and that
English becomes the most prominent language. According to Reddy, Mahavidyalaya, and Hyderabad
(2016), English is very important in education, business, media and entertainment, job search,
information, and international relations, and it is especially widely used in official communications
and international communication. Therefore, many countries are teaching and encouraging children
to learn English (Nishanthi, 2018). Next, the Indonesian government also considered it is important.
In Indonesia, English is the first foreign language that considered as one of the subjects in school. In
fact, English is placed as a compulsory subject for students (Marzulina, Pitaloka, Herizal, Holandyah,
Erlina, & Lestari, 2018). Even more, English is also becoming a medium used as instruction in
schools and universities (Lauder, 2010).
However, teaching English as a foreign language has become a serious problem related several
factors affecting. As stated by Pereira, Almeida and Marcelino (2008), teaching English in Indonesia
has undergone many curriculum changes, but this has had no significant impact on students’
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learning achievement, and even the English skills of students in Indonesia have relatively poor.
Teaching English become more difficult since most students are uninterested in learning English
and are only concerned with passing the course (Khajloo, 2013). Even more, students are unwilling
and unmotivated to learn English because they do not see the urgency needed to use the language
(Souriyavongsa, Rany, Abidin, & Mei, 2013). In addition, the phenomena about teaching is getting
worse in school that located in rural area.
In rural regions, the quality of English education is still in question. According to Yuwono
(2015) as cited in Sulistiyo (2015), in rural regions, English teaching and learning is not optimal.
Rural schools do not provide as many opportunities for students to learn English as urban schools
do. There is very little information available about English. As a consequence, students do not know
English well in their daily lives, which causes a lack of enthusiasm for learning the language. Even
after years of learning, most students do not know, avoid, or respond adequately to how to deal with
the process of learning a foreign language, and only a few students have used a range of tactics,
succeeded, and understood English lessons. Besides that, other obstacles in rural schools, such as
insufficient facilities for teaching and learning activities, made teaching and learning more difficult
(Febriana, Nurkamto, Rochsantiningsih, and Muhtia, 2018). Regarding the problem above, teachers
in rural areas must be concerned and find ideas to solve many problems when teaching English. As a
result, teachers in rural schools have difficulties teaching English there.
Previously, some researchers have conducted similar studies. Febriana, Nurkamto,
Rochsantiningsih, and Muhtia (2018) in their research, found that the challenges faced by teachers in
teaching english in rural Indonesia is dealing with learning resources, barrier language, student
competence. Meanwhile, Endriyati, Prabowo, Abasa, and Akmal (2019) in their research in Sindh,
Pakistan, found that the factors that significantly impact the ESL learning process for students in
rural areas are the rural environment and the unsupported behavior of parents. Then, Hadidi,
Abdelkhaliq and Elomarabi (2020) in their research, found several factors that cause difficulties for
students when learning English in rural areas, namely: rural backgrounds, agriculture, the
uneducated, poverty, and parents who do not consider education important in their environment.
The conditions above were still found in several areas in Indonesia, including the area where
we conducted a preliminary study. A preliminary study was conducted by interviewing one of the
English teachers in a rural area in Sumatera Selatan, Indonesia. Based on the interview, the teacher
said that teaching English in rural areas was still problematic, as seen from the many obstacles that
she faced when teaching English. In addition, the teacher considered that the process of teaching
and learning English in rural areas is quite difficult and challenging. Therefore, it is important for us
to investigate the teaching challenges faced by the English teachers in this rural area.

Literature Review

English and teaching English in Indonesia

Currently, English is the most popular foreign language in Indonesia. The English language
learning curriculum, in Indonesian schools supported by the Ministry of National Education of the
Republic of Indonesia, which is carried out from elementary to high school. However, several
problems were identified since English is not a priority in the current curricula, especially on
elementary level, which makes the learning as what was expected and is far from the standards.

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The teaching and learning process is an activity that involves interaction between teachers and
students. According to Harmer (2007), teaching is the transmission of information from teacher to
student in a position that the students learn something for themselves. Therefore, it can be said that
teaching is the process of conveying knowledge to students. Teaching and learning are two
processes that complement one another. Brown (2000) defines learning as the process of acquiring
new knowledge and skills. In addition, to Kaufman (2004), learning is a mental development process
that involves the subconscious, each of which is built on previous learning experiences. Learning,
according to the above definition, is a process of developing oneself with knowledge (both prior and
new knowledge) and competence.
Teachers play an essential role in developing students' intellectual and social development
throughout their reproductive years. One of the things that can determine the future of these
students is the education they get. In this case, the teacher has a role as a facilitator or individual
instruction in order to help students learn to acquire knowledge by applying concepts in the subject.
According to Harmer (2007), there are five teachers' roles :
• Controller, the teacher plays an important role in controlling the class, such as when a new
language is introduced and pay attention to what students are like, what students do, what
students say and how they say it, so that using accurate reproduction and drilling techniques
is necessary.
• Prompter, in an activity, the teacher encourages students to participate, such as showing a
show, giving suggestions for the performance, supervising and notifying if students are stuck
or forgetting, with notes if needed.
• Participant, when in an activity, the teacher takes a role in it. This can affect the
improvement of the atmosphere in the classroom.
• Resource, teachers are compared to a learning resource center in that they are willing to help
students whenever they need it and provide lessons in whatever language they can to carry
out communicative activities with their students.
• Tutor, when the teacher serves as a tutor, the teacher provides direction, advice, and
guidance to students, as well as assist them in clarifying ideas and limiting assignment.

Challenges in teaching English in rural area

There are several factors that caused challenges in teaching English as fallow: (1) Teacher
factors such as lack of teachers training, limited teaching methodologies, difficulties in implementing
appropriate teaching methods, lack of English material, and teacher lack of experience with IT. (2)
Student factors such as lack of vocabulary mastery, lack of family support, lack of concentration,
inconsistent discipline, boredom and anxiety issues. (3) School factors such as a lack of facilities and
equipment, and bad management of the school.
The term "rural area" is complex to describe. According to Jackson, Doescher, Jerant, and
Hart (2005), rural areas are defined as a term that denotes a pastoral landscape, a demographic
structure with a unique settlement pattern, a place that has a low population, a different sociocultural
environment, and a place that is isolated or far from urban areas. Furthermore, Eckert and Alsup
(2014) define rural in three ways: fringe, distant, and remote. A census-defined fringe is defined as
territory that is less than or equal to 5 miles from an urbanized area, as well as a rural region that is
less than or equal to 2.5 miles from an urban cluster. Distant rural territory is defined by the Census

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Bureau as being more than 5 miles but less than or equal to 25 miles away from urban areas, as well
as rural territory that is more than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban cluster.
Teaching English in rural areas has its own atmosphere for teachers. According to Monk
(2007), the teaching environment in a rural school is uniquely different. In the context of EFL
classrooms, teaching in rural schools presents many obstacles to teachers. Sadek (2002) stated EFL
teachers in a rural school encountered some barriers to implementing English as a subject in the
school's curriculum. Moreover, the lack of information and communication technology has become
a problem for EFL teachers who consider using advanced technology such as a slide projector,
computer, video conference, language lab, and the Internet (Mishra, 2015). Additionally, EFL
teachers require proper planning before teaching, as well as the use of various approaches to teach
English to EFL learners (Barrow & Burchet, 2000). It can be concluded that the teaching process in
rural schools is interesting and challenging for teachers because of the many limitations in all
aspects.

Difficulties in Teaching English in rural area

There are several factors that caused the difficulties in teaching and learning English in rural
areas, that would be discuss are infrastructure and facilities, students’ motivation, teachers’
competence and parents’ mindset. Facilities and infrastructure are essential to support the teaching
and learning process more efficiently. Unfortunately, in rural areas, facilities and infrastructure
become an impediment for teachers and students. Thus, Febriana et al. (2018) stated that in rural
Indonesian schools, the majority of teaching and learning takes place in schools with inadequate
facilities. Similarly, Vito and Krisnani, (2015) also stated inadequate infrastructure, leaky classrooms,
and broken or unsustainable school benches are some of the barriers to teaching and learning
activities in rural areas.
Students' motivation becomes one of the challenges in teaching English in rural areas.
According to Eckert and Alsup (2014), the most difficult challenge for an English language teacher
in rural Indonesia is dealing with students who don't even care, students who lack the basic
knowledge skills required to begin the lesson, or students who give up and lose their attention easily.
Students' low motivation to learn is caused by two factors: internal factors such as student learning
attitudes, concentration, and learning habits, and external factors such as intrinsic students
themselves (Roinah, 2019).
A teacher is one of the main components that play a role in the progress of the nation's
children. Teachers are mandated to be able to make changes for students so that they are
enthusiastic and focused on learning through their qualities as educators. According to UNICEF
Indonesia (2016) as cited in Febriana et al. (2018) also stated that teachers in suburban and rural
areas lack training and support. Basically, the characteristics of an ideal teacher in a rural or small
area are as follows: 1. Be certified and able to teach a variety of subjects. 2. Capable of supervising a
variety of school extracurricular activities. 3. Capable of teaching students with varying levels of
ability in the classroom. 4. Capable of overcoming students' different cultures in a single session and
increasing their awareness of the greater community. 5. Capable of adapting to the community's
unique characteristics in areas such as social opportunities, daily habits, and commercial areas
(Schouten, Van der Heide, Heijman, & Opdam, 2012). In addition, related to the lack of competent
teachers in rural areas, this results in learning in schools in rural areas also lagging behind.

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Many parents in rural areas do not really direct their children to education, especially in
learning English. Therefore, many children are too lazy to study and even drop out of school
because it is important for their parents that they work and earn money. Similarly, Nielsen (2015)
stated that some students were required to work in a field or in a market and then missed class. In
addition, the parents' mindset has an influence on the learning process in children.

Methodology

Research design, research site, and sample

The purpose of this study was to investigate the teaching challenges faced by English
teachers in rural areas. As a result, the research design used in this study was qualitative. According
to Creswell (2014), in qualitative research, we sought to understand the phenomena from the
perspective of the participants. In this study, qualitative research with a case study approach was
used to determine the phenomena encountered by teachers in teaching English in rural areas,
specifically at a high school in a rural area in Sumatera Selatan and to identify teachers' difficulties in
teaching English in rural areas.
The research was conducted in a school in one of the rural areas in Sumatera Selatan,
Indonesia. The participants in this study were two English language teachers. Purposive sampling
applied to select the participants in this study. We chose the participants by considering the
characteristics such as English teachers in rural areas, having more than five years of teaching
experience, and having the status of permanent teachers. In addition, two English teachers were
chosen based on the characteristics above and they would provide a useful information about the
difficulties.

Data collection and analysis

Data from interviews were analyzed to determine teachers' challenges in teaching English in
rural area. The data were analyzed by using a thematic analysis in this study as part of the analysis.
The thematic analysis was applied in this research in order to explore what really happens in a
phenomenon. There are five steps in analyzing qualitative data using thematic analysis. First, we
organized and prepared the data for analysis. Second, read through all of the data. Third, coded all of
the data. The data were organized into tables based on the topics (themes and codes) to connect
them and obtain significant results from the data analysis. Fourth, we compared the findings. Finally,
we clearly interpreted the qualitative research findings about the difficulties encountered by teachers
at the research site in teaching English. As a result, we drew conclusions from these findings to
finally discover the challenges in teaching English in rural areas.

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Findings and Discussion

Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English in rural area

After analyzing the interview data, we discovered some challenges that teachers faced when
teaching English in rural areas. The following were the themes and code analyses obtained from the
qualitative data provided by the deep interviews:

Table 1. Themes and codes for teachers’ difficulties in teaching English in rural area

No. Themes Codes

1. Insufficient infrastructure A. The teacher stated that the infrastructure at the school is
still not sufficient.
B. The teacher told that the electricity situation there was still
often problematic.
C. The teacher claimed that the electricity capacity of the
school could not afford to use electic devices.
D. The teacher said that the internet connection in that
school was not stable.
2. Inadequate learning facilities A. The teacher told that there is only one speaker for
learning activities in that school.
B. The teacher explained that the schools do not provide
WIFI for teachers that can be accessed at any time.
3. Insufficient learning resources A. The teacher explained that the school still lacks textbooks,
which means many students do not have them because
many books are missing and they must share and use them
with their friends or borrow one from another class.
4. Low proficiency in English A. The teacher assumed that the students' ability in that
school is still very low, even though they have difficulties
understanding basic material such as pronouns and
vocabulary.
B. The teacher claimed that there are only five students in
every class who can understand (but not master) the
material in English.
5. Unfavorable teaching A. The teacher said that they are passive and rarely use
conditions English because they do not have opportunities to practice
it.
B. The teacher explained that the conditions and situations at
the school do not support the use of English during the
teaching and learning process.
6. Limited opportunities for A. The teacher (an honorary teacher) has stated that she has
teacher development never attended a teacher training meeting even though she
has joined the group because it was prioritized for teachers
who were civil servants.

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Insufficient infrastructure

Based on the interview data, it was discovered that some of the challenges for teachers when
teaching English in rural areas were related to a lack of infrastructure. Infrastructure plays an
important role in the teaching process. Adequate infrastructure can help teachers carry out an
effective and efficient teaching and learning process. However, most of the schools in rural areas are
constrained by infrastructure, especially the ones that were researched. It is supported by the
statement from English teacher. W1 said, that “In my opinion, it is not sufficient enough, as the
infrastructure and facilities in this school is not complete yet”. Then, W2 said, “In my opinion, it is
not enough. There are still many shortcomings in infrastructure such as limited tools for teaching
and learning activities”.
Furthermore, the electricity in that school also became a challenge in teaching and learning,
unless it was English or another subject. As we all know, in the twenty-first century, electricity plays
a critical role in all aspects of life including education. Almost everything in this world requires
electricity to function. Unfortunately, electricity was still an issue at that school. It is supported by
the participant, W1 said that “this school also often has electricity outage for almost all day long and
sometimes couldn’t afford other electric devices”. Moreover, “We often have difficulty when using
electronic equipment such as projector during learning activities. Sometimes, the electricity couldn’t
afford it, let alone electricity outage which happened most of the time. In my opinion, this interferes
the teaching and learning process”.
Moreover, English teachers in that school have difficulties related to the internet connection.
Having a stable Internet connection can help teachers explore anything that can support their
teaching and learning processes. In fact, the internet connection at that school was still problematic.
It is explained by the participant, W1 stated, “Actually, the connection in this area is unstable even
when the electricity is on. Whenever the electricity is off, I prepare extra time at home, in which the
internet stable enough, to browse extra materials for my students there”. In conclusion, based on
the information provided above, we can conclude that that school still has many infrastructure
shortcomings for teachers that make it difficult for them to have productive and appropriate
teaching and learning processes.

Inadequate learning facilities

Other challenges encountered by the teachers were related to a lack of facilities. Good
facilities were influential for teaching and learning process. Conversely, facilities in the school did
not support for teaching and learning process. It was claimed by the teacher, W1 said that “the
condition of the facilities in this school is still lacking and not complete”. W1 continued, “there is
only 1 speaker in this school and that's not enough, especially when the teachers here want to use it
at the same time”. Meanwhile W2 has declared similar statement, “there are many lack of tools for
teaching and learning activities. This is certainly an obstacle for us teachers or students when
teaching and learning”. More details, W2 said that there was no WIFI for teacher, “No for WIFI,..”.
Thus, W1 added, “there is no WIFI connection which can be freely accessed by the teachers...”.

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Insufficient learning resources

Learning resources are an essential element in teaching and learning activities because they
help teachers deliver teaching materials to students during the teaching and learning process. The
availability of sufficient teaching resources helps teachers and students understand the lessons being
taught. However, a significant problem in rural schools was a lack of learning resources. According
to the statement made by the teacher, W2 said that “No, only partially. Many books are lost or not
returned by students who have graduated. And this has consequences for the next student such as a
lack of books”. Similarly, W1 stated, “Not all, there are some who don't have, because many books
are missing”. Therefore, it was an obstacle for students and also teachers, as W2 confirmed. “As I
said earlier, many students do not have textbooks. This is, of course, a problem during teaching and
learning in the class”. Then, W1 added that “So, sometimes they have difficulties because they have
to borrow their friends' books to study or use their books together”. Likewise, W2 said that “ So,
they need to share it with other friends (1 book is used by several students)”. Because of this, the
teacher suggested they get the book, as W2 said, “I noticed that the students even went to other
classes to borrow books”. In conclusion, this difficulty was largely part of bigger challenges in rural
schools, as highlighted in this current study.

Low proficiency in English

Students’ low English proficiency was another teaching difficulty faced by the teachers. It was
supported by the teachers, W1 assumed that “my opinion, students’ ability in this school is still low”.
Then, W2 said, “They did not understand the material being taught...”. W2 stated, “they even have
difficulties in basic material such as pronouns”. Similarly, W1 confirmed that “Yes, even more so,
they have difficulties with vocabulary and they are too lazy to open the dictionary to understand the
vocabulary” (Interview, September 3, 2022).
Furthermore, English teachers confirmed about students’ skill there. W2 said, “I think the
English skills of the students here are still very low”. W1 also mentioned the same thing, “Actually,
they have difficulties for all those skills but the most difficult skills are listening and speaking”.
Besides that, they also mention about number of students that can understand English material. W1
told that “There are only about 5 students in every class that understand English”. Then W2 added,
“Even in grade 12 there is only 1 student who can quite understand English lessons”. (Interview,
September 3, 2022). Therefore, based on the explanation above, it is possible that an English teacher
had an obstacle when teaching English in relation to student competence.

Unfavorable teaching conditions

Teaching condition is one of factor that can affect teaching activity. However, the conditions
and situations in that school do not support the use of English, so that teachers are passive and
rarely use English in teaching and learning process. It was explained by the participants, W1 stated,
“In my opinion, the teachers are still passive. Maybe they are competent but too shy to use English,
to speak English in front of the students, even with us as an English teacher”. Then, W2 said that
“In my opinion, we don’t have opportunities to practice English, even among us”. More details, W1
added, “may be because the condition and the activity that does not support to use English around
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them”. Furthermore, it was difficult for teachers to develop their English when their environments
did not support them.

Limited opportunities for teacher development

Teacher development is one way to increase teacher innovation in teaching. However,

teachers in that school had fewer opportunities for professional development because teacher
training in that school was prioritized for teachers who were civil servants, so the honorary teacher
never attended a teacher training meeting even though she had joined the group. It was stated by
the teacher, W2 said that “There is an MGMP which is joined by all English teachers in one regency
in South Sumatera. I have never participated in the activities. Actually, all teachers are allowed to
participate but, here, it is prioritized for teachers who are already civil servants. I have never
participated but I joined the group”. Furthermore, the teachers claimed that they have not
experiences of teacher training. As W2 said, “I don't know because I've never been involved in the
activity, so I don't have any experience”. This indicated that the teachers did not have the
opportunity to participate in teacher training programs.

Discussion
The first challenge faced by the teachers was insufficient infrastructure. According to Flacco et
al. (2015), the main barrier to teaching and learning activities in rural areas is inadequate
infrastructure. It is related to the findings that were discovered during the interview session, in which
the teachers mentioned that they have difficulties when teaching and learning activities because the
infrastructure in that school is still lacking, such as the electricity situation, which is still frequently
problematic and the school's electricity capacity means it cannot afford to use electric devices during
learning processes, and they also have problems with the internet connection, which is intermittent.
As a result, insufficient infrastructure may impact the convenience of teachers and students during
the English teaching and learning processes.
The second challenge was a lack of facilities. Fatiloro (2015) stated, a lack of facilities and
equipment makes it difficult for teachers to implement an effective teaching process. It is related to
the findings that were discovered during the interview session, in which the facilities in that school
are deficient, such as having only one speaker for a teacher, which can be a problem when they want
to use it at the same time. Furthermore, despite the fact that it was already known that the
connection in that school was unstable, the school did not provide teachers with access to Wi-Fi
that could be accessed at any time. In short, it is possible to conclude that learning activities could
not be conducted more effectively because the school's facilities were insufficient to support them.
The third challenge was a lack of learning resources. According to Febriana et al. (2018), a
significant issue that teachers in rural Indonesian schools face is a lack of learning resources. It is
related to the findings that were discovered during the interview session, in which learning resources
in that school were still lacking. Based on the teacher's explanation, the school still lacks textbooks,
which means many students do not have them because many books are missing. As a result, they
must share and use them with friends, or borrow one from another class. Thus, teaching English
cannot achieve its objective if the sources are not supported.
The fourth challenge was a low ability in English proficiency. This problem belongs to
students and in teaching and learning activities, the capability of students is an important factor.

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That way, the material taught by the teacher can be well received and understood by the students.
However, Songbatumis (2017) discovered that some difficulties in teaching English can be caused by
students' lack of understanding and mastery of the material. In line with the findings that were
discovered during the interview session, the problem experienced by the teacher there when
teaching English was the lack of understanding and ability of the students. They often experience
difficulties in all skills in English, and they had difficulty understanding the most basic material, such
as vocabulary and pronouns. Even more so, each class only has about five students who are
sufficiently able to understand the process of learning English. Finally, that weakness affects their
ability to be active in the class during the learning process.
The fifth challenge was unfavorable teaching conditions. According to Hasim, Yunus, and
Hasim (2020), the environmental factor is one of the important factors that can impact someone's
lack of English proficiency. An environmental factor explained a lack of support from others and a
lack of opportunities to practice communicating in English (Hasim et al., 2020). It is related to the
findings that were discovered during the interview session, in which the teachers mentioned that the
conditions and situations at the school do not support the use of English during the teaching and
learning process, so that teachers are passive and rarely use English, and they also do not have
opportunities to practice it. As a result, limited opportunities to communicate in English make the
process of becoming proficient in the language more complicated.
The sixth challenge was less opportunities for teacher development. Songbatumis (2017)
stated that one of the difficulties faced by teachers when teaching English is a lack of teacher
training. It is related to the findings that were discovered during the interview session, in which the
English teachers in that school have stated that she has never attended a teacher training meeting
even though she has joined the group because it was prioritized for teachers who were civil servants,
so that she never knew and does not have any experiences about it. In conclusion, not all English
teachers in that school have opportunities to join the activities of teacher training.

Conclusion and Implications

There are six difficulties faced by English teachers when teaching in rural areas. These
challenges include: (1) inadequate infrastructure, (2) a dearth of facilities, (3) insufficient learning
resources, (4) low proficiency in English, (5) unfavorable teaching conditions, and (6) limited
opportunities for teacher development. Hopefully, this research could provide useful information
regarding teachers' challenges in teaching English in rural areas. Addressing those challenges is
crucial to ensure equitable access to quality education. Educational investments in infrastructure,
facilities, learning resources, English language programs, teaching conditions, and teacher
development are needed to create an enabling environment for effective teaching and learning
English in rural areas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors

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