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ELT FORUM 11 (3) (2022) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 

 
http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 

 

Preparing Indonesian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Readiness to Teach through 

Teacher-themed Movies 

 
Harvesto Glory Febriano Jalmav1, Adaninggar Septi Subekti 1 

 
1Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 

 

Article Info 
________________ 
Article History: 
Received on 31 
August 2022 
Approved on November 
26, 2022 
Published on November 
30, 2022 

________________ 
Keywords: Teacher-

themed movies; pre-

service English 

teachers; readiness to 

teach 

____________________ 
 

 

Abstract 
___________________________________________________________________ 
This study aimed at examining the extent of the use of teacher-themed movies in 

preparing Indonesian pre-service English teachers’ readiness to teach and to see the 
perceived effects of movies in preparing the pre-service English teachers’ readiness to 

teach. This study employed a qualitative design with observations and interviews as 
the methods of collecting data. Two classes were observed, Introduction to Education 

and Teaching Profession classes. Interviews were conducted with, as the participants, 

six pre-service English teachers and two lecturers of the observed classes. The 
observation results indicated that movies were used to relate theories and real 

teaching practices. Through Thematic Analysis of the interview data, the study 

found that movies could inspire several pre-service English teachers. Movies 
minimised the gap between theories and practice. Movies helped pre-service teachers 

to see potential problems and obstacles when teaching in a real class. Informed of 
the generally positive impacts of the use of movies, it is suggested that teacher 

education programmes encourage more widespread use of movies to teach teaching-
related classes to better prepare pre-service teachers for various classroom situations. 

 

  
Correspondence Address: p-ISSN 2252-6706 | e-ISSN 2721-4532 

Adaninggar Septi Subekti  

English Language Education Department, Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana 
Jalan dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo 5-25, Yogyakarta, 55224, Indonesia  

E-mail: adaninggar@staff.ukdw.ac.id  



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INTRODUCTION 

Pre-service teachers who will enter the teaching profession might get anxious about their readiness 

as a teacher. A study in Australia by Hemmings and Woodcock (2011) reported some pre-service 

teachers were questioning themselves about their competence and getting anxious about the skills 

and knowledge they had in teaching. Some pre-service teachers might feel that they are not ready. 

Halim et al. (2019) also stated that when pre-service teachers face the actual class, they often feel 

inferior and unsure whether they could handle real class situations. Applying theories learned in 

teacher education programmes into practice sometimes also becomes a challenge for them 

(Tutyandari, 2020). Therefore, pre-service teachers need examples of how theories are implemented 

in real-life scenarios so that they are ready to teach real classes (Elmas et al., 2019).  

Pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach is essential to be considered by the teacher education 

programmes. Straková (2015) in her study involving pre-service English teachers in Slovakia, 

defined teacher readiness as the feeling of being ready for the teaching job with the consideration of 

all aspects and elements contributing to that feeling during pre-service training. In this case, teacher 

education programmes need to prepare their pre-service teachers’ readiness to face the real 

challenges of the teaching profession. There are some aspects other than the content of teaching 

materials that a pre-service teacher must be ready with, for example, readiness to integrate 

technology in class (Cuhadar, 2018; Liza & Andriyanti, 2020) or take leadership roles in the 

teaching profession (Musah & Al-Hudawi, 2020). Teaching as a real teacher has a lot of pressure to 

take in. That is why the readiness of the pre-service teachers needs to be considered before they enter 

the real world of teaching. Unfortunately, some pre-service teachers may not be ready for their 

profession (Corlu et al., 2015), evidenced by the findings of several studies reporting a perceived lack 

of competence in teaching among pre-service teachers (Güngör, 2016; Halim et al., 2019; Polat, 

2010). Regarding this, preparation during the teacher training programmes is paramount 

(Okhremtchouk & Sellu, 2019; Seferoǧlu, 2006).  

Tutyandari (2020) conducted a study exploring Indonesian pre-service English teachers’ 

readiness. Based on the findings in her study, Tutyandari (2020) proposed three components of pre-

service teachers’ readiness. These components can be observed in Figure 1. 

 

 
Figure 1. The components of pre-service teachers' readiness to teach (Tutyandari, 2020) 

 

As seen in Figure 1, the components of pre-service teachers’ readiness, as proposed by 

Tutyandari (2020), are personal foundations involving motivation, beliefs, and attitudes toward the 

teaching profession, formation component which involves the contribution of the teacher education 

programme to pre-service teachers’ feeling of readiness for teaching, and professionalism component 

which involves self-efficacy in teaching, personal self-efficacy, and commitment for teaching. She 

stated that the first component, personal foundations, affects pre-service teachers’ readiness directly 

and affects the process of teacher education. Pre-service teachers’ readiness starts within themselves. 

The second component, formation, is the stage of academic formation that prepares pre-service 

teachers to become teachers. This shows the importance of the teacher education programme in 

connecting the theories pre-service teachers learn and the field practice in the teacher education 



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programme. Finally, the third component, professionalism, show the connectedness between 

academic learning and field practice of the pre-service teachers that influence their perceptions of 

their teaching competencies and self-efficacy. 

The aforementioned suggests the paramount role of teacher education programmes in 

preparing their pre-service teachers’ readiness. Regarding this, various learning media can be utilised 

and one of them is movies. Movies can engage students’ attention and the language used is arguably 

more understandable than what is found in students’ course books (Goctu, 2017). Elmas et al. (2019) 

argued that movies can give pre-service teachers ideas on how to behave when the pre-service 

teachers face similar situations as the ones shown in the movies, indicating that movies could 

portray the situations that may happen in an actual classroom situation.  

Movies have been used in many various contexts, for example, in Turkey (Elmas et al., 2019; 

Gezer, 2020; Kaşkaya & Ünlü, 2011; Kontaş, 2016), Israel (Eilam & Poyas, 2009), the United States 

(Webb & Kapavik, 2017) and in Romania (Cretu, 2019). These studies also investigated pre-service 

teachers in various learning disciplines, for example, involving pre-service teachers of English (Eilam 

& Poyas, 2009; Gezer, 2020; Halim et al., 2019), and science, social studies, and mathematics 

(Cretu, 2019; Elmas et al., 2019; Kaşkaya & Ünlü, 2011; Kontaş, 2016). Several studies reported 

that movies could prevent pre-service teachers from the reality shock of the future teaching 

profession (Cretu, 2019; Kaşkaya & Ünlü, 2011). Movies were believed to be influential and 

inspiring (Gezer, 2020; Webb & Kapavik, 2017). Movies could also be used to see the 

implementation of theories into real practices (Eilam & Poyas, 2009).  

Movies could help pre-service teachers prevent reality shock in their future teaching 

profession (Cretu, 2019). Movies were reported to provide some projected scenes that were related to 

real-life teaching or school situations (Cretu, 2019; Kaşkaya & Ünlü, 2011) and give inspiration for 

creative solutions to educational problems (Fennell, 2013). Teacher characters in movies may also 

positively contribute to the pre-service teachers’ idea of the teaching profession (Kontaş, 2016; Webb 

& Kapavik, 2017).  

Furthermore, movies used in pre-service teachers’ classrooms were reported to be influential 

in helping pre-service teachers relate theories of teaching to real practices (Eilam & Poyas, 2009; 

Gezer, 2020; Webb & Kapavik, 2017). For example, an experimental study in Israel by Eilam and 

Poyas (2009) reported that pre-service teachers using movies to relate educational theories to 

practice had better comprehension than those who learned theories merely from course books.  

The mentioned review of the plethora of literature suggests both the need to prepare pre-

service teachers' readiness to teach and the potential of relevant movies to achieve this purpose. In 

the case of English pre-service teachers, their lack of readiness to teach may be more salient 

considering the position of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesia, and thus the 

language is constrained to classroom use (Subekti et al., 2021), as well as the language being their 

second/foreign language (L2) for these pre-service teachers. In Indonesia, apart from an explorative 

study about pre-service teachers’ perceived preparedness for teaching by Tutyandari (2020), studies 

about pre-service English teachers’ readiness have been conducted concerning digital applications 

(Liza & Andriyanti, 2020) and online learning (Daflizar et al., 2022; Hidayat et al., 2021). These 

previous studies involved final-year students in English Education departments. Whereas preparing 

pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach may start earlier, to give pre-service teachers ideas on the 

teaching profession and perhaps also to nurture their love for the profession. Hence, conducting such 

study involving English pre-service teachers from the second and third years of their study could be 

worthwhile.  

Furthermore, in pre-service teacher literature, movies have been quite widely investigated, for 

example, to investigate pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy (Elmas et al., 2019; Halim et al., 2019; 

Kaşkaya & Ünlü, 2011; Webb & Kapavik, 2017), motivation (Kontaş, 2016; Webb & Kapavik, 

2017), academic theories (Eilam & Poyas, 2009), and teacher professionalism (Cretu, 2019; Gezer, 

2020). Likewise, investigating the use of movies in preparing pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach 

may be strategic. Moreover, such studies specifically investigating the use of educational or teacher-

themed movies in preparing Indonesian pre-service English teachers' readiness to teach, to the best 

of our knowledge, may be rare. Hence, conducting the study could pave a way for further studies on 

the possible roles of movies in English teacher education programmes in Indonesia. 

Taking the rationales into account, this study addresses the following research questions. 

First, to what extent are teacher-themed movies used in preparing Indonesian pre-service English 



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teachers’ readiness to teach? And second, what are the pre-service teachers’ and lecturers’ views on 

the use of teacher-themed movies in preparing pre-service English teachers’ readiness to teach? 

 

METHODS 

Research Design 

This present study was conducted using qualitative methods of online observations through Zoom 

and online interviews through Google Meet. The paradigm adopted in this study was interpretivism 

where the phenomenon under study was seen through the participants’ perceptions and experiences 

(Thanh & Thanh, 2015). Using qualitative, this study aimed at investigating the use of movies to 

prepare pre-service teachers' readiness to teach in-depth and through the participants' lens and 

viewpoints (Gray, 2014). The observations were employed to see the extent to which movies were 

used to prepare pre-service English teachers’ readiness to teach whilst the interviews were conducted 

to see the pre-service teachers’ and lecturers’ views on the use of movies. 

 

Research Setting and Participants 

The setting of the present study was an English Language Education Department (ELED) at a 

university in a big city in Java. Indonesia. 

Two classes using movies as instructional materials were observed to see the extent movies 

were used to prepare pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach. These were Introduction to Education, 

offered to third-semester students of the ELED and Teaching Profession, offered to fifth-semester 

students. As seen from the class syllabus, the purpose of the Introduction to Education class was to 

facilitate its students to be aware of several issues in education and prepare them to be future 

educators. In this class, they learned learning theories; behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, 

and humanism. Teaching Profession, furthermore, facilitated its students to develop insight about the 

teaching profession with the ethical codes, responsibilities, and opportunities for professional 

development.  

The interview participants were two lecturers teaching the observed classes and six pre-service 

teachers. These six pre-service teachers were randomly selected using the Random Picker application 

among the students of the observed classes who indicated their willingness to be interviewed by 

filling out consent forms. Out of these six pre-service teacher participants, three were from 
Introduction to Education, and the three others were from Teaching Profession.  

In total, five teacher-themed movies were used in the observed classes; three in Introduction to 

Education and the other two in Teaching Profession. The short details of each movie can be observed in 

Table 1. 

Table 1. Movies Used in the Classes 

No Classes Title Short Details 

1.  

Introduction to 

Education 

 

Sokola Rimba A real-life story of Butet, a teacher who struggles 

to teach tribal children to read and write 

2.  

Dead Poets Society A story of an English teacher in a boy-only 

school, Mr Keating, who employs a unique 

teaching method 

3.  

Mona Lisa Smile A story of an art teacher, Miss Watson, who not 

only has a passion for arts but also cares for her 

students 

4.  

Teaching 

Profession 

Beyond the 

Blackboard 

A story of a young first-time teacher teaching 

homeless children 

5.  

Freedom Writers A real-life story of an English teacher, Erin 

Gruwell who has to face many unmotivated 

students who have many problems 

 

Research Instruments 

The study used observation checklists and interview checklists. The observation checklist focused on 

teachers’ instructions on the use of movies, how and when these movies were used, and the pre-

service teachers’ observable reactions or behaviours. Furthermore, there were two interview 

checklists, one for the pre-service teacher interviews, consisting of seven questions, and the other one 



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for the lecturers, consisting of ten questions. Examples of questions included "What do you think 

about the use of films in learning?" for the pre-service teacher interviewees and "What do you want 

this student teacher to be able to learn from using films in this class?" for the lecturer interviewees. 

 

Ethical Consideration 

This study employed several ethical principles of research. First, it adhered to the autonomy 

principle where the participants' voluntary participation was fully guaranteed (Vilma, 2018). It was 

done through the distribution of the link of an online informed consent form detailing the 

researchers’ identities, purposes of the study, and participants’ rights and responsibilities (Gray, 

2014; Israel & Hay, 2006), including the right to withdraw from participation at any time (Dooly et 

al., 2017; Tracy, 2020). Furthermore, the confidentiality of the participants was maintained through 

the use of pseudonyms throughout this report. 

 

Data Collection and Data Analysis 

The data collection stage consisted of two parts, online observations, and online interviews. After 

permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Head of the ELED and the lecturers of 

Introduction to Education and Teaching Profession classes, online observations were conducted in 

October 2021. After that, the two lecturers of the observed classes were interviewed. Next, six pre-

service teachers were randomly selected using the Random Picker application from a list of names of 

those indicating their willingness to be invited for interviews by filling out the consent form. These 

six pre-service teachers were then interviewed online. Both the lecturer and pre-service teacher 

interviews were conducted in Indonesian during December 2021.  

The data analysis stage consisted of observation data analysis and interview data analysis. 

The observation data were analysed per the first research question and presented descriptively to 

allow rich and in-depth descriptions of the phenomenon. Regarding the interview data, on the 

completion of the interviews, the data were fully transcribed, translated into English, and analysed 

using Thematic Analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2017). This method is used to identify, analyse, and 

interpret patterns of meaning within qualitative data in the form of recurring themes (Maguire & 

Delahunt, 2017). In the present study, this was achieved through reading and re-reading the 

interview transcripts, generating initial codes related to the research second question, searching the 

possible recurring themes, reviewing the themes, and defining the final best-representing themes. 

Then, the interview excerpts best representing these themes were selected for the report and further 

analysis. Figure 2 shows the detailed sequence of the data collection and analysis. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2. Data Collection and Analysis Sequence 

 

 

 

 

Obtaining permission from the head 
of the ELED and the two lecturers of 

the observed classes 

Conducting online 
observation  

Answering the first research question 

Interviewing the lecturers of 

the observed classes in 
Indonesian 

Distributing the link of the informed consent form 
to prospective pre-service teacher participants 

Randomly 

selecting six pre-

service teacher 
participants for 

interviews 
Interviewing six pre-service 

teacher participants in 
Indonesian 

 

 

Transcribing 
interview data, 

translating the 
transcripts into 

English 

Conducting 

Thematic 
Analysis  

Answering the 

second research 
question 



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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 

The extent to which teacher-themed movies were used in preparing pre-service English teachers’ 

readiness to teach 

Two classes, Introduction to Education and Teaching Profession were observed. Observations in both 

classes produced the same patterns in the use of movies. The pre-service English teachers were 

assigned to watch the movies before the class. The movie was then discussed in class. The lecturers 

in both classes invited the pre-service teachers to discuss the assigned movies related to the class 

materials.  

In the following observation result in the Introduction to Education class, for example, it could 

be seen that movies were used to discuss learning theories: behaviourism, constructivism, 

humanism, and cognitivism and to connect those theories to schema theory.  

 

The lecturer assigned the pre-service teachers to watch a movie [Freedom Writer] before the class. The 

movie was discussed in class related to the materials on learning theories and schema theory. The lecturer 

gave an example of the scene where schema theory was applied. The lecturer used the breakout room to 

group the students and assigned them to discuss the scene in the movies related to schema theory. In one 

of the breakout discussions, one of the pre-service teachers said, ‘through [watching] a movie, I can 

understand.’ Some could relate the theory and the scene in the movie. They identified the character in the 

movie in some scenes to the theory. They could give an example of the schema theory in the movie. One of 

them could also relate a certain scene to the behaviourism theory. (Observation Report 1) 

 

This observation report shows that the lecturer used a movie to discuss teaching theories. She 

asked the pre-service teachers to relate the theories learned to certain scenes in the movie. Most of 

them could relate the theories they learned to the scenes in the movie. By working in groups to 

discuss the theory related to the scene in the movie, the pre-service teachers tried to connect the 

theories they learned with many teaching and learning scenes in the movie 

 

Pre-service English teachers and their lecturers’ views on the use of teacher-themed movies in 

preparing pre-service English teachers’ readiness to teach 

To answer the second research question, six pre-service English teachers and two lecturers were 

interviewed. The following pseudonyms were used for the six pre-service teacher participants: Brodi 

(Male), Bertha (Female/F), Chibi (F), Herlina (F), Melia (F), Elisa (F), and for the two lecturer 

participants: Meida (F) and Mira (F).  

The study found three themes regarding these participants’ perspectives on the use of movies 

in preparing pre-service English teachers’ readiness to teach. These themes can be seen in Table 2.  

 

Table 2. Pre-service English teachers' and lecturers' views on the use of movies in preparing pre-

service English teachers' readiness to teach 

Theme 1 Movies gave inspiration to several qualities of good teachers. 

Theme 2 Movies helped pre-service teachers to relate the theories of teaching to practice. 

Theme 3 Movies were used to see real examples of problems and obstacles in teaching situations.  

 

Theme 1. Movies gave inspiration to several qualities of good teachers. 

The lecturers in this study pointed out their expectations of using movies in their respective classes. 

Mira, for example, intended to use movies to motivate and inspire her students. Mira stated:  
 

"I want them to like, they are ignited like that. They relate what they will face later [in teaching].” 

 

In comparison, rather subtle in her expectations, Meida realised that movies could inspire 

some of her students, perhaps, not all of them. She stated: 

 



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 “You [I] read from their reflection. Usually, there is someone who is then moved, inspired by that [the 

movie], got inspired. But here, I also realise that movies speak to some students, but maybe not all … 

only some are inspired by the movies. Usually, it works… as an inspiration.” 

 

Although Meida acknowledged that movies might not inspire all the pre-service teachers, 

some of the pre-service teachers interviewed in the present study were inspired by the movies they 

wanted in class. Elisa, for instance, reported: 

 
“Personally, the one that hits me the most was Freedom Writers [movie]. That is very inspiring. It 

motivates me because she [the teacher in the movie] can be a teacher, not only professionally but [she] also 

[treats it] as a vocation. I mean, [it is] from the heart, and she also approaches the students one by one… 

to encourage the students to learn because the students are desperate. Well, I was inspired, by how to 

encourage students who are lazy and so on. (Elisa) 

 

The movie inspired her, and the character in the movie enlightened her about her vocation. 

She also added: 
 

Her name is Erin Gruwell… she is very inspiring because that is also, what it is called, [from] a real 

story, so it is even more powerful. (Elisa) 

 

The other pre-service teacher, Bertha, had the same perspective. She said: 
 

I think… there is inspiration, like those in Freedom Writer and Sokola Rimba [movie], each of them has 

its struggles. The teacher figure at Freedom Writer gets herself close to her students, it becomes an 

inspiration for me if later I become a teacher. (Bertha) 

 

In the movie of Freedom Writers, the main character, Erin Gruwell, seemed to inspire Bertha 

on being a good teacher. She said: 

 
It turns out that we also have to understand them [our students]. That is what I got from Freedom 

Writers… understand each other… Then as a teacher, you must understand the condition of the 

students…” (Bertha) 

 

These excerpts suggested the participants’ shared perspectives that movies gave inspiration on 

qualities of good teachers that pre-service teachers could mirror. 

 

Theme 2. Movies helped pre-service teachers to relate the theories of teaching in practice. 

The lecturers expected that through movies, their pre-service teacher students could relate the 

theories they had discussed previously with real teaching practices as depicted in movies. Meida, for 

example, stated that she wanted her students to see the characteristics of teachers in the movies 

within the movie contexts and how these teachers with all the qualities could succeed in becoming 

good teachers. She said: 

 
“For example, in yesterday's Teaching Profession, I want to show the characteristics of teachers, this 

means that the teacher is the agent of change, … what context do you want the teacher to change… to see 

the whole movie so that the complete meaning of the framework is spot on… That is how good it is. 

There is Monalisa Smile, what else I used, Sokola Rimba, umm, oh Dead Poet Society [title of the 

movies she used]”. (Meida) 

 

Meida perceived that to see the whole 'picture' of the situations the teacher characters in the 

movies face, it was important to see the whole of a movie rather than just clips. From seeing the 

whole movie, pre-service teachers could relate theories to real teaching practices intertwined with 

various factors such as students' and cultural backgrounds. 



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The lecturers’ expectations seemed to conform to the perspectives of the pre-service teachers. 

Herlina said: 

 
“We are touched and indeed… more connected, and… understand better [the theories]. For example, the 

practice of teaching using learning [theory]… behaviourism. I, through [watching] movies, can see it… 

there was another example given in the movie that really made me understand what behaviourism is all 

is about and… what humanism is.” (Herlina) 

 

In line with that, Elisa acknowledged she learned from the assigned movies how to deal with 

certain situations in teaching. She said: 

 
“We as pre-service teachers not only watch it [movie], but after that we also explore… there is a method 

too. It is like analysing… the theories, how to deal with children and also the situations.” (Elisa) 

 

Both Herlina and Elisa agreed that movies helped them to see the theories in practices from 

the movies, indicating that movies could minimise the gap between theories and practices.  

 

Theme 3. Movies were used to see real examples of problems and obstacles in teaching situations. 

Both lecturers viewed that movies could help pre-service teachers see real examples of obstacles in 

teaching situations. Mira said: 

 
Like Beyond the Blackboard [movie], it is an elementary school movie [the problems pictured in the 

movie] … poor Elementary school students……not very motivated, their parents [either]… it is like the 

worst thing [students may face in the future]. So, what should you do? Yes, you do not have to follow the 

movie's example, but at least they [pre-service English students] have an idea that they can do this and 

can do that. I want these students to be able to see that 'Oh, the problems in teaching are like that, huh'.”  

(Mira) 

 

In line with that, several pre-service teachers agreed that several examples of teaching 

situations could be portrayed in movies. Chibi shared her views: 

 
“Freedom Writers [movie] turns out to be taken from a true story. Then we become like, oh it turns out, 

what, there are people like this in real life. And not everything is like Disney… the ending is good, but at 

first, they struggle, it is really real, you know, and they are real people. It becomes more relevant to us, it 

is more connected… events in real life, that maybe we will experience in the future” (Chibi) 

 

Another participant, Herlina, gave a relatively same perspective: 

 
“The effect [of movies] is pretty significant… because… something about teaching that I have never seen 

in reality, I can see it in the movies.  And it could also be a preparation for me, like… learning students’ 

characters from movie… movies also give two perspectives, from the teachers and the students". (Herlina)  

 

Brodi, also agreed that from movies pre-service teachers could learn that different students 

could need different treatments. He stated: 

  
“[From movies] I can see that, oh if you become a teacher … handling one student with another… 

[They] need to be treated differently. How to take care of it … If we often watch movies about teaching, it 

will be good for the future. We seem to see that there are various kinds of students… what kind of child 

[students] should be treated [with] what kind of treatment.” (Brodi) 

 

From the aforementioned excerpts, it can be seen that the pre-service teachers’ perspectives 

aligned with those of the lecturers that movies could be used to see obstacles in teaching situations as 

movies could portray several examples of such situations 



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Discussion 

The extent to which movies were used in preparing pre-service English teachers’ readiness to teach 

Through observations, the study found that movies were used to teach learning theories. Regarding 

this, one of the pre-service teachers’ readiness components proposed by Tutyandari (2020) is 

formation, the stage of academic formation that prepares pre-service teachers to become teachers. 

This shows the significance of the teacher education programme in connecting the theories pre-

service teachers learned and the field practice in the teacher education programme. This finding was 

in line with a finding of a study by Eilam and Poyas (2009) involving English pre-service teachers in 

Israel. They also found that movies were used to see theories of teaching. They found that from the 

use of movies, pre-service teachers could apply theories in interpreting teaching and learning 

situations. The similarities could indicate the fairly widespread uses of movies among lecturers at 

English education majors across contexts to prepare pre-service teachers of English to teach real 

classes.  

 

Pre-service English teachers and their lecturers’ views on the use of movies in preparing pre-service English 

teachers’ readiness to teach 

In this present study, several participants pointed out that movies motivated them to have the 

qualities of the teacher characters in the movies. Regarding this, the first component of the pre-

service teachers’ readiness in the framework that Tutyandari (2020) proposed in her study was the 

personal foundation. Pre-service teacher readiness starts from the personal foundation, one of whose 

aspects was motivation.  

The results of this study were slightly in line with those of the study by Gezer (2020) involving 

Turkish pre-service English teachers. She found that several participants watched movies more than 

once because the message as well as the storyline of the teacher-themed movies they watched were 

inspiring and influential. She also reported that movies showed how effective teachers should be and 

the impacts of effective and, in contrast, inadequate teachers, suggesting that the pre-service teachers 

could see the good qualities of a teacher in such movies.  

Outside the ELT field, a study by Webb and Kapavik (2017) also found that many of their 

pre-service participants were motivated and inspired by the qualities of the teacher depicted in the 
Freedom Writers movie, a movie used in one of the observed classes in the present study. A 

participant of their study stated after watching the movie Freedom Writers, “She [the teacher in 

Freedom Writers movie] has good qualities that all teachers should have. She inspired her students, 

and she believed in them”. The similarities of findings in both studies suggested that an influential 

teacher-themed movie may be utilised in teacher education curricula regardless of the specific 

majors.  

Furthermore, it should also be noted as Meida mentioned the limitations of movies to inspire 

all pre-service teachers, interestingly, several pre-service teacher participants in the study by Gezer 

(2020) also reported that different pre-service teachers may or may not be inspired by different 

movies. The latter may be attributed to the too different backgrounds or settings of the movies from 

those of some pre-service teachers. This may suggest that despite the use of movies seeming to be 

promising in teacher education curriculum, pre-service teachers' levels of acceptance toward the 

movies may vary, probably suggesting the use of movies was not one-size-fits-all. 

Both the lecturers and the pre-service teachers in this study perceived movies to be facilitating 

for pre-service teachers to learn learning theories. This appeared to be similar to the finding of a 

study by Eilam and Poyas (2009), investigating the use of classroom clips and movies for pre-service 

teachers. They found the more practical experiences a pre-service teacher obtains (as via classroom 

clips and movie clips), the easier pre-service teachers could, later on, recall when such situations did 

occur in their teaching. Hence, these pre-service teachers could handle such situations better. It 

means that the more the pre-service teachers obtained practical experience through movie visuals, 

the more they might be able to apply theories in practice.  

This specific theme was also related to the components of pre-service teachers’ readiness 

proposed by Tutyandari (2020), that is formation component. The formation component involves 

the contribution of the teacher education programme to the pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach. 

The theories and practices in these components shaped their sense of readiness in teaching. In this 

case, teacher education programmes need to provide a way to minimise the gap between as well as 



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to bridge theories and practices. In the present study, it was evidenced that including movies as 

learning media could be one of the strategies to serve this purpose. 

This present study found that movies helped pre-service teachers see real examples of 

problems and obstacles in teaching situations. Regarding this, Kaşkaya and Ünlü (2011) argued that 

using real-life movies in teacher education programmes could prevent reality shock in teaching and 

may be beneficial to reflect teaching practices. Cretu (2019) also echoed the same idea that watching 

movies and then reflecting on them was a relevant experience, with a cognitive and emotional 

impact on pre-service teachers. Movies have the potential to prevent the shock that future teachers 

often experience when they have to face the educational realities at school. This previous study also 

found that even though the educational contexts in which pre-service teachers will work might be 

different from the movies, several general issues apply related to the didactic profession. This 

includes, among others, teaching, classroom management, and challenges. It means that some 

general issues can still be very relevant even despite the different contexts between the movies and 

the educational contexts the pre-service teachers might experience in the future.  

Furthermore, as the finding of this present study suggested, movies could be used to improve 

the last component of pre-service teacher readiness by Tutyandari (2020), which is professionalism. 

This component involves the ability to face problems, self-efficacy, and commitment to teaching. In 

a similar vein, Kontaş (2016) also reported that education-themed movies had an important effect on 

improving the pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession in general. It is possible 

that taking the teacher character in the movie as an example, as reported by several participants in 

the present study, contributed to improving their idea of the teaching profession positively. In other 

words, movies might give a figure example for real-world teaching and have the potential to affect 

pre-service teachers’ commitment to teaching. 

 

CONCLUSION 

The present study has several implications and contributions. First, education- or teacher-themed 

movies as one of the teaching media evidenced to have a positive impact on the pre-service teachers’ 

readiness to teach could inform teacher education programmes. They could encourage more use of 

movies in several classes preparing them to teach. Secondly, to increase the relevance of the movies, 

at times lecturers need to ensure that pre-service teachers have sufficient background knowledge 

about the setting of the movies. It may particularly be the case if the background of the movies is 

related to, for example, foreign historical events with which the pre-service teachers are not familiar. 

Furthermore, the study contributed to the literature on the use of movies to prepare pre-service 

English teachers’ readiness to teach in the Indonesian context, which was rather under-research in 

this specific field. 

Furthermore, the limitation of this study is related to the scarcity of previous studies on the 

use of movies in preparing teachers' readiness in Indonesia. Also, there are not many studies that 

specifically investigated the use of movies in preparing pre-service teachers, both in Indonesia and 

abroad. Consequently, previous studies with which the findings of the present study could be 

compared were fairly limited.  

Last but not the least, several recommendations for future studies can be suggested. This 

study used qualitative methods; hence future studies could investigate Indonesian pre-service 

English teachers' readiness using a quantitative design and involving many participants to possibly 

obtain generalisable data. Future studies could also explore other factors affecting pre-service 

English teachers’ readiness to teach.  

 

FUNDING STATEMENT 

The research is a non-funded study that it does not receive any fundings from any agencies or 

institutions 

 

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