







































English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

Vol. 3, No. 3, 2020, pp. 263-271  263 

         10.12928/eltej.v3i3.2463                           http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/eltej/index              eltej@pbi.uad.ac.id 

Varying strategies to maximize the effectiveness of ELT: 

Lessons from training sessions  

A. Dzo’ul Milal a,1,*, Zuliati Rohmah b,2, Wahju Kusumajantib,3  

a, b, c  UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Jl. Ahmad Yani No.117, Jemur Wonosari, Kec. Wonocolo, Kota SBY, Jawa Timur 60237, Indonesia 
1 dzoulmilal@uinsby.ac.id  *; 2 zettira@gmail.com ; 3 wahjukusumajanti@uinsby.ac.id  

* corresponding author 

 

1. Introduction 

Despite the advancement of technology and the popularity of distant teaching and learning, 
teachers still play an essential and strategic role in determining the success of instructional programs 
including language learning. Weaknesses in the curriculum, meager materials, incomplete facilities 
can be compensated with the presence of resourceful and skillful teachers. Therefore, their 
knowledge needs to be always updated and their skills developed. This implies the importance of 
teacher professional development. What knowledge and which skills are to be trained on the 
teachers, and how the training makes any difference in the teachers are addressed in this study.  

Several studies on teacher professional development (TPD) have taken some focuses, Neghavati 
(2016) on the importance of online literacy to be given in teacher training program, Van Driel & 
Berry (2012) on the significance of teachers’ understanding of how learners learn (pedagogical 
content knowledge) to be included in TPD programs, and Girvan et al. (2016) on the need of 
teacher’s understanding of experiential learning. Farrell (2012) said the time gap between graduation 
and starting to work causes some challenges on teachers either in planning, delivering, or managing 
the lesson. Hence, they need some transitional training to cope with those problems. Dixon et al. 
(2014) found that differentiating instruction is positively related to a teacher’s efficacy and their 
belief about efficacy. They recommend that differentiating instruction be one of the subjects of 

A R T I C L E  I N F O 

 

ABST RACT  

 

 

Article history 

Received 05 July 2020 

Revised 10 August 2020 

Accepted 21 December 2020 

 Several factors determine the effectiveness of language learning, one of 
which is the variety of strategies carried out by the teacher in the 
teaching and learning process. Defined as any efforts made to maximize 
the learning achievements, strategy encompasses material development, 
classroom management, and teaching techniques. The question is in 
what ways the teacher implements such a variety, and what the effect is. 
This study used a descriptive technique in the sense that it described the 
existing phenomenon as it was without giving any treatment to bring 
about the data. It was conducted in an in-service teacher training which 
aimed to improve the trainees’ mastery of ELT strategies and the 
teaching language. The data were collected using questionnaires, 
observation, documentation, interviews, and reflection. The subjects 
were the trainers and the teacher trainees who have mixed language 
abilities and teaching experiences. Having been collected, the data were 
analyzed by classifying the topically relevant facts, displaying them, 
scrutinizing their interconnections, and drawing some conclusive points. 
The findings show a range of varieties was employed during the training 
process, covering the use of diverse materials, fun classroom activities, 
learner-centered approach, affect-lowering classroom management, and 
varied interaction patterns. As effective learning is dependent on the 
fresh minds, teachers should always strive to prevent their students from 
exhausting monotony. 

 

This is an open access article under the CC–BY-SA license. 

  

 

 
Keywords 

classroom management 

fun activities 

interaction patterns 

learner-centered approach  

teaching materials 

 

 

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264 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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teacher training. However, they did not explain what aspects of teaching should be differentiated and 
how to implement it in classroom practice. Due to its significance, they suggested that 
differentiating the instruction be taken as the focus of future studies.  

This present study is, on the one hand, in line with such a recommendation, on the other hand, it 
filled the niche left out by other researchers. It focused on the various types of materials, differing 
techniques of presentations, varieties of interaction patterns, and divergent ways of classroom 
management. Those points have not been dealt with by the aforementioned studies. This study was 
conducted by exploring the in-service teacher professional development program of which aim was 
to expand English teachers’ knowledge about the variety of teaching strategies and simultaneously 
improving their ability in using teacher language. Strategy defined as any efforts made by the 
teacher to maximize the learning achievement encompasses preparing relevant teaching materials, 
managing a conducive classroom, and conducting effective teaching techniques. Varying the 
strategies is a logical consequence because in a big class consisting of various learners’ 
characteristics, mixed abilities, and different preferences (Dörnyei, 2014; Skehan, 2014), following a 
learner-centered approach (Schreurs & Dumbraveanu, 2014), the teacher should vary her/his 
strategies so that each student feels not only catered individually; thus, increasing their motivation 
and engagement in learning, but also satisfied and could learn best because the materials and 
activities are made appropriate with the learners’ differences.  

According to Merrill (2001), a classroom teaching and learning process is an interaction among 
interrelated components: knowledge component, strategy component, and instructional transaction 
component. Knowledge is conveyed by the materials, strategy includes methods and techniques, and 
instructional transaction refers to interactions among instructional participants, such as teacher and 
students. A teacher uses techniques to present the materials to be learned by students in a certain 
learning condition. It is the teacher who decides what kinds of materials, techniques, and learning 
conditions are most effective for the students to learn. Therefore, the teacher needs to be well-trained 
to be able to make such a decision. Here lies the importance of teacher professional development 
(Hughes et al., 2018).  

Managing the classrooms is the teacher’s effort to prepare a conducive learning condition so that 
the learning process can take place efficiently and effectively. This should also be done in various 
ways following the learners’ variabilities. They will learn best when the instruction is suitable for 
their differences. Learning will likely happen when the learners have the feelings of autonomy and 
responsibility (Najeeb, 2013), no anxiety (Horwitz, 2010), secure, not threatened, low-affective filter 
(Krashen, 1985). The classroom, therefore, should be managed in such a way to create such a 
learning condition. Among the differences of the learners are their personality traits (Dörnyei, 2014; 
Petric, 2019), multiple intelligences (Gardner, 2015), and learning styles. 

To cope with such divergent learners’ variables, numerous types of materials also need to be 
prepared, either pedagogical or authentic materials (Tomlinson, 2012), in terms of multimodal 
materials (Kress, 2010), either verbal (spoken or written), image (still or moving), or music. With 
these various materials, as many students as possible may get an advantage. Due to learners’ 
differences, the teacher can also conduct different activities to accommodate those learners’ 
variabilities, such as classical, group, pair, or individual works (Spratt et al., 2005). The main 
consideration is how to make the students actively involved in the activities. Active engagement in 
the learning process is effective for learning to happen. 

2. Research Method 

This study used a qualitative approach because it was based on verbal data. It applied a 
descriptive technique in the sense that it merely described the existing phenomenon as it was 
without giving any treatment to produce the required data. The site was the teaching and learning 
process in the teacher training sessions in Sidoarjo, Gresik, and Malang regencies. The training in 
each site lasted in three successive days, done consecutively with two-week intervals. The subjects 
were three trainers who have been trained as master trainers for the training of junior secondary 
school English teachers, who have obtained an In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching 
(ICELT) certificate from Cambridge University, and a total of 60 trainees (20 teacher trainees in 
each place). They were teachers of English at Islamic Junior Secondary Schools (MTs) and have 
mixed language abilities and heterogeneous ages and teaching experiences. The training was 
designed as a teacher professional development that aimed to improve English teachers’ knowledge 
about the variety of teaching strategies and simultaneously improving their ability in using teacher 



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language. As the data were obtained from a teacher training program, it was expected that the 
experiences that the trainees got during the training would be implemented when they return to their 
schools. Hence, the trainers were always aware of the contents, the activities, and the procedures. 
The trainers were supposed to become models that were imitated by the trainees. 

The data were collected through questionnaires, observations, documentation, interviews, and 
reflections. The first questionnaire used to get information about the teachers’ needs was responded 
to before the training. Its results were taken as a basis to design the training contents. Observations 
were done by the researchers while training (participant observation) and sitting in the training room 
writing field notes when one of the trainers was teaching (non-participant observation). It was done 
to record the teaching procedures, interaction, activities, and classroom management. The 
documentation study was to see the materials and media used by the trainers during the sessions. 
Interviews were done to the trainers to gain information about the reasons and purposes regarding 
their teaching performance and to the trainees about their attitude towards and perception of the 
sessions. The second questionnaire to get input about the trainees’ evaluation of the training was 
filled up by the end of the training. Reflections were made by the researchers based on the feeling 
and experience as supplementary to the existing data. 

The data were analyzed following Miles, Huberman and Saldana’s (2020) qualitative analysis 
techniques consisting of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. Data reduction means 
that there were processes of selecting, organizing, and simplifying. The observations notes 
describing the detailed teaching steps and activities, for example, were selected and organized to 
gain relevant and orderly points. The results of documentation and interviews were simplified to get 
clear ideas. The data were displayed to facilitate concluding, by explaining the relationship, such as 
that between the activities and their purposes, and tendencies of the trainers’ being always friendly 
and warm with the trainees. In that way, it is easier to make inferences and interpretation. Finally, 
some conclusive points were made, discussed, and interpreted within the framework of teacher 
professional development purposes. 

3. Findings and Discussion 

The findings are related to pre-training input about teachers’ needs, whilst-training process 
covering contents and procedures, and post-training evaluation including the impact on the trainees. 
The training contents were focused on ELT strategies included how to develop materials, how to 
manage the classroom to establish a conducive learning condition, and how to vary the activities to 
prevent students from boredom. It was based on the humanistic teaching principle, i.e. the teaching 
and learning process was underlain by a learner-centered approach of which consequence is that the 
teacher accommodates the learners’ differences. 

 

3.1. Trainees’ Profile and Needs 

The trainees were teachers of English at Islamic Junior Secondary Schools (MTs) in the districts 
of Sidoarjo, Gresik, and Malang. The total number of participants was 60 teachers. The recruitment 
was done by the local teacher’s associations, so it was considered representative of all Islamic 
school English teachers in the districts. The results of needs analysis questionnaire showed that the 
genders were proportionally distributed with varying ages between 44 – 31 years old with the 
average age of about 40 years. Most of them were teaching at public schools, only a few were at 
private ones. Their educational backgrounds were relatively varied. Ninety percent were graduates 
of English Education Departments, the rest from the non-English departments. Their teaching 
experience also varied, ranging from 20 to 6 years. They are all working as full teachers and have no 
extra job. Viewing their teaching load, 60% teaching for more than 30 hours per week, the rest is 
around 20 hours per week. What they liked in being teachers is that they love meeting and 
interacting with students. What they did not like was related to administrative tasks, such as 
correcting test results, making academic reports, and writing lesson plans. 

The data showed that the difficulties they faced in the teaching and learning process was how to 
manage the class, conduct communicative activities, face the students who have low learning 
motivation, use varied strategies, and how to motivate students to learn English. Some of them faced 
the difficulty of implementing the curriculum contents, developing fun and varied teaching 
techniques and media, and evaluating learning achievements. Considering those divergent 
backgrounds of the trainees, the training that aimed to cope with some of those problems was 



266 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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designed and conducted to satisfy those empirically existing needs on the one hand, and to comply 
with some theoretical language teaching requirements on the other, such as teacher language 
(Walsh, 2002).  

 

3.2. Varying Teaching Materials 

Regarding the teaching materials, trainees were introduced to and trained on how to select, adapt, 
and develop a range of materials. The findings showed that one of the training materials was about 
the kinds of language teaching materials, how to select and how to adapt them. The teacher trainees 
were taught, first, how to select the authentic materials which is dictated by their suitability for the 
teaching and learning objectives. Second, they were also trained on how to adapt the authentic 
materials to make them relevant to the learners’ life. In using the train schedule, for example, the 
teacher may modify the names of the cities of departure and destination so that they are familiar to 
the learners, thus, becoming more meaningful. In using e-mails as the teaching materials, the teacher 
can modify the names that exist in the mails, for instance, by using the names of the students in the 
class. In that way, the e-mail becomes more contextual. In short, adaptation needs to be done to 
make the authentic materials more relevant to the learners. 

First, using the materials needs to consider variety and relevance. To cope with learners’ 
divergent characteristics, materials should be developed in such a way that they become effective for 
each learner’s learning. To accommodate students with visual learning style, for example, the 
materials were in forms of written texts, graphics, pictures, figures, tables, maps, or any other 
materials which can be perceived by the learners using their visual senses. For auditory learners, the 
materials are spoken texts either in the forms of oral announcements, speeches, stories delivered 
orally, TV news, conversations, lectures, airplane pre-flight instructions, classroom presentations, 
videos, audio-recordings, talk shows, or any others. In sum, materials should be so varied to 
accommodate learners’ differences. 

There are two kinds of language teaching materials: pedagogical and authentic (Tomlinson, 
2012). Pedagogical materials are the materials which are developed intended to be used for teaching 
and learning purposes, such as students’ handbooks, students’ working booklets, school textbooks, 
etc. These materials are rigorously developed and strictly graded in their level of difficulty according 
to the grades of the learners. The topics are carefully selected and the educational values are 
integrated to make them appropriate to achieve certain target competences. The basic consideration 
is how to develop the materials relevant to the predetermined learning objectives. 

Authentic materials are those taken from the real-life communication which is not intended for 
teaching and learning purposes, such as taken from newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, in 
the forms of advertisements, news, editorials, pictures, etc. There are things to consider in using 
authentic materials, such as whether they are suitable with the teaching objectives, and whether they 
are relevant with the learners’ characteristics, level of their language competence, their cognitive 
capacity, and their age and experiences. Since the materials are not intended for teaching and 
learning purposes, to use them in the classroom, teachers need to select them and adapt them to 
make them appropriate for the learning goals and relevant for the students.  

Some examples of authentic materials that can be used in ELT classrooms are newspapers, 
advertisements, wrappings, train schedules, song lyrics, announcements, diaries, restaurant menus, 
e-mails, manuals, job contracts, maps, identity cards, driving license, etc. Any of those texts are 
adaptable and usable as the teaching materials depending on the topic of the lesson. Therefore, to 
use any of them in the language lessons, the teacher should think of adapting the materials or 
selecting the tasks which are appropriate for the students.  

 

3.3. Varying Ways of Managing Classroom 

The findings show that the teacher trainers implemented some strategies to make the learning 
condition conducive for learning. They tried to create a good rapport with the trainees by showing 
solidarity and a close or intimate relationship with the trainees. The trainers smiled a lot, called the 
trainees by names, asked some personal questions to some trainees. One of the trainers did not seem 
to be pushy, authoritarian. In instructing to do an activity, she used a more inclusive invitation than 
an exclusive order. For example, the trainer said, “OK. Now let’s look at number 9” (pointing to 
question number 9 on the worksheet) rather than saying, “OK. Look at number 9.” The former 



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indicated involvement of the speaker implying a closer relationship between trainer and trainees and 
not superior-subordinate commands.  

The findings also demonstrated that the trainers gave greater autonomy and responsibility to the 
trainees and suggested that they also do the same to their students. The teachers should trust their 
students by giving them freedom in the learning process. For illustration, in conducting a group 
discussion activity, students are let to choose their members to create a group. In giving a reading 
task, students are instructed to go to the library and given the freedom to choose what to read. Then, 
they are assigned to write a report of what they have read.  To maintain a good relationship between 
the teacher and students, trainees are also advised not to be angry with the students when they 
cannot or do not make their homework. What the teacher needs to do is not to be angry but to ask 
them personal reasons, why they do not do the assignments, and ask if they can comply with the 
tasks. When the students seem to get difficulty complying with the work, they can be given the 
freedom to choose to compensate for it. In that way, students feel secure, not threatened, and not 
intimidated; hence, preserving a good feeling with the teacher.  

The harmonious social relationship between teachers and students will prevent students from 
feeling of anxiety when they meet and interact in the classroom. That was exemplified by the 
trainers’ smiley behavior, who always tried to retain unintimidating, and did not keep distant from 
the trainees. The trainers always interacted closely and intensively with the trainees although they 
were relatively having a distant relationship. That was evidenced by the fact that they had not known 
each other before the training. The trainers were senior lecturers at a state university and the trainees 
were junior secondary school teachers, the trainers and trainees had never met before and had never 
communicated either. Still, they interacted as if they had known each other before, even since the 
first meeting. That was because the trainees put their name tags on the table in front of them, and the 
trainer stuck it on her dress. Also, the first meeting was commenced with a personal introduction. 
Therefore, the trainer and trainees knew and called each other by name.  

Managing a classroom is an effort made by the teacher to create a learning condition that is 
conducive for learning. There were ways conducted by the teachers to establish a good learning 
condition, related to physical and psychological conditions. The classroom is physically conducive 
for learning, for example, when it is clean, tidy, not noisy, and cool. In such a condition, students 
will feel convenient to stay and to learn because they are not bothered by any external disturbances, 
hence, they can concentrate on learning. What is more important is the psychological condition that 
exists in the classroom. The condition is favorable for learning when there is a good social 
relationship among the people in the classroom, for instance, between teacher and students, and 
among students. The condition is also effective when students feel to have autonomy and 
responsibility. The learning condition is also supportive when students feel secure and safe, and do 
not feel anxious, or threatened. This goes in line with the principles of Suggestopedia (Larsen-
Freeman, 2000; Richards and Rodgers, 1986) which claims that there was a positive connection 
between learners’ knowledge change and their non-anxious condition (Warr & Downing, 2000). 

 

3.4. Varying Activities 

The training was held in three successive days, lasting for six hours each day, starting from 08.00 
a.m. and ended at 03.00 p.m. The break time was one hour, 12.00-13,00. This background is 
important to imagine the density of the program and the workload. If only had the activities not been 
varied and fun, the trainees who were adult learners might have been bored and dropped out. The 
trainees’ comments in the final training evaluation showed that they enjoyed the sessions and felt 
satisfied with the program.  

The findings show that the trainers carried out an array of activities not only to prevent the 
trainees from boredom but also to give a model of how to conduct it in their teaching. A range of 
activities were done, such as working in groups matching words, board race, guessing the words, 
mingling interviews, role plays, jigsaw reading, etc. When the topic was about discussing the variety 
of teacher and student roles, for instance, trainees were asked to match which activities match one 
another. For example, when the teacher has the role of informer, the students are listeners and note-
takers, when the teacher is monitoring, the students are doing tasks, when the teacher acts as a 
consultant, the students as clients.  

A range of interaction patterns were also practiced, such as classical work, group work, pair 
work, individual work, and mingling activities (Harmer, 2007). An example of mingling activity 



268 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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was that the trainees were divided into two groups, each of one group had words, the other had the 
corresponding definitions. They mingled to find out their partners of words and their definitions. 
After that, each of the pairs told the class about their findings and got feedback from the other 
trainees as well as the trainer. The benefits of such an activity were that besides collaborating to 
understand the concepts, the trainees were actively engaged in an inquiry learning, and practiced 
using the target language. Also, all trainees with visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and social learning 
styles would get advantages because such an activity stimulates all senses. More importantly, the 
trainer did not need to give a too lengthy and boring explanation.  

The findings also showed that the trainers most of the time used English as a medium of 
instruction. That was beneficial for the trainees in some ways. First, the trainees became accustomed 
to listening to the target language speech, thus improving their listening ability. Second, since the 
interaction, questions, and answers, were done in English, the trainees also got a lot of chances to 
communicate using English, hence increasing their communicative skills. Third, as the trainees were 
of mixed language abilities, the trainers needed to accommodate their talks so that everyone can 
understand. While doing it, the trainers also tried to raise the trainees’ awareness of the type of 
language they were using, i.e. modified and simplified exerting all possible strategies to make the 
talk comprehensible, such as using gestures, realia, mimics, and other instructional media. Besides, 
the trainers also encouraged and reminded them of the importance of maximum use of the target 
language when teaching the students, even from the initial stage of their learning. In that way, the 
trainees found a model to imitate and were enthused to practice it in their schools. Fourth, because 
English was always used throughout the sessions during the training, the trainees got an abundant 
amount of understandable linguistic input to promote their language acquisition (Krashen, 1985). 
Thus, the trainees could also improve their language skills. In sum, the training impacts expected on 
the trainees were not only the improvement of cognitive knowledge and understanding, but also the 
development of awareness, as well as the enhancement of their language competence.  

By the end of the training, trainees were asked to fill up a questionnaire about their perception of 
the training focusing on the training management, content relevance, training strategy, the trainers’ 
competence, and the training impacts on the trainees. Most responses implied that the training had a 
good quality. Only a few gave medium scores, and nobody viewed negatively. When asked about 
what needs to be maintained if conducting the same training again, the participants' responses 
indicated the existence of varied games, relevance to the needs of teachers and students, various 
ways of delivering materials, and suitable methods used by the trainers although the participants are 
mostly senior. Regarding what still needs to be improved among others are teaching practice using 
electronic media, making online tests, and making scientific writing. The general comment from the 
trainees showed that the training was useful, interesting, and fun.  

 The findings showed the variability of the trainees’ profiles, experiences, and needs. That the 
trainees have different ages, abilities, lengths of teaching experiences, and teaching loads entailing 
their divergent needs necessitate the diversification in their instruction. That was aimed not only to 
respond to their various needs effectively but also to cope with the problem of boredom that the 
trainees might have suffered due to the long and exhausting proceeding of the training sessions. 
Since the learners (trainee teachers) have different concentration-span capacities, various 
motivations and needs, instruction will be effective when it is done diversely in accordance with 
those differences. This goes in line with Dornyei (2014) and Skehan (2014) who assert that varying 
the strategies is a logical consequence in a class which consists of various learners’ characteristics, 
mixed abilities, and different preferences.  

Besides those objective realities, another determinant factor confirming the importance of 
varying the instruction is the currently developing trend towards the implementation of humanistic 
instruction, viz. the realization of a learner-centered approach. The learner-centered teaching 
requires that each of the individual participants in the classroom be addressed and catered so that 
they feel satisfied; hence, increasingly motivated to learn. This high motivation, in a later stage, will 
promote success in the learning efforts. This is consistent with Masgoret & Gardner (2003) who 
claim that there is a correlation between motivation and achievement.  

While the importance of variety is confirmed in the instructional purposes, the findings also 
demonstrated the teaching aspects which are to be varied, namely the materials, the ways of 
classroom management, and the activities. These facets as the research results seem to fill the gap 
left away by the previous studies conducted by Neghavati (2016), Van Driel & Berry (2012), Girvan 
et al. (2016), and Farrell (2012). This study also successfully responded to Dixon et al. (2014) who 



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recommended that diversifying the instruction be focused in the future studies. Therefore, in 
designing teacher professional development, the ways of differentiating those components for 
instructional purposes need to be taken into consideration as the contents not only of the teacher 
training, lesson planning, mentoring, and school supervising, but also of the curriculum of teacher 
education.   

The findings presented above have several implications on ELT. The humanistic teaching and 
learning requires the implementation of learner-centered approach (Jingna, 2012). Learners have 
differences and each of the learners needs to be paid attention and satisfied. Teaching cannot ignore 
individual student’s strengths and weaknesses, motivation and preferences, talents, and potentials. 
Each of the students’ needs to feel satisfied, and their needs catered. The implication is that teachers 
are demanded to pay greater attention to the learners’ variabilities. The corollary is that the teaching 
should be differentiated to accommodate such a variability (Dixon et al., 2014) and the teacher’s 
competence ought to be up-dated and up-graded in line with the advancement of the required skills.  

Consistent with the above findings, the teaching aspects that must be differentiated encompass all 
classroom components, such as contents, strategies, and instructional transaction (Merrill, 2001). 
The demands of the teachers are not only coming from student personality factors but also from the 
advancement of external factors, like the current development of information technology. To be 
successful in the future, students need to acquire four competencies, called 4Cs of the 21st Century 
skills, namely Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration, and Communication (D’Addario, 2020). 
Creativity is described as the capacity to have a solution over the problems. Critical thinking is 
indicated by the ability to think critically, by identifying and describing the problem, analyzing the 
information, formulating solutions, and taking action. Collaboration is the ability to work in teams, 
learn from, and contribute to the learning of others, use social networking skills, and work 
empathically with others. Communication refers to the ability to communicate effectively, spoken 
and written, receptively and productively (D’Addario, 2020). 

Furthermore, the revitalization of character education permeating all national education 
programs, such as the case in Indonesia, has given greater responsibility on the shoulders of the 
teachers. It is intended to emphasize the inculcation of moral values on the students, in line with the 
development of their cognitive intelligence (Silvia, 2015). The character education, according to 
Lickona (1997), is making students accustomed to being virtuous. Its realization in everyday life is 
manifested in terms of honesty, responsibility, kindness, and courtesy. These might bring about 
effects on the teacher development programs, especially in connection with the training contents and 
techniques. The significance of this study with those teachers’ tasks lies in the ability to use diverse 
strategies. When the teacher is aware of and able to implement this principle of varying the 
strategies, any contents can be delivered using such tactics. A teacher training program is a way to 
improve such a capability.  

4. Conclusion 

Consistent with the aims of this study, describing the ways the trainers implemented a variety in 
the teaching process, this study revealed the trainers’ use of diverse materials, fun classroom 
activities, learner-centered approach, affect-lowering classroom management, and varied interaction 
patterns. In relevance to the second aim of whether such a variety was effective, it found out the 
positive effects on the trainees as evidenced by their positive comments and most of their responses 
which implied that the training had a good quality and impacts on the improvement of their 
knowledge and experiences. Despite the fact, this study is acknowledged to have limitations. The 
training effects were viewed based on the questionnaires of which the truth of the responses was 
based on assumptions. It was also gained through subjective reflections of the trainees and limited 
only to the time when they had just finished having the training. It is suggested that further research 
be conducted to reveal the longer-term impacts to see whether the trainees implement the knowledge 
and experiences as the training results in their actual teaching at schools. So, teacher training for 
professional development is seen as a trigger to improve the teacher’s quality which in a later step 
affects the improvement of the quality of the learners.  

  

 

 



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