Teachers’ Perspectives on Puppet-Assisted English Instructional Practices and Constraints in Indonesian Private Elementary Schools
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Abstract
Creative teaching approaches can broaden opportunities for interaction in elementary English classrooms, yet little is known about how teachers sustain puppet-assisted instruction under institutional and pedagogical constraints. This study aims to examine how elementary English teachers use puppets and negotiate institutional, material, and pedagogical constraints in nine private schools in Jakarta, Tangerang, and Bogor, Indonesia. The study employed a qualitative design involving nine purposively selected teachers with prior experience of puppet-assisted teaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in person or via Zoom, audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis. The findings identified five interrelated themes: motivations to encourage speaking and social interaction; puppet use in storytelling, dialogues, and classroom routines; limited institutional recognition; constraints in materials and professional training; and adaptation to curriculum and assessment requirements. Teachers perceived puppets as supporting pupils’ confidence and participation, but these perceptions were not independently verified through classroom observations or pupil assessments. The findings suggest that teachers’ creative choices are negotiated within available resources and school expectations rather than determined by personal enthusiasm alone. This study contributes teacher-reported evidence on the conditions shaping puppet-assisted English pedagogy, with implications for curriculum planning, resource provision, and context-responsive teacher professional learning.
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