Teaching english in Indonesia: Whose rules should be followed?<\/p>\n
Setiono, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Who owns the English language? Americans, the British,
\nthe Canadians, New Zealanders or Australians? There was a time when
\nsuch a question proved to be well-founded. For the non-native
\nEnglish countries studying the English language, they were once
\ncompelled to refer to either British or American varieties as a
\nstandard norm (exo-normative standard) that was to be adhered to.
\nMalaysia, for example, took the former, and the Philippines took
\nthe later, for different historical reasons in each case.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, times have changed. With the rapidly increasing
\nnumber of non-native countries speaking English both as an
\ninternational communications tool and as local varieties, the
\nabove question seems to have lost its validity. Braj B. Kachru, a
\nrenowned professor of linguistics from Urbana-Champaign,
\nestimated that in terms of the number of speakers and their
\ndemographic distribution, the 300 million native English speakers
\nare now outnumbered by 400 million non-native speakers of
\nEnglish, who are spread all over the world.<\/p>\n
The global spread of English is seemingly effected by the
\npower of transmutation that this language possesses: English is a
\nsymbol of modernization, elitism and prestige in almost all
\ndomains; English is the linguistic gate to international
\neducation, business, science and technology; and English serves
\nas a \"window on the world\", through which one can
\ninternationalize and modernize one's outlook.<\/p>\n
English is now the global language and is used all around the
\nworld. To claim that English is only associated with \"Mother
\nEnglish\" (American and British varieties), and that one has to
\nrefer to either of these when using English, is already an
\noutdated perspective. It seems that every country all over the
\nworld owns the English language. We have, for example, such
\nfamiliar terms as Singlish (Singaporean English), Japlish
\n(Japanese English), Spanglish (Spanish English), and Hinglish
\n(Hindi English). The emergence of these new \"World Englishes\"
\ngives rise to what Kachru calls the Third World varieties of
\nEnglish, with each having their own norms (endo-normative
\nstandards).<\/p>\n
In non-native English speaking countries such as India,
\nZambia, Ghana, Singapore and Malaysia, where English has been
\ninstitutionalized, codified and virtually nativized, there seems
\nto be no major problems of developing and nurturing local English
\nnorms in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary items (choice of
\nwords), cultural nuances, and possibly grammar.<\/p>\n
The innovations in lexis and grammar have been very rich, and
\nhave indeed gained acknowledgement from native English speakers.
\nSee, for example, Indian English and Singaporean English.
\nCommunication in English among the societies in these countries
\nwill not be distorted even if they do not use the exo-normative
\nstandards. In fact, their utterances, to a large extent, are
\nstill intelligible to native speakers of English.<\/p>\n
As English has been used as an auxiliary language in non-
\nnative English speaking countries, it has undergone a
\ntransplantation in non-American and non-British situations.
\nConsequently, new varieties, styles, registers, and rhetorical
\nmodels of thinking inevitably emerge, and their authentic and
\nappropriate use in daily conversation cannot be determined and
\njudged by reference to English native speakers, who have become
\noutsiders from the Third World \"Englishes\".<\/p>\n
The case of Indonesia, where English is used as the first
\nforeign language (not as a second language), is rather different.
\nEnglish is used primarily as an object of study -- a compulsory
\nsubject -- in a pedagogical domain, the objective of which is to
\nattain native-like proficiency. English is not, however, used as
\npart of the Indonesians' linguistic repertoire. As such, in order
\nto acquire English proficiently, an exo-normative model (either
\nthe American or British varieties) is always resorted to. The
\nstrict adherence to these models should not be flouted. Not
\nfollowing these model can be considered deviant or erroneous.<\/p>\n
It thus comes as no surprise to learn that much of the content of
\nthe textbooks used in teaching English in Indonesian schools does
\nnot necessarily conform to either the American or British
\nvarieties, whether linguistically or culturally. If observed
\ncarefully, one may find that the books contain structural
\npatterns that are grammatically well-formed, but unacceptable
\nfrom the English native speakers' vantage point. That is, English
\nnative speakers won't say it that way in their day-to-day
\ninteraction.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the books' contents are loaded with examples and
\nreading passages depicting the learners' local culture rather
\nthan that of the Americans' or British.<\/p>\n
In terms of pronunciation, it is interesting to note that the
\ndistinction between American and British pronunciation seems to
\nbe no longer valid. Although, prescriptively, these two varieties
\nare always recommended in the teaching of English in non-native
\nspeaking countries, both Indonesian teachers and Indonesian
\nstudents do not really pay serious attention to the accents
\nassociated with these two varieties. They instead learn to
\ncommunicate in English using their local accent, which is
\ntypically labeled as \"non-English\" by English native speakers.
\nAfter all, as one learns and acquires a new language to
\ncommunicate, the intelligibility of an utterance becomes the
\nprime consideration.<\/p>\n
From the above discussion, it seems that English has undergone
\na process of both linguistic assimilation and linguistic
\nacculturation in the Indonesian context, resulting in what one
\nmight wish to dub, by analogy with the \"World Englishes\", as
\nIndonglish (Indonesian-English).<\/p>\n
The process of assimilation and acculturation in a new
\nsituation is indicative of the English language as a natural
\nlanguage that never operates in a socio-cultural vacuum. This is
\nan inevitable process that is both linguistically and culturally
\njustifiable.<\/p>\n
The writer is a lecturer in the English Department at the
\nSchool of Education, Atma Jaya Catholic University.<\/p>",
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