Complications in English teaching: Ideological issues

By Iwan Jazadi

This is the second of two articles identifying key problems of Indonesia's English teaching system at macro-societal level.

ADELAIDE (JP): Although the previous article explains why English language teaching (ELT) in Indonesia has failed, we still need to discuss the issues in a larger societal arena. This larger arena explains ideological and political forces that can be connected to economic, employment and education barriers to explain why a failure occurs in any society. Therefore, we can better prepare future agendas.

In Indonesia, the structural relationship between teachers, headmasters, supervisors and higher hierarchies is so politically manipulated resulting in the lower structure having less of a say. Teachers, in the above hierarchy, have the least voice.

It is, therefore, explained that the "national" curriculum policies, including the 1994 English communicative approach with all its principles and impositions, which belongs to the highest structure, is kept as "holy curriculum" (as mentioned in Chaedar Alwasilah in his article in The Jakarta Post 1998), viewed as the reference for truth.

The bad side resulting from putting up these curriculum statements is that concerned parties, including teachers, are compelled, consciously or unconsciously, to lose their critical thinking and so ostensibly cannot read the text between the lines.

There is even a tendency for the document to be seen as a formality. Alternatively, teachers blatantly only follow the technical points of the curriculum, which they acquire during their regular teacher in-service program.

If the top policy is actually good, it will not necessarily matter, at least not in the short term, but in the Indonesian case the opposite situation applies.

Two Indonesian ELT specialists share their experience and observations. The first, Dardjowidjojo, a professor in ELT and a member of the national English language curriculum modification ad hoc committee was invited to discuss English teaching materials for senior high schools and to spend five consecutive days in special accommodation to complete the task.

However, on the second day, all the members were gathered to attend the program closing ceremony. Dardjowidjojo was surprised because he felt he had not even started working at the time of the farewell and the honorarium was meant to run for five days.

The second is observation from Rusyana. He observes that in the National Teaching Guidelines on the subject of literature, there is a lesson unit called Puisi yang bersifat bahasa (Poetry with language characteristics).

In fact, there is a misprint here: bahasa should read balada (ballad). What is absurd is that all textbooks writers still use the misprinted word regardless of the ease in picking up the misprint by referring to details following the lesson unit statement. In other words, even textbook writers do not read between the lines to find fault with the materials they are dealing with, a very important part of intellectual expertise.

The next ideological issue in the macro-societal level is the attitude of Indonesians toward English. Given the status of English as a foreign language, as stipulated in policy documents including those regarding the English curriculum, people abuse the status as an "excuse" when they fail to master the language.

People fail to recognize that English, which has become closer and more exposed to them, is of such use that it should more appropriately be called a second language and not a "foreign language."

In fact, ELT/ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) experts do not necessarily dichotomize English as being a second or a foreign language. On the other hand, Indonesian, which is a "unifying" language and has superseded all local and foreign languages, has developed dramatically, but unfortunately not for education purposes, more for political interests. For this reason, language education in Indonesia, in general, has been identified as a failure (Alwasilah, 1999).

The last problem at the macro-ideological level has to do with lacking literacy habits. Most Indonesians do not have reading or writing skills, except for basics such as copying for informal letter writing and reading, reading signs, billboards and TV commercials.

They tend to associate books, offices and even newspapers and magazines with certain professional groups of people. Even many school and university students view books, especially text books, as boring, useless, theory-driven and formality-oriented things.

They study only to prepare for examinations, by focusing on items they think might come up as questions. When they leave school, they tend to forget what they have studied and never read books anymore.

That most Indonesians do not possess a literate lifestyle and a learning culture poses problems in the learning of English as a foreign or second language.

Firstly, a new language should be learnt continually and used daily. This is not compatible with the situation in which learning is merely formal and exam-oriented.

Secondly, the English language curriculum, which stresses reading as indicated in the previous section, has failed to boost students' literacy habits. This is because the oral culture at the stage where learners are developing is not realistic enough for literacy to follow.

In other words, there has been great indifference of the part of the learners' interests in the present English language curriculum in Indonesia.

The conclusion to be drawn here is not to be pessimistic about our English teaching system. Based on proper research, real solutions must be sought, the results of which should be included in curriculum policy formulation. We will then have a curriculum that is both interesting for students and need-based.

The writer is an English lecturer in Indonesia, currently undertaking a Doctorate degree at the University of South Australia, Adelaide.