English language teaching must be reformed

English language teaching must be reformed

By A. Chaedar Alwasilah

This is the second of two articles on the need to reform the
teaching of English as a foreign language in Indonesia.

BANDUNG (JP): The fact that English has established itself as
the most important language in the world is a given, and its
expansion here in Indonesia should be viewed as natural and
beneficial. It is true that the globalization of English has
cultural and political implications for those who learn and use
it, but as critical educators we are convinced that by
reconceptualizing the teaching of EFL, we can provide a
significant contribution to national education.

As the survey indicates, the teaching of EFL is not synonymous
with cultural imperialism. With regard to fear of cultural and,
to be specific, Western propaganda, Pennycook has this to say:
" ... the spread of English, if dealt with critically, may offer
chances for cultural renewal and exchange around the world."

Indonesia needs to put the teaching of English as a foreign
language (TEFL) in the framework of national language planning,
where minor, national and foreign languages are proportionally
accommodated for the sake of national development.

The burning issues of modernizing Indonesian, teaching English
at primary schools, the use of English as the medium of
instruction at tertiary level and the policy of teaching local
content subjects remain controversial and call for informed and
professional solutions.

While we inspire to be professional in teaching English, we
are aware that Indonesian should be modernized, and that the
present teaching of Indonesian has been a failure. Muadz (1998)
suggests that local languages be used as the medium of
instruction instead of Indonesian until students are ready to use
the national language -- a suggestion reminiscent of one made at
a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) meeting of specialists in the 1950s.

* Globalization brings with it an overflow of perplexing
information. Time is running out before informed decisions must
be made. What education should do now is provide students with
critical thinking skills.

Thinking is reasonable when the thinker "... strives to
analyze arguments carefully, looks for valid evidence and reaches
sound conclusions. The goal of teaching critical thinking is to
develop people who are fair minded, objective and committed to
clarity and accuracy." (Marzano, 1998).

Teaching English should not be perceived simply as a process
of transferring the four language skills to students. The present
practice of teaching English here tends to put a strong emphasis
on developing a good command of English, which is in fact never
the case, without attaching the appropriate importance to
critical thinking. To develop critical pedagogues to teach
English we therefore need to revise current thinking with regards
to how we impart knowledge to our younger generation.

* Important dispositions of critical thinking include, among
others, looking for alternatives, open-mindedness and being
sensitive to others' feelings. Language education should expose
students to as much information and controversial issues as
possible and promote critical dialogs.

Sensitive issues such as corruption, collusion and nepotism
have potential for use as topics to develop critical thinking.
Use of these topics would place ethics firmly at the center of
education.

Thinking skills cannot be and should not be taught apart from
content because content is inseparably linked to language and
cognition.

The emergence of local dialects of English should encourage
what is described as the broken interlanguage of our students,
"...where 'breaking' is an attempt to dislodge the central
language norms and to recreate other possibilities." (Pennycook,
1994).

The question of whose version of the language gains sway is
always a political one. In the teaching of English as a foreign
language, native speakers are always perceived as the only model,
an attitude which contradicts critical thinking, where creativity
and anomalies are accepted.

Not only do native speakers tend to be dismissive of other
possibilities, labeling expressions unfamiliar to them as "not
English", but they also stand out as representative of linguistic
hegemony.

Emerging versions of English around the globe should be
recognized and be treated fairly as dialects that deserve
academic examination. A revised foreign language policy and
education should endorse the emergence of Indonesian English.

* The slogan that new ministers bring a new policy is popular
in our country, suggesting that our educational policies have not
been based on a well-defined visionary goal and change from one
minister to the next.

At school level, there is a tendency among teachers,
headmasters and supervisors to adhere faithful to the "holy"
curriculum.

English teaching should be redesigned to promote new forms of
knowledge and culture and this would require a great deal of
flexibility in our teaching methods. Critical English teachers
should have a vision of social transformation and must work to
prepare students for the future.

* The English curriculum and the curriculum in general should
be revised so that they promote awareness and bestow a political
awareness upon students.

Teaching politics forces us to develop an awareness of
"planning language and planning inequality", Tollefson (1991).

Language policy should recognize that language -- be it local,
national or international -- is a cultural practice located in
very particular social, cultural and political contexts. The
teaching of English in Indonesia should therefore be put into a
local context, thus empowering Indonesian teachers, lecturers,
textbook writers, curriculum developers and language policy
makers to develop the language to the full.

It is clear throughout the above discussion that the cited
authors share many assumptions about the teaching of English as a
foreign language, although they differ on a number of sensitive
and crucial issues.

Explicit teaching of politics and a tolerance of differences
in others constitutes an essential, albeit complicated issue that
we must come to terms with academically and professionally.

The English curriculum and national education should both be
revised continuously so that they remain relevant in our ever-
changing world.

The writer is a lecturer at the Graduate School of the Bandung
Teachers Training College (IKIP Bandung) in West Java.