English proficiency needs new teaching setting

By Sugeng Susilo Adi

ADELAIDE, Australia (JP): Older Indonesians, particularly men, often criticize members of the younger generation because they cannot speak English fluently despite having studied English formally for six years in junior and high schools. Members of the older generation boast that they speak fluent Dutch even though they never studied the language formally.

Most probably, the older generation's competence in Dutch is no better than the younger generation's proficiency in English. The difference is that the older generation studied Dutch in the "natural laboratory" created by Dutch colonialism. Young Indonesians have studied English in a formal atmosphere, with a lack of opportunities to express themselves orally in the language.

The poor English proficiency of Indonesian students, both in high school and university, is mostly because the country's system of teaching English still focuses on studying about a language rather than studying how to use the language. Ideally, six years of studying English at high school should be enough to create fundamental communicative competence. Students should, at least, be able to speak basic English conversation.

In two earlier articles in The Jakarta Post on the English teaching system in Indonesia, Iwan Jazadi highlighted the failure of teaching English in the country, both at the classroom level and the macrosocietal level. At the classroom level, he attributed the failure primarily to the inconsistency of the 1994 national curriculum which, although touted as based on a communicative approach, still relies on documents emphasizing reading skills.

The next problem is the national examination system (Ebtanas), which is based on multiple-choice type questions using reading texts, leaving students without opportunities to practice communicating in the target language.

What are the practical suggestions to cope with the problems, especially at the classroom level, more specifically on the possible role played by Indonesian English teachers?

Of particular urgency is the need to a create a fitting environment of teaching -- and studying -- English in a natural setting, through implementing a communicative language teaching (CLT) classroom. Accordingly, there are, at least, three important key principles suitable in the local context.

The first is the learner-centered principle which demands teachers put their learners into divisions based on their own mix of variables, such as cognitive learning style, resources or what they are able to do, and social maturity. Teachers need to consider the learners' differences, and treat them individually based on the distinctions.

Since the students generally have the same purpose in studying English -- passing the national exam -- their needs and interests could be their strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps it is difficult for high school teachers to treat their students according to their own needs and interests because they have to teach large classes; some have 40 students or more. However, it may be helpful for them to plan for a small number of subgroups, based on the most common learner differences.

The second is the active involvement principle. It means that learners will learn how to use the language only when they are provided a variety of opportunities for its use. The principle implies a need to promote genuine communication, provide a variety of activities using spoken and written communicative data such as songs, games, stories and role play, as well as encouraging the active involvement of learners in communicating and self-discovery, and encouraging interaction between the learners, teachers, materials and the learning environment.

This principle seems particularly important because the problem of teaching English in Indonesia centers on the lack of opportunities for the students to communicate in the target language. Teachers need to provide more opportunities for their students to communicate in the target language, both inside and outside the classroom, because development of communicative competence requires realistic interaction among learners using meaningful and contextualized language.

It is thus the teachers' responsibility to creatively modify the application of the national curriculum to be more flexible because expecting the administration to change the curriculum is too much.

Last is the responsibility principle, which starts from the fact that learners learn a language best when they are provided with opportunities to manage their own language. It implies a need to increase learners' responsibility for their own learning, such as to learn how to learn, and to learn how to use a language. Helping students learn how to learn is as important as helping them to learn how to use the language.

For the time being, what happens is merely "spoon-feeding" where the teacher gives rules and materials, and explains many things. The reason is cultural. The teacher is viewed as a source of knowledge, with the authority to choose materials and select a teaching method without negotiating with the students. Consequently, the students never learn how to learn.

Using the simple suggestions above would be an interesting challenge in the classroom for Indonesian English practitioners, both in developing themselves and in coping with the anticipated problems in the country's English teaching system.

The writer, a lecturer at Surabaya Wijaya Kusuma University, is currently studying at the University of South Australia in Adelaide.