English teachers lack communication skills

English teachers lack communication skills

JAKARTA (JP): Low communication skills among most English language teachers in Indonesia is undermining the new English teaching methods introduced in 1994, a linguist expert said.

Muljanto Sumardi, a professor of English language at the Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta, pointed out that the new methods put greater emphasis on communication ability and less on grammar, which had been prioritized earlier.

"We have to admit that many English teachers are just not ready to use the new teaching methods," Muljanto said in a seminar on the problems of teaching English organized by the university on Friday. "Some of them even are not even aware that there is any new method," he said.

Although English is taught from the fourth grade of primary school all the way to senior high school level, the English skills of senior high school graduates are generally still appalling.

In the revamped 1994 school curriculum, this problem has been addressed, at least in part, by emphasizing the need to teach students to communicate in the language and not simply learn the grammar rules.

"To be able to communicate, a person must learn about what is appropriate in which situation. So, the main focus in English teaching is now its communicative aspect," said Muljanto, who is also active in the Social Sciences Foundation.

While hailing the new teaching methods, Muljanto felt that there were several problems in applying them.

Besides the problem of teachers' own poor communication skills, there is also the culture of Indonesian schools which does not smile on active student participation, to discourage such communication. There is also a lack of quality books on the new methods.

The new method requires students to be more active in the learning process.

"One of the characteristics of this new method is an active student. But it's difficult to do it here," said Muljanto, who is also a staff lecturer at the IKIP Muhammadiyah.

Indonesian culture discourages students from being active during the learning process, he said. "Society still views a student who is obedient to his teacher and quiet in class as a good one," Muljanto said.

On the question of books, he said many books on teaching English are published and sold in the country, but few of them are right for the new teaching method.

With the emphasis on communication rather than grammar skills, teachers of English language must also know the difference between formal and informal English, he said.

He proposed that the Ministry of Education and Culture should organize courses to upgrade English language teaching at schools, from primary to senior high school levels.

Unimpressive English language skills are also found in university graduates.

Given the increasing importance of English as a qualification for just about every job, English language schools have become a thriving business in Indonesia.

Muljanto acknowledged that the problem of poor English could not be solved at the university level.

He said universities could not compete with the English language schools shooting up all over Indonesia, because the schools could devise courses for specific groups, such as secretaries, housewives, and even for medical students.

Universities do not have the resources to do this, he said.

The two-day seminar on communicative language teaching, involved students and teachers from the State Teachers' Training Institutes (IKIP) from Jakarta, Lampung, Semarang, Surabaya, Surakarta and Yogyakarta. The seminar was opened by Atma Jaya University rector Thomas Suyatno. (31)