English teaching needs total revision: Seminar

English teaching needs total revision: Seminar

JAKARTA (JP): English teachers here called for a total
revision of the out-of-date high school curriculum on the subject
to prepare the next generation for the free trade era.

In a seminar on Thursday, teachers lamented the ineffective
teaching method and syllabus, which fails to motivate the
students to use the language regularly.

The teachers pointed out that the guidelines given by the
government only focus on grammar and not on the language as a
means of communication. Worse, the curriculum contains too much
material for students to digest in the limited time available for
learning, which is only about three hours a week.

Teacher Toni Sudaryanto from Vocational High School Makarya I
on Jl. Ciputat Raya in South Jakarta said that students failed to
respond to or understand the subject.

"Their marks in English are the worst. Students at my school
are from the middle and low economic classes, so they cannot
afford English courses to improve their language.

"But they still cannot get anything out of their studies if
they depend only on the curriculum at school," he told The
Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the seminar, held by the
Indonesian American Foundation's Foreign Language Institute
(STBA-LIA).

Tony claimed that he had used various methods to help students
understand the language better, including reading English
stories, but without success.

Itje Chodijah, head of research and development at STBA-LIA,
argued that there was a gap between what was taught in class and
what the students actually needed.

She said that many graduates complained that the English they
learned was not applicable to universities, which uses many
English textbooks, or places of employment, where workers need to
be able to communicate with foreign clients.

Many university students chose translated textbooks rather
than reading them in English.

"Our region will be in the free trade era starting in 2003,
and there will be an unrestricted influx of human resources," she
told the Post.

"In conclusion, the teaching of English in the school system
needs a complete overhaul, (we need) a syllabus which
concentrates more on the language's functional use rather than
the knowledge of it."

At state-run schools, English is introduced at the junior high
level.

Former minister of education Fuad Hassan, who was the keynote
speaker at the seminar, said the current purpose of English
teaching in high schools was to enable students to read
university textbooks.

He said that the method of teaching could not be called a
failure, although there should be certain changes made to improve
students' language skills, including introducing auditory methods
to make students more familiar with the language.

"To change the method of teaching means we have to change the
curriculum's aim. We may have to start introducing the language
to students at an early age," Fuad said.(bby)