Improving English teaching system

Referring to Gill Westaway's letter of Jan. 2, 1999, I would like to respond to her comments on my article published in The Jakarta Post on Dec. 28, 1998. And, at the same time, clarify some points countered by Ms. Westaway, who claims to be a proponent of communicative approach.

Ms. Westaway convincingly argued that a communicative approach can be implemented in larger classes to attain one of the basic features of the communicative approach that I mentioned in my article, provided that there is good preparation and lesson planning. I would like to add here that apart from having good preparation and lesson planning, the teacher must also take into account such factors as the students' needs and sociolinguistic environment. These factors will undoubtedly affect the teacher in preparing a good lesson plan.

Furthermore, Ms. Westaway commented that I made questionable assertions about the communicative approach per se, rather than the interpretation of the communicative approach. However, if one reads the conclusion that I drew from the premises regarding the ultimate objective of teaching English in Indonesia, one may find out that I indeed touched on the issue questioned by Ms. Westaway.

Ms. Westaway also seems to disagree with my viewpoint dealing with the overemphasis of teaching language functions which are presented in "frozen form". My survey of English textbooks which claim to have been designed on the basis of functional syllabus indicates that all the contents of the books present such notorious language function as introducing oneself, refusing, and apologizing, among other things (see, for example, Function of American English by Jones, 1979, and Fitting In by Coffey, 1983).

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to suggest that if we are not ready to adopt a new teaching approach, we should not be influenced by the so-called "pendulum syndrome". However, as philosopher William James says, we must be tender minded in the face of new ideas, but tough minded in ever accepting them

All in all, it has been our task to remedy the defects (that I list in my article) of this new approach and eventually improve our English teaching system.

SETIONO

English Department

Faculty of Education

Atmajaya Catholic

University