Improving English teaching system

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