Indonesian as a foreign language

The article Are we ready for IFL teaching? published on Aug. 22, 1998 has highlighted many of the problems of teaching Indonesian as a foreign language. My experience as a teacher of IFL in Australia from 1976 to 1996 is that the situation in Australia may be somewhat different from that in Indonesia. There are both journals and newsletters published in Australia by various groups and associations, for example the Indonesian Cultural Exchange Institute, Victorian Indonesian Language Teachers Association and Western Australian Indonesian Language Teachers Association.

Several Australian universities offer Indonesian language and also language teaching methodology courses. The University of the Northern Territory offers a master's program in teaching Indonesian as a foreign language.

There is a national group called Australian Society of Indonesian Language Educators (ASILE) which is holding a conference during Easter next year in Canberra. The contact person is Dr. Virginia Hooker at Australian National University. At the ASILE conference last year there were several delegates from Indonesian schools and universities. These conferences have become the ideal venue of sharing new ideas regarding the teaching of IFL.

The Australian government supports the teaching of language other than English (LOTE) and Indonesian is one of the priority languages being supported. In the Northern Territory, Indonesian is the most commonly studied LOTE.

Materials to support the teaching of Indonesian are constantly being developed in Australia, by both the government and by private publishers. As well as printed materials there are also CD Rom programs and other computer software being written to teach Indonesian at both primary and secondary levels.

The future of IFL seems to be secure, at least in Australia, at present.

MARGARET MOURIK

Jakarta