Indonesians discouraged from speaking English in public

JAKARTA (JP): An English language expert lamented recently that the use of English was often shunned by the public who consider local English speakers arrogant.

"They will be called arrogant and this discourages English usage around us," said Gloria C. Kismadi of the Language Development Institute.

While English usage was increasing, many still avoided its use in public. Cultural inhibitions limited the English proficiency of many Indonesians.

The ability of many Indonesian English language teachers and students was also restricted because they lacked the opportunity to exercise their knowledge.

There was also a mistaken belief here that if Indonesian people spoke English, they would lose Indonesian values.

"It is not true, speaking in English will destroy Indonesian values," she said. "Indonesians should be able to use English to articulate Indonesian values, that is very important," Gloria told The Jakarta Post here on Monday.

She said that in the age of telecommunications and global interaction, the role of English language teachers has become increasingly important.

Gloria said that without the language people could not effectively negotiate, do business, or participate in political or economic activities.

The role of English language teachers is important in empowering people with these skills to face the demanding and competitive era, she said.

Gloria was speaking here yesterday at the opening of a three- day seminar on language teacher development. The seminar was organized by language institute LIA.

Gloria said the English language teaching process should be more student centered, giving more freedom to students to be responsible for their own learning.

She said teachers should also be more sensitive to the difficulties encountered by students in learning English. One way to do this is for teachers themselves to learn another foreign language.

By knowing the difficulties firsthand, teachers can provide more suitable and effective teaching methods.

Gloria stressed the importance of the teacher-student relationship.

"There must be mutual trust between the teachers and the students and this is something we have to build and develop," she said.

Students should be encouraged to be more open and teachers should be more approachable, she added. (10)