New rule to stymie English teaching
New rule to stymie English teaching
Hinton John Lowe, Bandung
The government's announcement of a new regulation that all
foreigners must pass a test of their competence in Bahasa
Indonesia before being granted a work permit, is arousing
controversy.
A consequence of this will be that many teachers of English
will be excluded. They will not come here. They will go instead
to other countries where they are welcome and don't need to pass
such a test. And where there is government support for programs
to teach and learn English.
Many Indonesians want to learn English. The English language
is a gateway to many education and employment opportunities, both
in Indonesia and elsewhere. Even some tertiary teaching here,
such as in medicine and management, is already being conducted in
English.
Not all parents can afford to send their children abroad to
acquire competence in English; and many of them would prefer to
keep them at home, in their families, if there were equal
education opportunities here, especially to learn good Standard
English.
Most students identify lack of opportunity to speak English as
their main disadvantage in learning the language. More speakers
and teachers of good English here would increase their
opportunities.
Whilst it is a good idea that foreigners who work here should
learn to speak Bahasa Indonesia, perhaps the test should be
applied after one year, before renewal of their work permits.
However, it seems unreasonable that teachers of English from
English speaking countries should be able to speak, and perhaps
also read and write, Indonesian before coming here.
No indications have yet been given about the types and degree
of competence that will be required, adding to the uncertainty
about the meaning of the regulation and its effects. Perhaps the
announcement of the new regulation has preceded such
considerations.
The quality and level of competence in teaching and using
Standard English in Indonesia is generally very poor. Access of
well educated speakers, writers and teachers of Standard English
to work in Indonesia should not be discouraged by the requirement
that they be already competent in Bahasa Indonesia before they
are permitted to teach English here.
Such a requirement will retard Indonesia's economic and
intellectual development, and restrict the education and
employment opportunities of its citizens. The governments of many
countries now have policies and programs to extend competence in
English, to enhance their competitive trading and intellectual
positions in the new global economy.
Will Indonesia, yet again, fall behind in the stakes, because
of ill-conceived language policies? Or perhaps, because of the
lack of any policy!
The writer is a lecturer at Universitas Widyatama, Bandung. He
can be reached at hilo@indo.net.id.