Teaching English methods must be modern and realistic

Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High/Scope Indonesia, Jakarta

There have been numerous arguments about what are the best methods and materials for learning English. Some claim that textbook examples written by experts that simplify the language and learning are the best source of material.

This is perhaps likely to be true when learners are at lower levels but as learners make progress it is necessary for their materials to progress too and this means that the materials they use should be more realistic and up-to-date.

Simplification of materials creates an artificial condition in which the reality of the language is altered and important context may be lost. Successful language learning largely depends on contextual clues. These help the learner to understand what is either said or written by connecting the words or phrases that combine to constitute the meaning of the message.

Sadly, too often the essence of meaningful communication can be lost in teaching examples and this is equally true in Indonesia as it is in any other country in which English is being learnt. Theorists propose that learning is most successful when the material to be learnt is reduced into manageable chunks that the learners may easily digest. However, there is always the danger that this process of simplification actually makes the learning strangely more difficult.

The language often just does not work or will not conform to teachers' desires to neatly place it into easy chunks for the learners to consume. Also, the risk of artifice resulting from simplification jeopardizes one of the most critical aspects of language learning -- namely that it is a practical tool. If the language learning is allowed to deteriorate to the point where it no longer resembles or at least reasonably simulates reality, then its practical value is lost and ultimately it is no longer really useful to learners.

It is for these reasons that teachers of English in Indonesia should aim to maximize the authenticity of the language that they lead their students towards. This means keeping current and up-to-date with the way the language is used. That is -- Modern English and its actual usage and this, in turn, means capitalizing on authentic material that can help keep the language learning real and relevant.

Keeping up-to-date and aware of Modern English is important. Even where a learner may have been led to a good knowledge of the language real deficiencies may still exist. The communicative ability of the learner may be undermined if care and attention has not been paid to the way the language is now.

Take the example of an accomplished and intelligent young Indonesian lady who had received a good and quite formal education in Europe. Her tutors had given her a quite classical education that meant that she possessed an excellent appreciation of classical European literature. But this also meant that she had developed a very stiff, formal and rather old-fashioned model of the English language.

Consequently, even when meeting close friends she remained, seemingly, distant and coldly formal. A typical quite antiquated greeting from her would be something like "Good morning, Peter, and how are you today? Isn't it a simply wonderful morning?" Though well intentioned and perfectly polite, such a greeting would probably be more familiar to Victorian England than the twenty-first century -- when and where English is much less formalized and has become the language of international communication. The recipient of this greeting wore a quite puzzled look on his face.

Because her teachers had chosen not to be current with their teaching of the language she had been equipped with a form of the language that was really outmoded. Even her friends would be perplexed, amused and even bemused by her word choice and the consequent way in which she expressed herself and communicated with them.

The use of authentic materials is, then, important in equipping the learners with knowledge and skill they can use now. The definition of authentic material can be broad but typically it is thought of as material that is produced in the language not specifically or premeditatedly prepared for language learning. In this sense it is bound to prove more challenging to the learners but importantly it retains those real and natural contextual clues that will both help the learners and advance their ability to recognize structures in the language.

In Indonesia printed authentic material may not really be in abundance in the English language but there are a number of sources that may be called upon by teachers. This newspaper, The Jakarta Post, as an English language daily is useful, as are international magazines such as Newsweek, Time and the Economist. Also, there are computer-based sources -- the Internet brings a large quantity of material from which appropriate selections may be made.

But authentic material should not only be thought of as being on the printed page or text-based. Authentic listening material is also a useful learning aid and may prove very important. A recording of a conversation may provide something very useful and largely under-examined in language learning -- namely spontaneous speech production.

Conversation and speech generally requires real-time processing. Listening is generally more difficult than reading. Learners have to think fast and grasp meaning on the spur of the moment. They cannot go back or turn the pages back to recheck their understanding. For these reasons getting learners either involved in or listening to real-time speech and conversation creates real material and real exposure to the language.

With this kind of real exposure learners may develop strategies that help in their developing language. These may include listening for keywords, picking up the gist of the conversation and noticing tone of voice, intonation and rhythm that will all help to fill in the gaps where there may be any lack of understanding.

Making the learning of the language real has numerous benefits and high amongst these is the fact that a more natural and realistic model of the language is being recognized and pursued. Often the language is imprecise or faltering, it is not always strictly grammatically correct; there are many hesitations, changes of direction, improvisations and fillers.

Giving learners opportunities to become aware of and attuned to these facets, and even linguistic idiosyncrasies, of English helps them to be more successful in their receipt and production of communications. This realistic and hence immediately useful learning should be the goal of all teachers. Then teachers and learners alike may really be achieving communicative competence.

The opinions expressed above are personal.