Textbook writers' skills queried
Textbook writers' skills queried
A. Chaedar Alwasilah, Dean, Faculty of Language and Arts Education
Indonesian University of Education (UPI), Bandung,
chaedar@bdg.centrin.net.id
There is no development without education and there is no
education without textbooks. And to develop quality education
there should be many professionals committed to textbook writing.
To our dismay, this is a far cry from reality.
It has often been reported that the children's books produced
locally are not interesting for children both in content and
appearance. No wonder children stay away from them and get hooked
onto the imported and translated comics such as Sailor Moon, and
Dragon Ball.
Most textbooks on the market are written by schoolteachers
lacking formal qualification. At teachers colleges they may have
taken a course on the review of curriculum or textbooks.
However, in no way is this course intended to enable college
students to write a textbook. At best, later on when teaching
they will know how to use the textbooks intelligently and
skillfully.
After assessing the substandard reading habits of our
students, a call for professional textbook writing is inevitable
in order to develop attractive and substantive textbooks. Such
appealing books abound in developed countries such as Japan,
where avid reading habits are developed and encouraged from
childhood.
Textbook writing in Indonesia seems to be driven by either
hobby or financial needs. Used to writing, many fiction writers
have turned into textbook writers. While they find writing a
routine or hobby, they commonly lack a basic understanding of the
curriculum and awareness of pedagogical principles. These
writers are like soldiers who know to combat but do not know the
reason for the war.
Another group of textbook writers are schoolteachers. Having
taught for a relatively long time, they have experience with
miscellaneous textbooks and references. Using the curriculum as a
basis, they can easily tell whether textbooks are congruent with
the curricula. And in light of student response to the textbooks,
the teachers can easily suggest what things should or should not
have been included.
Armed with firsthand classroom experience, they believe that
they can write much more suitable textbooks. They are like well-
indoctrinated soldiers who are not prepared to engage in the
battle. So we now witness another common phenomenon in our
schools: schoolteachers turned textbook writers.
Their end product ranges from student worksheets (Lembar Kerja
Siswa, LKS) to supplements, or even real textbooks. The argument
goes that the LKS and supplements are developed on the basis of
student needs. In most cases, teacher-developed materials
predominate, thus overlooking the recommended textbooks.
Evidently the school has become an arena of textbook writing
competition among teachers, schools, and private publishers.
Often publishers periodically send their agents to the schools.
No matter how professionally the recommended textbooks have been
developed, the books are often underused. Schoolteachers claim
that theirs are the more appropriate ones.
In the early 1990s the government invested hundreds of
millions of rupiah on textbooks to be distributed free of charge
to students. The centralized administration issued and enforced
a textbook provision policy throughout the country.
Unfortunately, such a policy has failed to recognize and
accommodate school differences in terms of geography and local
culture.
Many schools prefer the alternative textbooks developed by
their colleague teachers in collaboration with private
publishers. To win a bid, publishers are often under pressure to
produce a textbook in a relatively short period of time. You see
many writers born today are gone tomorrow! Consequently, parents
have to spend extra money for these additional materials. In
light of the regional autonomy policy, such a practice is
expected to prevail for a long time.
On one hand, the illustration above suggests a writing culture
in the making. Following a bottom-up policy, there is virtually
no restriction at all for anyone to write a textbook. Almost all
teachers seem to feel qualified to write one, despite the fact
that they have not undergone any professional training specific
to textbook writing.
On the other hand, one becomes convinced that our national
education has failed to prepare professional textbook writers. It
would not be surprising if textbook writing is not listed in the
curricula of our education schools; unlike evaluation,
statistics, management, philosophy and research.
In the United States textbook selection is a policy of a state
or a school district. Usually a committee is tasked with
evaluating available textbooks. Those textbooks are produced and
evaluated following rigid guidelines. Employing professional
writers, curriculum consultants and language specialists,
publishers produce textbook drafts.
The draft is then reviewed by experts and piloted in a number
of schools. Based on the pilot study they revise the draft before
they mass-produce them.
It is high time for graduate schools of education --
especially departments of language education and curriculum -- to
offer a Master degree or at least a specialization in textbook
writing. The curriculum should consist of courses on writing for
publication, the psychology of learning, methods of teaching and
multimedia. The prospective writers should also take an
apprenticeship at a publishing company.
In the near future, educational offices both at the provincial
and regency levels should employ experts in textbook writing and
evaluation along with experts in curriculum, school psychology,
and educational measurement.