The dear cost of disregarding English
By Raphael Lengesa Nombo
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Two recent articles on teaching English were interesting -- those by Iwan Jazadi titled Rigid curriculum complicates RI's English teaching and Complications in English teaching: Ideological issues, which appeared in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11 respectively.
The articles led this writer to sympathize with intellectuals such as Jazadi who have the important task of developing and promoting the teaching of English in the Republic of Indonesia. Their work must be difficult because of the historical and sociocultural biases which must be overcome if the teaching of English in Indonesia is to be a success.
Despite intriguing logic in the two articles as far as the teaching of English teaching is concerned, in order to provide readers a clearer understanding of his arguments Jazadi should have defined whether he was focusing on English as a language or as a subject in the curriculum of Indonesia's schools. There is a great difference between the two, which Jazadi unfortunately failed to indicate directly and clearly.
It is very important to draw a boundary between the two in order to be able to precisely understand the focus of Indonesia's English curriculum. What exactly are the objectives of the curriculum? Is it to teach English as a subject or a language? What kinds of teaching methods or strategies are to be employed? What are the major reasons for the rigid curriculum in Indonesia's teaching of English? These are important questions which must be thoroughly answered and clearly understood.
To some extent, Jazadi was quite right in saying that in Indonesia, as in many other developing countries, "English is taught at formal educational institutions and also at private English colleges in the community". However, the fact remains that this is not clearly stated in the Indonesian educational system, posing a challenge which scholars like Jazadi have to accept and ultimately consider incorporating into future reforms of the Indonesian educational system (the Post, Aug. 6).
By emphasizing reading in the English language curriculum because English is seen more as a "foreign" rather than a "second" language, it reminds one of an "underlying secret" of the Indonesia educational system as far as teaching English is concerned. One would expect Dutch or Japanese to be a second language in Indonesia, because at different times Indonesia was under Dutch and Japanese colonial rule. To the contrary, after gaining independence in 1945, Indonesia completely did away with all things related to the Dutch and Japanese.
It is at this point where major problems arise in drawing up a clear curriculum for the teaching of English in the country, because even from this perspective English is still viewed as a "by-the-way" subject or language in Indonesia.
One major factor in Indonesia which complicates the teaching and development of English is "ideological issues". From the moment of its independence, Indonesia opted to make Bahasa Indonesia its national language and medium of instruction. Thus, the Indonesian language became both a tool of unification and mobilization. This played a key role in paving the way toward a monopoly of politics by the regimes of presidents Sukarno and Soeharto.
It is quite likely that during much of this time the challenges of globalization were somewhat limited, meaning English was assumed to be largely unnecessary. Similarly, this was also a time when "the attitude of Indonesians toward English" was linked with intellectualism, and those who spoke English were seen to be sombong (arrogant). This legacy continues to cost Indonesia dearly. For example, in order to keep up with current global challenges, Indonesia is forced to translate almost all important works of English literature into Bahasa Indonesia for educational and other purposes.
The fact is that the language of modern international economics, politics, business, science and technology, advanced education, travel and entertainment is English (the Post, June 19). Many foreign businesses require applicants to have an understanding of the English language because using translators is too slow and inefficient for the competitive marketplace. As part of the future strategy for reforming the educational system in Indonesia, one would suggest introducing English as a medium of instruction at institutions of higher education, particularly leading state universities such as Gadjah Mada University, the University of Indonesia, the Bandung Institute of Technology and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.
If Indonesian policy makers truly wish to help Indonesia achieve growth and development in the future, the teaching of English should be vigorously implemented in the country's educational system.
The writer is pursuing a postgraduate degree in Public Administration at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. He is also a civil servant at Tanzania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. All views expressed in this article are personal.