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11/4/12 Is omitting English a solution? | The Jakarta Post

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Is omitting English a solution?

Nugrahenny
T.
Zacharias,
Salatiga,
Central
Java
|
Opinion
|
Sat,
November
03
2012,
10:29
AM Paper Edition | Page: 7

When
reading
the
article
recently
posted
in
The
Jakarta
Post
“Govt
to omit
English
from
primary
schools”,
I
could
not
help
but
think
of
my
3­ year­old
son
Ben.


If
the
government
scraps
English
in
the
elementary
school
curriculum, schools
that
provide
alternative
inputs
for
English
acquisition
will disappear
and
eventually
the
possibility
of
acquiring
English
formally
for young
learners
like
Ben
will
be
wiped
out.


From
the
article
and
the
discourse
surrounding
the
plan,
the
underlying reason
for
such
a
drastic
curriculum
revamp
is
unclear,
if
not
empirically unfounded.


Deputy
Education
and
Culture
Minister
for
Education
Musliar
Kasim stated
two
primary
reasons
for
the
omission.
First
is
because “elementary
school
students
haven’t
even
learned
to
understand
the Indonesian
language
yet”
and
second,
it
is
because
the
growing
trend
in teaching
English
in
kindergartens.


When
skimming
the
articles
as
to
why
this
move
came
about,
one
thing is
obvious
that
the
policy
is
simply
based
on
assumptions.


The
government
assumes
that
children
cannot
learn
two
or
three languages
at
the
same
time
and
thus,
the
teaching
of
English
needs
to be
postponed
until
they
have
mastered
Indonesian,
although
this
might be
hard
to
measure.


The
concern
about
English
exposure
that
might
lead
to
low
Indonesian proficiency,
or
lack
of
it,
looks
understandable.
In
a
country
with hundreds
of
local
languages,
a
strong
lingua
franca,
Indonesian,
is crucial
to
unify
the
many
ethnic
groups
and
local
languages.


Second,
although
not
stated
in
the
article,
there
has
been
a
widespread belief
that
the
enthusiasm
to
learn
English,
especially
in
big
cities,
might correlate
to
low
nationalism.
Those
who
speak
English
or
code­switch between
Indonesian
and
English
are
deemed
to
have
a
relatively
lower nationalism
than
those
who
only
speak
Indonesian.

The
new
focus
on
character
education
for
elementary
school
students also
shows
fear
that
exposure
to
English
might
adversely
affect
the characters
of
young
Indonesian
learners.
Implied
in
the
belief
is
a
one­ dimensional
view
of
language
and
identities,
which
insists
that
cultivating good
Indonesian
citizens
can
only
be
done
through
the
teaching
and learning
of
the
Indonesian
language.

However,
being
immersed
in
an
English­only
culture
while
I
was pursuing
a
PhD
degree
in
the
US
taught
me
otherwise.


It
was
during
my
time
in
the
US,
surrounded
predominantly
by

monolingual
English
speakers
and
the
English­language
culture
that
I
felt truly
Indonesian.
In
fact,
my
heightened
awareness
of
being
an

Indonesian
sparked
a
fear
of
losing
my
Indonesian
self
and
the Indonesian
language.
This
phenomenon
is
supported
by
David
Nunan and
Julia
Choi,
two
notable
linguists.


In
their
recently
published
book
Language
and
Culture:
Reflective Narratives
and
the
Emergence
of
Identity,
they
say
that
“most
people are
unaware
of
their
culture
or
identity
until
they
are
confronted
with other
cultures
and
identities”.


11/4/12 Is omitting English a solution? | The Jakarta Post

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ministry
is
adopting.
Exposure
to
other
languages,
including
English,
in elementary
schools
may
instead
strengthen
students’
characters
as Indonesians.

I
support
inclusion
of
English
in
elementary
schools
also
because
I believe
children
can
learn
more
than
one
language
at
once
as
literature on
bilingualism
and
multilingualism
has
convincingly
shown.


Chomsky
attributed
the
flexibility
children
acquire
languages
in
early
age to
the
Language
Acquisition
Device
(LAD)
in
their
brains
and
thus, believes
that
children
have
the
“innate”
ability
to
learn
languages. So,
should
English
in
elementary
schools
remain?
My
answer
is
yes
and no.
Yes,
elementary
schools
(in
this
case
public
schools)
need
to continue
to
offer
English
as
a
school
subject
or,
if
possible,
medium
of instruction.


The
New
York
Times
(Oct.
28,
2012)
published
a
study
titled
“Low English
levels
can
hurt
countries’
progress”
by
Charles
Anderson,
who says
that
countries
with
poor
English­language
commands
tend
to
have lower
levels
of
trade,
innovation
and
income.


The
report
concludes
that
English
is
a
key
to
innovation
and

competitiveness.
However,
my
strong
belief
in
our
children’s
need
for English
does
not
mean
that
English
teaching
and
learning
in
elementary schools
should
not
be
reevaluated
and
revisited.


As
a
mother,
I
do
not
want
my
children
to
grow
up
speaking
fluent English
but
unable
to
speak
Indonesian
and
dishonoring
Indonesian values
and
ethics.


There
is
a
need
to
renew
paradigms
in
English­language
teaching departments,
which
produce
English
teachers.
The
teaching
of
English is
not
a
medium
to
emulate
Western
values
and
cultures
but
to
use English
to
promote
our
culture
and
values
to
the
world,
or
the
so­called English
as
International
Language
(EIL)
pedagogy.

The
initiative
to
scrap
English
from
public
elementary
schools
evinces evidence
of
the
government’s
lack
of
awareness
of
the
way
English
is now
taught
and
presented
in
the
classroom.


Omitting
English,
especially
because
of
mere
assumptions,
is
not
the way
to
develop
competence
in
Indonesian
or
to
enhance
desirable characteristics
in
young
Indonesian
learners.

The
writer,
a
Fulbright
scholar,
completed
her
PhD
in
Composition
and TESOL
at
Indiana
University
of
Pennsylvania
(IUP).
She
teaches
at
the faculty
of
language
and
literature,
Satya
Wacana
Christian
University, Salatiga.

Report

Maria/ Sun, 04/11/2012 - 05:11am

I coundn't agree more with the writer's opinion

Post comment

Report

Maria/ Sun, 04/11/2012 - 05:11am

I coundn't agree more with the writer's opinion

Post comment

11/4/12 Is omitting English a solution? | The Jakarta Post

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