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-year-old 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 code-switch 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 English-only 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 English-language 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”.
My experience, as well as Nunan and Choi’s argument, may challenge the
one-dimensional view of one language, one identity the education 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 English-language 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 English-language 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 so-called 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.
Conclusion
Government
will ommiting the English language lessons from elementary school because they assume 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. And those who speak
English or code-switch between Indonesian and English are deemed to have a
relatively lower nationalism than those who only speak Indonesian. 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.
Reflection
I have read the text above, it is good article that I enjoy reading this article. I think English is a
world language that must be learned and mastered, especially in today's global
competition. to master a language takes a long time therefore to learn English
need to be taught from an early age. in fact, although English is taught from
kindergarten to college, but not sure they can speak English fluently. with
demikia, the question arises in my mind, how can the English language in clear
it is a solution?
