By O Mantiri
Summary
The current curriculum reform in EFL teaching in Indonesia has raised a challenging task for teachers of English. This paper reports on a culture-sensitive approach of EFL that addresses local culture contents of their nation, and at the same time enhances communicative competence in using English through teaching global culture.
The current curriculum reform in EFL teaching in Indonesia has raised a challenging task for teachers of English. This paper reports on a culture-sensitive approach of EFL that addresses local culture contents of their nation, and at the same time enhances communicative competence in using English through teaching global culture.
Proposal
Political and pedagogical problems of teaching English in accordance with the local government’s educational policy are problems that confront English teachers in Indonesia. Since the independence from the Dutch colonization in the late 1940s, English has gradually become a popular language in Indonesian schools and universities. In the past few decades, EFL teaching has shifted from a traditional way of learning to a new direction, namely, from commanding of linguistic forms to developing communicative competence. However, the position of English was tested when Indonesia was hit by the economic and political crisis in the late 1997. After the worst crisis in 2000, the Indonesian government launched an education reform. Education outputs are expected to be competitive in this global economy. English was again emphasized as an important tool in global economy. This paper tackles the problem in the social and cultural context of Indonesia. The dichotomy of globalization and localization is the main problem behind Indonesia government’s decision in planning and implementing its policy. The lack of justification of when, how, and what should be taught through the school curricula has resulted in a stagnated state. The current nationalism-dominated view may contribute more to the boundaries maintenance hindering the cross cultural understanding and tolerance. This paper identifies the problems and difficulties in the implementation of the English policy through a field investigation. A qualitative approach has been used to investigate English teacher trainers’, teachers’ and students’ motivation and attitude towards the recent change of English curriculum. The empirical research data has indicated that EFL curriculum reform does not naturally lead to a pedagogical change that enhances communicative competence. This paper argues that teaching English in Indonesia needs to include both global as well as local cultural contents. Therefore a proposal of a culture-sensitive approach for English teaching is put forward.
Political and pedagogical problems of teaching English in accordance with the local government’s educational policy are problems that confront English teachers in Indonesia. Since the independence from the Dutch colonization in the late 1940s, English has gradually become a popular language in Indonesian schools and universities. In the past few decades, EFL teaching has shifted from a traditional way of learning to a new direction, namely, from commanding of linguistic forms to developing communicative competence. However, the position of English was tested when Indonesia was hit by the economic and political crisis in the late 1997. After the worst crisis in 2000, the Indonesian government launched an education reform. Education outputs are expected to be competitive in this global economy. English was again emphasized as an important tool in global economy. This paper tackles the problem in the social and cultural context of Indonesia. The dichotomy of globalization and localization is the main problem behind Indonesia government’s decision in planning and implementing its policy. The lack of justification of when, how, and what should be taught through the school curricula has resulted in a stagnated state. The current nationalism-dominated view may contribute more to the boundaries maintenance hindering the cross cultural understanding and tolerance. This paper identifies the problems and difficulties in the implementation of the English policy through a field investigation. A qualitative approach has been used to investigate English teacher trainers’, teachers’ and students’ motivation and attitude towards the recent change of English curriculum. The empirical research data has indicated that EFL curriculum reform does not naturally lead to a pedagogical change that enhances communicative competence. This paper argues that teaching English in Indonesia needs to include both global as well as local cultural contents. Therefore a proposal of a culture-sensitive approach for English teaching is put forward.
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