Tertiary English students’ attitude towards intercultural language learning

The nature of English as the world lingua franca and the nature of Indonesian students who are multicultural call for the application of Intercultural language learning (ILL) approach in English education in Indonesia. However, the complexities of ILL seem to demand English teachers’ positive attitude towards ILL even since they became tertiary English students so that ILL could be ideally implemented in the classroom. This study was conducted to delve into tertiary English students’ attitude towards ILL and to confirm their English teaching practices according to the perspective of ILL principles. Tertiary students taking English Education major at a State University in central Java were chosen to be the participants. Interview, questionnaire, and observation were deployed to garner the data. The findings demonstrated that most of the tertiary English students had a positive attitude towards ILL. Their judgments exhibited a positive tendency to accept and support ILL ideologies and principles. Their positive tendency covered three dimensions: affection (76.13%), cognition (75.08%), and behavior (75.16%). Observations showed that their English teaching practices tended to confirm their positive attitude towards ILL. They were able to apply three ILL principles consisting of active construction, making connection, and interaction. Other studies are expected to address ILL implementation in the formal English classrooms at Indonesian schools so that detailed merits and challenges as well as solutions with respect to ILL implementation can be revealed

Language policy and practices in Indonesian higher education institutions

English in Indonesia has foreign language status. Nevertheless, the language is greatly significant to the country due to its numerous regional and global appeals. The current language policy of Indonesia ensures that the language is taught to children from junior high school level. However, as a reflection of a language that has not been prioritised in school curriculum, school leavers largely have limited grasp of the language by the time they enrol into university programmes. This study attempts to highlight institutional practices in student enrolment into and graduation from English programmes. It is also concerned with issues that are perceived to have derived from the policy. Based on interviews with 23 academics from five universities in Central Java, the majority of whom are administrators, policy-related issues of the English language are identified in this paper. Findings include communication skill difficulties faced by English majors and the juxtaposition of state and private universities in terms of student recruitment. The findings are significant in informing stakeholders such as policy makers, administrators, language instructors, and other practitioners about the impact of language policy and planning on practices in higher education institutions in Central Java and in assisting future decision-making processes whereby the consequences are far reaching

An examination of the suitability of a pluricentric model of english language teaching for primary education in Indonesia

The study examined the suitability of a pluricentric model of ELT, which accommodates local varieties of English, for primary education in Indonesia. The majority of participants in the study strongly supported the adoption of a pluricentric model of English language instruction. However, whether their positive attitudes would affect ELT pedagogy was not clear, since there were many complex issues impacting on the adoption of this approach in Indonesia

“I’m like kentang”: Bilingual Indonesians construction of identity in the era of transnationalism

This study looks at bilingual Indonesians who experienced living abroad as sojourners. The study aims to explore their identity experiences and struggles as influenced by their interactions with other language(s) and culture(s). An open-ended questionnaire and interview questions were used to obtain information on the respondents’ short biodata and experiences abroad. Nineteen respondents participated in an online open-ended questionnaire, and a few respondents volunteered to be interviewed. The findings reveal that these bilinguals Indonesian sojourners find it challenging to explain themselves from the monocultural essentialists view of identity. They identify themselves strongly with both their home and host countries and cultures but remaining staying open to new possibilities of identities. Yet, there are also traces of contradicting and conflicting selves of belonging in both cultures

“I’m like kentang”: Bilingual Indonesians construction of identity in the era of transnationalism

This study looks at bilingual Indonesians who experienced living abroad as sojourners. The study aims to explore their identity experiences and struggles as influenced by their interactions with other language(s) and culture(s). An open-ended questionnaire and interview questions were used to obtain information on the respondents’ short biodata and experiences abroad. Nineteen respondents participated in an online open-ended questionnaire, and a few respondents volunteered to be interviewed. The findings reveal that these bilinguals Indonesian sojourners find it challenging to explain themselves from the monocultural essentialists view of identity. They identify themselves strongly with both their home and host countries and cultures but remaining staying open to new possibilities of identities. Yet, there are also traces of contradicting and conflicting selves of belonging in both cultures

TRILINGUAL TEXTUALIZATION TO DELIVER INDONESIAN LOCAL CULTURES TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

This article addresses issues surrounding translation of local texts from regional languages and cultures throughout the Indonesian archipelago into Indonesian and English. The textualization of the local culture to be documented includes: (1) folklore, (2) life-cycle rituals, (3) socio-religious rituals, (4) traditional medicine and other local wisdom, and (5) local culinary. It will discuss the formulation of the basic philosophy, themes, and values in the local texts to translate as well as principles of translation to apply. The study shows that textualization of the local texts helps support the politics of the national language, namely the use of Indonesian as the national language, the preservation of local languages as the fundamental support of the national culture, and the exposure of various local wisdoms to the global community. The availability of trilingual cultural texts will likely contribute to the promotion of human dignity.DOI:doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.21010

COMPANY’S PARTICIPATION IN THE LOCAL LANGUAGE RETENTION

Professional life or more popularly called as business activity cannot be implemented in the absence of language. The existence of language is very important in business activity. Historically business activity before independence, especially during Dutch colonial era, takes advantage of the local language which has potency to become lingua franca. The term lingua franca is exactly used to refer to Malay language (Riau)because it is spread widely in Nusantara territory. During its development, Dutch government is also opened a library which had known as Balai Pustaka where it is allowed to use Malay language as literature language. Because of the popularity of Malay language throughout the Nusantara territory, then Malay language had the attention in case of political and economic sector. Polit ically, Malay language is placed at higher position on the events of the Youth Pledge October 28, 1928 where it contains a confession to uphold the unity of Indonesian language. Economically, Malay language is used by business people in a variety of transactions. Moreover, the use of Malay language is not only limited to the Malay community, but also to other communities including Arabian and Chinese people. This paper seeks to describe the use of the Arabic letters, which is also known as Jawi letters in business activity. The use of the Arabic letters can be said as a realization of the company’s participation in efforts of the local language and culture retention

ELT Shift: Necessary matters to be taught dealing with pronunciation among NNS related to English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

Considering historical „superiority‟ and English as „capital‟, non-native speakers (NNS) tend to outnumber native-speakers (NS), making English as a lingua franca (ELF). Non native-like is less of a sign of incompetence but more of a potential characteristics in its own. English NS videos pronunciation model was an alternative on NNS pronunciation not to deviate too far impeding intelligibility. This study was aimed at investigating pronunciation development and its deviation, the changing and adaptation to promote „global intelligibility‟ among all English speakers. The participants were 32 NNS of English from different mother tongue. They accomplished pronunciation test before and after treatment to measure their sounds, stress, and intonation. The scores were analyzed using t-test for correlated samples and it was found that there was significant difference between pre-test and post-test of pronunciation. NNS performed better and deviated less and therefore this model was worthwhile to be included in ELT‟s consideration. Keywords: ELF, ELT, pronunciation, misunderstandin

Teaching English to EFL Students in A Culturally - Specific Context: A Comparative Case Study

Teaching English in particular cultural contexts requires supporting skills, such as situating teaching strategies and learning material with students’ conditions and intercultural sensitivity. This study explores how the lecturers teach English to EFL Students in a culturally specific context. The design of this study used multiple case studies. This study's data collection uses semi-structured interviews through Zoom meetings with two English lecturers who taught English in Gorontalo and Papua. Then the data analysis used a thematic analysis. The findings of this study show that teaching English in Gorontalo and Papua needs some supporting competencies, such as intercultural competence (lecturers’ ability to adapt to the new culture and environment and understand how students behave, think, and interact) and pedagogical competence (lecturers’ ability in formulating, adapting, and negotiating appropriate teaching method and learning material with students need). The results of this study expand the discourse surrounding the instruction of English as a foreign language within culturally-specific contexts, highlighting the significance of multilingual education in the Indonesian context. Therefore, this study implies that lecturers who teach in a culturally different context should have those competencies so they are not culture shock