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THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
FOR YOUNG LEARNERS IN INDONESIA
By: Pandhu Wismono
2211409036
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
SEMARANG STATES UNIVERSITY
2013
THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
FOR YOUNG LEARNERS IN INDONESIA
By: Pandhu Wismono (2211409036)
English Literature Study Program
Semarang State University
[email protected]
As social beings, human beings need to communicate to each other. Communication is very important because everything is impossible to be done without communication. There are so many means of communication, one of which is language. Human beings use language as the means of communication. Since the prehistoric era until the current era, language always develops. Language development is needed to make human's communication more effective because as the world develops, human always need new things. Language itself, according to Saussure (in Noth, 1990) is a concept of communication which consists of two elements, langue and parole. Langue is the language concept including grammar, and parole is the speech concept.
Nowadays, in the global era, communication has become one of the most crucial elements. Without good communication, people from different nations won't be able to understand each other, when people don't understand each other, there are possibilities that misunderstanding will happen. That's why, good communication among people from different countries is needed. This situation, where people need to understand each other with good communication, urges people to acquire global languages. Among some global language, the most important and influencing language is English language.
English Language has been a global language since long ago. People agree to use English as a global language because of some considerations. First, English has been used since the colonial era in so many countries because at the time The British Empire had so many colonized countries. Second; English language has been the medium in the scientific world because most of the influencing scientists are from the English speaking countries. Third, English is considered as a quite simple language. Based on these reasons, international world then proclaimed English as the global language, even though there have been the other global languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and so on.
As a global language, it is obvious that English plays an important role in the international interaction. International interactions include economic relationship among countries, international business relationship, global trading, and others. In this kind of international interaction, English mainly acts as a global lingua franca. Lingua franca is a language that is used to communicate among different people from different countries (Sneddon, 2003).
English language is very important in the current era, that's why most people in all around the world are urged to master English as the second language. English has even been a prerequisite in the job-fields. Moreover, people are considered qualified if they are able to speak in English. In addition, it has also been a medium in the educational field. Therefore, this paper will discuss the importance of English language in the current era, especially its influence in education and the importance of mastering it for students, especially Indonesian students.
English as the source of knowledge
It's a well-known fact that science has been mostly developed by the scientist from English speaking country even a number of sciences are originated from the English speaking countries. Accordingly, most of the disciplines of science use English as its medium. In addition, there are a number of untranslatable English scientific terms which then urge people to learn English to understand the real meaning of such untranslatable terms.
English even also used in so many branches of disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, literature, linguistics, law, and others. Therefore, by learning English, it will be easier to acquire new knowledge. Furthermore, it has also been officially proclaimed by as an international language which means that in the international school level, English language is always used as the medium language. In Indonesia for instance, in RSBI or SBI schools, English is used as the medium for most of the courses except Bahasa Indonesia course and local language courses such as Javanese, Balinese and others.
Moreover, in this modern era, on which technologies play a very important role in the science and knowledge development, people are also obligated to master English for it is also used in the technologies as the instruction medium. In this era which technologies has been very important; internet is usually used for sharing purposes. It means that the spread of science through internet mostly uses English as the medium language. A research proved that in internet, more than 80% of the sites use English as the medium language while 20% of the rest use the other languages such as Indonesian, Chinese, and the others (Alfitri, 2012 ). It indicates that if people do not learn English as their second language they will only acquire less than 20% of the new knowledge, for nowadays new knowledge is mostly shared through the internet.
In this global era on which technologies also have been an important part of human life, people have been living with technologies even since the childhood. Even recently there have been so many children use internet to learn new things. Accordingly, if their parents do not guide them to learn English since the early age, they won't be able to gather new information. In addition, English also has an important role in children's self-development. As what is stated by Edward Sapir and Benyamin Lee Whorf (in Whorf, 1956) that language affects human's perspective towards world; by learning English, children will also learn about its culture and of course it affects their point of view towards the world. Therefore, by learning English, children will improve their point of view towards the worlds and of course their knowledge.
English Language as a means of civilization development
As the world moves forward the civilization in all around the world changes. The change of the civilization itself follows the cultural dynamic changes which always change overtime. The cultural dynamic changes have globally become the mainstream in all around the world. Even now, the main culture is the global culture. Mujiyanto et al (2010:2) defines culture as the result of human endeavor to maintain their life, maintain their bloodline, and to raise their prosperity; therefore culture can be defined as the realization of human's endeavor against the challenges in the process of their adaptation towards the environments. It means that environment changes can really affect human's cultural life; when the cultural atmospheres change, so will the cultural life.
Furthermore, Mujiyanto et al (2010:5-6) explains that culture as civilization is divided into two classifications; they are high culture and low culture. A society is considered as highly cultured when the people have highly reading habit, tend to write, dedicate themselves to the knowledge development, realize their health value, and so on. Meanwhile, some characteristics of low culture are; the people tend to listen, watch, and speak more than read or write, the people don't really concern on the development of knowledge, they don't really realize about their health value, and so on.
Language, as one of the cultural aspects, takes an important role in cultural development. When people learn a language, they will automatically learn about its culture. By learning about the other culture, of course people will also develop their individual life which then can trigger the development of cultural life in their society. As we know, language has an important role in children's development; accordingly, when they learn new language, they will automatically learn about its culture which then can change their point of view towards life. Thus, if children are urged to learn a language from the higher civilization which obviously has higher cultural life, they will also learn how to be highly cultured. It then, of course will change their habit, for instance, they will eventually love reading and writing more rather than listening and speaking, they will also consider the value of healthy life.
English, as a high culture language brings along its culture to the world perspective. When people learn English language it will be so obvious that they will also learn about its culture. In accordance, English language is considered as an important subject for Indonesian students, because instead of widening student's perspective towards world, it can also affect their cultural habit such as reading, writing, studying, etc. Moreover, by learning English as their second language, students will be easier to acquire the latest information dealing with their academic life, because the latest information, especially which deals with education developments are spread out through the internet with the English language as the medium. Therefore, it can be said that it is very important for Indonesian students to master the English language as the second language because it can improve their knowledge, qualification, and not to mention it can develop their civilization.
English as the second language in Indonesian Education
English has been a compulsory subject in Indonesian curriculum since long time ago. Even since 1994, it has been put in elementary curriculum. English became a compulsory subject in Indonesian curriculum, because the government fully realized that it has an important role in education especially to achieve the international standard in Indonesian education. In addition, it also has been one of the subjects for the national exam.
English education in Indonesia itself has been developed in various ways. The developments of English as a compulsory subject in Indonesian education include the teaching materials, curriculum, even teaching methods. However, so far, the development of English subject has not reached its main goal which is to make the Indonesian students be able to acquire English as their second language. This condition happens because the government seems to be focused on English as the source of knowledge more than English as a lingua franca. It means that what the government wants is that the students be able to understand English rather than acquire it as the second language which they can use in the daily activities. This then distorts students' interest towards the English subject because they think that English, as a language is quite useless to learn, for it is only served for academic purposes.
Despite this, nowadays the development of English as the compulsory subject in Indonesia has become better arranged. The government seems to realize that English, as a global lingua franca is mainly used for international interaction which means that it also must be able to be used for communicating among people, especially among international people. Considering this, the government then becomes more focused on the development of English subject for communication rather than for academic purposes; this purpose is especially focused on the development of English material for the elementary level even though there has been an issue that English subject will be erased from elementary level curriculum.
The Importance of English in Indonesian Education
English has been a very important subject in Indonesian education, especially because the government has proclaimed that it is one of the compulsory subjects which become the parts of national exam. Furthermore, it also has been a medium language in education, especially in RSBI and SBI schools. For the students themselves, they always think that English is one of the most crucial subjects, especially to acquire better education because it is one of the prerequisites to enroll the RSBI and SBI schools which are considered as the most highly qualified schools.
In addition, English has also been a prestige in Indonesian education; those who are good in English subject will always be considered as smart students. The prestige of English itself has started from long time ago, since the first time English became one of the subjects in school. The prestige occurred because English has always been considered as a difficult subject to master, equal with math and science. However, its prestige especially came from the well-known issue that English is one of the international languages, even the most influential international language.
English is very important in Indonesian education because of several reasons. First, as what has been discussed that it has been a compulsory subject in Indonesian education. Second, because all people understand that English is an international language that is used in various fields. Third, people believe that by mastering English, especially being able to speak English fluently, they will have more chance in getting better jobs. Fourth, it has been a general fact that if students can master English well, they will be able to study everywhere; even they will be able to get scholarships easily. There are so many other reasons instead of those all, however, the most influential reasons of why people so eager to learn English and why it is so important in Indonesian education are those reasons.
The importance of English for Indonesian young learners
English is very important for Indonesian students, especially for the young learners because by learning the second language from the early age, the language will be more easily acquired. According to Chomsky (1976) every human being is biologically endowed with a language faculty, the language acquisition device (LAD) which is responsible for the initial state of language development. However, he adds that LAD is in its best state when human beings are in the early years which are between 1-12 years old. In these early years, human beings will be able to acquire language easily. Based on Chomsky theory of language acquisition, it can be conclude that while in the early age, students are able to acquire the second language they learn much easier. This is one of the reasons why English is very important for young learners in Indonesia.
In addition, English has been a very important element for children self-development, especially when it deals with their cultural entity. By learning English, of course children will also automatically learn about its culture which then will affect children's point of view towards life. Furthermore, by learning English, children will also influenced by the high culture habits that brought into its cultural elements such as reading habit, healthy life habit, and such. To sum up, English has been an important subject to learn in the early childhood because it can also affect children's way of thinking and their self-development. Instead of it, by learning English since the early ages, students will be able to acquire the language easily in more effective ways. Therefore, English is very important and very helpful and not to mention very useful for young learners in Indonesia because it has so many functions and beneficial usages in helping them to engage with global life.
Conclusion
In this global era, where everything is globalized and people are urged to be able to communicate globally; English language plays a very important role, especially in international communication. Furthermore, it has also been a global lingua franca which is used by most people in all around the world to communicate with each other internationally. Therefore, it is very important for us to acquire English as the second language in order to be able to keep up with the globalization.
With good mastery of English, people will have more chance in the world competition, especially when it deals with job-fields. People are considered qualified if they are able to speak in English. Moreover, English has also been one of the prerequisites in the job-fields, especially in the higher position such as managerial positions, public relations, and so on. Thus, it can be said that by mastering English, people will obviously get a better life.
Instead of it, English is very important in technology and science development, for it has been a medium language that is used in technological and scientific fields. By mastering English, people will be able to learn more knowledge, gather more information, and not to mention be better informed. Not only that, even by learning English language; its culture will also influence people's perspective which then will influence their culture including their habit and their ways of life. It's a general fact that English culture is considered as high culture on which people tend to do useful things and have useful habit such as reading, writing, considering the health value and so on. Therefore, by learning the language, people, especially Indonesian will be able to upgrade their cultural life into the better one.
In Indonesia, English has been a very important subject; even it is one of the compulsory subjects that take part in national exam. In addition, it also has its own prestige in Indonesian education and students who have good English will be able to have more chance in achieving better educations. Furthermore, by mastering English, students will also get better chance for achieving their dreams. Instead of it, English language has also been a medium language in RSBI and SBI schools.
English is very important for young learners in Indonesia because it will be more easily acquired by the students if it is learned when in the early ages. By learning English, the young learners in Indonesia will get more chance to get better education in their future. Therefore, English language has an important role for the Indonesian young learners' better future.
References
Sneddon, James. 2003. The Indonesian Language, Its History and Role in Modern Society. Sydney: NSW Press.
Yan Mujiyanto, et al. 2010. Pengantar Ilmu Budaya. Yogyakarta: PelangiPublishing.
Chomsky, N.A. 1976. Reflections on Language. New York: Pantheon.
Nӧth, Winfried. 1990. Handbook of Semiotic. USA: Indiana University Press.
http;//Pentingnya Belajar Bahasa Inggris Pusat Pendidikan Bahasa Asing.htm
B. L. Whorf. 1956. Language, Thought and Reality (ed. J. B. Carroll). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
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