English to enter university. English is also needed for them who work in tourism, business, and for some sections of the civil services.
Hutchinson and Waters 1987 define English as a foreign language as the study of English not as a mother tongue. This definition shows that
learners of the language are foreigners who study it for various purposes. A foreign language usually requires more formal instruction and other
measurement of the luck of environmental support by contrast. English in Indonesia can be categorized as a foreign language.
Brown 2001: 116 states that foreign language contexts are those in which student do not have ready
– made contexts for communication beyond their classroom. Foreign language learners may find it difficult to access the
target language beyond their classroom door. English as a foreign language gives a greater challenge for students and teachers than English as second
language. As Brown 1992: 3 notes: “In ESL situations English has official status, is used widely in
government, is the medium of education, and is in widespread use in everyday life of the people. In contrast, in EFL English is official situations
has low recognition and is used mainly for communication with foreigners ….”
Richards et al. 1985: 108 state that a foreign language is a language which is not a native language in a country. A foreign language is usually
studied either for communication with foreigners who speak the language or
for reading printed materials in the language.
b. Foreign Language Learning
As we know that a foreign language cannot be separated from the condition of learning itself. Learning is contemporary dictionaries means
“acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or skills by study, experience, or instruction” Brown, 2000:7. The definition, however, is
regarded as too awkward as the scientific definition. It is perhaps the definition to broad and first reflects the difficulty or defining complex
concept of learning. Brown, 2000: 7 breaks down the components of the definition of
learning into seven domains, presented as follows: 1
learning is acquisition or “getting”, 2
learning is retention of information or skill, 3
retention implies storage systems, memory, and cognitive organization, 4
learning involves active, conscious focus on an acting upon events outside or inside the organism,
5 learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting,
6 learning involves some forms of practice, perhaps reinforced practice,
and 7
Learning is a change of behavior. By the elaboration above, learning is complex term; it needs many
words to explain and to understand the concept underlying “learning”.
Brown 1982: 136 adds that the learning a foreign language can be define as learning a language is one’s own culture with few, immediate
social and under spread opportunities to use the language within the environment of one’s own culture.
In learning a foreign language, the students try to learn to communicate with the language with others. “Communication is dynamic
activities depend on the negotiation of meaning between two or more speakers who share some knowledge of the language being used” Oxford,
1990: 7. Sometimes, when someone learns a foreign language, heshe faces a
set of complexities. The complexities do not concern only the aspect of language that should be acquired but also the processes of learning and the
situational consequences Stern, 1987. When studying a foreign language, student are expected to be able to
communicate with it or to gain the communicate competence. Oxford 1990 explains that communicative competence concern both spoken and written
language and all four language skills varying degrees and combinations, namely, listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
Learning a foreign language is a long and complex undertaking. Students struggle to learn new language, a new culture, a new way of
thinking, feeling, and acting. Total commitment, total involvement, total physical, intellectual and emotional are needed to achieve the foreign
