Students‟ use of Indonesian in EFL classroom
1. Students in her classes spoke to her in the mother tongue as a matter of course, even when they were quite capable of expressing what they meant in English.
2. Students in her class failed to realize that during many activities in the classroom it was crucial that they use only English.
The students Language classes could actually use English well, because they spoke English actively during my observation in Teacher A‟s class. However, they weren‟t motivated
to use it in Teacher B‟s class. These dangers happened because Teacher B didn‟t give strict rules toward students‟ use
of Indonesian in her English class. A different situation occurred in Teacher A and Teacher C classes because they tried very hard to limit students‟ use of Indonesian, in order to make them
actively speak English in class. Although Indonesian can still be used, its usage must be limited and controlled in order to prevent the overuse of Indonesian L1 in English class.
CONCLUSION
This research analyzed teachers‟ beliefs and opinions about the proper use of Indonesian and English in EFL classroom. It also found out about how they the teachers practiced their
beliefs and opinions in the real context of EFL classroom. From the discussion results above, it can be seen clearly that all teachers believed about the use of English as a habit which must be
made accustomed to the students in their English classes. Therefore, the teachers always encouraged their students to use English class actively in class in order to develop students‟
English skills well. The teachers also had many ways to encourage students to use English actively, such as; having morning service in English, giving explanation and activities using
English as the main language of instructions, and giving „
untrophy
‟ or warning to students who
didn‟t use English in their classes. They also used contextual approach and CLL Community Language Learning method in explaining difficult materials in order to maintain students‟ use of
English during the communication with their friends or asking questions to the teachers. However, the use of Indonesian to support teaching learning process cannot be ignored
too. It is because Indonesian is the mother tongue which provides students a sense of security during EFL classroom Auerbach, 1999 as cited in Usadiati, 2009. This secure feeling made
students develop the tendency to naturally use it in their English class, especially during communication or doing group work with their friends. There were also some moments when the
teachers needed to use Indonesian, especially in explaining about grammar and vocabularies. The use of Indonesian is also very helpful to the teachers when students were really slow to
comprehend teachers‟ explanation about some difficult words. Finally, it can be concluded that the use of Indonesian and English in the EFL classroom
should be well balanced. Teachers may have perception that the use English should be used more and the use of Indonesian should be avoided during English class in order to optimally improve
students‟ English skills. However, teachers should also realize that we live in Indonesia which mother tongue is Indonesian. Therefore, the use of Indonesian is still needed in order to
strengthen students‟ comprehension about the materials that are taught during English class. In the end, as the suggestions for further research, researchers should find transition
methods between Indonesian and English which can effectively improve students‟ comprehension in EFL classroom. Therefore, the future teachers would create a perception that a
well-balanced usage of Indonesian and English in EFL classroom is very helpful to improve students‟ English skills.