B. English in Indonesia
Indonesia won its independence from the Dutch on August 17, 1945, after around 350 years of colonization. However, the country was not able to
officially establish its Republican Government until August 17, 1950, since war against the Dutch continued for some years after independence day and
Indonesians had finally won Dutch recognition of independence on December 27, 1949. Thus, the government started to deal with social and cultural issues,
including education, of the country in 1950. English was chosen to be the first foreign language rather than Dutch for two reasons: first, Indonesians did not
want to adopt Dutch since it was the language of their previous oppressors, and second, Dutch does not have international status like English Dardjowidjojo
2000: 67. Different from some other countries in South East Asia such as
Singapore, Filipina, and Malaysia, English in Indonesia is officially set as a foreign language. It is only used as medium of communication in very limited
fields such as foreign companies, educational settings, and some foreign offices. It is rarely used in daily communication by Indonesians. Since English is an
international language which is used by people worldwide for many purposes, it has been declared a compulsory language to learn in all schools by secondary
level, while some schools are offering English from elementary through tertiary level of education or higher education. Additionally, some private schools start
introducing compulsory English to learners from elementary level and some others use English as the medium of instruction in all classes Kirkpatrick 2010.
It is interesting that people are becoming more and more aware of the importance of English in their life, not only related to its functions in knowledge,
science, and technology but also in economic activities and career development. This increase in awareness is supported by the growing spread of schools which
use English as a medium in transferring knowledge to students, job advertisements which are broadcast and written in English and news and
television programs which are conducted in English. In addition, English is also required as a soft skill in some job positions Alip 2007: 160-161. These lead to a
greater need for the use and mastering of English by Indonesians. However, as the writer mentioned in the previous section, the needs of
learning English in Indonesian context is to communicate with, mostly, non-native speakers of English. Thus, English Language Teaching in Indonesia should be in
accordance with that situation.
C. Teaching English in Indonesian Context
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