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target community have been addressed in recent work by Yashima 2009, who developed the idea into the notion of “international posture,” which relates to how
students see themselves as “connected to the international community, with concerns for international affairs and their readiness to interact with people from the target
cultures ” Yashima, 2009, p. 146.
4. English Learning
As a subject of the study, literature about English learning should be provided in this chapter. The discussion falls into three main headings, they are English
learning at university level, English at non-English major, and English at Faculty of Engineering Yogyakarta State University. Moreover, a number of theories will be
incorporated to construct comprehensible information of those aspects. a. English learning at University Level
English has been an important language for the global society. Many people have considered English as a requirement imposed by globalization Zacharias, 2003;
Yuwono, 2005. With the emergence of today’s role of English as an International
language and even a global lingua franca, it is not surprising that English has become the main subject range from elementary level till university level.
As a global lingua franca, universities are aware to provide the students with an adequate competence of English in order to support their future carrier. The most
important role for teachers of a foreign language at some universities is to aid students to be effective and strategic readers as well as speaker. This is based on the
claim that,
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“A university-level curriculum for teaching English as a foreign or second language should establish and schedule contents and strategies so that the
learners will develop the linguistic communication competences regarding their professional needs and objectives. The main English teaching method
tendencies have evolved in recent decades from the traditional methods like grammar translation to the communicative like social constructivism
approach” Windschilt, 2002; Richardson, 2003 However, Hudson 2011 states that, in universities, English often become the
object of observation, reflection and comparison with the mother tongue. Consequently, production activities like listening and responding to an audio, creative
writing and speaking are usually overlooked. Based on this claim, it seems that most universities focus on reading comprehension and grammar instruction.
As many pieces of texts are written in English, Hudson 2011 adds that universities understand that critical reading is essential to be success in the societies.
This is because the ability to read is becoming the crucial element to be emphasized to the students for their personal and professional development in life. Further, he
proposes that, “at universities, EFL teachers are frequently asked to teach English through reading comprehension and grammar instruction”.
That circumstance is quite similar to Indonesia where teaching English is more to facilitate the students to be able to read English texts. In the context of EFL
reading instruction in Indonesian universities, Cahyono and Widiati 2006 found that the issue becomes more complicated since reading in tertiary level demands flexible
and independent learning requiring students to read English texts from different sources independently and effectively. For Indonesian students who are generally
influenced by their cultural background and lack motivation in reading English texts
