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INSERTING LOCAL CULTURE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING TO PROMOTE
CHARACTER EDUCATION
Siti Sudartini
Faculty of Languages and Arts Sciences Yogyakarta State University
email: ssudartini@yahoo.com
Abstract: This study attempts to critically analyze the practices of foreign language teaching parti-
cularly English which commonly pay less attention to the accompanying intercultural communication
and also to propose an alternative solution to support and promote the character education in this
country. It is commonly believed that the practices of the English language teaching are always
accompanied by the insertion of foreign cultural values which are not always in harmony with our
own values. In line with the national education goals, it seems that the most possible way to overcome
this problem is by integrating the Indonesian local cultural values in the practices of the English
language teaching to promote character education, which is commonly believed to play important
roles in encouraging, improving, and maintaining the spirit of nationalism of our future generation.
Keywords: local culture, teaching and learning, English, character education
INSERSI BUDAYA LOKAL DALAM PEMBELAJARAN
BAHASA INGGRIS GUNA MENDUKUNG TERWUJUDNYA
PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER
Abstrak: Kajian ini hendak mencoba menelaah secara kritis praktek-praktek pembelajaran bahasa
asing khususnya Bahasa Inggris yang umumnya kurang memperhatikan aspek akulturasi budaya
yang menyertainya dan juga mencari alternatif solusi pemecahannya demi mendukung tercapainya
pendidikan yang berbasis character building di negara ini. Pada kenyataannya, praktek pengajaran
bahasa Inggris senantiasa menyediakan ruang adanya insersi nilai-nilai budaya asing masyarakat
penuturnya yang belum tentu sejalan dengan nilai-nilai budaya masyarakata kita. Sejalan dengan
tujuan pendidikan nasional, nampaknya salah satu upaya yang bisa dilakukan untuk mengantisipasi
dampak insersi budaya asing tersebut adalah dengan mengintegrasikan nilai-nilai budaya lokal
Indonesia pada pembelajaran bahasa Inggris sebagai alternatif cara guna mendukung upaya pemerin-
tah dalam menggalakkan pendidikan berbasis karakter yang diyakini sangat penting untuk menum-
buhkan, meningkatkan dan memelihara semangat nasionalisme generasi penerus bangsa ini.
Kata Kunci: budaya lokal, pembelajaran, bahasa Inggris, pendidikan karakter
INTRODUCTION explicitly the definition of the term edu-
It is commonly believed that edu- cation in the Act of Republic Indonesia on
cation plays the most significant role in the National Educational System that may be
development of a nation. Education may be considered as: ... conscious and well plann-
regarded as an investment in human ca- ed effort in creating a learning environ-
pital formation that lays the foundation for ment and learning process so that learners
future economic growth and development will be able to develop their full potential for
of a country not to mention our country, acquiring spiritual and religious strengths,
Indonesia. Our government even has given develop self-control, personality, intelligence,
45
46
morals and noble character and skills that cultures to promote character education in
one needs for him/herself, for the commu- Indonesia.
nity, for the nation, and for the State.
National education means education based THE COMMON PRACTICE OF ENGLISH
on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, and LANGUAGE TEACHING IN INDO-
is rooted in the religious values, national NESIA
cultures of Indonesia, and one that is res- The need to learn and use English in
ponsive to the needs of the ever-changing communication has put English as the
era. (Act Of Republic Indonesia on Natio- most important foreign language in the
nal Educational System (Chapter 1 Article 1 worldwide and not to mention in this
and 2). country, Indonesia. Our scholars common-
In line with this definition, education ly agree that our young generations need
has also often been defined in terms of to master English well in order to be able
practices that schools and teachers use to to actively participate in the global world.
influence student learning and develop- This has made English becoming one of
ment (Nucci and Narvaéz, 2008:5). There- the most important subjects in schools.
fore, it seems very important to pay great Most parents even believe that the earlier
attention to the practices of our educational children learn English the better. This has
system in our country, considering the fact been becoming the main reason of intro-
that it would be impossible to reach the ducing English as local content in elemen-
goals of our national educational system tary school or even in some kindergartens.
without involving all aspects determining These days, foreign language pro-
the success of educational practices. Those grammes tend to start at an increasingly
are parents, schools’ elements (not to men- early stage not only in Europe but the
tion: teachers, students, facilities, etc), and same trend is observable on other con-
also the government. Hence, it is urgently tinents as well (Nikolov, 2009:xiii). Follow-
needed to have a critical study on the prac- ing Nikolov, Gonzales (1995:58) states that
tices of education in this country for the the domains in which English is used as an
sake of providing better generation in the international, an auxiliary language for in-
future who can maintain religious, natio- tercultural and intercountry and regional
nal, and cultural values of this country and communication, are mostly those of inter-
at the same time remain actively respon- national diplomacy, scientific discourse,
sive to the needs of the ever changing era. and in international trade and business, for
This particular study, however, tries it is the language of financial and global
to have a closer look on the common financial transactions and the language of
practices of English language teaching in trade negotiations and the medium of dis-
our country, owing to the fact that edu- course of international business. This has
cation is considered having the greatest led English as one of the lingua franca and
chance of providing the learners to have a also encourages the spreads and develop-
direct contact with a foreign culture. In line ments in the English language teaching in
with the national education objectives, this the non English speaking countries (Wood-
particular study also tends to propose a ford and Jackson, 2003).
new perspective in the practice of English The current practice of English
language teaching by inserting the local language teaching has been focused on
Jurnal Pendidikan Karakter, Tahun II, Nomor 1, Februari 2012
47
preparing the students to be able to also be the agent of the new form of impe-
communicate effectively by using the rialism.
language. English teachers have done their The current English language teach-
job very well in motivating their students ing practice may lead the students to have
to learn and use the language. They always better understanding on foreign culture
try to use various interesting activities to rather than their own culture or even in the
present the context of the given language extreme way could lead them to make the
items being discussed. Some of them even foreign culture as their own culture and
give the explanation on certain language make them internalize the norms as well as
items accompanied by the context of foreign cultural values in their daily lives.
culture in which those items used. This fact Some of our young students may have
is very common in the practice of foreign deep understanding on the foreign culture
language classrooms. What may be becom- rather than mastering the language.
ing the main concern is on whether the What may be the most important
presentation of this foreign culture is impact of the current English language
accompanied by the explanation of our teaching practice is the loss of our own
own culture. This remains an important culture since our young generations no
question in the current practice of English longer have clear understanding of it. Our
language teaching in this country. own valuable cultural norms and values
What the teachers commonly do in will be left behind by its descendents as
their teaching is merely attempts to fulfill they like to have and behave by using the
the objectives of the teaching and learning foreign cultural norms and values. They
goals as stated in the current curriculum. may even forget their cultural identity. All
Most teachers are busy with finding suit- individuals engage in the foreign language
able and relevant materials without having teaching and learning process need to an-
critical analysis on the cultural biases that ticipate this by having the cultural aware-
may be covered within the source mate- ness of the foreign culture and start having
rials. What commonly come in their minds discussion on the national culture while
is finding the materials which are best explaining the foreign culture in their class-
fitted the objectives of the teaching and rooms.
learning activities as mentioned in the In doing so, they need to start with
curriculum. understanding the notion of the word
It is generally agreed so far that the ‘culture; itself, for this term has various
practice of English language teaching will definitions. One of the definitions is pro-
not be effective without discussing its cul- posed by Mesthrie, Swann, Deumer and
ture. Most educators will agree that teach- Leap (2009:28) who define culture as ‘the
ing the language will be impossible with- way of life of its members; the collection of
out teaching the culture. Every sentence, ideas and habits which they learn, share
expression, word needs to be put in the and transmit from generation to gene-
context of culture of the language. In other ration’. Culture in this sense is a ‘design for
words we may say that English teachers living’, which defines appropriate or accep-
could act as a cultural agent as well. Every table ways and forms of behavior within
English teacher needs to realize this, if not particular societies. The other definition of
they will not only be the cultural agent but culture is the one proposed by Foley (2001:
Inserting Local Culture in English Language Teaching to Promote Character Education
48
14) that views culture as transgenerational ed. The main underlying reason for this is
domain of practices through which human the fact that human beings as the cultural
organisms in a social system communicate agents change it. Sixth, culture is learned. It
with each other. These definitions parti- means that culture is not handed down
cularly see culture as something inherited through our genes, nor is it inherited. This
from generation to generation. is very clear to see, for example, when
On the contrary, Nieto (2010:136) de- children from a particular ethnic group are
fines culture as “the ever-changing values, adopted by families from another ethnic
traditions, social and political relationships, group. Nieto (2010:144) adds that culture,
and worldview created, shared, and trans- especially ethnic and religious culture is
formed by a group of people bound to- learned through interactions with families
gether by a combination of factors that can and communities. It usually is not cons-
include a common history, geographic lo- ciously taught, or consciously learned. That
cation, language, social class, and religion”. is why it seems so natural and effortless.
This definition provides a new idea of the Lastly, culture is dialectical. Nieto also men-
term culture. Nieto also makes it clear that tions that a culture is neither “good” nor
everyone has a culture because all people “bad” in general, but rather embodies
participate in the world through social and values that have grown out of historical
political relationships informed by history and social conditions and necessities. As
as well as by race, ethnicity, language, so- individuals, we may find elements of our
cial class, gender, sexual orientation, and own or others culture uplifting or repug-
other circumstances related to identity and nant.
experience. Following Nieto (2010) that culture is
In addition to this definition, Nieto not merely seen as something inherited but
(2010:137-144) also mentions some charac- also it can be something learned, it seems
teristics of culture. Those characteristics in- urgently needed to have an innovative way
clude the followings. First, culture is dyna- of improving the practice of English langu-
mic, in the sense that it is active, changing, age teaching in this country for the sake of
and always on the move, that even in its maintaining the national identity and
native contexts, culture is always changing achieving the goals of national education
as a result of political, social, and other mo- stated in the Undang-Undang Republik Indo-
difications in the immediate environment. nesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 owing to the fact
Second, culture is multifaceted. This means, that this particular subject provides stu-
for one thing, that culture cannot be con- dents with a direct contact with a foreign
flated with just ethnicity or race. Third, culture.
culture is embedded in context meaning that it
is influenced by the environment in which THE NOTION OF CHARACTER EDU-
it exists. Fourth, culture is influenced by CATION
social, economic, and political factors. It is Following Nucci and Narvaéz (2008:
commonly agreed that culture is bound to 5), education may be defined in terms of
a particular context, that it is greatly in- practices that schools and teachers use to
fluenced by the political, historical, and influence student learning and develop-
economic conditions in which it is found. ment although children’s and adolescents’
Fifth, culture is created and socially construct- moral development and character for-
Jurnal Pendidikan Karakter, Tahun II, Nomor 1, Februari 2012
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