Changing Paradigm in Teaching English (Studying English through Local Literature)
By: Fajar Setiawan Roekminto Faculty Members of Faculty of Letters Indonesia Christian University (UKI) Jakarta
I.
Introduction
In Indonesia, language and literature are not favorite’s subjects to be learnt at school. Elementary until high school students give no much interest in studying language and literature and the university students who study language and literature intensively are only those who become students of language and literature department. For most Indonesian students, studying language and literature is something useless and wasting time. Parents usually do not like and feel worry if they know that their children have great interest in studying language and literature. They always think that studying both subjects will give no guarantee at all for their future. Such a view unconsciously develops and grows among Indonesian people from every walk of life. There are many reasons why they do not have eagerness to study language and literature. First, they think that studying language and literature intensively are only suitable for those who want to be a teacher. In other words, language and literature are not “ready to use” subjects. Mastering language and literature give no much benefit due to the limitation of jobs available, therefore a few students only who consider language and literature as nice subjects to study. Second, no political will shown by government, it can be seen from the limitation contents of these subjects in the National Curriculum and the last, reading habit among Indonesian people is very lack. The reasons describing above, also become one of the causes why Indonesian people are poor in mastering English, although they realize that English is important and used widely. The unwillingness of Indonesian students to study English is also caused by the method of teaching and learning English at school. If we see how the method applied at...