EFL and Language Ideology
The Case of Indonesia
Yanty Wirza
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: ELT, Language Ideology, EFL, Narrative Inquiry, Language Policies.
Abstract: This study was motivated by the understanding that language teaching, learning, and use are implicitly and
explicitly ideological endeavours. In the case of ELT in Indonesia, the ideological assumptions often times
are not revealed and discussed enough that the stakeholders and societies at large are not aware of the
ideological forces at work at multiple levels affecting and shaping their beliefs, decisions, and practices
concerning English and what they do with it. Utilizing narrative inquiry, this study looked at how language
ideology influenced and shaped two participants’ understanding and practices as EFL learners, users, and
practitioners. During the depth interviews, the participants shared detailed regarding ELT and its
implementations in their local contexts. The findings revealed that language ideology that drive ELT in
Indonesia had shaped the participants experiences in profound ways. In addition, there were some generational
shifts in how English was perceived and in the values of English in their own families and local communities.
1 INTRODUCTION
The pervasive presence and influence of English as a
global language (Crystal, 2003) and as an
International language (McKay 2010;
Kumaravadivelu, 2012) in periphery countries such
as Indonesia has pushed them to rethink about the
position of English in their education systems and in
their societies in general. Indonesia, as a multilingual
society has been considered to be one of the
successful models for promoting, managing, and
preserving its rich linguistic heritage to enhance its
unity and harmony (Goebel, 2015). Nonetheless, as
the majority of Indonesians are Muslims and as a
nation that perceives itself as espousing the norms
and culture of the East, the teaching of English has
been viewed as problematic in that English would
shake the normative cultural norms (Lauder, 2008).
This is due to the fact that many elements in the
Indonesian society hold the deep-rooted belief that
English as the product of the Western world whose
norms and culture are an antithesis to those of the
Indonesians.
However, in the globalized world where countries
and states are increasingly drawn closer and where
geographical boundaries are becoming blurred, the
Indonesian government through its Education
Department could not entirely ignore the need and
aspiration for its citizen to learn English. In fact,
casual observation could prove that the market for
learning English is flourishing. Within this contested
situation, attempts should be made to investigate how
individuals as the member of a particular society and
the state see their own aspiration to learn English and
what values that might be associated with English
learning and mastery.
2 LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY AND
EFL CONTEXT IN INDONESIA
Experts have formulated that the concept of language
ideology is immensely complex. Language ideology
deals with and attributes the value of a language and
its relation to political, social and cultural practices
(Bianco, 2004; Woolard and Scheiffelin, 1994;
Woolard, 2010). Therefore, language teaching,
learning, and use are implicitly and explicitly
ideological endeavours. In this case, from the
ideological point of view, at least, Indonesian
government has taken a political position that grants
English as a foreign language. This bears ample
consequences on how English is perceived, taught,
and learned in the society.
818
Wirza, Y.
EFL and Language Ideology - The Case of Indonesia.
DOI: 10.5220/0007175708180821
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 818-821
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

As Lauder (2008) rather comprehensively
reviews, some key factors such as policies, varieties
and standards necessary in preparing and developing
generations who are proficient in English to tackle the
challenges of the 21th century are approached and
managed with some level of suspicion that English
could pollute Indonesian norms and culture. Further,
Lauder explains that there is a love-and-hate view of
English where English is desired as a tool for
unlocking opportunities in the globalized world but at
the same time it is despised for polluting the purity of
the norms and values that highly regarded within the
culture.
In this regard, Goebel (2010) observes that the
language ideology in Indonesia is the preservation of
the national language in preserving the national
identity and enhancing the nation building. As a
country of hundreds of ethnicities and languages, the
promotion of Indonesian as the national language and
the preservation of the local language should be the
nation’s top priorities in order to maintain unity and
managing diversity (Goebel, 2015). Viewed from this
angle, the language ideology of the Indonesian
government is noble and principled; it has the right to
protect the unity of the archipelago nation that
otherwise could potentially pose threats to it.
Goebel (2015) further argues that Indonesian
national language is associated with nationalism,
inter-ethnic communication, education, and
economic enhancement as well as employment
opportunities. However, many Indonesians aspire to
enrich their linguistic repertoire to include also
English as the international language to seize greater
opportunities that would not have been offered
without English skills and ability. Increasingly these
days with the enhancement in international
communication and technology, many Indonesians
are exposed to and wishing to be part of global
citizenship with which the means of communication
is English. The tensions present to the extent the
government would adapt to this situation and the
citizens who aspire to learn and master English
remain to this day strong.
3 METHODOLOGY
This study employed narrative inquiry as a
methodology for studying lived experiences
(Clandinin and Connelly, 2000; Clandinin and
Rosiek, 2007). It is considered a valid mode of
knowing and learning about human experiences
(Bruner, 1987) through depth interviews particularly
because the study was driven by the detailed stories
of participants’ experience that would not have been
revealed otherwise. This study is a part a bigger
research project and two participants were
purposively selected to share their views and
experience about English and English learning. The
data analysis is bottom-up, emergent and recursive
(Glasser and Straus, 1967; Patton, 2002) with
thematic analysis, focusing on what is said more than
how it is said (Riessman, 1993).
The participants – Rosa and Nani – were graduate
students when they participated in the study. Rosa
majored in Educational Management and taught
English in several institutions. Nani was an English
lecturer and majoring in English Education in her
graduate program.
4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The two participants had gone through different paths
regarding English formal educational learning. After
finishing middle school where they learned English
for about four instructional hours per week for six
years, each differed in their college and graduate
education paths. At college, Rosa chose to study
international relation for her undergraduate study and
continued to study educational management for her
graduate program. Nani, on the other hand, received
much more formal education in English as her major
was English education and continued to pursue
graduate education in the same field.
In general, the study found that the interplays of
language ideology between the participants’
perceptions, values, and aspiration toward the English
language with the larger ideologies at work at the
local, national, and international are extremely
complex. When both were asked to describe their
experiences when learning English at school, their
responses are as follow:
Rosa:
I felt that English was difficult. What I remember
the most about it was the English teacher. She liked
to wear high heels, just different from other teachers.
When she spoke in English, she sounded like a
Westerner. I felt like she positioned herself different
the other teachers.
Nani:
In middle school, for me English is learning
grammar, which did not make any sense to me. So it
was very hard to memorize all of the grammar rules
and vocabularies because they are different (from
Indonesian).
EFL and Language Ideology - The Case of Indonesia
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The excerpts above indicate that the participants’
experiences about their previous English learning
particularly in early years of their middle school
education were difficult and not meaningful for them.
The teaching and learning process were most likely
teacher-centered and focused heavily on the
grammatical forms rather than meaning or functions.
This situation is indeed common in the majority of
Indonesian schools (e.g. Hamied, 2003; Suherdi,
2012; Wirza, 2004). This also indicates that limited
exposure toward English as it was only taught a few
hours per week as a result of the government policies
on ELT in Indonesia did not bring improvement to the
students’ English ability. The mention of
memorization as a dominant technique for learning is
one of the typical types of form-focused instruction
which is commonly found in EFL contexts (Doro,
2007). In addition, similarly commonly found in EFL
classrooms are heavy use of textbooks, limited range
of topics, and peer interlanguage.
The teacher factor is another point that emerges
from the participants’ experiences. Reports (World
Bank, 2005) and studies (Pasaribu, 2001) have shown
that the majority of English teachers possess lower
credentials and competence than the minimum
standard. This indeed poses a huge concern since as
suggested by Doro (2007) above, often times when
the teacher serves the main source and model for the
students, having teachers with low credentials and
competence is highly concerning. Furthermore, the
image of the teacher that was profoundly vivid in
Rosa’s mind along with her remark about the
teacher’s attitudes and conduct leaving strong
impression of English was a Western construct and
that the teacher was portrait as having conformity
with that association by sounding and acting
“different” from other teachers.
Other pieces of excerpts capture the participants’
more recent experiences with English:
Rosa:
I made more money from teaching (English)
compared to working as a civil servant. I have taught
at several universities and some in-house training for
companies. I looked at my parents and thought: when
are they going to get rich and live well? It's funny
because I never thought working as a teacher. Never
crossed my mind. Now I love teaching very much.
Nani:
My father did not approve of my plan to study in
the US: "Why would you study in the country of the
non-believers?" (Quoting her father) (Laugh).
Perhaps because of that, you know, not getting the
blessings from my parents, I failed to get the
Fulbright scholarship.
The excerpts above reveal the values of English
for the participants. For Rosa, monetary
compensation and financial security she gained from
her job as an English instructor at some private
universities, institutes, and companies have caused
her to put higher values for her skills and proficiency
in English. Even though her graduate major is not in
English education, she could nail various job
opportunities with decent compensation because she
could provide what the employer was seeking to
provide English lessons and trainings for their
students and employees. Rosa’s perspective on a
well-off life was facilitated by English because it
enabled her to earn more money. This is what
Coupland (2007) asserts as the cash values of English
for those who excel it.
For Nani, on the other hand, she was already
exposed to some opportunities to study abroad – in
this case USA – when she applied for a prestigious
scholarship. This indicate that Nani, like many other
Indonesians, have aspiration to continue their
education in English-speaking countries through
scholarships. In other words, Nani and many like her
had developed positive association of English and
believed that English could open more doors of
opportunities for more promising future. There is
increasing number of Indonesians to pursue
academic, career, social, and cultural enhancement to
developed countries like USA. It is not surprising
because the border-crossings for educational and
other purposes have become more common and
English is one of the facilitative factors (Jenkins,
2009).
Both Rosa and Nani’s experiences shared similar
story in that they reflect generational shifts. As the
globalization intensifies, compared to previous
generations, the current generation have shown
observable changes in the ways they view the world.
One such example is choice of profession. As can be
inferred from Rosa’s story, her parents who belong to
the older generations tend to prefer civil servant jobs
even though they do not provide much salary but are
preferred for job security and stability. Rosa’s
profession of choice as an English instructor proved
to provide her financial security, something that she
claimed her parents lacked due to their profession as
civil servants.
Nani’s parents as the older generation showed
different aspects of generational shifts; they concern
more with religious values associated with English. It
is obviously a false association because English is
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
820

freely associated with any religions and faiths. In
other words, somebody who speaks English can be of
any religion, Islam, Christianity or otherwise. This is
one of the major changes in the ideological
perspectives concerning English in Indonesian
context. It was more common in older generation to
perceive English as a Western construct and
associated with non-Muslims (non-believer) faiths.
They perceived USA as the land of Non-Muslims and
would not wish their daughter to study there. The
imagined communities (Anderson, 2006) for Nani
and her parents about USA were quite dissimilar. This
indicates the pervasive ideological beliefs where
English are linked with religious beliefs, which is
obviously unfounded. Nonetheless, in Lauder’s
(2008) review, cultural clash is discussed to be one of
reasons behind the reluctant of the Indonesian society
to embrace English.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Many are not aware of the ideologies working and
affecting their lives, as they can be subtle and hidden
that we take them for granted. Rosa and Nani are
interesting cases the study had investigated in terms
of the language ideology they espoused and the
people around them. Their stories and experiences
have revealed the complexities of English and its
position in a periphery country like Indonesia. Indeed,
English as a global language has the immense
potential nowadays to “presents us with
unprecedented ideas for mutual understanding”
(Crystal, 1997) for individuals and communities.
Moving forward, Indonesia should determine what is
in the best interests of its people regarding English.
Its legal position as of now has not changed; English
still is a foreign language. However, the society has
changed and demand for more accessible and open
policies toward English.
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