IGSCI 2013: Fulfilling Children’s Right, Introducing sensitive issues into classes in time of responsible society

As language teachers, especially foreign language teachers, in 21st Century, we live in such critical moment. In this time, in this complex live and society, we face serious global issues of terrorism, ethnic conflict, social inequality, injustice, religious conflicts, racial segregation, and environmental destruction. How can we prepare our students to cope with these problems? What is our responsibility as language teachers in a world of war, poverty, prejudice, and natural destruction/pollution?

Guk Sueb and Niki Raga Tantri
with Prof. Budi Darma
during Sang Guru 2 International Conference
at State University of Surabaya

It is not easy task for us to provide understanding to the students about those issues. This month, Niki Raga Tantri and I have opportunity to present our paper during International Graduate Student Conference on Indonesia (IGSCI) 2013, Gajah Mada University Jogjakarta. Our paper focuses on how to bring sensitive issues in the classroom, especially language classroom of secondary level. Here is the abstract of our paper presented during the IGSCI 2013:

Introducing sensitive issues in ELT classes of secondary schools in time of responsible society

Guk Sueb & Niki Raga Tantri

Graduate School in English Language TeachingState University of Malang, Indonesia

ABSTRACT
Raising a child is probably the most gratifying job any of educators will ever have—and one of the toughest. In large part, that is because times have changed. We live in an increasingly complex world that challenges us every day with a wide range of disturbing issues that are difficult for children to understand and for adults to explain. All teachers will inevitably teach about sensitive topics in their classes, especially classes that will deal with international perspectives such international studies and English language teaching (ELT) that occurs in secondary schools in Indonesia. These sensitive topics may range from racism, forced labor or slavery to bullying, sexual orientation, gender biases, poverty, diseases, disaster — and may be completely unexpected. Any topic of a sensitive nature may make even the best of teachers uncomfortable when exploring the topic with students. Despite the emergence of the concept of cross cultural understanding in ELT, but mostly the natural reaction of the English language teachers is often to shy away from difficult or controversial topics, or to approach them from a superficial, strained or half-hearted standpoint, or even try to avoid these topics, leaving the secondary children into confusion as they will face the global challenges for the upcoming years. But many times these topics are crucially important to students’ development and awareness of the world and its social, moral, political and civic underpinnings. Students of secondary schools deserve to be taught about these topics in authentic, engaging and purposeful ways.  This is the teachers who deal with global development perspective should have foundation in introducing sensitive issues to the children in their classes.

Keywords: sensitive issues, child’s development, tolerance, responsible society

There will be more than eighty papers during this conference. Further update about the conference will follow.

At A Glance: ASEAN Youth Initiative 2013

ASEAN Youth Initiative with Secretary John Kerry

The two-day ASEAN Youth pre-Summit was held at Jerudong International School in Brunei, in the form of youth leadership initiative workshop. This workshop was intended to create initial framework for the greater ASEAN Youth Summit held on December 2013 in Manila, The Philippines.

There were 25 youth delegates from South-East Asian countries and the organizer (AyalaFoundation) of the program, discussing some issues as well as opportunities for the sustainable youth engagement following the summit. There were two main objectives from this workshop: the establishment of youth initiative as the core team and the issues to be advocated for further discussion during the summit in Manila.

The workshop was started by team-building activities as well as sharing ideas about the characteristics of the youth in each country. From this, we could set and determine the level of knowledge of the ASEAN youth in relation to youth empowerment through community engagements.

The next agenda was to determine the advocacies in relation to the (urgent) issues in South-East Asian region. Various issues were proposed; then, we classified the issues into five major headings:

1. Education: education for remote area, education about disaster prevention, and strengthening the education system through public policy advocacies, and youth leadership empowerment;
2. Environment: eco-friendly policy/lives as well as sustainability program advocacies;
3. Social issues: human trafficking, women empowerment and gender equality, religious tolerance, and freedom of speech (youth and social media);
4. Economic: economic development, health (and living cost), and discussion especially youth employment; and
5. Cultural preservation, creating understanding toward the cultural diversity and difference within the globalization.

I see the issues are very prospective for Indonesian delegates for the summit in December such as social issues in religious tolerance, cultural preservation (e.g. PlayPlus), sustainability program, and education about disaster. The method in selecting the delegates will be discussed later, especially within the alumni coordinators of each country.

Besides that, we also had great surprise visits by US Ambassador for ASEAN David L. Carden and US Secretary of State John Kerry. During the conversation with the two prominent figures, we could share our ideas and experiences in youth engagement. Ambassador Carden emphasized on inviting more youths into more serious and honest discussion for betterment, while Secretary Kerry talked about consistency in making different efforts in the heart of common people. I had an opportunity to deliver a question in relation to the US Government’s commitment dealing with sustainability program, especially in relation to tropical forest and global warming.

As the follow-up of this workshop, the twenty-five delegates and the event’s organizer keep discussing on the proper facilitation and other aspects for the summit in December. We really hope, during the summit, the youth delegates will be able to share their experience and perspectives in youth engagement they have involved as well as sustainable projects in regional scale. Can’t wait to see and share with other delegates in Manila!

“Your voice, Youth Voice!”

Bandar Seri Begawan, October 10^th, 2013

The Use of Twitter in Language Learning

Guk Sueb during Sang Guru
International Conference presentation
of his paper focusing on the use of
Twitter in language classroom.

Twitter timeline is viewed as a supplement to practice in authentic environment different aspects of the target language as it was taught in the classroom. One aspect of language learning which can be practiced in Twitter is communicative competence (Hymes, 1976), a concept based on a view of language learning postulated in the communicative approach to language teaching, in which interaction is focused as a means of language learning and teaching.

Nowadays, new vast development of technologies has become the basic grounds in society; therefore, it is necessary to help learners develop skills and abilities with these new technologies coming up in their everyday lives. According to the UNESCO (2002) “ICT adds value to the processes of learning, and in the organization and management of learning institutions. The Internet is a driving force for much development and innovation in both developed and developing countries.” It is widely believed through various studies that the development of the technology has facilitated the making of good use of teaching amenities and provided rich resources to help improve their teaching devices and to adopt new and advanced teaching facilities.

In order to incorporate new technologies in primary education, this fact has established a milestone because it benefits students’ autonomy (Benson, 2001:2), since these online resources provide more freedom and flexibility to learn at their own pace and convenience. In relation to the use of Twitter in learning process, it is based on the benefits of Twitter of which are the most up-to-date source that can be accessed by public. Thus, this study employs Twitter due to the prime-time topics for the base of classroom discussions; instead of retrieving the past events, Twitter will accommodate the hype of the topics and triggers the students to use their autonomy learning beyond the classroom.

By seeing the usefulness, Twitter is a fantastic learning tool due to its potential to improve students’ motivation, not only by triggering the use of the language (from various styles) in a meaningful and authentic way, but also because students can create and reflect their ideal lives as well as what is happening outside there through Twitter timeline. The latter is a theoretical framework proposed by Dörnyei (2005) and refers to the representation of all the attributes that a person would like to possess (e.g. hopes, aspiration, desires, etc.). In this case, learners would present their ideal self with the association of the mastery of the second language, which is, becoming more proficient in the L2 and taking it one step forward by integrating him/herself into the language community.

The question is then can we really use Twitter in language learning and teaching? According to Meabh Ritchie, in the April 2009 Times Education Supplement article, micro-blogging can have the following pros for education: it could help develop fluency in written and oral skills; students could learn how to focus on what they say better (they can only use 140 characters); through tweeting themselves, teachers can differentiate and help to reinforce what they have introduced in their classrooms; finally, micro-blogging can lead to more interactive and swift discussions. Also let’s not forget that micro-blogging can add to metacognitive work, i.e. reflexive learning. Tweets can also be used to ask questions and hunt for instant points of view.

Of those advantages of the use of Twitter in language learning, here are some systematic and brief reasons on how the utilization of Twitter in language learning will be justifiable:

1.     Relevance: many students already use Twitter in their own language as well as their foreign language (target language). It has become a part of social, business and academic discussions and it has already entered mainstream communication.

2.     Real-time: as the language instructors start classroom discussion, it is expected that the discussion is about something that being hype in the daily life. The discussion might be started through newspaper headlines until some serious topics that might be controversial. The easiest way to find the common topics is by highlighting the trending topic feature on Twitter.

3.     Distinct style: the brevity of twitter (each message is limited to 140 characters) means that the writing has a different style from other online writing (e.g. emails and blog posts or even online newspapers). With this brevity, the students need not to read a lot but understanding the heading of the discussion. Should the discussions requires deeper analysis, this is the follow-up activities that will be utilized by the instructors to invite the students to learn beyond the classroom wall.

Twitter can be used for stand-alone activities or it can easily be combined with other classroom or homework tasks. It is a way to keep students in contact, to emphasize fluency in communication and to focus on conciseness and accuracy.

1.     Following Conversations: students can follow public conversations regardless of whether they even have their own twitter account. This is because Tweets (each comment in Twitter) are usually publically viewable.

2.     Following Others: students can ‘follow’ (i.e. subscribe) to the twitter accounts of mainstream media to receive regular updates on topics of interest.

3.     Tweeting in a Community: students can share ideas (via twitter) with others in their class on an ongoing basis – the class could have a common tag or simply all become friends (i.e. follow each other). This activity can be added to other activities for example as part of an assignment, the student could twitter their thoughts on an article they have read (or indeed, a tweet), or a video they have watched.

4.     Twitterature or live-tweet: summarizing articles or even whole works of literature into tweets (known as Twitterature), helps the learners focus on what the original text is fundamentally about (in their opinion). Learners can also collaboratively write a piece – perhaps with each tweet as a chapter.

For this paper, the use of Twitter is to update the real-time information especially from the official newspapers accounts and/or notable figures such as politicians, scholars, celebrities, and so forth. This will specify the discussion as well as the limit the scope of the discussions; whereas, the students are not restricted to following those only accounts, but those are recommended for them.

Sang Guru 2: Twitter for language classroom discussion

This weekend, I will attend an international conference in language teaching at State University of University (UNESA). The conference at UNESA is named Sang Guru 2, hosted by Faculty of Cultural Studies. This will be my second opportunity to present my paper on such ELT conference. The previous opportunity was during NELTAL 2013 at State University of Malang.

This time, I will discuss about the utilization of technology in language learning, in specific the use of Twitter for classroom discussion. The idea of this paper is the accessibility of Twitter by most of the students and this is the job of the language instructors to utilize this for classroom activities. Here is the abstract of my paper.

“What’s up?”Twitter timeline as speaking prompts and language classroom discussion

The emergence of social media such as Twitter provides the most up-to-date information and might trigger the curiosity of the learners about the topics being discussed. As language teachers, we should be aware of this phenomena as the learners are not only the consumers of the information, rather the students actively contribute their idea through micro-blogging as well as discussions on various forums. This idea might be beneficial to utilize Twitter timeline as speaking prompts in language classroom and the students are invited to deliver their idea through classroom discussion. There have been various studies that focus on the benefits of using writing and speaking prompt to improve language skills, but there should be further study in more specifics that there is huge potential of optimizing the practice of utilizing the most up-to-date topics such as headline news on Twitter timeline; the students are encouraged to optimize their strategic investment in gathering information beyond the classroom. The students will discuss the topics into as well as analyze the content into discourse level in order to boost their language communication competence.

This paper specifically discusses Twitter timeline of some various accounts, especially official newspapers and notable figures, as the speaking prompts and classroom discussion in language learning. The timeline of those accounts will be utilized as the daily activities, such as the base of classroom discussion. Secondly the paper also discusses about the justification to the emergence of Twitter timeline as the materials for the language learning and the suitability to the students. 

There are also some recommendations toward the applications and methods on how to utilize Twitter timeline in language classroom, including how the teachers deal with such sensitive and controversial issues from the Twitter timeline. Lastly, this paper will also provide the prospective utilization of Twitter on any other language classroom activities. 

The update from Sang Guru 2 international conference will follow soon. Have a great one!

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) at a Glance

A program of the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program offers fully-funded intensive overseas study in the critical need foreign languages of Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.

The selection process is administered by American Councils for International Education with awards approved by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Read more... I have been involved in this program in Indonesia for three years. I have learned a lots of things covering teaching Bahasa Indonesia, American culture, as well as professional job.

NELTAL 2013: Authentic Materials in Language Teaching

Recurring periodically throughout the history of language teaching as the backhround has illustrated, the modern-day preoccupation with authenticity in language learning is born of prevailing currents from three areas: the second language acquisition (SLA) researches, language pedagogical approaches, and sociological aspect (Mishan, 2005: 10-11). These three aspects would be the bases in order to analyze whether the presence of authentic materials in language class is effective in enhancing students’ language proficiency.

SLA Researches Rationale
Based on the SLA researches, there is substantial research evidence to support the use in language learning of the linguistically rich, culturally faithful and potentially emotive input supplied by authentic texts. What is more, however, there is little evidence of a fixed acquisition order; this is the rationale to reconsider the presence of authentic texts in language learning.

In order to have better order in the process of acquiring the second language, the input should be adjusted with the learners’ comprehensibility to the texts. There seems to be considerable agreement that modifications to the texts may improve comprehensibility and stimulate acquisition in conversational and written discourse, are elaborative changes (Larsen-Freeman and Long 1991; Krashen 1989; Ellis 1994). Elaborative modification involves adding features to the text which resemble conversational adjustments, such as repetition, paraphrases, contextual and greater topic-saliency. The adjustments may influence the length and complexity of the linguistic feature of the texts; these elaborative adjustments, however, may be interpreted in pedagogical terms as the ‘negotiation of meaning’ so central to CLT. Texts with elaborative modifications, even when more linguistically complex, have been shown to be no more difficult for subjects to comprehend than simplified texts (Yano et al. 1994). 

It is obvious here that comprehensibility still remains a central requisite for texts as language input to promote effective language learning; a rich but comprehensible input of real spoken and written language in use. If we want to relate the concept of comprehensibility of the texts, we may not find it on newspapers that are brought into the language classrooms, where the students may not have any background knowledge about certain news or features on the newspapers, worse for any news with random topics. But now glossed more generously than Krashen’s original i+1, as ‘understandable enough to achieve a purpose for responding to it’ (Tomlinson 1998). Thus, the texts input may be justifiable challenging and new, but there should be ‘limit’ when the texts should be understandable and comprehensible by the learners without giving too many burdens and problems instead of challenges.

The elaborative adjustments in order to make the students understand the ‘rich but comprehensive’ texts is important; the adjustment should not be reductive, especially on the meaning, but the adjustment should be intended to make the texts acceptable and appropriate by considering the learners’ needs (Tomlinson, 1998).

Besides the comprehensibility of the language input, motivation becomes significant factor for the students in acquiring the target language. Traditionally, motivation is distinguished as stemming from a desire either to integrate with the target language community (integrative motivation) or to achieve a practical goal (instrumental motivation) (Dulay et al., 1982).  Of the two, integrative motivation has been found to be by far the most compelling, and is invariably related to second language achievement (Ellis, 1994: 510). It is integrative motivation, furthermore, that authentic language texts appeal to most directly; real material from the target culture which learners can perceive as being ‘a stepping stone’ towards their own integration with, and understanding of that culture (Mishan, 2005). On the context of EFL learners, however, the instrumental motivation may be preferable (Peacock, 1997).

Some intriguing ‘preliminary’ findings by Peacock (1997), however, indicated that although learners were more motivated by authentic texts, they found them ‘significantly less interesting’ than artificial ones. This finding may be accounted for by the fact that Peacock’s subjects were learners whose motivation was instrumental rather than integrative: they were Koreans studying English in Korea for future study or work requirements. If it is compared to Indonesian learners and other EFL learners, most likely the instrumental motivation is preferable. Thus, it is right that we should empower the integrative motivation without neglecting the instrumental motivation by providing suitable materials for the students. 

However, the notion of positive motivation of the students as regards the use of authentic materials is no longer relevant when we discover the challenges faced by both the language teachers and the students in understanding the authentic texts. Take one example in language (English) for specific purposes (ESP) context, preparing authentic materials for use in the classroom can be very time-consuming. Osborne (2005) suggests that it is essential to have a clear purpose in mind as well as a personal approach that permits the adaptation of most authentic materials. Likewise, the ESP instructor must always incorporate authentic texts that are locally meaningful. The authentic features in newspaper like job vacancy, instructional features, and advertisement might be common and standard for all the students with different background. The adaptation, however, is needed as the materials are more complex and thematic like the different culture during job interview. The adaptation might cover the development of the content or the adjustment with the local context; this is somehow should refer to the needs analysis of the learners at the very beginning of the language class.

Additionally, attitude is a factor that is closely intertwined with the motivation. Attitude can be sub-divided into attitudes towards the language itself, attitudes to its native speakers, to the target language culture and so on. With respect to the use of authentic texts, it is socio-cultural attitudes which interest the learners most, not mere the texts as the language input. Texts that are drawn from the culture of the target language tend to be more involving to the learner and can thus be more emotionally demanding. This requirement for involvement in a sense tests the learner’s attitude towards the target culture; and affects the learners’ process in acquiring the target language.

A positive socio-cultural attitude is displayed by a willingness by the learners to become involved with the input (texts), this attitude helps promote language learning effectively. Conversely, where the target culture is not liked or respected or is mistrusted, learning is hampered. Negative socio-cultural attitudes help explain why some immigrants, particularly those driven from their country by war or economic necessity, never achieve great competence in the language of their adopted culture. The influence on affection of using authentic texts can admittedly be negative as well as positive. It can increase anxiety because of the (perceived) level of difficulty (Peacock, 1997) or due to feelings of linguistic inadequacy.

The last, but not the least aspect in language learning process is affection. Affection may usefully be defined in the context of language learning as ‘aspects of emotion, feeling, mood or attitude which condition behavior’ (Arnold and Brown, 1999; Brown, 2007). The teachers should be aware of the students’ affection in responding the text and topics (strong filter and weak); thus the very selective choice of the sources is the utmost important aspect in bringing newspapers that may contain any sensitive, racial and injustice issues; instead of increasing the motivation and students; engagement, these issues may hinder the students engagement; as the result of this factor, such adaptation should be conducted to deal with the students’ affection.

Pedagogical Rationale
Based on Mishan (2005) discussion of authentic materials in pedagogical rationale has developed three concepts: culture, currency, and challenge, keywords encapsulating the advantages of authentic texts over purpose-written ones and which constitute the central pedagogical rationale for using authentic texts in language learning. However, Mishan does not provide the other side related to those three concepts, especially when they deal with the cultural transfer, the different psychological aspect of the student in strategic investment (Brown, 2007), the relationship between the currency of the texts with the discourse level of the texts as language inputs.

Language and Culture
The core argument in favor of the use of authentic texts in language learning is that all linguistic products of a culture are representative of the culture within which they are produced; despite the simple texts, these represent the culture of the civilization. Thus, in the process of engaging with the language, speakers are enacting sociocultural phenomena; in acquiring language, children acquire the culture (Byram, 1991: 18). 

The cultural element present in authentic texts is, of course, not necessarily explicit. To provide the culture framework as the ‘keys for opening up the target language society’ (Maley 1993: 3) then, the appropriate input or culture exposure may help the learners build the basic cultural literacy. Thus, such adaptation to ‘soften’ the target language culture exposure would allow the learners to literate the culture without being fear of their negative attitude to the culture. This leads us to one of the most intriguing theories associated with the language-culture bond, and one of the most convincing pedagogical arguments for using authentic texts which incorporate a cultural element: the concept of schema.

The concepts of schemata are culture-specific and to some extent distinctive since these concepts are formed within an individual’s mind influenced by his/her own cultural background and through his/her personal experience. Thus, the comprehensible adjustments as ‘win-win solution’ to meet the needs of the students with the students’ personal experience might optimize the language learning process in acquiring the target language.  In addition, failures to access appropriate schemata (i.e. comprehend) are often interpreted solely as deficiencies in language processing skills. 

The need to negotiate the cultural information on the texts is in line with the trend of English as an international language; that means the culture is no longer limited to the target language culture (English-speaking countries), but also other culture from various countries that also accommodate English in daily bases. As we can see from its first usage as academic and scientific purposes, it is estimated that English is now as one of the largest language used by people in the world, both orally and written. As of time of writing, it is estimated that up to a billion people are learning English, this figure boosted by the great numbers of learners in China, Japan, Indonesia and Brazil (Crystal 1997: 10). It is estimated that the English language will eventually share global linguistic hegemony with the other two dominant languages, Spanish and Chinese (Graddol, 2007; Kickpatrick, 2007). 

Currency
The other aspect to discuss authentic texts for language learning has been synthesized in the term currency. The notion of currency in language learning is very important as we should provide the ‘freshest’ materials for our students. The key word currency applies not only to subject matter but to language being used on the materials. Language is constantly changing and growing, and no more so than in the decades witnessing the growth in communications technologies: ‘an area of huge potential enrichment for individual languages’, as David Crystal puts it, writing on the language of the Internet (2001). 

Regarding the currency, newspapers could provide the most update topics to discuss. The only weakness for currency in relation to the authentic materials is the burden for teachers (especially within the busyness of the schedules) to prepare the materials and follow the different needs and aspirations from the students during the discussions. Besides, it becomes harder when the teachers should deal with the sensitive issues and screen the materials before bringing them into the classroom discussion.

Challenge
Probably the most famous representation of the concept of challenge in second language acquisition can be seen in Krashen’s formula i+1, by which was indicated that input (i)  is comprehensible to the learner even when somewhat above his/her current proficiency level. The degree of comprehensibility can logically be linked to that vital factor for  learning, motivation, which  is  only fostered where learning materials and tasks ‘pose  a reasonable challenge to the students - neither too difficult nor too easy’ (Ellis, 1994:  516). While such theory may be accepted in principle, the difficulties that authentic texts pose to lower level learners is more often seen in terms of the problems rather than the challenge. As a consequence, the importance of these affective factors is too often neglected in the case of learners at lower levels of target language proficiency.

In addition to the pedagogical rationale to the use of authentic materials in language classroom is the provocative and sensitive aspects of the authentic materials; the topical and often provocative subject matter of texts from the audio-visual media tends to stimulate discussion, speculation and reaction. This aspect - the authentic text as a trigger for language production rather than just as input to be processed - can be the basis of many tasks.

NELTAL 2013: Why should we reconsider newspapers as authentic materials in language class?

The elusive definitions of the terms ‘authentic’ and ‘authenticity’ and their application to language learning have been the subject of great discussions over the past three decades. The notion of the use of authentic materials as tools in language teaching once emerged in 1970s, following with the trend of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). The CLT concept rejected the previous structurally formed language learning approaches, replacing with the authentic learning with authentic sources, materials that are made by native speakers for native speakers (Rodgers and Medley, 1988), that are genuineness, realness, truthfulness, validity, reliability, undisputed credibility and legitimacy of materials or practices (Tatsuki, 2006). This notion of genuineness has even been under debate as the spread of English as international language as well as the cult of the English language writers/contributors (both native and non-native speakers) through the Internet.

Should we find the basic premise of using authentic materials in language learning, it stems from the desire to give learners “real” language. There are many studies that are concerned with using effective authentic materials in language classrooms. Most of the studies asserting the effectiveness of the authentic materials are concerned with students’ engagement with classroom activities (considered as motivation in language learning). Based on Peacock’s study in analyzing the effects of authentic materials and students’ motivation in South Koreans asserts, however, that there is not significant relationships between the use of authentic materials and students’ motivation; thus, the relationship between the two should be treated in different circumstance, which is not merely about the use of authentic materials that affects the students’ motivation, especially for the EFL learners (Peacock, 1997).

In modern methodology, there seems a trend of utilizing authentic material in the English language lesson, and this is the teachers that know what the most appropriate materials for the students. As a result, they are perfectly able of selecting the most appropriate material to be used in class. Presently, the use of magazines and newspapers in English lessons is widely acknowledged, since they provide stimulating texts full of cultural information to students who have a wide range of interests. According to Doff and Jones (1997: 170), once the appropriate text has been selected, students usually get interested in reading, listening and watching, since they regard English texts and programs not merely as a tool to learn a language, but also as a source of information. 

These flourishing beliefs, however, undermine the other aspects of the students in dealing with authentic materials like the variety of the students’ stances/beliefs (especially when we are talking about the difference between the target language culture compared to the students’ native culture), the needs of the students, and also the level of proficiency of the students. These aspects, in fact, may contribute a lot into the effectiveness of the students in acquiring the target language. Take one of the most common used authentic materials in language class is newspaper. Newspaper is not as simple written texts; it becomes the richest texts containing information, news, opinion, culture clashes and also the power-led discourse. These contents may affect the students’ psychological aspect, worse when the students have negative attitude to the contents, especially with the exaggerated and exploited news about poverty and discrimination, injustice, and violence.

Focusing on the use of the newspaper as authentic materials in the language classroom, there are even many different stances both pro and cons. Flowerdew and Peacock (2001:182) find three arguments for and another three against  authentic  materials. In favor: non-authentic texts cannot represent real-world language use, simplified materials often lose some meaning and the real-world situations the learners will face are best prepared for with authentic texts. On the other hand, the other cons are that any one authentic text may not be authentic for a specific class and the learners’ needs, just because a text is authentic does not mean it is relevant, and authentic texts are often too difficult linguistically.

...

this is the background of my article presented during NELTAL 2013 held at March 30th, 2013, State University of Malang.

NELTAL 2013: Increasingly recognized, the more prestigious

National English Language Teachers and Lecturers (NELTAL) Conference 2013 conducted by the Language Centre in collaboration with the English Department of the Faculty of Letters State University of Malang was over last week (30/3). The conference was attended by hundreds of participants from various regions in Indonesia, both work as teachers, lecturers, and practitioners.

Me and some of my colleagues of
State University of Malang and Education University of Indonesia
with Prof. Bambang Yudi Cahyono, Ph.D.

In his speech at the opening, Dr. Yazid Basthomi as vice dean of academic affairs of the Faculty of Letters, NELTAL 2013 has wider recognition from the various national parties. In this fifth year, NELTAL 2013 has had a remarkable achievement with over 95 presenters, in the topic of media in teaching English.

In addition to paper presentations by teachers, lecturers and practitioners, there was also a seminar by Effendy Kadarisman, Ph.D. which discussed about a look of linguistic in to English language teaching. There was also TEFL workshops conducted by Professors of State University of Malang and other senior practitioners from various institutions. With the conference agenda which lasted for 8 hours, all in the conference rooms were filled by the participants.

Of the many papers were collected and presented, some will be selected to be a compilation of papers under supervision of Prof. Bambang Yudi Cahyono, Ph.D. This compilation book would be an achievement for practitioners of the field of English language teaching.

At the end of the event, Prof. Bambang Yudi Cahyono chair as well as prominent figures in ELT in Indonesia said that next year NELTAL 2014 will also be held at about March 2014, with the theme of success stories of English language teaching.

#KelasKopi: Freedom is when...

Many people believe that the ideology of liberalism gives the widest possible freedom for the individual to determine the nicest position and being most civilized. This is roughly the view that was proposed by Darwin, while the antithesis, which until now divides the world into two views, Marxism with the socialist idea: that people will be civilized if it has the same position (classless society).

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In 1994, a mathematician, Prof. John Nash of Princeton University, was awarded the Nobel Prize with his thesis that denies the view of Adam Smith's liberal wing, a basic foundation in determining the intersection of the concept of good competition.

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Are there any among us who are ready to implement the "common ground" in the life of a free and fair competition? Let us knock each other each to still see around us; does not stop reaching out.

Find us more on Twitter #KelasKopi

NELTAL 2013: Media in English Language Teaching

Glad to see tell you that I will be presenting paper entitled “Rethinking teaching materials: A study of analyzing newspapers as authentic sources in language teaching.”


The National English Language Teachers and Lecturers Conference (NELTAL) is a annual program by English Department, the Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. At the very first time, this conference was initiative project by some prominent scholars in English Language Teaching in Indonesia, one of them is Prof. Bambang Yudi Cahyono, Ph.D.

Arts Building, The Faculty of LettersState University of Malang

This year, NELTAL 2013 will be held at 20 March 2013 at Auditorium Hall E6 Building the Faculty of Letters. There will be about 30 presenters by English language teachers and lecturers across Indonesia. There are also some keynote speakers from English Department of State University of Malang.

Here is my general abstract of my writing:

Presently,  the  use  of authentic written materials e.g. magazines  and  newspapers  in  language class is  widely acknowledged,  since  they  provide  stimulating  texts  full  of  cultural  information  to students who have a wide range of interests; the presence of authentic materials is also in line with the trend of communicative approach in our education. 

However, bringing authentic written materials means we bring wide perspectives and discourses, and even such issues may affect students’ emotion during the learning process as sensitive issues, violence, injustice, poverty, conflicts, and so forth, leading the learning process into hesitation and reluctance in engaging with the activities.

Just  because  a  text  is  authentic  does  not  mean  it  is  relevant,  and  authentic  texts  are  often  too  difficult linguistically. This study will discuss about the importance of the needs to reconsider the way we present authentic sources into the language classes by knowing proper procedures in bringing and adapting the authentic materials based on the needs of the classroom and learning objectives through addition, deletion, and modification, especially to the level of discourse aspects, of the materials.