Abstract
This paper intends to investigate the transfer of English language to Indonesian students of junior high school in a multicultural setting. As a locus of discussion, the investigation problematizes English textbooks “Real Time: An Interactive English Course for Junior High School Students Year VII-IX” which signify the imbalance accounts of cultural elements as highlighted by both the target language and the local attributes. This project would then analyze, referring to how the cultural elements of the target language are presented in the textbooks and gradually reduce the degree of the oppressive ideology. Ideally, English teachers teach the language in accordance with the nature of language learning in which they are trained and expected to teach the language within the culture of the target language. This provides a penetrative space of a foreign ideology for its language to be taught. Teachers demand more English textbooks for junior high school students which can facilitate cultural dissemination of both local and global values. As language learning is a habit formation and constructive process, it has an oppressive power to construct the learners. Despite the unequal distribution of both cultures, but the presence of the locality has emerged to challenge the penetration. By having the cultural components, the textbook should promote learners’ cultural sensitivity of both cultures to avoid misunderstanding and confusion as well as support language learning as a bidirectional process instead of instrument of oppression.
Author Information
Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Paper Information
Conference: ACLL2017
Stream: Cross-Cultural Communication
This paper is part of the ACLL2017 Conference Proceedings (View)
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