Bilingual Education

In this 21st century, English has become an important part in education, especially in Indonesia. In exact, it was started in 2005, when the Ministry of Education launched the program of International Standard Schools. We can find many schools that use English and Indonesian as their academic language or we can say that they are conducting the bilingual education. There are about 112 schools, which have been selected and established as RSBIs (http://britishcouncil.org/; accessed: 27 August 2010). They use English no longer as a foreign language but also as the instruction for other subjects. Many people think that schools with bilingual education are more prestigious because it makes students learn to communicate using English and makes this country not too far behind other countries. However, is it really effective if we learn in bilingual? In Indonesia, it seems that bilingual education is not effective enough in gaining the main aim, which is to get better graduates who can compete in international events. Hence, there should be several changes in several sections such as the education system, the students, and the teachers to make bilingual education program more successful.

               The first change is for the education system. Up until now, the international schools in Indonesia use English as the main language in teaching and learning. They often forget or neglect their first language, which is Indonesian. This system is ineffective in gaining information of the courses because students cannot get the concept of the subjects in their first language that can make them understand more about the subjects. That is the reason why we should change the subtractive program that we have been used into the additive program of bilingual education. In additive system, we use English and students’ first language, in this case is Indonesian, in balance. Sometimes we use English, in other times we use Indonesian. It is aimed to make the students get the core of the subjects that they learn in their first language and then they can transfer it easily into English. It makes them understand more about the courses they learn. The research by Thomas and Collier in 1997 tells that American students who learn in a dual language or by additive program rather than in bilingual are more succeed in gaining information and in communication (http://www.ayahbunda.co.id/; accessed: 27 August 2010). In this way, we can get two advantages from bilingual education. Beside the students get the concepts of the lesson, they also acquire English well.

           The other change is for the students. Students who have good English proficiency are the minority of all. Most of the students in Indonesia still have a lacking ability to speak or understand English well. Of course, it makes bilingual education hard for them. Learning a course in language that they do not master well is such a burdensome during the process of learning than they learn it in their first language. It makes the efficiency of learning a second language much lower. However, if the students’ ability in understanding English is good enough, the burden will not be so heavy because they can still learn by the time is rolling. Their loss in their course study can be covered by their language acquisition. Still, the ability of their English should be improved to make this bilingual education successful. They have to master English and learn English as soon as possible in order to make them easier in understanding the core of the courses. Maybe they should learn English since in their primary school, but the portion should be properly applied for each grade. Like it or not, students have to fond of English to make them understand and good in bilingual education.

            The last change is for the teachers. If we conduct bilingual education, we need not only good students but also qualified teachers. However, there are only few teachers who have good proficiency in Indonesian and English. Not only ability in mastering languages but it is also need to master the subjects in both languages. There is a wide gap in the demand and the supply for teachers who are able to do bilingual teaching. To cover this problem, teachers should learn English for their subjects to master it well. They also need to take training program for teachers to teach in bilingual because it will be so hard in doing bilingual teaching if the teachers cannot master their subjects well in both languages. They may give the wrong information to their students. That is why the acquiring language is really needed for teachers.

          From those points above, we can say that actually education using two languages has good aims. However, those aims cannot be reached if we do not have good facilities. Bilingual education that has been conducting in Indonesia up until now needs several changes to make a better improvement in the future. We cannot neglect the necessity of bilingual teaching in order to not to be so far behind other countries, but we do need some changes in the education system, students, and teachers to succeed the program.

by Wahyu Kartika Wienanda

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