T

he Indonesian curriculum has undergone several changes over the years. It is fortunate that a lot of schools are teaching the subject of English extensively from elementary to senior high school levels.

Many children can now at least interact or communicate using English in their daily activities.  

However, I have noticed that most textbooks do not have an emphasis on grammar.

This seems a bit alarming since grammar is very important to being able to construct understandable sentences, especially when we communicate through writing.

A lack of knowledge on the rules of grammar can greatly affect how we communicate with others.

Many teachers do not seem to give importance to grammar because it hinders students from expressing themselves freely. Some students prefer not to participate in class for fear of being criticized for their grammatical errors. If teachers just allow students to speak freely without checking on their grammar, more students can speak fluently.

The emphasis of the curriculum, it seems, is more on English as a spoken language.

While learning to speak English is a great accomplishment, we should consider the fact that in order for Indonesian students to be able to be competitive internationally, grammar will play a very important role.

As college students and as professionals later on, ideas need to be shared through research papers, journal articles, books and many more things.  

These forms of communication are not effective without knowledge of grammatical rules. With less emphasis on the importance of grammar early on, it is not surprising that Indonesian universities are quite behind in terms of internationally published articles.

It is quite a waste because there are so many talented local scientists and other professionals whose ideas need to be written and heard internationally.

I guess educators need to consider the next step on how English should be taught in this country.

It is time to step up the level of English teaching and make Indonesian kids more globally competitive, not only through spoken English but through highly intellectual written forms of English communication.

Sheila R. Ruswandi
Guest English teacher at senior high school SMA Al-Masoem
Sumedang, West Java