This paper highlights the power of using the English translation of the Indonesian literature in the Indonesian EFL settings. Various theories and studies underlying the advantages of using such literature in EFL classes are elaborated. First, such literature is very familiar and close to the students’ world of knowledge, therefore it improves their confidence in sharing it to others. Second, it is less psychologically threatening, and it makes them easier to cope with it. Third, this kind of literature can increases comprehension and retention of the foreign language. In addition, the cultural origin of such literature has a greater effect on the students’ comprehension.
Concurrently, the writer’s experience in dealing with the use of translated folktales in his class have shown that this practice contributes significantly to the Indonesian EFL classroom, especially in improving speaking and writing skills. In terms of speaking, by applying storytelling technique, he found that all students were able to present their own story very confidently, and enthusiastically answered any questions concerning on the story they presented. In terms of writing, all students were able to produce a narrative writing based on the story that have presented in the storytelling. They were able to write a more detail story with a better structure.
INTRODUCTION
Teaching English as a Foreign Language has always been a major challenge for teachers and lecturers of English in Indonesia. Finding teaching materials that are appropriate to certain level of students often create problems. Sometimes, we find the selected text to be too long and too complex for students, or it is too easy for them. The key point is that the material should not be too distant from the world knowledge of the students. In addition, it should generate the students’ interest.
Today, we have a lot of choices of textbooks or resources to be used in teaching. However, many of us still rely on using uninteresting materials, and the activities chosen are based on teacher-talk and students-listen routines as suggested by Cheung (2001). Such practices cannot guide the students to increase their interest in learning English. Hence, they will get demotivated in learning.
To avoid this situation, we have to find teaching materials that can foster students’ motivation. I argue that one kind of teaching materials which may encourage students to learn is the use of a certain type of literature: the translated Indonesian literature.
WHY LITERATURE
Many teachers think that literature is inappropriate to be used in language classroom. They refer to the historic separation of the study of literature and the study of language which has created a very limited function of literature in the language classroom. I argue that such kind of view is misleading. As a matter of fact, the use of literature can be a prevailing educational instrument, as suggested by Savvidou (2004) based on the premise that literature is language and language can indeed be literary.
There are a number of reasons why literature is appropriate to be used in the language classroom. One is that literature helps students understand and appreciate cultures and beliefs that are different from their own. In line with this, Kramsch (1992) , as cited in Gray (2005), stated that by constructing with the literary text a reality different from that of texts of information, students are given access to a world of attitudes and values, collective imaginings and historical frames of reference that constitute the memory of a people or speech community. This definitely means that literature and culture are inseparable.
Another reason is that literary texts can function as an example of certain types of language patterns and structures; such as vocabulary usage and syntax. Literature, as Collie and Slater (1987) argued, provides a rich context in which individual lexical or syntactical items are made more memorable. By reading a contextual body of text, students can get familiar to certain features of written language.
In addition, literature can provide personal enjoyment to students, establish an emotional and aesthetic connection between readers and the text, and contribute to personal growth (Mckay, 1986). This in turn will increase their motivation to read more and more literary text, and improve their language skills, especially their reading proficiency.
For most students, literature can provide a key to motivating them to read in English; and for all, literature is an ideal vehicle for illustrating language use and for introducing cultural assumptions.
EFL teachers and lecturers should note that although the students do not yet fluently express their English, they are still able to comprehend when they discuss a piece of literary work, since they come from a society which has its own literature. They have read and studied literature in their own language. Therefore, they are familiar with the elements and forms of literature written in their native language.
TRANSLATED INDONESIAN LITERATURE
What I mean “translated Indonesian literature” is any forms of Indonesian literature that are translated into English. It can be short stories, fables, folktales, novels, plays, or even poems. For the Indonesian EFL students, this grants certain advantages.
First, they are able to understand the cultural background of the materials used. Obviously, there should be an extra explanation given here that teachers should consider the cultural background of the students. Students from Java may not well acquaint with certain stories from Sulawesi like the Legend of Sawerigading, and in vice versa, the students from Sulawesi may not recognize the story of Lutung Kasarung. This happens almost in any parts of Indonesia. However, there are stories originated from certain part of the country, yet they are so popular throughout Indonesia, such as the Legend of Malinkundang from West Sumatra, and the Legend of Sangkuriang from West Java.
Since the stories are very familiar to the students, they know the characters, theme, plot, setting, and other elements of the stories. They know much of the vocabulary which makes them easier to cope with the stories. This generates a less psychologically threatening situation, as suggested by Day and Bamford (1998).
Moreover, second language acquisition research has shown that materials originating from students’ first language’s culture greatly increases comprehension and retention of a second language, as cited in Gray (2005). Studies have revealed that simply changing the name of places and characters into more familiar one increases comprehension, as suggested by Chihara, Sakurai, and Oller (1989) in their study on Japanese EFL students.
In another study, it was discovered that the cultural origin of folktales for Iranian EFL students had a greater effect on their comprehension than did the level of the syntactic and semantic complexity of the text (Floyd and Carroll, 1987), as cited in Gray (2005). That is, Iranians performed better on the texts adapted in English from their native culture than on a text from American culture. Similarly, when students from India and United States were instructed to read letters about an Indian and American wedding, they read letters from their own culture faster, and were able to recall them better than when they read foreign excerpts (Floyd and Carroll, 1987).
I believe that if such study is to be undertaken to the Indonesian EFL students, the result will likely to correspond with those findings. Simply, the Indonesian literature that has been translated into English can serve as a bridge between the two languages.
What EFL teachers and lecturers have to bear in mind is what materials to be used, and which English translation is the best. If they are not carefully chosen, and the students are not familiar with them, or the translation is not appropriate, using them could mean “lost of pedagogical opportunities”(Gray, 2005).
THE USE OF FOLKTALES
Literature covers a wide range of subjects and writing style. The subjects receiving great attention of students include animals, humour, courage, heroism, sports, mystery, adventure, biography, and fantasy. These could be presented in different genres, such as imaginative literature (poetry, prose, and drama), and non-imaginative (letter, diary, essay, memoir, biography, and history). Other forms of literary work are folktales, legends, myths, and fairy tales which continue to sought after for they represent imagination and dreams of men of bygone years and contribute to our understanding of the past.
If students were asked what they have in common among many forms of literature, it is likely that their answer would be folktales. This is due to the fact that folktales have existed in the students’ world of knowledge since their childhood. They have heard the tales from their parents, their teachers, their elders or their peers quite frequently and remain until they were grown up.
Folktales are general term for different varieties of traditional narrative; including fairy tales, fables, and legends. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic and complex societies alike. The forms folktales take are certainly similar from culture to culture. Initially, it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for everybody.
In Indonesia, folktales usually refer to the term “cerita rakyat”. Its origins are predominantly an oral culture, with a range of stories of heroes, transmitted outside of a written culture. Many other stories explain events or establish moral allegories from iconic or symbolic characters of the past. They also seek to explain the origins of names of people and places.
Concurrently, the writer’s experience in dealing with the use of translated folktales in his class have shown that this practice contributes significantly to the Indonesian EFL classroom, especially in improving speaking and writing skills. In terms of speaking, by applying storytelling technique, he found that all students were able to present their own story very confidently, and enthusiastically answered any questions concerning on the story they presented. In terms of writing, all students were able to produce a narrative writing based on the story that have presented in the storytelling. They were able to write a more detail story with a better structure.
INTRODUCTION
Teaching English as a Foreign Language has always been a major challenge for teachers and lecturers of English in Indonesia. Finding teaching materials that are appropriate to certain level of students often create problems. Sometimes, we find the selected text to be too long and too complex for students, or it is too easy for them. The key point is that the material should not be too distant from the world knowledge of the students. In addition, it should generate the students’ interest.
Today, we have a lot of choices of textbooks or resources to be used in teaching. However, many of us still rely on using uninteresting materials, and the activities chosen are based on teacher-talk and students-listen routines as suggested by Cheung (2001). Such practices cannot guide the students to increase their interest in learning English. Hence, they will get demotivated in learning.
To avoid this situation, we have to find teaching materials that can foster students’ motivation. I argue that one kind of teaching materials which may encourage students to learn is the use of a certain type of literature: the translated Indonesian literature.
WHY LITERATURE
Many teachers think that literature is inappropriate to be used in language classroom. They refer to the historic separation of the study of literature and the study of language which has created a very limited function of literature in the language classroom. I argue that such kind of view is misleading. As a matter of fact, the use of literature can be a prevailing educational instrument, as suggested by Savvidou (2004) based on the premise that literature is language and language can indeed be literary.
There are a number of reasons why literature is appropriate to be used in the language classroom. One is that literature helps students understand and appreciate cultures and beliefs that are different from their own. In line with this, Kramsch (1992) , as cited in Gray (2005), stated that by constructing with the literary text a reality different from that of texts of information, students are given access to a world of attitudes and values, collective imaginings and historical frames of reference that constitute the memory of a people or speech community. This definitely means that literature and culture are inseparable.
Another reason is that literary texts can function as an example of certain types of language patterns and structures; such as vocabulary usage and syntax. Literature, as Collie and Slater (1987) argued, provides a rich context in which individual lexical or syntactical items are made more memorable. By reading a contextual body of text, students can get familiar to certain features of written language.
In addition, literature can provide personal enjoyment to students, establish an emotional and aesthetic connection between readers and the text, and contribute to personal growth (Mckay, 1986). This in turn will increase their motivation to read more and more literary text, and improve their language skills, especially their reading proficiency.
For most students, literature can provide a key to motivating them to read in English; and for all, literature is an ideal vehicle for illustrating language use and for introducing cultural assumptions.
EFL teachers and lecturers should note that although the students do not yet fluently express their English, they are still able to comprehend when they discuss a piece of literary work, since they come from a society which has its own literature. They have read and studied literature in their own language. Therefore, they are familiar with the elements and forms of literature written in their native language.
TRANSLATED INDONESIAN LITERATURE
What I mean “translated Indonesian literature” is any forms of Indonesian literature that are translated into English. It can be short stories, fables, folktales, novels, plays, or even poems. For the Indonesian EFL students, this grants certain advantages.
First, they are able to understand the cultural background of the materials used. Obviously, there should be an extra explanation given here that teachers should consider the cultural background of the students. Students from Java may not well acquaint with certain stories from Sulawesi like the Legend of Sawerigading, and in vice versa, the students from Sulawesi may not recognize the story of Lutung Kasarung. This happens almost in any parts of Indonesia. However, there are stories originated from certain part of the country, yet they are so popular throughout Indonesia, such as the Legend of Malinkundang from West Sumatra, and the Legend of Sangkuriang from West Java.
Since the stories are very familiar to the students, they know the characters, theme, plot, setting, and other elements of the stories. They know much of the vocabulary which makes them easier to cope with the stories. This generates a less psychologically threatening situation, as suggested by Day and Bamford (1998).
Moreover, second language acquisition research has shown that materials originating from students’ first language’s culture greatly increases comprehension and retention of a second language, as cited in Gray (2005). Studies have revealed that simply changing the name of places and characters into more familiar one increases comprehension, as suggested by Chihara, Sakurai, and Oller (1989) in their study on Japanese EFL students.
In another study, it was discovered that the cultural origin of folktales for Iranian EFL students had a greater effect on their comprehension than did the level of the syntactic and semantic complexity of the text (Floyd and Carroll, 1987), as cited in Gray (2005). That is, Iranians performed better on the texts adapted in English from their native culture than on a text from American culture. Similarly, when students from India and United States were instructed to read letters about an Indian and American wedding, they read letters from their own culture faster, and were able to recall them better than when they read foreign excerpts (Floyd and Carroll, 1987).
I believe that if such study is to be undertaken to the Indonesian EFL students, the result will likely to correspond with those findings. Simply, the Indonesian literature that has been translated into English can serve as a bridge between the two languages.
What EFL teachers and lecturers have to bear in mind is what materials to be used, and which English translation is the best. If they are not carefully chosen, and the students are not familiar with them, or the translation is not appropriate, using them could mean “lost of pedagogical opportunities”(Gray, 2005).
THE USE OF FOLKTALES
Literature covers a wide range of subjects and writing style. The subjects receiving great attention of students include animals, humour, courage, heroism, sports, mystery, adventure, biography, and fantasy. These could be presented in different genres, such as imaginative literature (poetry, prose, and drama), and non-imaginative (letter, diary, essay, memoir, biography, and history). Other forms of literary work are folktales, legends, myths, and fairy tales which continue to sought after for they represent imagination and dreams of men of bygone years and contribute to our understanding of the past.
If students were asked what they have in common among many forms of literature, it is likely that their answer would be folktales. This is due to the fact that folktales have existed in the students’ world of knowledge since their childhood. They have heard the tales from their parents, their teachers, their elders or their peers quite frequently and remain until they were grown up.
Folktales are general term for different varieties of traditional narrative; including fairy tales, fables, and legends. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic and complex societies alike. The forms folktales take are certainly similar from culture to culture. Initially, it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for everybody.
In Indonesia, folktales usually refer to the term “cerita rakyat”. Its origins are predominantly an oral culture, with a range of stories of heroes, transmitted outside of a written culture. Many other stories explain events or establish moral allegories from iconic or symbolic characters of the past. They also seek to explain the origins of names of people and places.
PRACTICAL PROPOSITION
For the last two years, I have assigned my students at English Department of Makassar State University who were undertaking “Integrated Language Skills” class to update folktales existing in Indonesia, especially in South Sulawesi Province. Since they are from various regencies, each student preferably updates the folktale from his / her own regency.
I applied two techniques, storytelling and narrative writing, consecutively, in dealing with this matter: Each student, with certain amount of time, will have to present his / her folktale in front of the class in English. After the telling, other students are allowed to give comments or have questions about the content of the folktale. I occasionally made some corrections; either in terms of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary use. By doing this technique, I found that the students, at most, have strong opinion about their folktales, and are very confident when they share them.
In terms of narrative writing, I assigned each student to write down the folktale that he / she has delivered in class. I encouraged them to write it in more detail, and allowed them to expand it. This assignment is to be handed in a week later. My experiences in this class for the last two years have revealed that a number of students were not able to submit their writing based on the due date, and asked for delay which usually took one week. Despite this delay, the promising outcome is that the students were able to write the folktales in more detail and advanced.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The use of the English translation of the Indonesian literature promotes some advantages to the Indonesian EFL settings. Since the students know the original, they are reasonably easier to expose it in English, either in terms of speaking or writing. Beside that, they have a strong opinion on such literature which makes them confident in sharing it to others.
Folktales as one form of literature have existed in every culture and society. Since childhood, students have acquired such literature from their parents, their elders, and their peers which enables them to retain it for longer time.
REFERENCES
For the last two years, I have assigned my students at English Department of Makassar State University who were undertaking “Integrated Language Skills” class to update folktales existing in Indonesia, especially in South Sulawesi Province. Since they are from various regencies, each student preferably updates the folktale from his / her own regency.
I applied two techniques, storytelling and narrative writing, consecutively, in dealing with this matter: Each student, with certain amount of time, will have to present his / her folktale in front of the class in English. After the telling, other students are allowed to give comments or have questions about the content of the folktale. I occasionally made some corrections; either in terms of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary use. By doing this technique, I found that the students, at most, have strong opinion about their folktales, and are very confident when they share them.
In terms of narrative writing, I assigned each student to write down the folktale that he / she has delivered in class. I encouraged them to write it in more detail, and allowed them to expand it. This assignment is to be handed in a week later. My experiences in this class for the last two years have revealed that a number of students were not able to submit their writing based on the due date, and asked for delay which usually took one week. Despite this delay, the promising outcome is that the students were able to write the folktales in more detail and advanced.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The use of the English translation of the Indonesian literature promotes some advantages to the Indonesian EFL settings. Since the students know the original, they are reasonably easier to expose it in English, either in terms of speaking or writing. Beside that, they have a strong opinion on such literature which makes them confident in sharing it to others.
Folktales as one form of literature have existed in every culture and society. Since childhood, students have acquired such literature from their parents, their elders, and their peers which enables them to retain it for longer time.
REFERENCES
Cheung, C. (2001). The Use Of Popular Culture As A Stimulus To Motivate Secondary Students’ English Learning In Hongkong. ELT Journal, 55 (1), 55-61.
Chihara, T., T. Sakuai, and J. Oller. (1989). Backround and Culture as Factors in EFL Reading Comprehension. Language Testing, 6, 143-151.
Collie, J And S. Slater (1987). Literature In The Language Classroom: A Resource Book of Ideas and Activities. Cambridge: CUP
Day, Richard and Julia Bamford (1998). Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Floyd, P and P.L.Carrol (1987).Effects on ESL Reading of Teaching Cultural Content Schemata. Language Learning, 37, 89-108.
Gray, Ronald (2005). Using Translated First Language Literature in the Second Language Classroom. Internet TESL Journal. 11 (12)
Iskandar (1993). The Students’ Ability to Appreciate Short Stories. Unpublished Thesis. IKIP Ujung Pandang.
Iskandar (2005). The Utilization of Storytelling as a Technique in Teaching Speaking. Performance. 4(1), 43-50.
Kilickaya, Ferit. (2004). Guidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in Textbooks. Internet TESL Journal 10 (12).
Mckay, Sandra (1986). Literature In The ESL Classroom. In R. Carter And David Nunan (Eds). Literature and Language Teaching (pp.191-198). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rahman, Asfah. (2001). Literature: A Neglected Aspect In The Teaching of English as A Foreign Language. Performance 1 (1), 74-84.
Savvidou, Christine. (2004). An Integrated Approach to Teaching Literature in the EFL Classroom. Internet TESL Journal, 10 (12).
