INTEGRATING LOCAL CULTURES IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR CHARACTER BUILDING
Abstract: Teaching
a language, including
English, without contents
is meaningless for
it consists of merely symbols and grammatical rules.
Considering that language is a means of communication, the contents can be the
message to be transferred. The contents of teaching English as a foreign
language will be more meaningful if they are related to students’
socio-economic cultural backgrounds. It does not mean that it ignores the ideas
that teaching a language is also teaching its native speakers’ cultures because
a language itself is a kind of cultural products. In teaching English as a
foreign language, the cultures of its
native speakers can
be used as meaningful
input texts to
explore and elaborate
local cultures consisting of moral
values and local
wisdoms meaningful for
character building. To
do so, teachers and
lecturers teaching English
are suggested that
they not only
discuss linguistic components, but also integrate local cultures
consisting of moral values and wisdoms as the contents of their teaching skills.
The steps are
(1) rendering meaningful input
texts related to cultures; (2)
discussing contents; (3) exploring and elaborating local cultures
especially for productive skills; (4) using appropriate English
expressions; (5) discussing contents
related to cultures consisting of moral values and wisdoms; and (6) emphasizing
moral values and local wisdoms for character.
Keywords: local
cultures, teaching English
as a foreign
language, moral values,
local wisdoms, character building
Author: Sukarno
Journal Code: jppendidikangg120016
