Bahasa Indonesia
In the current era of globalization, Indonesian has an important role. By mastering good and correct Indonesian, a person will be able to communicate well with each other.
Because of the importance of the Indonesian, the government of the Republic of Indonesia has taken various ways: (1) placing the function and position of Indonesian as the national language and the language of the country, (2) standardizing the Indonesian spelling, (3) standardizing the Guidelines for the Formation of Terms, (4) arranging the Indonesia Dictionary, (5) making Indonesian as the language of instruction from basic to collage, (6) melakukan konseling Bahasa Indonesia untuk masyarakat Indonesia, melalui TV, radio dan media cetak, (7) launching a Language Month every october, (8) holding an Indonesian congress every five years.
These efforts have paid off. The Indonesian language is growing extraordinary especially supported by internationalization of Indonesian. Indonesian is developed into an international language as mandated in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 24 of 2009 concerning Flags, Languages, and National Emblems, as well as National Anthems. Even the State University of Surabaya (Unesa) and The Indonesian Council of Professors Forum held an international discussion with Asean professors at the Golden Tulip Surabaya on Tuesday, 5 November 2019 encouraging how Indonesian became an international scientific language.
Although various methods have been taken by the government of the Republic of Indonesia, it turns out that up to now there are still many Indonesian people who have not been able to use Indonesian language properly and correctly. This inability does not only happen to ordinary people, but also in educated people. Various research shows the concern of Indonesian learners at all levels of education units: ELEMENTARY, JUNIOR high SCHOOL, and even college in using Indonesian. Generally, mistakes about the failure of Indonesian language learning are based on the lowest level, elementary school. Why is that?
Spearhead Coaching of Indonesian at school.
Elementary school teachers are indeed the most meritorious people. That is because everyone who is educated is not one who has never been taught elementary school teachers. Whatever the profession, all scholars must have been taught by elementary school teachers. On the other hand, knowledge is delivered by elementary school teachers is not easily forgotten even a permanent knowledge. If the knowledge is conveyed by elementary school teachers is correct, then that knowledge must be very beneficial for students forever. Conversely, if the knowledge is conveyed by elementary school teachers is wrong, then the teachers have misled students.
Likewise Indonesian. Elementary school teachers are also very important in teaching Indonesian knowledge and skills to students and students in general.
Therefore, elementary school teachers are very important in coaching Indonesian in school. all of that is supported by the critical period hypothesis by Lenneberg in learning Indonesian. This hypothesis states that between the ages of 2 to 12 years, a child can acquire any language with the ability of a native speaker. In other words, in this period language can be mastered more easily and after this period language is increasingly difficult to master. Like a building, education at the elementary school level is the building foundation. if the foundation is sturdy, it is very possible to develop a building that is strong in its optimization. Thus, it is clear that elementary school teachers are spearheading Indonesian coaching in schools. As the spearhead, elementary school teachers must strive to provide Indonesian language knowledge and skills with the correct language attitude. Every language mistakes are found in students must be directed to the correct language immediately. Is language not a habit? The correct language habit is when students are in elementary school age. it is very supportive of the competence and language skills of students at the level of education above: junior high, high school, and even college. Therefore, all elementary school teachers and candidates of elementary school teacher, especially students of elementary school teacher education study programs must always update their knowledge, skills and attitudes in Indonesian to avoid mistakes and errors in what is conveyed to their students. Language is dynamic, it always changes from time to time including Indonesian. If this is done by them, reliable Indonesian language coaches will be realized and can accelerate the realization of Indonesian as an international language. * (Author: Dr. Syamsul Ghufron – Lecturer of PPG-SD Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, UNUSA)
