Authentic Instruction and Assessment in the Context
of Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Bahrul
Hayat
In
a global era where borders across countries become more virtual,
language as a medium of communication plays a role of important paramount in
coping actively with the globalization. In this connection, the mastery of
English as an international language by members of global society is
undeniable. Preparing future generation of a country in the global era with
communication competencies becomes a crucial part of education reform in any
country.
Current
education reform in Indonesia
encompasses multi facet aspects, from management at the macro level up to the
school governance and from curriculum design up to practice of teaching
learning process in the classroom. At a very technical aspect, national
curriculum moves from objective oriented toward competency standard based-policy,
and from school-word toward authentic approach. This authentic approach affects
both instructional processes and student assessment. The authentic pedagogy
should guarantee that all students deserve an education that extends beyond
transmission of isolated facts and skills to in-depth understanding and complex
problem solving that is useful to students outside the classroom. In the
context of teaching English as a foreign language, authentic pedagogy requires
a profound shift of responsibilities and roles of students, teachers, and
administrators. Students take an increased responsibility for their own
learning and assessment that make them aware of their progress of English
competency. Teachers should transform the classroom along many dimensions;
changing the kind of activities students engage in on a daily basis that
provides them with a naturalistic experience of English exposure. And finally,
all these changes will not occur without the commitment and dedication of
school administrators. Institutional support is fundamental to the success of
this new approach.
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Hayat, B. (2003, October).
Authentic instruction and assessment in the context of teaching English as a
foreign language. Paper presented at the 51st TEFLIN
International Conference, Bandung, Indonesia.
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email: eltindonesia@yahoo.com