The Teacher's Role in Maintaining the Home Language while Developing the School Language

By: Iyut Paneo ; Supervised by : Muziatun, S.Pd, M.App. Ling, PhD

As a country with a more traditional way of life, Indonesia has a linguistic diversity that includes several regional languages. In the context of education, Bahasa Indonesia serves as the primary language of instruction in schools, where it provides national identity while also addressing the issue of multilingual communication in the general population.

 This is a challenge for students who come from groups that use the local language to strengthen their language and sense of self.

In Indonesian schools, multilingualism is important as a language of instruction for students, but it is also important for students to use the language in their daily lives. The prevalence of multilingualism in Indonesia is further influenced by the diversity of regional languages in the country, where most of the population speaks various languages in different communities. 

There are also effects of foreign languages such as English already being used in the classroom, such as making students more proficient in the language and encouraging them to learn three languages: English as a foreign language, Bahasa Indonesia, and Local Language.

Language is a tool that plays an important role in developing and shaping social attitudes and interactions. In the world of education, of course students are taught to use good language, from introducing the school language by the teacher to how to maintain their home language in the school environment.  

According to (Seltzer, 2019), students have their language labels, namely first language and second language, mother tongue and new language, home language and school language.

Here the new language they will learn is Indonesian as the school language, and maintain the students' home language. Therefore, the role of the teacher will be greater in this case, because it is the teacher who will introduce the new language and keep both languages mastered. 

The school language needs to be introduced to students, because it is not uncommon to hear that there are still many students who use their home language more, both in the school environment and in the classroom.

From (Mercator, 2017) said the presence of immigrant languages in the world of education causes new challenges, which means teachers and schools must find strategies and methods to deal with increasing language diversity (Makarova et al., 2023). 

So, the purpose of this article will find out how the teacher's role in shaping the strategy of organizing so that these two languages are balanced and used well by students, and how teachers can improve and maintain students' languages both in school and home.

The method used is qualitative, collecting data through interviews by asking questions that have been prepared in advance. The interview was conducted on Tuesday, October 08, 2024, by interviewing an Indonesian Language Teacher. The results of the interview will be summarized into points according to the results of the interviewee's answers that have a relationship with the topic.

The following are the points from the interview regarding the Teacher's Role in Maintaining Home Language while Developing School Language:

A. The importance of home language and school language in students' development

With 14 years of experience, the informant gave an opinion on the importance of using home language and school language for student development. The informant said: "In our school, students use a lot of home language, and for school language students only use it in the classroom". 

The importance for student development in terms of language, namely Indonesian (school language), which will greatly help the use of Indonesian when they will continue to the next level, especially in the world of education. Likewise, home language is very important for students in interacting with people close to them in the environment they live in.

B. The use of language used by students in the school environment.

In the school environment, students will use the school language if they are dealing or interacting with the teacher, but only a few and students will more often be heard using the home language. In creating a classroom atmosphere, in addition to using the school language, teachers sometimes provide space for students to explain material or discuss using their home language.

C. How teachers get students' attention in the classroom.

"I use my home language the most in class, because many students are not interested in presenting material in Indonesian." In attracting students' attention, the teacher often uses the home language to provoke them to discuss with the teacher, because the students themselves are said to be less interested in hearing the material if it is delivered in Indonesian, but this does not make the teacher give up on giving directions to students in using good Indonesian.

D. The challenges teachers face in introducing the school language while maintaining the home language.

The number of students who use the home language more often, makes the teacher have to train them little by little the school language. The impact will be that the final results will not be balanced, because many students use more home language and less school language. But the teacher still provides training for students by answering questions and giving explanations using Indonesian.

E. Strategies and future plans for language use and maintenance.

The teacher will make a special strategy how to make students more able to develop the school language, namely by making discussion groups of 2 or 4 people by chatting using the school language, so that the school language will gradually improve. 

And for the home language, the teacher said that this language will always be used by students, so that students will not easily forget their home language.

The interview findings emphasize the pivotal role of teachers in balancing the use of school language and maintaining home language in both school and community settings. 

Teachers have successfully adopted strategies to enhance students' mastery of the school language while respecting the significance of their home language. These strategies include encouraging the use of the school language during discussions and explanations of material, ensuring students become familiar with its application in academic contexts. 

Simultaneously, teachers provide opportunities for students to use their home language in the classroom to foster engagement and maintain their cultural identity. This approach not only strengthens students' bilingual proficiency but also supports their focus and interest in learning.

By implementing these strategies, schools can ensure that students develop strong academic language skills while preserving their cultural and linguistic heritage, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and effective educational system.

With this, it is expected that the strategies given and taught by the teacher will increase students' knowledge in learning the school language and know how to maintain their home language, and students will be motivated in learning the use of both languages.