The Challanges of A Multilingual Teacher in Using Language in the Classroom

THE CHALLENGES OF A MULTILINGUAL TEACHER IN USING LANGUAGE IN THE CLASSROOM

By : Reynaldi Karim; Supervised by : Muziatun, S.Pd, M.App. Ling, PhD

The challenges for teacher in teaching is also how to motivate students to arouse students interest in learning, provide understanding to students, and also develop each student's way of thinking. Another challenges for teacher is how teachers become good communicators during the learning process in class using more than two languages (multilingual).

Students will have difficulties in understanding language when teachers during the learning process use mixed language, especially for elementary school children in the 1 st grade. This makes it confusing for them to understand the context of the sentences conveyed by the teacher. There is even a teacher who uses three languages at once when teaching, including Indonesian, Melayu-Manado and the Gorontalo regional language.

Most teachers use mixed language due to several factors, such as forgetting certain terms in Indonesian, being more comfortable using mixed language, and occasionally using words in the local language (Gorontalo Regional Language). Aims to teach students to continue to know and understand the Gorontalo Regional Language.

Challenges of multilingual teachers when teaching in the classroom

Being a teacher who has the advantage of mastering more than two languages is a teacher who is talented in communicating. Using one language and then mixing it or changing it to another language, with the aim of making it easier for students when studying in class. Some teachers even explain the material again in a language that is easy for their students to understand. The following are the challenges of multilingual teachers when teaching in class:

• Students do not understand the teacher's explanation

Students will tend to be silent and confused by what the teacher says when teaching using multilingualism in front of the class. Some students will also be afraid when the teacher asks them questions using language they do not understand.

• The teacher does not use full Indonesian when teaching

Teachers are required to use Indonesian when explaining material in front of the class, but some students still do not understand standard Indonesian spelling so the teacher will explain the points of the material in another language that is easy for students to understand.

• Students will tend to ask a lot of questions

During the learning process the teacher will experience disruption in presenting the material because of the many questions that arise from the students themselves because they do not know or understand the words spoken by the teacher. Therefore, the teacher will lose focus every time he explains the material in front of the class.

• Students misinterpret the meaning of words

Some students whose mother tongue is Melayu-Manado are more likely to misinterpret the meaning of several words spoken by the teacher in the learning process. For example, the students consider the word "frog" to be an inappropriate word because it has the meaning of a sensitive area, even though the word has the meaning of an animal that jumps, and which usually lives on land or water (amphibia).

From some of the challenges above, teachers have solutions to solve these problems. When students do not understand what the teacher is explaining, the teacher will explain the material again using language that is easy for students to understand, concisely and clearly. Teachers will encourage students to learn more using local languages, especially the Gorontalo regional language. The goal is that students can preserve and continue to use the Gorontalo regional language so that it will not become extinct in the future.

Data from interview with teacher