Strategies and challenges of teaching Indonesian to foreign speakers at Bandung State University

Abstract

Considering the ongoing era of globalization, the importance of teaching Indonesian to foreign residents is increasing. Indonesian, as the official language of Indonesia, has important meaning as the main language in Southeast Asia. In addition, this language is recognized as one of the official languages of ASEAN and has an important function in encouraging international cooperation. As a result, more and more people from various countries are choosing to master Indonesian for academic, commercial or personal purposes. However, empirical evidence shows that several challenges hinder cultural exchange in BIPA education. These include the lack of Indonesian language skills among international students at the elementary level, the rise of bilingualism in Indonesian society, cross-cultural differences, the speed of communication in Indonesian society, and even low motivation among international students. This report explores the challenges and strategies involved in teaching at Bandung State University. This research aims to increase the effectiveness of teaching Indonesian to non-native students by overcoming various challenges faced in the teaching and learning process. This research uses a qualitative approach and uses in-depth interviews as the main method of data collection. The research involved 8 Indonesian language lecturers from various countries who taught non-native speakers. Research findings show that the main problem is the complicated Indonesian grammar, which is an obstacle for non-native speakers to understand. In addition, it is very important to modify the teaching methodology to meet the preferences and learning needs of international students. One approach to overcome this problem is to simplify grammar teaching by using practical illustrations. In addition, this research reveals the importance for BIPA teachers to consider the balance between language skills and non-skills material, cross-cultural factors for both students and teachers, student characteristics, students' goals in learning BIPA and selecting learning methods that suit their needs. Target. These features can be enhanced by incorporating active learning methodologies, such as role-playing, into a student-centered teaching style tailored to the specific needs and preferences of international students.