YULIANDRI Assignment One Reflective Journal: Chapter I 272.

702 I want to make a short elaboration based on the question asked in the study guide; how can you categorized your students ESL, EFL or EAL, in this case I would also put myself in the same place as my students, on account of some English learners in Indonesia. There is terminology discussed (Stern, 1989) that mentions some key terms like second and foreign language, or in other words L1 and L2. L1 here represents the mother tongue or the primary (Stern, 1989, p.9) and L2 is the weaker language. Based on these key terms I would like to explain my viewpoint that would probably answer this question, but this elaboration is not exclusively intended to judge the type of students that I teach. Firstly I would go into a deeper definition that second language is a language learned later than the native language (1989, p.12). Generally in Indonesia we can simply put into this context that L1 is Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia and L2 is English. But, as we explore deeper, this context is not fully acceptable to English learners throughout Indonesia because in fact, in some area or provinces in Indonesia, the mother tongue or the L1 is not necessarily Bahasa Indonesia. There are so many ethic languages that actually become regional language. In this case, for English learners that come from these provinces, English will become their third language. This is not the main issue that I want elaborate, but at least this will guide me into my first clue that in Indonesia, it is quite reasonable that I could categorize my self and also my students as learners in EFL category. The above explanation is not the main reason why the clues to my answer tend to lead to EFL. Other aspects that considered supporting this point of view are the purpose and the context of English learning of most of my students. In my opinion what is called ESL learners is what Brown (2007, p.3) would describe as trying to acquire the second language complete with its all cultural and linguistic aspects. The purpose of the learning is to be able identify closely with

the culture and people of the target language. Meanwhile, EFL students are somewhat that I believe Brown (2007, p.3) explains as focusing on a foreign language context in which the second language is heard and spoken only in artificial environment, and the reason of acquiring the language is merely the pursuit of successful career or passing some foreign language requirement for some purposes (2007, p.3). There has been a lot of arguments about the use of second, additional or foreign language terms. The terms ESL, EFL, and EAL sometimes lead into ambiguity to some beginners ears. But I believe, as a Language teacher, for me, the term used is not a big problem, because each classroom has its own special need, and no specific language teaching method that could universally be applied to every classroom, as what Brown explains as every learnerteacher relationship is unique, and every context is unique (2007, p.18). It is the role of the teacher to see this uniqueness and somehow manage to find the right formulation out of it (2007, p. 19). So I believe, ESL, EFL, or EAL are only a matter of terminology that does not necessarily influence or limit the richness of the flexibility of the classroom itself.