Djiwandono, Patrisius I.

Teach My Children English:

Why Parents Want English Teaching for Their Children

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TEACH MY CHILDREN ENGLISH:

WHY PARENTS WANT ENGLISH TEACHING
FOR THEIR CHILDREN
Patrisius Istiarto Djiwandono
Language Center, Surabaya University, Indonesia
Abstract
This paper describes parents reasons for sending their children to
an English language course, their expectations from the English
language instruction, and the disadvantages they perceive in
getting their children to learn English at their early ages. A smallscale exploratory survey using questionnaires was conducted
among 46 parents whose children learn English at a private course.
The results indicate that the majority of the parents are generally
aware of the practical values of providing English instruction for
their children and hardly perceive any disadvantages in this early
English learning. Also, they expect English instruction to enable
their children to perform the four language skills, notably
speaking. Implications for the young learners first language as
well as the teaching of young learners are then presented. These
may offer teachers, parents, and other researchers some important
points to consider.
Keywords: parents, young learners, English language teaching.

INTRODUCTION
The interest in teaching English to young learners has been gaining
momentum in the past few years. This growing trend is apparently
attributable to parents ideas about why learning English for their children is
important as well as what they expect from the teaching institutions. Up to
now, to the writers knowledge, studies that look into the realm of these
parental factors in teaching English to young learners have yet to arrive at a
general picture of such parental expectations and reasons. This paper draws
on the results of a small-scale survey to sketch out why some parents of
young learners of English want their children to study English, whether they
perceive any disadvantages of such early foreign language instruction, and
what they expect the teaching institution to equip their children with.
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RESPONDENTS
The small-scale survey involved 46 parents. They were randomly
selected from a larger accessible population of 52 parents whose children
(aged from 6 to 12 years) were studying English at private course V in
Malang. Questionnaires were used to elicit their responses regarding the
reasons for sending their children to the private course to study English. To
ensure the consistency of the responses within the time and resource
constraints, both open-ended and closed-ended questions were asked. There
were a total of 2 closed-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. The
former allowed the respondents to give more than one answer. The
responses are summed up in the following tables:
Table 1. Parents reasons for getting their children to learn English
Reasons

Number of
respondents (in %)

To help them understand English lesson at

school; to earn good grades at school

83.33

To get them to like English

72.22

Because it is easier to learn English at a

young age

72.22

To make them able to communicate in

English

38.89

To equip them with the necessary skills in the

future

27.78

To provide them with longer time to learn

English

16.67

To get them to know English as early as

possible

11.11

To enable them to widen their perspectives

5.56

Table 2. Parents expectations from the private course

Djiwandono, Patrisius I.
Teach My Children English:
Why Parents Want English Teaching for Their Children

64

Number of
respondents (%)

Expectations
Make them able to speak English

77.78

Help them understand English lesson at

school

66.67

Make them able to read English

61.11

Make them able to write in English

61.11

Make them able to listen in English

61.11

Get them to like English

55.56

Table 3. Parents view about the disadvantages of early English instruction

Opinions

Number of
respondents (%)

There is no disadvantage in learning English

at a young age

100

PARENTS INSTRUMENTAL MOTIVATION

Todays trend among parents is summed up by Ellis (2000) in the
following remark:
Ten years ago many parents perceived language learning at
school as an additional subject which was fun for their
children. Parents now recognize the important role a foreign
language can play in their childs global development as well
as the instrumental role it can play in their future at school, at
university and in the work place.

In line with the statement above, most of the parents (83.33% in

Table 1) state that they send their children to take extra English course
because they want their children to keep up with English lesson at school,
and by doing so, earn good grades for the subject. The same response also
figures prominently (66.67%) in Table 2, which sums up their expectations
from the private course where their children learn English. They apparently
fear that without extra English course, their children would have problems

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of understanding the lesson from school. Thus, the decision to have their
children learn English is still prompted by an instrumental motivation. But,
this kind of motivation is somehow understandable in the light of the
possibility that schools may demand too much too early from the children.
The types of classroom exercises, such as rote memorization of word lists,
abstract rules, and analytical, discrete-item tests may well lie beyond the
childrens current abilities to grasp, resulting in learning difficulties, which
in turn force their parents to seek assistance from the private course.
While many have believed that young learners are advantaged over
adults in acquiring a language, the reverse may be true as far as classroom
language learning is concerned. As Brown (1994:90) aptly points out,
children in classrooms may have some difficulties in learning a second
language. It is not surprising, therefore, to see private teachers give extra
guidance, including lots of drills and accuracy-focused exercises, to young
learners. The necessity to help these young learners cope with English
lesson from school may limit private courses in providing experiential, more
message-focused language lessons for the children.
School administrators should take this tendency into consideration
by adjusting the school-based English lesson so that it would accord with
the nature of young language learners. Madrid (2001) argues that a suitable
English lesson for children should center on childrens power of imitating
utterances, curiosity for new language items, high capacity for
memorization, low inhibitions, and little fear of making mistakes. Songs,
dances, stories, and physical response activities would cater for this set of
predispositions.
AWARENESS OF ADVANTAGES OF EARLY ENGLISH LEARNING

Quite a substantial number of the parents (72.22% in Table 1) are

apparently aware of the advantages of learning English at a young age. No
attempt was made to explore this response through an interview to find out
whether the parents have based their responses on the theoretical arguments
for learning a foreign language early in life. This seems to be a remote
possibility, given that none of the respondents is a language teacher who
would otherwise have kept himself or herself updated on language learning
theories. The fact that they are cognizant of such advantages is, therefore,
quite interesting. Their belief corresponds with theoretical claims of
language learning at a young age. Met and Philips (1999) reviewed a body
of research on brain development and came into the following conclusion:
This body of research is interpreted to suggest that the innate
wiring of the brain favors early development of both first and
additional languages. A judicious interpretation of brain

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Djiwandono, Patrisius I.
Teach My Children English:
Why Parents Want English Teaching for Their Children
development research would lead to the conclusion that the
young brain may well be predisposed to acquiring language(s).

In a similar vein, Madrid (2001) argues that children have a set of

characteristics that facilitate the learning of another language besides their
mother tongue. These include few inhibitions, low level of anxiety, higher
enthusiasm in game-like activities, and higher skills in imitating models and
patterns.
Another view critically argues against the common belief that
younger learners learn better, saying that the learning situation is not ideally
suited to young learners with the above properties. The popular belief that
younger learners learn better is likely to hold in a situation where they can
be exposed to rich-input environment which gives them ample opportunities
to interact with other fluent speakers in order to satisfy real communicative
needs (Rixon, 2001). A typical EFL situation, such as the one in Indonesia,
lacks these supportive conditions, and instead puts the young learners in a
classroom situation with low exposure to the target language, and with
interactions mostly with their teacher in order to satisfy some equally
limited communicative purposes. It is the awareness of this situation which,
as the previous section has discussed, apparently prompts the parents to send
their children to English private courses for additional assistance with their
school-based English lesson.
Another possible reason why the parents are eager to have early
English instruction for their children is the awareness that learning a foreign
language takes a long time. They may reason that since English is not used
widely in daily public affairs, there should be longer time for their children
to study the language in order to master it. Indeed, Haas (1998:89) agrees
with this tendency as he states the following:
It takes a long time to gain proficiency in a foreign language,
particularly when it is learned in a school setting. Therefore, the
earlier students start the higher the level they are likely to
achieve.

PARENTS OPINION ABOUT THE MOST

LANGUAGE SKILL

DESIRED

As many as 77.78% of the respondents (see Table 2) state that they

expect the private course to enable their children to speak English. Speaking
seems to be the most desired language skill that these parents deem
important for their children. This might stem from their awareness of many
job vacancies, which explicitly state good command of spoken English as
one of the requirements. They apparently believe that the most perceivable

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evidence of ones English mastery is her ability to speak English well. And
indeed, a number of language educators have agreed on this tendency.
Brown (1994), for instance, states that speaking and listening are the most
often used skills in the classroom. Situations outside the classroom, as
Rivers (1981) argues, demand the mastery of those two skills much more
than they do of reading and writing. Huda (1990) carried out a survey in
secondary schools in eight provinces in Indonesia, which reveals that
parents and students alike put a great importance on the speaking skill.
Following this result, Crocker (1991:140) notes that this tendency seems to
be commonplace among Asian countries, notably Indonesia, Hong Kong
and Singapore. Crocker (1991:140) also states that while the respondents
apparently agree that reading skill is undeniably useful for higher learning,
they tend to think in terms of ultimate uses, i.e. employment, for which an
ability to speak the foreign language is seen . . . as being of higher value and
importance. In short, as Florez (1999) contends, speaking, along with
listening as its concomitant skill, is vital for a language learner to be able to
function fully in an English-speaking ambience.
While stating that speaking is the most expected language skill that
the course should equip their children with, the parents apparently put no
less importance on the other language skills. As Table 2 indicates, many of
them (61.11 %) state that the English course should also teach their children
to read and write in English. This opinion was clearly prompted by their
awareness that their children will later have to go to universities, in which
reading and writing skills are of paramount importance.
PARENTS VIEW TOWARD THE DISADVANTAGE OF
EARLY ENGLISH INSTRUCTION
It is interesting to note that none of the parents surveyed perceives
any disadvantages of early English instruction for their children, as Table 3
shows. Against the backdrop of the diminishing prestige of Indonesian as
the national language (see Gunarwan, 2000; Rosidi, 2003), this opinion
reflects the fact that the parents are either oblivious of the warning or that
the intention to equip their children with competitive English language skills
overrides the need to make these young generations maintain the national
language. A rather different picture emerged from a similar survey
conducted among parents of Spanish learners of English (Montalvo, 2003).
It reveals that some of them are aware that their childrens learning of
English may risk losing their native language. Montalvo (2003:14)
conjectures that
The parents who believe that there are no disadvantages
show pride in their childs language ability. Even if it means

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Djiwandono, Patrisius I.
Teach My Children English:
Why Parents Want English Teaching for Their Children
English dominating more than Spanish, they approve this
because of the opportunities they may be able to accomplish.
The parents that mention the possibility of losing their native
language take much pride in their background.

Judged from their responses, Indonesian parentsat least those who

were involved in the surveydo not seem to feel the same worry regarding
the fate of Indonesian language. Whether this indeed represents a
nationwide standpoint of Indonesian parents is yet to be proved through a
more rigorous survey involving more parents from different social classes.
A recent review on the role of English in shaping sociocultural
identities (Lie, 2003) implies that along with the pervasive pressure of
globalization, local identities are giving ways to more cosmopolitan life
styles, including the use of English as a means of communication. A host of
actual cases presented in the review suggests that Indonesians are
voluntarily yielding to the so-called linguistic imperialism by happily
embracing the use of English for various purposes at the expense of their
own national language. Lie (2003:191) attributes this to the desire of the
middle and upper classes of the Indonesian people to identify themselves
with English-speaking cultures. If this is true, it should explain why the
respondents of the survey do not discern any adverse effect of their kids
early English learning on the maintenance of their national language and,
more importantly, on their pride toward their own national language. They
may have unconsciously looked down on the national language, giving it a
lower status than the English language, which, like it or not, opens the ways
to decent jobs and global life styles. Given the pace and the pervasiveness of
the globalized culture, there is a question of whether the parents standpoint
will in the long run lead to a loss, or at least a minimized role, of the
national language among the next Indonesian generations. Walqui (2000)
addresses the same concern from the learners viewpoint:
Students whose first language has a low status vis a vis the
second may lose their first language, perhaps feeling they have
to give up their own linguistic and cultural background to join the
more prestigious society associated with the target language.

Thus, the current situation described above embodies two important

characteristics: first, the parents increasing eagerness to get their children to
start learning English at a young age; second, the increasing pride of using
the global language in order to satisfy daily communicative needs which
could otherwise be met by the national or even the regional language. Are
these the symptoms indicating that the linguistic imperialism is likely to
prevail in Indonesia? Time will tell.

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An alternative explanation concerning the parents response about

the possible threat to the national language may not be so much about pride
as it is about practical considerations. Knowing that their children are taught
Indonesian lesson much more intensively at school than they are taught
English, they may think that English instruction in no way will push the
Indonesian language out of their childrens linguistic repertoire. They would
probably argue that since Indonesian is much more widely used for daily
communicative purposes, this language will still be used among the young
generations despite their increasingly favorable attitude toward English. In
line with this, Rixon (2001) concludes from a survey that within a busy
school curriculum, the time available for English lesson is limited. There
has not been any study highlighting the same issue in Indonesian context,
but suffice it here to say that the limited hours for English lesson at school
may have made the parents favor extra English lesson without necessarily
discerning a threat to the national language.
CONCLUSION
This paper is based on the result of a survey aimed at identifying
some parents reasons for having their young children start learning English,
and their expectations from such early English instruction for their children.
In addition, it also reports the parents opinion about any disadvantage they
might perceive in the early learning of English. Three main points figure
prominently in their responses. Firstly, most of them send their children to a
private English course in order to help these youngsters keep up with
English lesson at school. In addition, they also believe that learning English
at a young age is more favorable in terms of ease. Secondly, they expect the
private course to teach their children how to speak English. Finally, they are
of the opinion that learning English at a young age does not incur any
disadvantages on the part of their children.
Some factors are suggested that account for the opinions. Firstly, the
parents are inclined toward satisfying instrumental motivation of having
their children earn good grades at school, which in turn give them a
competitive edge for winning good jobs in the future. Secondly, they
apparently know well that learning a foreign language takes a considerable
amount of time, and therefore can lead to mastery only if learning starts at
an early age. Thirdly, they believe that their childrens command of English
language can be convincingly demonstrated by their speaking skill. Finally,
their attitude toward a possible threat to the national language may be
caused either by their desire to have their children be identified with
English-speaking cultures, or the belief that the use of Indonesian language

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Teach My Children English:
Why Parents Want English Teaching for Their Children

has been so firmly embodied in their children that early learning of English
will not in any way endanger the national language.

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Teach My Children English:
Why Parents Want English Teaching for Their Children

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