Is Indonesia's ELT Implementation Already Aligned with the Concept of 21st Century Language Teaching?

Abstract

The 21st century demands that students acquire the 4C’s skills so that they can face future challenges. In that case, English teachers have to select particular teaching methods or techniques to assist the students in sharpening their 4C skills. Therefore, to make the teaching relevant and effective, teachers should understand the notion of 21st-century language teaching and implement particular teaching methods and strategies that suit their needs. This research is aimed at examining if English language teaching in Indonesia has turned to the ideas of 21st-century education based on the student’s point of view. To seek the answer, this research employed a descriptive-qualitative approach. There were 58 secondary student participants from public and private schools. A survey, documents, and FGD were used as the instruments to collect the data. The data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that many of our English language teaching practices in Indonesia were still conducted with a teacher-centered approach, focused on language components rather than sharpening their holistic knowledge, and rarely integrated with technology. In conclusion, based on the students’ perspectives, ELT in their schools has not tuned to the notion of 21st-century education. It was indicated by three reasons discussed in the study. Keywords: ELT; Language; Learning; Perspectives; Students; Teaching.