Englisia MAY 2016 Vol. 3, No. 2, 65-82 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities Tuti Hidayati STAIN Teungku Dirundeng Meulaboh tutihidayati07@gmail.com ABSTRACT The dominant use of English in every field covering politic, economic and sosial cul- ture these days has manifested in its gaining a special position in many countries where it is not spoken. In Indonesia, it is a foreign language officially constituted as part of national education curriculum and becomes a requirement in a number of higher education and workforce entry. Yet, ELT in Indonesia faces various constraints including, but is not limited, the anxiousness to threat the purity of Bahasa Indone- sia, the national language, and the worry about liberal western values embedded in English to corrupt the youngsters moral and attitudes. Interestingly, Islamic education that maintains a vital role among Indonesians has included English alongside other secular sciences and technology as part of its curriculum in its current advancement. In this regard, the paper will show how critical Islamic education role among Indo- nesians is, how ELT in Indonesia has developed, what challenges it experiences, and what opportunities it posseses in the context of Indonesian Islamic Education. The paper argues that Islamic education remains the choice of the Indonesian Mus- lim communities as long as it is able to meet the demands of living in the globaliza- tion era while keeping the Islamic values in all the learning process. It further suggests that ELT in Indonesia needs to incorporate Islamic values and show that English learning put no threats and negative influences to Indonesian culture in gen- eral and Islamic religious values in particular. Keywords: Islamic education; ELT; culture; Islamic values INTRODUCTION English language nowadays has been used in a way that no other language has ever experienced before. If viewed statistically, there are approximately 1.6 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 66 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 billion people which is nearly one third of world population who are involved in different forms of using English. It is the dominant language in many of world institu- tions, financial agencies, and countless scientific publishing (Graddol, 1997). It has served as a gate-keeping function determining access to different areas ranging from job qualification, educational admittance, to social improvement (Pennycook, 2001) not necessarily at international level but also at national level. The dominance of English is also apparent in the field of popular culture and social media. It is obvious that Hollywood, MTVs, Microsoft and Macintosh applica- tions, and numerous other American products such as newspaper, advertisement and broadcasting utilizing English can easily be found in countries like Indonesia, China, Japan, or Russia, the expanding circle countries which neither speak English as the first language nor constitute it as the official language of the countries. Mov- ies and English language songs outnumber other of their kinds ever being produced. It is also not excluding the language used in aviation, and Information Communica- tion Technology (ICT). In other words, English has turned as the massive language as well as important alternative in the press publication, advertisement, broadcast- ing, movies, music, air transportation, and the net (Crystal, 1997). The widespread of English has reached the macro acquisition where people learn English because they want to and they see the need to acquire it (Mckay, 2002). The status of English that has become the global language or the world lan- guage does not only bring the benefit of providing a unified communication tool enabling interactions among people of different groups or origin. It is, indeed, also believed to present some possible risks. Crystal (1998) listed at least three potentials threats of the global language: first, linguistic power and the emergence of linguistic elite group. Those who have the ability of speaking the global language acquire more advantages in the expense of others who cannot have the access or opportuni- ty for certain purposes due to the language barrier. Hence, it creates the discrepancy between “the have” and “the don’t have”. Second, linguistic complacency, the Eng- lish language speakers, particularly, native English speaker have less intention to learn other languages assuming that English is present anywhere and it is other groups that have to learn English rather than they learn other languages in addition to English. Third, linguistic death, general interest and generous incentive for acquir- Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 67 ing English lessen the motivation to speak in or learn minority languages that finally leads to language loss. For Indonesia as the country with the biggest Muslim population, another issue raises from learning English is the anxiety of losing Muslim identity by the influ- ence of western culture and life style brought by English language. There were some cases reported in the newspaper where the community forcedly closed down some English language courses and rejected NGO programs because they were consid- ered to have a ‘hidden agenda’. This anxiousness is, in fact, considerably reasona- ble as to be able to speak fluently and accurately in the target language, language learners need to master linguistic competence as well as become culturally proficient in it. When learning another language, culture is also taught implicitly during the process (Peterson & Coltraine, 2003). The case is also not specific to Indonesia. Pennycook and Makoni (2005) noted that the practice of ELT in Islamic context was often viewed as a massive weapon of the missionary agenda aiming to spread Christian values and Western practices opposing the Islamic teachings. In this re- gard, the issue may be a serious concern for the communities trying to preserve its local and typical values and wisdoms. Indonesia is unique in term of religious diversity and language richness. Islam in Indonesia has been acknowledged to be different from Islam in the Arabs and the Middle East. It is considered to be more dynamic, more tolerance, and honors the multiculturalism and religious diversity of its community, on the contrary of Arab and Middle East Islam that is considered more radical and fanatic by the Western communities. Meanwhile in term of the language, almost all Indonesians are multi- lingual with at least one regional language in addition to Bahasa Indonesia, the na- tional language. In terms of education, Indonesia is known to have two separate governing systems with Ministry of National Education (MONE) regulates general, not to call secular, education and Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) manages Islamic educa- tion (madrasah, pesantren, and other Islamic education institutions). Although being regulated by two different ministries, both education institutions are part of Indone- sian national education system and have a lot in common. In fact, madrasah is equal to general school and is running the same curriculum, but it has additional contents of Islamic subjects. In recent years, there has been a great development in ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 68 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 Indonesian Islamic education with the reconstruction of knowledge and integration of more sciences, technologies and foreign languages as its sell values. Accordingly, the paper intends to review the current context of ELT and Islamic Education in Indo- nesia. It particularly focuses on addressing how critical Islamic education position in Indonesia is, how ELT in Indonesia has developed, what the challenges ELT experi- ences are, and what opportunities it possesses in the context of Indonesian Islamic Education are. ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA Azyumardi Azra, the former rector of Islamic State University of Syarif Hi- dayatullah Jakarta and an Islamic education specialist, argued that Islamic Educa- tion in Indonesia has a distinctive history compare to that of other Muslim countries. Its development can be dated back from the era before Dutch colonialism to after Indonesian Independence. Azra (2014) explained that the development of Islamic Education in Indonesia progressed from traditional institutions consisting of a small group of people learning Islamic specific matters utilizing musalla and langgar (small mosques) and local places (pondok, surau, dayah) led by an Imam or Kyai (Islamic religious leader). Later, during the 1860s, as the Dutch were establishing schools for Indonesian elites, new Muslim scholars returning home after completing their study in Makkah and Medina felt the need to response to it. So, pesantren, a bigger Is- lamic education institution was established and become an alternative for parents who did not like Dutch schools. However, different from Java where Dutch schools were mostly rejected by Muslim parents, in West Sumatra the schools gained some respect from the people. Consequently, in this region, the institutions produced new Indonesian educated elites. The group eventually played critical role and maintained influential position in the community. At around this time, there were also increasing number of Muslim students graduated from Cairo and Egypt where reformation and modernization in Islamic context were growing. As these educated Muslim groups came in contact among others, the network was established and the idea of having a reformed and modern Islamic education was raised. As a result, Madrasah emerged as the new form of Islamic education institution that combined the modern system of Dutch school with the Islamic teaching contents of pesantren (Azra, 1999, Azra, 2008). Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 69 The transformation in terms of the teaching system and the curriculum was the breakthrough in Indonesian Islamic education development. Nevertheless, mad- rasah remained growing as the private institution separated from the government intervention. The support and the progress made were limited only from individual scholars and madrasah was mostly run in classical method (Mochtar & Kusmana, 2008). In the new regime as the government had a stronger stability, Islamic educa- tion gradually gained more official recognition from the government. In this period, Islamic education had been established from primary to tertiary level. One major reformation worth mentioning is the joint decree, Surat Kebutusan Bersama (SKB), of three ministers in 1975 regarding the integration of general education with religious education. The impact of this SKB was the change in madrasah teaching content. The previous curriculum that was made of 100% Islamic content was turned into 30% religious content and 70% non religious/general content. This policy had a positif impact since it allowed better acquisition of general sciences for madrasah students that enable them to have access to general public higher education institu- tion while still having the Islamic content (Abdullah, 2008). Furthermore, in 1989, with the enactment of law no 2 year 1989, madrasah was eventually constituted as part of the national education system. Afterwards, Madrasah Ibtidaiyah was made equal to primary school, Madrasah Tsanawiyah to junior secondary school and Madrasah Aliyah to senior secondary school but they were characterized with Islamic content. This official recognition became a stepping stone that brought madrasah to further development with the support from the government. In fact, some madrasah grew as excellence schools that were able to compete with public schools. In recent years, Islamic education has gained a prestigious status with mad- rasah and more pesantren become modernized under the auspices of MORA. Being supported financially as well as regulated equally with the same system, madrasah and modern pesantren holding senior secondary high school also obtained recogni- tion from MONE allowing the graduate to have more opportunities and various op- tions when continuing into higher education (Azra, 2014). Another important development concerning the Islamic education in Indone- sia is the growth of integrated Islamic schools (Sekolah Islam Terpadu) under the ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 70 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 auspices of MONE. These schools are different from pesantren and madrasah in that they do not run the system neither perform the curriculum of pesantren and madrasah from MORA instead hold on the system and curriculum of MONE general schools but stresses the practical implementation of religious values. At these schools, general subjects such as natural sciences, social sciences, and foreign lan- guages are strongly emphasized meanwhile the Islamic contents are practiced in daily interaction. The Islamic contents are not simply taught as a subject-matter but are put into practice in daily life. “… religion is not considered only as part of cogni- tive knowledge as has been outlined in the curriculum, but rather manifested in the daily life of students” (Azra, 2014, p. 19). The schools are also known to have great facilities comprising library, laboratory, computer room, internet access, and air conditioned classroom. This new trend of Islamic education becomes an ideal model for Muslim par- ents, particularly of the middle class living in urban area. According to Azra (2014), these parents who obtained education from general public universities in Indonesia or overseas were familiar with the advancement of technology and sciences but felt that they were not equipped with sufficient religious education. Hence, they longed to provide the youngsters with better Islamic education to be able to practice Islamic teachings properly. This ghirah (sentiment) for Islamic education, Azra argued, make them insist for an education institution that is good with sciences and technology on the one hand and strong with religious traditions and practices on the other. As shown by the new trend of Islamic education, Indonesian Muslim commu- nities increasingly require a model of Islamic education that is able to answer for the demands of living in the globalization era but also does not forget the Islamic values as the guideline to be a good moral individual and to serve as an obedient self to- ward Allah. These facts prove that Islamic education remains the choice of Muslim communities as long as it is administered professionally in term of the management, the teaching and learning process, and the curriculum design. ELT DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA English language has been taught as a foreign language in Indonesian schools since the national education system was established. It was chosen for its Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 71 international recognition and wide-world utilization replacing Dutch, the language of the colonials which was lack of international use. Although other foreign languages such as Arabic, French, Mandarin, Spanish, and German are also taught at some schools these days, English remains as the only foreign language in the curriculum for general public schools and is examined in the national exam at the end of school year for junior and senior secondary schools. Since it was included as part of the national education curriculum, ELT in In- donesia has undergone several adjustments along with the changes happened to the national education curriculum as well as the advancement of new theories of lan- guage learning. Dardjowidjojo (2000) pointed that during its first years, having very limited resources, the prominent method used in ELT was grammar translation method that had been used formerly by the Dutch. It was in 1953 with the assistance from Ford Foundation, training for in-service English teacher was held and oral ap- proach was introduced. The project was also funded to develop English language materials based on the oral approach. The targeted skills were focused in order of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Table 1 National education curriculum changes and approaches in ELT YEAR CURRICULUM’S NAME APPROACHES IN ELT 1945 Unknown Grammar Translation Method 1968 Oral Approach Audio Lingual 1975 Oral Approach Audio Lingual 1984 Communicative Approach Communicative 1994 Meaning-based Curriculum Communicative 2004 Competence-based Curriculum Communicative 2006 School-based Curriculum Communicative 2013 Curriculum 2013 Communicative As theories of language learning continued evolving, communicative ap- proach (CA) came into Indonesian ELT. From 1984 onward it became the orienta- tion for Indonesian ELT curriculum. However, its implementation experienced a number of issues. The first problem was the confusion in incorporating the pragmatic concepts of CA in the teaching process since the curriculum had no sufficient expla- ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 72 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 nation for it. Furthermore, the guideline and the material produced were still very structural. Another issue was the misalliance between curriculum orientation and the order of skills focused. During this period, there was a consideration that for Indone- sian English is used more to access information or to read references. In other words, it is mostly used for non-oral needs, so the four skills focused was changed in the order of reading, listening, speaking and writing. Hence, it contradicted the CA orientation of 1984 curriculum. Later in 1994, the curriculum was replaced with the revised version officially named as the Meaning-Based curriculum. In this curriculum ELT was oriented on CA, but it used the term kebermaknaan (meaningfulness) rather than komunikatif (communicative). One interesting note in the implementation of this curriculum is that it was not only national but also compulsory. The book writers and publishers needed to follow all the details regarding the materials (including the themes, the grammar, the functions and the vocabulary) stated in curriculum if they wanted the books to be used by the schools. However, this centralized curriculum also did not make a lot of improvement to quality teaching of English in particular and other sub- jects in general. A research by Lie (2001) on senior high school textbooks based on the 1994 curriculum found the books were bias and lack of equal inclusion of gen- der representation, socioeconomic classes, ethnicity and geography. He argued that to expect students to find the learning process relevant and meaningful using this kind of textbooks is hardly possible. Other revision was made and produced a Competence-based Curriculum (CBC). Yet, for some reasons in a couple of years, it was changed into KTSP or school based curriculum but had no major revision. The main character of the cur- riculum is the competence standard and basic competence provided by the govern- ment to be adjusted into particular school contexts. Here, English was viewed as a tool to communicate both orally or in written form (BNSP 2006). Apparently, com- municative functions of English were emphasized in this curriculum. Communicative competence was defined as the ability to understand and/or produce oral or written texts realized in the four skills in the order of listening, speaking, reading and writing. There were three goals of ELT across all level of schooling: (1) to develop communi- cative ability in the target language both in oral and written form, (2) To stimulate Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 73 students’ awareness toward the importance role of English for the country to com- pete in the global community, (3) to develop students understanding toward the in- terconnectedness between language and culture. Accordingly, the focus of ELT has reflected the concept of communicative language teaching. However, despite the revision and the improvement made, there is a hard criticism concerning the evaluation system used to measure students’ progress and the teaching practice in the field (Lie, 2007; Putra, 2014). The National Exam (UN) for grade 9 and 12 for English language only tested listening and reading in multi- ple choice options. This form of evaluation did not take account on the intercultural communicative competence that was the objective of the curriculum. In other words there was a mismatch between the goal of the curriculum and the evaluation system. Furthermore, because of this type of evaluation, during the teaching and learning process, instead of training students to master proficiency in communication, teach- ers were concerned on teaching students to face the national exam. The failure to design the appropriate evaluation system and to anticipate the diverse school condi- tion, teacher readiness, access and resources of education across Indonesia became the reason for another curriculum revision. Curriculum 2013 was designed to be implemented gradually to avoid re- peated mistakes of earlier curriculums where a lot of elements were considered not ready. In the first year it was planned to be applied in grade 1, 4, 7, and 10. In the second year, a higher grade was included (grade 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11), and by 2015 it was to be implemented at all grades. The strategies of the implementa- tion also comprised teacher and school administrator training, material develop- ment, management development, and assistance in term of monitoring and evaluation of the challenges experienced (Kemendiknas, 2013). Yet, the issue of concern in this curriculum regarding ELT is the reduction of teaching hour. English is no longer part of the curriculum at elementary level. At jun- ior high school, it is still taught for four hours a week, yet at senior high school it be- comes two hours a week, except for the language major. Those majoring in language will have 3 hours of English at grade 10 and 4 hours at grade 11 and 12 (Kemendiknas, 2013). Considering that English is a foreign language for Indonesia, ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 74 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 this reduction will be a great challenge (Putra, 2014). Students will have less expo- sure to English as well as fewer opportunities to practice it. One interesting point worth mentioning from Indonesian ELT development and curriculum changes is that although it has major impact on schools and mad- rasah for their shared curriculum, it has different case on pesantren, particularly the modern pesantrens. As has been mentioned earlier, a number of pesantrens also run junior and senior secondary level education, but they have their own systems that adjust the national curriculum with their educational concept of boarding system. English language alongside Arabic language is constituted as the compulsory lan- guage to be used alternately for daily interaction and communication among stu- dents, otherwise punishment is given. The implication of this regulation is that they are exposed to English more compared with regular school and madrasah students. The addition or reduction of hours or changes of approaches in the curriculum are rarely taken into account for English is already considered as the necessary means for communication. This language policy adopted by pesantren, however, has not also turned as an effective ELT practice. Students in pesantren were reported to acquire Arabic bet- ter than English since more instructions are given in Arabic than English. Regulation to use English for daily interaction and communication only helps students with rich repertoire of vocabulary but does not significantly assist students with good English proficiency and academic purposes. English is merely used to avoid punishment and is often not uttered grammatically correctly. Furthermore, English language teachers confessed to face dilemma in selecting teaching materials that has cultural western values not to contradict pesantren traditions that is typical with Islamic values (Fahrudin, 2012). INDONESIAN ELT CHALLENGES It is the fact that English has maintained a special position in most educational institutions in Indonesia. However, according to Lauder (2008), there is some ambivalence regarding this dominance of English. He contended that the poli- cy makers showed a “love-hate” view toward it. On the one hand, it is needed for the incentives it offers to access information, to fulfill job requirement, to communi- Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 75 cate internationally, and to compete globally. On the other hand, it is feared for negative impacts it may cause. The fondness of using English terms is concerned to threaten the purity of Bahasa Indonesia, and being exposed to liberal western values in English is worried to corrupt the moral and attitude of the youngsters. He further pointed that the foreign language policy was purposefully set to encourage the use of English selectively in accessing information, knowledge, and technology to push economic growth, hence, achieves development for the country. The status of English as a foreign language has a direct implication in the ra- re opportunities for learners to become exposed to English and to have the opportu- nities to use it in daily interaction. Although this constraint can be managed with the development of information and communication technologies, issues regarding ac- cess, resources, and facilities make the implementation is hardly possible. Only few schools have sophisticated facilities of language laboratory, adequate library, and self-access learning center. Most schools, particularly in municipalities, do not even provide tape recorder or other media for students to do listening activity (Lie, 2007). The situation has a major impact toward the learning environment. With such limited choice of materials and lack of resources, even the motivated teachers hardly able to vary their teaching activities (Yuwono, 2005). Having no effective English instruc- tion at school, only those students with an exceptionally high motivation to master English or the resourceful ones to afford for additional courses outside the schools will possibly be able to improve their English. As a result, there is a big gap between those with resources and ability to afford for private English courses outside the school and those without these privileges. The fortunate groups will benefit from the advantages of mastering English in the expense of other less fortunate groups. Another serious concern is teacher qualification. English language teachers were found to hardly be able to perform good teaching due to their poor qualifica- tion in English. A number of studies from different years keep noting this weakness. Dardjowidjojo, (2000) revealed that it is uncommon to find English language teach- ers in Indonesia who have little proficiency in English, with some being very poor speakers. Similarly, from his personal experienced, Lie (2007) found that most English teachers were not active users of English and often felt unconfident with their English ability. When given choices to have discussion, do presentation, or write pa- ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 76 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 per either in English or Bahasa Indonesia, they preferred to do them in Bahasa Indo- nesia. With this low proficiency in English, expecting teachers to have interactive and communicative English class is obviously difficult. English language teaching and learning even become harder as the classes have 40 or 50 students. This large class size influences teacher-students contact re- sulting in teachers cannot manage to interact with everyone nor able to control them. Consequently, students do not speak in English when asked to work in group or perform a particular task (Nurkamto, 2003). Interaction in the class, in fact, can serve as a very good opportunity for students to learn English. Through the activities teacher can provide comprehensible input that is essential for acquiring the target language (Harmer, 2007). Interestingly, despite the anxiousness for the negative effects and all of the challenges, English language has not lost its important role in education and as workforce requirement application in numerous fields in Indonesia. It is true that there is a strong hold to the cultural and religious values among Indonesians, espe- cially the Muslim communities. However, apparently, the dominant use of English internationally makes people aware that rejecting English and all forms of secular sciences or the western liberal values will create a difficult condition to be able to take part and compete in global communities who are highly mobile and interconnected to one another. Hence, within the existed limitations and the dilemma faced, each educational institution makes their own effort to perform ELT as best as they can in an attempt to advance the quality of their graduates. ELT OPPORTUNITIES IN INDONESIA Educating Muslim generation with Islamic values is the responsibility of every Muslim community. All the learning process need to be able to instil Islamic teach- ings to Muslim students. In this regard, integrating Islamic values in Indonesian ELT, especially that in Islamic education is highly necessary. In recent years, the status of English which has manifested in a number of terms, English as international language, English as a global language, English as a lingua franca, and World Englishes, has caused the shift in ELT in some ways. The fact that the big number of English speaker is made by non-native speakers who use it to communicate not only Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 77 with the native English but also to communicate among themselves raised the need for the reconceptualization of teaching and learning English (Sowden, 2007; Seidhofer, 2004). The issue of culture and nativity become highly sensitive. Although different opinions are given regarding the issues, Jenkins (2006) pointed that there is a growing consensus regarding the importance of language awareness for language teachers and learners. Researchers and linguists are suggesting that English language teaching and learning process these days need to take account on the multifaceted nature of the use of English in multilingual communities, the varieties of English, issues of intelligibility, and the strong link between language and identity. In other words, there is a need for a pluricentric rather than monocentric approach to the teaching and use of English (Seidhofer, 2004). Mckay (2002) argued that when English is viewed as international language, the exclusive link to the native English-speaking cultures will no longer be rational. The content of teaching materials, methodology choice, and ideal teacher does not necessarily need to be based on the native-speaker model. Selecting and adapting the content and the methodology is referred to the appropriateness of the local con- text and is the right of each country where it is taught. Within this concept, learning English does not mean to practice the culture of English but the aim is to train the learners to understand pragmatic differences useful for international communication (Kramsch, 1993). This current concept of ELT is promising to establish English language instruc- tions that suit the characteristics of the local context where it is learnt. As the goals and approaches of learning should be oriented to promoting cross cultural under- standing, indorsing strategies for building friendly relation with other English speak- ers, and respecting the local culture during all the teaching and learning process (Mckay, 2002), it is probably potential to ease the tension of linguistic imperialism brought by English dominance. In the case of Indonesia, it might clear the anxiety of English usage toward the purity of Bahasa Indonesia, and perhaps calm Muslim students concern of the negative liberal western values influences. Rohmah (2012) pointed that integrating Islamic messages in ELT can lead students to have better ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 78 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 attitude toward English as they will be able to see that English is just a language that can be used for numerous purposes. There are a number of ways of how to incorporate Islamic teaching while the main goals of training students the language skills are still achieved. Textbook is ob- viously vital for classroom instruction. According to Rohmah (2012) an effort to pro- duce Islamic English textbook has been initiated by ISELP (Islamic Schools English Language Project). The draft called English in Context (EIC) designed for junior sec- ondary school or Madrasah Tsanawiyah students has been completed. It depicted the lives of young Muslim people with attractive pictures of learners in pesantren en- vironment providing plenty opportunities for speaking and listening activities. The assessment by ELTIS (English Language Training for Islamic Schools) team gave EIC the best scores among other most commonly used books in East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi. Hopefully the book can be officially produced im- mediately as there is hardly any English textbook incorporating Islamic values in In- donesian market. Another alternative to integrate Islamic content in teaching English is by using ELTIS Resource Packs that can be accessed from www.lapis-eltis.org. These supple- mentary materials were also designed for junior secondary level students. The Packs are provided in four categories, Listening Resource Pack, Game and Picture Re- source Pack, Assessment Pack, and Islamic Life Resource Pack. The website also comes with ready-to-use worksheets and teacher’s guide. Accordingly, this will be useful for teachers willing to teach English while instilling Islamic messages. Although it was specifically oriented for teaching English at junior secondary level, the materi- als also applicable for teaching at higher level with some adjustment. As the English material with Islamic content is still very limited, it is important for teachers to be creative. Although materials for other levels of education have not been suggested here, teachers can improvise their instruction based on the available resources. In recent days, there have been numerous Islamic English songs that can be accessed as a video or Mp3 to be used as a teaching material. Considering that the singers are talented young Muslims (Harris J., Maher Zein, Raef, etc.) living in English speaking countries, their live stories can also be used to motivate students to http://www.lapis-eltis.org/ Tuti Hidayati Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 | 79 have positive attitude in learning English and not be afraid of losing their Muslim identity. In addition, the usual themes and language expressions that have been used commonly can also be introduced in an alternate form of Islamic way. One example given by Md Yusof, et, al., (2008) is that instead of saying the usual greeting of “Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening. How are you?”, alternatively, it can be accus- tomed to saying “Assalamu’alaikum, Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening. How are you?” Furthermore, the common phrases of asking direction can be adjusted as, “Assalamu’alaikum. Excuse me. Is there a grocery store around here?”, “Assal- amu’alaikum. Can you tell me how to get to Mesjid Agung?” Beside teaching materials, the methodology in delivering the subject also matters. Class instruction needed to be based on good teacher-student rapport and always emphasises the attribute of ethics and integrity in an Islamic way. Opening and closing the class can be performed by reciting du’a or simply saying Basmallah and Hamdallah. The students are also made accustomed to Islamic traits by emphasizing honesty in doing tasks, and being helpful and considerate when working with group and sharing knowledge to others (Md Yusof, et, al., 2008). In this way, Muslim students will understand that learning English is also part of seeking knowledge urged by Islam and it does not hinder them from being a good Muslim. CONCLUSION Apparently, Indonesian ELT is very complex and requires a lot of improve- ment. Its complexity is reasonable since Indonesia is a large country with huge geo- graphical, cultural, economic, and resource differences from one region to another. Lie (2007) contended that a one-size-fits-all model of curriculum is surely not the answer for Indonesia. Autonomy to develop ELT that suits the context of their needs should be given to each region. Nevertheless, assistance for schools with lack of resources and training for quality development need to be provided as well. The government as the policy maker and English academicians and professionals as the performers need to cooperate to come with solutions that take account of all typical educational characters in each region of Indonesia. ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: Challenges and Opportunities 80 | Englisia Vol. 3 No. 2, May 2016 In developing curriculum for Indonesian ELT, cultural and religious values need to be reflected in the material used for teaching. For Islamic education in par- ticular, ELT needs to be integrated with Islamic values that are the life guidance of Muslim communities. In this case, negative issues related to ELT such as “westerniza- tion” or “missionarism” can be avoided. As there have been limited materials characterized with Islamic values, English language teachers need to be supported to creatively develop and improvise the available resources. English language is obviously necessary to take part in international involve- ments that potentially leads to more development in Indonesia. If it is agreed to be a necessity, hence, as suggested by Nunan (2003), steps should be taken to ensure that teachers have sufficient training in language teaching methodology for different range of learners, that they are prepared with advanced language skills, that class- room implementation meets with curriculum goals, and that students provided with enough exposure to English during the learning process. 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