LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 55 

 

CROSS CURRICULAR ENGLISH EDUCATION  

AND ITS POSSIBLE APPLICATION IN INDONESIAN CURRICULAR SYSTEM 

Alim Sukrisno 

Semarang State University 

 

ABSTRACT 

This article is about cross curricular English education viewed from its possible application in 

Indonesian curricular system. Cross curricular education can take place in the form of project 

work, thematic teaching and so on. In the Indonesian curricular system, cross curricular 

education manifests itself in bilingual education in which the medium of instruction is English. 

In junior and senior high schools this programs is better known as RSBI or SBI. Investigation 

in the field indicates that this program has been prematurely applied since some basic 

requirements of its application have not been met. Therefore, should this program be 

continued an investigation must be conducted to see which parts of the program should be 

modified, replaced, or even removed altogether. 

 Key Words: Curricular, education, RSBI, SBI, thematic, bilingual 

 

INTRODUCTION 

In this article, I attempt to present the 

notion of cross curricular teaching based 

on some materials available in the internet. 

The website articles to be reintroduced are 

among others the reports of Vogt, Zorro 

and Baracaldo, Deller and Price, 

Calabrese and Rampone, Mahisto, et al., 

and some unauthored reports of similar 

vein, such as „Building Cross-Curricular 

Connections‟, „From Cross-Curricular 

Planning to Tailoring for Learner Diversity‟ 

and „Cross-Curricular Theme as Practically 

Useful to Exploit in an English Classroom 

with Nine-Year-Old Beginners‟ 

 To begin with, the notion of cross-

curricular teaching will be defined. Then, 

the idea of cross-curricular thematic 

instruction will be highlighted. Cross-

curricular activities will be the next thing to 

be dealt with. Finally, a possible application 

of the idea of cross-curricular teaching in 

the Indonesian curricular system will be 

highlighted. 

 The discussion of the afore-mentioned 

notions of cross-curricular teaching will be 

elaborated in the following subsections. 

 

THE NOTION OF CROSS-CURRICULAR 

TEACHING 

According to http://answers.com/Q/ 

What_is_the_definition_for_cross_curricula

r, „Cross curricular studies cut through 

traditional subject matter lines and explore 

relationships of subjects to one another‟. 

Why do we have to engage ourselves in 

cross-curricular studies? Some of the 

reasons are the changing needs of 

http://answers.com/Q/%20What_is_the_definition_for_cross_curricular
http://answers.com/Q/%20What_is_the_definition_for_cross_curricular
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56  LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 

 

students as well as the complexity and 

diversity of curriculum planning. In relation 

with foreign language education, the role of 

a foreign language, i.e. English, is very 

important.  In line with this, Vale and 

Feunteun (1995) assert, „English is not an 

isolated educational issue. The child has 

needs in terms of learning‟. They add that 

„children need a lot of opportunity for 

review, recycling and consolidation of 

language, ideally through a variety of 

cross-curricular contexts (p. 66). 

 

CROSS-CULTURAL IMPLEMENTATION 

IN THE FIELD 

One of the realizations of cross-curricular 

education is by conducting cross-curricular 

projects (Roa et al., http://apinilla-

mvargas.doc). This is a study conducted 

on elementary students, the aim of which is 

to analyze in what way children learn 

English through the implementation of 

cross-curricular projects. There are three 

research questions posed in this project:

 (1) How do cross-curricular projects 

contribute to the process of English 

language learning in first graders? (2) How 

is children‟s learning expressed through 

the implementation of cross-curricular 

projects? (3) What kind of connections do 

children make between the content of 

curricula for elementary school and the 

projects developed in the EFL classes? 

 An elementary class was chosen to 

carry out the project. A natural process of 

learning involving all language skills 

together with a wide variety of guided and 

free activities focusing on content rather 

than on language was taking place in the 

activity. 

 At the end of a one-year activity, the 

authors found out the answers to the 

previously mentioned questions: 

(1) „cross-curricular projects is a way of 

learning English through content in 

which the target language is the 

vehicle of interaction and knowledge, 

not the subject of the study‟, 

(2) „children‟s learning is expressed by 

means of the transfer of activities done 

during the English class to daily lives; 

making connections across subjects; 

making inquiries to find cross-curricular 

relationships according to their 

experiences and using the language 

they know, like body language, 

drawings, written and spoken English 

and Spanish language‟, 

(3) „Children identified themselves as part 

of a community‟ and they „talked about 

healthy habits and uses of water‟ 

which are topics that they had to study 

in their curricular. 

(2) Another example of cross-curricular 

activity done in the field is through 

cross-curricular thematic instruction 

(Vogt, in http://eduplace.com/rdg/res/ 

vogt.html). The background of carrying 

out this activity is as follows: 

Teachers who use cross-curricular 
themes create active readers and 
writers by engaging students in 
authentic literacy tasks that emerge 
naturally from interesting and 
worthwhile topics and ideas. Authentic 

http://apinilla-mvargas.doc/
http://apinilla-mvargas.doc/
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LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 57 

 

tasks are defined as „ones in which 
reading and writing serve a function for 
children …‟ and which „involve children 
in the immediate use of literacy for 
enjoyment and communication‟ 
(Hiebert, 1994, p. 391). They focus on 
student choice and ownership; extend 
beyond the classroom walls; involve a 
variety of reading and writing 
opportunities; promote discussion and 
collaboration; build upon students‟ 
interest, abilities, background, and 
language development (Hiebert, 1994; 
Paris et al., 1992). Cross-curricular 
themes integrate the language arts 
(reading, writing, speaking, listening, 
viewing, and thinking) across a variety 
of content areas, such as science, 
social studies, art, and so forth (p. 1). 
Integration of a wide variety of real life 

phenomena will give solid foundation for 

future need. Therefore, subject matters 

offered in school should be integrated to 

cater for the real world needs of the 

children. The reason for this is: 

Because our lives require us to 

integrate what we have learned in an 

interdisciplinary manner, teaching 

children through merged disciplines 

better prepare them for applying new 

knowledge and understanding. 

Additionally, when students view their 

learning as having personal relevance, 

they put more effort into their 

schoolwork and achievement (Willis, 

1995). 

Through cross-curricular thematic 

instruction, as Vogt (p. 2) claims, students 

will be facilitated in: 

 acquiring, communicating, and 

investigating worthwhile knowledge in 

depth, 

 integrating and enriching the language 

processes of reading, writing, listening, 

speaking, and thinking, 

 practicing reading different kinds of 

materials for varied purposes, 

 using prior knowledge of the world and 

past experiences with language and 

text to create relationships among 

various sources of information, 

 making choices, interacting, 

collaborating, and cooperating, 

 applying what they learn in meaningful 

and „real world‟ contexts, 

 informally assessing their 

understanding and application of what 

they are learning, 

 participating and learning, regardless 

of ability, level of language 

development, or background, and 

 learning effectively in self-contained, 

multi-age, or departmental classrooms. 

In the context of learning through 

cross-curricular activities as suggested by 

Roa et al. and Vogt in which the language 

of instruction is not the children‟s native 

language, but a foreign language, working 

out cross-curricular activities in a 

curriculum agenda may not run smoothly. 

They are bound to face no end of 

constraints and hindrances. Let‟s take the 

case of Indonesian curriculum as a point of 

discussion. 

 



 

58  LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 

 

CROSS-CURRICULAR IDEAS IN 

INDONESIAN CURRICULAR SYSTEM 

Nowadays, the idea of teaching through 

cross-curricular method has been 

mushrooming. This is done under the 

name of RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf 

Internasional/Pilot of International Standard 

School) (Kompas, 2011) which is then, 

after some time, promoted to become SBI 

(Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional) or 

International Standard School. Though, not 

exactly the same as the activities 

conducted by Roa et al. and Vogt, in a 

more or less similar nature, SBI attempts to 

present limited content subjects with 

English as a medium of instruction. This 

has been massively promoted to the extent 

that a lot of schools propose and some 

claim that they are schools of international 

standard. At a closer investigation in the 

field, their claim is far from justifiable. As 

we can readily see, that SBI is just a name, 

a popular one. The aim of establishing SBI 

is often times not based on scientific, 

educational nor pedagogical foundation. To 

say the least, SBI is a popular label which 

attracts rich parents to send their children 

to a particular school. On the other hand, 

the school tries to benefit from this 

situation to raise funds, of course for the 

development of that particular school. This 

idea is not wrong if things required for 

establishing SBI has been adequately met. 

However, the case indicates otherwise. 

 It goes without saying that the essence 

of SBI is fine and it should be promoted so 

that our educational condition enables our 

children to face the globalized future. 

However, to engage ourselves in this 

business, some necessary preliminary 

preparations must be undertaken. We have 

to conduct an analysis to see what 

constraints and difficulties if cross-

curricular type of teaching is introduced. If 

we are honest with ourselves, there are 

some problems which have to be fixed first, 

among others: 

(1) the availability of teachers capable of 

handing cross-curricular classes, 

(2) the availability of textbooks for 

classroom teaching and learning, 

(3) the relevancy of the program with 

national learning assessment, 

(4) the readiness of students to learn 

content courses using English, 

(5) the financial support needed to run the 

program, etc. 

 These are among other things that we 

have to ponder and seek the answers. 

There are of course more problems in the 

field looming large. Let‟s elaborate the 

problems one by one. 

 First, a lot of things can be retold with 

regard to teacher preparation. Instant 

programs of creating bilingual teachers are 

the current trend taking place at some 

school wishing to be labeled RSBI or even 

SBI. Facts in the field clearly demonstrated 

that the participants of English training for 

non-English teachers have been less than 

enthusiastic. More often than not, the 

participants are not regular attendants. For 

some reason or others, different faces 

appeared in each session. Anyway, 



 

LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 59 

 

commitment to set SBI is not concretely 

supported by a key element to the 

program. Participation in the training 

process cannot be said to be encouraging 

nor adequate for bilingual teachers, who 

are supposed to deliver their content 

knowledge in English. At the end of the 

day, with their foreign language capability 

which is far from being enough, they are 

forced to act like English teachers with 

extra burden; the burden of transferring 

content knowledge in English to their 

students who in turn also have numerous 

problems of their own. 

 If there is strong commitment not only 

from the headmasters but also on the part 

of the elected bilingual teachers, cross-

curricular program will be realistic. Of 

course training these teachers in English in 

a systematic manner is a must and pre-

requisite to setting up SBI program. This 

training should be conducted seriously and 

responsibly until a desired result is 

achieved prior to really running SBI 

program. 

 Second, not less important than the 

first problem is the provision of bilingual 

textbooks, designed for students whose 

command of English is disheartening. Who 

is then supposed to write the textbooks? 

Do these bilingual teachers have to do the 

job? Are they capable of doing so in terms 

of time, fund and linguistic knowledge? Is 

the government willing to provide fund? 

Problems of this kind should be 

premeditated by the authority prior to 

carrying out this ambitious program. 

 Third, besides textbooks, another 

problem appears. This has something to 

do with evaluation. How will the cross-

curricular program be evaluated especially 

in comparison with the regular program? 

Another problem related to this is the 

questions whether the national school 

examination is commensurate with the 

material presented in bilingual program—

with test items presented in English? If 

there is no consistency between the 

bilingual program with the test type, what 

the teachers and students have done in the 

SBI program will be questionable. This is a 

problem worth pondering. 

 Fourth,  should the cross-curricular/ 

bilingual program be carried out, are the 

students, the majority of whom do not 

master English either at listening, reading, 

speaking as well as writing level required 

to do everything in English during the 

bilingual classrooms? What kind of 

students who are liable to attend SBI 

classes is another thing posing another 

complex problem. Does every student in 

the SBI school has the right to attend the 

program? Is the student recruitment for this 

program based on merit or based on 

parents‟ wealth? Related to this, how many 

bilingual teachers are needed to run the 

program? Problems of this kind should be 

sorted out before a school is labeled SBI? 

 Fifth, another problem is about 

funding. Is the school capable of running 

the program without collecting money from 

parents? Money is a fundamental element 

for any program to be successfully carried 



 

60  LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 

 

out. Preparation for non-curricular 

teachers, textbooks, teaching media, all 

cannot be separated from financial 

provision. So far, what has been practiced 

by certain schools in running a bilingual 

program has been collecting fund from 

parents. This is of course against the nine-

year free education stipulated by the 

educational policy makers. 

 As a matter of fact, for the time being 

there are more problems outweighing the 

goodness of cross-curricular or bilingual 

program. These predicted problems are 

things outlined by Mehisto et al. 

(http://eltj.oxfordjournal.org/content/63/3/27

5, p1) asserting that „At classroom level, 

however, CLIL teachers face a number of 

obstacles including a lack of training, a 

poorly defined methodology, and a scarcity 

of materials.‟ Problem number 1 seems to 

be the first thing to be fixed. Without a 

strong commitment of content teachers to 

improve their English language and the 

willingness to do more than just becoming 

teachers, the next problems are irrelevant 

to talk about. But when teachers are 

committed, other things can be sorted out 

in some way or other. 

 Recently, there have been numerous 

criticisms voiced by a number of 

knowledgeable experts against the practice 

of RSBI and SBI in Indonesia. At least, 

these criticisms have been issued in a well-

known national newspaper, KOMPAS, for 

three successive days, 17, 18, and 19 

March, 2011. All three articles are voicing 

disagreement and concern over the 

carrying out of SBI program which are 

increasing in number, while the real 

practice in the field is deviating from the 

original concept of SBI foundation. 

 

CONCLUSION 

From what has been briefly discussed in 

the previous sections, two brief 

conclusions can be offered. 

 First, cross-curricular teaching is a kind 

of teaching content areas using language/a 

foreign language as the vehicle of 

instruction. Various programs can be 

conducted, such as by creating project 

work, cross-curricular thematic instruction, 

bilingual program etc. 

 Second, facts from the literature show 

that cross-curricular activities have gained 

various kinds of success. However, in 

Indonesia cross-curricular program 

commonly labeled bilingual program needs 

to be strengthened, adequately 

implemented, and rightly evaluated. If 

problems raised above are not dealt with, 

bilingual program is just „building a castle 

in the sky‟, or at least it will not be as 

effective and fruitful as it is expected. 

 

REFERENCES 

ELT Journals, 2009, Volume 63, Issue3, 

pp. 275---277 (in http://eltj. Oxford 

journals.org/content/63/3/275.full… 

KOMPAS, 2011. 17 March, p. 12 

KOMPAS, 2011, 18 March, p. 12 

KOMPAS, 2011, 19 March, p. 12 

Mehisto, P., Frigols, M., and Marsh, D. 

2008. Uncovering CLIL. MacMillan (On 

http://eltj.oxfordjournal.org/content/63/3/275
http://eltj.oxfordjournal.org/content/63/3/275


 

LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. VII/1  October 2012 61 

 

line:http://eltj.oxfordjournal.org/ 

content/63/3/275, p1) 

Roa, A. P, Perez, S. and Chaparro, M. V. 

Poster Session ‘Cross-Curricular 

Projects in the Learning of EFL from 

First Graders’. On line: in http://apinilla-

mvargas.doc (Read Only) 

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Planning to Tailoring for Learner 

Diversity. On line: in http://ed1.edb. 

hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/public

ations/ compendium/ download/ 0607/ 

0607-Teacher. 

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Curricular Connections. On line: in 

http://kronsenkranz.wordpress.com/ 

2010/11/22/building-cross-curricular ... 

Vale, D. and Feunteun, A. 1995. Teaching 

children English: A training course for 

teachers of English to children. 

Cambridge and New York: Cambridge 

University Press. 

Vogt, M. E. 1997, Cross-Curricular 

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w.w.w.eduplace/ rdg/vogt. html. 

Willis, S. 1995. “Refocusing the curriculum. 

Making interdisciplinary efforts work.” 

ASCD Education Update, 37 (1), 1— 

8. 

Zorro, I. and Baracaldo, D. A. 2006. Cross-

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in a Teacher Preparation program 

(Handouts). On line: in http://nation/ 

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Imelda_Zorro_Deisy_Baracaldo_A 

_Cross-Curricular_ant. 

 

  

http://eltj.oxfordjournal.org/%20content/63/3/275
http://eltj.oxfordjournal.org/%20content/63/3/275
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