WHY LEARNING ENGLISH SEEMS DIFFICULT FOR INDONESIAN LEARNERS

WHY LEARNING ENGLISH SEEMS DIFFICULT

FOR INDONESIAN LEARNERS

Many students of Indonesian feel that English as one the international language is a difficult language to learn. Even there are many students who can learn English well. These are some reasons that English seems difficult for Indonesian students.

a.       Pronunciation

English contains a number of sounds and sound distinctions not present in some other languages. Speakers of languages without these sounds may have problems both with hearing and with pronouncing them.

For example:The interdentals, /θ/ and /ð/ (both written as th) are relatively rare in other languages, while phonemic contrast of /i/ with /ɪ/ (beat vs bit vowels), of /u/ with /ʊ/ (fool vs full vowels), and of /ɛ/ with /æ/ (bet vs bat vowels) is rare outside northwestern Europe, so unusual mergers or exotic pronunciations such as [bet] for bit, a pronunciation often used in England and Wales for bet (as in some dialects of American English, what may cause confusion even for native speakers, see Northern cities vowel shift), may arise.

b.      Grammar

1.      Tense, aspect, and mood - English has a relatively large number of tense–aspect–mood forms with some quite subtle differences, such as the difference between the simple past "I ate" and the present perfect "I have eaten." Progressive and perfect progressive forms add complexity.

2.      Functions of auxiliaries - Learners of English tend to find it difficult to manipulate the various ways in which English uses auxiliary verbs. These include negation (e.g. He hasn't been drinking.), inversion with the subject to form a question (e.g. Has he been drinking?), short answers (e.g. Yes, he has.) and tag questions (has he?).

3.      Modal verbs - English has several modal auxiliary verbs, which each have a number of uses. These verbs convey a special sense or mood such as obligation, necessity, ability, probability, permission, possibility, prohibition, intention etc. These include "must", "can", "have to", "has to", "need to", "will", "shall", "ought to", "will have to" , "may", and "might".For example, the opposite of "You must be here at 8" (obligation) is usually "You don't have to be here at 8" (lack of obligation, choice).

4.      Idiomatic usage - English is reputed to have a relatively high degree of idiomatic usage. For example, the use of different main verb forms in such apparently parallel constructions as "try to learn", "help learn", and "avoid learning" pose difficulty for learners. Another example is the idiomatic distinction between "make" and "do": "make a mistake", not "do a mistake"; and "do a favor", not "make a favor".

c.       Vocabulary

1.      Phrasal verbs - Phrasal verbs (also known as multiple-word verbs) in English can cause difficulties for many learners because of their syntactic pattern and because they often have several meanings. There are also a number of phrasal verb differences between American and British English.

2.      Prepositions - As with many other languages, the correct use of prepositions in the English language is difficult to learn, and it can turn out to be quite a frustrating learning experience for ESL/EFL learners. For example, the prepositions "on" (rely on, fall on), "of" (think of, because of, in the vicinity of),and "at" (turn at, meet at, start at) are used in so many different ways and contexts, it is very difficult to remember the exact meaning for each one.

3.      Word formation - Word formation in English requires a lot of rote learning. For example, an adjective can be negated by using the prefixes un- (e.g. unable), in- (e.g. inappropriate), dis- (e.g. dishonest), non- (non-standard) or a- (e.g. amoral), as well as several rarer prefixes.

4.      Collocations - Collocation in English refers to the tendency for words to occur together with others. For example, nouns and verbs that go together (ride a bike/drive a car).

5.      Slang and Colloquialisms In most native English speaking countries, large numbers of slang and colloquial terms are used in everyday speech. Many learners may find that classroom based English is significantly different from how English is usually spoken in practice. This can often be difficult and confusing for learners with little experience of using English in Anglophone countries. Also, slang terms differ greatly between different regions and can change quickly in response to popular culture. Some phrases can become unintentionally rude if misused.