Dayak Students’ Attitude toward Bilingualism in West Kalimantan Indonesia

Dayak Students’ Attitude toward Bilingualism in West Kalimantan Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics Vol. 2 No. 1, 2017 eISSN: 2503-4197, pISSN: 2527-5070 www. indonesian-efl-journal.org Dayak Students’ Attitude toward Bilingualism in West Kalimantan, Indonesia M. Ainur Rizqi Tanjungpura University, Indonesia e-mail: Abstract: Amid many studies investigating language attitudes, very few studies placing their emphasis on attitudes toward bilingualism. This study sets out to examine how Dayak students react toward two languages (i.e. Indonesian and Dayak Language) that have existed in their surrounding for quite a long time. This study was quantitative in nature, despite containing some elements of qualitative data. The study employed questionnaires that consisted of 20 main questions and 1 openended question. The questionnaires then were distributed online to 32 Dayak students studying in university with various discipline backgrounds. The results indicate that Dayak students in this study share a positive attitude toward bilingualism, although the rate varies if we investigate the smaller components of the attitudes. It is reported that the students are very positive in a surficial level of attitudes (i.e. cognitive components), yet slightly low in emotional dimensions (i.e. affective components). Further, the students also seem doubtful to implement their belief and feeling into real action, for example in education (i.e. readiness for action). This paper concludes by summarising key findings and acknowledging research limitations, especially concerning with generalisability and participant’s sociolinguistic aspects. Keywords: language attitude, bilingualism, Dayak language Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, Vol. 2 (1), 2017 29 Dayak Students’ Attitude toward Bilingualism in West Kalimantan 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Over the decades, research on language attitudes continues to show a fascinating movement (e.g. Karahan 2007; Ng and Zhao 2015; Siregar 2011; Young and Yee 2006). However, it seems bizarre that only few researchers have placed bilingualism at the heart of their research (Baker 1992, Myers-Scotton 2006). Up to the present, what the researchers mainly have done is somewhat comparing two languages, reflected by the inventory scales employed by previous studies which imply a nuance of competition between both languages (see Baker 1992, p.77). Consequently, results which emerge from such surveys somehow indicate that the rise of one language means the decline to the other. To fill the gap, this paper offers the concept of attitude toward bilingualism as its main focus. Baker (1992, p.79) describes that “[a]ttitude to bilingualism concerns the viewpoint that languages can be fused or can exist in tandem”. In other words, unlike in the previous studies, this paper tries to find out how people react toward the possibility of two languages living hand in hand in one community, for example between Indonesian and Dayak language in bilingual Dayak People. I shall begin this paper by framing the contextual setting of West Kalimantan as well as Dayak people that is the focus of this study. After that, a review of previous research is presented to give an adequate discussion about bilingualism and language attitudes. At this point, it seems necessary to include the concept of language maintenance and shift as they constitute key aspects of bilingualism. Having presented the theoretical literatures, I shall outline the research question that this study tries to address. The following section, then, will describe how this study is conducted, including the research methods, the participant selection, and the research instrument. After presenting and discussing the data, finally, the author will acknowledge research limitations and make suggestions for further research under the heading of conclusion. 1.2 Context West Kalimantan (also called West Borneo) is one of the five Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan territory. Based on the national census in 2010, Dayak is the most populous ethnic group in West Kalimantan by 2.194.009 (Badan Pusat Statistik 2011). Beside ethnicity difference, occasionally they are also characterised by different religion. Whilst other ethnic groups (e.g. Malay and Javanese) are Islam followers, Dayak is recognized as the representative of Catholic followers. In term of the language, the anecdotal assumption perceives that Indonesian People, including Dayak, are bilingual. Like other ethnic groups in Indonesia, Dayak people receive the impact of a “national” language policy applied since New Order regime in which leads them to speak in Indonesian and Dayak language. Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, Vol. 2 (1), 2017 30 Dayak Students’ Attitude toward Bilingualism in West Kalimantan 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of Bilingualism Before going further, it is necessary to clarify the term bilingualism in this paper. Scholars (Apple and Muysken 2005, Myers-Scotton 2006) have agreed that the definition of being bilingual is rather complex. The boundary between a person who is monolingual and bilingual remains a blurred line. Probably, a definition from Myers-Scotton (2006, p.44) will provide a useful insight. She defined that “bilingualism is the ability to use two or more languages sufficiently to carry on a limited casual conversation …”. In other words, it is not about how much time that someone has spent to learn the L2 or how many foreign words he/she has mastered that make them eligible to be called bilingual speakers. But rather, it is about if he/she can use the L2 for a communicative purpose or sustaining a simple conversation using appropriate functions, for instance to read the food list and make an order appropriately when eating in a restaurant. 2.2 Language Maintenance and Shift in Bilingual Speakers Essentially, being bilingual means to learn a second language and use it alternately with the speaker’s first language. According to Myers-Scotton (2006, p.68), when individuals or groups are in touch with a second language (bilingual), three consequences might appear, they are: 1) simply rejecting the L2, 2) speaking L1 with L2 as an additional language, or 3) replacing L1 with L2 related to the status of their main language. Through the process, the speakers experience an internal conflict to decide which language that he/she should prioritise as the main language: L1 or L2? If the influence and status of the L2 is quite strong, such as in Indonesian Language, the role of the L1 might be left behind and shifted to the L2. In the worst scenario, Apple and Muysken (2005) assert that, language shift along with language loss will lead eventually to a language death for weak languages. Nevertheless, avoiding bilingualism is not a judicious option. Unless people live in a homogenous community, they may have little chance to speak only in one language. More frequently, people learn the new language volun (...truncated)