INDONESIAN LANGUAGE LEARNING THAT IS INTELLIGENT AND RESPONSIBLE PRODUCES A LITERATE GENERATION

Abstract

Through an invitation letter to be a speaker at the National Seminar at Kuningan University, I was informed that the seminar would have the theme "Literacy with Language and Literature." There are at least two keywords in the theme, namely "literacy" and "language and literature". In addition, there is one word between the two keywords, namely the word with which means "using a tool or media". When read in full, the theme can more or less be interpreted as literacy using language and literature (read: Indonesian language and literature) as a means. The word literacy itself is often interpreted as an ability to read and write or is often used to refer to the concept of literacy or literacy. Accordingly, literacy refers to the concept of reading or writing activities or the ability to read and write. If that is the meaning, it seems that the momentum of the discussion on the theme has passed or can be considered finished. Don't we all know that language has a function as a container and at the same time a developer of culture, language as a means of understanding the results of human thought and feelings that are poured into texts and at the same time a means of expressing and disseminating the thoughts and feelings of people or groups of people to others through texts as well. The question then is whether the discourse of literacy with language and Literature is truly adequate and provides solutions to existing problems. Of course, it is not, and will never be, resolved! The problem is not solely language as a medium of literacy. In fact, even if literacy is limited to the meaning of literacy or literacy, many problems remain. Indeed, Indonesia is recorded as one of the countries that has succeeded in reducing illiteracy. UNDP data in 2014 recorded that the literacy rate of the Indonesian people reached 92.8% for adults, and 98.8% for adolescents. This achievement actually shows that Indonesia has passed the stage of literacy crisis in the sense of literacy.