UNS — Doctoral Program Alumni Association for the English Language Education (PBI) Study, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, hosted the International Conference of Humanities and Social Science (ICHSS). The conference entitled “Freedom to Learn in Education, Social, Religious, Culture, and Language Perspective” was hosted virtually through the Zoom Meeting on Saturday (17/12/2022).
This international conference invited three main speakers, namely Indriya L. Sukomono, Ph.D., a Bahasa Indonesia Study lecturer from Yale University, New Heaven, USA; Yacinta Kurniasih, Ph.D. (cand)., another Indonesian Study lecturer from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; and Dr. Uswatun Hasanah, M.Pd., the Head of Education and Culture Office for Central Java Province, Indonesia.
In her remark, the Head of the Doctoral Program in English Language Education Study FKIP UNS, Prof. Dr. Andayani, M.Pd., hopes for this conference to discuss urgent topics in the socio-humanities field.
“This international conference initiated by the Doctoral Program Alumni Association for the English Language Education (PBI) Study FKIP UNS goes by the name of 2nd ICHSS, where the first ICHSS was hosted in 2021. In total, there were 272 participants attending this conference, which consisted of lecturers from various universities. The planned output of this conference is a reputable international EAI-EUDL (European Alliance for Innovation-European Union Digital Library) indexed proceeding. This agenda is also expected to generate recent ideas in the Socio-humanities field,” explains Prof. Andayani.
The first material was presented by L. Sukmono, Ph.D., entitled, ‘Rise and Fall of Indonesian Language Learning for Foreign Speakers (BIPA),’ stating, “The Indonesian Language Learning for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) in Yale University, the USA has been going for a long time. Normally, BIPA students take Bahasa Indonesia classes in their first to the third semester. BIPA learning is usually offered for the undergraduate degree. However, Bahasa Indonesia is facing a great challenge in the USA region Because students tend to choose more popular foreign languages such as Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, and Arabic,” he explained.
The next material was delivered by Yacinta Kurniasih, Ph.D. (cand)., from Monash University. In her session, she discussed material entitled ‘Globalizing Bahasa Indonesia? The World Needs Bahasa Indonesia! A Mission from Merdeka Belajar.’
“Bahasa Indonesia holds the most crucial part in Merdeka Belajar Program through the implementation of the government’s program in the ‘Merdeka’ curriculum. Globalizing Bahasa Indonesia can be done by using this language in international political forums, the establishment of Indonesian association (for research, networking, and participation), research on BIPA, Bahasa Indonesia application in product promotion, self-confidence improvement in using Bahasa Indonesia, and partnership improvement through language diplomacy,” explains Yucinta Kurniasih, Ph.D. (cand).
The following speaker, Dr. Uswatun Hasanah, M.Pd., explains about ‘Crucial Role of Bahasa Indonesia in 22nd Series of Merdeka Belajar.’
“Bahasa Indonesia literacy is one of the components in the higher education selection process. This literacy concept refers to individual competency in using all their resource in solving apparent problems, thus, literacy is not limited to reading and writing proficiency. There are three characteristics of a highly literate person, namely, adaptive livelihood, capability to make a positive contribution, and applicable solution,” explains Dr. Uswatun Hasanah.
The keynote material presentation was followed by a question and answer session at the end of the session. After the plenary session, participants were invited to parallel sessions at separate Zoom breakout rooms. Humas UNS
Reporter: Lina Khoirun Nisa
Editor: Dwi Hastuti