The Role of Javanese as a Mother Tongue among Indonesian Learners of German

Abstract

In the fourth semester, students of the German Language Education Study Program at Universitas Negeri Surabaya are required to master the German language at a level equivalent to B1. To be considered at this level, students must demonstrate proficiency across several language skills: Hören (listening), Lesen und Wortschatz (reading and vocabulary), Schreiben (writing), and Sprechen (speaking). To achieve this, students are equipped not only with linguistic courses but also with pedagogical ones. Furthermore, in alignment with the program’s learning outcomes, students are taught speaking skills through the freier Vortrag course. In this course, they learn to present various topics in German, both formally and informally, enabling them to explain different topics and situations effectively. However, during oral presentations, some students were observed to use Javanese words and sentences. This issue is particularly worth to examine further because no research has specifically explored the influence of Javanese as a mother tongue among learners of German to date, especially regarding students’ speaking skills. Javanese was chosen as the focus of this study because the majority of students in the German Language Education Study Program at State University of Surabaya are native Javanese speakers and frequently use the language during German speaking classes. Therefore, an in-depth analysis is necessary to understand the influence of Javanese as a mother language among students learning German as a foreign language. Moreover, this study serves as an effort to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 4 on Quality Education, through a multilingual approach that also contributes to preserving cultural and linguistic diversity. The researcher analyzed data obtained from observations, questionnaires, and interviews.