The majority of Indonesian middle schools focus on students' scoring high in high-stake test. Schools and the regional education office boast of students' achievement on their written tests.
It turns out that when students graduate from high school and continue their study at university, they are lacking in the necessary skills to support their stiudies such as reading academic textbook and writing essay in English. It means that they can't apply their test taking skill in real life situation whether academic, profesional or social life.
It means that ability to take standardized test should not be the end goal of language learning at middle school. Classroom activities should be aimed at more practice to use English.in real communication such as writing emails or exchanging letters with students from other countries. This way learning become more meaningful as students try to communicate well with each other. The advance of information technology should be utilized for this end.
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