Regional Language Learning in Regional Multilingual Classes: Problems and Handling

Local languages are a part of the national education curriculum that is taught in schools. In its process, the curriculum of local language teaching and learning still faces various problems that hinder achieving the intended goals. One of the problems is the multicultural classroom. Teaching one particular local language in a multicultural classroom (Buginese, Javanese, Torajan, Makassarese, Mandarese, Bimanese, etc.) means dealing with several different local languages because different cultures will certainly have different local languages. The design of this research was a case study using a qualitative approach to understand the problems of language teaching in multicultural classrooms and formulate solutions for handling them. The results showed that, in this case, local language teaching and learning encountered various problems. The case study on the teaching of Makassarese language as a local language in Gowa, South Sulawesi at the primary school level indicated that it faced various problems in terms of process and goal achievement due to multicultural classroom conditions. The problems are included as follows. Firstly, the learning process does not go well due to limited classroom interactions. Secondly, the domination of the learning process occurs in the classroom by students with a culture that is in line with the local language being taught. Thirdly, the evaluation process is not balanced so that it creates an imbalance in the description of students\u0027 learning development. Based on these problems, the solution is by strengthening teachers\u0027 understanding and perceptions in teaching on classroom dynamics and diversity, designing learning classroom management with balanced interactions, integrating learning processes between students using a collaborative model, and designing a balanced evaluation.