Introduction

Indonesia or officially known as Republic of Indonesia, is a large country located in the Southest Asia.
Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world after China, India and United States with
a population of around two hundred and fifty-two million. The large population is considered in
accordance with the vast territory of Indonesia which stretches from Sabang to Marauke. Of course,
the span of Indonesia’s territory is not empty, in the sense that it must be filled with local culture
which is a very valuable source of intellectual property which one of them is language. So far, it is
known that the number of languages spoken in Indonesia is at least seven hundred languages. These
languages are known as their regional languages which have the status of being the mother tongue
or first language. However, in the sophisticated era, mastery of regional languages and Indonesian
are not enough. They need another language to build a strong relationship with other advanced
country. (Nurkamto, 2003) The government has recommended that English become a compulsory
subject in Indonesian secondary schools since its independence. The community is required to equip
themselves with qualified communication media which is language so that they will be able to
express their ideas and abilities. Fortunately, the world has a lingua franca that almost all people of
the world control, namely English. English languages are divided into morphology, phonology,
grammar and so many more. Furthermore, Lie (2007) also stated that although English is officially
taught throughout secondary schools, the competence and proficiency in this foreign language
among high school are generally low. The process of teaching and learning English language can be
very challenging because it is not their native language. This needed student and teacher to
cooperate so that the knowledge can be applied easier. We need to figure out the problem that they
encountered and find the right solution as soon as possible so that young generation in Indonesia
can communicate with foreigner easily. In this paper, a number of challenges emerged in teaching
and learning the English language are partly coming from students and partly from teachers. The
challenges of teaching and learning the English language in Indonesian schools from the teacher’s
perspective are unfamiliarity with IT, shortage of teacher’s training and language proficiency issues
meanwhile from the students’ perspective are a lack of vocabulary mastery, speaking problems, and
less motivation. We will discuss this issue in more detail so that the Indonesian can be enlighten.

Speaking Problems

Yule (2006) mentions that they are afraid and ashamed of making mistakes or errors in
pronunciation, choosing inappropriate vocabulary and also in accent that they used

In addition, for learners who live in EFL context, it is more difficult to be able to communicate
fluently than they who live in ESL context. (Hidayatus Sholihah , 2012)

Less motivation

Gardner (1985) defined motivation as the combination of (1) effort, (2) desire to achieve the goal of
language learning, and (3) favourable attitude towards language learning.

Dörnyei (1998) says that motivation determines human behaviour and gives direction to achieve it
Williams & Burden (1997) contend that learning a Yulia, motivating junior high school students and
teachers’ classroom language ... 4 foreign language is not simply learning the skills, rules or
grammar; it involves self image, cultural behaviour and ways of being that impact on the social
nature of the learner.

Language proficiency issues

Sullivan (2011) concluded that teachers’ oral proficiency in the target language is a significant factor
in both teaching effectiveness and student learning.