In Indonesia, English is well known as the foreign language which plays an important role as a means of international communication. Learning English is not easy. It is, however, possible for everyone to master it. There are many researches which are conducted by experts and researchers and successfully prove that English as foreign language (FL) may be influenced by the source language (SL) like what happened in a class when the students said, "Rp. 10.000,- from Banyuwangi to Jember is until or not until?", the FL is structurally complicated for FL learners when they try to construct a sentence in any variants of tense and pronoun like, I eated a bowl of meatball yesterday or my live at... and also techniques to teach English at schools. In relation to English learning context, it is of course requires much time, great effort, and strong commitment.
FL learners may recall, that it was obviously a long time process of acquiring their first language taught by the parents. It tends to be the same as learning English which requires much time and is an ongoing process. In other words, there is not absolutely a short cut to master English like many people say that it needs only few meetings, weeks, months. What is actually meant by a short cut, personally, is that the creativity of the English teacher who makes the process of teaching English is relatively shorter however impacts much towards the students' ability. More people will likely agree than those who think that FL can be acquired within a very short time but fail to enhance the students' ability in applying the language. This phenomenon is not actually a current issue. It has happened since English began to be introduced to Indonesia as the foreign language. The term of "short cut" probably is used by people or the stake holder on behalf of educational institution or language course to promote the idea of mastering English faster in order that they can get the benefits from it. It is of course important for those institution to show the privilege of their institution but the thing they have to remember is that they have to be able to prove what they have claimed as the privilege as well. Therefore, the idea of acquiring language of the FL learners should be comprehensive. It is not always simply everything is possible but fulfilling the need of the FL learners the knowledge of the language including what and how to use the language is more than just important.
As well as the importance of the process in term of the language acquisition, the effort of the FL learners plays a significant role. There are many activities they can do to learn the language, such as reading the English books, listening to western music, or watching movies. Therefore, the successful FL learners are not those who are just dependent on lessons and materials given by the English teacher. But, they are able to manage the practice to whom and its frequency. Friends and teachers can be regarded as partners to practice the language. Those who can take that as an opportunity are significantly advanced.
A step by step learning activities implemented by the FL learners requires a strong commitment. It is sometimes because of the boredom that may suffer after a long term study. Result perhaps becomes one of the reasons for the students to decide whether or not they continue their study. Having a strong willing and commitment, therefore, is very important. It is in order to build self encouragement which is helpful for students to move on. In addition, the English teacher should be able to motivate but not judge. Giving motivation can effectively re-stimulate the students' willing, but judgement mostly will impact on a destruction of the students' motivation.
