Institution and market: Orders of multiple languages in Indonesian vocational education

Abstract

Indonesian vocational secondary education reflects the increasingly multilingual demands of globalized education and labor market. This study focuses on two orders of multiple languages that are present in vocational high schools in Semarang, Central Java. It aims not only to describe the different orders of languages, but also to suggest that each order represents differing strategies of dealing with the demands of globalization. One order represents the state-backed institutional approach, which views multiple languages as distinct entities and demands students to have monolingual competence in English, Indonesian, and Javanese to engage in globalization, cultivate nationalism and preserve tradition. The other order represents the market-oriented way vocational schools meet the demands of globalized industries and labor markets by directly adopting the multilingual industry register into local learning processes.