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AN ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE MEANING IN THE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY SINGGIH TRI SULISTIYONO “HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM IN INDONESIA AT CROSSROAD”

By Retno Indriyani

Abstract: Semantics has crucial in determining the meaning. Meaning can be analyzing based three aspects. Those are lexical meaning, sentential meaning, and discourse meaning. The aim of this paper is to analyze the semantic meaning of an article which focuses on the discourse meaning. In this context, the analysis is based on the cohesion and the coherence of among sentence or paragraph.

INTRODUCTION

Before analyzing the semantic discourse meaning, let define what semantic is and what meaning is. According to Crystal (1991:310) in Ahmadin, semantic is one the branches of linguistic studying about the meaning, and it is considered as a major branch of linguistics devoted to the study of meaning in language. In general sense, semantics is a component theory of semiotic theory about meaningful, symbolic, and behavior. Whereas, according to theory of semantics, meanings are ideas or concepts that can be transferred from the mind of speaker to the mind of the hearer by embodying them, as it were, in the form of one language or another (Ahmadin: 2012: 16).

Moreover, meaning may be categorized into three level, they are lexical meaning, sentential meaning and discourse meaning (Ahmadin: 2012: 16). It means that the meaning can be analyzed using lexical meaning, sentential meaning, and discourse meaning. According to Bowles (2008: 2) lexical meaning is concern with the meaning of the words. Whereas, sentential meaning concern with the meaning of a sentence that is the sum of its parts. In other words, we can judge the truth of the sentence based on the existence of its referents in the world.Meanwhile, according to Crystal (1991) in Ahmadin, discourse meaning is a term used in linguistic to refer to a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence. It focused on the cohesion and the coherence of the sentence or utterance.

In this study, the researcher focused on analysis of discourse meaning of an article. The title of the article is higher education reform in Indonesia at crossroad which is written by Singgih Tri Sulistiyono.

In the analyzing, the researcher will analyze each paragraph of the article. The analysis is based on the cohesion and coherence. Cohesion refers to the connections which have their manifestation in discourse itself. It includes both grammatical cohesion such as substitutions, ellipsis, references, and conjunctions; and lexical cohesion such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, metonymy, collocation, and repetition. In other hand, coherence is the situation and condition that connect and stand each other. It includes the additive relation and causal relation. The additive relation can be traced back to a conjunction and as such is related to various types of coordination. In contrast, the causal relation can be traced back to an implication, and is as such related to subordinating. There are seven types of the causal relationship: cause, reason, means, consequence, purpose, condition, and concession.

THE ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE MEANING

The original article under the title is “Higher Education Reform In Indonesia At Crossroad” by Singgih Tri Sulistiyono is stated below:

HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM IN INDONESIA AT CROSSROAD

Singgih Tri Sulistiyono

1^st

Indonesia is possibly one of the most dynamics countries in the world in the sense that the government endeavor to implement higher education reform is facing serious resistance from various groups in the society. Waves of student demonstrations occurred not only at universities which have already had legal status as the BHMN (Badan Hukum Milik Negara/ State-owned Legal Entity) but also at non-BHMN universities. Some issues which were raised during the demonstrations and orations are amongst others: government is not responsible for public educations, poor people will suffer with the new system, intervention of foreign capital in education (IMF, World Bank, WTO, etc), commercialization of education by neo-liberalism regime, rejecting the BHMN, amending the SISDIKNAS (Sistem Pendidikan Nasional/ National Education System) Law, rejecting the draft of BHP (Badan Hukum Pedidikan/ Education Legal Institution) Law.

Rejections are also coming from Indonesian authoritative experts on education such as those of HAR Tilaar and Winarno Surakhmad. HAR Tilaar proposes that the BHMN and the draft of BHP are violation against the spirit of Indonesian constitution. The system has completed the wound of the poor by closing their access to higher education. It will also change public universities to profit-oriented enterprises. In the meantime, Winarno Surakhmad states the new system hinders democracy and education development in Indonesia. He suggests for reviewing the draft of BHP. Former rector of Diponegoro University Semarang and former president of the Forum Rektor (Rector Forum), Eko Budihardjo, states that:

3^rd

“Blending education and profit will only alienate the millions of people that continue to believe in the integrity and sincerity of the academic community…Higher education should always be ready to go through change but these transformations should not derail the functions of education as a public good”.

Such kind of public reactions are driving the recent Indonesian government is very careful. Until the present day, the draft of BHP Law which completed about three years ago has not yet been signed by president SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono). However, the MONE (Ministry of National Education) has targeted that at least 50 percent of public universities and 40 percent of private universities will gain status of BHP in 2009. Even the DGHE (Directorate General of Higher Education) of the MONE expects that by 2010 Indonesia will have a competitive leverage due to the existence of highly reputable higher education institutions leading to a nation’s competitiveness. If the government is not able to ensure to the public, the higher education reform in Indonesia will find a dead end.

5^th

The existence and development of modern higher education institutions in Indonesia cannot be separated by western colonialism, especially the Dutch. Although Indonesia has long education history, there is no truly Indonesian university in origin. As in other Asian countries, almost all higher education institutions are based on European academic models and traditions.

During the pre-colonial period, education in Indonesia was very much influenced by religious teaching: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Secular higher education was firstly introduced by the Dutch since the early of the 20^th century. At that time the development of higher education in colony Indonesia had close connection with “global market” demands on technician and professional which had to be trained at higher education institutions. This tightly connected with the fact that since the 19^th century the Dutch colony in the Indonesian archipelago had been opened for modern business investments in the field of plantation (coffee, tea, rubber, tobacco, sugar cane, cacao, etc.), industry (sugar, cigarette, cement, etc.), mining (gold, coal, oil, tin, etc), transportation (railways and shipping), etc. In this context, the Dutch colonial administration in the Indonesian archipelago had to provide not only infrastructures and facilities but also skilled human resources who had to be educated at schools and higher education institutions. This means that from the early time of its development, higher education had close connection with the interacting process between local needs and global market demands. For this reason the early of the 20^th century witnessed the significant development of higher education institutions.

The STOVIA (School tot Opleiding van Inlansche Artsen) or medical school for indigenous doctors was established by the Dutch colonial government in 1902 by using the Dutch as medium of instruction. It was the first higher education institution in colony Indonesia which was actually metamorphosis of secondary Javanese medical school of Batavia (present-day Jakarta) which was established by the Dutch colonial administration in 1851. In 1902 the STOVIA only received graduates from ELS (Europeesche Lagere School), basic school with Dutch language as medium of instruction) with the length of study was seven years. But then it required the graduates from MULO (Meer Uitgebreid Lagere Onderwijs) or advanced basic school (lower secondary school) with the same length of study. In 1913 the government also established the NIAS (Nederlandsch Indische Artsen School) or Netherlands Indies doctor school in Surabaya (East Java) which had same requirement with the STOVIA. In the next period the government also established Geneeskundige Hooge School or advanced school for medical science in Batavia (in 1927) which required graduates from upper secondary school with the length of study six years.

8^th

Other kinds of higher education institutions were established significantly by the Dutch colonial government in the 2^nd decade of the 20^th century. The engineering school Technische Hooge School was established in Bandung (West Java) in 1920. It was followed by the agricultural school Landbouwkundige Hooge School in Bogor (West Java) and the law school Rechts Hooge School in Batavia (1924). It is important to be noted that the development of higher education institutions mostly connected with the demand of skilled and professional manpower to support the Dutch colonial administration and the development of business enterprises in the Netherlands East Indies.

Although one may be amazed by the institutional development of higher education in the Netherlands Indies, the proportion of Indonesian students were low. In the 1920s, more than 96 percent of population of the Dutch colony in the Indonesian archipelago were Indonesians (indigenous people), 1.5 percent were the Dutch (and Eurasian classified as Europeans), and about 2.5 percent were Chinese. But the total number of students in all colleges between 1920 and 1940 were only 45 percent for Indonesians, whereas 32 percent were Europeans and 23 percent were Chinese. Discriminative measures had colored the Dutch policy on education in the colony. Besides, one of the most obvious characteristics of the Dutch education system was that the universities were not designed to produce large masses of graduates but only a highly select intellect and professional elites.

During the Japanese occupation (1942-45) all formal education in Indonesia came to a halt. Immediately after seizing Dutch colony of Indonesia, the Japanese military power closed all higher education institutions. But in April 1943, advance school for medical science was reopened by adding it with a department of pharmacology. The students of the former NIAS in Surabaya were transferred to Jakarta. In the meantime, former Dutch secondary school for dentists was upgraded to be a college with three years length of study. This college was named Ika Daigaku Shika Igakubu. In 1944, the Japanese military government reopened Technische Hooge School of Bandung (Kagyo Daigaku) and set up new advanced institute for civil administrator called Kenkoku Gakuin in Jakarta. The Japanese military legacy which gave significant to the next period was the spirit of “education for all”. Besides, the Japanese also ordered the use of Indonesian language as the medium of instruction and the prohibiting of Dutch language.

10^th

The declaration of Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945 meant that big and serious problems had to be solved by Indonesian people itself. Besides fighting against the Dutch who wanted to re-colonize, Indonesian people had to solve socio-cultural problems stemming from colonialisms and wars including those in higher education. Most part of the independence war period (1945-49) witnessed almost all big cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor and Surabaya (where higher education institutions formerly existed) were seized by the Dutch. For this reason, Yogyakarta became important city for the Republic of Indonesia to develop higher education in republic territory.

Some problems that were faced by Indonesian government to develop higher education in Yogyakarta: lack of lecturer, poor infrastructure and facility, incomplete curriculum, etc. The problem of poor infrastructures and facilities could be overcome by benefiting pre-war building and facilities and/ or hired proper buildings. During the time, the most serious problem faced by Indonesian universities was lack of faculty members. This connected with the fact that there were only limited numbers of Indonesian graduates during the Dutch colonial period. After independence war, such kind of problem was solved by appointing university’s own most promising graduates to be the staff or by sending them abroad for continuing their advanced study. In the early 1950s some of these staff members were financed by Indonesian government, whereas others were supported by foreign governments and foundations. In line with the deteriorating process of Indonesian economy since the end of the 1950s, Indonesian staffs who wanted to continue their study abroad had to apply scholarship from foreign countries and funding agencies.

From the article above, the researcher would like to analyze discourse meaning of the text. It would be analyzed based on the discourse connection among the sentence or paragraph. The research finding is stated below.

In the first paragraph, the researcher found the phrase “not only…but also…”. in the second sentence of the first paragraph ─ Waves of student demonstrations occurred not only at universities which have already had legal status as the BHMN (Badan Hukum Milik Negara/ State-owned Legal Entity) but also at non-BHMN universities. This phrase refers to conjunction that is correlative conjunctive which connect the sentence element which have the same kind. In this case, this conjunction connect the phrase “at universities which have already had legal status as the BHMN (Badan Hukum Milik Negara/ State-owned Legal Entity)” and the phrase “ at non-BHMN universities” which both of those phrases are noun phrase. Therefore, this conjunction can include in discourse meaning of the text in term of grammatical cohesion.

The other discourse meaning in second paragraph is ellipsis which is found in the first sentence” Rejections are also coming from Indonesian authoritative experts on education such as those of HAR Tilaar and Winarno Surakhmad.”. In this sentence, there is omission after the word “Rejections” which refers to phrase” Some issues” in third sentence of the first paragraph. Others are references. The first reference is found in the fourth sentence “It will also change public universities to profit-oriented enterprises. In the meantime, Winarno Surakhmad states the new system hinders democracy and education development in Indonesia”. The pronoun “It” refers to the phrase “the system” in the previous sentence. The second is found in the fifth sentences “He suggests for reviewing the draft of BHP” the word “He” refers to “Winarno Surakhmad”.

From the analysis of the third paragraph, the researcher found the discourse meaning that is conjunction. It can be found in the second sentence “However, the MONE (Ministry of National Education) has targeted that at least 50 percent of public universities and 40 percent of private universities will gain status of BHP in 2009”. The word “However” is one of conjunction which indicates the opposition. The other is found in the third sentence “Even the DGHE (Directorate General of Higher Education) of the MONE expects that by 2010 Indonesia will have a competitive leverage due to the existence of highly reputable higher education institutions leading to a nation’s competitiveness.” The word “due to” is one of conjunction which indicates the showing cause and effect. The last is found in the last sentence “If the government is not able to ensure to the public, the higher education reform in Indonesia will find a dead end”. The word “If” is the conjunction to connect subordinate clause to main clause which is showing the condition. Therefore, those conjunctions can include in discourse meaning.

In the next paragraph, the researcher found the discourse meaning which is included in both grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion can be found in the second sentence “Although Indonesia has long education history, there is no truly Indonesian university in origin” which is in term of conjunction. The word “Although” is one of conjunction which is showing the opposition. On the other hand, the lexical cohesion is found in second and third sentence “Although Indonesia has long education history, there is no truly Indonesian university in origin. As in other Asian countries, almost all higher education institutions are based on European academic models and traditions.” There is a connection between the word “Indonesia” and “Asian countries”. In this case, Indonesia is part of Asian countries so that both of them have connection which called meronymy (part vs. whole). Therefore, those words can be included in discourse meaning in term of lexical cohesion that is meronymy.

Similarly, the researcher found lexical cohesion and grammatical cohesion in fifth paragraph which are called “hyponymy” and “conjunction”. Hyponymy is stated in the first sentence “During the pre-colonial period, education in Indonesia was very much influenced by religious teaching: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam”. The word “Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam” is super-ordinate “religion teaching”. The other hyponymy is in the third sentence “This tightly connected with the fact that since the 19^th century the Dutch colony in the Indonesian archipelago had been opened for modern business investments in the field of plantation (coffee, tea, rubber, tobacco, sugar cane, cacao, etc.), industry (sugar, cigarette, cement, etc.), mining (gold, coal, oil, tin, etc), transportation (railways and shipping), etc”. In this case, words”coffee, tea, rubber, tobacco, sugar cane, cacao” are super-ordinate “plantation” ; words “sugar, cigarette, cement” are super-ordinate “industry” ; and words “gold, coal, oil, tin” are super-ordinate “mining”. In contrast, the conjunction is found in the fourth sentence “In this context, the Dutch colonial administration in the Indonesian archipelago had to provide not only infrastructures and facilities but also skilled human resources who had to be educated at schools and higher education institutions”. Phrase “not only…but also…”refers to conjunction that is correlative conjunctive which connect the sentence element which have the same kind. In this case, this conjunction connect the phrase “infrastructures and facilities” and the phrase “skilled human resources who had to be educated at school and higher education”.

Of analysis the sixth paragraph, the researcher found the grammatical cohesion in term of reference. It was found in the second sentence “”. The word “It” refers to the word “STOVIA” in the previous sentence.

From the analysis of eighth paragraph, the researcher found the discourse meaning in term of grammatical cohesion that is conjunction. The first finding is in the first sentence “Although one may be amazed by the institutional development of higher education in the Netherlands Indies, the proportion of Indonesian students were low”. In this case, word “although” connected to previous paragraph which is showing the opposition. The similar finding is found in the third sentence “But the total number of students in all colleges between 1920 and 1940 were only 45 percent for Indonesians, whereas 32 percent were Europeans and 23 percent were Chinese”. The word “whereas” also showed the opposition, but it connected to the main clause of the sentence. The next finding of this paragraph is in the last sentences “Besides, one of the most obvious characteristics of the Dutch education system was that the universities were not designed to produce large masses of graduates but only a highly select intellect and professional elites.”. In this sentence, the researcher found the conjunction. It is “Beside” which is used to add the additional idea.

The next finding in ninth paragraph is about coherence. It was found in the second sentence “But in April 1943, advance school for medical science was reopened by adding it with a department of pharmacology”. The word “but” refers to a causal relation of coherence. It showed the relation of condition.

Similarly, the coherence was found in the next paragraph. It was found in second and third sentence “Besides fighting against the Dutch who wanted to re-colonize, Indonesian people had to solve socio-cultural problems stemming from colonialisms and wars including those in higher education. Most part of the independence war period (1945-49) witnessed almost all big cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor and Surabaya (where higher education institutions formerly existed) were seized by the Dutch”. Those sentences indicated a consequence that is outside the domain of volition. Therefore, it can be include n a causal relation in term of cause.

From the analysis of the eleventh paragraph, the findings are about grammatical cohesion in term of conjunction. The first finding is in the fifth sentence “After independence war, such kind of problem was solved by appointing university’s own most promising graduates to be the staff or by sending them abroad for continuing their advanced study”. The word “after” refers to conjunction which showing the time. The other is in the sixth sentence “In the early 1950s some of these staff members were financed by Indonesian government, whereas others were supported by foreign governments and foundations”. The word “whereas” refers to conjunction which shows the opposition. It connected to the main clause of the sentence.

CONCLUSION

Indeed, the researcher found both cohesion and coherence in analyzing of this article. The first finding is about coherence. There are two type of causal relation in coherence that is found. Those are cause and condition.

The next finding is cohesion. Both grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion can be found in this article. The grammatical cohesion that is found is about conjunction, ellipsis, and references. The conjunctions are not only …but also… , however, if, although, whereas, besides, after, and due to. Moreover, the references are it and he. In other hand, the lexical cohesion that is found are meronymy and hyponymy.

REFERENCE

Ahmadin, Dimjati. 2012. Course Material for English Semantic. Malang: UNISMA

Bowles, Hugo. 2008. Modulo Meaning and Discourse in English. www.Uniroma2.it/didattica/english2/…/Modulo2.Summaries1-17.doc

Sulistiyono, Singgih. Higher Education Reform in Indonesia at Crossroad. Article. www.dikti.go.id/files/atur/bhp/HEReform-Singgih.doc

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