English proficiency

English proficiency

I read with interest the column "The Listening Post" in the
June 13, 1997 issue. The letter from the columnist's
correspondent in Surabaya, East Java, reminded me of a situation
we had in the Philippines. The managers of the best companies to
which our best students applied for jobs had no complaints about
these students' letters of application. The managers of other
companies pointed out that the application letters they received
from our other students had grammatical mistakes. Understandably,
the English proficiency levels of our Filipino students varied
even if they had gone to the best schools in the country. I think
this is true of students in any country.

As a visiting Professor in Surabaya at Petra Christian
University for three years now, I have had the opportunity to
work with the teaching staff of the Faculty of Letters. I must
say that I have been impressed with the quality of their teaching
and their dedication to excellence. In addition, the facilities
on campus, like the library, Internet and other computer
services, audiovisual rooms and language laboratory are very
good. Together with native speakers of English in the Department
of English and up-to-date teaching materials in the form of
books, audio and video cassette tapes, support for the English
language development of our students is great.

As we strive for excellence, we do our best, but results are
varied in terms of our students' performance. Some are very good.
I am just sorry that "The Listening Post" columnist's
correspondent in Surabaya has not had the fortune and pleasure of
receiving letters of application from our best students.

This column is very interesting. Congratulations on publishing
it regularly!

G.L. VERZOSA

Surabaya, East Java