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