Govt moves to upgrade students' English skills

JAKARTA (JP): The government will be launching a program to help vocational school students improve their communication skills in English.

Director for Vocational Training and Education Gatot Hari Priowirjanto said the program will be offered to students in no less than 4,700 public and private vocational schools across the country, following a pilot project conducted in 16 state schools since 1999.

"Our aim is to help students obtain an adequate score in the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) which is an advantage when they seek jobs. Most companies in various industries such as hotel, tourism and aviation have set a minimum TOEIC standard for job seekers.

"TOEIC standards have been used in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand for sometime now as a prerequisite for job applicants and if we want to compete with them, our students have to learn to communicate in English," Gatot said recently.

Hotels and the tourist industry have set a minimum TOEIC score of 400 for their new recruits, while for the managerial level, the standard is higher.

The program is badly needed as there are reports that most vocational school graduates are unable to communicate well in English, according to Gatot.

The approach used in the program, he said, would encourage students to be more communicative and confident in using the language.

Gatot said the 4,312 vocational school students participating in the pilot project were in their final year and have been divided into three classes based on their placement test results. After four terms, 317 of the students tested obtained TOEIC scores of between 165 and 845.

The students are from vocational schools in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bandarlampung, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Nganjuk, Bondowoso and Denpasar.

TOEIC score ranges from 10 to 990.

Grace Kusnadi Goh, program director of TOEIC Center Indonesia, said the test was not to decide if a participant had passed or failed, but merely to judge his or her proficiency in the language.

"Unlike TOEFL, which is more complicated and used as an academic standard, TOEIC merely shows the ability of a person to understand English. TOEIC focuses on reading and listening skills," Grace said.

Each TOEIC test result is valid for two years.

The test fee is US$20, but under the government's program, each student in his or her final year will only need to pay half the amount, Grace said.

Anna Maria Issana, an instructor at the Vocational Education Development Center (PPG Kejuruan) said a total of 168 English teachers had been trained to teach "easy-English communication" over the past two years.

"In 2001, there will be 96 more teachers who will undergo the training," she said. (edt)