Govt moves to upgrade students' English skills

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)