INSTITUTE FOR LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION Statement of English Proficiency
“Outstanding leaders... ...are outstanding communicators.” —ILC Director Lester Finch
Universitas Siswa Bangsa Internasional 24 Juli 2012 Siswa Bangsa International University July 24 2012
INSTITUTE FOR LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION (ILC) STATEMENT OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY At ILC, we prepare Universitas Siswa Bangsa Internasional (USBI) students with meaningful English communication skills benchmarked against international standards. With our diverse and creative Indonesian and foreign staff, and carefully crafted student-centered curriculum, we encourage students to honor their mother tongues and cultures while diving into rigorous academic English immersion and critical thinking.
International-Standard English Proficiency For USBI admission, students are expected to score at least 55 on the Oxford Online Placement Test (equivalent of IELTS 5, see chart below). Students are then only recommended for study abroad degree programs if they have a demonstrated English Proficiency of IELTS 6.5 or the equivalent by their fourth semester. In addition to learning completely in English during all of their departmental courses, students also take four semesters of English for Academic Purposes with ILC lecturers.
English Immersion Environment
Common European Framework (CEFR) benchmarked exams
Native English speaking instructors
CEFR
Vantage (a)
Vantage (b)
Vantage (c)
Effective Operational Proficiency (a)
EOP (b)
IELTS
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
TOEFL IBT
87-94
95-102
103-109
110-113
114-117
OOPT
60
70
80
81
90
PTE
51-59
60-67
68-75
76-78
79-81
Table compiled from official publications of IELTS, TOEFL, OOPT and PTE. See Appendix A for full chart and citation.
Progressive Curriculum At ILC, we want our students to get their message across, no matter the context. Even a student with a 7 on her IELTS will need to write confidently about her academic aspirations, just as a 4.0 GPA is no substitute for candid testimony in a job or fellowship interview. Our curriculum reflects the reality of postgraduate experience, which is that students will need to produce and interact with English language in many different formats, both professional and academic. The full ILC English curriculum has been carefully crafted to ensure students’ competency in: academic reading, essay writing and citation; presentation skills; professional English-language-conventions communication; critical thinking and peer review (see Appendix B for more complete curriculum information). Students spend four full semesters with our English teaching staff who facilitate learning through student-led class activities, one-on-one tutoring, and internet forums and discussions. This dynamic approach to teaching allows for more teacher-student feedback inside and outside of the classroom.
Staff Excellency and Diversity Lecturers Ailyandria Praditya, C. I Wayan Eka Budiartha, and Anddy Steven worked as a team at the Sampoerna School of Business (SSB) before the integration of SSB into USBI. They provide leadership for our team of Instructors and Tutors at ILC with a wealth of experience in Indonesian higher education, diverse independent research objectives, and obvious commitment to empowering students in communication, both inside the classroom and in their daily lives. C. I Wayan Eka Budiartha (MA in Linguistic Science, Nanzan University, Japan) sees language learning as “not merely for school but for life, or in Latin: Non Scholae, Sed Vitae Discimus. Students should not gain knowledge and skills to please a teacher, but because of the Clockwise from upper left: Anddy, Aily, Eka, Ardi benefits they will gain in their everyday lives.” His philosophy is informed by years of teaching in Indonesia and Japan, and research on linguistics. His current research explores the “transformative learning process”, or how students use prior understanding to guide them through contact with new information and development of communicative abilities. Ailyxandria Praditya (MBA School of Business and Management Bandung) studied Architecture and Business while beginning a career of English interpreting, translating and teaching. She has worked for the International Monetary Fund, and the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission. On active language learning, Ailyxandria believes in “...involvement. If you’re not involved, you may forget and eventually you won’t learn. Learn from others and allow others to learn from you; even your mistakes can be a path to success.” Anddy Steven (MEd. Pelita Harapan University, in progress) has studied, written about, and taught English literature and language for over a decade at SSB, Bina Nusantara University and Gandi National School Ancol. His strong background in public speech has brought him success in years of national debate, newscasting, and English competitions as a participant and a coach. Anddy compares learning language to his love for mountain climbing, which “demands strength, but once at the peak you will forget the difficulties faced in the climb. Language learning also demands strength, but the ability to communicate one’s ideas in a non-native language is truly satisfying. The ‘summit’ is worth the struggle.” Lecturer Ardi Priyatno (MA in Applied English Linguistics, Atma Jaya Catholic University) has recently translated three books publication by Gramedia and in 2010, published the article, Promoting Students’ Motivation in Indonesian EFL Classroom: What Can a Teacher Do? His research in student motivation has helped Ardi create lessons that target students’ areas of interest so that they will want to engage with English language even outside of the classroom. Ardi looks reflectively on each day in the classroom as “...a lifelong lesson. The more I teach, the more I learn.” Instructor Brittany Jordan (BMus Oberlin Conservatory, BA Oberlin College) first came to Indonesia in 2009 on an Oberlin Shansi teaching fellowship. She taught English language, American cultural studies, and graduate academic writing for two years at Universitas Gadjah Mada, using her teaching and conservatory background to inform her classroom. “Violinists don’t ‘cram’, we practice for hours every day and play for our friends and colleagues to get feedback. Language learning can also be constant and community-oriented.”
Director Lester Finch was formerly Dean of Arts & Social Sciences at the Eastern Institute of Technology, head of the University of Waikato Language Institute and manager of Waikato Pathways College in New Zealand. His background is innovation in cross-cultural education and communication. He chaired the NZ government advisory reference group, representing the university sector in English language provision, International Education levy. Lester was chairman of the New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education for several years. He has experience implementing sustainable educational ventures, particularly in trans-national education. “The Putera Sampoerna Foundation Institute of Languages and Communication is part of a global community of thinkers and doers. We want you to know that Plato gave us the dialectic and the first ever academy, while Muhammad Yunus, Noam Chomsky and many other thinker-doers continue to contribute to our community. Caring, thinking people, guiding us to learn today, lead tomorrow! Outstanding leaders are outstanding communicators. The ILC, with support from our local and global communities and your commitment, will make it possible for you to be outstanding communicators in at least two languages.”
Unique Cultural Pluralism
2010-2011 applicants according to native region
There are over 700 indigenous languages in Indonesia with variations in dialect and accent depending on the micro-region. With fluent command of at least one indigenous language, Bahasa Indonesia and English, most USBI students (and lecturers) are trilinguists and even polyglots! They bring a uniquely open perspective to language-learning because of their multi-lingual, -ethnic, and –religious communities and continue to grow at USBI as they are surrounded by the cosmopolitan environment of Jakarta. In 2010 and 2011, the 237 Sampoerna School of Business applicants came from 18 different micro-regions with over 12 native languages.
Jabodetabek
Jawa Barat Jawa Timur
Jawa Tengah/DIY Yogyakarta Sumatera
Bali Kalimantan
At ILC, we want students to understand the value and impressiveness of their linguistic backgrounds. We believe that the development of communicative skills is not just the memorization and implementation of new vocabulary and forms in English but also the ability to reconcile learning primarily in a foreign language with one’s overall understanding of meaningful communication.
Question Today, Change Tomorrow Part of USBI’s vision is to create a new generation of highly educated leaders and entrepreneurs, who will contribute to the future of Indonesia with integrity and empathy (as stated in USBI’s Quality Assurance Document, p4). At ILC, we encourage innovative thinking even in the English classroom, where students lead group discussions, give peer feedback, and exchange research ideas with their colleagues across departments. We teach and encourage academic writing that expresses an opinion and is supported by critical analysis . Most important, we foster the language skills and confidence necessary for students to look at the world around them and not only ask, What are the problems? but also: How can we fix these problems for a better future?
“When learning is developmental, it inspires, reinforces, and reflects the growth and maturation of the learner as a whole human being.” —We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education, Richard P. Keeling and Richard H. Hersh