PERSONAL STATEMENT

A KEY TO OBTAINING A
SCHOLARSHIP
Eri Kurniawan

SETTING
THE
SCENCE
PERSONALIZE
!
Bring up
some
personal
event that
showcases
your interest
in education

Soon after I graduated from a Vocational

High School of Tourism Industry in Bandung
(Indonesia), I was amazed at the fact that
Indonesia was facing an economic crisis,
which meant that no more job vacancy
would be available in this country. It was in
fact true. I then asked my parents if they
could afford to send me to college. They
told me that I would be allowed to pursue
my study only if I could pass a national
university student admission or in other
words, I had no choice but studying in a
state-owned university. After being advised
by my parents especially about its
promising prospect, I signed up for an
English Education Program at IKIP Bandung
(Institute for Teachers' Training and
Pedagogy) and fortunately I was accepted
as an English student in 1999. I began
internalizing my future role as an educator
since then.

EXPERIEN
CES
PERSONALIZE
!
Foreground
your
(teaching)
experiences
to show you
are capable.

When I was a student of the

institute, exactly when I was in the
second semester (in 2000), I
started teaching at a private junior
high school. From teaching, I could
improve my English proficiency as
well as my teaching skills. I also
became a private home teacher
for an elementary school student.
Noticing my spirit in teaching and
self improvement, the school
principal sent me to a private
junior high school teacher's
training for three days. There I
found many English teachers
incompetent in the language and
teaching. I thought that such
training did a little success to
solve the problem and instead

RESEARCH
PERSONALIZE
!
Show some
experiences
related to
your
proposed
study

I was once engaged in research

conducted by a junior lecturer (He
was a fullbright awardee and is
now pursuing his doctorate at
Virginia Technology University)
concerning the use of internet in
teaching Writing subject. He
introduced me to computer and
internet applications that are
helpful for teaching and learning
English writing. I came to realize
that the presence of computers
has dramatically changed people's
lives in every sector, including
education. Computers as well as
internet truly facilitate teaching
and learning processes. We do not
need to go to a classroom to get a
lecture. Instead, we simply have to

ACHIEVEM
ENT
BRAG!
Display what
you have
achieved.
Again, relate
it to your
proposed
study.

In 2004, after graduating with

the second highest GPA in the
faculty, I was offered a vacant
post as a lecturer in my
almamater. I then took an
admission test and I got
accepted. Since 1 January
2005, I have been officially
designated as a lecturer.
Honestly speaking, I was very
confused about the subjects I
would teach as I learned many
subjects of various fields in my
undergraduate. Luckily, a
senior lecturer asked me to
assist him to teach Linguisticsrelated subjects such as
Introduction to Linguistics,

PRESENTATIONS

What have
you done?
What did
you do to
disseminate?

As a junior lecturer, I was asked to

join research on teaching and
learning processes in multilingual
context. It was aimed to explicate
how the English teaching was
conducted at elementary schools.
The results revealed that of the
many factors contributing to
successful English teaching at an
elementary level, a correct language
model is of primary importance. The
teachers were not able to provide a
correct model for the students
because they lack English
proficiency (both competence and
performance). It is a problem that
can actually be resolved by means
computer programs. I then raised
the issue in a presentation at an

PRESENTATIONS2

Early 2006, I did another study on

English Syntax. At that time I was
made curious by the increasing
fame of an American rapper,
Eminem, among my students. I
then listened to his songs and
watched his movie. I was
What have
surprised to learn that the English
you done?
he uses is somewhat different. I
started studying about Black
What did
Vernacular English and
you do to
disseminate? understanding its complexities.
Due to some limitations, I merely
focused my analysis on
syntactical features on Eminem
lyrics. The findings were
presented at an international
linguistics conference in Jakarta

MAKE A
CASE
Point out
why you
have to
study what
youre
proposing.

My practical experience in
teaching linguistics especially this
semester has further enhanced
my interests in linguistics. I am
currently teaching Corpus
Linguistics which relies heavily on
computer use to gather and
process the corpus or texts. I am
becoming aware of the fact that
the presence of computer and its
combination with linguistic
studies is undeniably becoming in
high demand nowadays.

WRAP
UP
Rest your
case
Highlight
why you
have to go
abroad to
study
What you
will do with
your degree

All these experiences have led me to

pursue a graduate study in Linguistics
and Computational Linguistics as the
area of specialization. This discipline
would equip me with the knowledge
and skills necessary for understanding
the rich nature of human language
and developing any possible computer
application to simulate human
language for any beneficial
applications especially for language
learning, linguistic analysis and
translation. I believe that this
objective would be served well by
taking coursework and research in the
U.S. After accomplishing my graduate
study, I will return to my employment
as a lecturer to disseminate the
knowledge and skills I would have

THANK YOU