Evaluating Maritime English Literacy in Maritime Institutes in Indonesia

Abstract

The present study investigates the level of maritime English literacy of 180 cadets studying at the Maritime and Transport Education Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. In addition to using a mixed-methods design (structured perception survey; classroom observation sheets; curriculum document analysis) for assessing five main aspects (language proficiency; curriculum relevance; pedagogy; communicative competence; industry alignment), the results show that students assessed their communicative competence as by far the most important aspect (90\%); followed by their rating of language proficiency as the second best (85\%). On the other hand, they rated the curriculum relevance to be significantly worse than the two first-mentioned factors, namely with only 75\%. Thus, it can be concluded that there still exists an evident gap between the knowledge students receive during their studies at school and the demands placed upon them when they actually work on a ship. The analytical framework of the research presented here is based on Krashen's input hypothesis (Krashen, 2003) and Vygotskiy's sociocultural framework (Vygotskiy, 2012). Both theories provide a theoretical background for explaining the paradox resulting from the data: despite having achieved measurable increases in competence through immersive scenario-based learning processes, neither curricula nor integration into industry has caught up with the updated STCW-standards or with the developments related to digital communication of the IMO. Recommendations for concrete measures concerning the revision of curricula, simulation-based learning and well-defined industry consultation structures are provided.