Jika ada 4 aspek tersebut yang dijelaskan maka diperlukan 4 paragraf. Semisal ada 5 aspek berarti ada 5 paragraf. Namun, kebanyakan institusi akan membatasi jumlah kata untuk personal statement dan ini bervariasi. Pada umumnya, jumlah kata yang diminta berkisar antara 500-1000 kata.
Mari sekarang kita bedah contohnya.
Latar belakang kalian
Second/foreign language learning has fascinated me in many ways. Discovering how the mind works during the process and how individuals interact with themselves, others and its surrounding has always been a personal interest. This curiosity of learning and teaching a second/foreign language, especially English has led me to pursue both my undergraduate and master's degree in English Language and Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, respectively. Upon further academic experiences, I found myself to be even more attracted to second language learning and pedagogy. This path has also led me to become an English teacher, teaching academic English at university level.
Di paragraf pertama ini kita bisa melihat latar belakang dari penulisnya dan bagaimana penulis tertarik dengan bidangnya hingga pekerjaan yang dilakukan. Ketika memberikan latar belakang, kita buat semacam cerita. Note: Jangan dibuat dalam bentuk poin-poin, selalu dalam bentuk paragraph.
Experience dan/atau permasalahan/fenomena yang kalian temui terkait dengan bidang kalian
Being an English language teacher in a country (Indonesia) that sees English as a foreign language has its own challenges. Other than having Bahasa Indonesia as its national language, most Indonesians acquire a local language since childhood. Thus, most underestimate the importance of English in the modern day as English is not widely practiced in society. Involved in a linguistically pluralistic community outside and inside the classroom has given me many obstacles in teaching English.Â
Di paragraf selanjutnya, penulis mengenalkan fenomena apa yang dia alami berdasarkan pengalaman selama bekerja. Jika kalian tidak bekerja, kalian bisa berikan fenomena atau permasalahan apa yang kalian lihat di sekitar kalian yang sesuai dengan bidang kalian.
Solusi yang bisa kalian berikan terhadap permasalahan/fenomena
Learning English for most Indonesians is a daunting task as like in any other non-English speaking countries, our curriculum and/or teaching methods tend to perceive the monolingual approach as the best in achieving the language learning goals. This has caused Indonesian students to be reluctant or even afraid in coming to an English class, let alone learning the language as English classes pressure them to use English only and those who do not will receive punishments. I have found that English teachers in Indonesia have been instilled the values of this approach and any deviation to this is considered as inappropriate and even teachers who do not use the approach can be considered as failures. Being closely related to this phenomenon and have experienced many English language learning settings, I have found to question myself, is this standard approach (monolingual) best for the students? How can we as teachers create a learning environment that not only lessens the burdens for students to learn English but also motivates them? How can we take advantage of Indonesians' multilingualism in learning English? Rooting from those questions, I have seen myself to try implementing other approaches during my teachings.
Di paragraf ini, penulisan memberikan rincian lebih lanjut terkait dengan permasalahannya dan sekaligus mencoba untuk memberikan solusi terkait dengan permasalahan atau fenomena tersebut.
