Developing Professional Skills through Mentorship Program for EFL Students in Indonesia
Indra Hartoyo, Fahri Haswani, Nora Ronita Dewi, Juli Rachmadani Hasibuan

Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris FBS Unimed

Abstract

Professional skills must be developed among university students to provide them with opportunities to compete in the real world. This study aims to investigate how professional skill development can be done to English and Literature Department students of Languages and Arts Faculty Universitas Negeri Medan through mentorship program. Twenty-four students were involved in four different fields such as Digital Literature, Journalism, Prose Writing, and Digital Teaching Media. Four professionals were chosen to become the mentors. The program was conducted from May 18th to July 8th, 2022. It began with collecting students^ needs related to the skills. Communicating with lecturers of relevant subjects, the twenty-four students were selected as mentees. Then, the mentors were chosen and assigned. Next, a technical meeting was done before the students joined a group. After that, the mentoring sessions were held for five 100-minute meetings in the following scenario: (1) brainstorming and idea filtering, (2) outlining or planning the product, (3) product drafting, (4) product reviewing and revising, and (5) finishing. During each session, all group activities were closely monitored. One best student of each group was selected by the mentor. In the last stage, an evaluation of the program was done. From all mentees who actively participated and submitted their products, it can be concluded that they were challenged to exploit their creativity and develop professional skills.

Keywords: Keywords: professional skills, development, mentorship program

Topic: Management Innovation