Why so poor at English? 2572015

Why so poor at English?  2572015

Nowadays, most students are too busy to read widely in the BM or Chinese language, not so say English, which is so alien to them.   Limited English vocabulary and little knowledge of grammar lead them to the “dead avenue”. (死胡同)。

Guess how many students / graduates have the mind-map of the complete picture of English grammar.  In short, how many of them have the complete ideas how the English language works to know how to use the language accurately.  This concerns your language accuracy . 

Guess how many teachers believe that they have to drill each grammatical item in isolation to get them familiar with the forms and functions.  To teach English grammar in contexts is to reinforce the learning of the structures.  To me, it is not the right way to get them to know how the language works holistically.

Reading and listening activities are the input that will help students acquire the language naturally/spontaneously and so they will have the fluency.  The constant exposure will enable them to use the language intuitively. 

Teaching and learning each grammatical item in isolation can ensure there is enough drill of all of the items.  This knowledge of grammar will make students competent and proficient in the course of time.  With a  good grasp of grammar will also enable them to edit their own speech and writing at ease and at will when they have enough vocabulary at their disposal.

So grammar is the foundation.  Please drill each item seriously in isolation and in context to prepare students to explore the language which is so extensive on their own all through their life.  Teachers can’t help much assist them to build up the rich stock of vocabulary.  This they have to do on their own through reading extensively.

To acquire as rich a stock of vocabulary means that they must know how to pronounce every word in sight.  That means they must know Phonics and have the whole view of the vowel and consonant speech sounds at their disposal.  In this way, they can check the speech sounds of any word which they are in doubt.  Knowing the pronunciation means that they can remember the sounds of the words and their forms to keep them in the long term memory.

So, teaching grammar and pronunciation are the must thing to do to prepare students for independent learning all through their life. 

Check how schools in Malaysia take grammar and pronunciation seriously.   How many schools allocate at least one period solely for grammar?   For pronunciation, as long as there are reading aloud of English passages in each period, it is sufficient. 

Always remember the theory of input and output /exposure to acquire a language.  We are only born with the faculty to learn languages but to acquire a language, especially the second language that really require some deliberate efforts to achieve the goals.

Teaching and learning English as a second language successfully means that we have to take all these 4 factors into consideration, ie,

1.  How to inspire students to become interested in the language

2.  Teaching and learning materials must be well-planned/structured to 
     help students  to acquire the knowledge of grammar and 
     pronunciation 

3.  Teachers must be proficient enough.  That means they are 

      well-versed in grammar and pronunciation as well as having a really 
      rich stock of vocabulary.

4.  The examination contents must have the Grammar which should carry 

      as high as 30% to make everyone take it seriously. 

 If you are still in doubt, I recommend you to refer to Singapore, our Bakun dam-sized neighbour, who has a really well-developed/structured English teaching and learning syllabuses for both the primary and secondary schools as far as I know.  

 Or ask around those English tuition schools here in Malaysia, they know best and reap the profit, too to upgrade the language skills of the students.  It is win-win for the English language schools and the students when the ministry of education fails all the way through in implementing English language teaching and learning properly and successfully.

Here I would like to stress how important grammar is:  no matter how bright your ideas are if they are presented with a lot of grammatical mistakes, do you feel comfortable as a reader with the report/ article?  Or if your speech is full of grammatical errors / you speak the variations of English far from the standardised one, be it UK, USA or Australian.  It is not your own created ones based on your non-English mother tongue.