All-around support for English as teaching medium (copypaste)
KUCHING: English as a teaching medium in schools is a topic that has gone around the block several times in this country.
The failure of using English to teach science and mathematics remains a burning frustration among parents and students who had to live through that period.
In a recent interview, Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) president Prof Dr S Ganakumaran said the way forward is to use English for non-critical subjects such as civics, sport science and physical education.
But this is merely another facet of the lengthy debate on the poor standard of English among graduates.
UiTM Academy of Language Studies associate professor Dr Bromeley Philip said the obvious implication of having Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as the medium of instruction for more than four decades is the fact that many teachers are not proficient in English.
“To expect English to be used in other subjects like Physical Education would suggest that English teachers will have to teach the subject as well simply because there would not be that many teachers who are proficient in English.”
Continuing with BM as the medium of instruction will create a strong Malaysian identity but it doesn’t change the importance of mastering English.
“We must be receptive to the fact that English is an important global language that needs to be taught seriously in schools and universities, so that we can produce competent bilingual (BM & Eng) Malaysian speakers. English should be given special attention in schools; one way is to make it a mandatory pass in English for SPM candidates to pass the whole exam.”
Bromeley added that the status quo on English education in Malaysia is fine except that the Education Ministry perhaps should accord more teaching contact hours for English in schools.
“This is to immerse the students in English-based environment,” he said, adding that learning English or any other languages require positive and receptive attitudes, profound interest in English and high motivation to acquire English in all the four major skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.
“There shouldn’t be any hesitation, reluctance or laziness in using English among students; they must seize every opportunity to practise English in their daily routine, school or home. In my opinion, right attitude, deep interest and hard work accompanied by high motivation can guarantee one to master English.”
To Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) president Jisin Nyud, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored since it is the most common language spoken all over the world.
“Nowadays, with most of the subjects taught in Bahasa Malaysia, definitely students have less opportunities to speak English.”
He said English is only taught as a subject but not as a medium of instruction, with minimal opportunity to put it into practice during school hours.
For most Malaysians, English is considered a foreign language, especially when most have their own mother tongue to master, along with BM.
“Looking at the role that it plays internationally, I agree with the idea of schools reverting to English as the medium of instruction if we really want our generation to master the language. However, it needs a lot of planning and ground work. With the ministry’s effort to improve teachers’ proficiency in the language through workshops and courses, the students should be given more opportunity to use the language.”
The worry lies with students in the rural and interior areas, especially in Sarawak.
“For urban students, it is not so much a problem because they are exposed to the English speaking environment and some of them even speak English at home. Maybe it’s high time for us to look at the future of the younger generation and what would they become if we are no more in this globe. Can they compete with other players of the globe?”
He further pointed out that parents who are really concerned with the level of English seem to prefer schools using English in their daily communication and instruction.
“Even if it costs them more, they don’t really care. Another reason is parents want their children to excel in their studies when their children go for tertiary education or overseas.”
Cynthia Chin, Community Engagement and Education manager at WWF Malaysia, throws in her vote for English as a medium of instruction, but without neglecting other languages.
“The number of English-challenged graduates that I have had to deal with puts this country to shame. If we want to progress, we need to stop being insular and engage in the language that the rest of the world uses.”
Peggy Tan is a mother of two girls, aged four and eight.
Coming from a BM medium school, she told The Borneo Post that her English isn’t that good either, but she makes the effort to use it when speaking to her daughters.
“I bought storybooks in English for them and bring them to State Library every fortnight,” she said.
“I really hope to see English being used as the medium from primary school onwards. It is true that this needs to be done in stages as changing everything at the current syllabus now will be too heavy a burden for the education system, but subjects such as science, maths, history, and health are better in English.”
Not developing the English mastery of students will only hurt them when they get to institutions of higher learning.
“As you reach college and university, most references are in English. The current use of BM in most subjects can only further downgrade the quality of our graduates,” she said, adding that people probably cringe when interviewing local graduates.
As far as masters student Cheryl Frederick is concerned, this is all just talk.
Citing several recent articles on education reform and the use of English as a medium of instruction, she said the whole issue suffered from being used as a politicking tool.
Her brief but snappy response is a sentiment shared by the tired many.
“Whatever. You hear about this for ages and nothing happens.”
My comments:
Having
most subjects in English will expose students to the language. This is perhaps the best way to get familiar
with the structures and increase the stock of the vocabulary used in contexts
in different subjects.
Our
students as far as I know are poor in grammar and have poor stock of vocabulary
in hand. Besides, they seldom engage
themselves in the language use in speaking and writing. They have too little input in listening and
reading for the output in speaking and writing.
