Need for more routes to teach English

THE standard of the English language in the country has deteriorated to an alarming level. The government’s previous and recent attempts have not brought about positive results.

It is indeed good to know that there are citizens voicing out their concerns about its shameful state as there is no denying that it is indeed a universal language.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Dri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister had said there would be renewed emphasis on improving the quality of teaching and learning of the English language.

Being an English teacher for almost two decades and and having served in rural schools, I can say that the inability of our students to speak good English can be attributed to many factors.

I realised from the beginning that not all that was taught at the teacher training college could be applied in class.

The early years of teaching English was the toughest time of my life.

I could not apply the teaching theories or methods that I learnt in the situations I encountered in class most days.

There was much stress and frustration about the entire education system and I felt like giving up.

However, being in a classful of interesting children and the passion to nurture and impart knowledge to the young ones, made me persevere.

Over the years, I’ve realised that it is about forging a relationship with the students — taking time to listen and learn about the environment they come from.

Although I used the syllabus as a guide then, I realised that I had to tap the potential of the students to the fullest, if they wanted to master the language.

It was not an easy task and it took me many years to learn how to teach students to acquire basic communicative skills in the English language.

I now know that there are other aspects such as accent, slang and jargon that are equally important.

For example a child from Kelantan has a different way of pronouncing English words as the dialect and accent interfere with the way they speak. Is there a rule for speaking standard English?

What about a student who speaks good English but with a Negri Sembilan accent?

Children tend to pick up the dominant language spoken at home.

Then there is also the issue of using Malaysian English in the classroom and even code-switching (where Malay is used to explain instructions during an English lesson). There are conflicting views about the issue.

I remember how some of my fellow teacher trainees with C5 or C6 at SPM level, struggled throughout the Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) course in college.

In my opinion, any candidate opting to pursue a TESL course should have a distinction in English.

This is not all, they should also be made to sit for a compulsory oral and written test before they are selected for the programme.

There was news recently that English teachers who were weak in language might be sent overseas on an exchange programme to take up TESL.

There was also talk that bringing in foreign professionals for help would help raise the standard of the language in the country.

I see no reason for such plans. There are many retired lecturers and teachers who are English experts in our country.

They should be hired to train these teachers as they would have a better understanding of the mindset of the teachers and the culture.

One must realise that culture, language and the way a language is acquired is different in every country.

What works in America may not work here! This is another key issue that needs to be addressed.

While many of the above issues have been debated upon, there is a real need for more exploration and reflection and how to develop and organise pedagogies to help students.

The cultural underpinnings of language curricula and teaching must be examined further to suit students in rural and urban areas. These are two cross roads that need to be addressed.

Teaching English to students who come from English-speaking backgrounds is different than teaching those in rural schools.

From my experience, I find that the students from rural schools are only exposed to the language for about an hour during English lessons every day.

If we want changes in the proficiency level among students, teachers need to engage their students dialogically across ethnic, religious and cultural structures, as well as the education system itself.

The challenge is to find ways to create awareness among students on the importance of mastering the English language and being a marginally proficient speaker of English.

It is commonly acknowledged that both learners and teachers need preparations for a successful learning session in the classroom.

English teachers need to improve themselves academically so that they can be dynamic teachers of the language.

We need to overcome the barriers mentioned above.

More importantly, our attitude and patterns of thought should be positive, even though there has been a serious deterioration in the standard of English.

We need to keep on making concrete moves to improve the standard of English.

There are limits to self-understanding that makes it difficult for us to overcome the barriers, but all these efforts will bear fruits of success.

ANNE MALAR SELVARAJ,

Negri Sembilan