Have two sessions for Aptis test

THE Education Ministry should be commended for initiating the Professional Upskilling of English Teachers (Pro-ELT) project, a training course conducted by the British Council in collaboration with the ministry in 2012.

The on-going course, which aims to raise the English language proficiency level of the teachers who are teaching the subject, has undoubtedly achieved the objective to improve English teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools in Malaysia.

The teachers have shown good disposition to gain new knowledge from the British trainers and e-moderators.

They are also fully committed to completing the year-long course that comprises 240 hours of face-to face training sessions and another 240 hours of online self-study.

The British academic staff are not only highly dedicated but also diligent in discharging the tasks that have been entrusted to them by the ministry.

The knowledge gained will greatly benefit the chargers when the teachers put into practice what they have learnt.

The first cohort of 5,000 teachers successfully completed the programme and can strongly attest to the benefits they have derived.

The article “Honing language skill” (The Star, July 6) reflects the improved confidence of speaking under the tutelage of the British trainers.

Another article “An inspiring experience” (The Star, Nov 16) is full of praise for the course that has helped to further hone their English language skills.

There are many other teachers who have certainly benefited from the training in one way or another.

The improvement of language proficiency is reflected in the Aptis test (an English assessment administered by the British Council). An impressive 76.4% of the 5,000 teachers advanced at least one band on the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR) scale, with the rest showing improvement but not good enough to be measured by the CEFR scale.

The achievement of the teachers will be better if Aptis test is conducted in two sessions, say speaking and listening in one session while writing and reading in another session, instead of a single session which lasts for three hours.

Due consideration should be given by the ministry as the second cohort of 9,000 teachers, of whom many are senior teachers, will be taking the Aptis test at the end of next month.

An achievement of C1 or C2 indicates the mastery of the language and it will definitely boost the morale and confidence of the teachers, besides raising their self-esteem among the teaching fraternity.

It is also in the interest of the stakeholders to expect better performance from the teachers since a lot of time, energy and resources have been invested in it.

Among them, the parents of the students will want their children to be taught by such teachers, and not otherwise.

TLL

Johor Baru