<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-post-title" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51,55,69);font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(243,243,243)"><h1 style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:"Open Sans","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:36px;margin:20px 0px 15px;line-height:46px;padding-bottom:15px;border-bottom:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1)">Edunation: English language proficiency still an urgent matter</h1></div><div class="gmail-content-first" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-bottom:20px;padding-bottom:10px;border-bottom:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);color:rgb(51,55,69);font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(243,243,243)"><div class="gmail-post-meta" style="box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;color:rgb(102,102,102);float:left"><span class="gmail-post-meta-user" style="box-sizing:border-box;float:left;margin-right:10px"><a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/author/Noor%20Azimah%20Abdul%20Rahim" style="box-sizing:border-box;background:transparent;color:rgb(164,164,164);text-decoration-line:none"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-author gmail-field-type-text gmail-field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-field-items" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-field-item even" style="box-sizing:border-box">Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim</div></div></div></a></span><span style="box-sizing:border-box;float:left;margin-right:10px">/</span><span class="gmail-post-meta-source" style="box-sizing:border-box;float:left;margin-right:10px"><a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/source/The%20Edge%20Malaysia" style="box-sizing:border-box;background:transparent;color:rgb(164,164,164);text-decoration-line:none"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-source gmail-field-type-text gmail-field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-field-items" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-field-item even" style="box-sizing:border-box">The Edge Malaysia</div></div></div></a></span><br class="gmail-clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box"><span class="gmail-post-created" style="box-sizing:border-box;float:left;margin-right:10px">May 25, 2019 11:30 am +08</span></div><div class="gmail-post-addthis" style="box-sizing:border-box;float:right;margin-top:5px"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-addthis-article gmail-field-type-addthis gmail-field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-field-items" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-field-item even" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-addthis_toolbox gmail-addthis_default_style gmail-addthis_32x32_style gmail-round" style="box-sizing:border-box"><a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/edunation-english-language-proficiency-still-urgent-matter#" class="gmail-addthis_button_facebook gmail-at300b" title="Facebook" style="box-sizing:border-box;background:transparent;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration-line:none;margin-bottom:5px;line-height:initial;float:left;padding:0px 2px;width:auto"><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;border-radius:20px;width:32px;height:32px;line-height:32px;background-color:rgb(59,89,152)"></span></a><a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/edunation-english-language-proficiency-still-urgent-matter#" class="gmail-addthis_button_twitter gmail-at300b" title="Twitter" style="box-sizing:border-box;background:transparent;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration-line:none;margin-bottom:5px;line-height:initial;float:left;padding:0px 2px;width:auto"><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;border-radius:20px;width:32px;height:32px;line-height:32px;background-color:rgb(29,161,242)"></span></a><a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/edunation-english-language-proficiency-still-urgent-matter#" class="gmail-addthis_button_whatsapp gmail-at300b" target="_blank" title="WhatsApp" style="box-sizing:border-box;background:transparent;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration-line:none;margin-bottom:5px;line-height:initial;float:left;padding:0px 2px;width:auto"><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;border-radius:20px;width:32px;height:32px;line-height:32px;background-color:rgb(77,194,71)"></span></a><a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/edunation-english-language-proficiency-still-urgent-matter#" class="gmail-addthis_button_linkedin gmail-at300b" target="_blank" title="LinkedIn" style="box-sizing:border-box;background:transparent;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-decoration-line:none;margin-bottom:5px;line-height:initial;float:left;padding:0px 2px;width:auto"><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;border-radius:20px;width:32px;height:32px;line-height:32px;background-color:rgb(0,119,181)"></span></a><a href="https://www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argin:0px 0px 20px">Kudos to the English Language Standards and Quality Council headed by Professor Zuraidah Mohd Don, who has been tasked by the Education Minister with raising the standard of English in this country to international levels through the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), overseen by CELA.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 20px">Parents as the stakeholders should at least be assured that there is some level of quality and standard. The Malaysia Education Blueprint’s target is for 70% of students to pass English with a credit by 2025, but to date, less than 30% have done so.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 20px">The debate now is whether or not there is a shortage of English language teachers. The National Union of the Teaching Profession says yes while the Education Ministry says no. By definition, an English language teacher is someone who has been trained to teach the language. Therefore, a teacher who is trained to teach another discipline but who is teaching the language anyway due to numerous reasons is not an English language teacher, or is he? An ingenious avenue called Program Intervensi Tambah Opsyen has been created where such teachers can also become accredited English language teachers if they meet the criteria, although there appear to be funding challenges.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 20px">The good news is that a third of English language teachers have achieved a minimum CEFR C1 effective operational proficiency. The rest are at CEFR B2, which is post-secondary student level. The bad news is that half of them still remain unscreened. Worse still, untrained English language teachers have not been screened either, which has led to a brouhaha over MUET (Malaysian University English Test) being an assessment tool.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 20px">The CEFR has been aligned with UPSR, PT3 and SPM English language. Its latest alignment with MUET will assess whether teachers (with some exceptions) have C1 effective operational proficiency (which will be the minimum proficiency level for all English language teachers by 2020) or C2 mastery, and if they have neither, whether upskilling is required. This cuts costs as funding remains a challenge. Maybe the Education Ministry could reconsider picking up the tab on MUET.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 20px">Nonetheless, there is an urgency with regard to English language proficiency. The burden on English language teachers is staggering and cannot be overemphasised. They need to be screened, assessed and accredited to ensure quality is achieved and a high standard is maintained. If we all put our minds together, imagine the impact that would have on the human and humane capital, helping turn Malaysia into the Asian tiger it once was — a formidable legacy that Mahathir is keen to leave behind for our nation.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 20px">On that note, Happy Teacher’s Day to all the cikgu-cikgu.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>