Malaysia: English a must to get ahead

[Harold Schiffman]

Wednesday December 12, 2007

English, a must to get ahead

By TAN SHIOW CHIN

SERI KEMBANGAN: Enabling young people to keep up with rapid advances
in science and technology is a pertinent objective of the English for
the Teaching of Mathematics and Science (ETeMS) policy. Former
Malaysia Airlines managing director and chief executive officer Tan
Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman made this point yesterday at the National
Colloquium on the Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English. "The
advances in computing and technology are changing every day, and those
changes are (happening) in English," he said after giving the keynote
address at the event organised by the Malaysian English Language
Teaching Association.

According to Abdul Aziz, ETeMS has two purposes: to ensure that
students are proficient in English, and to give them access to the
knowledge available in English.  "The second objective is very
pertinent, but the first objective is rather doubtful," he said.  "In
my own experience, the best way to learn English is by studying
English literature."  Many of the speakers at the colloquium agreed
that more time was needed for the successful implementation of the
policy. Education Ministry Curriculum Development Centre deputy
director Ali Abdul Ghani said: "If we talk about a complete cycle, it
will be six plus five – 11 years."

National Union of the Teaching Profession general treasurer Harry Tan
Huat Hock said that while the majority of teachers had accepted the
policy, the process of changing the medium of instruction from Bahasa
Malaysia to English was a painful one and more time was needed. Child
Health, Information, Learning and Development Centre founder trustee
Dr N. Iyngkaran and United Chinese School Committees Association of
Malaysia (Dong Jiao Zong) Examination Section director Assoc Prof Dr
Yoong Suan presented research findings which showed that young
children make better progress learning in their mother tongue than in
a second or third language.

The Star is the media sponsor for the event.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/12/12/nation/19735811&sec=nation
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