Malaysia: teaching science and technology in English?

[Harold Schiffman]

The government's decision to revisit (and most likely do away with)
the current teaching of science and mathematics in English is an
instructive example of how an otherwise sensible policy could easily
be discredited and then abandoned because of poor execution.  Had
there been better planning, many of the problems encountered could
have been readily anticipated and thus avoided, or at least reduced.
The policy would then more likely to succeed, and thus be accepted .
Ironically, only a year ago a Ministry of Education "study" pronounced
the program to be moving along "smoothly," with officials "satisfied"
with its implementation.  Now another "study" showed that there was no
difference in the "performance" (whatever that term means or how they
measure it) between those taught in Malay or English. The policy was
in response to the obvious deficiencies noted in students coming out
of our national schools:  their abysmal command of English, and their
limited mathematical skills and science literacy.  They carry these
deficits when they enter university, and then onto the workplace.

The results are predictable.  These graduates are practically
unemployable.  As the vast majority of them are Malays, this creates
tremendous political pressure on the government to act as employer of
last resort.  Accommodating these graduates made our civil service
bloated and inefficient, burdened by their deficient language and
mathematical abilities. This longstanding problem began in the late
1970s when Malay became the exclusive language of instruction in our
public schools and universities.  Overcoming this problem would be a
monumental undertaking The greatest mistake was to underestimate the
magnitude of the task, especially in overcoming the system's inertia.
Today's teachers and policy makers are products of this all-Malay
education system.  Change would mean repudiating the very system that
had produced them, a tough sell at the best of times.

In their naivety, ministry officials convinced themselves that such
enormous obstacles as the teachers' lack of English fluency could
easily be overcome by enrolling them in short culup (superficial)
courses that were in turn conducted by those equally inept in English.
 Or by simply providing these teachers with laptops programmed with
instructional modules! Even if we had had the best talents devoting
themselves exclusively to implementing the policy, the task would
still be huge.  Unfortunately we have Hishammuddin Hussein as Minister
of Education shepherding the change.  An insightful innovator or an
effective executive he is not.  Being simultaneously an UMNO Youth
Chief, he was also distracted in trying to pass himself off as the
champion of Ketuanan Melayu. These factors practically ensure the
initiative's failure.  The tragic part is that the burden of the
failure falls disproportionately on the rural poor, meaning Malays, a
point missed by these self-professed nationalists.  I would have
thought that that alone would have motivated them to succeed.

A Better Way

Teaching science and mathematics in English would solve two problems
simultaneously.  One, considering the critical shortage of textbooks,
journals, and other literature in Malay, teaching the two subjects in
English would facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge by our
students.  With the exponential growth of new knowledge, it would be
impossible to keep up solely through translations, even if we were to
devote our entire intellectual resources towards that endeavor. The
other objective was to enhance the English fluency of our students.
Of course if that were the only consideration, there are other more
effective ways of achieving it, like devoting more instructional hours
to the subject. If, as the recent Ministry's "study" indicates, there
is no difference in performance between those taught in Malay or
English, that in itself would favor continuing the program because of
the twin benefits discussed earlier.  Besides, changing course
midstream would not only be disruptive but also counterproductive.
Our educational system needs predictable stability and incremental
improvements, not disruptive U-turns and faddish changes, especially
in response to political pressures.

A more important point is this.  Altering a politically pivotal and
highly emotional public policy requires careful preparation and
deliberate execution.  If I were to implement the policy, this is what
I would do.  Lest readers think that this is hindsight wisdom on my
part, rest assured that I had documented these ideas in my earlier
book, long before the government even contemplated the policy. Being
prudent, as we are dealing with our children's and nation's future, I
would begin with a small pilot project, analyze the problems, correct
the deficiencies, and only then expand the program. First, I would
implement the policy initially only at primary and selected secondary
schools, like our residential schools.  The language requirements as
well as the science and mathematical concepts at the primary level are
quite elementary, and thus more readily acquired by the teachers.  And
at that level the pupils would not have to unlearn much as everything
would still be new.

In schools where the background English literacy level of the pupils
is low as in the villages, I would have the pupils take English
immersion classes for a full term or even a year.  We had earlier
successful experiences with this with our Special Malay Classes and
Remove classes.  This strategy has also been tried successfully in
America for children of non-English-speaking immigrants.  Another idea
I put forth in my earlier book is to bring back the old English
schools in such areas.  As the Malay literacy level in the community
and at home is high, these pupils are unlikely to "forget" their own
language.

At the secondary level, our residential schools get the best students
and teachers.  Consequently the program could be more easily
implemented there as the learning curve would be steep, and mistakes
more readily recognized and corrected.  Once the kinks have been
worked out, expand the program. Second is the issue of teachers.
Fortunately Malaysia has two large untapped reservoirs of talent:
recently retired teachers trained under the old English-based system,
and native English speakers who are either spouses of Malaysians or
residents of this country.  Given adequate compensation and minimal of
hassles, they could be readily recruited. I would add other incentives
especially if they were to serve in rural areas where the need is most
acute.  Thus in addition to greater pay, I would give them first
preference to teachers' quarters.

A permanent solution would be to convert a number of existing
teachers' colleges into exclusively English-medium institutions to
train future teachers of English, science, and mathematics.  As the
present teacher-trainees have limited English fluency, I would begin
admitting them right away in January following their leaving school in
December of the preceding year. From that January till the regular
opening of the academic year (sometime in July), these trainees would
undergo intensive English immersion classes where their entire 24-hour
day would be consumed with learning, speaking, thinking, and even
dreaming in English.  With the subsequent three years of additional
instructions exclusively in English, these graduates would then be
fully fluent in English.

With such quality programs, these graduates would be in great demand
within and outside their profession.  With their heightened English
facility and mathematical competency, their educational opportunities
would also expand as they could further their studies anywhere in the
English-speaking world.  With such bright prospects, these colleges
would have no difficulty recruiting talented school leavers.  Our
teaching profession would also be enriched with the addition of such
talents.

As for textbooks, there is no need to write new ones.  The contents of
these two subjects are universally applicable.  Meaning, textbooks
written for British students would be just as suitable for Malaysians,
so we could select already available books.  With its purchasing
clout, the government could drive a hard bargain with existing
publishers. I hope Ministry of Education officials, including and
especially Hishammuddin, would heed these factors when they review the
current policy.  They should continue the current policy, correct the
evident errors, and strengthen the obvious weaknesses.  The success of
this policy would also mean success for our students, and our nation.
That is a worthy pursuit for anyone with ambitions to one day lead the
nation.

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