Cambridge English Evaluates Learning, Teaching And Assessment Of English In Malaysian Schools

From Khairdzir Md Yunus

LONDON, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Cambridge English, an expert in language assessment in United Kingdom (UK), has been commissioned by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of learning, teaching and assessment of English language in Malaysian schools from pre-school to pre-university.

Deputy Director-General of Education (Policy and Development, MOE) Datuk Amin Senin said Cambridge English was commissioned to undertake the study in May last year.

It was expected to be completed by the end of this month while the findings and recommendations were expected to be submitted to the government in April next year.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is in London for a three-day visit to the UK beginning January 21, is scheduled to be briefed on the preliminary report on "The Baseline Project: Measuring English Language Standard and Establising and evidence-based base line for Malaysian schools."

Amin said Cambride English would be meeting Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister on Tuesday (Jan 21) and would brief him on the report.

Cambridge English Language Assessment proposed to MOE on January 21, 2013 and was asked to do a comprehensive evaluation of the learning, teaching and assessment of English language in Malaysian schools from pre-school to pre-university.

The proposal was presented to and endorsed by the MOE top managemen on May 8, 2013.

The objectives of the study are to strengthen, promote and develop cooperation in English Language education to ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English Language as endorsed by the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

The base line study is a platform to benchmark the standards of English language in Malaysian schools according to international standards.

The findings from this study will enable MOE to set realistic and achievable targets for future learning and teaching and will also provide baseline data which it can use to monitor and evaluate whether future set targets are met and whether any future education reform is working as intended.

Amin said the study will measure English language proficiency of students from year 1 to year 6. It will also measure the teaching abilities and practices in schools.

The study will review current assessment practices by analysing current examinations, test specifications, mark schemes and recent examination results at end-of-school, end of primary school (Year 6), end of lower secondary (Form 3), end of upper secondary (Form 5 and end of Form 6).

It will also analyse the current english language curricula, teaching guides, teaching materials, current examinations and recent examination data.

Asked whether the outcome and recommendations of the study would cause major adjustment and aligment to the current education policy, Amin said he did not think so.

-- BERNAMA

GAPENA tolak rayuan Dr Mahathir untuk kembalikan bahasa Inggeris

Mahathir Appeals For Teaching Of Science And Mathematics In English

PETALING JAYA, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today reiterated his appeal for the teaching of science and mathematics be in English.

He said science and mathematics were now the most important knowledge Malaysians must have if Malaysia wished to make progress and become a developed nation.

"May I once again appeal for the teaching of science and mathematics be in English. Let us be realistic. Malay is not yet the language of science and mathematics."

Dr Mahathir said this in his keynote address at the 2nd International Conference on Teacher Education in the Muslim World organised by the International Islamic University Malaysia, here, Tuesday.

He said if Malaysians did not have a good command of English, especially in science and technical subjects, they would not be able to keep up with advances taking place in this field all the time.

"Students will not be employable even. Most of the jobless graduates are not proficient in English. It would be sad if students do well in school but they are rejected for employment because of poor or inadequate command of English."

Dr Mahathir said Malaysians needed to be pragmatic. "The language nationalists may think that nationalism is about being able to speak the national language well and that's wrong.

"Nationalism is about becoming successful in all fields of life, being able to contribute towards the growth and development of your country and your race, being respected and admired by others, being leaders in whatever field you enter and being able to stand tall. That is true nationalism," he added.

Later, at a press conference, Dr Mahathir said he found the government not interested in science and mathematics be taught in English.

He said science evolved all the time with new research done and new knowledge discovered, and the unexpected introduced but 98 per cent of the research papers were written in English.

"If students don't study science and mathematics in English, it would be difficult for them to catch up with the developments and be competitive for Malaysia to become a developed nation.

"I am a Malay. I love my language but the knowledge acquired by my people is priority for me so that we don't lag behind and unable to compete with others.

"Being able to speak Malay is not enough if you don't have the knowledge. There's rapid advancement in knowledge but the Malays will not be able to keep up as the knowledge does not come in the Malay language," he said.

-- BERNAMA

Deathbed theory dreamt by an Indian maths genius is finally proved correct - almost 100 years after he died

• Theory came to Srinivasa Ramanujan in a dream on his deathbed in 1920 - but has never been proved
• Discovery could now be used to explain the behaviour of parts of a black hole

Researchers have finally solved the cryptic deathbed puzzle renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Ramanujan claimed came to him in dreams.

While on his death-bed in 1920, Ramanujan wrote a letter to his mentor, English mathematician G. H. Hardy, outlining several new mathematical functions never before heard of, along with a hunch about how they worked,

Decades years later, researchers say they've proved he was right - and that the formula could explain the behaviour of black holes.

'We've solved the problems from his last mysterious letters,' Emory University mathematician Ken Ono said.

'For people who work in this area of math, the problem has been open for 90 years,'

Ramanujan, a self-taught mathematician born in a rural village in South India, spent so much time thinking about math that he flunked out of college in India twice, Ono said.

Ramanujan's letter described several new functions that behaved differently from known theta functions, or modular forms, and yet closely mimicked them.

Functions are equations that can be drawn as graphs on an axis, like a sine wave, and produce an output when computed for any chosen input or value.

Ramanujan conjectured that his mock modular forms corresponded to the ordinary modular forms earlier identified by Carl Jacobi, and that both would wind up with similar outputs for roots of 1.

Ramanujan, a devout Hindu, thought these patterns were revealed to him by the goddess Namagiri.

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Ramanujan claimed the patterns in numbers were revealed to him by a Hindu goddess

Ono and his colleagues drew on modern mathematical tools that had not been developed before Ramanujan’s death to prove this theory was correct.

'We proved that Ramanujan was right,' Ono says.

'We found the formula explaining one of the visions that he believed came from his goddess.'

The team were also stunned to find the function could be used today.

'No one was talking about black holes back in the 1920s when Ramanujan first came up with mock modular forms, and yet, his work may unlock secrets about them,' Ono says.

A highlight of working on a film about Ramanujan's life was getting to browse through some of the Indian master's original notebooks, said Ken Ono, right

'Ramanujan's legacy, it turns out, is much more important than anything anyone would have guessed when Ramanujan died,' Ono said.

The findings were presented last month at the Ramanujan 125 conference at the University of Florida, ahead of the 125th anniversary of the mathematician's birth on Dec. 22nd.

MCA wants English for Mathematics and Science in selected schools

KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said that secondary schools must be given a memorandum to decide if they want to teach mathematics and science in English (PPSMI).

The party’s announcement today is bound to be contentious as the federal government had decided to abolish PPSMI two years ago.

“Parents should have a choice to select the medium language for these subjects in schools where they have adequate teachers who profess in English to teach Mathematics and Science subject,” he told reporters during a press conference at party headquarters.

In 2009, MCA had proposed to the cabinet to maintain teaching science and mathematics in English at secondary school level and suggested that the two subjects should be taught bi-lingual if needed.

The government recently announced that Year One pupils in primary schools will stop learning mathematics and science in English from this year while Primary Year Four, First Formers and Fourth Formers would revert to Bahasa Malaysia next year.

“We should adopt a more forward looking perspective with regards to education instead of taking the retrogressive approach in opposing the use of English.

“The teaching of the two subjects in English should be allowed to continue, especially in select urban schools where there is already a demand for it,” he said.

He said that acceptance of English as a medium among urban youths is higher as they are able to look beyond race and religion.

He added that any change of policy to revert to Bahasa Malaysia would affect everybody especially the Chinese community, where many are mono-lingual.

“We need to nurture more Malaysians to be multi-lingual and are good not just in Bahasa Malaysia but also in English and Mandarin,” he said.

Dr Chua said that a person’s race is not determined by language but instead English would give an edge in highly competitive globalised society.

“It is the language to reach out to innovation, technology, science and a host of other knowledge and if we cannot access to such information of progress, we would definitely lag behind,” he said.

He denied that the it will be seen as flip-flopping if t allows the use of English to teach the two subjects, stressing that government decision should reflect the wishes of the people

Pro-English lobby group admits could lose battle to politics

Page chairman Datin Noor Azimah said the pro-English lobby will continue to struggle despite the forum’s poor response tonight. – Pic by Ooi Jia Lee

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 – A pro-English lobby group finally admitted today it was fighting a losing battle in its bid to get Maths and Science taught in the English language (PPSMI) again, blaming its likely defeat on government politics.

The Najib Administration, they noted, had ignored their pleas over the past two years, as its decision to reverse the PPSMI policy was a “political move” designed to help Barisan Nasional recoup its loss of rural Malay votes in Elections 2008.

Admitting that the struggle had nearly reached a dead-end, Parent Action Group for Education (Page) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim even suggested today that the group call it a day.

This was following the lukewarm response Page received at a forum here tonight where only 50-odd individuals turned up to discuss the issue, showing signs that its long drawn-out struggle had run out of steam.

The forum, held at the Malaysian Bar Council’s auditorium which has a seating capacity of about 200, is Page’s third in an ongoing nationwide campaign to pressure the government into changing its policy.

When addressing the crowd this evening, Noor Azimah expressed her disappointment at the poor turnout.

“We speak about blasting (promoting) this out through the internet and all that, and we blasted for today but look at what we have.

“We did blast and blasted for a week so if this is an indication of the so-called tsunami we hope to achieve ... I think we should throw in the towel,” she said.

Her suggestion met with protest from participants but the crestfallen Noor Azimah pointed out that, “It has already been two years, you know.”

“And it’s not that people do not know about us. The media has given us fantastic support ... some politicians even envy me because I get more media coverage than they do,” she said.

The Page forum received a lukewarm response. – Pic by Ooi Jia Lee

Page activists and members conceded during the forum that the major stumbling block in their fight was politics and in their decision to avoid using violence and aggression to achieve their goals.

During the discussion, one parent complained about the lacklustre response the group was receiving and suggested that it uses more “kurang ajar” tactics to have its arguments heard.

“Look at the “Interlok” issue. Perhaps we may need to start burning books and demonstrating too so that the government hears us,” said the agitated parent.

But Noor Azimah insisted that Page’s fight was for the education rights of children, adding that as role models, it was important not to resort to such tactics to win support for their cause.

She told The Malaysian Insider later that despite the response, Page had no choice but to press on with its campaign until the government agreed with its views on the issue.

“We just have to press on, I guess. It is very difficult ... it has been two years. But giving up is not an option yet.

“We have to continue for the sake of the children,” she said.

She added that the group also did not plan to beat the administration at its own political game by engaging with the opposition, pointing out that it was their belief that politics should be kept out of the education system.

“I do not know. Maybe we do have to burn some books. As much as we want to remain proper ... if we are pushed to the point of desperation, we might just have to do so.

“But yes, it would not be right and this is probably as assertive as we can get,” she said, noting that the group would present its sixth memorandum to the Prime Minister’s office this Wednesday in Putrajaya.

Noor Azimah admitted that several opposition politicians from PKR and DAP had approached Page offering assistance, but the group had declined.

“I think it would just drive the ruling government away. We have offers from DAP and PKR but we decided to stay away from them.

“We know some politicians from Umno agree with us but they daren’t speak out because of their political positions.

“So who? There is no political party siding with us for real and this is our folly but political parties are all racial ... we are not. We are Malaysians and we are very much on our own. They only back racial groups,” she lamented.

Parent Lee Hui Seng believes Page needs a more aggressive approach. – Pic by Ooi Jia Lee

When asked if she felt Page’s struggle was a “losing battle”, Noor Azimah agreed.

“Yes it does seem that way but the reason why we are continuing is because we feel that the decision made by the government was flawed.

“And look, UPSR and PMR results have improved and I am sure this will be reflected in the SPM results in March too.

“We have told teachers that they have done a good job but the government is still not budging,” she said.

During the forum earlier, panellists argued that Malaysian legislation provided for the use of English as a medium of instruction in schools, adding that it was not deemed unconstitutional.

Universiti Teknologi Mara Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi cited Article 152 of the Federal Constitution which states that while Bahasa Malaysia should be used for all official purposes, it was not unlawful to use English as a substitute for the same purpose.

“I am sorry but it is true that it does not say the same for other languages like Tamil or Mandarin. But English can be used.

“Similarly, Section 17 of the Education Act also exempts any educational institution from using Malay as its main language. Now, all we are asking for is an option for two subjects,” he said.

Bank Islam Berhad chief executive officer Junaida Abdul Jalal told participants that when interviewing applicants for jobs, she was “appalled” to find many of those applying for managerial positions had a very poor command of the English language.

“In finance, a good proportion of the terminology is in English. I was a stockbroker, I worked in securities, stock options and so on; for example, when we have a document called the ‘naked warrant’, how do we translate that into BM?” she asked.

Apologetically, she added that the Malay language was very “shallow” and in any interpretation, it was simpler to understand terms in the English language.

“Even the Quran. It is easier to understand the English interpretation of the Quran than the BM.

Junaida Abdul Jalal described the Malay language as “shallow”. – Pic by Ooi Jia Lee

“This is reality and we have to do something about it,” she said.

Datuk Dr Sharifah Maimunah Syed Zin, formerly the director of Curriculum Innovation and Teacher Development in the Education Ministry, noted that the government had taken great pains to educate teachers on how to teach their students Maths and Science in the English language.

“We have done a lot. And I have met many teachers and they have admitted that their students are advancing well,” she said.

The group of panellists also agreed that the government’s decision to change the PPSMI back to the old system was purely a “political move”, meant to recoup its losses among the rural Malay community in Elections 2008.

In the government’s new policy, the medium of instruction for Maths and Science for Form One students will remain strictly in Bahasa Malaysia from next year.

For Standard One students this year, both subjects will also be taught strictly in Bahasa Malaysia.

“It is too bad that the silent majority is still in hiding. Many speak passionately about it but they only dare do it via email and SMS. They will not come out.

“I am not trying to advocate violence or demonstrations but ... we need to find other ways,” said Lee Hui Seng, a parent.

Page will proceed with its forums despite today’s poor turnout and will submit its sixth memorandum to the Prime Minister in Putrajaya at noon on Wednesday, when Cabinet meets.

It will also hold similar discussions in Batu Pahat, Kuching, Sabah and Sitiawan, over the next few weeks.