{"id":4645,"date":"2009-07-08T21:49:20","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T13:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maddruid.com\/?p=4645"},"modified":"2011-10-31T17:18:50","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T09:18:50","slug":"2027-of-ppmsi-teachers-proficiency-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/?p=4645","title":{"rendered":"[2027] Of PPSMI and teachers’ proficiency in English"},"content":{"rendered":"

And so, after six years of going through the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (in Malay, Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris; PPSM<\/em>I<\/em>) in all primary and secondary public schools, it will come to an end in 2012.[1]<\/small><\/sup><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

As I have expressed earlier, I am of two minds about the policy<\/a>, with some bias towards English. But in order to continue the policy, it is important for the system to have teachers with proper English competency. Below is the first concrete data I have seen indicating that there are not enough teachers to support the policy.<\/p>\n

\"Fair<\/p>\n

I obtained the table from The Star<\/em>. I reproduce the full document (actually, it is an appendix to probably another document which is not in my possession)\u00a0here<\/a> for your perusal.<\/p>\n

The table indicates teachers’ proficiency in English in primary (red column) and secondary (blue column) schools. Assuming Aras 5 and 4 are classes which the teachers have respectable command of English as what I think the table is implying by separating Aras 5 and 4 from Aras 3, 2 and 1 with a thick line, it suggests that the policy of PPSMI needs to stop. It can only continue if the number of teachers with good command of English improves dramatically.<\/p>\n

I once had to sit through a couple of classes led by an instructor who was incapably of conversing in English intelligibly while at Michigan. Having an instructor like that proved to be a painful experience for me. So,\u00a0it certainly did not help me in acing the course. If I remember correctly, I stopped attending the instructor’s session to attend another session instructed by a native English speaker.<\/p>\n

I could imagine that the same difficulty I faced could be repeated in Malaysian public schools with one crucial difference: the students cannot switch classes, unlike me. They do not have a choice, if the teachers suck.<\/p>\n

And a whole lot of those teachers, as the table shows, suck.<\/p>\n

\"Mohd \"Mohd \"Mohd<\/p>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/a> \u2014 KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet has decided that the medium of instruction for Maths and Science will revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother-tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012 onwards.<\/small><\/p>\n

The reversal of the Teaching of Math and Science in English (PPSMI) policy will be done in stages, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Wednesday.<\/small><\/p>\n

He however added that there will be greater emphasis on learning the English language.<\/small><\/p>\n

English literature will be re-introduced, as will subjects on grammar and composition.<\/small><\/p>\n

Beginning 2012, students in Year One and Year Four in primary schools, and Form One and Form Four in secondary schools, will learn Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia.<\/small><\/p>\n

The change will not affect those in Form Six and Matriculation.<\/small><\/p>\n

The two subjects will be taught in two languages until 2014 for other students, he said.[Math and Science back to Bahasa, mother tongues<\/em><\/a>. The Star. July 8 2009]<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so, after six years of going through the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (in Malay, Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris; PPSMI) in all primary and secondary public schools, it will come to an end in 2012.[1] As I have expressed earlier, I am of two minds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[110,338],"class_list":["post-4645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-language","tag-ppsmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4645"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4649,"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions\/4649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maddruid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}