Teaching of Maths & Sciences in English

[chenchow]

I scan through the thread over here in ReCom, and I realize we don't have any thread discussing this issue.

What do you think about the implementation of teaching maths and sciences in English?

Do you think it has helped fellow Malaysians in learning more up-to-date knowledge which is more widely available in English?

Do you think it has helped to gradually improve the command of English Language in the country?

Do you think that it has brought serious negative effects towards fellow Malaysians, especially those who are in rural area, where they lack the environment to speak English?

Should we continue with this policy?

In theory, the teaching of math & science in English is a very positive move for the following reasons. First, it would allow students to research information on the Internet & books. Second, it ease the transition between school & university (where most of the math & science materials are only available in English). Third, it would improve the overall command of the English language.

In practice, however, we just do not have enough teachers who are both competent in both English and Math & Science. In fact, I believe there is even a lacking of teachers who are competent in either subjects.

Here's a proposal. Allow JPA/government scholars to teach Math & Science in English in schools (till they serve the bond). That way, we'll have the present scholars inspiring the next-generation scholars to excel. Also, for the JPA scholars, they'll probably be more productive and contribute more to society by teaching than say working in a government bureaucracy.

[chenchow]

JPA do start sending some of the scholars to study abroad under their scholarships for courses like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, something they have just started. Education Ministry do have scholarships abroad too for courses related to Physical Sciences.

Nevertheless, I do agree with the proposal from prince regarding utilizing JPA scholars to teach in school. Perhaps, at a minimum level, they could bring the scholars back to teach at high school for 3 months during the summer. That could be a good start.

On the teaching of Maths and Sciences in English, I do see a gradual growing interest in English. More Malaysians are reading in English compared to a few years ago. Although we may not be able to see a complete improvement, I do think that there has been a larger pool of Malaysians who could write better in English, at least at urban areas.

[el_empty]

i don't think teaching math and sciences in english is enough. this does not give the kids a good command of english, but merely know *some* terms that are used for these fields. students need to be taught english grammar and structure, and literature as well. simply put, the kids need to learn to read, and read enjoyably.

walk into any malaysian library, and the most celebrated piece of english literature would be enid blyton or some sweet valley whatevers. point is, too little emphasis is put into making students learn to use the language critically.

in another perspective, some of you may know the great mathematician, s. ramanujan, who knew zero english before he went to the uk. not saying we should compare ourselves to the genius, but point is english is not the critical factor to excel in math, the sciences, or any other field.

[alamanda_star]

but point is english is not the critical factor to excel in math, the sciences, or any other field.

yeah..but I personally think that this "statement" just can be accepted if we're in japan or germany or even russia but not in Malaysia...The organisation like Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka is not doing a great job of translating those science and maths books which had been published in english or other language into bm. Thus, either we want or not, we must force ourselves to master that international language.

too little emphasis is put into making students learn to use the language critically.

the student itself must work on their self to improve their engish. If there is a will there is a will...remember?

I guess I like the idea of sending jpa scholar to teach in the rural school because from what I see from the practical teacher that had been sent to my school, their performance it's not up to our ( the students and the other teachers) expectation!And they even told us not to worry of getting D7 in add maths in the school examination because the gred for SPM is much lower!And they admit they got C5 for adm in SPM and now they're teaching us to get A1 in SPM?And from what i see there is a phenomena where for those who didn't get good result will choose to be a teacher because it's very easy to get a job in the future.

[mediator]

owh,i was discussing about this in the JPA/MARA interview...well i'll just continue here.i've stated my opinion that,like prince said,we simply lack teachers who're competent in both english and science/math....and it's no good ignoring that teachers are very important in making this newly implemented system succesful,esp for students in the rural areas,even in SBP,MRSM...they depend on school teachers a lot,mind you.

i'm sure the government realizes this too,since this time around,they do arrange eng courses for science n maths teachers.and i think prince's idea of allowing JPA/government scholars to teach math n science in eng in school is brilliant,though not that easy to be done...because,well firstly,the no. of 'teachers' will still be short,n what about the current teachers?hoho~...i don't know...i was thinking like they'll be jobless.

el_empty,i beg to differ.while teaching math and science in eng of course does not guarantee that the kids will have a good command in english,they will be able to familiarise themselves to the language--->they'll listen to eng more (during lessons,provided they have the 'competent' teachers of course),and they'll need to discuss with their friends too,this helps them to think more in eng n at the same time,improve their ability to converse in eng.so, i believe it's not just merely knowing some terms...

of course,this's when the lessons are done with motivation and enthusiasm...i mean,come on,there're kids who simply put themselves into difficult situation by not trying their best to adjust to the new system,right?and yeah,i think,using eng critically is not emphasized enough....personally,i myself am one good example of those typical malaysian students who read tons of storybooks... hehe..sigh,this needs to change,..

[el_empty]

familiarizing students with the language will only take you so far. we can't device a solution, such as this one, so that the students can merely 'familiarize' themselves with the language - and in a more specific sense, be able to identify the scientific terms in english. it's just half-hearted.

and pitting the students in a different language medium and hoping that they will discuss and converse in this medium is simply idealistic. students (people!) will converse in whatever they feel comfortable in, and have a tendency towards a natural self. a student who speaks, say, malay all the time, and english only during math and science, will *not* converse and revise his work with his friends in english, especially when he's with friends who, like him, spend the rest of their lives speaking only malay. the only way to do that would be to put a garang teacher next to them and supervise. that's just futile then...

point is, language is holistic. and so are our lives. and like life, language cannot be taught as a single entity on its own - it needs to come with varied experiences, and applied to all kinds of situations. hence if you want students to improve in math and sciences in english, you need to have them use english comfortably first.

if the objective is to improve students' command of english, then pursue a policy that allows them to learn it extensively.

if the objective is to improve students' level of math and science, then pursue a policy that allows that.

don't mix and match and arbitrarily assign a language for a particular field.

[theT]

i'm a bit skeptical on this implementation.

if government really wanna improve the standard of english among malaysian students, math & science are not the subjects. this is more like jump to an easiest option. Well, the way I see it, the government is all about science and technology. And yeah, a lot of malaysian students suck in english. So, why don't we make them take science and math in English. Isn't that a great idea?

Personally, i don't think those science and math teachers could care less about punctuation, subject-verb agreement, paragraphing, and other grammar related issue. Having math and Science in English is not pointless, just that it might improve a bit our level of english; i wouldn't even say proficiency. I see no logic how using english as a teaching method for math and science can improve our proficiency in english.

More appropriate subject to implement english would be those subject which requires short essays (i.e Geography, History, Moral and Agama). At least for these subjects, we can see how well a student can write. Also, I think it would be beneficial if the student would have to study more english literature. I remember back in my days, I only have to learn some poetry and read "the pearl." I don't think that's enough.

We should at least have more than 5 novels ranging from Old English (Shakespeare), New Classic English (Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Bronte's Sister, Fitzgerald, etc), and Contemporary English (Maxine Kingston Hong). I don't know if I have my classification right, but someone should get my point. That goes for poetry too. Also, I think class discussion is important. Instead of just teaching the class so everyone can get an A for SPM, the teacher can try having a discussion where the students have to think critically, beyond what is said in the reference book.

many might disagree when I say using english for math and science wouldn't bring that much benefit, but please understand my argument first before you want to say anything.

If you do not like prosa classic and you are forced to read 3 classical novel a year such as sejarah melayu, hikayat gul bakawali and hikayat hang tuah, would you like it?

no comment on current situation but for those who choose to adapt to this situation I suggest that you should read some scienctific NON-fiction book, be it inlogical like ghost partical or holographic universe.

Here?s a very good book that I wish to recommend you.

A Shoirt History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
It is an interesting book on physics, chemistry, Biology, geology etc.

have fun !

[alamanda_star]

I think when Dr. M first introduced this idea, he doesn't mean to improve the english among the student but he tried to improved the science and maths subject especially among the bumis.We won't realize it much when we're in secondary school or primary but when we go higher I guess learning Science and Maths in english sometime could be really usefull. As for me, I like to surf the internet to search for extra revision and frankly speaking sometime I guess it's really hard for me to understand if we don't know all the terms at the first place.

Personally, i don't think those science and math teachers could care less about punctuation, subject-verb agreement, paragraphing, and other grammar related issue

.

even in bm, I still don't care about it..I mean it won't affect ur marks.Thus, don't bother about it..man..