KUCHING: Many students have suggested that more informal approaches should be utilised in the learning of English.
According to Danny Pek Eng Leong, a second year Business Economics student at Unimas, one way to resolve the issue is through mentor-mentee programmes.
“For example, if a university or faculty held a debate competition in English, only a few students would take part because most others would not find it interesting,” he said.
He also commented that the informal approaches would make students interested in learning the language.
“In fact, if students themselves organise activities such as TED Talk, the participants would be those fluent in English, not the ones who struggle to speak it. But if an activity is related to entertainment, the attendance of students would be way higher,” he explained.
Belinda Chiong Swee Bing, 21, also emphasised that to improve one’s command of English, one must be interested in learning it.
“English is very important, but we have to realise that not everyone has the interest to learn it. For me, listening to English music and watching English movies can help raise my interest,” she said.
Another student, Siti Nor Mimi Suriyana, 23, admitted that she still struggles to improve her English proficiency and needs to make extra efforts to obtain her degree.
“As my English is very weak, I study harder to ensure that I can follow the lessons in class because all the lectures are delivered in English.
She also shared a few tips that she has used to practise English.
“I downloaded English audio dictionary. Like a small child, I listened to children’s stories in English and somehow I managed to raise my interest in learning the language.
“I also started to read English storybooks – the ones for secondary school students. Also, watching Korean TV dramas also helped me to understand English words through the subtitles,” she explained.
