By THAASHAA DIVEENA
The inclusion of English in the Malaysian education system is seen as a significant contributor to the country’s growth, both nationally and internationally. However, some key areas pose major issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Over the years, the English language has held a profound significance in the multi-ethnic tapestry of Malaysia, as it gained its prominence during the British colonial rule. Malaysia inherited English as a lingua franca alongside Bahasa Malaysia, thus serving as the medium of instruction across various schools and universities.
The legacy of this beautiful language continued post-independence, with strong aspirations for academic success and international connectivity. With time, more English-medium institutions proliferated within the nation, thus making the impact of the language much more prominent.
With this, there is a concern: Are we doing enough to strengthen this impact holistically on a long-term basis, especially for the educational community and our education system?
According to the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025), bilingual proficiency is one of the six essential qualities every student needs to equip within themselves, in order to shape them into individuals of a greater calibre. It also happens to be one of the 11 shifts needed to completely revolutionise our nation’s education system, in which our Ministry of Education (KPM) also encourages students to learn an extra language.
“Every child will be, at minimum, operationally proficient in Bahasa Malaysia as the national language and language of unity, and in English as the international language of communication. This means that upon leaving school, the student should be able to work in both a Bahasa Malaysia and English language environment. The Ministry will also encourage all students to learn an additional language.” – Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025)
The Literacy and Numeracy Screening (LINUS) programme was introduced by KPM in 2010. Eventually, LINUS 2.0 came to life as an expansion of the initial LINUS programme, and English literacy has since been included in it.
Traditionally, LINUS was made to determine the reading and writing skills for younger pupils from Year 1 to Year 3 in Phase 1 of Malaysia’s national primary school education system. However, I do have to point out that true English literacy consists of all the language skills, which are, reading, writing, listening, speaking, and language arts.
This means that the LINUS programme should incorporate all the skills required in English literacy, such as decoding, phonological awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and awareness of print.
Tests under this programme should be designed in such a way where all skills are applied. I strongly suggest adding elements that actually focus on these skills. Comprehension tests and guided writing tests with a word limit can be incorporated. Spelling tests, dictation tests and simple oral tests can be thrown in to the mix.
To make things interesting, give pupils a storytelling test, a poetry recital test, or even a play. Make these elements compulsory for each student, to better assess their overall literacy. As Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” So why not paint with broad strokes?
Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (PBS) was first introduced by KPM in 2011 for all primary school students, and in 2012 for all secondary school students across Malaysia. Meanwhile, in 2014, for all lower secondary school students, PT3 was introduced as the replacement examination for Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR).
As time passed, both the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) examinations were abolished in April 2021 and June 2021 respectively. PBS has since been reintroduced as a substitute for UPSR and PT3, making it the main form of assessment for upper primary students and lower secondary students.
I was one of the students who sat for the first batch of PT3 when it was first introduced in 2014. Prior to that, in 2012, to be exact, the older format of the PBS system was introduced to us.
I recall my batchmates and I struggling to meet its unrealistic standards. This was due to the confusing elements involved, such as the Band 1 to Band 6 segregation, with Band 1 being the lowest score and Band 6 being the highest score, and the “evidences” like B1 DL1 E1. What does that even mean?
Eventually, when PT3 was introduced, the PBS system was put to a halt, and everyone around me started running around like headless chickens. Now that things have changed, I believe that PBS is not the best way to evaluate academic progress.
The educational community is clearly struggling to maintain promising scores. Therefore, I have a few suggestions that can potentially benefit everyone, which will ultimately make our education system much more refined.
KPM should reintroduce the UPSR and PT3 examinations in the system. Contrary to popular belief, exams in general, including the ones I mentioned, serve a long list of benefits.
From being an excellent way to gain knowledge, to academic progress assessment, to even policy formulations, the examination system really caters for everyone, including students, teachers, parents, schools, educational agencies and even the Education Ministry.
Holistically, exams provide quality assurance with its transparency in student evaluation. They create an integrated feedback system, making it effortless to compare our education system with other countries across the globe, paving the way for any improvements if deemed necessary.
When it comes to English for UPSR and PT3 exams, adhere to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and cater to each student. Redesign the curriculum with holistic learning objectives that actually work. Fine-tune the formats of these exams whilst preserving the older ones too. This can help ease teaching and learning of English, making students thoroughly well-skilled.
Now that I have shed some light to the situation, let us look at the other end of the spectrum in part 2 of my article tomorrow.
- Thaashaa Diveena is currently pursuing a degree in Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) and is based in Kuala Lumpur. She offers online English classes for national school syllabus students.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
