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meiteoh

Talk about the falling standards of English...

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No wonder graduates today can't speak fluent/proper English...

Emphasis is mine.

As reported in The Star today,

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said he was surprised to learn that English was not a “must pass” subject for SPM and wanted public feedback on the matter.

The Education Minister said it was a revelation to him as he had always thought that it was a prerequisite since students had to learn English in school.

He said he was also shocked to learn that national schools no longer taught English grammar.

Muhyiddin said students were now merely learning communicative English.

“This means they are picking up the language for communication purposes only,” he said, adding that almost 70% of students who take English passed the subject.

I wonder where has this minister been for the past umpteen years. =.=

Of course students will pass the subject if the requirement is simple!!! Sheesh.

Just a point of interest, grammar is always ALWAYS a component in the syllabus when teaching/learning languages - or at least this was what I was told when I was hired to teach English to students here. Even children learning English in language schools have to go through learning grammar. You CANNOT learn a language without learning grammar.

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Talking about English is sooo important that a pass in Eng is a must in SPM. If that is the view of the gov., what is the hoo hah about teaching Maths and Science in Eng?

I believe many object to Eng being a 'must pass' in SPM because err... they are from the same ethnic group (you know what I mean). If it is made compulsory, many of them would have failed SPM.

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i always thought my English was bad. Well, I have very bad grammar. You would have realised that after few sentences I have written here. But kids nowadays have even worst command of English than me.....and mine is worst than my dad's. You get what I mean? Wait for a generation or 2, then Malaysians dun speak/write English anymore :ohmy:

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i'm not a deg holder or a diploma holder... i'm just studied up to form 6.

i know my english is terrible.. but i never know that my colleague who got diploma or degree

is worst than me...

they came to me ask me to spell cabinets, cupboard and etc which i think a primary school kids should know.

I really wonder how they got their deg/dip :ohmy:

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English is not a must pass subject in SPM ?? Oh i didnt know about this.

During my time (exactly 10 yrs ago), my English teacher did taught us grammar... both in primary school and secondary school. Now no more?

But then, once a while i will kepo my nephew and nieces's school books. The english that they are learning is quite advance for their level... both of them are in chinese school. And they have spelling test every week. In my opinion, the teacher is forcing them remember rather than understanding the words.

Is the syllabus different between SRK and SRJK ?

Side track to another subject. When i sit for my exam in Form 5, its a must to write in exact word (word by word) for Pendidikan Moral. For example, nilai nilai rohani. We have to write the full definition or things like that in the exact word from what is in the text book. So, people always memorize the wordings only. I cant memorize so i got a P7 for Moral in SPM.

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Moral was probably the worst subject I ever took. I did not find any value in memorizing the 96 nilai or what have you - only to regurgitate them out word by word in the appropriate scenarios given in the exam. That method of education was nothing more than learning phrases. Such a waste of my time. I studied enough to just pass the exam - I spent most of my other time revising for other noteworthy subjects like Biology, Chemistry etc.

Okay gripe over... back onto topic...

I don't remember not being taught grammar while at school, and as far as I know it was always in the syllabus. I still remember being taught the difference between Past Perfect Continuous Tense and Past Continuous tense, among others. I don't know if they have removed it from the syllabus though...

That said, you'd be surprised at the level of English in some English speaking countries. Most Aussies don't know the difference between your/you're, there/they/they're, to/too/two, of/off among many others. Weird is spelled wierd, and they use the phrase 'should of' instead of 'should have'! It's appalling when I look at my roomie's essay and they're littered with these misspellings/grammatical errors - and she's a native English speaker!

Sometimes I think the standard of Malaysian English is higher than those of native speakers - of course, it really comes down to the individual and how they apply themselves to learning the language.

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Yup, even when I was in school, we were told that Malay must be one of your pass subjects in order for you to get a cert. Meaning if you get 5 As but fail Malay, you have to retake Malay in order to get your SPM cert. It has always been like that - even during my parents' time (although I think they had to pass English as well).

Y'know what's funny about this report? The fact that NST published a totally different one, stating that people actually support the move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So which is which now?

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Y'know what's funny about this report? The fact that NST published a totally different one, stating that people actually support the move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So which is which now?

It depends on which type of 'people' the paper is referring to. Remember, Malaysia is a multi ethnic country

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:lol:

Yes I know but it doesn't mention that either unless I'd have to do the whole conspiracy theory-guesswork and draw my own conclusions. Hate newspapers that are race- or politcal-group segmented. =.=

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On the subject of Maths and science in Bahasa, with the govmen now firmly decided, the people are left with no choice. But our past PM still have something to say in his blog as it was he who decided, quite suddenly, to change the Maths and Science from BM back to English in 2003 as he felt that the graduates ( before 2003) were having difficulty in getting a job in the private sector as most could not converse comfortably in English during the interview or even write reports and letters in plain English.

So he put up voting poll on his blog, link below. If you have any kids or will have kids in the future, you may want to vote.

http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/

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I am very worried to look at the education system in Msia.

Once, all subjects were taught in English, and suddenly changed to Malay. Okay..., but they also cannot decide which to use, Bahasa Baku, Bahasa Melayu, then Bahasa Malaysia.., what next???

After the decline of standard due to teaching in Malay language, and back to English. BUT...., now changed back to Malay language to accomodate a segment of the nations (you-know-which).

Ai yooooooo...., can't they make up their mind what they want?? Cannot set the eyesight further for the nation future?? Want face or want better future to meet Wawasan 2020??

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My HB is disappointed with the decision but I'm no surprise with that.

Frankly speaking, our system is sxxk!! a while system A, a while system B! sigh and all those changes are just to cater them "ah hem" =P

I told my HB, if all subjects in local universities are using English then all subjects in school should be taught in English too. Anyway, this is their 'ah hem' decision which to benefit the 'ah hem' people, so us have to think of our children, I told HB we must teach the little one English since small and my plan is to send the little one (once reaching the age) to overseas and shall not return to this land.

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aishiteru, i can understand why ur colleague's english are worse than urs. I am also a deg holder, from a local uni. There was a mixture of english n malay in my uni. Even though gov said that all local uni are taught in english, but it is not true. My textbooks are all in english. But lessons were taught in Malay, my lecturers taught in Malay, yet some insist to obey gov's policy to teach in english. When it came to exam, some papers were in Malay, some in English.

Imagine during my first year, we were taught about Plants genetics. Sea cucumber in proper malay translation is gamat, yet lecture notes wrote it as timun laut. Lecturers said both is correct. :O

Then in my second year there was a compulsory subject for computer knowledge, we were force to learn in malay. Flash drive = pemacu kilat. motherboard=papan ibu. I don't know whether to laugh at myself or pity myself.

When it came to writing my final year thesis, primer (a sequence of gene specially constructed to initiate DNA replication) is called pencetus or primer (italicize in Malay) in Malay, is correct.

Forward primer = pencetus ke hadapan

Reverse primer = pencetus berbalik / ke belakang ???

Before i went to Uni, i could confidently talk to anybody in english, like ordering in McD, talking to sales promoter...but now, I only talk in malay or mandarin. I felt ashame for my english speaking now, which i do not know starting since when. When my uncle talked to me in english, i was amazed that i couldn't reply him in english like last time, then i talk in mandarin. I just lost my confident. I felt like I am a victim of our country edu system.

Beautifulgown,A lot of ppl is very disappointed in gov's decision to stop teaching sci n math in english starting 2012, including my husband and me. Speaking abt sending children to overseas, I couldn't bear leaving my family. Maybe send them to international school that can provide them "consistent" education.

Ya...So, that's what i want to say for now.

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I agree with what darlingangel said about Aussies. Their english is really horrible!!! I used to have a penpal when I was 12 and I always had trouble reading her english. Now that I'm living here I am definitely astounded at the standard of their english. They studied all subjects in english and even speak in english but their spellings are worse than a 4 yr old's. And they have slangs that don't make sense!

rachel : You have ben typing in english so I guess I'd say you should be confident in speaking as well because as what I see, your english isn't as bad compared to ones that I know. I think if you try conversing more in english it helps in building the confidence and your command in the language.

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Aiii...for once, I wish they'd have the RIGHT purpose in mind when it comes to making decisions that affect the lives of millions.

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The double-take culture again, right? They just don't get it. Definitely there will be a curve when something is initially implemented. Things will go downhill first as decisions are made and ajustments get underway. But after everything is adjusted, then only we can see results. Can't just base on a few years and saw the whole thing is a failure. It took the nation... what... 30-40 years to realize the current system is not good? My parents had it better. History was REAL world history. English was QUEEN'S English. Geography was WORLD geography. They had classics and stuff for literature. My own brother was one of the batches that started using calculators in early secondary level. Ask him to calculate simple stuff for supermarket purchases, takes him triple or longer the time I have to. No doubt no system is perfect. But people should improve rather than degenerate. Sadly... we know which direction we are taking. :ph34r:

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