TOPIC 6: TEACHING AND LEARNING MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE IN ENGLISH

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TOPIC 6TEACHING AND LEARNING MATHEMATICS AND
SCIENCE IN ENGLISH
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QUESTION

• Does it really work?
• Discuss the challenges both teachers, students,
  and parents faced and give your suggestion

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Why our government implemented Science and Maths
in English?

• Science and maths are two dynamic fields which
  contribute to development,
• A great deal of information regarding science and
  math is available in English,
• To create early exposure, especially in these two
  critical subjects.
• The effects of globalisation on our education
  system

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• The policy was implemented in 2003.
• HOW?
• - Year 1 in all primary schools
• - (SK, SRJKT, SRJKC)
• - sekolah pendidikan khas (SPK)
• - Form 1 in all national secondary schools
  (SMK)- Form 6 in all national secondary schools
  (SMK)

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• 2004 English was implemented as the medium of
  instruction for all matriculation programmes.
• 2008 English was implemented for polytechnic
  institutions.
• 2003 the teaching of science and maths in
  English is based on the semi-system policy. It
  was introduced in
• - Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6,
• - Form 2, Form 3, Form 4, Form 5, Upper 6,
• - matriculation centres,
• - and polytechnic institutions.

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Semi-system policy

• Teachers were to choose certain topics (of the
  subject science and maths) to be taught in
  English.
• These priority was given due to the level of
  proficiency both teacher and student..

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Teaching and Learning Materials

• For teachers
• The new edition of lesson plan (sukatan
  pelajaran), which had been altered to suit the
  implementation.
• The description of lesson plan (sukatan
  pelajaran) was provided. The specification was
  focused on curricular.
• For students
• Text books
• Multimedia materials
• Students activity books

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Supportive measures

• Many supportive measures had been designed in
  order to enhance the learning process, for
  example
• Information technology facilities such as
  computer hardware and programme software.
• Multimedia appliances such as LCD projector and
  the screen.
• Educational television in English

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How did our government help to raise the
confidence among teachers

• Especially for those teachers who lack of
  self-confidence in using English.
• (1) They were given intensive English courses.
• (2) They were provided with virtual module and
  exercise through Internet.
• (3) They were also provided with the script and
  glossary lessons, for certain occasions.

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Examination

• The questions will be prepared in two languages
  English and mother tongues (Malay, Mandarin,
  Tamil), starting from 2003 to 2007.
• In this transition, students are able to choose
  any language to answer the examination questions,
  for a part or for the whole of the examination
  paper.

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• All students from national school, SRJK Tamil,
  and national secondary school are required to
  answer examination papers in English only,
  starting from the year 2008.
• - UPSR Year 2008- PMR Year 2008- SPM
  Year 2008- STPM and Matriculation centres
  2008

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What do we want from this policy

• To create the technocrat generation who
• Contribute to the development of our country.
• Competitive at the international level 

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• Have no working knowledge of the language.
• The grammatical errors made as they struggle with
  the language.
• Most of teacher is lack of proficiency in English
• Still using Bahasa Malaysia as a medium of
  instruction
• Still not sufficient numbers of qualified teacher

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• Teacher seem to be having more trouble coping
  with the switch in medium of instruction,
  compared to the students who studied the subjects
  in English.
• Some teachers just have closed minds and are not
  keen to learn anything new. They are so set in
  their ways that they do not know how, and do not
  wish to find out how, they can do things
  otherwise.
• Teachers cant cope with the number of students
  who do not have the proficiency in English.
  (especially in rural area)

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• Teacher cant even solve or give a constructive
  answer when prompted by students.
• Teacher does not know science and mathematics
  terms in English.
• Lack of teaching resources in rural areas.
• Teacher has to attend more courses.

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• From 181,340 teachers in primary school on 2004,
  approximately only 80,000 teachers teach maths
  and science and all of them only use Bahasa
  Malaysia as the medium of instruction since 1970.
• Research conducted by DBP-UKM on 2004 in 242
  schools all over the country are not ready to
  teach science and maths in English.
• Only 54.7 science teachers and 62.2 maths
  teachers can use English as the medium of
  instruction.
• Another research on 2004 has clearly shown that
  81 teacher wanted maths and science in BM, 72
  said that the achievement of students in science
  and maths will be excellent if they are taught in
  BM and 79 said that student will more focused if
  both of the two subjects are teach in BM.

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Tun Dr Mahathir told the UMNO General Assembly in
June 2002 that he understood the problem on not
having enough teachers who can teach in English.
Therefore, the policy is to use multi-media tools
such as LCD projectors, notebooks, computers and
software to deal with the problem, so that by
using these multi-media tools, the teachers and
students could learn English together.
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ETEMSENGLISH FOR TEACHING MATHEMATICS AND
SCIENCE
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• What is ETeMS?
• ETeMS has been proposed as a measure to ensure
  that teachers of mathematics and science (MST)
  will have basic capacity to use English as the
  medium of instruction.

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• The overall aim of ETeMS
• To enhance the English language skills of
  Mathematics and Science teachers to enable them
  to reach effectively using English as the medium
  of instruction.

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• BACKGROUND
• The policy to change the medium of instruction in
  the teaching of mathematics and science from
  Bahasa Melayu to English.
• It poses special challenges not only for teachers
  who have been trained in the Malay medium but
  also for those trained in English.
• In the immediate context, to derive maximum
  benefit from this innovation the MST would need
  to develop (or in some cases, reactivate) their
  English language proficiency in order to access
  the wealth of information on the subject area
  currently available in English texts.
• Additionally, the MST would need to develop the
  practical competence to deliver their subject
  matter in the language.

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• THE ETeMS PROGRAMME
• As a means of stimulating the professional
  development of the MST in the two areas mentioned
  above. The English Language Teaching Centre,
  Malaysia (ELTC) proposes an English language
  enhancement programme known as English for The
  Teaching of Mathematics and Science (ETeMS). The
  overall aim of ETeMS is as follows
• To enhance the English language skills of
  Mathematics and Science teachers to enable them
  to teach effectively using English as the medium
  of instruction

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• In developing the ETeMS programme the
  following assumptions are made
• The MST undergoing the ETeMS already possess the
  content area knowledge and the pedagogical skills
  relevant to their subject.
• The MST have, at the very least, a basic level of
  English language proficiency acquired through
  instruction received in their primary and
  secondary schooling ETeMS draws on these existing
  competencies to encourage the language
  development of MST in 3 broad areas.

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• A. Language for Accessing Information
• This component aims to enhance the information
  getting skills, especially through reading.
• These texts used will include content area
  topics, curricular materials such as syllabuses,
  handbooks etc. and texts dealing with
  methodological issues.
• It must be emphasized that the focus of
  instruction is to develop the language skills
  needed for accessing information in texts, and
  not to provide instruction in the content or
  methodology of the subject.
• It is hoped that as they develop these skills the
  teachers will be motivated to access on-line and
  print material to extend their knowledge of
  current content and pedagogy, and thereby
  positively impact the delivery of their subjects
  in the classroom.

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• B. Language for Teaching Mathematics and
  Science
• In this component the teacher will develop
  language for use while teaching in the classroom
  as well as the language needed for out of class
  activities related to the subject.
• The focus of instruction here would primarily
  involve speaking and writing skills, and will be
  supported with adequate grammar input and
  practice. This is the major component of the
  ETeMS programme.

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• C. Language for Professional Exchange
• As professionals the MST would conceivably wish
  to communicate with peers in the wider discourse
  community through English. A small component of
  the ETeMS programme will take into consideration
  this need of the teachers.

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Conclusion

• ETeMS is not to be regarded as a complete
  language development course, but rather, one of
  several support mechanisms introduced by the
  Ministry of Education to encourage the MST to
  further develop their English language competence
  to a level that will engender optimal performance
  in and outside the classroom.

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The Implications and Challenges for Parents
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• Rural areas affected the most.
• Parents unable to help their children in revising
  and explaining the subjects as they themselves
  are not common with the language.
• For rich families, the parents can send the child
  for extra class. How about those who are
  unfortunate?

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The Implications and Challenges for Students
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• The learning process become more difficult
  especially for rural areas school.
• They have to translate the concepts from English
  to their mother tongue in which they are not even
  master English Language.
• Research conducted by Dr Hashimah Jalaludin (UKM)
  on 2004 shows that students are not mentally
  ready for the implementation.

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• 75 are not agree with the implementation.
• 77 agree that they actually learn math and
  Science better in B. Melayu.
• 71 interested in Math and Science because it
  being taught in B.Melayu.
• 70 confident that they can excel n Math and
  Science if it is taught in B.Melayu.

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• Research conducted DBP-UKM 2004 stated that only
  5.9 of students are ready to learn Science and
  5 on Mathematics in English.
• There are performance deterioration in Science,
  Mathematics, English as well as B.Melayu.

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Midterm Examination Result Form 2 (2004), a
school in rural areas.
Subject Pass ( A ) Fail ( E )
Science Mathematics English B.Melayu 11.9 16.9 10.4 18.7 45.49 45.49 16.7
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• According to Cikgu Komando, the examiner in
  National Examination Councils, he categorized
  students into three
• - adept in English and Science concept.
• - adept in English and inept in Science
• concepts or vice versa.
• - inept in both English and Science
• concepts.
• The third one is most dominant.

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• He describes that in Science Test Paper 2..
• - students unable to understand the
  instructions and the questions requirement well.
  They gave irrelevant answers.
• - they cannot elaborate their answer as what
  is required in the answer scheme. Only the clever
  students able to do so.
• - they left the answers space blank. (They
  cannot answers!)

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SUGGESTIONS
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Government

• Should carried out a deep experimentation before
  implement the Teaching of Mathematics and
  Science in English because it will give a big
  impact toward National Education System.
• English teachers should be increased and trained
  to teach in rural schools.

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Government

• Employs ex-English teachers.
• Building and facilities should be provided to
  enable teaching and learning processes take place
  smoothly.

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Government

• Offers over sea's graduates with great
  incentives.
• English should be introduced in syllabus as early
  as in kindergarten and pre school as the
  compulsory subject.

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Teachers

• Recognize students weaknesses in mastering
  English by changing their attitudes and
  perception towards English.
• Introduce various effective learning and teaching
  methods.
• Encourage students to communicate in English.

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Parents

• Provide a conducive environment at home so that
  children can manifest their skills in mastering
  English.
• Be supportive to children.
• Create a good collaboration with teachers in
  order to achieve success.