Organisational Environments Pest

Summary / Abstract

This study was to conduct a face-to-face interview with at least 10 Univesity students to find out some information to help answer the following questions (or any other questions related to the matter) in documenting this report.

a) What is the state of English in Malaysia today?

b) Is English necessary for everyone in Malaysia? Why?

c) What are the problems in using English in Malaysia?

d) What are the problems in implementing English in Malaysia?

After all the information has been collected, a report must be written in the format suggested by the supervisor. It was requested by my supervisor, Dr. Supyan Hussin on 26 May 2007 and to be submitted by 30 June 2007. The investigation was done by interviews with 10 OUM students and also research through online websites. The main findings were that the state of English in Malaysia is rather poor. Teachers are not proficient in English - with a weak leader; the students are also unable to follow. The recommendations are that more teachers who are proficient in English and those from strong English-speaking countries should be on board. Additional hours of English language lessons should be introduced in lesson plans. More emphasis has to be given.

What is habitual; it will no longer be a difficulty.

It was concluded that change is difficult, especially on a big scale and academicians are the key players to successful graduates. Without these academicians, we are nothing.

Contents Page

Section.............................................................................................................Page Number

1.0 Introduction................................................................................................4

1.1 Background

2.0 Literature Review.......................................................................................6

2.1 Education: The History of Education in Malaysia

2.2 Methodology................................................................................8

2.3 Findings and Discussion of Findings...........................................8

2.3.1 Demographic analysis

3.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................21

4.0 Appendices................................................................................................23

5.0 Notes......................................................................................................30

6.0 Bibliography..............................................................................................31

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

This report has been written due to suggestions made by various government entities that "Education should be in English". The writer found this a very interesting topic as there are many debatable issues that have risen from this topic alone. Before going into details of the topic at hand, the writer would like to give a brief introduction of Malaysia and its education.

Malaysia is a multiracial, multicultural country which comprises of three major races. They are the Malays being the majority, the Chinese and the Indians. There are also many other races and cultures which makes up "Malaysia" and gives deeper meaning to the word multiracial. Multiracial, as defined by the Oxford 2003 Dictionary, means "made up of many human races". It subsequently means, having many different culture, religions and beliefs - all under one roof, one Country and one leader.

Even by having a country lead by an Islamic ruler with the Malay language as the country's national language, the government has also observed and respect that there are many other races and culture in the country.

To avoid political or racial problems as to why neither the Chinese language or Indian language are not given priority as the national language, the government decided to make English as the second language so that it would be easier for everyone to converse with each other when they are unable to converse in one's mother tongue. At the same time, each race still has the freedom to converse in their mother tongue, to strengthen their roots and to retain their culture.

Before Independence in the year 1957, all subjects were taught in English. It was after 1957, that the Ministry of Education implemented Bahasa Malaysia1 to be a compulsory subject in primary and secondary government-operated or government-assisted schools. In 1968, Bahasa Malaysia became the sole official language of Malaysia under the National Language Act 1963/67 (Revised .1971). After going through a series of changes in the education chain, Bahasa Malaysia became the medium of instruction at all levels in school in 1982 and for all courses in universities by the year 1983.

English became a 2-period subject in schools and it was only in year 2003 that the Ministry of Education decided to change the English language policy to teaching Mathematics and Science in English in Malaysian primary and secondary schools.

As confusing as it must be for the students, the English language policy in Malaysia keeps on changing. Over 10 years ago, they used to have a paper given by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate in collaboration with the Examinations Syndicate Ministry of Education Malaysia, by the name of "English Language 1119" alongside the normal English paper, one already had to sit for during the GCE (General Certificate of Education) examinations. This "English Language 1119" paper or widely known as "The Triple-One-Nine" paper was a benchmark to see where you stood as far as the English language goes. It is to see how well you have grasped the language at a higher standard - International level to be exact.

Then, came the year where they combined the 1119 paper with the normal GCE English paper. It is said to be supposedly harder as the standard is now raised a notch, due to the combination of