Bismillahirrahmanirrahim…
Assalamualaikum to all my dear readers…
Today I would like to share my opinion
based on the excerpt “Dire need for
English to be a must-pass subject” from the News Strait Times dated 25th
February 2013, the Education Ministry has created a proposal to make English a
must-pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). In my point of view, I
agree if English to be a must-pass subject as we know English is a vital
language for everyone to be master. In this era of globalization where the
world is getting smaller, it is no mean feat to gauge success. People are more interested
in looking at academic achievement to judge someone's ability especially in English
subject. This is because English is very crucial since it is the language that has
been used by people around the world to communicate with each other.
Malaysian students must struggle to score A in
English subject in order to get a good job in high level positions since
English is necessary and been used in many working sectors in this country
including the sectors of medical, business, tourism, law and education. For
instance, we can see in a business matter, it is very important for people who
work in that sector to have the ability to speak fluently in English so that it
will be easy to them to upgrade their business into the international market. That
is the reason why almost all of the big companies in this country will hire
their worker from a person who can speak English fluently. Therefore, Malaysian
students should give extra attention to English subject start from their high
school to excel in English as a preparation for their future especially when
they step into a job market which currently is more competitive than before.
I believe it is not impossible to
every SPM candidate to pass in English subject. However, there are some aspects
that the Education Ministry should make an improvement. As stated in the
excerpt, the ministry has to make thorough preparations before implementing it.
In my opinion one of the most important aspects that the ministry should give
attention is in term of the English teachers that provided in every school in
this country. Do you ever hear the quote "Don't give your students fish, but teach them how to fish". I
think that quotation is absolutely true in language teaching.
The
teacher is the most influential person toward student academic achievement.
Thus, teachers must make an effort to create interest for their student to
learn English. It is because, if the students do not have an interest in their learning,
it will be harder for them to score in the subject. Undeniably, some of the
students who do not have the interest in English subject is because they not
seen English as important to their immediate needs other than to pass the
examination. That is why teachers must be trained to improve their teaching
skill to increase their students’ interest in learning English so that students
will be more excited and happy in English lesson.
In
addition, teachers must give their students a practice to communicate in
English rather than only in writing part. This is because we can see usually
teachers in Malaysia they only give their students continuous grammatical exercises. In other words, many teachers
are more interested in training students how to read and write well in addition
to make students master in the grammar component of the language. However I think
oral communication is similarly important that the
teacher must give attention. Although the drill-and-practice approach
has some benefits in language teaching, it does not help the students master
the language in the long run. Frequently, we find students who become good
test-takers, and yet they are not able to speak and write competently when they
graduate from high schools. Hence, teachers need to create a healthy balance
between preparing students for the standardized examinations and for lifelong
language skills. Therefore, Education Ministry must provide not only courageous, well-determined, and committed
teachers but also teachers who have excellent and innovative teaching
techniques.
Briefly, I think the proposal made by
the Ministry of Education to make English to be a must-pass subject is acceptable
and can give many advantages to Malaysian students. However the ministry should
make some improvement to our education sector in order to create positive
impact on student performance. I believe if the transformation is well planned
before it is being implemented it will give many advantages to the whole nation.
The Malaysian education system has to go the extra mile in order to improve the
weakness in the system used before. Thus, Malaysians who opposed the decision
should be more open-minded to accept the change for the benefits of the
upcoming generation. After considering the pros and cons, I believe the
decision will benefit Malaysians’ students to fulfill Malaysia’s strategy to
create great students to be future leaders for the country.
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