By S. Ganakumaran
MALAYSIA has always looked upon education as a fundamental tool for achieving national goals, seeing it as a means of empowerment.
Arguably, no other non-industrialised country spends more on education per citizen and no other emerging nation has instituted such wide-ranging education policies and strategies to structure its social and economic landscape towards achieving national goals.
Unicef representative to Malaysia Gayle Phillips has acknowledged that the Government`s commitment to education is seen in the consistency of expansion policies in all of Malaysia`s five-year national development plans since Independence.
In Malaysia, language is central to progress and nation building. From the institutionalisation of the Malay language to engineer national identity and culture to the use of English for the utilitarian agendas of knowledge acquisition and international communication and trade, language proficiency is singularly important.
Today, language competence receives even greater emphasis as the nation confronts, engages and embraces the overwhelming forces of globalisation.
The changes in the education system are driven by market forces, leading to a greater role for the English language.
Given the new global paradigms in internationalisation, communication and education across the borders, knowledge of the English language is considered vital to gaining better opportunities in employment and achieving upward mobility. The global currency of English empowers people in their educational aspirations and career development.
The use of the Internet as a medium for knowledge management, communication and international trade is also a significant variable in the English language use equation. Access to the Internet is empowering and English dominates the cyberworld.
This globalisation of the English language and its impact has resulted in remarkable changes in the patterns of communication, which pose direct and indirect challenges to the teaching of English as both a second and a foreign language in developing countries. English language teachers need to better equip themselves to meet these challenges.
In Malaysia, there is a big and clearly thought-out shift taking place in the field of education.
This is seen in the move to incorporate literature into the language curriculum and the teaching of science and technology-related subjects in English at all levels of education.
There is further optimism and excitement as a result the current reassessment of Malaysian education, the announcement of the Malaysian education blueprint and the provision of greater autonomy to schools. All of these seem directed at empowering Malaysians for the real world.
Given this understanding, it is vital that policies and classroom practices match. Yet, very often, the “classroom” and the “real world” are presented or discussed as if they are mutually exclusive.
The truth is quite different – for much of the time, effective classrooms will involve working with natural language from the real world and using procedures that will be as useful outside the classroom as in it.
Classrooms are places where learning can be accelerated and made more effective and as such teachers are particularly important. Teachers should ensure that they enable learning in the development of real-world reading and writing skills.
In these situations, the classroom has to act as the bridge that takes learners from obscure and isolated places to the world where English plays a fundamental role, one that is much more than that of a foreign language.
Within such a context, it is essential that teachers – who are the frontline agents of change – be continually empowered with knowledge and skills to achieve the desired goals. They require support and motivation to take on new tasks, implement strategies and chart progress innovatively.
The Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) has worked tirelessly over the years to help Malaysian English language teachers as well as Mathematics and Science teachers meet national aspirations.
It is bringing the 5th Asia TEFL International Conference to Malaysia as part of its mission to promote and advance English language education in the country.
The 5th Asia TEFL International Conference, with the theme “Empowering Asia: New Paradigms in English Language Education”, will be a landmark event drawing the attention and participation of English language educationists from both Malaysia and around the world.
Jointly organised by Melta and Asia TEFL, it is supported by the Education Ministry and Higher Education Ministry. The Star is the media sponsor.
Source: www.thestar.com (20 April 2007)
