LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION

 1.

Persepsi Guru Sains PPSMI Terhadap Masa

lah Perlaksanaan Pengajaran Subjek Sains

(PPSMI) Di Sekolah Rendah KawasanSkudai, Johor Bahru.

Aziz Bin Nordin &

Yang See Boon

Fakulti Pendidikan

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Abstrak :

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau persepsi guru sain PPSMI terhadap perlaksanaan pengajaran matapelajaran sains di Sekolah Rendah di kawasan Skudai, Johor Bahru. Dalam kajian ini, aspek yang dikaji adalah persepsi guru dari segi faedah, pendedahan maklumat serta masalah-masalah yang dihadapi. Sampel kajian melibatkan 87 orang guru sains (PPSMI) di enam belas sekolah rendah di kawasan Skudai,Johor.Instrumen kajian digunakan adalah soal selidik untuk mendapatkan data. Data mentah dianalisis dengan menggunakan Perisiaan komputer SPSS 14.0 for window. Peratusan, min dan sisihan piawai dikira. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan respoden mempunyai persepsi yang rendah terhadap perlaksanaan pengajaran mata pelajaran sains dalam bahasa Inggeris dari segi pendedahan maklumatdan faedahnya. Masalah-masalah yang dihadapi pula berada pada tahap sederhana. Perkaitan antara masalah dengan persepsi guru adalah signifikan.

Comments:

I would like to suggest the researcher to do this research using qualitative method or mixed method. Although the researcher used SPSS to analyse the data, but he just showed his result by using min and standard deviation and the researcher did not use any t-test or Anova to analysis the data. Yet, there is no conclusion in chapter 5.

 2.

The Effects of Using English as theMedium of Instruction for Mathematics and Science in Primary School

PROFESOR EMERITUS DATO’ ISAHAK HARON (KETUA)

PROF. MADYA DR. ABDUL LATIF HJ, GAPOR

DR. MD NASIR BIN MASRAN

ENCIK ABDUL HALIM BIN IBRAHIM

DR. MARIAM BINTI MOHAMED NOR

FAKULTI SAINS KOGNITIF DAN PEMBANGUNAN MANUSIA

UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS

APRIL, 2008

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of the use of English (pupils’ second /foreign language) as the medium of instruction for Mathematics and Science in primary school. How far is this policy change from the use of Bahasa Malaysia to English, for teaching Mathematics and Science implemented beginning in 2003, effective in raising the pupils’ understanding and performance in Mathematics and Science? And how far does this raise pupils’ mastery of English, asexpected from the policy announced by the Minister of Education in July 2002. Three sample surveys and tests of Mathematics, Science and English of Year 5 pupils were carried out in February 2007 (N=1564) from 27 primary schools, in July 2007 (N= 636) from 13 primary schools, and in January 2008 (N=1703) from 28 primary schools. These pupils have gone through the process of learning Mathematics and Science in English for four years, since 2003. The findings of data analysis from these three data sets are consistent, that is: over 70% of these pupils indicated that they ‘do not/barely comprehend’ their teachers’ teaching of Mathematics and 80% Science in English, and find it ‘difficult/fairly difficult’ to learn Mathematics and Science. Over 80% of the pupils reported that their teachers used a mixture of English and Bahasa Malaysia in their teaching of these two subjects. Pupils’ performances in Mathematics and Science tests were poor: for January 2008 samples the mean Mathematics score is 7.89 out of the maximum score of 20.0; and for Science it’s 4.08 out of 14.00. The mean score for English is also low: 11.87 out of the maximum score of 31.0. The mean score for Malay (and Orang Asli)pupils are very much lower than those of the Chinese and the Indian. These results are consistent with those found by Professor Juriah Long (2005) who studied the effects of this policy among Form 2 students, using representative sample from the whole of Malaysia. The findings of these studies indicate that the policy of using English as the medium of instruction for Mathematics and Science in Malaysia has failed to facilitate pupils’ learning and performance in Mathematics and Science; and has little significant effect on pupils’ mastery of the English language. That is, the use of English for Mathematics and Science is not an appropriate tool to improve pupils’ proficiency in the English language. The recommendation is for the government to review this policy, and revert back to the use of Bahasa Malaysia for teaching Mathematics and Science as most pupils are already proficient in the National Language (compared to English) and teachers are already good in teaching these two subjects in the National Language before the implementation of this policy. This will strengthen pupils’ mastery in basic Mathematics and Science at a nearly stage. To improve English proficiency, the government should allocate more time for English Language teaching in primary school, and encourage alternative methods, as opposed to ‘standardized method’, and use of a variety of materials, including appropriate readings from ‘content’ areas such as literature, science, history and geography, to teach English to pupils of diverse background, especially those in rural areas. This is a more appropriate approach to increase pupils’ mastery in reading and writing of English, and for them to benefit from the rich literature and information in science, technology, literature and social sciences.

Comments:

A very detailed research to describe The Effects of Using English as the Medium of Instruction for Mathematics and Science in Primary School. The significant of this research plays an important part to change the educational policy and the researchers recommended the government to review this policy, and revert back to the use of Bahasa Malaysia for teaching Mathematics and Science as most pupils are already proficient in the National Language.

 3.

Pemansuhan Dasar PPSMI:Tinjauan daripada Persepsi Parti Politik,

AhliAkademik dan NGOsertaPengalaman di Sekolah

JUNAIDI AWANG BESAR

MOHD FUAD MAT JALI

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to support the revocation of Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics Subjects in English Policy (PPSMI) which had been implemented by the government since the 2003 school session. This justification is based on the outcomes of field works undertaken from 2004 to 2008 at selected schools in Terengganu and Selangor. The outcomes of this study proved that the achievement of science and mathematics subjects has declined in the consecutive years during the period of the policy implementation, especially in the rural vernacular schools, due to those who involved in teaching did not 178 understand English concepts/terms in the subjects. In fact, they are lagging the basic of English language, as well as the teaching method is unclear and inadequate of teaching material. Those teachers who involved in teaching of these subjects, 87.5 percent in Terengganu and 91.3 percent in Selangor, said the usage of English could not stimulate the students interest. The majority of parents disagreed with the notion that the PPSMI could uplift the achievement of the Malay students in science and mathematics. On the contrary, the results had been declining because the students could not follow what had been taught by teachers. As a conclusion, they think that PPSMI should had been abolished since its initial stage

Comments:

This research is a quantitative research, and yet the research just analysed the school results by percentages only. There is no hypothesis in this research. By the way, it is a little bit sensitive to mention about the political words in the research. The conclusion about this research is not comprehensive.