...Language: It's like sex ???...

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Language: It's like sex

                                                                               

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Wednesday, 15 July 2009 12:04

(MalaysianMirror) CONTINUING THE ENGLISH DEBATE Comparing language education tosex can be an outrageous thought. Not so, judging by the heated publicdebate and soaring temperatures across the political divide amongeducationists, politicians, community leaders and parents who seemed toknow best. Robert Kaplan and Richard Baldauf, who co-authored the bookentitled: “Language and Language-in-education Planning in the PacificBasin,” metaphorically made that comparison. “Language issues have some of the characteristics of sex: Everyone does it, and consequently everyone think they are an expert.” “However,it is neither teachers nor parents who teach most adolescents aboutsex; rather it is a cadre of other adolescents mostly characterised byknowing little about the matter. “From there on, it is largely amatter of on-the-job training. It is not until one reaches maturitythat one even discovers that there are real experts who might teach onesomething about the subject.” They concluded: “So it is withlanguage issues. Every segment of society has language and individualscompetently use language for a variety of purposes. However, when usersengage in talking about language, which they frequently do; that talkis largely marked by profound ignorance.” The language debate: Choices Sowhat is so special about the English language? Is it just a language ofcommunication or a country’s asset? Indeed, “asset” is an importantword in the sentence. Do we, as a society value education highlyenough to opt or seek literacy in a language other than our nationallanguage to strengthen our global trading and economic competitiveness? Or should we choose the outrageous option of an ideologicalheretic in wedging politics of fear that the English language willjeopardise the sense of nationalism and national unity. The choice is ours, as a nation. Recently,Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the government aims to seeMalaysians proficient in English and master it to enable them tocompete in the global arena. “The aim remains the same. There is nochange. Only the method in reaching the objective is now different,” hesaid. Consensus on the divide However,the decision to revive the old policy of teaching science andmathematics in Bahasa Malaysia or in the mother-tongue in vernacularschools from 2012, also invited vocal protests mainly from urbanparents including former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Withhindsight, some critics felt that failure was inevitable. “The policyitself was first class but the delivery system was fourth-class,” saidDr Mohamad Ali Hassan, national president of the Parent-TeacherAssociation in 2007 at a forum organised by the Malaysian EnglishLanguage Teaching Association (Melta). Even as the decision wasmade, the “pros and cons” public debate continues with no clear-cutconsensus appearing on the horizon. While ethnic-based politicalparties are somewhat feeling relieved that finally young children couldmake better progress learning in their mother-tongue on the twosubjects, there are still reservations on the policy relating to thesecondary level using Bahasa Malaysia as the teaching medium on thesame subjects. Beginning 2012, the subjects of science andmathematics will be taught in Bahasa Malaysia at national schools andfor national-type schools, the medium of instructions in the respectivemother tongue. Why did the policy to teach in the English language on the two subjects failed? LinguistDavid Nunan who wrote the best-selling publication, “English Language”best summed up the reasons for failure on the educational policies andpractices in the Asia Pacific region by governments on the Englishlanguage. He said: “While English as a global language is havingconsiderable impact on policies and practices in all countries, it alsoreveals significant problems. “Problems including confusion andinconsistency at the level of policy, particularly regarding the issueof age of initial instruction, inequity (i.e. rural-urban in the caseof Malaysia) regarding access to effective language instruction,inadequately trained and skilled teachers and a disjunction betweencurriculum rhetoric and pedagogical reality,” observed the renownedauthor. Politics of Language: Obstructionists To some political demagogues in the country, the English language is considered a threat to our national language. Thereare yet others, egg-headed policy makers who are keen to turn back thepages on the old politics of race against race, peddling theirdistorted or perverted sense of nationalism. Believing in themyth that our national language is the “one-and-only” determinanttowards national unity, It is also tragic that our country is nevershort of “jug-heads” who refused to acknowledge that the Englishlanguage has consolidated its dominance in global usage. Like anostrich burying its head in the sand, both egg-heads and jug-heads failto realise and accept that one-fourth of the global populationcommunicate in English.