INTERVIEW ITEMS

Interviewer: Ok, through your experience in teaching field, what do you think the

features required for the pupils to compete globally?

Interviewee: I think there are many features umm….our pupils need to enable them in

competing globally. I thinkurm..in this area, the important thing, the

important feature that I would say of the modern techno..er…academic

technology urm..the generation I think urm ..most important thing is to

learn technology and put technology they need in their learning system,

such as ‘Google’ help them a lot searching related academic information.

Even though there are some pro and cons, you can say any methods you

used have pro and cons aa…you cannot denied that, but the thing is I

think internet will help teacher and they should give their pupils

opportunities to search information using internet. However, when they

want to use internet, I think the other feature that they required is the

mastering in our universal language which is English. It is important for our

pupils to further their studies. I think English is very important for them to

communicate. And.. English are required all over the world. It also what do

you say as Lingua Franca. When we use English, everybody can

understand it. Now, eben the old chinese, indian and malay ladies can use

simple English like; ‘How are you leh?’ ;what happen leh?’

Interviewer: Ok, Madam, mind if I ask you to elaborate more on the important of pupils

to master English?

Interviewee: Ok, I will try to answer that. Err..With the change of curriculum system in

education, we can see that our Ministry of education had view English as

one of the important aspects in shaping our next generation. Their all of

a…a few of rules and regulations nowadays. Aa..if I ‘m not mistaken, I

think, urrm the Malaysian education system had came out with the rules

where SPM pupils must get..urm..must…must pass the English I think.

With the implementation of MBMMBI, we can ensure that even though

Malay language is still being use as national language, they still cannot

avert their focus in making our pupils master English language. I think

most the non-govermental companies will accept the interviewee with the

high fluency in English communication, I would say.

Interviewer: I see, but isn’t it quite difficult to make the pupils especially in rural area

master this language?

Interviewee: I think this is actually a common question that people will ask every time

they mention about proficiency level of our pupils. It is actually a challenge

for the teacher actually in rural area like myself, I’m teaching English in

rural area also. But urmm the determination of the teacher, the courage ,

the efforts that the teacher put on the teaching and the communication

should not start in the school only. At their home, their parents should

encourage their pupils to speak English more. So as a fellow teacher,

what I can recommend is teacher from rural area can search for any latest

and interesting methods of teaching English. They are many interesting

teaching methods and style nowadays if you google it, you can get all

sorts of methods, learning games, learning English. Urrmm.. The other

thing is try to make it compulsory for the pupils to use English especially in

English class or whenever they feel to do so. Avoid from forcing them to

learn this language.

Interviewer: Thank you for the suggestions, madam. So madam, with the current level

of English proficiency, do you think our pupils are able to compete

globally?

Interviewee: Actually if we look at our pupils’ English proficiency level, we can see a

huge gap between the pupils from urban and rural area. I think all of us

know the factors that affect this result. It might be possible for those who

come from urban area because normally urban area are more exposed to

the language. This is because they are more exposed to the use of

English language in daily life. I think, in fact, they can go to any tuition

centre to enhance their proficiency in English. However, it might give

problem for our pupils from rural area. The limitation of accessing and

using English are too high that make it harder for them to master it.

Interviewer: If that so, what do you think the teacher’s role in improving pupils’

outcomes?

Interviewee: Like I mentioned just now, teacher need to find the latest and enjoyable

teaching method not only in teaching English, but also other subjects.

When they enjoy learning, they can easily accept the knowledge. People

always said that, ‘A pupil might forget what they had learned yesterday,

but will never forget what they had experienced with their teacher’.

Teacher should instill fun and experimental learning methods to make the

teaching and learning process more conducive. Other than that, teacher

should practice good moral values instill the moral values in the pupils’

heart. Pupils are usually very observant towards their teacher, especially

little kids. They tend to mimic their teacher. This is why it is important for

the teacher to instill good moral values. Even in our national education of

philosophy had mentioned the goals of producing holistic human being.

Interviewer: So in your experience, have you ever faced any difficulties in improving

your pupils’ outcomes?

Interviewee: Sure I do. In my experience teaching English, mostly my difficulty is more

focus on the limitation of vocabulary level of the pupils. Usually my pupils

find English difficult because they could not understand the meaning

behind any materials they read. They even find it troublesome for them go

find the meaning for unfamiliar words in the dictionary. Some of them even

lose interest in reading just because they find too many difficult words in it.

Other than that, I think more into the skeptical perception of using English

especially when I taught rural area. When I taught at rural area, most of

them could not see the importance and benefits of English in their life or

for future purposes. They think of English as one of the subjects that is

compulsory for them to learn in order to sit for examination like Ujian

Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR). They never consider it as one of the

important asset that will bring benefit in the future.

Interviewer: If so, how do you deal with the..these difficulties?

Interviewee: Usually I will give recommendation for selecting reading materials. I advise

them to read the essay..urmm one first before they move to slightly difficult

reading material. That means step by step reading actually. Sometimes I

even give suggestions on the reading materials. However, for the rural

area, due to the limitation of easily access English reading materials, I

usually search for the reading materials. When selecting the materials, I

make sure that the materials are relevant to my pupils’ proficiency level. If

we talk about perception, we cannot force everyone to view thing as we

are. What we can do is we show them the benefit of English. Sometimes I

even let them experience on using internet. I usually ask the pupils to go o

use internet to search for information. Here are where the handson came

in. I give them a topic and I let them search for the information in the

internet. This will make them realize that when they are proficient, they

can simply understand the information. I also motivate my pupils to study.

Sometimes I even introduce my pupils to any university in overseas. So, if

my pupils are motivated to further their study there, they are motivated to

master English language.

Interviewer: thanks for the wonderful recommendations, as my last question; I would

like to know your hope in Malaysia education especially in English.

Interviewee: ohh.ok. that’s the tough one. I hope that with all the changes for the

betterness…err…betterment of English proficiency made by the Ministry

of education, teacher can play their roles in accomplishing it. Not only

teachers, I think other stakeholders should also play their roles in

achieving this goal. With everyone cooperation, I think the parents,

teacher, administrator, everybody should play their part in a…achieving

the level of language nowadays, especially English language. I also hope

that, in future the curriculum are made in such a way that not giving to

much burden for our pupils to learn many things in a year. They are still

young, make them having fun in learning the language. Not burdening

them, not pressuring them. I hope that both teachers and pupils are not

burdened by the syllabus. Usually teachers are running like crazy to finish

up the syllabus. I must finish this, push the pupils, give them so many

homework to finish it. So I think if you like ask the pupils to….bring them

out, do the outside activity, came back to school, do a report, write in

english, that should be the ways. Sometimes teachers are also burdened

with other workloads. I think that teacher nowadays are like hell I would

say. Teacher might end up teaching their pupils for the sake of finishing

the syllabus only. I think, it’s happening everywhere. So, I hope that in

future, there is consideration in this matter. With that, thank you.