PET225 - TESOL CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

MALAYSIAN ENGLISH
CURRICULUM from 1970 to

2000

30 March 2015

Historical Context of
glish Curriculum Development
in Malaysia
Millienium

British
colonial
period
Primitive &
feudal period (1786(35,000 BCE- 1957)

PostIndepende
nce (19571970)

New
Economic
Policy
(19711990)

and
beyond
(2000
National
Developme onwards)
nt Policy
(19912000)

Development of
English Curriculum
during the era of

New Economic
Policy
(1971-1990)

N ationalLanguage Policy
Elitist system of education under

British rule
economic and social inequalities
The less privileged populace was

debarred because of their lack of

proficiency in English.

REPLACE English with

Bahasa Malaysia as the sole

N ationalLanguage Policy
13 May 1969

Inter-ethnic riots

Governmentcametobemore

receptivetothenationalintegration
issue
Implemented Bumiputera Policy and

National Language Policy to defuse interethnic conflicts.

N ationalLanguage Policy
In 1969, Dato Haji Abdul
Rahman Yaakub declared
that
beginning January 1970,
English language as medium
of instruction will be
phased out.

N ationalLanguage Policy
BM = sole medium of instruction

at all levels of education.

.
English = second language
English is to be retained as

compulsory subject from Primary 1

to Form 5.

Conversion ofEnglish-m edium

schoolto M alay-m edium school
Started from Primary 1 in

1970
1976 - All the government-

assisted English-medium
primary schools were
completely converted to
Malay-medium schools.
1982 - All the government-

assisted English-medium

Conversion ofEnglish-m edium

schoolto M alay-m edium school
For East Malaysia :
1977 - Education Act was
extended to Sabah
and Sarawak.
1985 - switch of the medium of instruction
from English to Malay throughout the entire
school system was completed.

Hussein
Onn
Report
(1971)

The H ussein O nn Report

(1971)

 At that time, government schools

and government-aided schools

were still conducted in two
languages, which were English and
Malay.

According to H ussien O nn
Report (1971):
"National education system is drawn to

fulfil the countrys needs and enhance

the development of culture, social,
economy and politic. Hence, from 1968
onwards, Malay has been used to
replace English as the medium of
instruction in English-medium schools,
one stage at a time.

 The committee claimed:

Althoughthe position

ofMalayis as themain medium

ofeducation system,butthe
position ofEnglishasa second
languageis alsopreserved.

 English is made compulsory in all

schools because of its role in higher

education, commerce and international
affairs. The acquisition of strong
command of English is the target of the
education system. Time allocated for
teaching of English will be increased
and teachers will be given necessary
training. English will continue to be the
second language.
(Hussein Onn Report, 1971)

The Third M alaysia

P lan (1976-1980)
States that Bahasa Malaysia is the basis

for national integration.

Measures will be taken to ensure that
English is taught as a strong second
language.
Reasons for maintenance of English :

- to keep abreast of scientific and

technological developments in the world
- to participate meaningfully in

Mahathir
Report
(Cabinet
Report 1979)

The reasons ofteaching

English in schools :
To enable the students to

use English in daily situations .

To equip the students for higher

education
To help the students to function well

in the field of business and

 English curriculum for primary

schools aimed to provide the

students with a solid foundation in
the English.
If the students English foundation is

strong, the students capability to

advance on the language will be
higher as they move on to higher
levels in school.

The change of m edium

of exam ination
English were very popular back then.
So, the government tried to make

people aware the importance of

Malay language as symbol of unity.
People would not be able to help but

study Malay for passing the

examinations.

The change of m edium

of exam ination
All the public examinations, with

exception for language subjects came

to be held in Malay.
1978 - Annulment of the Lower

Certificate of Education (LCE)

examination

 Up to 1978, the M.C.E. examination

was handled by the University of

Cambridge Local Examinations
Syndicate (UCLES)
English language paper is separately

graded by the national examination

board and UCLES, and both grades
will be displayed on the result slip.

Com m on content syllabus for English

There w ere tw o diff
erent approaches for English
syllabus w hich spanned in three phases until1983.

Structural
Syllabus

The English Syllabus for Use in

Standard One to Standard Six of
the
Post 1970 National Primary
Schools
The structural syllabus subscribed to the
Structural Situational approach or the
Oral Method.
All national primary schools adopted

structural-situational syllabus by 1971

The same syllabus was adopted by the

national type Chinese and primary

The English Syllabus for

Form One to Form Three of the
Secondary Schools

With the implementation of the Post-

1970 Primary English Syllabus

(1971), the first batch of students
would then enter lower secondary
schools in 1976
To ensure continuity, the lower

secondary syllabus was developed as

an extension of the primary school

StructuralSyllabus
1. Language teaching begins with

spoken language. Material is

presented orally before it is
presented in written form.
2. The target language is the language

of the classroom.
3. New language points are introduced

StructuralSyllabus
4. Accuracy in both pronunciation and
grammar
5. Errors are to be avoided at all costs
6. For grammar items, simple forms
should be taught before complex
ones.
7. Reading and writing are introduced
once a sufficient lexical and
grammatical basis is established.

VO CABU LARY AN D G RAM M AR CO N TRO L

Vocabulary
control

Vocabulary =
essential
component for
reading proficiency.

The second

emphasis was on
reading skills.

Grammar
control
Focus

on the
grammatical
content

Accept,

repeat
and
become
automatic.

Typicallesson
Stress and intonation practice

Revision and a presentation of new material

(mainly structures or vocabulary).

Drilling of the elements presented

Controlled oral-based reading or

written exercises

Communicative
Syllabus

The English Language Syllabus

in Malaysian Schools for
Form Four to Form Five

Formulated by Malaysian Curriculum

Development Centre (CDC) based

on the nations immediate needs
which was to produce a united,
disciplined and well-trained labour
force
The communicative syllabus

basically adopted a task-oriented

situational approach.

Com m unicative Syllabus

Communicative language teaching makes

use of real-life situations that necessitate

communication.
Lessons are built round situations which

are practical and authentic in the real

world
e.g. asking for information,
complaining, apologizing, job interviews,
telephoning.

Com m unicative Syllabus

To produce effective communicative

competency
The focus is on meaning of the language.
More importance on the learner and his

learning.
The teacher is a facilitator in language

acquisitions.

Classroom activities used in CLT

Role play
Interviewing
Games

Surveys

The rationale behind the im plem entation of

the Com m unicative Language Teaching
a) there was a essential need to have Malaysians to

be fluent in English as an international language to

realize its aspirations.
b) the service sectors, for example, the tourism

industry needed a labour force that was versatile in

international communication.
c) English gained significant importance in the mid-

1970s when 90% of the Form 5 school leavers

entered the job market.

Sw itching to C LT from
Structural-situational
approach
1. The students who were already
familiar with the rote learning of the
structural-situational approach found
it hard to adapt to a communicative
teaching.
The teachers had to reduce as
well as simplify the grammar content
in lessons.

Sw itching to C LT from
Structural-situationalapproach
2. CLT was based on the assumption that
students having mastered their linguistic
competence in primary and lower
secondary schools will facilitate their
communicative competence on reaching
the upper secondary level.
learning the rules of grammar in
isolation may not produce the desired
result in the aspect of communicative

Inconsistency of the
im plem entation of Structural
syllabus and C om m unicative
syllabus

1. Different ad hoc committees who

developed the primary and lower
secondary school syllabus,
while the Curriculum Development
Centre drew up the upper secondary
syllabus in 1980.

The ELT syllabuses were created in

isolation of each other and not as part

Inconsistency of the
im plem entation of Structural
syllabus and C om m unicative
syllabus
2. Little consideration was given to
the students from non-English
backgrounds.
The students who were not from
English speaking background or who
were from the rural areas left school
with very low proficiency in English

Review of
ELT
Syllabuses
(Mahathir
Report
1979)

 Due to the inconsistency in the ELT

syllabuses, there was a need to

review those syllabuses.
In 1974, Dr Mahathir Mohamad,

formed a Cabinet Committee to

review the syllabuses and a report
was submitted in 1979.

The follow ing situations w ere noted :

i) there was a need to execute a national
curriculum which opposed to the existing
subject-oriented curriculum.
ii) most of the subjects matter have foreign
elements (estranged in Malaysian context)
iii) at primary level, there was zero emphasis
on basic education

iv) there was a need for a curriculum which

will equip students with the vital skills and
knowledge
- to enter the job market
- further their studies after school.
v) the significance of mastering English to
acquire knowledge in the field of science
and technology.
vi) English language teaching in schools in
our country should place more emphasis

The revam p of structural

syllabus and com m unicative
syllabus
The structural-situational and CLT

approaches to ELT failed to attain the

desired objectives.
These approaches were abandoned

when the national curriculum was

revamped in 1983.

KBSR &
KBSM
Student-centred activites were incorporated into
the lessons

Classroom activities

Co-curricular activities

1983 - New Primary Schools

Curriculum (Kurikulum Baru Sekolah

Rendah, KBSR) were implemented.
1989 Integrated Secondary Schools

Curriculum (Kurikulum Bersepadu

Sekolah Menengah, KBSM) were

KBSR

K B SR English
Language
C urriculum

AIM

Equip students with basic

skills and knowledge of the
English language so as to
enable them to
communicate, both orally
and written, in and out of
school.

K B SR English Language
C urriculum OBJECTIVES
(1) listen to and understand simple, spoken English in
certain given contexts
(2) ask and answer questions, speak and express
themselves clearly to others using simple language
(3) acquire good reading habits to understand, enjoy
and extract information from a variety of texts
(4) write legibly and express ideas in simple language
(5) show an awareness and appreciation of moral
values as well as love for the nation

K B SR English Language
C urriculum
The New Primary Schools Curriculum

for English lacked the use of

multimedia and exclude thinking
skills, study skills and learners
autonomy.
Integrated Primary Schools

Curriculum was implemented in

1990 replacing New Primary Schools

K B SR English Language
C urriculum

Learning outcomes are based

on the 4 language skills

incorporation of good
grammar, English sound system
and the use of appropriate
vocabulary
ICT Component

early exposure to the English

used in the ICT world in order for

KBSM

K B SM English Language
C urriculum

AIM

Enhance learners English

language proficiency in
order to meet their needs
to use English in certain
situations in daily life, for
knowledge acquisition
and for future needs in
the workplace.

K B SM English Language
C urriculum OBJECTIVES
(1) form and maintain relationships through
conversations and correspondence; take part in social
interaction; and interact to obtain goods and services
(2) obtain, process and use information from various
audiovisual and print sources, and present the
information in spoken and written form
(3) listen to, view, read and respond to different texts,
and express ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings
imaginatively and creatively in spoken and written form
(4) show an awareness and appreciation of moral values
and love towards the nation.

K B SM English Language
C urriculum

Literature component

engage the students in wide

reading of literary works for
enjoyment and self-development.
Current issues as content of learning

the students were required to

carry out project work
instill in them the habit of
acquiring knowledge throughout their

Development of
English Curriculum
during the era of
National Development
Policy

(1991-2000)

The 1990s saw re-emergence of the

recognition of the importance of
English to Malaysias development
and progress in present era of
globalization and technological
advancement.

Literature program m e
March 2000 - Literature programme was

introduced to the Form 1 and Form 4 students.

2001 - The programme was implemented for
Form 2 and Form 5.
2002 - The programme was implemented for
Form 3.

The national examination also incorporated a

literature component in (PMR) and (SPM).

SP M English paper
The drastic

decline in the
level of English
language
proficiency among
Malaysian school
leavers, M.O.E.
announced that
from 1999, a
tougher paper on
the subject will be

M U ET
All pre-university students will

have to sit for a special English

test Malaysian University
Entrance Test (MUET) from
1999.

Challenges
of ELT in
Malaysia

Challenge 1 :
Steady decline in the standard of English
language
Malay as one and only medium of

instruction at all level of education.

English language is taught as just

another subject in school.

Although English is a compulsory

subject, it is NOT compulsory to

pass.

Challenge 2 : Some nationalists believed

that Malay should replace English in as
many domains as possible
Tun Mahathir redefined nationalism

by saying that it means doing

everything possible for the nation,
even if it means learning English.
By learning English, Malaysians do

not dilute their sense of identity.

In fact, it will enhance the nations

image.

Challenge 3 : English may not be

necessarily the second language of
Malaysian students.
English can be first, second or even a

foreign language.
For most students in rural area,

English is a foreign language

Limited quantity of exposure and
usage to the language
underachievers
They would continue to be so as the

Conclusion

Conclusion
Today, Malay language is the medium of instruction

in all national schools and a compulsory subject for

Chinese and Tamil schools.
English is taught as second language in all schools.
English is here to stay for a long time until another

language takes over as the lingua franca of the

world.