At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language
The Malaysian government recently reverted to the English language as the medium of instruction in its education system for important content subjects such as Mathematics and the Sciences. This policy decision was made in the midst of widespread concern over the perceived falling standards of Englis...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English English |
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The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
2007
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Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12525/1/At-risk.pdf |
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author | A. Samad, Arshad Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani Md Nor, Sharifah Abu Bakar, Kamariah Wan Ali, Wan Zah Hamzah, Ramlah Jamian, Abd. Rasid Marzuki, Norhayat Salim, Siti Suria Mohamed, Othman |
author_facet | A. Samad, Arshad Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani Md Nor, Sharifah Abu Bakar, Kamariah Wan Ali, Wan Zah Hamzah, Ramlah Jamian, Abd. Rasid Marzuki, Norhayat Salim, Siti Suria Mohamed, Othman |
author_sort | A. Samad, Arshad |
collection | UPM |
description | The Malaysian government recently reverted to the English language as the medium of instruction in its education system for important content subjects such as Mathematics and the Sciences. This policy decision was made in the midst of widespread concern over the perceived falling standards of English language proficiency after the country had used Malay, the native language of the majority Malays, as the medium of instruction for almost two decades. This year marks the first year high school students will sit for the national standardized examinations in English. Dissenters to this policy shift in the language of instruction fear that many will suffer as a result of this change. In this study, the self reports of academically high and low performing students are compared in terms of their ability to perform language related tasks in Malay and the English language. Using the Chi-square statistic, the results of the yes-no responses given by the students indicate that while high performing students report no major difficulties in either language, responses from the low performing students indicate otherwise. Additionally open-ended responses to learning Science and Mathematics in a second language are also qualitatively analysed in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of the challenges these students may face. Several implications based on these results are also discussed. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-06T07:25:44Z |
format | Article |
id | upm.eprints-12525 |
institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
language | English English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-06T07:25:44Z |
publishDate | 2007 |
publisher | The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | upm.eprints-125252015-12-07T09:09:07Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12525/ At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language A. Samad, Arshad Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani Md Nor, Sharifah Abu Bakar, Kamariah Wan Ali, Wan Zah Hamzah, Ramlah Jamian, Abd. Rasid Marzuki, Norhayat Salim, Siti Suria Mohamed, Othman The Malaysian government recently reverted to the English language as the medium of instruction in its education system for important content subjects such as Mathematics and the Sciences. This policy decision was made in the midst of widespread concern over the perceived falling standards of English language proficiency after the country had used Malay, the native language of the majority Malays, as the medium of instruction for almost two decades. This year marks the first year high school students will sit for the national standardized examinations in English. Dissenters to this policy shift in the language of instruction fear that many will suffer as a result of this change. In this study, the self reports of academically high and low performing students are compared in terms of their ability to perform language related tasks in Malay and the English language. Using the Chi-square statistic, the results of the yes-no responses given by the students indicate that while high performing students report no major difficulties in either language, responses from the low performing students indicate otherwise. Additionally open-ended responses to learning Science and Mathematics in a second language are also qualitatively analysed in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of the challenges these students may face. Several implications based on these results are also discussed. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 2007 Article NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12525/1/At-risk.pdf A. Samad, Arshad and Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani and Md Nor, Sharifah and Abu Bakar, Kamariah and Wan Ali, Wan Zah and Hamzah, Ramlah and Jamian, Abd. Rasid and Marzuki, Norhayat and Salim, Siti Suria and Mohamed, Othman (2007) At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2 (4). pp. 341-348. ISSN 1833-1882 http://sharifah.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.88/prod.343 English |
spellingShingle | A. Samad, Arshad Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani Md Nor, Sharifah Abu Bakar, Kamariah Wan Ali, Wan Zah Hamzah, Ramlah Jamian, Abd. Rasid Marzuki, Norhayat Salim, Siti Suria Mohamed, Othman At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language |
title | At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language |
title_full | At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language |
title_fullStr | At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language |
title_full_unstemmed | At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language |
title_short | At-Risk Students' Response to Learning Mathematics and Science in a Second Language |
title_sort | at risk students response to learning mathematics and science in a second language |
url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/12525/1/At-risk.pdf |
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