Chapter One

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1              INTRODUCTION

Language is an important aspect of human daily life. We use it to communicate with each other, expressing feeling and interest and sharing information. Every country has their own national language and official language. While some use their national language as official language, most use English as their official language (56.25%) (CIA.gov, 2012). Why is this so? The reason is because English has been regarded as third most used language in the world with a total of 1000 million native speaker and second-language speaker and being used widely in 64 different countries worldwide (ESL-Languages, 2012). Not to mention, most of the book, be it for entertainment or informational purpose, are published in English. As researched by UNESCO (2011), 28% of published book are in English followed by Chinese with 13.3%. The large difference between the first (English) and second (Chinese) shows how dominant English language is in daily use. We can clearly see the importance of English nowadays. English is also listed as one of the official language used by United Nation (UN) aside from Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. Furthermore, air control, airport, army, or private flight use English as a main communication tool. This can conclude that English is used for different purpose such as news and information, business, diplomacy, entertainment and others, (Kitao, 1996).

 English Language in the Malaysian education system has a long history dated back to before independence. It started during the full colonization of Malaya by British in 1824 (Anglo-Dutch Treaty, 1824). The first English School, Penang Free School was established back in 1916 with priorities on technical and trade skills. Not long after, few more Free Schools were established namely Malacca High School (1826), Singapore Free School (1834) and Victoria Institution (1893). During this these times, few changes were made to English subject in Free School, National School, and National-type School. Recently, after the abolition of Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (Pengajaran dan Pembejaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Inggeris (PPSMI)), To Uphold Bahasa Malaysia and To Strengthen English Language (Memartabatkan Bahasa Malaysia dan Memperkukuhkan Bahasa Inggeris (MBMMBI)) was created to further enhance students’ proficiency in English. In this plan aside from increasing classroom period, the government also plan on increasing the ratio of English teachers to students, bringing in English Language teaching assistant from Fulbright organisation and changing the syllabus itself.

Figure 1.0: Soft landing implementation of MBMMBI

English literature in Malaysia Education System started as an elective subject namely Literature in English (SPM Code 2205) under Literature in English Programme (LEP) back in 1992. It aims to introduce the use of literary texts for language and literary purposes in the ESL classroom (Rosli Talif, 1995). Those who took this subject, Literature in English, were deemed to have a good English command and have genuine interest in the subject since the subject dwells on deeper and harder texts compared to Literature Components in English Language subject. Employees prefer to take those who took Literature in English because they have better English proficiency. After few years of research, the literature component was added to English (SPM Code 1119); a compulsory subject in Malaysian Education System, with the aim to increase students’ command in English.

The literature component in Malaysian education has been implemented since the year 2000 by the Education Minister at that time, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, with the aim to enhance students’ proficiency level in English in term of their “personal development and character building and widen their outlook of the world through reading about other cultures and world views” (Ganakumaran, 2003). A decade after, in the year 2010, a new literature component cycle has been released to replace the first cycle. Figure 1.1 below shows the differences between the first cycle (old syllabus), and the second cycle (new syllabus).

Figure 1.1: SIMRIT KAUR. (Wednesday April 28, 2010).  Major Shift. from The Star Online.

Literature carries a lot of meaning, life experiences and culture in it; two of the most significance things in literature. It is able to widen school-leavers’ perspective of the world by giving them a second-hand experience for them to prepare themselves before entering the real life ahead of them. Students are forced to try to make sense of someone else’s thinking and connections when learning literature (Short, 1985). Literature is a source of authentic material in the sense that most works of literature are not fashioned for the specific purpose of teaching a language. In this sense, students are exposed to a language that is as genuine and undistorted as can be managed in the classroom context (Joan Collie and Stephen Slater, 1995). Literature is a form entertainment for the reader, or in this case, the learner. It can be in the form of a short story, poems, novels or graphic novels. First impression of certain stories or poems is important in order to ‘grab’ students’ attention and interest. If they are not interested in certain literature component, they will not be able to grasp the deeper meaning of said literature component. As stated by Hill (1986) the study of literature begins in delight and ends in wisdom. The psychological and linguistic reasons for teaching literature are: (1) the possibility of internalizing the language and reinforcing points previously learned, (2) a genuine language context and a focal point for the students in their own effort to communicate, (3) the motivation and (4) an introduction to the many different varieties and a range of texts of English. This is to further enhance the main goal of The Cabinet Committee Report on the Review of the Implementation of the Education Policy 1979, which is to empower school-leavers with the ability to use English in most of their daily routines and perhaps in working environment.

1.2              STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There is no way to refute that English has become a lingua franca in almost any situation that we could imagine; working, communicating, researching, web surfing and even playing games, however, most our students’ proficiency level is not good enough to meet the needs of employers. According to an English Language Assessment (ELA) conducted by Jobstreet.com, a well-known Internet Recruitment websites in the Asia-Pacific, in 2011, Malaysia scored the third place, being Singapore in first place and Philippine in second place followed up by Thailand and Indonesia on fourth and fifth place respectively. Malaysia scored 27 over 40, 28 over 40 for Philippine and 30 over 40 for Singapore. Even though the margin is not that much, but coming from 1.5 million users from Southeast Asia, it is a figure that we need to worry about.

Noticing this, our government had stepped-up the pace and quality in teaching and learning English. In order to do so, our government has implemented Literature component in English starting the year 2000. Since then, there had been a few changes in the use of English in Teaching and Learning including the implementation of PPSMI, MBMMBI and changes of literature component cycles. These changes had a few impacts on the students especially the literature component cycles. In these cycles, the government had included locals and overseas materials.

However, there are a few arguments regarding the materials; overseas materials can widen students’ perceptions, but can the students engage with the materials itself? An ethnographic language study done by Ochs & Schieffelin (1984) and Peters & Boggs (1986) suggests the following:-

·         Language acquisition does not follow a universal sequence, but differs across cultures.

·         The process of becoming a competent member of society is realized through exchanges of language in particular social situations.

·         Every society orchestrates the way in which children participate in particular situations and this, in turn, affects the form, the function and the content of children’s utterances.

·         Caregivers’ primary concern is not with grammatical input, but with a transmission of socio-cultural knowledge.

·         The native learner, in addition to language, acquires also the paralinguistic patterns and the kinesics of his or her culture.

(Buttjes, 1990, p.55)

Therefore, the problem rises; which material best suited the students’ needs and preferred by the students? Some arguments claims that it is better to learn a language with background knowledge, based on Cultural Model, hence the non-local material, while some other arguments claims it is better and easier to learn without background knowledge and some other arguments says, we need a combination of both, based on Personal Growth Model. Cultural Model and Personal Growth Model were introduced by Carter and Long in 1991.

However, to learn the language itself without engaging the culture is almost impossible. Even in a basic situation, for example, John goes to the mart to get a few things for dinner. Let say John lives in New York, and it is winter at the moment. Without knowing the culture, a learner cannot imagine what will John wear, how the mart looks like, and what will John buy. Therefore, student cannot really engage in the text or material provided if they do not know the culture behind it. In other words, learning or knowing the culture is crucial in learning the Target Language. Another example by Deng Yangchang and Liu Runqing in their book language and Culture, Foreign Language Teaching and Research, “The path to November is uphill all the way.” “November” literally means “the eleventh month of year”. However, here, it refers to “the Presidential election”. Without knowing the background of Target Language, in this case, English, students cannot fully understand the whole situation thus hampering their understanding of the content and language itself. Byram, state that learning a foreign language for whatever purpose is always ‘culture bound’. Culture in language learning is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It is always in the background, right from day one, ready to unsettle the good language learners when they expect it least, making evident the limitations of their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability to make sense of the world around them, (Kramsch, 1993). Michael Byram (1999) says, “The aims of language teaching are to develop both linguistic and cultural competence, which can be called an intercultural communicative competence.”. If the students cannot fully understand a given article on examination(s) due to lack of background knowledge, they cannot answer the question and will lead to bad results. Bad results will demotivate them, creating a mentality that English is hard, and thus making them indirectly or passively neglecting English; which is bad.  These are based on Cultural Model suggested by Carter and Long, which emphasises on the inclusion of the culture in literature learning to further enhance learners’ learning experience. Teaching literature within a cultural model enables students to understand and appreciate cultures and ideologies different from their own in time and space and to come to perceive tradition of thought, feeling and artistic form within the heritage the literature of such cultures endows. It is this particular 'human' sense that gives literature a central place in the study and teaching of the humanities in many parts of the world (Carter and Long, 1991:2).

On the other hand, why must we teach the students something alien to them while we can use our own Malaysian literature in English? It is tough enough to learn the language itself, and it is easier for them since they can imagine most of the setting and situation compared to non-local literary texts. It could encourage student to enjoy the literary texts as they would be able to identify with the local character and issues (Vethamani, M.E., 2004). It is also better for them in a sense that they can fully understand the poems, short stories and novels and relate it with their life thus, meaningful learning. There are a large number of well-written literatures by Asian writers that provides a cultural context that is more familiar to students (Bismillah, 2012). There is no point on forcing the students to learn something that they cannot fully fathom and relate to them. If at the end of the day the students cannot achieve meaningful learning, there are nothing that been taught or learnt. Literary appreciation is the true key to understanding and enjoyment of a work of literature (Gwin, 1990). Furthermore, most of the students are unaccustomed with non-local culture. They may find it weird or difficult to understand. For example, “I am buying some cards for red-letter day.”. Students will understand the meaning of the sentence denotatively, but not connotatively. This will make it harder for them to understand a non-local poem, short story or novel. It is the cultural strangeness more than the technical difficulties that pose the greatest comprehension problems to learners (Brooks, 1989).

Variation is always a good thing when it involves learning. As learners have different types of learning styles, they also have different preferences. Mixing local and non-local will accommodate learners’ need and preferences. Having a wide variety of mixtures for local and non-local will provide a rich experience for students to engage with. While some might not engage with Material A because they cannot and do not understand due to culture barrier, they can still engage Material B because they are familiar with it. Even though it is a hit and miss situation, the rich experience provided in the mixture material will provide the students with different learning experience each time. It is crucial to offer students a rich, literature environment in the classroom (Cole, 2003). Having mixed materials will also provide students with different use of language. As we all know, English has a lot of homonyms, homographs, homophones, heteronyms, and heterographs that might confuse the learners, but with proper example and explanation, it would not be of any hindrance. This is also in-line with Personal Growth Model where we provide the students with rich and varieties of materials for them to engage. They might not prefer all material at first, but from the material that they prefer, they will slowly learn the others due to intrinsic motivation. With this learner-centered approach, the students can develop on their own without needing much help from the teachers at the end, i.e., scaffolding. That learner centered approach, aims for the development of language competence and literary competence of the students through pleasure and personal fulfilment that arise out of the reading of literature (Tudor, 1996). If we do not find the right, or the best material that better suits the students, we will be wasting many resources, namely energy, time and money, not to mention worse English proficiency as time goes by, which maybe make our country fall further behind in growing nations.

1.3              RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ and students’ perception regarding which literature material (local or non-local) better suits the students.  The objectives of this research are as follow:

1.                To investigate teachers’ perceptions of local and non-local literary works.

2.                To investigate students’ perceptions in the school literature components.

3.                To find which material better suits the students.

1.4              RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research will focus on four (4) main questions:

1.                Which literature material; local or non-local, is preferred by the students?

2.                Why certain literature material; local or non-local, is easier for the students to relate?

3.                Which literature material; local or non-local, received more participation from students?

4.                Which literature material; local or non-local, is preferred by the teachers?

1.5              SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The outcome of this research will aid curriculum developers in determining which material suits students the most and directly amplify learning experience thus improving students’ results and proficiency. There is no point in wasting our resources in doing something less effective when we can use the same amount of resources and come out with better results. As a research conducted by Siti Norliana Ghazali, et al (2009) suggests, better text selection would motivate students to engage in literature reading. They also mention that students’ preferences must be the highest priority in selecting a text.

It will also help the teachers in preparing their lesson. By knowing which that the students prefer, teacher can give more attention during that particular lesson. By doing so, they will maximize the amount of time that they have and still provide a quality Teaching and Learning experience for both teacher and students. A quality teaching and Learning experience will create interest in students and that interest will make students want to know more about other texts i.e., intrinsic motivation. This is not only benefit the students but it will benefit the teacher in a sense that the students will pay more attention in class i.e., easier classroom management.

1.6              DEFINITION OF TERMS

Below is key definition of terms used in this research:

                                                        i.            Local literature

a.       Literature created by Malaysian with Malaysian context.

b.      Example:

                                                                                                              i.      In the Midst of Hardship by Latiff Mohidin

                                                                                                            ii.      Heir Conditioning by Dato’ M. Shanmughalingam

                                                                                                          iii.      A Fighter’s Line by Marzuki Ali

                                                      ii.            Non-local literature

a.       Literature created by non-Malaysian without Malaysian context.

b.      Example:

                                                                                                              i.      The river by Valerie Bloom

                                                                                                            ii.      One is One and all Alone by Nicholas Fisk

                                                                                                          iii.      Gulp and Gasp by Angela Lanyon

                                                    iii.            Teacher

a.       Teachers who is currently teaching in school and exposed to first literature cycle

                                                    iv.            Student

a.       Students who is currently studying in Form 4 or Form 5 in government school.

                                                      v.            Perception

a.       Opinions and views on literature in Malaysian school.

1.7              LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Since the study was conducted on Form 4 students from rural area, there is a possibility that the students will misunderstand a few questions. The researcher tried his best to explain to the students about the questions and instructions before the students start answering the question and clarified problems if persist.

Another limitation the researcher faced was limited or minimal response from the teachers due to time constraint. The researcher made the interview shorter by simplifying and reducing the questions.

1.8              CONCLUSION

This chapter has provided in-depth view of the study. The main reason behind this study is that the researcher knows the importance of literature in improving English competency. As for the main objective, it is to investigate teachers’ and students’ perception regarding which literature material (local or non-local) better suits the students. The findings will be discussed later on in following chapter.