I taught form 4 students directed writing. One of the types is Article or Report. The formal article normally looks like a report to complain or make suggestion to people with authority. When I gave this example of article to the students, it caused a little bit uproar and chaos as they finished reading it. What a day! For obvious reason, I did not submit this report to the principal though 😀
To: Principal of SABK Madrasah Al Attas
Date: 17 September 2018
Title: Reasons for students lack of motivation among Form 4 students to learn English
Recently, a survey was conducted to find out reasons for Form 4 students’ lack of motivation to learn English. The survey was conducted among 50 students of all Form 4 students. Other than quantitative survey, some of the students were interviewed to get more insight about their lack of motivation in learning. The results of the survey demonstrated that there are three main reasons for the students’ lack of interest in learning English.
Firstly, the students do not have the right attitude towards learning. They are not keen to participate in classroom activities conducted by teachers during lesson and some of them would rather fall asleep throughout the learning sessions. Those who were interviewed feel that classroom activities do not help them to understand the materials discussed and thus, they have difficulty to stay focused and stay awake during lesson. They also commented that most of the time, they feel bored with the activities conducted in class and do not feel the importance to participate in those activities conducted.
Secondly, English is perceived as colonial language and has less value as compared to Arabic language. Thus, learning English is considered as less important as compared to learning Arabic language. The students feel that it is more important for them to master Arabic language as compared to English language due to this skewed conception of importance of both languages. Due to this, most of them feel that there are no needs to complete the homework exercise on English subject even though they are prompted by their English language teachers numerous times to complete and submit their homework on time.
Thirdly, some parents of the students do not emphasise the importance of English language mastery as compared to Arabic language. The lack of emphasis by parents inadvertently strengthen their children’s belief and value of English language. For those who sincerely believed that English language is not as important as Arabic language, they do not invest in buying reference or exercise books in English for their children. The lack of parental support makes it difficult for the students to have more positive outlook on English language and thus, the students feel that it is acceptable to get below average grade for English.
It is unfortunate that these reasons become deterrent for the students to enhance their English language proficiency. The following suggestions should be able to encourage interest in English language among students if implemented accordingly. The first way is that teachers should stress the importance of learning various languages and mastery of various subjects as preparation for the future, not for examination per se. This can be done in many ways whether unofficially or officially through various activities. Secondly, the school can invite alumni who are successful in various fields due to their language proficiency especially in English. For example, an alumnus who has a PhD from a western university could serves as an example of a former student who had studied at this school could be proficient in various languages such as English, Arabic and Malay. Lastly, the school can organize an event where parents can meet various alumni with various professions that would allow them to interact and ask questions about various career prospects of individuals with various language proficiency. These suggestions would help to enhance students and their parents’ positive perception on English language. [555 words]
Prepared by: Hadijah Jaffri