ETeMS (or English for Teaching Mathematics and Science) was implemented in Malaysia in 2003 to enhance the English

language skills of Malaysian primary and secondary learners. n the past! mathematics and Science at schools were taught in Malay! Mandarin and Tamil separately. The switch to teaching mathematics and Science in English! a second or third language to most Malaysian learners was contro"ersial and had caused de#ate #y academicians! representati"es of the non$go"ernmental organi%ations (&'(s)! policy makers and the pu#lic at large.. )ollowing the contro"ersy o"er ETeMS! in 20*0! the Malaysia 'o"ernment has decided to re"ert to teaching Mathematics and Science in the national language gradually! #eginning 20*2. )or my opinion! am strongly agreeing with the former implementation and totally

disagree with the re"ersion. English is one of the most important languages which are spoken glo#ally. Teaching and learning Mathematics and Science in English can produce Malaysians who are a#le to compete in international le"el as most of the education information is mainly a"aila#le in English! the +ingua )ranca. The greater e,posure to English! used as the medium of instruction in Mathematics and Science classes would help de"elop student-s competence. .t the same time! it pro"ides the opportunities for students to use the language and therefore increase their proficiency in the language. (Ministry of education! 2002a) This is an ad"antage for the students as they would #e a#le to perform internationally especially in their tertiary education or further. /esides this! the former implementation teaching two core su#0ects in English also aims at upgrading the nation-s capa#ility to play a role in technological de"elopment. The research finding in .ssessing Students 1erformance2 The School +anguage (English +anguage) )actor done #y 3ahiah 3akaria and Mohd Sallehhudin .#d .%i% (20**) stated that the use of English as the medium of instruction did not help the students- performance. )urthermore! the researcher also stated that the students performed rather dismally when the

students were gi"en the test using English "ersion. The su#0ects of the students were 40 )orm 5 students who studying two core su#0ects in English for fi"e years. The students were di"ided into two groups! 6igh English 1roficiency students (6E1S) and +ow English 1roficiency students (+E1S). totally disagree with the conclusion of the finding. The finding contradicts the finding of a study conducted #y hsan smail (2007)! in which it was reported that the statistical tests showed that students- performance has increased significantly after the implementation of ETeMS policy to conduct the process of teaching and learning mathematics and science su#0ects in English language. (ther than this! the finding done #y 1arm0it Singh (20*0) also found that students- achie"ements were not influenced #y language used during the tests. would like to comment on the finding stated that the use of English as the medium of instruction did not help the students- performance. n the finding found #y hsan smail (20**) and 1arm0it Singh (20*0) ha"e pro"ed that teaching Mathematics and Science in English is not a solely factor that influenced students- achie"ement. would rather say that English

proficiency is not a ticket to ensure understanding in Science and Mathematics. There are some other factors such as class en"ironment! teachers- and students- readiness that may influence student-s performance in EteMS policy. n the reseach done #y &orudin Mansor etl (20**)! the result of the correlation and multiple regressions indicated that school! class and home en"ironment! the teaching methodology and the teachers- attitude are significantly associated towards students- achie"ement. The same finding also found #y 8ohaida Mohd. Saat elt (2005) stated that physical setting! role of teachers and wed$#ased instructional materials and studentsreadiness are the "arious factors that influence the students- performance in Teaching

Mathematics and Science in English. (ng Sa +an (2009) also stated that the pro#lem of learning Science through second language is compounded #y other factors such as teachers who are not prficiency in English and lack of good te,t#ook. :ellington and (s#orne (200*)

underlines that research findings indicate that it is not 0ust the language in itself #ut rather what educators do with language. This is #ecause what educators do with the language inad"ertently affects how the learner uses the language and that is fundamental to the learning of Science. En"ironment consists of en"ironment in classroom! school anf students home can affect the students- performance. .ccording to &arudin Mansor (20**)! analysis concerning en"ironment at students- home is also #elie"es to pro"ide considera#le effect to the sucess of the implementation as if the family encourage their children to speak English at home. Then! a comforta#le and attracti"e classroom is an en"ironment which will #e a#le to stimulate learning. &orudin Mansor etc (20**) mentioned that a condusi"e en"ironment is always "ital and effecti"e for learning. (ther than that! 8ohaida Mohd. Saat (2005)! stated that we#$#ased intructional materials offers se"eral ad"antages and one of them is that it supports hypermedia en"ironment. This hypermedia as a computer$#ased system that allows interacti"e linking of multiple format information and this supports a non$linear way of instruction. This non$linear approach ena#les users to make decisions on which path or section to e,plore and increase students- control o"er their learning thus impro"e their performance in learning Mathematics and Science. n additional! the most important factor that affecting students- performance is the teacher. The teachers- proficiency in English! teachers- #elief! teachers- a#ility to use ;T in teaching of Mathematics and Science in English are "ery crucial in the EteMS policy. .s we know! most of the teachers are #eing trained to teach in &ational +anguage and ha"ing taught in that language for many years! it is rather difficult for them to make an a#rupt change and #e e,perts in deli"ering lessons in the English +anguage. 6owe"er! Minister of Educator had carried out se"eral programmes to train teachers to #e proficent in English and also pro"iding hardware and multimedia coursework to assist teachers in the classroom acti"ities. The programme like the school-s #uddy system help teachers to #e more proficent in English. Some

may #e stated that many teachers are still not proficent in English #ut proficiency in any languages re<uires continuous practice and re<uires a long time to master. Teacher ha"e to put more effort to self$impro"e in English proficiency and also a#ility to use ;T in teaching. So! a #etter understanding of the relationship #etween the #eliefs of teachers and the key elements that influence or guide teaching practice would help aid teacher reforms. (;heah +i &a! 2007) n term of teaching! teachers can create their own style or methods on order to deli"er lessons to students. The rele"ancy of teaching aids are also as an important resources for theachers in assissting students should also #e monitored. There resources many times ser"es as one of the main instruments for shaping knowledge! attitudes and principles among the learned group. .part from the teacher-s role! readiness is another factor that influences the performance of students. Students- readiness is percei"ed as learner-s de"elopmental le"el of cogniti"e functioning. t is the cogniti"e maturity that is assumed to determine the e,tent to which learners are capa#le of learning. Therefore! students- cogniti"e le"el should #e taken under consideration in teaching students. /ased on Shayer and .dey-s (*774) ta,onomy! students #eing at the concrete le"el of 1iagetian ;ogniti"e =e"elopment will not #e a#le to handle multiple "aria#les. They will #e a#le to to "ary more than one "aria#le only when they are at late concrete and formal le"el. This is due to the fact that concrete thinkers are not cogniti"ely >ready- to handle multiple "aria#les. .nother factor that affects learning is students- readiness. &orudin Mansor (20**) sees readiness as a function of pre"iously ac<uired knowledge. They emphasi%ed that what students already know influences their learning. 8eadiness in this sense depends on the learner?s cogniti"e structure. Things or information that they already know facilitates su#se<uent learning. Taking this point into consideration! it is important for teachers to know their students? prior knowledge #efore proceeding on to other lessons.

Students- attitude and moti"ation also play an important roles. (#"iously! the moti"ation to learn is important. 6owe"er! students who e,perience to get the good results in Mathematic and Science e,amination are among the most moti"ated to learn #oth core su#0ects in English. The students that who is willing to guess! risks making mistakes and tries to answer the e,amination in English will tend! gi"en opportunity! to #e more successful than those who are not willing to use and try to answer in English +anguage. ('eorge @ule! *77A) .fter commenting of the factors that influence the students- performance in teaching suggest that English needs to #e strengthened during the first four years if a child-s education (kindergarten to @ear 3) #efore formally introducing Science and Mathematics in English. The critical period hypothesis states that there is a period (#efore pu#erty where a#out the age of twel"e) during which language ac<uisition is easy and complete and #eyond which it is difficult and typically incomplete. (8od Ellis! 2003). nstead of teaching Mathematic and Science in English at this le"el! the Science and Mathematic acti"ities can #e em#edded in the English su#0ect. =r. Baafar Bantan (2009) suggested introducing and strngthening the English grammar and word pronunciation. n addition! i suggest that pupils at this le"el #e gi"en the e,perince to de"elop their writing and speaking and listening skills in English. The playful nature of the pupils at this le"el needs that classroom learning acti"ities #e focused more on acti"e participation and in"ol"ement #y the students. n conclusion! EteMS must #e allow to continue instead of re"ersion to &ational +anguage. The Ministry Education had spend #illions to train teachers to #e proficent in English #ut also pro"iding ;T to assist teachers in the classroom acti"ities. Teachers generally were in fa"our of the EteMs policy and #elie"ed in the educationalt merits of using English to teach Mathematic and Science. (;heah ! 2007) Moreo"er! the students felt that the use of English +anguage in learning Mathematic and Science was approprite. .ccording to the finding that done #y 3ahiah and 3akariah (20**) ! students were in fa"our of the use of English

+anguage in learning Mathematic and Science as they found it to #e interesting! simpler and helpful in impro"ing their English language performance. Thus! with all the findings! i #elie"ed that the use of English as the medium of instruction do help the students- performance.

Really raising standards: cognitive intervention and academic achievement

By Philip Adey, Michael Shayer , Taylor & Francis e-Library http://books.google.com.my/

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN ENGLISH Tina Lim Swee Kim Mah Chee Wai 2007 ssue 2 &o"em#er 200C p.4C$A0 http2DDwww.recsam.edu.my

English in the Teaching of Mathematics and Science Subjects (ETeMS) Policy Implications for the Performance of Malaysian Secondary Schools in Mathematics and Science Subjects
Ihsan Ismail Warwic !usiness School "ni#ersity of Warwic $o#entry% $&' ()* "nited +ingdom,-th E.)M!) Summer )cademy Sore/e% 0rance 1uly 2334 Burnal 1endidik dan 1endidikan! Bil. 20! *E*7! 2005 TECHNOLOG !"ASED SCIENCE CLASSROOM# WHAT FACTORS FACILITATE LEARNING$
Rohaida Mohd. Saat Department of Mathematics and Science Education, )aculty of Education! Fni"ersity of Malaya! +em#ah 1antai! 50A03 Guala +umpur! Malaysia E-mail: rohaida um.edu.my or rohaida!saat yahoo.com "amariah #bu $akar %aculty of Educational Studies, &ni'ersiti (utra Malaysia 43400 F1M! Serdang! Selangor! Malaysia

Parmjit Singh, Arba Abdul Rahman and Teoh Sian Hoon )ournal of Science and Mathematics Education in Southeast #sia 2010, Vol. 33 No. 1, 6 !"

*anguages and Mathematics )chie#ements )mong 5ural and "rban Primary 0our Pupils6 ) Malaysian E7perience
Parmjit Singh #ni$er%iti Te&nologi 'ARA 'ala(%ia )rba )bdul 5ahman #ni$er%iti Te&nologi 'ARA 'ala(%ia Teoh Sian 8oon #ni$er%iti Te&nologi 'ARA 'ala(%ia

PE5SI.)9:)9 ME1) !"*)T ' PPSMI (Pengajaran Sains dan Matemati dalam !ahasa Inggeris) =r. Baafar Bantan a.k.a. =r.BB 2, ; tober 233<