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One of the biggest challenges that an English teacher has to face is the lack of participation from the students, especially if you are teaching in Asian countries as opposed to many European and American countries where students are generally actively participating in the class.
There are many reasons for this, but a lot of it can be attributed to a collective ‘Asian norm’, which can be loosely defined as follow:
1 – It is always better to keep silent and make a mistake, rather than make a mistake and embarrass myself in front of the class.
Many Asians would gladly keep quiet and then laugh at their friends who are brave enough to actually try. Some would relish the humiliation that others endure. Some would just be glad that it wasn’t them. The smarter would choose this as a learning experience, where they gain by learning from someone else’s mistake. Whatever it takes, as long as the mistake is not theirs.
2 – Boy and girl interaction complicates classroom interaction.
Though this may not play as big a role as it once did, this factor still accounts for some reluctance in communication. First of all, it would be very embarrassing to make mistakes in front of any member of the opposite sex (this is normal everywhere around the world). However, the level of self-preservation becomes stronger in many Asian cultures, especially Muslim cultures, where inter-gender communication may still be seen as a taboo. This factor complicates many other forms of interaction in the learning environment. Nevertheless, there are certain ways a teacher can get around this, given experience and time.
3 – It is easier to be spoon-fed, rather than to actually have to speak + It is easier just to sit down in rows without having to move about to do groupwork.
As a point of comparison between typical ‘Asian’ types, and non-Asian types, I remember teaching an international class in one of the language centres where I used to teach. A Korean girl would roll her eyes and speak Korean to her friends, and her friends would all laugh, whenever I told to move about or get into groups. However, this would be the direct opposite of many Arab students, as they usually relish the opportunity to speak and make their voices heard (they usually have VERY loud voices in class).
Malaysian students would not usually be so expressive or vocal in their disdain, but there would be some initial grumbling or discomfort, especially if it is new to them. Interestingly, in my experience, it is the students from so called ‘premier schools’ who are very much used to the teacher spoonfeeding them. Mixed ability or lower ability groups are usually the opposite, where they enjoy any form of teaching that doesn’t require them to sit at their desks the way they normally do.
Of course, there are many other factors involved, but generally, the three factors listed here sufficiently describe the problem at hand.
What is your take on the matter?
Having been teaching English in a rural school for about eight years, I agree to the validity of the claims made above of the real situation that is happening in English classes in schools in Malaysia. As the setting for my school itself has been mentioned as ‘rural’, I find that the norms numbers 1 and 2 are particularly conspicuous.
I would say that trying to make students speak English in class will be the most daunting task an English teacher would have to face in my school. This is even more apparent within the context of preparing the students for the Malaysian University Englist Test, where one of the component requires them to speak individually and in groups.
Normally, I would prepare them early – usually within the first few months of the initiation of the whole semester. And again as mentioned, ‘persuading to’ and ‘making them’ speak early in the beginning of the semester is so difficult. Many would not take it seriuosly as the reason is that the examination is still ‘far away’.
So here it seems that there is indeed another ‘illness of norms’ that has befallen our students – the tendency to wait until the last minute to study, which I am sure is also most rampant in many schools all over the country.
In addition, the complexity and seriousness of such matter are sometimes aggravated by the fact that recently, as the government has made the place where I am teaching ‘more accessible’ to people, there have been sudden influxes of ‘smart students’ – students who have to follow their re-posted parents from towns and cities. These students could be easily identified by the bright, vivacious complexions that they have as opposed to the rather gloomy, sullen ones of the native students. And of course, being born and raised in cities and towns, their quality of English is so much better.
As a result, such situation indirectly affects the native students’ confidence in using the language. Many of them would feel rather intimidated by the rather higher level of mastery shown by the ‘smart’ students that they choose to surrender or remain non-chalant in class, especially during speaking lessons, where obviously, they are concerned about being laugh at if they make mistakes.
Then of course, to aggravate the problem of lack of confidence, there exist the ever-so-familiar rural norm where sitting or studying too close with someone of the oposite sex is inappropriate. Inter-gender communication in class is often kept to a minimum, and disapproving expressions and grunts normally appear when they are being asked to group up or pair up with members of the opposite sex.
However, I would not blame the students for the apparent scenario in perhaps every schools in Malaysia that they are just so comfortable being spoonfed. The education system, sadly, is to be blamed. As with the context at hand, the students are generally eager to work independently, but they just do not know how as they have not been trained to do so.
In addition, there is also the fear that what they independently learn might not be in-line with what is needed to answer the examination questions correctly in order to get as much As as posssible. Clearly, the students will never achieve the true aim of learning a language if their main objective is merely to get an A for English.
So here, perhaps a more ’rounded’ an efficient testing method is necessary to ensure that learning English in classrooms in Malaysia does not, in one hand, prepares the students to get the highly-cherished A in their examinations, but on the other hand, defeats the real purpose of learning a language.
Hi Adli,
You do paint a very realistic picture of what I believe is happening all over the country.
I find it to be very interesting that you mention the move the government has carried out to relocate students with higher proficiency to your more rural settings. It is interesting in the sense that the move can be seen as a two-edged sword, the first edge being to improve the standard of English by providing a better learning model and more opportunities for the rural students to learn. However, as we all know, the reality would actually be closer to a backlash, where they local students become intimidated and may even totally switch off as they feel threatened by the more proficient compatriots.
Nevertheless, we have to try to make the students see the other side, which is a better chance to learn. I believe that the first thing that has to be done is to level the playing field. This does not mean bringing the more proficient students down, but it does mean bridging the psychological gap between the two groups. This can be done by focusing on things the ‘weaker’ group can do, or even just by creating a learning atmosphere where students all feel comfortable with one another.
Heightening the sense of solidarity will do wonders in lowering the affective filter of the students, making them more susceptible to learn.
What techniques have you tried thus far in overcoming the problem?