Don’t shun imported books

I REFER to the report “Row over books” (The Star, Nov 25). I am stunned that there are still some stakeholders, especially parents and teachers, who are skeptical of the benefits of using imported English textbooks beginning of next year to teach English in national schools: Years One and Two pupils will use

Super Minds from Cambridge University Press while Forms One and Two students, MacMillan’s

Pulse 2.

To allay the fears of the skeptics, I would like to share the experience of Ipoh Learning & Training Institute (ILTI), which has been using imported English textbooks to teach English since the inception of the institute in 1985.

In the first two decades of its operation, ILTI students were using Streamline English authored by Peter Viney and published by Oxford University Press (OUP).

The students at elementary, intermediate and advanced levels used Streamline English Departures, Connections and Directions, depending on their proficiency levels.

Later, ILTI introduced a new series of imported textbooks, New Headway series, written by Amanda Maris, Liz and John Soars, and published by OUP for different levels of English proficiency – beginners, elementary, preintermediate, intermediate, upperintermediate and advanced.

The students are assigned to classes of different levels using the respective books based on a placement test to gauge their proficiency levels.

Using these textbooks, ILTI teachers – who are mainly retired school teachers – have been preparing the students for the University of Cambridge ESOL examinations since 2000.

This year will be the 17th batch sitting for the Cambridge examinations.

The examination results are measured according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

The primary advantage of these foreign English books is that the students are able to broaden their horizon and widen their global knowledge.

They have a better world view and acceptance of other cultures, religion and lifestyle of the people across the globe.

Additionally, these imported English books are written by professional native writers who certainly are prolific and skilful in

their presentations of the contents of these books, particularly in matters concerning grammar such as syntax and lexicon.

For instance, the conjugation of the verb in English, unlike the verb in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil, is undeniably complex for our students who are learners of English as a foreign language.

Apart from the imported textbooks, the Education Ministry should consider increasing library funds for schools to purchase more imported supplementary readers and story books to reinforce the learning of English so that students have more opportunities to practise the use of English while enjoying reading.

I believe the Education Ministry’s move to use imported English textbooks in national schools instead of locally produced ones is the right step to improve Malaysian students’ proficiency in the globally spoken English language.

The primary advantage of these foreign English books is that the students are able to broaden their horizon and widen their global knowledge.

THOMAS KOK Ipoh