Shocking Grasp of English
among JC Students
ST survey reveals low standard of English
in essays, experts say English is getting worse
By Sandra Davie
Education Correspondent
Straits Times, 29 September 2003
'The education system in Singapore is very rigid and high stressed even starting from a young.' 'If I were the Singapore's education minister, the changes that I always wanted was the time for students to arrived in school.' 'Isn't schools suppose to help us in educating people?'
These sentences were taken from essays written by first-year junior college students for a Straits Times survey.
A total of 112 first-year students from five junior colleges were given 30 minutes to write essays on the changes they would make to the education system here if they were the minister.
The Straits Times took their efforts to Mr Philip Geer, a general paper teacher for more than 20 years and an author of a Scholastic Assessment Test preparation book, and asked him to analyse the essays and grade them on the standard of English used as well as the students' knowledge of current affairs.
The results: 88 of the students received a score of 40 or less out of 100. And only 12 scored between 50 and 80, the highest mark achieved.
Mr Geer said he was surprised at the low standard of English. The worst nine students, he said, were not able to compose a simple essay in acceptable English.
'The writing is so full of grammatical errors it can't convey simple ideas clearly.'
The next group -- 79 who scored between 21 and 40 marks - were marginally better, but they could communicate only simple ideas using a limited vocabulary and their compositions were riddled with errors, he said.
The 19 he said were average, scoring between 41 and 60, developed logical arguments and could put across fairly complex ideas using varied and fairly sophisticated sentences. But they made grammatical errors, especially when attempting complex sentence structures.
Only five students got above average scores, with mature, thoughtful essays taking original viewpoints, said Mr Geer. Their efforts were also free of major errors in grammar, usage and spelling.
As for content, he said: 'The fact that few students could think of something at least somewhat original is a cause for concern.'
He said JC students should be familiar with the topic, as it is discussed in many general paper classes and is of direct concern to them.
'Some did little more than suggest that all schools have air-conditioning,' said Mr Geer, who taught in three JCs before leaving two years ago to run Scholastic Assessment Test English preparation classes.
'A large number argued that the authorities should take measures to reduce the stress on students, but offered few practicable ideas for achieving this.'
Like him, English language experts interviewed felt that the standard of written and spoken English here had declined in recent years.
Associate Professor Phyllis Chew, who heads the English Language and Literature Teachers Association, said no survey had been done to track the standard of English among students here, 'but anecdotally, the general feeling among teachers is that standards have dropped'.
Seven English language teachers interviewed blamed students' lack of exposure to literature for the drop.
Two years ago, the most recent year for which figures are available, only a quarter of students taking O levels sat for the literature paper. Ten years ago, half of them did.
The subject is also a casualty at N level. In 2001, only 4 per cent took it, compared to a quarter in 1992.
Teachers said English literature students had a sound command of the language and expressed themselves well.
Another reason for the state of English here, said Dr Chew, could be the method of teaching that was adopted in the 1980s and 1990s.
Then, students were not drilled in sentence structure or grammar, but taught through activities such as discussions, language games and role play.
She said that recently, schools had reverted to schooling youngsters in such concepts as verb conjugations.
The communication based method is 'fine, as long as you have good models to acquire the language from, but it didn't work very well for Singapore students'.
Assistant Professor Lionel Wee from the National University of Singapore's English language and literature department, however, said it was common for every generation to feel standards had slipped.
'At the end of the day, what's important is that our students acquire a standard of English that enables them to communicate effectively.'
(Copyright 2003 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.)