This makes me wonder why are we having unmotivated English teachers then? Is it the fault of the BPG to take in anyone who went for the KPLI interviews, especially ?
I am saying this because there are 'live' examples which prove that this certain group of teachers do not have the passion to teach but just for the sake to get jobs!
And I wonder what would happen to the teaching of Literature of this particular group is allowed to teach students in class...

Esteena

I do agree with you that there are a whole lot of teachers; KPLI trained, PJJ trained, or otherwise who have no interest in the profession. Sad to say that for some its simply the pay packet at the end of the month that is awaited.

However, it would not be right blame only the Ministry or BPG for this problem. There are many factors that build up to this. Primary amongst these would be the genuine availibilty of teacher material to meet the needs of the growing nation.

On the whole its a chicken and egg story. How we'll overcome this issue is indeed of serious concern.

the situation is not predicated on teaching of literature but on all other subjects. In other words, it is not unique to the ESL class. There are probably teachers who are not interested to teach agama but are forced to do so!

But then, sometimes, some of the teachers' complaints are worth taking note--- discouragement from peers, management and students; unnecessary work load which should have been done by administrative personnel; etc. These factors might seem unrelated to the teaching of literature but we should note that they all influence, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, the teachers' psyche.

I guess it will take a long time (50 years?) for the Education ministry to make changes for the betterment of teachers---less unnecessary work, more training programme, smaller teacher-student ratio; more resources etc.

As for the teaching of literature, i am quite incline to believe that the majority of teachers are just not prepared to teach literary texts. doing one or two semesters of teaching literature do not guarantee that they can do a good job. Teachers, apart from knowing the application/pedagogy (teaching per se) need, in my opinion, good knowledge of the literary texts (the big L). They also have to have a good reading culture. What seems to be happening now in schools are teachers who are "static" in their positioning---they read only what is prescribed in the syllabus for the students. rather sad, isn't it?

tim

When I first started to teach, I am really excited to share with my students about literature. I sincerely feel that literature can help students to develop critical thinking skills and gives them a different outlook as they read about other cultures. But I was disappointed when the students seem to go totally blank and I really have to start from the basics to get them interested.

I noticed that Malaysian students in general rarely read and sad to say that they are not even interested to read even when the school is well-stocked with good books for them to read. Oh, I forgot to tell that I am teaching in a secondary school in Puchong. Yes, with low-proficiency students, the task of teaching them literature is very daunting and challenging but then even the students in bright classes have difficulty to grasp literature. When you start from the basics, sigh, it really takes a toll on you.

I guess I am not alone thinking that literature needs to start when they are in primary schools. My wish is for students to learn to love reading. But then, I guess it depends from the students environment and the students own initiative to start to love reading. I think reading is important not only to study but it can help the students to learn more about the world through literature. If only...

the main problem is the students don't read ( as you have mentioned). Has anyone tried ways and methods of getting students to read (instead of spending time in cyber cafes).

tim

It's good to know that there are teachers out there who do care about what's happening in our English classrooms. However, I personally feel that many of us, including me, seem to be going round and round in circles when we talk about the prevailing problems that plague our attempts to teach English in general and Literature in particular. If we could just stop for a moment, weigh our situation and think through our problem, I think we may find that the many reasons that we have all along thought, contribute to our difficulty in teaching the subject, are compunded by a team of curriculum designers who simply and ignorantly dumped a half baked Literature syllabus onto our laps without even taking into consideration all the other factors that may affect learning. Consider this alternative situation! What if the selection of Literature texts have been excerpts from Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, Sesame Street etc, etc? What if assessment of the children's understanding is based on their creative interpretation of the text, such as a short play, a poem or a song written by the students themselves? What if there is no indication of a pass or fail? What if there is a separate slot for Literature in the class timetable instead of it being cramped into the 5 periods a week slot? What if teachers are trained to be more fun loving ans see children as children instead of the "holier than thou attitude"? I may not be able to predict the reaction to all these scenarios but I do know one thing! If only we had done it right from the very beginning! Comments welcomed!

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well, basically that is the primary problem. The planning...but that would mean to change the whole system, right? which, of course, we know will not happen for the next few decades...
so, given the present circumstances,what can we do to spur our students to read, love literature, etc?

I guess almost every teacher faces the same problem. There is no solution in sight...meanwhile, anyone has any ideas to help teachers like us?

Well, in a way you're right, Tim, the bit about the system, that is. But, I don't think we're ever going to change even if we're given another 50-60 years. The way I see it, we're going to be like those humans in "The Matrix" all programmed to follow with no questions asked. We do not need to start a revolution but we teachers do need to be a little less docile, more dynamic, vocal and definitely professional if we ever want our voices to be heard. In the first place, who started the system and when did this particular system on Literature start? Don't you think that it is our democratic rights as teachers to be consulted (I mean consulted in the real sense of the word, instead of asking a few representatives who may not even know 2 hoots of how the majority of the teaching fraternity feels!) at the very least, about the selection of the literary texts used!
Well, so much for mediocrity and in the midst of it all, we're contributing, either directly or indirectly to the genocide of our young minds. So, what if we could all sit and discuss and share fantastic ideas on teaching Literature? Yes, by all means dramatise an exceprt from your novel, "THe Return" or even ask your students to write a short exchange based on an excerpt from "The Pearl" or better still ask them to come up with some lyrics to accompany " The Song of Evil" ever so often heard by Kino BUT, at the end of the day, we all still succumb to a timetable which only allows 200 minutes a week of English with Literature included and an SPM English paper which says otherwise? And to top it all, you're bombarded with the nagging question by a host of ever intelligent students, "WHy do we have to do "THe Return"? It's so boring!" Answer- The System, you can't beat that! Comments welcomed

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yes, i understand your situation as I was from the school system. I got fed up of it and left so am now in a private institution.

But then you mentioned something pertinent: "I don't think we are ever going to change"

that's exactly what i was pointing at. The system will not change, yet. While waiting for it to change, what can we, teachers, do? Yes, teachers do need to be vocal...but unfortunately, who is going to listen?

so meanwhile, we will just have to flow with the system, and as much as possible impart whatever we think is necessary into our young minds (I guess this is easy for me to say since I am out of the system).

Frankly, I don't see the need for a separate literature component. Why not have literary texts as part of the English textbook? I honestly believe that we should just be concerned with Carter and Long's Linguistic model (for the teaching of literature i.e. teach linguistic items using literary text) and if we find that our students can progress further, we teach them the big L.

what do you all think?

p/s your intelligent students find "The REturn" boring? Hmmm...i wonder if they had read the original version instead of the edited version, would their opinion change? i thought it is one of the most interesting malaysian novels in English. The other novel is "Flowers in the Sky" by Lee Kok Liang, but of course, highly censored for secondary students.

Hi Tim,
Sorry, but I've got to be a little blunt here. What you've just said seems to be based on a lot of assumptions before you could even lay a finger on the issues I've raised.( No offence meant). Firstly, I've never truly argued for a separate slot for Literature. What I'm trying to say is that if CDC feels that they need to have Literature done with whole texts, then by all means they should have a separate slot. However, I personally feel this is honestly unecessary as literary texts, in the form of exceprts, can be incorporated into the mainstream English programme. Secondly, it is very patronising of you to assume that my students have not read the original version of "The return". As it is the original version was one of the texts required in the Form 6 Literature paper in 2001 and 2002. If you think there's a lot of difference between the original version and the abridged one, then I humbly beg to differ. My students' comment on the book being boring does not reflect their paucity of reading experience. On the contrary, it was the reverse. Suffice to say that "the Return" could be very enlightening and enriching but the style is cumbersome, tedious and lacks appeal to teenagers. Perhaps, the language faculties of our local universities could think about conducting a research on the subject, something along the lines of " Teenagers and their choice of Literary Texts - On what basis?"
Thirdly,I really like your phrase, " while waiting for the system to change". So much for proactivity and ingenuity! Of course, in the same vein, you're right to some extent about "who's going to listen". I don't really know the answer to this, but what I do know is this, MELTA might be a good start if it stays true to its objectives. Comments welcomed.

P/s By the way,Long and Carter will still remain Long and carter if their theories are not applied into our local context and the effects observed and recorded. THUS, the schools are where all the research material is. How about coming back in ?

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