English
not only language of science.
SINCE
my name was mentioned in the letter “A common medium” (The Star, Feb 18) by
Datin Noor Azimah on the Dual Language Programme (DLP), I would like to respond
to some of the issues raised by her on why we should continue the DLP.
First
of all, I beg to differ with Noor Azimah’s notion that English is the only
language of science. All her arguments about the dominance of English in
scientific communications merely show that English has become the de facto
communication language of science but not the only language in which
established science could be taught and new science could be discovered.
Major
scientific discoveries of the 20th century such as the Relativity Theory of
Einstein that has enhanced our understanding of the huge expanse of space in
the universe and the Quantum Theory of Heisenberg and Bohr that let us
understand properties of the very tiny nanoscale structures and of atoms, were
discovered in German, the language of the discoverers and not in English.
Both
theories underlie almost all subsequent scientific discoveries including the
very recent discovery of gravitational waves by LIGO that vindicated Einstein’s
Relativity.
According
to the Princeton historian of science, Prof Michael Godin in his new book,
Scientific Babel, English became the dominant language of scientific
communication only recently, in the last 60 years, at the expense of the
previous triumvirate of scientific communication languages, English, French and
German.
The
Anglicization of scientific communication started much earlier by the boycott
of German scientists by Western European and American scientists who published
in French and English in between the World Wars. German science was further
decimated by the defeat in the Second World War and many German scientists were
brought over to work for America and to use English in their work.
The
dominance of the United Kingdom and American publishers in scientific
publications after the War squeezed out French as a scientific communication
language and literally forced the English language down the throat of the
scientific community, who otherwise would have continued to publish in either
German, French or English as was the practice before the War. As a world-ranked
scientist at the top of my own field as attested by Thomson Reuters’ World’s
Most Influential Scientific Minds 2016, and as a professor in chemical
engineering for 36 years at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), I have taught
many generations of Malaysian chemical engineers in Bahasa Melayu and have
supervised successfully many MSc and PhD students, who used Bahasa Melayu in
the practice of world class science in UKM’s labs and in the reporting of the
scientific results in their thesis.
External
examiners from other universities in Malaysia were amazed and surprised but
enthusiastic that world class science could be done and reported in Bahasa Melayu
very well. The students then rewrote their research results in English for
publication in world renowned journals.
Hence,
English does not contribute anything to the science but merely as translations
or rewrites of it. Since the MSc and PhD students are among the brightest of
the lot, they have no problem in communicating their scientific results in
Bahasa Melayu or English at international conferences with confidence because
their scientific works are world class.
Renowned
scientists look for the science not the language in their presentations and
papers because scientific talent is rare and far between whereas the language
of communication can be easily learned on the job.
Their
scientific education in Bahasa Melayu at UKM did not prevent many of my
students from going on to become successful professional engineers in industry
and excellent lecturers and world class scientists with many of them becoming
professors and world leaders in their fields of research.
One
of them in particular, Prof Dr Siti Kartom Kamarudin, a true blue alumnus of
UKM who graduated from UKM with BEng, MSc and PhD all in Bahasa Melayu, is also
sharing the same accolade with me as one of the World’s Most Influential
Scientific Minds 2016.
The
Malaysian PhD candidate at Glasgow University from the International Islamic
University Malaysia, Hafizah Noor Isa who was involved in the seminal detection
of gravitational waves recently, was taught science in Bahasa Melayu in primary
and secondary school. Her Bahasa Melayu background does not impair her ability
to do world class science at all.
I
am sure this is also true for many science and mathematics teachers and
professors all over the country, who have taught tens of thousands of students,
science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu before PPSMI, and whose students have
become very successful in their chosen fields.
The
fact that we have produced so many successful professors, engineers, medical
doctors and scientists varying in age from 25 to 55 years old, who were taught
science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu before the PPSMI speaks volumes for
itself. The logic that if only one is taught science and mathematics in English
then one would be more successful in later life is a fallacy.
If
this were to be true, then no Japanese, Korean and now Chinese technopreneurs
would have succeeded as they apparently had with world-class brands without
learning science and mathematics in English in their schools and universities.
Learning
English through science and mathematics, I am sure every educator worth his
salt agrees, is not the most appropriate way of learning a language. There is
no evidence whatsoever that English proficiency is increased if English is used
to teach science and mathematics.
On
the other hand, there is abundant evidence to the contrary. The disastrous PISA
and TIMMS results of 2012 where Malaysian students were behind other
non-English speaking countries clearly demonstrated the failure of PPSMI
because the Malaysian students who took the test were taught science and
mathematics in English under the PPSMI.
Vietnamese
students who were weaker in English fared a lot better than Malaysian students
who were better in English. Why do we want to resurrect a programme that has
clearly failed spectacularly? If the objective is to be proficient in English,
then the right way to achieve it is to strengthen the teaching of the language
by having better ways of teaching it in schools.
The
Education Ministry should review the way English is taught and find ways and
means to improve it, rather than rehashing the failed PPSMI in the guise of the
DLP.
I
think many people like Noor Azimah who wrote passionately about the DLP issue
neglect to tell us or probably do not know the kind of science and mathematics
learnt by our children in schools all over the world. Science and mathematics
taught in schools are established scientific and mathematical knowledge that
have been accepted by consensus of most scientists and mathematicians at that
point of history. It should not be confused with new cutting-edge science and
technology that a scientist and a professor like me has to deal with every day
in my scientific work.
Established
science and mathematics change very slowly because new scientific discoveries
that would become established knowledge is rare and far between.
On
the other hand, cutting-edge science changes rapidly as new theories are being
postulated to explain newly discovered phenomena, which are accepted or
discarded after undergoing rigorous scrutiny by the scientific community. There
is no need for our children in schools to learn cutting-edge science because
understanding it requires the scientific knowledge of a professor.
Not
many people know that established science and mathematics have already been
translated into Bahasa Melayu in numerous textbooks for primary and secondary
schools as well as for universities published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP)
and the premier universities, Universiti Malaya, UKM, Universiti Sains Malaysia,Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia over the past 40 years.
All
scientific terms in all fields are already available at the Persuratan Melayu
web page of the DBP. Our children can easily gain scientific knowledge by
reading them.
Even
fewer know that the discovery of new cutting-edge science and mathematics in
Bahasa Melayu is growing at the international level over the last few years
with the indexing of bi-lingual Bahasa Melayu-English scientific journals such
as Sains Malaysiana by major international scientific journal indexing services
such as the ISI and SCOPUS! Now scientists from all over the world can access
cutting-edge scientific knowledge in Bahasa Melayu.
The
whole idea of learning science and mathematics in the mother tongue is not only
simply about language patriotism as has been alleged by Noor Azimah elsewhere.
The central issue lies deeper than mere patriotism. It is more about being able
to create new scientific knowledge from a deeper understanding of science and
mathematics, which can only be achieved by learning it in the mother tongue.
I
am sure we are all familiar with the history of how both the great Islamic and
the European civilisations first translated and then independently created
scientific and mathematical knowledge of their own in their own languages.
No
country in the world that is ahead in science and technology ever teaches its
children science and technology in a foreign language.
PROF
DATUK IR DR WAN RAMLI WAN DAUD
President
Former
Founder Director & Principal Research Fellow
Fuel
Cell Institute, UKM
Prof
of Chemical Engineering, UKM.
#HimpunanBantahDLP26Mac2016
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#Keranda152
#BahasaJiwaBangsa
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"Dual Language Programme" (DLP) telah mula dilaksanakan di ratusan buah sekolah kebangsaan 'terpilih' pada tahun ini.
Apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan "Dual Language" itu?
Benarkah pendekatannya dapat meningkatkan kemahiran dalam Bahasa Inggeris?
Adakah Bahasa Inggeris dapat menjamin semua pelajar menjiwai ilmu berkaitan sains dan teknologi?
Mengapa ia mendapat tentangan hebat di kalangan para ilmuwan dan budayawan negara?
Dalami hujah mereka dengan membaca buku "Kami Bantah DLP", yang boleh diperolehi di sini:-
1. Versi PDF (Percuma): http://pdfsr.com/pdf/kami-bantah-dlp;
2. Versi E-Book (Percuma): http://pts.com.my/ebook/kami-bantah-dlp/;
3. Versi cetakan (RM10 + kos pos) - hubungi kami di FB, atau Whatsapp: 019-3858301.
----------------------------------------------
Mohon sebar luas dan viralkan:
1. Page Facebook:
“Gerakan Mansuh PPSMI - GMP #Bantah DLP”:
dan
2. Blog:
“Gerakan #BantahDLP”:
Terima kasih.
.
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