PPSMI STUDY: FINDINGS WRONGLY REPORTED?

PPSMI Study: Findings wrongly reported?

Posted by admin
Wednesday, 15 July 2009 11:05
Azly Rahmanhttp://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2009/07/ppsmi-please-verify-if-this-is-true.htmlI would like those who have more information on the PPSMI study findings to verify the claim below which appeared as a comment in my blog:

Thanks Azly. Allow me to critique the study done by Prof. Isahak Harun and his colleagues from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. The study was reported in " Kesan Dasar Pengajaran Matematik dan Sains dalam Bahasa Inggeris di Sekolah Rendah", and has yet to be published in any international journal of educational research. It's basically a very kampung-style research, using flimsy methodology and with distorted reporting. Why distorted?? Well let me give you a few examples.Contoh 1:
Dilaporkan bahawa "sebahagian besar (purata 70%) pelajar melayu 5 mendapati kurang senang mempelajari Matematik dan sains dalam bahasa Inggeris" (m.s. 22). Kesimpulan ini dibuat berdasarkan penarafan kendiri oleh pelajar Tahun 5 dengan skala Likert 3 poin, yakni 1=KURANG SENANG DIPELAJARI, 2=AGAK SENANG DIPELAJARI, DAN 3=SENANG DIPELAJARI.Namun, apabila saya cuba meneliti angka tersebut, sebenarnya terdapat lebih kurang 25% yang mengatakan bahawa sains dan matematik SENANG DIPELAJARI dalam bahasa Inggeris, manakala lebih kurang 33% yang mengatakan sains dan matematik susah dipelajari. Sementara itu, terdapat lebih kurang 42% yang mengatakan sains dan matematik AGAK SENANG DIPELAJARI dalam bahasa Inggeris. Tetapi, dalam kajian ini (m.s. 22 tadi), kumpulan penyelidik UPSI telah menggabungkan peratusan yang mengatakan "susah dipelajari" (33%) dan "agak senang dipelajari" (42%) sambil merumuskan bahawa lebih 70% pelajar melayu 5 yang mendapati KURANG SENANG mempelajari sains dan matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris, berbanding dengan 25% yang mengatakan SENANG DIPELAJARI. Keadaan ini merupakan distorted reporting atau, pelaporan yang memesong dan berniat mengelirukan pembaca.Rumusan saya ialah, dengan adanya pelaporan yang memesong seperti ini, maka saya sememangnya berasa was-was, ragu-ragu dan syak terhadap dapatan-dapatan lain dalam pelaporan itu. Apa tidaknya, apabila kita mendapati sesuatu restoran itu menggunakan ayam yang TIDAK HALAL, maka secara spontannya segala yang ada dalam restoran tersebut sememangnya boleh diragui!CONTOH 2:
4:17 AM
Anonymous said...
CONTOH 2:Dilaporkan bahawa " di kalangan murid Melayu min skor matematik murid di sekolah 'luar bandar' (8.34) lebih tinggi sedikit daripada min murid di 'bandar' (6.57) dan 'pekan besar" (7.07)' ... [tetapi] ini adalah sesuatu yang diluar jangkaan" (ms. 52).Saya sungguh terkilan apabila kumpulan penyelidik UPSI boleh MENGENEPIKAN dapatan yang menunjukkan pencapaian matematik pelajar luar bandar lebih tinggi dan signifikan secara statistik berbanding dengan pencapaian pelajar bandar dan pekan besar. Apa yang mereka jangkakan???? Atau, apa yang ada dalam jangkaan kumpulan penyelidik ini???? Adakan mereka mempunyai prasangka bahawa pelajar luar bandar sememangnya lemah dan lembab dalam matematik, dan keadaan ini sepatutnya lebih teruk dengan penggunaan bahasa Inggeris?? Hello, kenapa tidak cuba mengupas keadaan ini? PENCAPAIAN PELAJAR LUAR BANDAR, sebagaimana yang ada dalam statistik kajian UPSI, ADALAH 20% LEBIH TINGGI DARIPADA PELAJAR BANDAR DAN PEKAN BESAR, DAN ANGKA INI ADALAH JUGA SIGNIFIKAN. Kenapa nak kata "tinggi sedikit" dan seterusnya mengabaikannya? kenapa tidak HIGHLIGHT dapatan kajian ini?Pelaporan ini sebenarnya bukan sahaja menunjukkan ketidakprofesionalan dalam kalangan penyelidik UPSI, bahkan ianya menggambarkan prasangka buruk yang ada dalam minda dan sanubari kumpulan penyelidik UPSI tentang "budak luar bandar yang lemah dan daif".KEMENTERIAN PELAJARAN MALAYSIA SEHARUSNYA MEMBUANGKAN DAPATAN INI KE DALAM TONG SAMPAH DAN TIDAK MENGGUNAKANNYA UNTUK MEMBUAT SEBARANG POLISI PENTING!


Comments (9)
...written by born2reign, July 15, 2009 11:31:36
I've always wondered if PPSMI conducted any survey to analyse if: 1) Rural students are better than City students in History. 2) Rural students are better than City students in Math. 3) Rural students are better than City students in Science. 4) Rural students are better than City students in Bahasa Malaysia. 5) Rural students are better than City students in Geography. 6) Rural students are better than City students in English. If the rural students are all worse than city students in all these subjects, we should also scrap off history, BM, geography, English together with Math and Science (English), since one of the reason is that govt teachers have no skills to teach these subjects hence causing the students to do poorly.
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...written by yellowwoman, July 15, 2009 11:51:20
Dr Azly Rahman, If what you highlighted is true, what are the implications? What can be done? Please do something!!!!
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...written by Ku Osman, July 15, 2009 12:42:33
I do admit the UPSI research are flawed. But this does not nullify works done by many educationists worldwide published in journals that conclude that learning science at primary level is best done using the student's mother tongue. Commenters here should not be emotional and think only for themselves. The kids from the kampong has suffered enough. Stop thinking that you know better than world top researchers in education. A lot of work have been done in this area and most of them come to the same conclusion. Azly, you are an academic, so do some websearch on this and please tell the findings by educational researchers in Turkey, Ghana, USA, Hong Kong, South Africa among others. If UPSI researchers do a proper research, I believe they would come up with the same conclusion that learning Science is best done in Malay for Malay kids. Don't tell me Malay language is different and unscientific compared to the language used by the natives of Ghana!!
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...written by Richfyf, July 15, 2009 12:59:46
Teach in BM, English , Chinese or Tamil. If the Teachers trained and produce by MOE cant teach whose fault is it? If 6 year old malay kids can read the q'uran in perfect arabic... it just show that children have the capability to study any subject in any language if the proper way is being used
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...written by yellowwoman, July 15, 2009 15:40:59
If the universal findings state that children study Sc and Maths best in the mother tongue, then why are only the rural kids' educational needs taken into account? If Malay kids study best in Malay, let them do so from Primary to secondary and even to university levels. If Chinese kids study best in Mandarin, let them do so in Mandarin. IF Indian kids study best in Tamil, let them do so in Tamil. If urban children and other Malaysians whose children learn best in English because their mother tongue is English, why is the government forcing these group of children to study in a language not their mother tongue? Give parents and children a choice. And English MUST be a choice because many Malaysians deem English as their mother tongue. What about Iban children? What about Kadazan children?
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...written by Junglefever, July 16, 2009 04:38:05
I have been following this argument for quite a while. I am sorry to say Malaysians are once again being led down the proverbial wrong path. How can you soar with the eagles if you insist on working/hanging around with turkeys? I guess in Malaysia we don't have much choice. May explain why there is such a brain drain with the smart ones leaving the country. My 2 cents worth on the matter are as follows. It doesn't matter what language science and math are taught, there are 2 prerequisites to ensure the students get a good command. Firstly, the teacher has to be capable and interested in ensuring the student learns and understands it well. Well, here is the first problem, if you insist on mass producing teachers to fulfill a quota or to garner votes then there are bound to be quite a few that slip through the cracks and end up as out children educational guides. Secondly, in order to compete with the rest of the world the students should be able to 'translate' their knowledge to whatever medium they need to work in. If they have a very good command of English with significant breadth in their scientific terminology then they would be able deal internationally. I attend international scientific meetings on a regular basis (not in Malaysia, needless to say) that are attended by scientists from all over the world. The medium is English. Chinese scientists ensure they have a good command of English to present these conferences. They do struggle as they had done all their studies in Mandarin but now they are ensuring they are doing things in English to communicate their ideas. Unfortunately, all the advantage we had in being well versed in English has been squandered by years political myopia. I am lucky as I had studied in mainly English with enough emphasis in BM to ensure I was fluent in both languages.What's wrong with that? Are we ensuring a new generation that is going to be 'katak dibawah tempurung' simply because they are unable to communicate with the rest of the world?
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...written by born2reign, July 16, 2009 10:27:00
I have already decided that my children are not state-owned children. God gave them to me, not to UMNO. We have hired a private tutor to teach our children and a group of friends' children the way we want them to be educated. These education books are easily purchased from their websites, and the high school certificate also recognised internationally with Australian Unis and American universities, matriculation and A-levels. Not recognised by Malaysian unis though, but then Malaysian unis don't recongnise our Chinese independant school certificates either, while Singapore give them Asean scholarships. Bodoh UMNO! So many Chinese flock into Chinese independant schools and they are snatched by our neighbouring countries but rejected by UMNO. By children don't have the time to be UMNO's guinea pigs. They will study in English, BM and Mandarin languages, and they will have playgroups approved by us as parents, sports activities privately arranged. All of you parents have the choice to take your children out of public schools and educate them the way YOU want them to be educated. We are not UMNO slaves. If a problem can be solved by money, it is not a problem. Get a second job or go into business, money is in abundance. Debating with fools are pointless. You are trying to convince a majority of population who only have ONE mother tongue all their generations. If you ask a Chinese, they speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkein, English and BM by age 7, due to exposure with grandparents, parents, neighbours, teachers and friends. If you ask an graduate who failed engineering, if engineering is easy to pass, he'll tell you not to do engineering. But if you ask a top scorer, he'll tell you engineering is a good career. If Malays want to learn from turkeys and mix with the crabs which pull you down, it's your free choice. But eagles soar alone, above the storms. Read "Even eagles need a push" by Michael Dell (if you have no money, cancel your Astro subscription). Even UMNOputera kids are taught in English. I'll believe this stupid study and our ministers when they place all their kids in UiTM.
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...written by cheemengwong, July 16, 2009 11:52:00
asking children if they find difficulty learning Science and maths is a BIG mistake. children are children... we do what is best for them. They the children cannot make any decisions for themselves. It is just like the doctor asking the patients what they want for their sickness! Phark
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...written by Mapel101, July 16, 2009 12:30:03
I find it annoying when the Gov is being fickle. No wonder our education system has gone haywire with too much changes implied in our system..Have mercy on the school kids primary or secondary future. Sheesh.