Overview

Oral Proficiency in English

for Secondary Schools (OPS-ENGLISH)

Why OPS-English?

ISSUES AND CONCERNS

“…students must be given the opportunity and exposure to speak and understand both languages”.

Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Education Malaysia

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

“…even after learning the language for 13

years at primary, secondary and

matriculation levels, some students still

could not master English”.

August 2011

New Straits Times

TAN SRI MUSTAFA MANSUR President,FMM

“… is very concerned over the poor

command of English among our

workforce”.

“Competency in English is the key to

creating a pool of competitive, highly

skilled and knowledgeable

manpower”.

September 2011

New Straits Times

Research Findings Dr. Fauziah Hassan

Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia

• Focus is on reading and writing

• Most frequent activity – writing exercise, grammar and reading comprehension

• Speaking & Listening least effectively developed (little weightage)

• Least used materials -Tapes, Videos, T.V. programmes

OPS-ENGLISH: AN MBI INITIATIVE

MBI – OPS English towards KSSM integration

Objective • To improve students’ listening and speaking skills

• To integrate OPS English into KSSM English Language Curriculum

Expected impact (KPI and targets)

▪ 12,600 lower secondary school English

teachers are trained to deliver effective

integrated listening and speaking skills

lessons to students by 2015

Funding and other support

Owner(s)

▪

▪ BPG / ELTC

Rationale

▪ To enhance listening and speaking skills in the teaching and learning of

English lessons in classroom

▪ To employ fun and innovative methods to teach listening and speaking

▪ To improve students’ listening and speaking skills in English

▪ To build students’ confidence to speak in English

▪ To explore the possibility of incorporating OPS English as an integral

part of KSSM English Language Curriculum

Key actions / analyses

i

ii

iii

iv

Funding and other support

• MoF

▪ EPU

Funding and other support

▪

Stakeholders / key syndication required

▪ Kementerian Kewangan

▪ Bahagian Kewangan, KPM

▪ Bahagian Pembangunan Kurikulum

▪ Bahagian Buku Teks

▪ Jemaah Nazir dan Jaminan Kualiti

▪ Bahagian Pengurusan Sekolah Harian

▪ JPN

▪ PPDs and ELO

4 MBI - OPS ENGLISH TOWARDS KSSM INTEGRATION

Initiative Charter Template ENGLISH LAB

Initiative: OPS English

SOURCE: English lab

Continuous programme monitoring and evaluation to upkeep quality

of delivery of the programme

Training of trainers and teachers to ensure effective delivery of OPS

English lessons in listening and speaking skills

Ensure alignment of OPS English with KSSM English Language

Curriculum

Develop teaching and learning materials and sharing of best

practices from pilot to enhance delivery of OPS English

OPS English has c

SOURCE: ELTC

OPS English has conducted pilot study in 20 schools

nationwide… … and feedback from teachers and

students is positive

Objectives

▪ To improve students’ listening skills in English

▪ To create a non-threatening environment for

speaking

▪ To build students’ confidence to speak in

English

▪ To explore fun and innovative methods in

learning English

Focus ▪ 20 pilot schools across all bands

▪ 5,219 students, 60 teachers

Content ▪ Based on the English Language syllabus for

secondary school (KBSM)

▪ Adopts a back to basics approach focusing on

communication skills

Materials

utilised

▪ Student’s Handbook

▪ Teacher’s Companion

▪ Audio video DVD

OPS English focuses on listening and

speaking. The impact on students is

marvelous - truly a success story.

Assistant District Language Officer,

Petaling Perdana

So far the response for the programme

has been very good - can see the

enthusiasm in the students.

English Language teacher,

SMK Puchong Batu 14

OPS English is quite easy… can help

me to speak English

Form 1 student,

SMK Puchong Batu 14

MBI - OPS ENGLISH TOWARDS KSSM INTEGRATION | CASE FOR CHANGE 4

OPS English has conducted its pilot and response is positive

Challenges Lab recommendations

Some challenges from pilot have been identified to further improve implementation of OPS English

▪ Teachers’ inability to implement the

programme particularly in conducting

lessons focused on listening and

speaking skills

SOURCE: ELTC; English lab

▪ Integrating OPS English into the

KSSM in 2017

▪ Provide training courses to enhance

pedagogical skills for integrated

listening and speaking skills as well as

further understanding of the current

School Based Assessment

▪ Align and integrate OPS English to

complement KSSM in 2017

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3

MBI - OPS ENGLISH TOWARDS KSSM INTEGRATION | SOLUTIONS OUTLINE

▪ Leverage on key learnings relating

to instruction and assessment of

listening and speaking from pilot

and share best practices

▪ Possible mismatch between

instruction and assessment, where

assessment is prepared focusing on

reading and writing skills

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4

WHAT IS OPS-ENGLISH?

Bringing back the Art of Conversation

“When learning a language, it is listening and speaking that starts off your foundation. Reading and writing is incidental. The stronger the foundation, the easier it is to build on reading and writing, not the other way round.”

Dr Ranjit Singh Gill, Director of ELTC

(The Star, 8 September 2012)

What is OPS-English?

It is based completely on the existing English

Language Syllabus and Curriculum

Specifications for Secondary Schools and is

merely a different realisation of the syllabus.

Underlying Principles of OPS-ENGLISH

• Provide and organize a large amount of input through listening and speaking

• Support and help students to speak through role plays, communication activities and simulations

• Encourage students to work together in pairs and groups

• Help students to use words meaningfully

• Plan for repeated use of most common language items

Components of OPS-ENGLISH

• Build the students’ vocabulary

• Provide or create non-threatening environment for speaking

• Create a supportive learning community

• Give every opportunity for students to speak the language

Objectives of OPS-ENGLISH

2012 (Form 1) Term 1

100 % OPS-ENGLISH Term 2

Incorporate OPS-English into

KBSM curriculum

2013 (Form 1 & 2) 100% OPS-ENGLISH Incorporate OPS-English into

KBSM curriculum

2014 (Form 1 & 2) 100% OPS-ENGLISH Incorporate OPS-English into

KBSM curriculum

•To listen to and understand spoken English •To build students’ confidence to speak Target group: Form 1 students and Form 2 Selection of schools: Bands 3- 6 schools Implementation Strategy:

provide & equip teachers with practical and hands-on strategies

enhance aural and oral skills amongst students

empower the students to speak the English language through fun and non-threatening activities

Programme Outcomes:

Teaching and Learning Materials

Student’s Handbook

Student’s Handbook

• 10 units

• Each unit: comprises 6 pages

covers a theme from the KBSM syllabus

Page 1: Stimulus

Page 2: Building Blocks

Page 3: Language in Action

Page 4: Language in Use

Page 5: Having Fun

Page 6: Fun in Sharing

Teacher’s Companion

Teacher’s Companion

Comprise: Mapping of content/skills

Lesson steps for each unit

MAPPING OF UNITS

SAMPLE: CREATIVE NOTES

Lesson Steps

The Approach

• 3Ps Approach (Presentation, Practice, Production)

• Task Based Approach (TBA)

• Teacher Talk Approach (TTA)

3Ps Approach

Involves 3 stages:

1. Presentation stage: teacher presents in context the target language item(s)

2. Practice stage: learners practice the language item(s) via controlled practice tasks

3. Production stage: learners are given the opportunity to use language in controlled and meaningful situation (with/without the teacher)

TBA Approach

Begins with the objective and end product in mind.

1. Pre-task stage: teacher introduces the topic and clarifies the task

2. Task stage: learners work collaboratively in pairs and small groups

3. Planning stage: learners in their respective groups work and prepare their presentations, reports etc.

Teacher Talk Approach

Focuses on the role of the teacher in the classroom

1. To model rather than to talk/instruct

2. To question rather than to tell

Audio-Video DVD

• Comprises an Audio recording of the targeted vocabulary in the Word list for all 10 units

• Presents the vocabulary in a Powerpoint-like presentation

• Includes 10 videos to present the targeted sentence patterns

• Enhances students’ vocabulary

• Exposes students to repeated use of the language in context

Why the Audio-Video DVD?

Q & A