EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

First in Asia

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is proud that Malaysia is the top Asian country in the English Proficiency Index compiled by Education First (EF).

Others may be astounded that countries with better English-speaking credentials, like India, lag far behind us. It's certainly surprising that, given its British past and large population of English speakers, India is on a similar level as China. Malaysia's standing as the country with the best command of English in Asia and the only non-European high-proficiency country definitely defies the widely-held view that the standard of English has declined with the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the main medium of instruction.

Certainly, as this is the first index of its kind, there is no historical data to show with any degree of certainty that there has been a marked improvement in English fluency. But the findings of the ground-breaking study at least provide evidence that proficiency in English has not deteriorated as alarmingly as some suggest. In fact, as we are more than holding our own by global standards, the investment in initiatives to raise the standard of English seems to be paying off.

To be sure, the Asian list excludes Singapore, which would have been expected to take first place. It also does not include the Philippines, a country where English is also used as a medium of instruction as in the island republic. But then again, as English is not the only language of instruction, and the ability to speak English has been said to be declining there, the inclusion of the Philippines may not have materially changed Malaysia's position. Suffice to say, as Hong Kong is not much better than South Korea or Japan, using English as a medium of instruction does not necessarily lead to higher levels of competency in the language. In fact, as the stellar performance of the Nordic countries and the Netherlands suggest, outstanding scores in proficiency can be achieved even when English is studied as a foreign language.
For this reason, rather than engage in endless debates on fine-tuning the medium of instruction, it would be more worthwhile to pay attention to the things that really make a difference, such as teacher quality, learning materials and instructional methods. Above all, just as the Northern Europeans are motivated to learn English because they realise that it is the only way to survive in the global economy, as the EF report put it, every Malaysian must fully appreciate the cold, hard fact that mastery of English has become an indispensable asset in today's world.