HOW DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAMME (DLP) HELS IN ENGLISH PROFIECIENCY

The Dual Language Programme (DLP) is a programme under the government's

initiative to 'Empower Bahasa Malaysia and Strengthen English' policy
(SchoolAdvisor, Jan 18, 2017). This programme is to cater to the needs of some
parents who support the continuation of PPSMI and this programme has been
initiated at selected Malaysian primary and secondary schools beginning 2016,
involving 300 schools. According to Ashairi, Mohamed Yusoff and Melor (2017), this
programme’s purpose is to give students the opportunity to use either English or
Malay in Science, Mathematics, Information Technology and Communication, and
Design and Technology. DLP aimed to boost English proficiency in government
schools, as well as enhance students’ future employability opportunities. language
is very important in everyone daily life (Zaidah & Tina, 2013). According to Ashairi,
Mohamed Yusoff and Melor (2017), DLP provides flexibility to the schools, teachers
and students as well as parents their preferred language of instruction, making it very
much open to the willingness of the schools to be part of it. In my opinion the DLP
system may or may not help to improve the standard of English

This programme can help in achieve the aim because the school got entirely
support from parents. As this programme is on a voluntary basis, before the schools
could take part in the DLP, the schools need to fulfil the four criteria outlined by the
Ministry of Education. One of the criteria is parental demands and support. This
means we can see, that schools which had implemened the DLP has gained full
support from parents; the students' parents are ready, and want to implement the
programme (Christina Chin & Rebecca Rajaendram, Nov 12, 2017). The impact is,
parents will lend a hand to the schools in terms of financial support and school
equipment in any programmes or event for English Language. They can donate
money and equipment through the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA).
Consequently, the school can held more English programmes with the donation they
got from PTA without any distress and worries. The effect is the students will be more
exposed to English and they will use English more in their daily lives and this prove,
DLP can help to achieve the aim because the schools have total support from parents
in improving the students English proficiency.

Next, this programme can help in achieve the aim because, DLP will encourage
students to use Science and Mathematics English book texts thus this will enhance

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their English usage. This is because, the school who implement this programme is
already fulfil the criteria and they voluntarily joined DLP, which means the school has
also gained the support from the students and parents to learn Science and
Mathematics in English. Thus, automatically they will use Science and Mathematics
text books in English during the class process. According to Ashairi, Mohamed Yusoff
and Melor (2017) usage of DLP in Science and Mathematic enables students to
explore the knowledge at the same time, increases the potential of the students
English proficiency. Therefore, during the class they will listen, read and write in
English hence it will help the students to rise and upgrade their vocabulary and make
their more confident to use the English and make them more proficien in using it. Thus,
DLP can help in achieve the English proficiency in secondary school because DLP
will encourage students to use Science and Mathematics English book texts where
this will enhance their English usage.

In addition, through DLP it also can increases the students’ English proficiency
because they will use English in Science and Mathematics classes which mean the
contact hours to the English language increases, this may indirectly enrich their
language competency and proficiency. This is because, they will use and
communicate more in English in a day. According to Wayne P. Thomas and Virginia P.
Collier (2003), English language is a universal language and it is one of the simplest
and easiest languages in the world so when the students, practise and keep using the
language, they will improve. For example, if the teacher has a group or pair work, the
students will try to communicate in English when they are discussing the topics with
each other. This will help them feel comfortable when they are using English everyday.
DLP can also increase the students’ English proficiency because the contact hours to
the English language increases.

On the other hand, this programme may not be helpful to help improve the
students’ standard of English because, teachers got lack of support and guidance for
teaching Science and Mathematics in English. Teacher were never called to attend
any particular courses or seminars prior to the DLP implementation (Ashairi,
Mohamed Yusoff and Melor, 2017). They need support and guidance because there
are many teachers whom are not fluent in English. They use more Malay Language in
the weaker classes in order to be able to cover the copious syllabuses. This is
because, not all teacher whom are teaching Science and Mathematics were taught to

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teach the subjects in English during their training in college or institute.Thus, because
of this reason, the teachers are not competant and are not ready to deliver the
subjects in English. They felt anxious and lower confident and they ended up teaching
in Malay because they are still struggling with the language. Therefore can be
concluded that this programme may not be helpful to improve students standard of
English because many of the teachers do not have enough support and guidance to
teach Science and Mathematics in English.

Furthermore, even though the school that implemened the DLP in school had a
good performance in Bahasa Melayu, yet it is still not the same as English where
there are still mixed ability students’ English proficiency level in the class. This is
because, students came from different background and not all of them use English at
home. Students with low English proficiency will often use their mother tongue and
this makes them in a comfort zone to only use their mother tongue in the class and
refuse to learn in other languages. Moreover, if teachers are still uses English to
deliver the input, this will make the students do not understand the lesson of the day.
Using English exclusively in the teaching situation I was in, had not improved
capabilities but rather left are feeling bewildered and confused when I still could not
comprehend the second or third explanation given in English (Kamarul Kabilan, 2008).
This make teachers had to explain the same concept several times in order to deliver
the content to the students and at the same time trying to maximise the use of English
in the instructions. At the end of the day, teacher compromises and makes allowances
the usage of mother tongue during the Science and Mathematics session and lastly
there is still no improvement towards their English.

In conclusion, DLP are effective and it helps to boost the achievement of English
Language learners. However, there are still weaknesses to be discovered and how to
handle it to make it more systematically. Learning a new kind of language involves
having commitment and total involvement from students and teachers. The
government has to make sure schools are really prepare for this programme.