Reading in the Lower Secondary School

Abstract

The gradual change-over from English to Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in primary and secondary schools has necessitated a rethinking of the role of English in the educational system and of the methods by which it should be taught. It will no longer be possible for Malay pupils to achieve the degree of bilingualism they obtained in the past by undergoing Malay-medium instruction in the primary school and English-medium instruction in the secondary school nor will it be possible for non-Malays, who attended English-medium primary and secondary schools in former times, to achieve the same high standard of proficiency in English.