International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
translation. Results such as these provide educationists with reliable evidences with respect to which sex group
need more coaching in L2 learning.
Since most participants need the translation skill, the language programs in both universities could be
improved in terms of providing more translation coaching. Although this could be quite difficult to be conducted
in SHU due to the presence of international students of differing mother tongues, avenues should be provided so
that extra help could be forwarded in non-formal setting, for instance obtaining extra aid from students’ own
nationalities who are both competent in the English language and their first language. As in the case of Malaysia
what the Ministry of Education, Malaysia could embark on, at the macro level is the introduction of a bilingual
program, emulating the two-way bilingual program existing in the United States. The present language policy
should perhaps be changed; a bilingual language policy would be more appropriate. More school subjects should
be taught in the English language. Thirty to fifty per cent of the school hours should be reserved for the use of
English in the teaching of some other subjects. To ensure that Malaysians could function effectively globally and
internationally, this practice should be introduced; this could prevent further drop among Malaysians in L2
competency and fluency.
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