1.

0 INTRODUCTION

The world is full of many different languages, one of them which are English.
English is commonly used to communicate between other countries worldwide. In
Malaysia, English is considered as the second language after Bahasa Melayu.
English has become important for the society in Malaysia because it has become a
compulsory subject in the primary and middle schooling. The ability for the
student to communicate in English considered a must in most of the education in
the country. In Sarawak, YB Dato' Sri Haji Adenan Haji Satem had recently
announced the compulsory language to be use in the state which is English (Chia
& Ten, 2010). The needs to compete with the other countries in the international
level made this decision crucial to change the future of the country.
This choice had made a change in the educational system which brought
attention to the ESL educators to facilitate the ESL learners in gaining the English
language. Even if the amount of interactions in the school were limited, there are
still programs that were made to aim the development of English in the ESL
learners so that they could communicate in the language, fluently, meaningfully,
accurately and intellectually.

1.1 Introduction

Non-English speakers, often sees English as a challenging language to be

learnt. In the English language itself are many different set of skills and focus this
often demotivate the learners to learn the language. This is more problematic for
the person who is not exposed to the language while they were young. This will be
difficult for them to learn compare to those who have more chances to talk in an
English speaking community.
In Sarawak, most of the people who lived in rural and sub-urban areas had
problems in mastering the language this is due to their minimum exposure in
English. This had made a perception for some of the ESL learners to take the
language as a burden. Their mentality towards the English language is a must pass

subject rather than the language that will break the communication barrier between
other countries and to compete in the global arena. This negative thinking exist in
the ESL Learners which prevent them from learning the English language that will
help them in the future.

1.2 Teaching and Learning Reflection

During the limited interaction time that was given, I manage to acquire
minimal scaffolding for such learners. Their lack of interest in the English
language has made them stop to improve on the subject. This situation could be
found in 3 Tekun, a Year 3 ESL primary school classroom in SK Anchi, Miri. Most
of the students are Malays, Melanau and Iban who prefer to communicate using
their own mother tongue which are Malay, Melanau and Iban languages. Their
background is from a low to average socioeconomic status, their parents could
hardly have the chance to give their children the privilege of interacting using the
languge, through storybooks, novel, songs and movies.
Throughout my interaction with the student, I observed they showed strong
points on two of the skills which is either reading, speaking and listening. For
reading skill, the student shows a lot of potential in reading fluently. As for
listening and speaking the student are responsive and showed understanding by
answering in phrases.