English is a must if we want to survive in a competitive environment and progress in a globalized world. English is important to conduct business with the outside world since Malaysia is a trading nation. English is the language for knowledge seeking as we move towards knowledge-based economy.  That is the reason why the government continues to emphasize the importance of the language particularly at the tertiary level.

When I first started lecturing at the university two years ago after my retirement from the government service, I was surprised to find the standard of English among majority of students was much to be desired. Coming from the industry myself, I am fully aware of the expectations of the industry. Apart from that graduates are expected to have good communication skills.

To be proficient in English students have no choice but to learn it the hard way, meaning they need to do it constantly and consistently. They need to read extensively. They need to improve their writing. Above all they must have the commitment and the desire to improve. I find there are a lot of opportunities now for students to improve their English, unlike during my days when I was a student. They should use opportunities available like the internet and library facilities where all kinds of information, publications and books are available. They must also take pains to think and write proper English. They should learn to express themselves in proper English and practice good writing. Practice makes perfect, so goes the saying! But sad to say some do not even read newspapers, beyond lecture notes and text books. How could they improve then?

During the number of classes that I taught in the last 6 semesters I had tried my best to motivate students to improve their English in terms of writing and speaking. I always find time to correct simple mistakes students used to make, sometimes repeatedly. Those who have attended my class would know the attention I gave to their mistakes like grammar, sentence construction, tenses, prepositions, and spellings. Yes, I am pretty serious because I feel duty bound to correct the mistakes students make so that they would learn those mistakes once and for all.

Students who graduated from universities, particularly from international university like IIUM, are expected to have a certain level of proficiency of English. Otherwise, would it not be an embarrassment to potential employers of the university that you come from? Think of that!!