Most educators in Malaysia got it wrong.
When learners embark on the journey of learning English, they must learn the rules of grammar to help them speak and write English proficiently.
It is more important for non-native speakers as their environment doesn’t allow them to use English fully at their workplaces or in the social environment.
In the knowledge-based economy, learners who aspire to make a living must learn English with
all its intricacies whether they like it or not.
Most Malaysians may not be able to compete in the knowledge-based economy as they lack knowledge in the lingua franca of the world – English – to communicate with people outside Malaysia.
This deplorable situation is the result of throwing the study of Traditional Grammar, syntax, analysis of sentences, sentence structures and sentence-building (synthesis) out of the window for decades!
By switching to the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach which places a lot of emphasis on Communicative English alone and which is not based on the study of grammar at all, Malaysians are paying a heavy price now.
Their young may not be able to compete in a global world where English is used widely.
Therefore, Malaysians must bring back the Structural Approach to teach and learn English to help their young compete in the knowledge-based economy, a new economic structure.