MUET 15 FEBRUARY 2017
15 FEBRUARY 2017 MUET
Introduction to speaking By MAWAR MUSTAFA THE MUET Speaking paper assesses the candidates’ ability to speak on a given topic, as well as to take part in a group discussion of the same topic. A wide range of topics can be featured in the test.
Think of the many educational domains out there in universities and you will get some idea of the multitude of topics that can surface in the MUET papers, not just exclusive to Speaking. Some of the questions for the Speaking paper in
the past have come from diverse fields such as science, technology, socio-culture, education, health, sports, economics and management. In the MUET Speaking paper, you will be required to perform two speaking tasks:
Task A: A two-minute individual presentation on a given topic; and Task B: A 10-minute group discussion (seven minutes if there are only three candidates) on the same given topic. Candidates would be presented with a situation on a given issue, which normally requires solutions to a problem or suggestions for some sort of action to be taken. The candidates would then have to elaborate on the solutions or suggestions given so as to provide
support for the claim that they are making. For the first part of the test, in Task A, candidates are assigned to the topic based on how they are placed in the test. Among the four candidates, the first one placed will be assigned as Candidate A, followed by candidates B,
C and D. Hence, in Task A, all the four candidates would have to answer the question that has been assigned to them in the question paper. To better understand this, let us look at an example of a Speaking question.
Task A: Individual presentation (two minutes) Situation: The Internet, social media and mobile devices allow us to share information in ways that we could not do before. Unfortunately, some people take advantage of such convenience and utility by spreading fake messages. How can spreading fake messages be harmful?
CANDIDATE A: In my opinion, spreading fake messages can cause confusion and distress.
CANDIDATE C: In my opinion, spreading fake messages can perpetuate low self-esteem in the perpetrator.
CANDIDATE B: In my opinion, spreading fake messages can incite hatred and malice.
CANDIDATE D: In my opinion, spreading fake messages can cause social unrest.
Task B: Group interaction (10 minutes) Situation: The Internet, social media and mobile devices allow us to share information in ways that we could not do before. Unfortunately, some people take advantage of such convenience and utility by spreading fake messages. Discuss which of the following effects of spreading fake messages is the most harmful. We can see that in Task A, Candidate A would have to provide an explanation on why spreading fake messages can cause confusion and distress. Candidate B, on the other hand, would have to justify the given opinion on why spreading fake messages can incite hatred and malice. The candidates have no option but to talk on the topic that they have been assigned to. Even if they lack ideas for their assigned topic but have an abundance of ideas for another candidate’s
TASK FULFILMENT
LANGUAGE
COMMUNICATIVE ABILITY
i. Spreading fake messages can cause confusion and distress. ii. Spreading fake messages can incite hatred and malice. iii. Spreading fake messages can perpetuate low self-esteem in the perpetrator. iv. Spreading fake messages can cause social unrest.
topic, they are not allowed to talk on any other topic except for their own. However, for Task B, which is the group interaction or discussion, the candidates are not bound to any topic. They are free to choose from any of the four given options or even talk on all four of the given topics if they are so inclined, within the stipulated time. This is why, if you notice, for Task B, the options make no mention of any candidates. Instead the
options are only listed down in numbers. Sometimes, after the placement of the candidates is done, some groups comprise only three candidates. In this case, even though the group comprises only Candidates A, B and C, the group can still discuss during Task B, the point which, in Task A, has been allocated for Candidate D. The candidates would be assessed according to these three criteria:
l Does the candidate understand the topic? l Is he able to develop ideas at two different levels: social and academic levels? l Do the points support his claim? Are the explanations or elaborations enough to convince the listeners of his claim? Do they reflect the sophistication of his ideas and the maturity of his thoughts?
l l l l
Is the language used effectively to convey ideas clearly? Does the vocabulary have a wide enough range to convey the breadth and depth of the ideas? Are the sentence patterns varied and grammatically correct? Are the points well-linked to form coherent thought?
l Is the pronunciation accurate and the intonation good? Is speech fluent? l Does the candidate deliver his points confidently? l In Task B, is there good interaction with other candidates? Is there an ability to follow the line of discussion? Are there good responses to other candidates’ points?
When a candidate chooses an option to talk about, he is, in effect, making a claim. As long as he is able to support his claim with good, strong points and explanations, he should be able to convince the other candidates and more importantly, the examiners. Now, how do we find points for this question? The answer is quite simple – from the newspaper.
The newspaper provides you with an abundance of ideas on a wide range of topics. In addition, a well-written article in a newspaper can be a good place to source for the main points or supporting details of your speaking task. To tackle this particular question, let us refer to the following article published in The Star on Dec 23, 2016.
There are some very good points in the article that can be used in the individual presentation in Task A of the Speaking paper. For example, here are some of the points from the article that would be beneficial for Candidate B.
Falling for it hook, line and sinker Many Malaysians cannot tell the difference between real and fake stories
CYBERJAYA: S. Sumita scores 10As in the PT3 exam. A jealous student rival then gets her boyfriend to tie her to a bunch of bricks and throw her into a river. It’s a great story and pictures of the happy girl with her family and that of her body being fished out of the river go viral. There’s only one problem – it’s not true. The only truth in the whole story is that Sumita did score straight As. Everything else is fake. There was no student rival and the body that was fished out of the river was an incident in Indonesia involving an African man. Yet, there were many who believed the original fake post and passed it on, without asking questions. Welcome to the world of fake news. The 15-year-old Sumita, very much alive, was shaken when her family began receiving a barrage of calls from relatives and friends to mourn her purported death. “It became a big, big issue. My mother was shocked, my father was shocked. We don’t know who would do such a thing,” she said. The tech-savvy teen has seen these viral messages before, but never did she expect that she would be the subject of one. “I don’t know what to feel,” she said. Most Malaysians are now getting their news off social media, but many still cannot tell the difference between real and fake news, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). The MCMC held media literacy classes for about 900,000 people this year at 700 1Malaysia Internet Centres (PI1M), showing them examples of fake stories involving MH370, celebrity news and the US presidential election. The agency was shocked to find out that most could not tell the difference between real or fake stories. “The (fake) websites are not even as sophisticated as those in the United States, but as long as it reads like something from a newspaper, they can’t tell the difference,” said MCMC advocacy and outreach senior director Eneng Faridah Iskandar. “People are beginning to wise up (to fake news) but it can’t happen without a focused education programme. We have a high user and penetration rate, but we are still not media-literate,” said Eneng Faridah, whose division engages mostly rural Internet users on how to discern legitimate sources online. This is especially worrying because the 2016 Reuters Institute Digital News Report revealed that 69% of Malaysians get their news from social media. We are the second biggest social media news consumer in Asia Pacific behind Hong Kong. Malaysia has one of the highest Internet and social media penetration rates in the region, but getting information from only one source could open Malaysians to a higher risk of misinformation, said the MCMC. A study by the University of Washington found that people who consumed news from social media risked being trapped in an “echo chamber” because sites like Facebook tend to feed users news items similar to those they have read before. This could limit variety of opinions and insights into issues, it said. Even more alarmingly, a study by the Stanford University Graduate School of Education found that a shocking 80% of people with primary school education or higher were unable to tell if the content on their social media newsfeed was legitimate news, sponsored content or flat-out fabrications. The situation is no different in Malaysia, where the MCMC said government agencies have had to actively counter false stories going viral on social media, primarily Facebook and WhatsApp. Though reaction to fake news has not been as extreme as the shooting in Washington DC after a hoax claimed Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring in a pizzeria there, Eneng Faridah feared it could further stoke extremist sentiments in Malaysia. “We have already produced nine suicide bombers who were influenced by what they saw on Facebook,” she told The Star. She related how yet another Facebook hoax, this time pictures of a Buddhist ceremony at the A’ Famosa Resort, was twisted into a religious dispute with some claiming the act contaminated the resort for other believers. There have been claims of new currency notes in Malaysia, that there would be an increase in road tax, that EPF was blocking withdrawals and that there would be a nationwide power cut on Dec 18, among others. Section 233 of the MCMC Act allows the commission to fine people who spread false information up to RM50,000 and jail them for a year but only four have been brought to court since 2010. Two of these cases involve PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa and artist Fahmi Reza. Despite having blocked 5,044 websites this year, Eneng Faridah claimed none of the blocks were due to false information. Considering most viral hoaxes were either health, religious or crime-related, she said the commission had no authoritative standing to verify or reject social media news; likening it to sending in MCMC to check whether a piece of chocolate was halal or not. That duty, she said, was that of the relevant government agencies. MCMC was more interested in educating users to decide for themselves. “We don’t want to be the Internet’s clearing house. People who consume the news also have roles in their subsequent actions,” Eneng Faridah said.
Candidate B (Spreading fake messages can incite hatred and malice.)
The MCMC was shocked to find out that most people could not tell the difference between real and fake stories. The shooting in Washington DC after a hoax claimed Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring in a pizzeria there. Eneng Faridah (MCMC advocacy and outreach senior director) feared it could further stoke extremist sentiments in Malaysia. “We have already produced nine suicide bombers who were influenced by what they saw on Facebook,” she told The Star. In another Facebook hoax, pictures of a Buddhist ceremony at the A’ Famosa Resort was twisted into a religious dispute with some claiming the act contaminated the resort for other believers.
Using the points from the article, can you try to write out a two-minute oral presentation for all four candidates in Task A? You should start with a greeting; use a short and simple one as a lengthy greeting will eat into your presentation time! Also, keep in mind the three evaluation criteria as you prepare your presentation. A good way to do it is to outline your speech first before writing it out.
Write it right
6
IF you are a Form Six or pre-university student looking to contribute essays to our Earn Your Band 6 column, this is for you. The following is the essay question for Writing Task 2: Topic 3 (Deadline: March 5): It is common to find abused children becoming abusive parents. Describe some ways to break this vicious cycle. Essays should not be less than 350 words, and should meet the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) writing criteria. Title your e-mail “Earn Your Band 6: Topic (number)”, and send it to schoolstuff@thestar. com.my. Provide your full name, age, school, IC number, home address and cellphone number. Students whose essays are published for Writing Task 2 will be given certificates of recognition endorsed by Star Media Group. Not just that, we will grade your submission using a three-star system. Get one star and take home RM50; hit two stars and walk away with RM75; clinch three stars and RM100 is yours! This applies only to Writing Task 2. Earn Your Band 6 is aimed at improving the English proficiency of those taking the MUET. It features tips and strategies from MUET experts.
7