Example Exam Paper

CONFIDENTIAL LG/OCT2008/BEL311 UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA FINAL EXAMINATION COURSE COURSE CODE EXAMINATION TIME ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES BEL311 OCTOBER 2008 3 HOURS INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES 1. 2. This question paper consists of two (2) parts : PART A (13 Questions) PART B (1 Question) Answer ALL questions from all parts in the Question Paper. 3. Fill in the details below : UiTM STUDENT CARD NO. PROGRAMME/ CODE PART ENGLISH LANGUAGE GROUP NAME OF LECTURER 4. 5. You are allowed to bring in your English-English dictionary.

Please check to make sure that this examination pack consists of: i) the Question Paper DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO This examination paper consists of 13 printed pages © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 2 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 PART A: READING COMPREHENSION (20 MARKS) Read the following articles and answer all the questions that follow. Article 1 - Spare the Rod? I Schools in Europe and the United Kingdom stopped using the cane to discipline delinquent youngsters following protests from parents and politicians more than 16 years ago.

In Malaysia, however, the practice has never left the school grounds. Caning has always been legal in Malaysian schools. The Education Ordinance 1957 (Amended 1959) allows corporal punishments, such as caning, to be meted out by school authorities, but only to schoolboys. An Education Ministry directive issued in 1994 listed eight offences that could warrant caning: truancy, involvement in criminal activities, obscene and impolite behaviour, loitering, dishonesty, dirty appearance and vandalism. 5 II

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A probe on human rights awareness among secondary school teachers, students and administrators conducted by researchers from local universities engaged by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (or SUHAKAM, its Malay acronym) revealed the regular use of the cane in schools. What the inquiry found was a gross breach of a child's rights committed by teachers and administrators alike. In their findings, out of the 5,754 students who participated in the survey, about 52 per cent of the students surveyed agreed that caning commonly happened in their schools.

It took place more often in rural schools than urban ones and almost 80 per cent of the cases occurred at technical schools. 10 15 III Understandably, SUHAKAM is disheartened by the findings of its study. Commissioner and education working group chairman, Professor Chiam Heng Keng said that while SUHAKAM understands the need to discipline and punish wrongdoers, it maintains that caning is not the best corrective measure. She further added that caning only tells the child to stop whatever he has done. In other words, it does not address the underlying problem. She stressed that teachers must work with parents to get to the root of the problem.

She added that harsh punishments tend to reinforce a child's negative attitudes. However, 20 25 © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 3 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 she cautioned that we should not confuse upholding the rights of the child with indulging the child. IV Although many experts argue that caning is outdated, even primitive, many educators defended it as a way to stem rising violence in schools. Eighty per cent of teachers agreed that persistent troublemakers in school should be caned. The SUHAKAM probe found that 79. 5 per cent of teachers and 71. per cent of administrators agreed that persistent offenders should be caned though Malaysia had signed the Declaration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1995. In addition, they also revealed that girls were not spared the rod. Almost seven per cent of female respondents from girl schools had reported this. Under the present Child Act 2001, only boys between the ages of 10 and 18 may be subjected to corporal punishment. 30 35 V Last October, the Ministry of Education allowed teachers other than 40 headmasters, principals and those involved in disciplining students to use the cane.

The decision followed the rise in cases of assault on teachers and gangsterism in schools. It was recommended that only certain teachers be empowered to cane students. Ideally, they should have at least 10 years of teaching experience and be married with children. 45 VI The secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession, Lok Yim Pheng, admitted that there are other ways of disciplining a student. These include imposing fines, sending students to detention class and making parents sign a pledge to ensure that their children do not misbehave.

However, if push comes to shove, then principals and headmasters should use the rod professionally and with compassion. She reiterated that even so, caning should be the penalty of last resort, reserved for absolute hardcore cases and should never be done publicly. 50 The Star, July 15, 2007 © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 4 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 QUESTION 1 State whether the following statements are TRUE (T) or FALSE (F). a) Caning troublemakers in school is considered a form of maltreatment by most teachers. In the survey carried out by SUHAKAM, both boys and girls were caned.

When it comes to caning, the Education Ordinance 1957 clearly contradicts the Child Act 2001. More than half of the respondents in the survey had been caned by their teachers before. (2 marks) QUESTION 2 What do the following words mean as used in the passage? a) 'breach' (line 14) b) 'disheartened' (line 20) c) 'underlying' (line 25) d) 'stem'(line 31) ___ _ _ _ _ (2 marks) QUESTION 3 Circle your answer for the question below. According to teachers, the following are reasons they support caning in schools except a) Students who repeatedly cause trouble should be caned. b) Caning is one way to prevent violence in schools. ) Caning reduces assault cases and gangsterism in schools. d) Caning has the least negative effect on students. (1 mark) b) c) d) © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 5 LG/OCT 2008/BEL311 QUESTION 4 Why is caning not the best corrective measure according to SUHAKAM? Give two (2) reasons. (1 mark) QUESTION 5 According to Professor Chiam Heng Keng, what is the best way to overcome discipline problems in schools? (1 mark) QUESTION 6 What is the main idea of paragraph VI? (1 mark) © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi IMARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 6 LG/OCT2008/BEL311

QUESTION 7 According to the secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession, only "if push comes to shove, then teachers and headmasters should use the rod professionally and with compassion" (lines 49-51). Under what conditions did she recommend this? List two (2) conditions. (2 marks) © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 7 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 Article 2 - Caning Does More Harm Than Good I The Women's Centre for Change Penang (WCC) notes with great concern the recent proposal to extend caning as a method to handle discipline problems involving schoolgirls.

We caution against the use of the cane on children regardless of gender. II The caning of a child is in direct contravention of the Convention on the Rights of The Child (CRC), of which Malaysia is a signatory. Caning contravenes Article 19 of the CRC. Under the article, the governments must protect the child from all forms of maltreatment by parents or others responsible for his or her care. Furthermore, corporal punishment is a form of child abuse. There is no evidence to suggest that this method can improve a child's learning ability. 5 10 III Caning may not be the most effective way to deal with problems of indiscipline.

While it may bring about the immediate compliance of the child, the issues of physical harm as well as emotional damage to the child need to be taken into consideration. Corporal punishment can lead to increased antisocial behaviour, aggression and chronic defiance. Furthermore, inflicting severe punishment and using mental humiliation on children have adverse effects such as loss of selfesteem and personality changes with ramifications on adult life. The use of the cane can be abused, especially when frustrations are vented. However, teachers who are fed up with the rising cases of indiscipline in schools may say caning is justified. 0 15 IV The social consequence of caning is that it sends a clear message that violence is an acceptable form of behaviour in society, that is, it is all right to use violence and inflict pain to teach a child something. This goes against all efforts to reduce the level of violence in our society. V Caning may seem to be a quick fix solution to misbehaviour, but it fails to address the root causes of the problem. The causes involve an inability to fit into a rigid, examination-orientated education system, the negative effects of 25 © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 8 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 overty, the need to challenge boundaries, insufficient guidance from the home, dysfunctional family situations, negative influences from the neighbourhood environment, among others. 30 VI WCC would therefore urge the Ministry of Education to: 1. Work with other agencies and community groups, for example those dealing with the health, welfare and rights of the child, so as to provide support where needed, to both students and school authorities; 2. Consult with experts in various fields to work out alternative forms of discipline which include behaviour modification programmes that help enhance positive behaviour of students; 5 3. Support school teachers by reducing the number of students per class, having teacher assistants, providing skills training in class control and handling difficult students, having access to highly trained counselors and child psychologists; 40 4. Have a more balanced education system which moves away from an over-emphasis on examinations towards a more holistic education which cultivates the child's other potentials. Prema E. Devaraj, Programme Director, Women's Centre for Change, Penang. The Star, December 3, 2007 © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA

CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 9 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 QUESTION 8 What does Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of The Child state? (1 mark) QUESTION 9 Caning as a measure of instilling discipline among students can lead to emotional damage. List four (4) kinds of damage. (2 marks) QUESTION 10 "The social consequence of caning is that it sends a clear message that violence is an acceptable form of behaviour in society, that is, it is all right to use violence and inflict pain to teach a child something. " (lines 21-23) What does Prema Devaraj mean by the above sentence? 2 marks) © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 10 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 QUESTION 11 How can the "negative influences from the neighbourhood environment" (lines 29-30) cause students to misbehave in school? (2 marks) QUESTION 12 List two (2) recommendations made by the Women's Centre for Change to the Ministry of Education on how to help teachers in the classroom. (1 mark) QUESTION 13 The education system should move away from an over-emphasis on examinations and become more holistic in order to develop the students' other potentials or talents.

State two (2) ways the education system can develop the students' other potentials or talents. (2 marks) © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 11 LG/OCT2008/BEL311 PART B : WRITING (20 MARKS) QUESTION 1 You are a school counselor and you are asked to give a talk to a group of teachers. Based on these two articles "Spare the Rod? " and "Caning Does More Harm Than Good", you have developed the following opinion about the issue: "Caning should not be allowed in schools today" Using the information from the two articles, write a speech of about 300 words to support your opinion.

Include three main ideas with supporting details for your talk. (You must use information that you have gathered from reading the two articles but marks will be deducted if you copy sentences from the articles). In-text citations and proper acknowledgement of references used must also be included. © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 12 LG/OCT 2008/BEL311 © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL 13 LG/OCT 2008/BEL311 END OF QUESTION PAPER © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL

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