Effects of “English-Only Policy” on Students’ Fluency and Motivation Level in Speaking English

Abstract

The study aims to examine the influence of English-only policy on students’ fluency and motivation level to speak English. The respondents of the study are 20 secondary school students in Hulu Perak who are divided into two groups; experimental group and control group. The research design of this study is quantitative through quasi-experimental and survey. A pre and post-speaking test and a questionnaire which consists of 9 items using 5-point Likert scale are used for data collection. The data is analysed through mean scores of pre and post-test between experimental and control group and the total score of each respondent. The findings of pre and post-test indicate that the mean scores in the experimental group yield a higher improvement (3.20) than in the control group (1.80). Furthermore, the survey findings show that most respondents have a moderate level of motivation (60%), followed by high motivation level (40%). It can be concluded that English-only policy is effective on students’ speaking fluency and students have moderate to high levels of motivation to speak English language in English-only policy lessons. The implication of this study is that teachers can use English-only policy in English language lessons to improve students’ speaking fluency and motivation level to speak English. Apart from that, it can be a benchmark for school administration to implement the approach at school level and for the Ministry of Education to provide training courses for teachers to ensure in-depth implementation of the teaching approach.