Writing in English in Malaysian High Schools: The Discourse of Examinations

Abstract

English is taught as a second language and compulsory subject in Malaysian secondary schools. Writing is one of the four language skills taught and tested. At the upper secondary school level, students write a variety of text types, most of which conform to examination genres. Given a learning context that is examination-driven and teacher-centred, how do students accomplish their writing tasks in a non-negotiable writing curriculum? Embedding the classroom in a larger social and cultural context, this study demonstrates how some students responded to teacher instructions such as ‘read, understand, interpret, do’ and ‘I want all your papers when the bell rings’. Data were taken from student interviews, teacher interviews, students' written products and classroom observations of writing lessons over the second half of the school year. Findings from the study show that the students' focus on acceptable writing for school and examination purposes did not encourage them to develop their writing skills beyond these requirements, but to adopt a range of pragmatic and expedient tactics.