Malaysian English Research Articles

Voiceless Stop Consonants in Malaysian English

This paper studies the nature of voiceless stop consonants with a special focus on a change from [θ]/[ð] to [t] at the word-initial position in Malaysian English (ME). Drawing on the acoustic phonetic measurement of stop consonants produced by 12 speakers, we maintain that ME is creating a new system of stop consonants. More precisely, we state the following: First, the new alveolar stop [t] originating from voiced and voiceless dental fricatives (e.g., that, think) is always shorter than the original [t] (e.g., teach) in terms of the voice onset time (VOT) values. That is to say, ME possesses two acoustically different alveolar stops. Second, because of the presence of the new [t], the generally agreed phonetic values of VOT for [p] and [t] are reversed. Third, although ME is often characterised by the speakers’ ethnic differences, the acoustic quality of the new [t] is consistent independent of the first language. Fourth, the use of the new [t] is, overall, less frequent than the standard pronunciation of dental fricatives. Fifth, the occurrence and frequency of the new [t] is sporadic, partly because it is speaker specific.

A Visual Analysis of a Malaysian English School Textbook: Gender Matters

In the Malaysian education system, attention is highly paid on reading words. Visual images are often treated as “decoration”, or are dismissed altogether (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996). Many local researchers (Saedah 1990, Bahiyah et al., 2008) have only analysed written texts to see how social practices deemed negative such as gender biasness are reflected in the words (lexical items) and linguistic structures. Currently, no systematic research has been undertaken in Malaysia to analyse visual images in English language school textbooks to study how visual images can reflect gender biasness. This research project addresses gender biasness found in visual images in school textbooks, i.e., the treatment of one gender over the other especially of women and girls. The project adopts three widely used approaches for analyzing visual images; content, socio semiotic and ethno-methodology analyses. This paper will however highlight its preliminary analysis focusing on image analysis based on participation, gender and representational meanings. Its aim is to identify the types of images and the representation of gender biasness and stereotyping found in the textbook. The preliminary findings should expose the sexism and gender biasness in the visual images of a sampled textbook; i.e. an English school textbook that is abound with visual images that sometimes, more so than written texts, can articulate more forcefully social and cultural meanings.

Speaking, reading and writing in three languages. Preferences and attitudes of multilingual Malaysian students

This study presents the main findings from a study which investigated Malaysian multilingual students' practical use of three languages with respect to reading, speaking and writing in Bahasa Malaysia (BM), English and German. In addition, two further aspects have been examined: students' motivation to learn a language, and the respondents' opinions about language learning. The sample of this study consists of three groups of students of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds who were enrolled in three different courses (BA German, BA Malay and BA English) at a public university in Malaysia where the study was carried out. A Part IV questionnaire was used to inquire about biographical data, language use in two or three languages, learning strategies and opinions about language learning. The questionnaire responses reveal that: (1) students of the English and Malay BA course preferred English in speaking, reading and writing whereas the Malay group clearly preferred to use BM for all skills; (2) the majority of all students generally had positive attitudes towards language learning; (3) strategies used to communicate ideas in different languages are different and (4) opinions about language learning differed between the BA Malay/BA German group and the BA English group. This study should be replicated in a different multilingual context and the findings supported with larger sample sizes.

The effect of dialect on the phonological analysis of Chinese-influenced Malaysian English speaking children

This study investigates the effect of dialect on phonological analyses in Chinese-influenced Malaysian English (ChME) speaking children. A total of 264 typically-developing ChME speaking children aged 3–7 years participated in this cross-sectional study. A single word naming task consisting of 195 words was used to elicit speech from the children. The samples obtained were transcribed phonetically and analysed descriptively and statistically. Phonological analyses were completed for speech sound accuracy, age of consonant acquisition, percentage of phonological process occurrence, and age of suppression for phonological processes. All these measurements differed based on whether or not ChME dialectal features were considered correct, with children gaining higher scores when ChME dialect features were considered correct. The findings of the present study provide guidelines for Malaysian speech-language pathologists and stress the need to appropriately consider ChME dialectal features in the phonological analysis of ChME speaking children. They also highlight the issues in accurate differential diagnosis of speech impairment for speech-language pathologists working with children from any linguistically diverse background.

A Visual Analysis of a Malaysian English School Textbook: Gender Matters

In the Malaysian education system, attention is highly paid on reading words. Visual images are often treated as “decoration”, or are dismissed altogether (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996). Many local researchers (Saedah 1990, Bahiyah et al., 2008) have only analysed written texts to see how social practices deemed negative such as gender biasness are reflected in the words (lexical items) and linguistic structures. Currently, no systematic research has been undertaken in Malaysia to analyse visual images in English language school textbooks to study how visual images can reflect gender biasness. This research project addresses gender biasness found in visual images in school textbooks, i.e., the treatment of one gender over the other especially of women and girls. The project adopts three widely used approaches for analyzing visual images; content, socio semiotic and ethno-methodology analyses. This paper will however highlight its preliminary analysis focusing on image analysis based on participation, gender and representational meanings. Its aim is to identify the types of images and the representation of gender biasness and stereotyping found in the textbook. The preliminary findings should expose the sexism and gender biasness in the visual images of a sampled textbook; i.e. an English school textbook that is abound with visual images that sometimes, more so than written texts, can articulate more forcefully social and cultural meanings.

Job Satisfaction Factors Among English Language Teachers In Malaysia

Job satisfaction is very essential to the continuing growth of educational systems around the world and actually nowadays teachers have a very crucial role in the success or failure of each educational system. The present study investigated different job satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors among Malaysian English language teachers. The study is a survey research which has 35 English teachers as its participants. To collect data the questionnaire titled ‘TEJOSAMOQ’ was used. Descriptive analysis method was used to have sum of values, mean and standard deviation for each factor. The result showed that personal growth and achievement is the most important job satisfaction factors while high workload is central source of dissatisfaction for English teachers in Malaysia. The result can be used to make better and more effective policies and administration to have high quality education system in future.

ICT and Teachers’ Attitude in English Language Teaching

The waves of globalization and the advent of IT have given some impacts to the teaching of English in Malaysia. ICT equipment has been integrated in English classes since it has been proven to help the students in their learning process. This study seeks to find out whether the teachers are in fact ready for this newer innovation. It checks on the teachers’ attitude towards the use of ICT in English language teaching and the extent to which teachers use the available ICT equipment. A survey was conducted at 8 primary schools in Miri, Sarawak. A total of 60 teachers of English were selected and given a set of questionnaire. It was found that teachers have a satisfactory attitude towards the use of ICT and the teacher’s level of ICT use is also satisfactory. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found when the attitude towards ICT was investigated with three different variables, which are the actual level of its use, the teachers’ age and the experience in attending ICT workshop. It is hoped that more future research should be carried out in a wider sampling so that the findings can be generalized.

The Many Faces of Malaysian English

This paper provides a brief description on the aspect of Malaysian English lexis. It starts off with the developmental cycles of new varieties of English based on three main models by three main scholars, namely, Kachru’s three concentric circles of Englishes (1994), Moag’s life-cycle model (1982), and Schneider’s dynamic model (2007). It discusses the emergence and development of Malaysian English, the nonnative variety. It also explains Baskaran’s three levels of the lectal continuum; acrolect, mesolect, and basilect. The nonnative features involved in the Malaysian English lexis are also discussed briefly; the acrolect: borrowing, the mesolect, and basilect mixing, with examples. Generally, it discusses the emergence of the new varieties, the indigenisation of English in Malaysia, and the current status of English in Malaysia.

Non-empirically Based Teaching Materials Can be Positively Misleading: A Case of Modal Auxiliary Verbs in Malaysian English Language Textbooks

Using corpus approach, a growing number of researchers blamed textbooks for neglecting important information on the use of grammatical structures in natural English. Likewise, the prescribed Malaysian English textbooks used in schools are reportedly prepared through a process of material development that involves intuition. Hence, a corpus-based study with the population that was sourced from five Malaysian English language textbooks (Forms 1-5) was adopted to identify modal auxiliary verbs’ order and ranking in both whole text-types and spoken text-type of these textbooks. The WordSmith Tools 4.0 was used almost entirely to support quantitative and qualitative data analysis in this research. This study has revealed that for almost all modal auxiliaries, there is a discrepancy between frequency order in the textbook corpus and natural English. The findings of this study also show that the currently used pedagogical language in Malaysian textbooks is mainly based on written rather than spoken English.

Have the Modal Verb Phrase Structures Been Well Presented in Malaysian English Language Textbooks?

To date, many studies focused on the behavior of English grammatical structures in various national and international textbooks and questioned the authenticity of the language and the grammar presented in these textbooks. To see if Malaysian English language textbooks are free from these issues, this study compared the ways in which modal verb phrase structures are presented in these textbooks and real language use. This was addressed in one research question and the design applied was qualitative content corpus analysis. The findings reveal that evidently, there are very great differences in the relative frequency of use of the nine verb phrase structures in which modals can occur in real language and the ones in Malaysian English language textbooks (Form 1-5). The survey result also reveals that secondary learners are not really exposed to other verb structures, particularly structures with passive, progressive and perfect aspects.

Are Modal Auxiliaries in Malaysian English Language Textbooks in Line with Their Usage in Real Language?

Based on the discrepancies found in many Malaysian English language textbooks, a detailed analysis on the way modal auxiliary verb forms and their semantic functions were introduced and presented in texts and exercises in five Malaysian textbooks was done. For that to be achieved, a qualitative page-by-page content analysis was applied. From the discussion of the grammatical progression in the textbooks, we can see that the presentation of modal auxiliaries in Malaysian English language textbooks is not fully in accordance with their use in natural English. Besides that, although recycling modal auxiliaries throughout different levels in order for the students to fully grasp their various meanings is advised by many linguists, we could see that Malaysian textbook authors used only a few of the same modals to express repetitive semantic functions. Accordingly, changes are recommended in order to bring the English taught in textbooks into accordance with real-life language use.

Contact expressions in contemporary Malaysian English

ABSTRACT: Language contact touches on theoretical, descriptive and applied linguistics. Typically research into lexical contact outcomes tended to be accumulative, collecting contact effects, whether old or recent, on the assumption that they are all relevant today. Their currency or demise or, in the case of recent formations, their increasing currency and spread are under‐researched. Such themes are crucial in multilingual, multi‐cultural and multi‐religious contexts such as Malaysia in South‐East Asia where loan expressions can signal a developing over‐arching ‘Malaysian English‐ness’ or the existence of ethnic lines of division. This paper investigates the contact of English with other languages in Malaysia and raises three questions. Given the large number of loan words in English and in Malaysian English, the first question is to what extent loans from Malay, Chinese and Indian languages are ‘known’ and to what extent knowledge stratifies in terms of ethnicity, religion, etc. Findings might signal a trend towards an overarching, pan‐ethnic general Malaysian English (MalE). Particularly interesting are expressions from Arabic that occur in a growing number and raise questions of inter‐religious comprehension. The second question derives from a tentative classification of selected words into those that go back to the contact with European languages from the 15th century up to independence and those that have come into MalE since. The first category is considered ‘old’, the second ‘recent’. New words may signal a development towards endo‐normativity. A third question that we hoped to find evidence for is whether age is a factor that interacts with findings to the other two questions. Though limited in scope, this study has wider applications to English, socio‐ and educational linguistics.

Validation study of the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire in a multi‐ethnic Asian population

Outcome measures for clinical trials in dyspepsia require an assessment of symptom response. There is a lack of validated instruments assessing dyspepsia symptoms in the Asian region. We aimed to translate and validate the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (LDQ) in a multi-ethnic Asian population. A Malay and culturally adapted English version of the LDQ were developed according to established protocols. Psychometric evaluation was performed by assessing the validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and responsiveness of the instruments in both primary and secondary care patients. Between April and September 2010, both Malay (n=166) and Malaysian English (n=154) versions were assessed in primary and secondary care patients. Both language versions were found to be reliable (internal consistency was 0.80 and 0.74 (Cronbach's α) for Malay and English, respectively; spearman's correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.98 for both versions), valid (area under receiver operating curve for accuracy of diagnosing dyspepsia was 0.71 and 0.77 for Malay and English versions, respectively), discriminative (median LDQ score discriminated between primary and secondary care patients in Malay (11.0 vs 20.0, P<0.0001) and English (10.0 vs 14.0, P=0.001), and responsive (median LDQ score reduced after treatment in Malay (17.0 to 14.0, P=0.08) and English (18.0 to 11.0, P=0.008) to dyspepsia. The Malaysian versions of the LDQ are valid, reliable and responsive instruments for assessing symptoms in a multi-ethnic Asian population with dyspepsia.

Exploring International Student Orientation and Attitude towards Learning English in Malaysia

The Malaysian government is rigorously drawing up strategies to increase the already existing 60,000 foreign students currently studying in the country (The Star, 2009). With the influx of more foreign students and with English as the medium of instruction in local higher aspects that drive and/or deter them in learning English would be beneficial. The sample for this study (N=115) comprised of international students from China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam, Maldives and the Middle East undertaking an Intensive English course at a local private college. Data collection was done via questionnaire which was designed based on a review of existing instruments in the field. Results show that orientation towards learning English does not vary according to nationality and gender; however, students from China and Korea tend to be more inclined towards instrumental orientation, while students from Kazakhstan and Iran are more inclined towards integrative orientation. Based on the findings, this paper also proffers recommendations for local higher education institutions to enhance ELT practices for incoming international students.

A Pedagogic Corpus Analysis: Modal Auxiliary verbs in Malaysian English Textbooks

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Modal Auxiliary Verbs in Prescribed Malaysian English Textbooks

The use of corpus-based findings in order to inform L2 teaching materials have been emphasized by many researchers owing to the fact that the studies of authentic texts have revealed some inconsistencies between the use of grammatical structures in corpora, and those found in language textbooks that are based purely on hunch. Therefore, by comparing a textbook corpus with the British National Corpus, this study attempts to shed light on the extent in which modal auxiliary verbs presented in the Malaysian prescribed textbooks are identical with those used by native speakers. The findings showed that there are discrepancies between English language textbooks and real language use. Findings from this study contribute to the improvement of pedagogical practices in the teaching of the modal system and provide a sense of familiarity with textbooks’ content thus assisting educators in identifying the particular strengths and weaknesses in textbooks already in use.

Crossing borders

This paper reports on a study of Malay learners of English in Malaysia as they attempt to extend their use of English outside the classroom and thus participate in new linguistic practices. Using a multiple case study approach, the study examines the narrative accounts of learners generated through student journals and focus group discussions. These are stories of conflict, tension, negotiation, and renewal as these aspiring bilinguals use English to contest language boundaries, transform social and linguistic resources, and express new identities. The analysis offers insights into how the norms of language choice and use are generated, preserved and changed, how language ideologies lend value to particular linguistic practices and stigmatise others, and what the consequences are of these practices in the lives and identities of people and the community as a whole.

Improving Malaysian rural learners’ writing skill: A case study

This is a case study approach where three learners and an English teacher from a secondary school were involved. In this study, the effect of teacher's assistance in developing rural learners’ skills in writing had been looked into depth through five-months of observation at one of the rural area schools in Malaysia. Findings showed that these learners improved in terms of vocabularies when the teacher provided interactive approach via writing process approach. Three aspects were identified as important in the writing process which were teacher's questioning, commenting and giving clues technique in improving the learners’ writing skills. In the usual practice, the teacher will drill the learners in writing where the learners are needed to do as many essay writing exercises as possible to prepare them for major examination. These findings thus has called for Malaysian English teachers to reconsider their approach which is more exam-oriented and focused more on the process itself in teaching English language.

Malaysian English: an instrumental analysis of vowel contrasts

ABSTRACT: This paper makes an instrumental analysis of English vowel monophthongs produced by 47 female Malaysian speakers. The focus is on the distribution of Malaysian English vowels in the vowel space, and the extent to which there is phonetic contrast between traditionally paired vowels. The results indicate that, like neighbouring varieties of English, Malaysian English vowels occupy a smaller vowel space than those of British English. The lack of contrast in vowel quality between vowel pairs was more apparent for /i/ ‐ //, /e/ ‐ /æ/ and // ‐ //. However, there was a considerable difference in duration in the vowel pairs except for // ‐ // which contrasted in terms of vowel quality.

How different are the monophthongs of Malay speakers of Malaysian and Singapore English?

Early works on Singapore and Malaysian English used to consider them as a single homogeneous entity based on their shared history as previous British colonies. However, since 1965, both Malaysia and Singapore have been independent from each other. It is interesting to investigate, some four decades post-independence, how different the English speech patterns of Malaysians and Singaporeans have become taking into account the different language planning policies undertaken by both countries. This paper compares one particular aspect of pronunciation, i.e. the vowel qualities and durations of both varieties. The formants of the vowels of the read speech of five male and five female speakers of Malaysian English (MalE) are compared to an equivalent sample of speakers of Singapore English (SgE) in order to compare the vowel qualities between the two varieties. In particular, we compare the vowel quadrilateral space of MalE in comparison with SgE. Vowel durations are also measured for vowels produced in citation forms only. It is found that SgE speakers did maintain some distinctions between the long/short vowel pairs in terms of duration while the MalE speakers tended to conflate the long/short vowel pairs durationally.