Malaysian English Research Articles

Collostructional Analysis on Future Will in Malaysian English Online News

Collostructional Analysis on Future Will in Malaysian English Online News

Malaysian English Language Teachers’ Engagement With Instrumental Support on Facebook

This study investigates how Malaysian English language teachers utilize networking sites for social support. It focuses on the social and discursive practices of Malaysian English language teachers as they co-construct social support on Facebook Timelines. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 Malaysian English language teachers to identify the value of social networking sites for teachers’ development. The findings revealed that the majority of the teachers interviewed had a positive view of the engagement with instrumental support on Timelines even though some teachers questioned the efficacy of Timelines as a platform for the co-construction of instrumental support. The teachers mainly engaged with informational support on Timelines as they perceived the usefulness of Facebook in facilitating the exchange of informational resources. The teachers associate obtaining informational support on Timelines with the ability to communicate important information, communicate immediately, and participate as a lurker, which is useful when teachers want to obtain informational resources without having to engage in conversation with others. This paper argues that teachers' postings on Facebook serve as tools to obtain desirable support, facilitating the improvement of their practices and helping them navigate daily challenges in the workplace.

A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE ERRORS IN MALAYSIAN LEARNERS’ ENGLISH WRITING

In mastering the English language, learners need to be able to comply with its grammatical rules. Most previous corpus-based studies about learners’ grammar errors have examined the non-Malaysian context. Therefore, the overarching aim of this study is to investigate simple past tense errors in Malaysian English as a Second Language (ESL) secondary school learners’ writing. Employing a corpus-based error analysis approach, it specifically intends to identify the types of simple past tense errors in Malaysian ESL secondary school learners’ writing and the frequency of simple past tense errors in Malaysian ESL secondary school learners’ writing. To this end, the English of Malaysian School Students (EMAS) corpus, in particular the sub-corpus of Malaysian learners’ narrative essays was analysed based on two main frameworks. The Error Analysis Framework was adapted for the error analysis procedure, while the Surface Strategy Taxonomy Framework was used for the classification of types of errors. Online corpus tools such as Part-Of-Speech (POS) the Constituent Likelihood Automatic Word-Tagging System (CLAWS) and Antconc version 3.5.8 were employed as the instruments of the study. The findings of the study showed that there are three types of simple past tense errors in the learners’ writing, namely Error of Omission, Error of Addition and Error of Misformation. Misformation is the most popular type of simple past tense error committed by the learners. The findings of the study would be useful for the Malaysian context of ESL learners’ curriculum design and pedagogy.

Effects of exposure to L2 input and language proficiency on pragmatic competence during study abroad

Developing second language pragmatic competence is crucial because it enables learners to effectively communicate and interact with native speakers of that language. It goes beyond mere grammatical and lexical knowledge, and encompasses the ability to comprehend and produce language in a way that is contextually appropriate and respectful. The quantitative study and group interviews were conducted to investigate the effects of exposure to L2 input and language proficiency on the comprehension and expression of indirect speech acts of 180 Chinese learners of English in Malaysia. The results showed that exposure to L2 input significantly contributed to learners’ pragmatic competence at all levels; interactive and instructive exposure to L2 input was more beneficial to the pragmatic improvement; pragmatic competence did not develop in parallel with language proficiency, and increased significantly only after language proficiency reached the intermediate level; pragmatic expression was more influenced by exposure to L2 input, while pragmatic comprehension was more significantly influenced by language proficiency.

Exploring Writing Self-Efficacy among Malaysian Tertiary English Learners

Despite being exposed to the language for more than ten years, writing is one of the key challenges for Malaysian English language learners. This is largely due to the influence of their first language and lack of confidence or appropriate platforms to use English effectively. This study examines whether writing self-efficacy influences writing performance across three dimensions: ideation, convention, and self-regulation. The Self-Efficacy for Writing Scale (SEWS) developed by Bruning et al. (2012) was employed to assess these dimensions in a sample of 448 participants from a local tertiary institution in Malaysia. A quantitative approach was used, with an 18-item questionnaire distributed to participants, and the data analysed using SPSS for descriptive analysis. The findings reveal that among the three dimensions of writing self-efficacy, writing convention had the highest average mean score of 3.75, followed by self-regulation at 3.35, and ideation at 3.34. These results suggest that, despite commonly being considered weak in English writing, the participants demonstrated higher confidence in their linguistic abilities, particularly in spelling and sentence completion. The study underscores the need for future research to explore the relationship between each dimension of writing self-efficacy and learners’ writing performance in greater depth. This could help identify more effective strategies to promote English writing skills among learners.

Malaysian Literature in English as Literature of Reconciliation

Malaysia has become one of the epitomes of multiculturalism in Southeast Asia due to its richness of diversity. Colonised by multiple European countries and Japan for centuries, the country, formerly known as Malaya, achieved its independence on 31st August 1957. The emergence of inspiring words by Malaya writers and poets during the colonial era became the beacons of hope amongst the Malaya people in forging a new future for their newly independent country. Furthermore, the revival of Malaysian literature in English in the postcolonial era can strengthen the trust, understanding, acceptance, and peace between different races and cultures in Malaysia. Thus, this paper aims to analyse how Malaysian literature in English plays the role of reconciliation in the multicultural communities in Malaysia. For the purpose of this research, a Malaysian English literary novel, This End of The Rainbow (2008), written by Adibah Amin will be analysed by using the concept of reconciliation by Fadillah Merican. Pertinence to the study, the novel managed to encapsulate the concept’s elements of diversity and the preoccupation with bleak scenarios. The results highlight the importance of reconciling amidst the differences in a multicultural society in Malaysia that fosters unity and resists colonial discourse.

Enhancing Reading Comprehension for Underprivileged Malaysian ESL Secondary School Students: A Module Development

This research aims to develop a reading comprehension module to enhance the reading skills of underprivileged Malaysian ESL secondary school students. The study employs a quantitative approach consisting of a needs analysis, module development, expert evaluation, and field testing. The needs analysis phase involves identifying the specific requirements of students in terms of reading comprehension. The developed modules integrate six diverse reading comprehension activities, including reading aloud, answering comprehension questions, matching activities, filling in the blanks, categorising materials and solving puzzles based on reading texts. The materials used for module development are sourced from Malaysian English school textbooks. The expert evaluation stage involves the participation of four experienced teachers who complete a module content evaluation questionnaire and a module design validity assessment questionnaire. Their valuable insights and feedback contribute to refining and improving the modules. Adjustments and revisions are made based on the received feedback. The final phase of the research involves testing the developed modules with a sample of 30 underprivileged students from a secondary school in Klang, Selangor, Malaysia. Pre and post-tests are administered to measure the student’s reading comprehension skills before and after module implementation. This research seeks to address the educational needs of underprivileged Malaysian secondary school students by providing them with targeted reading comprehension modules. The findings from this study have the potential to inform educational practices and contribute to the development of tailored interventions aimed at improving reading comprehension skills among underprivileged students in Malaysia.

Chat Hour in Improving Fluency and Confidence among the IPGKBA Teacher Trainees

‘Chat Hour’ is an initiative organised by the English Language Department, Institute of Teacher Training, International Languages Campus (IPGKBA) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was conducted online via YouTube by TESL teacher trainees. The main purpose of this programme is to provide TESL students the opportunity to improve their fluency when speaking in public as well as to provide them the opportunity to practice English confidently. This program tried to bring up the aspirations stated in the Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia English Language Roadmap (20152025), which presents the importance of higher education institutions to provide an English-rich environment in order for tertiary students to have greater engagement with the language, outside the bounds of the formal settings in the classroom. The findings of this study show that the ‘Chat Hour with IPGKBA’ provided a positive experience, which contributed to improving their fluency and confidence when using the language. This study provides insight into the teacher trainees’ perception towards the ‘Chat Hour’ programme in terms of developing their fluency and confidence.

The Phonological Features of Malaysian English (ME)

The Phonological Features of Malaysian English (ME)

Uncovering the Lexical Variation and Change in Malaysian English: A Corpus-Driven Analysis

Uncovering the Lexical Variation and Change in Malaysian English: A Corpus-Driven Analysis

Written Retelling Strategy in Improving Reading Skill among ESL Students in Malaysia

Skills of reading and comprehending in English are crucial for academic success in schools. Pupils with low reading ability skill may result in obtaining low grades and poor test scores. Traditionally pupils are taught to lift specific information as a reading strategy to answer comprehension questions, comparatively, this study uses retelling strategy to evaluate pupils’ understanding. Past research indicated that retelling strategy enhances accuracy and greater comprehension. Thus, far study that investigates effectiveness of this strategy remains scarce in Malaysian English as Second Language (ESL) primary schools. As reading skill starts to develop in early stage of schooling, it is deemed necessary to conduct this study among primary level pupils. The present study specifically analyzes the effects of written retelling strategy on pupils’ understanding of story structure among year three primary school pupils in Malaysian ESL classroom. A quasiexperimental research design with pretest and posttest was adopted to carry out the study. Pretest and posttest questions consisting of structural comprehension questions and written retelling were used to measure the effects of written retelling strategy on the pupils’ achievement in reading comprehension and their understanding of the story structure. A pretest was conducted before teaching and learning took place. This was followed by a posttest. An independent t-test was used to obtain the mean values and standard deviations. The results obtained in this study conclude the written retelling strategy had notably improved the pupils’ reading skill as they are able to retain information from the story and make better predictions. Subsequently, it increased their abilities in answering the comprehension questions. The results also indicate that written retelling could be a prospective reading strategy along with other strategies for primary ESL learners in Malaysia and similar context.

Reinforcement of Gender Stereotyping in Malaysian Primary English Textbooks

Many primary school students have been exposed to gender stereotyping since they were young, with educators, parents, and their peers shaping their thoughts, behaviors, and their perceptions of gender. While several previous research studies have been done on the depiction of gender-stereotyped roles in Malaysian textbooks, very little has fully explored how stereotypical gender characteristics are assigned to the male and female gender, and how reinforcement of occupational gender roles is done through images and text in Malaysian primary English textbooks. This study seeks to investigate the reinforcement of gender stereotyping in Malaysian Primary English textbooks through images and text. The study addressed the following research question: What stereotypical gender characteristics are assigned to the male and female gender through the images and text incorporated in Malaysian English Primary textbooks? Using the Thematic Analysis approach by Braun and Clarke(2006) the results show that the themes obtained from the analysis were consistent with results from previous studies, which suggested that there was a biased characterization of the male and female gender, and those female characters were still underrepresented leading to the reinforcement of stereotypical gender roles. This study sheds new light on the reinforcement of gender stereotyping and provides important insights into the creation and development of primary English textbooks in Malaysia.

Neoliberal discourse in locally developed Malaysian English language textbooks: a comparison between the pre- and post-neoliberal eras

ABSTRACT Studies on the discourse of neoliberalism in English language textbooks (ELT) concur that neoliberalism originated from the west: thus, its values are imported into the rest of the world through the textbooks produced by western global ELT producers. Instead, the current study shows that neoliberalism is not necessarily an entirely foreign concept in the non-western context and, in particular, in Malaysia, but is already present amongst the non-western local populace where the realities of the local society are subject to development, and this is reflected in the textbooks. Scrutinised through tools borrowed from the Discourse Historical Approach – an approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) – this study contributes to the current body of literature by comparing two series of ELT textbooks, locally developed during the pre- and post-neoliberal eras in Malaysia, for their neoliberal content. The findings reveal that that these textbooks have evolved to solely picture the middle-class neoliberal subjects who go through a process of skillisation who have tendencies towards the neoliberal products and behaviours in recent years, influenced by the socio-political developments as opposed to the older books.

China English or Chinese English?

The distinction between ‘Singapore English’ and ‘Singaporean English’ is interesting. It appears that small places tend to use the bare name of the country, while larger countries use the derived adjective. So we find: Singapore English, Hong Kong English, Brunei English; but American English, German English, Malaysian English. On this basis, we might favour Chinese English over China English, because China is big.

Framing Analysis of ChatGPT in Malaysian English Newspaper

Ever since the release of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven text tool named ChatGPT, society has started a wildfire of discussion regarding its pros and cons. However, ChatGPT has been given wide attention due to its availability and accessibility. People can easily assess the tool from their smartphones or computers. Thus, this research explores how newspapers frame ChatGPT. It is important as newspaper portrayals are responsible for shaping public opinion. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher used framing analysis to analyse data collected from a Malaysian daily English Newspaper, The Star. The newspaper articles were collected for a period of three months starting February 1st to April 30th, 2023. The rationale behind the period was that ChatGPT Plus was made available in Malaysia in February. A total of 69 articles were found. However, only 17 articles were written locally while the rest were taken from international news agencies. Thus, the study will only include the local articles to see how they were written in a local context. The study found three major recurring themes which are responsibility, consequence, and human-interest frames. The newspapers urged society to embrace AI, especially in the education and business sectors. More emphasis was put on practitioners in their respective industries to set up policies to guide the usage of ChatGPT. Meanwhile, consequence frames were highlighted when the newspapers covered the low side of ChatGPT such as the dangers of fraud, phishing as well as plagiarism. Finally, the human-interest frame could be found when the newspaper shed light on some human conditions such as celebrities' and students’ opinions on ChatGPT. With that, the findings suggest that Malaysian newspapers should give more diverse coverage on the topic itself. It is evident that the newspaper should look at their roles as public watchdogs to serve the public's interest.

Mindfulness-based Classroom Intervention: Boon or bane to ESL Teachers in Malaysia?

Teachers as well as pupils may experience stress during the process of teaching and learning a second language in a classroom setting. Mindfulness-Based Interventions are an effective way to manage stress issues in language classrooms. This study aimed to explore the perception of selected English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers on implementing MBIs during their online lessons regarding their understanding of and challenges in its execution. The perceptions of Malaysian English language teachers of this intervention have not been adequately evaluated, despite being one of the most important stakeholders in academia. Seventeen English language instructors from two secondary schools in Perak were interviewed using a semi-structured format. The subjects were chosen using a convenient sampling method. The goal was to determine what the teachers thought about the intervention in general. In addition, their readiness and acceptance of the method are also investigated. The interview was also conducted to elicit their thoughts on the potential inhibitors and facilitators to the introduction of MBIs in their lessons. The findings indicate that the idea of mindfulness is still new to the teachers since they do not understand it collectively. The challenges associated with executing the plan are also emphasized, along with recommendations for mitigating them. Despite possible obstacles, the teachers exhibit a generally positive attitude and a strong desire to implement Mindfulness-based Interventions in their classrooms.

Jazz Chants to Motivate Language Learning among Sarawakian Primary Pupils Towards Positive School Climate: An Inquiry on Teachers’ Perspectives

Since music and language are deeply related where musical training is able to stimulate the same part of the brain that is also associated with understanding language, using Jazz Chants in English language learning possess a remarkable potential at maximizing language learning, especially at creating fun and significant lessons. Nonetheless, its potential remains under-researched, especially on the implementation of Jazz Chants in Malaysian language classrooms towards creating a safe learning climate. Until language learning are given more alternatives, English language classrooms are viewed as flat, thus situating the purpose of this paper. Therefore, this research explored the possibility of using Jazz Chants to investigate teachers’ perceptions on employing Jazz Chants in Malaysian English learning classrooms. To do so, five experienced teachers from Sarawak were selected for a semi-structured interview. The interview questions were validated by experts before the interviews were carried out. A thematic analysis was employed to analyse the interview data in three predetermined themes which are ‘benefits’, ‘challenges’ and ‘suggestions’. In creating fun and meaningful learning that may harness towards (re)creating a positive school climate, as aspired by the MoE, this research provides a narrative on teachers’ perspectives within the three discussed themes.

Malaysian English Language Teachers’ Willingness, Readiness, Needs and Wants to Develop Graphic Oral History ELT Materials

Non-native English language teachers have long been de-professionalized being adopters of preponderant globalized English language teaching (ELT) coursebooks that offer an insignificant contribution to their students’ English language learning. This has spurred the design of the “Innovations in Materials Development” (IMD) module to train Malaysian English language teachers in developing graphic oral history ELT materials. This study reports on the initial (needs analysis) phase of the instructional design of the module; not only did the researchers examine the teachers’ willingness and readiness to develop their ELT materials, but they also investigated the teachers’ needs and wants to inform the design of the module. Qualitative findings from in-depth semi-structured individual interviews with five Malaysian in-service English language teachers showed that the teachers are willing to adopt the materials developer role; however, they are not ready as they lack ELT materials development experiences and training. In the context of the prospective module, they need training comprising ELT materials development principles and oral history and graphic novels as pedagogical tools. Moreover, the teachers expressed that they want the training to be practical and to involve group work, guidance, and materials samples. These findings established the need for the IMD module and helped the researchers identify and formulate the specific needs and wants of the teachers for the training to be efficient.

‘People are already doing it’: Malaysian English language teachers’ perceptions on translanguaging

ABSTRACT This study argues for adoption of a translanguaging lens in Malaysian English language classrooms because translanguaging practices are considered scaffolding tools in teaching and learning of the language. This argument was derived from a case study which used interviews with seven Malaysian secondary school English language teachers. The objectives of this study were to examine the teachers’ views on translanguaging using learners’ home languages and their report practices. Four themes emerged from this study: ‘Tapestry of language profile in the Malaysian classroom’, ‘Judicious use of other languages in the classroom’, ‘Limited features of spontaneous translanguaging’ and ‘Challenges integrating translanguaging in Malaysian English language classrooms’. The proposal of adopting a translanguaging lens was based on the reported translanguaging practices which were rooted in the Malaysian multilingual classrooms among the sample. Despite the silence on plurilingualism and translanguaging in the Malaysian English language policy and curriculum, teachers have been practising it surreptitiously.

Research Review and Theory Reflection on Malaysian English Literature

Research Review and Theory Reflection on Malaysian English Literature