LISTENING TO THE ETHNIC VOICE IN ESL LEARNING

Abstract

A survey was conducted on Malaysian ESL learners to examine how their attitudes towards learning English and towards the language itself relate to their sense of ethnic and national identity. A questionnaire was administered to 331 undergraduates and secondary school students from different ethnic groups in Malaysia. The items were designed to obtain data on the following variables: learners’ attitudes towards English and learning English, learners’ perception of English as a challenge to national identity and a threat to ethnic identity, and their perception of the social-cultural importance of English in the country. Scores were analysed to study the relationship between variables and for significant differences across ethnic groups. The findings indicate that ethnic sentiment, sense of language ownership and language policies impact upon learners’ attitude and motivation in the Malaysian context, where various mother tongues and English are associated with different degrees of political and historical importance.