ESL in Malaysia: Looking Beyond the Classroom

Abstract

In recent years, much enthusiasm has been poured over the various aspects of teaching ESL. This trend persists until now and with the deteriorating standard of English in the country, such enthusiasm has become overwhelming. One can simply flip through the pages of local journals related to English and education and, with great certainty, articles giving prescriptions for teaching ESL will feature. Most prescriptions are on methodology, techniques, strategies, or what should go on in the classroom during instruction. Related research can enlighten teachers and educators with means for improving the standard of English in the country. However, analogous to the case of a doctor prescribing medication without knowledge of the patient's medical history, prescribing a method or a technique for ESL teaching in Malaysian classrooms without any serious consideration for the sociolinguistic aspects of teaching English to different sets of pupils, schools, and communities can pose more problems than for what the prescription is intended. The possibility of factors beyond the classroom having a role to play in language learning is in fact compatible with recent theories in second language acqusition which have described language learning through sociolinguistic factors (Schumann 1976, Gardner and Lambert 1972, Lambert and Tucker 1972 and Lambert 1967). Ashworth (1980:1) maintains this very perspective when she says "...whatever the reasons, the fact is that the establishment of good teaching/learning conditions cannot occur without the quiet, sustained efforts of caring and knowledgable teachers working in and with communities that lie beyond the classroom - beyond methodology." In advocating the emphasis on sociolinguistics in ESL teaching and learning in the Malaysian context, this article sets to show the importance of sociolinguistics through the discussion of several studies that provide an answer to the question of why the need for sociolinguistic emphasis.