The Teaching of English as a Second Language in West Malaysia

Abstract

Many changes have taken place in the educational scene of our country since Independence, but one of the most significant of them pertains to the relative importance of Bahasa Malaysia and English. Bahasa Malaysia, besides being the medium of instruction in all National Schools and a compulsory language in all National-type Schools, is gradually replacing English as the medium of instruction in progressively higher levels of learning. English, on the other hand, is a compulsory second/foreign language in all non-English medium schools, and is taught as one of the subjects in the curriculum.