Malaysian ESL Teachers’ Perspectives on Curriculum Shift to Global Englishes Language Teaching

Abstract

The Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) curriculum proposal aims to ensure students are equipped with the skills to communicate in global contexts but for curriculum innovation to take place, many related areas must be explored to fully comprehend the practicability of the proposed curriculum. Therefore, as key stakeholders and main recipients of the innovative ELT proposal, the aim of this qualitative study is to examine Malaysian ESL teachers’ perspective on the feasibility and practicability of a GELT curriculum shift in Malaysia through focus group discussions (n=12). The findings of this study demonstrated that the teachers’ overall perception towards GELT was mixed due to several factors, including attachment to Standard English and desire for clearer guidelines. Additionally, various barriers to the implementation of a GELT-inspired curriculum in Malaysian schools were identified, such as the lack of suitable teaching materials, along with suggestions to overcome the barriers. Practical implications from the study include the need to initiate change in teacher education as well as the immediate need to develop an example of the GELT curriculum that must also be tried and tested via a pilot study.