SHALENI KAVIRAJAN

The Challenges of Learning English in Malaysia

English is known as a second language in most of the countries including

Malaysia. Notwithstanding, it is the international language, English is not the go-to
language most Malaysians prefer to use. Thereupon inducing difficulty in acquiring the
proper knowledge of the language. Learning English becomes onerous due to Malay-
medium instructions, inconsistency in education policy and society’s perception of the
English language.
Since Malay is the national language, the majority of the citizens are well-versed
in it. From kindergartens to universities, Malay-medium instructions are mostly used by
teachers and lecturers to educate their students as it is more comprehensible. On the other
hand, English is only being brought to attention during English lesson. Exposure to the
language becomes limited. Due to this, Malaysian students facing an impasse in learning
the language.
Flip flopping of education policies in our country has been one of the major
factors influencing English literacy among Malaysians. Adjusting the education policy
every few years begets confusion in younger generations as they move to higher
education level. This exacerbates the situation further as students find it hard to
understand the sources of information on other subjects which utilizes the English
Language as the medium of communication. To cope with the problem, students rely on
multilingual dictionaries which sometimes does not provide correct translation. Thereby
advocates the weakening in their proficiency and competency level of English language.
English language is not sought after as much as the national language of our
country. This is because the majority of Malaysians does not have good command in
English and rather more comfortable conversing in their vernacular. In a country where
English is not the national language, learning it becomes a challenge when not many
supports it. Especially kids from rural areas are not receiving the necessary English
education as their parents feel that the language is trivial and irrelevant. Only very few
kids being brought up in proper English-speaking milieu even then their English is often
tainted with Malay-English (‘Manglish’) terms.
The importance of English language in our country can be debatable but learning
it should not be a challenge. For the development of the country and also for the sake of
the future generations, English should be considered as a language of opportunities.
However, knowing English is not to say vernaculars should get short shrift. It’s simply
embracing all good things in the best way.