English in Malaysia
A case of the past that never really went away
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20357351 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeannet Stephen (0000-0002-2097-8925, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 3-8 |
| Publication date | 2013-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | English Today (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0266-0784 • E-ISSN: 1474-0567 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0266078413000084 |
| OpenAlex | W2014463256 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 10 |
The English language has been part of Malaysia for a long time, going back to the beginning of British colonial rule in the 18th century. The present attitudes towards English can be said to vary from conservative (e.g. referring to it as bahasa penjajah , literally ‘language of the coloniser’) to general acceptance (e.g. English is part of Malaysian history) and to a liberal/modern/Western outlook (e.g. calling for the return of English-medium schools). The conservative view stems from the history, or, for some, the memory, of the role English played in the colonial education system as the language of the elite which served to separate the urban and rural populations into the haves and the have-nots. Inevitably, the abolition of English-medium education became one of the key matters for debate during the campaign for independence from British rule in the 1950s. Malay nationalists considered English-medium education to be part of a British agenda to maintain control of the country after Independence. Replacing English with Malay as the medium of instruction as well as the national language in Malaya was, therefore, vital. In 1967, through the National Language Act, Malay became the sole official language in Malaysia a decade after Independence. Thus, from 1970 onwards, the phasing out of English as a medium of instruction from the Malaysian education system was carried out fervently, while at the same time Malay was zealously promoted, not only in education but in all spheres of public life
Colonialism · Elite · Linguistics · Malay · Media studies · Medium of instruction · National language · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · History · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy
Teachers' and support staff's views and experiences of digitally mediated EMI courses in two different university contexts
A study of the relationship between the political and physical dimensions of schoolscapes in Sabah, Malaysia
The role and status of English in Turkish higher education
The use of English in movies in Turkey
What does it mean to be Eurasian in South East Asia, Malaysia
Globalisation, commercialisation, and learning to play at KidZania Kuala Lumpur
Language Policy and Modernity in Southeast Asia
Post-imperial English in Malaysia
From British to Bumiputera Rule
Education, British Colonialism, and a Plural Society in West Malaysia
Malaysia's 1996 Education Act
What is a Malay? situational selection of ethnic identity in a plural society
Modernity, Anti-Modernity and Post-Modernity in Malaysia
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |