Examining linguistic proficiency in the multilingual glocal workplace: a Malaysian case study

Beyond the World Englishes Paradigm: Agency, Performativity and Malaysian English

“…Beyond (formal or informal) education situations, an array of contexts reveal positive, collaborative aspects of ME as deployed by individual speakers, or actors on the ground (Lee & Koo, 2015). Another example from a case study (Rajadurai, 2007) reports on a Malaysian Chinese (Steve) in his late twenties speaking to a group of representatives of an advertising agency who wanted to see certain changes in the newspaper he was representing.…”

“…Steve too punctuates his speech with particles distinctively used in a more colloquial variety of ME in order to build a rapport with his audience. A further instance of a Malaysian ‘glocal’ workplace is the airline industry, in which is evident a complex and ever-shifting mix of English and ME (Lee & Koo, 2015). An examination of the manner in which an English-ME hybrid is adopted by individuals in this professional milieu reveals that the broad WE paradigm is ill-equipped to capture ‘the complexities of how the English language has been localized in Malaysia’ (Lee & Koo, 2015: 48).…”

“…To be sure, these individuals are limited in their choices, most immediately by their employment circumstances; in addition, their actions are confined to a horizon more broadly mediated by a variety of sociocultural factors. It would be an oversimplification to characterize these language users as engaged in intentional acts of identity formation, yet a focus on the performative aspects of the language practices of these speakers of ME reveals something that happens with their use of English (or Englishes ) that is not revealed vis-à-vis the theoretical framework of the WE paradigm, which is not structured in such a way as to highlight ‘the conjuncture of global-local influences’ (Lee & Koo, 2015: 50). A post-WE perspective (emphasizing conceptions of performativity and mediated agency) can capture micro-context nuances of language use for which the WE paradigm, with its focus on macro constructs such as nation, class and gender, is not able to account.…”

Identifying English language needs among administrative support staff in a Malaysian Public University: A preliminary study

“…In addition, learning needs in this study can be described as actions that employees need to do in their English learning process at workplace. Several studies on English language needs at the workplace have been conducted, for instance, in banking sectors (Muthiah, 2003), supply chain (Puteri Zarina et al, 2020), engineering industry (Hiranburana, 2017;Kassim & Ali, 2010;Kluensuwan et al, 2019;Ngah et al, 2011;Subramaniam et al, 2020;Tinh, 2018) and graduates' employability (Lee & Koo, 2015;Singh & Harun, 2020). In order to design English for Specific purposes courses within the context of occupational context, several studies which were conducted within the south East Asian countries were worth to be considered although the employees were in different fields.…”