Malaysian Rural Secondary School Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English as a Second Language

Abstract

Students' attitudes towards learning English as a second language is not a new issue, yet much is to be known about the factors that actually affect the students' attitudes, especially those who live in rural areas that are known to have poor perceptions towards as well as poor performance in learning the English language as compared to Malaysian students who live in urban areas. Using Spolsky's (1989) Model of Second Language Learning and Gardner's (1985) Second Language Acquisition Theory, this study examines rural Malaysian students' attitudes towards learning English as a second language. The main objective is to investigate the individual elements or factors influencing rural secondary school students' attitude towards learning the English language. By employing a case study approach, four students from two different grade levels in a rural secondary school were purposively selected and individually interviewed and observed in their learning environments. The data were analysed using within and cross case analyses as well as thematic analysis, in which the authors read and annotated interview transcripts, identified themes, developed a coding scheme and coded the data. The findings suggest that there were two most significant factors influencing the students' attitudes towards the learning of English; i) lessons not catered to students' proficiency levels and interests, and ii) students' individual reactions to negative and positive experiences.

To ‘Hay’ or Not to ‘Hay’? Bridging the Gap Between the English ‘Have’ and the Malay ‘Ada’ with the Spanish ‘Hay’ & ‘Tener’

“…The verb 'to have' is arguably one of the more difficult verbs for native speakers of Bahasa Malaysia to learn, next to the verb 'to be'. This is perhaps due to the fact that there can be more than one translation of the verb into Bahasa Malaysia [1]- [6]. Many approaches have been used, but the most commonly found method of teaching this verb in Malaysian schools is perhaps by using grammar drills such as shown below.…”

Multiple Intelligences and English Writing Proficiency Levels among Malaysian Pre-university Students with Rural and Urban Socio-economic Backgrounds: A Comparative Study

“…Many initiatives have been rolled out to transform the education system in fostering the development of the whole children so that all students, particularly those from underserved populations, can thrive. Malaysia clearly aims to improve its educational system by constantly implementing educational policy reforms; however, this transformation seems ineffective in enhancing English language acquisition of most Malaysian students, particularly those staying in rural areas [23]. In a society where quality of English-language schools is highly commercialized, access to them is no doubt in the hand of rich.…”

“…Sabah Education Director, Mistirine Radin pointed out that Sabah education sector currently deals with the issue of lacking qualified and trained English teachers in the rural areas [9]. Also, lack of exposure to the English language as well as the insufficient practice of the language itself has caused these students to fail to see the need to use English in the daily lives [23].…”

“…Since the culture puts heavy emphasis on these two skills, teachers tend to modify the teaching strategies and instructions to serve Verbal-Linguistic and Logical-Mathematical intelligences while the other intelligences are not given proper attention or taken seriously within the educational system [4]. Failure to acknowledge the students' differences in learning would end up making them lose interest in learning English and eventually affect the students' proficiency levels [23].…”

Saudi EFL High School Learners’ Attitude Toward Learning English

“…However, various studies have revealed the negative attitude of learners (Zulkefly & Razali, 2019;Khan, 2016;Ahmed, 2015;Aouachria, 2015;Abidin et al, 2012). For example, Zulkefly & Razali (2019) investigated rural Malaysian high school learners' attitudes toward learning ESL.…”