Defining English Language Proficiency for Malaysian Tertiary Education - Past, Present and Future Efforts

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher

Attempting to define English language proficiency is inseparable from theories of language, language acquisition, and human cognition, whose socially constructed descriptions carry inherent value judgments. For Malaysian tertiary education, proficiency is treated as developmental, changing with linguistic, pragmatic, cultural, and political shifts. The work links proficiency definition to university education and traces factors shaping an acceptable level, reviewing past and present policy and assessment practices while outlining future directions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Defining English Language Proficiency

Historical foundations of English education in Malaysia

From assumed proficiency to equity and access

Linguistic and pedagogical developments

Toward communicative approaches

Defining English Language Proficiency for Malaysian Tertiary Education: Past, Present and Future Efforts Chan Swee Heng Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication 46400 Serdang Universiti Putra Malaysia Selangor, Malaysia Email: [shchan@upm.edu.my](shchan@upm.edu.my) doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.3n.2p.150 Abstract Any attempt to define English language proficiency can never be divorced from the theories that describe the nature of language, language acquisition and human cognition. By virtue of such theories being socially constructed, the descriptions are necessarily value-laden. Thus, a definition of language proficiency can only, at best, be described as developmental, following changes that are linguistic, pragmatic, cultural and political. In defining English proficiency for tertiary education, the context is naturally also linked to the focus on university education. The argument has been that an‘acceptable’ level of language competence of a university applicant is anything but constant. Tremendous social changes have seen traditional values of elitism in university education giving way to the‘massification’ of education. As Kaplan and Baldauf ( 1997:257) affirms, “The principal problem in tertiary education is not declining literacy standards but rather it is about meeting changed societal, cultural and informational requirements and circumstances”. In the light of these changes, this paper attempts to trace influencing factors that help define an‘acceptable’ level of English proficiency for Malaysian tertiary education. The paper examines past and present efforts of establishing an English language policy and assessment practice for tertiary education, and concludes with some views on future development that could evolve from the current indicative pursuits of establishing language learning and ability. Keywords: English language proficiency, Malaysian tertiary education, language policies, language learning 1. Defining English language proficiency In defining the construct of language proficiency, a number of questions invariably come to mind: 1) What does it mean to be proficient in the language? 2) How is proficiency defined in the context of socio-political changes? And finally 3) How is proficiency defined by institutional needs? In the early learning of the English language in Malaysia, there appears to be an‘assumed”proficiency for tertiary use. Under the British, Malaya did not have a clear or uniform language policy. In these early days, the emergent system could be traced to the Education Code of 1899 which spelt out the nature of learning in school to be one that: … emphasize(s) the importance of teaching English by making English Vocabulary and Composition one of the 'elementary subjects' with reading, writing and arithmetic, and strengthening it further by making 'English grammar and construction' a class subject to be taken with it. (Gaudart 1987) Asmah (2003:102) in her review of early education in Malaya, states that “A certificate from the English school promised jobs in the government and in the private sector, and most of all it opened the path to higher education.”(my italics). In contrast, the vernacular schools only “produced literate farmers, carpenters and small time shopkeepers”. The outstanding practice of a quadrilingual educational system (English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil) led to a British legacy in education that perpetuated unequal opportunities and access to English proficiency. Those enrolled in English medium schools naturally had better chances at acquiring a better level of English proficiency compared to those in vernacular schools. It also moulded “a cosmopolitan, modernizing group drawn in varying proportions from the three traditional communities whose common bond was English....”(Asmah 2003: 102) or proficiency in English. The dynamics of non-Anglo Englishes (as discussed in Seiderhofer 2003), set into motion by forces that were social, political ad

FAQs

Why can English language proficiency definitions not be separated from language theories?

Because definitions depend on theories of language, acquisition, and cognition, which are socially constructed and therefore value-laden. Any definition becomes inherently developmental under changing linguistic, pragmatic, cultural, and political conditions.

How did early British education in Malaya influence assumed English proficiency for tertiary use?

Early systems lacked a uniform language policy, but education code provisions emphasized teaching English through vocabulary, composition, grammar, and related subjects. English school credentials and English-medium schooling created stronger paths to jobs and higher education than vernacular schooling.

What changes does the paper discuss for defining an acceptable level of proficiency?

It examines how social, political, and economic dynamics reshaped university education through massification, and how linguistic developments led to shifting syllabi and theories. It reviews earlier grammar-focused structural approaches and later communicative emphases on functions and forms.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher