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English Language and Its Impact on Identities of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates

English Language and Its Impact on Identities of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates Associate Professor Dr Lee Su Kim Lee King Siong Wong Fook Fei Azizah Ya’acob. Overview of the Presentation. Introduction Definition of Identity Research on Impact of English and Identity Construction

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English Language and Its Impact on Identities of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates

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  1. English Language and Its Impact on Identities of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates Associate Professor Dr Lee Su Kim Lee King Siong Wong Fook Fei Azizah Ya’acob

  2. Overview of the Presentation • Introduction • Definition of Identity • Research on Impact of English and Identity Construction • The Study • The Findings • Conclusion

  3. Introduction:Status of English in Malaysia • an “inherited” language, a “legacy" of the British colonialists • an important second language for instrumental purposes • a neutral language for social integration • a pragmatic language for professional growth and career advancement • a language that threatens the status of the national language and erodes local cultures (Lee Su Kim 2008)

  4. … Introduction • Studies on the impact of English acquisition on the identities of its learners in Malaysia • Asmah Haji Omar’s study on bilingual non-Malay academics (1991) • Asmah Haji Omar’s study on the correlation between language and ethnicity (1998) • Lee Su Kim’s study on impact of English on the identities of selected Malaysian speakers of English (2001,2003,2005 and 2006)

  5. What is identity? • “…bases from which people construct new activities, new worlds, and new ways of being” (Holland, Lachotte, Skinner & Cain 1998) • The means by which people care about and care for what is going on around them

  6. What is identity construction? “… people understanding their relationship to the outside world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space…” (Norton 1997:410) An unconscious psychological processes rather than a conscious process An on-going, evolving and dynamic process which is pluralistic in nature

  7. FINDINGS OF LEE SU KIM’S STUDY ON IMPACT OF ENGLISH ON IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION • Resentment in certain localized contexts • Malays who speak English • perceived by the Malays as “showing off”, being “boastful”, a relic of colonialism, being elitist, betrayal of Malay cultural identity and Malay language • Chinese who speak English • perceived by the Chinese as “too westernized” • Empowerment • English has quality of directness and neutrality • English provides access to alternative views • English reduces ethnocentricism allowing a more reflective and critical attitude towards one’s culture

  8. The Research Aim: • To investigate the impact of English on the construction of the social and cultural identities of a group of Malaysian undergraduates Data: • Quantitative : Questionnaire survey involving 500 undergraduates from public and private universities • Qualitative: Interviews with 20 selected undergraduates from public and private universities

  9. QUALITATIVE DATA

  10. THE FINDINGS : Dominant Themes • English emerging as the dominant language • English is one of the languages spoken at home • One of their parents is English educated and he/she tutored the child when young • Jim Han – tutored by mother when he was 5 years old • Delina – taught by mother to read, do exercises from textbooks etc. • Schools attended would have been originally English medium • English traditions • English speaking parents sent their children there (Kasey & Raj)

  11. English as a pragmatic language and a language of empowerment • Not a prestigious language but an important language • international language, at interviews , for overseas travel, for understanding lecture, references in English etc • Provide window to another world and differing world views • English has a modernizing influence • A Prestigious language • Ela:” … we tend to feel very confident and then we feel like---good… with yourself” • Lyn:”… people started like, looking up to you – they value your opinion especially the guys. They stopped fighting with me… they stopped arguing with me …” • Ati: “… I was being ignored by the salesgirls and when I speak in English with my friends… they.. Keep asking me “yes, miss”, “what do you want/”….

  12. ‘Othering’ • ‘Othering’ : practice of comparing ourselves to others and at the same time distancing ourselves from them (Palfreyman 2005) • Varying degrees of “Othering” dependent on • Proficiency in the other languages • Proficient in the other languages – no apparent sense of being othered but a sense of “us” and “them” • Not so proficient in the other languages = Kat: mat salleh celup, Lya: Oh, you think you’re white, is it?

  13. Conclusion • English is the dominant language in all domains • English has empowered its users • English has opened the world of its users • ‘Othering’ is dependent on level of command of own native language

  14. Thank you Questions?

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