ABSTRACT
Malaysia witnessed a gradual decline in the standard of English over several decades after change in education policies prioritized mastery of the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, over the language of the colonial masters. Nevertheless, the education system in Malaysia has always allowed for and encouraged the learning of English from pre-school, through secondary school, and even at university. Despite years of formal instruction, numerous studies and reports have indicated that a large number of students leave schools and universities lacking the desired proficiency levels in English. To address this issue, policymakers and practitioners alike have questioned the effectiveness of what really takes place during formal instruction at schools. In recent times, Malaysia has seen resurgence in school-based initiatives designed to ensure that practices in the classroom draw on the latest framework of language learning. Of several programs that were introduced to arrest the declining standard of English, one called for the reexamination of the order in which the four major skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing were presented to students in secondary schools. The program stressed collaboration and creativity in lessons, and required lessons to focus wholly on listening and speaking skills during face-to-face classroom interaction. In this chapter, we report on how this program was received by teachers and students when it was piloted at several schools throughout the country. The findings are related to three major themes, namely, the readiness of teachers for change, the empowerment of students, and the assessment of language skills.
