Teaching of English in Second and Foreign Language Settings : Focus on Malaysia

With globalisation and the opening of boundaries the English language has become an important means of communication within and across borders. This volume is rich in offering English language teaching and learning perspectives in second and foreign language settings. Many of the examples are taken from Malaysia, where English though officially deemed a second language, is seen as a third language in the rural areas where there is no external supportive target language environment. This is an ideal setting to discuss English language related issues as the issues raised and discussed apply to many countries where English is taught and learnt under similar settings and conditions. Microlinguistic levels of description are shown against the backdrop of a macrolinguistic perspective and language practitioners are made aware that pedagogy and syllabi change with times and local and national needs. The issues raised in this volume include the need to consider the variety of the target language to be taught and the challenges faced in teaching the English language. Raising motivational levels of learners where there is no larger supportive target language environment, divergences between what is taught and what is required in the job market and a focus on examinations which affects the methodology are some of the issues raised, discussed and analysed. No volume on language teaching would be complete without a discussion on the use of ICT and literature in language teaching. With teaching there is a need to evaluate and a part of the book is devoted to peer and national level evaluation.