International students’ perspectives of Malaysian English teachers’ spoken English
Numerous studies comparing native and non-native English teachers have found that ESL students prefer native teachers for teaching speaking skills and pronunciation. In other words, non-native teachers are viewed as less superior in matters related to spoken language. This study explores internat...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Indonesia University of Education
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/78853/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78853/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78853/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78853/1/78853_International%20students%E2%80%99%20perspectives.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/78853/2/78853_International%20students%E2%80%99%20perspectives_SCOPUS.pdf |
| Summary: | Numerous studies comparing native and non-native English teachers have found that ESL
students prefer native teachers for teaching speaking skills and pronunciation. In other words,
non-native teachers are viewed as less superior in matters related to spoken language. This
study explores international students’ views on spoken English of Malaysian teachers in English
language classrooms. 81 international students who were attending English language classes as
a preparation for university programmes at a Malaysian university participated in the study. The
students were given a short writing task which required them to rate as well as stated their views
on their Malaysian teachers’ spoken English in terms of speech rate, pronunciation, vocabulary,
syntax, intelligibility, nativeness and acceptability for global communication. The study found
that the international students considered the variety of Malaysian English used in the classroom
as highly intelligible with high ratings for speech rates, vocabulary and sentence structures.
Malaysian English is also viewed as highly acceptable for global communication. Although the
teachers’ spoken language was rated lower for pronunciation and nativeness compared to other
traits confirming the views that non-native teachers are perceived as less proficient in
pronunciation compared to the other skills, the ratings were still high indicating that in general,
the acrolectal variety of Malaysian English as spoken in English classes is reasonably well
accepted by other non-native speakers. |
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