The English Language and Its Impact on Identities of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates

The English Language And Its Impact On Identities Of Multilingual Malaysian Undergraduates By Lee, Su Kim, Lee, exp unitarynt Siong, Wong, Fook Fei and Azizah Yaacob Lee Su Kim is an associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, UKM. Lee King Siong, a elderberry bush lecturer with the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Wong Fook Fei is a senior lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, module of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.Azizah Yaacob is a lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Article summary In this paper, the ca theatrical role explored an investigation in selected clandestine and public universities to find out the impact of English on the identities of immature Malaysian undergraduates in selected private and public universities in Malaysia. The author wanted to explore on a larger scale t he role of English in the identicalness element construction of a younger Malaysian cohort from twain public and private universities.The inquiryer chose from both public and private universities consists of 20 Malaysian undergraduates, in their ahead of time 20s till mid 20s . They were from varied races(Malay Chinese, Indian s and Singhalese), varied family backgrounds, different learning experiences and different cursory experiences when using face. Out of the 20 undergraduates, seven were Malays, eight were Chinese, quartet were Indians and one was Singhalese. There were four males and sixteen females. Twelve undergraduates were from public universities and eight were from the private universities. re from different families, races, backgrounds, and experiences were involved in the study. Based on the analysis of the data, it suggests that for a signifi ejectt number of the respondents, English can quite easily be considered the paramount speech communication in all domains. In most cases, English has empowered its users as it has opened up their humankind and in any(prenominal) cases has improved their self-pride, improved their amic equal status, and made them pop much association fit. Critical reflection The organization of the word was easy to understand as it follows step by step.For instance. At the beginning of the paper, the author gave us a brief and unsubdivided abstract, it helped us to get the gist of the study. This article falls under the linguistic category of lecture and individuation. Basically, this article discusses most the impact of English on the identities of young Malaysian undergraduates in selected private and public universities in Malaysia. The author focuses on how different multilingual and the impact of slope verbiage in constructing their identity and everyday negotiation.The article firstly explained the concept of identity especially in a multilingual society. The author stated that identity const ruction is an on-going process and is influenced by many movers. In Malaysia context, where its is a multilingual country, involves the formation of bi heathen identities, where the self delimitate by local meanings and to a greater extent traditional practices is maintained onside a self defined by spherical culture (Arnett, 2002). As such, a learner must non dispute its imposed identity but to preserve its ethnic identity.Next, the author introduces the concept of othering The concept of othering refers to the practice of comparing ourselves to others and at the alike(p) time distancing ourselves from them (Palfreyman, 2005) The article is written based on a study done by one of the authors, related to the impact of English on the identities of young Malaysians. This study is conducted based on the three research objectives which atomic number 18 mainly to identify the impact of English language on the identities of youngMalaysians as bilingual and multilingual speakers, to seek the empowerment of slope language in globalized dry land and to address any threats of side of meat language to their cultural identities. The article is guided based on these four important research questions In what shipway does English affect the identities of young adults in Malaysia as bilingual/multilingual speakers? 2. How does English empower young Malaysians in this globalized world? 3. Is English viewed as a threat to their cultural identity?In what ways does English affect or marginalize local languages and local identities? The authors state that the study is done a qualitative method. Data was obtained from interviews with from mature undergraduates from the second or final year because the author believe that these students were able to give more(prenominal) mature reflections on the issue. The interviews were semi-structured and Carspeckens (1996) critical ethnography interviewing techniques were applied. The data were taped ad the collected data were tr anscribed.The purpose of this research proves 3 ascendant alkalis that emerges form the analysis of the case studies, which are Multilingualism with English emerging as the dominant language, how English is viewed as a mulish language and a language of empowerment and the varying degrees of Othering. For the first dominant themes, half of the respondents reported that they are far more comfortable in using English than any other language in their workaday lives. This dominant themes are substantiate with a few reasons. Firstly is he use of slope language as the main language at home regardless whether they are Malay, Chinese and Malay.Secondly, most of the respondents amaze at least a parents who are side of meat educated and they have been using the english language since an early age and their parents have been encourage them to use english when they were young. Thirdly, most of the respondents went to a school where they mixed just about with other children from english speaking homes. Lastly, the english-speaking mixer environment gives them ample opportunities to use english to interact with their friends who are also english speaking. The second dominant themes the author suggested is english is viewed as a pragmatic language and a language of empowerment. more or less of the respondents stated that speaking english is viewed as intellectually superior and more knowledgeable. Some Malay respondents too agree that speaking english elevated their status in the look of some people. Speaking english too is seen as an ego-boosting for some of the respondents. When some of the respondents regard speaking english a a mechanism for them that opens up a window to another world and enables them to share differences in world views, another group of respondents feels that english has a modernizing influence and it helps them to develop a sense of trust in themselves.Additionally, the last dominant themes from the finding is the varying degrees of otheri ng and this depends on ones fluency in the other languages. Some Chinese respondents who are not silvern in english will try to improve themselves in their language to make sure they are accepted and to close any barrier amidst the mandarin orange speaking and the English speaking. Others, feels that as compared to Malay-centric, Tamil-centric and Mandarin-centric, thither are difference in thinking, attitude and behaviors between the english ones.For instance, the english speaking are more vocal and more optimistic whereas the Mandarin speaking are more cautious. From the findings too, the data suggested that the respondents experienced a mild ways instances of orthering. They are often perceive as trying to show off, proud and others. It appears that the multilingual speakers are the one being orthered by those who do not have the same spoken proficiency in english. Referring to the second research question, the authors would like to identify how english language empowers youn g Malaysian is the globalized world.From the findings, it is proven that english empowers young Malaysian socially. They use english everyday in their daily lives their self-esteem and how they are perceived in the society are the factors that encourage them to use english in their lives. Although some may perceived them otherwise, in this globalized world, english is seen as a irradiation that empowers every aspect in their lives. This article states that English evidently a plays a dominance factor in their identity negotiations. Majority of the respondents admitted english as the dominant language in their daily lives.Though some of the respondents are bilingual or multilingual, english is not use just for communication purposes instead it has depart their first language. The respondents to acknowledged that being competent in english give them a positive military capability socially. They are aware that proficiency in english is valued bot academically and socially. People around them perceived them differently and they receive better respect. As a result the respondents are more confident in perceiving themselves.Not only that, it is found that the respondents believed the knowledge of english played a part in making them more open-minded taking on more neutral views towards values that are perceived to be markers of cultural identity. Additionally, some respondents english is a tool that allows them to communicate more directly. In other words the knowledge of english contributed towards a more reflective and critical outlook towards the culture of the respondents. This article also suggests that there are differences in those who are proficient in english and those who are proficient in the ethnic language.Those who are less competent in english are perceived as more closed up and ethnocentric and those who are more proficient in the ethnic language thought them to be arrogant, showing off, and mat salleh celup . these are similar in Lee Su Kim st udy where both Malay and non Malay respondents who are more proficient in english are perceived as boastful and Westernized by their peers who are more proficient in the ethnic language. Moreover, there were some similarities between this article and Lee Su Kim (2000 study.However there are some differences especially in the attitude towards english. In this study, the theme that features more prominently is the subjects awareness of the pragmatism and social advantage in being well-versed in English, along with the indication that a significant number of subjects amongst the 20 interviewed were found to be multilingual with English featuring as a dominant language. although orthering between english speaking and native speaking are evident, it doesnt depend to factor as prominently as the resentments that were reported by the subjects in Lee Su Kims (2003) study.This may be due to the attitude towards english as english is pertinent international language of the world and they ar e accepting the language as a relevant too in their lives rather than a second or foreign language. To conclude, the author agrees and found that to some of the respondents, english seem to be a dominant language in all domains. English too has empowered them in improving their self-confident, social status and made them appear more knowledgeable. That is why some respondents may prefer to use english in their daily lives than their own language.Not only that, as english is seen as a prominent language in the world nowadays, thus, this act as a factor for suing english more in their daily lives. Besides that english too does affect their social status in the society. People who use english is regard as someone who are knowledge and some may been intimidated by the english speaking people. In the beginning of the article, the authors mentioned that there is little research on how the use of english affects the identity of Malaysian speakers. it is hoped that i n future, more research will be done in finding the impact of english to the Malaysian society.The authors suggests a similar study on the impact of English on identity could be adeptly carried out in other areas of Malaysia, particularly East Malaysia for its rich and extremely unique sociocultural composition. the author also suggests A study on the impact and roles of the English language in other traditionally non-native speaker or outer circle countries would also prove beneficial in contributing to the body of knowledge towards understanding the implications of the spread of English as the language of the world today.In my point of view, I found that this article is easy to read because the choices of word that the authors use are simple and understandable. Besides that, I think that the discussion of the findings also proven that english has becoming a dominant language in young Malaysian today. I especially like the discussion past as it discusses the findings and relate them to the reality of e nglish in young Malaysian today. Based on what i have read, i found that some of the respondents experiences re similar to mine. I believe that when using english, it helps to build my self-esteem and confidence socially. I too believe that when using english, I am being perceived differently by other people. Hence, I strongly believe that using english in my daily lives to makes me appear more knowledgeable and people do look highly on me. And because English has become global today, to have a competent knowledge of the language is seen as a useful key for start many doors.I found that i learned a lot from this article, firstly is that it is such an eye ruiner for me as how young Malaysian and the society perceived one that is fluent in english. I carry off it as a motivation for me to improve myself to be better speaker of english and also to be a better language teacher for my students to make sure they too will be able to be a proficient speaker of english. However i believe that no matter how fluent one in english an how important english is in the society today and to the future society, it should not shape ones identity.