Introduction - 1st Draft

A Study of Attitude and Foreign Language Anxiety among Undergraduate Students in The Faculty of Uitm

By: Nur Syafiqah Binti Subri

2015624508

1.0 INTRODUCTION

English medium schools are the best organize and most develop of all the schools in the country in 1975. The English medium schools were largely of two types: missionary schools and government schools (Gaudart, 1987). Historically, the English medium schools offered a chance of upward social mobility. Success in these schools meant better jobs and white-collar employment which was preferred to manual labour (Kiat, 1967). In Malaysia, the development of English in education domain is fundamental. For the past few decades, and even nowadays, the government has shown a major concern and commitment of the part of creating awareness among people about the important of mastering English language (Hanapiah, 2004).

In the year of 2012, Malaysian government implemented a new policy called Memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu, Memperkukuhkan Bahasa Inggeris (MBMMBI). The main objective of this policy is to uphold Malay language as the national language of the instrument of unity besides to strengthen English language as the language of international communication that need to be mastered properly and effectively. Since English become an important medium of communication in many aspects among peoples nowadays, it is a must for everybody to use English in a correct way However, English language is not easy to most of the Malaysian students since the language is only require them to learn in order to gain knowledge, pass the examination. They might be good in writing and reading in English but will be having difficulties in the sense of speaking and using the language properly.

In school, although students have learned English for 11 years, they still have difficulty to use the language properly in present. They cannot speak English fluently either in school among teachers and peers or at home. In fact, it has been a routine for them to use their mother tongue at all the time. In the meantime, English is the second language used in our country, most of the students; especially senior high school students are not aware with it (Hetrakul, 1995). Speaking can cause high anxiety level and the reason for this is that teachers often expect beginners to perform beyond their acquire competence (Young, 1992).

Bibliography

Gaudart, H. (1987). English Language Teaching in Malaysia: A Historical Account. The English Teacher VOL XVI.

Hanapiah, M. F. (2004). English language and the language of development : a Malaysian perspective. Jurnal Kemanusiaan (3), 107-120.

Hetrakul, K. (1995, May 5). EServer. Retrieved September 25, 2015, from EServer: http://eserver.org/courses/spring95/76-100g/KavinHetrakul.html

Kiat, K. E. (1967). Education for Unity in Malaya. Journal of Christian Education , 69-81.

Portal Rasmi Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved Semptember 25, 2015, from http://www.moe.gov.my/userfiles/file/MBMMBI.pdf

Young, D. J. (1992). Language Anxiety from the Foreign Language Specialist's Perspective: Interviews with Krashen, Omaggio Hadley, Terrell, and Rardin. In Foreign Language Annals 25(2) (pp. 157-172). American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.