FACULTY OF LANGUAGES & LINGUISTICS

UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

MASTER IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

TXGB6101 APPLIED LINGUISTICS

ARTICLE REVIEW

SEMESTER 1 2010/2011

Name: Nur Maizatul Akmal binti Mohd Ranai

Matric. No: TXGB 090063

Article : Gaudart, H. (2008) Some Ways of Speaking in English: A

Malaysian Perspective. Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, Vol.4,

43-53.

Date of Submission: 21 September 2010

Gaudart, H. (2008) Some Ways of Speaking in English: A Malaysian Perspective. Malaysian

Journal of ELT Research, Vol.4, 43-53.

Prof. Dr. Hyacinth Marie Gaudart, the author of this article, holds a BA from University of

Malaya, Kuala Lumpur and MA from Leeds University of United Kingdom. She also received

PHD from University of Hawaii. She has been a leading figure in the field of English language

teaching. Gaudart also has made major contributions to the development of English Language

Teaching (ELT) through her teaching, scholarship, research, publications and her involvement

in the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA).

In this paper, I summarise the article and offer comments about selected aspects of ways

English is spoken from Malaysian perspective. I also identify some relevant changes in the field

which have occurred since the article was published, and suggest areas where additional

research findings would assist in understanding the problem faced by speakers in regard to the

issue.

Critical Reflections

The article ‘Some Ways of Speaking in English: A Malaysian perspective’ by Hyacinth Gaudart

discussed varying ways of how English was being spoken by different speakers while taking into

account their different cultural backgrounds. It focused on the speech patterns used and the

implication of each to English language teaching in Malaysia. The article was an interesting read

as it highlighted the markedly and subtly different conversation patterns and styles found in the

Malaysian context on specific time and places. The research also questioned whether the

cultural differences between the speakers in the study would contribute to the ways they speak

the language.

The participants in the study consisted of proficient TESL undergraduates and

postgraduates and non-Malaysian first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers of

English who have resided in Malaysia for at least six months. As most of the participants were

comprised of females, the researcher had elicited gender differences as a factor that would

contribute to the finding of the study. The primary data obtained for the study was collected

through observations, interviews and discussions with the participants. Besides, the researcher

also made use of the journals written by the participants as well as recordings of their

conversations at special functions they attended.

The main problem addressed in this article is the difficulties faced by some English

speakers when coming in contact with native speakers of the language. The speakers, who

made up as participants in the study consisted of proficient TESL undergraduates and

postgraduates and non-Malaysian first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers of

English who have resided in Malaysia for at least six months. The rationale for the research was

clearly stated in the introduction, in which the research looked into some ways of speaking in

English and its implications to the English language teaching. This is the reason of the selection

of participants, who consisted of mainly students.

The dominant purpose of this article seems to be to convince the readers that the ways

English is being spoken is different according to the speakers’ cultural background. The study

was elaborated from Malaysian perspective, taking into consideration the culture distinctions

which contribute to the findings. All the reasons Gaudart reflected were relating to current

practice which are still being adopted in the society and other contributing factors that are

noticeably lacking. It is understood that highlighting the cultural differences as the main factor is

central to the fact that Malaysia is a multi racial country with people of different races and

religions.

One of the easiest examples that I could relate which had been given out in the article is

the way Malaysian responded to the greeting ‘What’s up’. It was justified that most Malaysians

fail to respond to the greeting as they lost words on how it should be responded. The greeting is

common in American society as it is a form of casual way to greet and acknowledge someone’s

presence. Instead of replying with the exact terms, most Malaysians tend to respond by saying

‘Hi’ or ‘Im fine’, which sounded awkwards to the ears of those Americans.

From the study, the data presented focused on ‘communication clashes’, which were

brought about by varying pronunciation, lexical choices and different ways or styles of speaking.

Such clashes were looked in instances of greetings, farewells, forms of address, ways of

accepting compliments and interaction at informal gatherings the participants attended. They

hypotheses of the study was backed by the data obtained, which clearly supported that the way

English was being used differed according to one cultural background.

However, there were some dearths of ethics in the research as recorded conversations

which had been used as one of the data for the finding were done without the consent of the

third parties who had involved along the process. It was highly unethical to produce a data by

keeping the other participants uninformed that they were in the midst of a study. The cause for

this action might be because the researcher found it difficult to get genuine and accurate

responses if the intention of the study was unveiled beforehand. The researcher might also feel

that to inform the participants that they were to be recorded for a study would be to impose on

them and she might not get the desired result.

Furthermore, this research was looked to be gender biased as the participants consisted

mainly of females. Realizing this as a potential inhibiting factor to the research finding, the

researcher clearly stated in the article that gender differences would be elicited in the study.

However, it would only make the study unjust as cultural differences alone are not sufficient to

contribute to the findings. The researcher should otherwise equalize the number of the

participants and highlight gender distinctions as one of the factors that would play a part in the

findings. This factor should never be sidelined as it has been contributing as a significant factor

in a lot of research study. By taking more female participants as samples, the researcher also

did not bring justice to the study.

The research piqued my interest as such a breakdown in communication is common

among students in schools and academic institutions and also in the workplace especially

during an encounter with native speakers of English. The findings of the study could be used by

many quarters regardless of race, age and social classes. Even though all the participants in the

study have a good command of English language and are able to speak the language fluently,

the findings revealed that problems however arose in certain conversation with the native

speakers. This is due to differences in communication styles and speech patterns they adopted.

Even though English language is a universal language, the finding showed that it was however

perceived differently by different cultures and people.

In my opinion, an extensive research should be done to improve the findings of the study

as the instances given only highlighted certain contexts. The researcher should instead delve

deeper into broader context such as in how English is spoken in a workplace of where the

language is primarily used in any forms of communication. A comparison could be established

with a workplace where English is secondary in its operation. Besides, to make the research

more accessible to all, the researcher should also find out on ways English is being used in

business communication such as while writing emails or formal letters so that people will be

informed on how the language is used especially in a company where major businesses use the

language as a medium of instruction. Moreover, a study could be carried out in determining on

ways English is being used between an employee with his or her colleagues and how they

adjust to it when communicating with superiors. I would also like to recommend that in this line

of research, the researcher would redress the balance of number of participants based on their

genders and widen its contexts to make the study more reliable.