Lecturers’ Perceptions towards Students’ English Language Proficiency: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Realizing the fact that English is the second most important language in Malaysia, the education system emphasises the importance of language among students in schools and higher learning institutions. Students’ Language proficiency is vital to excel in their studies and directly influencing better job opportunities upon graduation as employers prioritise in hiring candidates who are competent in English. Unfortunately, many employers in Malaysia reluctant to hire graduates due to their lack of proficiency in English. English language learning has always been a challenge to majority Malaysian students despite undergo 11 years of formal education. Thus, this study aims at exploring lecturers’ perception towards students’ English language proficiency. Survey was used to collect data from 50 English lecturers. The findings shed lights on several important sections – Teaching Environment, Language Skills Areas and Teaching Approaches. It is an undeniable fact that in the process of teaching and learning, learners have different abilities in acquiring and mastering a language. Lecturers’ perception towards students’ English language proficiency is vital in second language research literature. This provides a rich information on learners’ abilities and inabilities on learning the target language and very useful for the lecturers to plan their lessons according to the learners’ needs.