Balance General y diagnóstico

Motivational Orientations

At the pre-interview, motivational orientations seemed to be evenly divided between instrumental and integrative. In terms of instrumental orientation, the dominant view was that English was only worth studying to pass an examination and to get a better job, with little use for communicating with others because the Malay language was considered sufficient to be spoken. For example, some students (N=3) mentioned that they only interacted with non-Malay people because they avoided speaking English out of concern of being seen to show off. Most students (N=5) said they had no interest in attending extra English classes and two said they would only do so if they were forced to by their teacher or part of the school requirement. One student claimed that she found it difficult to connect with people when English was used. Overall, interviewees at this stage showed little sense of English being important to them.

“No, I don’t think so because most of the time I use Malay language… I don’t feel any connection when I were to speak in English.”

(pre-interview: EIST_07) “No, if I speak English they will think that I’m trying to show off… like… Why are you speaking in English… why don’t you just speak Malay!... So I had to speak to speak Malay instead”

166 However, in the post-interview, the data showed otherwise. Students’ views towards learning English language and speaking English shifted positively with the influence of integrative motives. The majority of the students (N=4) mentioned that the English language was seen to be useful to communicate with other students especially with foreign and non-Malay students, thus it created friendship and inspired them to travel outside of Malaysia and learn about other cultures. The influence of integrative motives from students’ relationship with their foreign friends made them aware how important the English language is for education and also for future employment. Thus, students mentioned that they were more interested to attend English courses in the future to improve their language proficiency.

“Yes because in my course, I met a few foreign students… we are close… I showed them Malaysian food and they liked it… so I wanted to taste their food too… so with them I had to speak English….”

(post-interview: EIST_07) “Yes because in the university… we meet different people outside of Malaysia… so I am eager to get to know them as I have never travelled outside of Malaysia”

(post-interview: ST_12)

Attitude towards L2 Speaking

Students showed negative attitudes towards speaking before the intervention was implemented. Majority of the students claimed that they did not pay attention when someone, especially their teacher, was speaking English because the level of vocabulary used in the conversation or lesson was too high for them, thus they started to lose interest and focus towards the language. EIST_26 expressed her difficulties in learning English vocabulary as she had to struggle with the Malay and Tamil language. Since English was her third language, she mentioned that English vocabulary items are mostly not phonetically uttered as compared to her L1 and L2, thus she had difficulties in remembering English vocabulary. When asked whether they were willing to ask questions and express their ideas in English, students preferred to remain reticent and would only converse with their close friends using the Malay language. Furthermore,

167 majority of the students claimed that most of the time, they would avoid English classes especially when speaking activities were involved:

‘…I usually bow my head down.’ - (pre-interview: EIST_07) “…I would just go to the toilet… walk around the corridor just to avoid my teacher… sometimes… when tomorrow we have to submit our homework or we have oral exam… I would just skip the class and not come to school...”

(pre-interview: EIST_26) “…so when ask to speak English… I feel like running away from class… sometimes I just skip the lesson and come back when the English lesson ended… if I can’t skip class, I usually keep quiet.”

(pre-interview: ST_12) “When the teacher gives us exercise or ask us to answer it… mostly I just keep quiet… do nothing…”

(pre-interview: ST_13) “Before this I would avoid… usually… I would just reply “I don’t know”… so it is easy… I don’t really have to say much… when I say I don’t know… they would not ask further questions.”

(pre-interview: ST_11)

However, in the post-interview, students’ attitudes towards L2 speaking positively developed throughout the whole semester in line with their integrative and instrumental motivation. The data revealed that they could pay more attention after the intervention depending on several factors. Students from the EIST group explained that they could pay more attention during the English lesson because the teacher (i.e. researcher) used simple and familiar vocabulary when teaching. In addition, EIST_29 further explained that the teacher’s accent positively affected his attention towards the lesson and made him more motivated to practise speaking English. Students from the ST group added that hands-on activities made them focus more during English lessons.

168 Meanwhile, when asked at post-test whether they would avoid speaking, or were willing to ask questions and/or express ideas, students in both groups seemed to have different opinions, as shown below. Although the majority of the students showed a positive attitude in not avoiding speaking, they are still reserved and would restrain themselves from being expressive.

“I think the same… I won’t respond most of the time… I will try avoid… because I’m afraid… maybe sometimes I guess… but because I just feel lazy to think.”

(post-interview: EIST_07) “I don’t think I will avoid because I am aware how important English is… I will still try my best to answer it even though I know I am struggling… if the teacher is cool… I could just speak… but if the teacher prefers me to use English… I would force myself (to speak)”

(post-interview: EIST_26) “I feel like trying… it depends on your group members… if they are outspoken… I will speak and join them… but to volunteer and talk about my ideas… a bit scared and shy.”

(post-interview: ST_12) “…I don’t avoid it…because among my Chinese friends, I will speak English… usually it is broken English… I think the same… I would prefer to ask my friends to do it for me.”

(post-interview: ST_11)