University of Nottingham Malaysia-Sasbadi Academic Webinar Series
Helping Students Meet English Language Requirements for Higher Education and the Workplace.
Poor command of English continues to be one of the major factors for employability concerns in Malaysia. The Malaysian Employers Federation has consistently indicated that poor communication skills in English is among the top three reasons why large numbers of graduates remain unemployed. For some time now, the Malaysian University English Test has been widely used to set the expected standards and measure university student competence prior to enrolling to a higher education programme. In spite of this, due to the overall poor English language competence of students applying for higher education places, many are accepted with MUET scores as low as band 1 and 2 even though most higher education programmes set MUET band 3 (CEFR Band B2) as the required standard. This situation transfers the responsibility of upgrading students' English language competence to a workplace ready level to the institutions of higher education. This condition is also reflected in the Malaysian English Language Roadmap which stipulates the responsibility of the higher education institution to ensure that higher education students exit their programme of study with a minimum of CEFR Band C1.
The issues related to English language competence and higher education have raised many questions, including:
- What is the current situation and how can it be remedied?
- What types of modes and models of assessment may be useful?
- How can we assist students to attain the desired target?
The panelists in this session will engage with the complexities of the issues outlined above.
Prof. Ganakumaran Subramaniam
Head of School; Professor, School of Education (UNM)
Ganakumaran Subramaniam is the Head of School and Professor at the School of Education, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. He is Vice President of AsiaTEFL (since 2014). He is the immediate past-president of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association. He holds a B.Ed. in TESL from Universiti Putra Malaysia. He read for his Master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham, UK. Prior to joining the University of Nottingham, he served as Acting Director of International Relations at the National University of Malaysia. He was a member of the Malaysian Council for English Language Quality and Standards. He is a Fulbright Scholar with attachments in New York, Washington and New Mexico, USA. He is currently the Academic Director of the Bangladesh College Education Development Project (2016-2021). He has published in the areas of teacher education, teaching pedagogies and education policies.
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Prof. Dr. Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan Abdullah
Professor, School of Educational Studies (USM)
Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan is a Professor at the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. His research interests include ICT and English Language Education and, professional development and critical practices of teachers. He has published widely in his area of research in reputable journals such as TESOL Quarterly, British Journal of Educational Technology, Computer and Education, The Internet and Higher Education and Professional Development in Education. Some of his notable publications include 'Qualitative Studies on English Language Teacher Development', 'Practices and Issues in English Language Teacher Development', and 'ICT and ELT: Research & Practice in South East Asia'.
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Prof. Dr. Arshad Bin Abd Samad
Professor, Faculty of Educational Studies (UPM)
Arshad Abd Samad holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Northern Arizona University and a BSc and
MA in Secondary English Education and TESL respectively from Indiana University. He is a Professor at the Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia where he teaches the TESL programme at the first and further degree levels. He is also the Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Language Competence (CALC) at UPM. He has also contributed to the MOE in various capacities, most notably as an appointed member of the English Language Standards and Quality Council from 2012-2016. His research interests broadly focus on education at secondary and tertiary levels with an emphasis on language education, especially in the areas of assessment, learner agency and grammar instruction.
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