Malaysian ESL Teachers' Perception towards CEFR-Aligned Textbooks

Mohamad Lukman Al Hadi, Parilah Mohd Shah

CEFR-aligned textbooks, Evaluation, Malaysian Education Reform, Perceptions

The implementation of CEFR in Malaysia begins in 2013, causing the Education reformation after the establishment of the English Language Standards and Quality Council (ELSQC). Since then, the English curriculum has evolved to be in-line with the CEFR Frameworks, including the transformation in syllabus and instructional materials. In 2017, the Ministry of Education introduced imported CEFR-aligned textbook to replace the local-based textbook beginning in Year One of local primary schools. Although the implementation caused heated arguments among stakeholders, these CEFR-alignedEnglish textbooks continued to be used until recently. ‘Supermind’ and ‘Get Smart Plus’ are imported English textbooks to be used in the English classrooms as the main textbook. Many researchers had conducted a study to evaluate the potentials of these textbooks. However, the study from teachers’ point of view has yet to be done. Thus, this study aimed to seek ESL teachers’ perceptions towards the use of imported CEFR-aligned textbooks in local primary schools. A total of 100 English teachers from rural and urban schools participated in this study. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey. The collected data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics test via SPSS software. Thefindings discovered that the teachers have positive perceptions towards the use of these textbooks in the classroom. Apart from that, the difference in teachers’ perception from different school background also are not significant. The study also revealed that teachers’ experiences in teaching CEFR-aligned curriculum also did not affect their perceptions towards these textbooks.

https://doi.org/10.31871/IJNTR.6.10.23