A review of literature on the English language entry requirement for international students into postgraduate programs in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Abstract

The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE) has seen an inflow of international students in seeking of education and experiences in its higher institutions of learning (HILs). However, majority of the international students in Malaysia are non-native English-speaking (NNES) and they require extensive support to strengthen their English language proficiency. The public HILs in Malaysia have now placed English proficiency as priority when deciding on enrollment (Abd Samad, Syed Abd Rahman & Norbaiti, 2009). These institutions have made it compulsory for international students to sit for a standardized English proficiency test as a measure of determining their language ability at university entry point. From the overall findings, it is prominent to notice that the standardized English tests bring significant benefits towards students, educators and HILs. Regardless, achieving academic and social excellence entails more than just an advanced level of English language proficiency. Other aspect such as various personal factors play a vital role in students' academic excellence, as well. Hence, for future study, the researcher is going to conduct empirical investigation in one of the Malaysia public HILs, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) on the following: i)the role of English programs conducted by Language Academy, UTM in assisting international students to achieve the required academic success at postgraduate level; ii) the complex nature of the relationship of achieving academic excellence through the integration of English language proficiency when evaluated in the presence of other personal variables such as behaviour, attitude, motivation, stress, anxiety, study time and student work; and iii) the difficulties faced as international students in a foreign country in fulfilling the required academic success at postgraduate level in UTM.