The Colonial Hangover and the Illusion of Choice: A Dual Failure of Pedagogy and National Identity in Malaysia's English Literature Curriculum

Abstract

The policy of integrating a literature component into the secondary school English syllabus in Malaysia was a move taken to improve language proficiency and to create unity in the nation. But after almost two decades, a systematic synthesis of the empirical studies (2012-2023) shows that the curriculum goes through a profound crisis, which is manifested by a double failure. First, it seems to ignore the fact that students have repeated interests in culturally-specific, relatable texts, resulting in a pedagogical disconnect which leads to disengagement and rote learning. Second, and more importantly, the curriculum seems to have been 'imperialised' towards a 'Western canon' of classics, which has the unintended effect of de-emphasising local histories. However, and more seriously, the curriculum's trajectory towards a 'Western canon' of classics suggests a project of 'nation-building' that is undermined by the tendency to de-emphasise local histories. This review argues that these failures are by no means coincidental, but they form part of an ongoing "colonial hangover" in educational policy that privileges the educational capital of the former coloniser without realising it. This analysis is conducted in a postcolonial theoretical framework and argues that the curriculum is a place of cultural alienation. The article concludes that the changes are not enough; it demands a radical transformation of the selection of texts and pedagogy that involves decolonisation and aligns the curriculum with the voices of the stakeholders and the imperatives of a post-colonial national identity.

Keywords: colonial hangover, decolonisation, English literature curriculum, Malaysia, national identity, postcolonial theory, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), student perceptions