Since its foundation in 1983, Warwick Applied Linguistics (formerly the Centre for Applied Linguistics) has been involved in numerous collaborative teaching and research programmes with the Malaysian Ministry of Education and various universities and colleges in Malaysia.

B.Ed. TESOL Programmes

In conjunction with the Ministry of Education, we ran a series of 4-year B.Ed. (TESOL) programmes for intending Malaysian teachers of English.

There were five cohorts between 1987 and 2001, and many of the alumni from these programmes have now progressed to positions of responsibility within the Malaysian educational system at all levels. The extensive programme of teacher education involved our staff spending periods of time in Malaysian schools throughout Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, thus building up a strong knowledge and experience base of Malaysian schools, universities and teacher training facilities.

We welcomed two new cohorts in 2009 and 2010. They studied on a 2+3+1 initial teacher training degree (B.Ed. TESL), funded by IPGKPGM (Institute of Teacher Education Ministry of Education Malaysia). Warwick's collaboration was with the Ipoh Campus.

 

Curriculum Development

Major research links were also established with Universiti Malaya (UM) when the Centre for Applied Linguistics (then known as CELTE - Centre for English Language Teacher Education) was the key partner in a major curriculum reform project sponsored by DFID . This four year programme involved an exchange of academic staff between UM and CELTE and the development of new curricula in the Faculty of Education under the joint guidance of Dr. H. Gaudert and Centre staff.

We have also worked extensively with Universiti Putra Malaysia (formerly Universiti Pertanian Malaysia) (UPM) on a 4 year programme of major reform of its teacher training curricula, and this involved staff from Warwick and UPM in reciprocal visits and the establishment of research links. The long history of association with all levels of the Malaysian educational system has meant that many PhD students come to the Centre knowing that staff are well attuned to Malaysia’s educational and cultural history and that the department has been enriched by the exchange of scholarship resulting from the many links.