Revisiting PULSE 2 Textbook after Three Years: Have Teachers Changed Their Mind?

Abstract

The present study aims to further explore Malaysian secondary English teachers’ perspective on the use of PULSE 2 in their language classrooms, after three years of its introduction in Malaysian secondary schools. The study is qualitative in nature, employing semi-structured interview as the approach for data collection the data. However, due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) the study was conducted through a Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) application, WhatsApp. ATLAS ti. was employed to perform the content analysis to the collected data. The findings revealed that the respondents preferred to use imported English textbooks with local modifications in their language classroom.  Most of them also felt that the level of the language content and skills offered by PULSE2 did not match with their students’ abilities. They also reported grouses about the difficult foreign content of PULSE 2, which indicated that they have yet to change their mind about it even after using it for three years. It is suggested that relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) to review the use of imported textbooks such as PULSE 2 in Malaysia, as this will bear an impact on the creation of the country’s version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) called ‘CEFR-M’ as projected in the on-going English Language Education Reform in Malaysia by 2025. Not only that, selecting a textbook that is relatable, localized, and matches the students’ level is crucial in this COVID-19 era, where the new normal in education forces learning to be done remotely. Inevitably, there will be students who are less privileged, and  their only hope to gain access to continuous education is through a textbook that can easily be used for self-study and is readily available, without having the needs to have access to advanced technological devices.