Reforming Literature Education in Malaysia 1957 – 2020

Book excerpt: Lim traces the complexities in construction and implementation of a school subject, namely Literature in English in Malaysia through a focused and grounded narrative where tensions regarding identity, reader response and conceptualisations about literature play out in a postcolonial context. The book demonstrates the need to think about school subjects as abstract concepts negotiated at various levels, be it during curriculum construction or in the classroom. These conceptualisations of the subject are further influenced by contemporary concerns and sociopolitical changes over time. As such, the scope of this book ranges from pre-independence Malaysia (then Malaya) from the 1950s till the current phase of the subject’s development in the 21st century. The volume illustrates the complex interplay of historical, cultural, and social influences on the conceptualisation of English literature as a school subject in Malaysia. Lim traces, examines, and interprets its development as an elective subject in the context of post-secondary Malaysian education, and engages with current trends in education such as internationalization and standardized assessment. Lim also highlights the importance of teacher and student lived experiences to argue that personal conceptualisations of the school subject are actualized and negotiated in classroom discourse. Offering unique insights into studying Literature in English in a postcolonial context, the book will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners in the fields of history of education, curriculum reform and literature education.