Many Malaysian employees often say that they lack the confidence to speak in English, and because they do not practise speaking, they will be caught in a never-ending cycle of not speaking and not being able to improve their proficiency, and by extension, would not be able to maximise their potential to serve their employers.
Even when they do speak English, they feel self-conscious as they are constantly worried that there will be miscommunication due to wrong word usage, the inability to phrase their thoughts effectively when speaking or more commonly, poor pronunciation. This unnecessary stress could cause them to make even more mistakes when speaking.
The perception that one has poor pronunciation is enough to make anyone think twice speaking, but this problem can be addressed by equipping the Malaysian workforce with the necessary skills to identify and correct their mistakes as well as to independently learn how to pronounce new words and phrases correctly and confidently.