Ascertaining the Suitability of Writing Syllabus Specifications to the CEFR: Subject Matter Experts’ Perspectives

The Implementation of CEFR in Malaysia is currently at the second stage whereby the classroom usage of the new CEFR-aligned syllabus and assessment has taken place since 2017 at all stages except for Form 5. Previous studies on CEFR in Malaysia have focused more on teachers’ views and their readiness in accepting the new changes. However, this study focusses more on ascertaining the suitability of the writing syllabus specifications against the CEFR writing scale to find out if the CEFR levels of writing syllabus specifications recommended by the teachers match the CEFR level set by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. A total of 331 secondary school teachers were asked to respond to the writing syllabus checklist and the Winstep SPSS was used for data analysis. Findings have shown that productive skills of the writing syllabus specifications were found not to be aligned to the target CEFR level set by the Ministry. In conclusion, adjustment and alignment processes should be made accordingly to align and match the non-CEFR aligned English syllabus to the CEFR global scale instead of eradicating it.