THE EXPERIENCES OF ESL LECTURERS IN TEACHING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY IN MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES

The function and responsibilities of language lecturers have emerged as a fundamental topic in language teaching and learning. In addition to educating students, ESL lecturers must also adapt to the ongoing changes in the curriculum and universities’ legislation, particularly the principles of inclusive education in Malaysia. With the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), Malaysia is dedicated to fostering inclusive education and enhancing equitable access throughout its educational system including the focus group of students with disabilities. Consequently, the Ministry of Education has introduced the ‘Four Special Routes’ in 2019, resulting in Malaysian institutions increasingly admitting disabled students into their mainstream educational programs. This required collaboration among lecturers, faculty members, and administrative staff to establish a system that could fully support students with disabilities. Adjustments must be made to accommodate students, including the facilities, teaching and learning methods, and classroom conditions. Nonetheless, ESL lecturers continue to encounter difficulties in managing classrooms with disabled students. This qualitative study employs a transcendental phenomenological approach to investigate the authentic lived experiences of three ESL lecturers at universities when teaching students with disabilities. The findings indicate several issues in ESL classrooms, including challenges in teaching, language assessment, emotions, and unsupportive systems. This has ultimately impacted the standard of the ESL lecturers’ performance and instruction and eventually affecting the teaching and learning quality in ESL classrooms. This study also collects recommendations from ESL lecturers to address the issues.