Critical reading is an important ability to acquire particularly among college or university students. This study investigated the level of critical reading skills among Malaysian ESL learners at the tertiary level. The motivation for conducting the study is due to the increasing number of claims by employers and educators that most graduates lack the ability to read and think critically. Among the required reading and thinking abilities necessary to read a text critically are the analytical and inference skills. Specifically, this study examined the ESL learners' analytical and inference skills when they read two expository texts. A self-developed critical reading comprehension test (CRCT) was used to measure their analytical skills in identifying the writer's purpose and the main ideas in the text. The findings indicated that the students lacked the required critical skills, in particular, when they are required to identify the writer's purpose and the main idea in the text which support the observation and experience of many Malaysian educators and researchers. This has direct implications on reading development in Malaysia.

The 2012 PISA reading literacy aims to measure 15 year-olds' reading performance in preparing them to meet real-life challenges. The primary aim of the present study is to examine Malaysian students' reading performance by comparing the girls' and boys' performances in PISA 2012. The 2012 PISA reading literacy framework comprises three important reading aspects: access and retrieve (AR), interpret and integrate (II), and reflect and evaluate (RE). These aspects were further examined through the students' reading performance in five types of text namely narration, exposition, argumentation, description and instruction. The findings demonstrate that the students performed better in AR than in II and RE indicating a better performance in lower-order reading skills than in the higher-level reading aspects. Findings also show that girls outperformed the boys across all reading aspects and types of reading texts. This paper concludes by emphasizing the need to integrate higher-order reading skills in the reading curriculum in order to prepare Malaysian students for better literacy competency.

The study which took place at a Malaysian pre-tertiary educational institution aimed at investigating the implementation of language learning strategies (LLS) of its two major stakeholders, namely the students and the teachers. As the study employed mixed-method design, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected as to report the findings. The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning Strategies (SILL) and classroom observation protocol were the two important instruments for this study. A total of 300 students were involved in the study in which the number was determined using Krejcie and Morgan table. The students were divided into two groups consisting of 150 students who passed the institution’s English Proficiency Test, being referred to as ‘EPT-pass’ and 150 students who failed the test, hence known as ‘EPT-fail’ in the study. Four teachers voluntarily involved in the study after invitation to be part of the study was extended to all teachers at the educational institution. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation scores) and thematic analysis. The findings showed that students employed indirect language learning strategies more than direct strategies with EPT-pass group recording (M=4.084, SD=0.625) and EPT-fail group with (M=2.722, SD=0.466). It was apparent that metacognitive strategies (M=4.361, SD=0.954) were EPT-pass group’s most employed strategies while EPT-fail students implemented affective strategies (M=3.077, SD=0.399) the most. Additionally, LLS were undoubtedly embedded into the lesson implementations of the four teachers whose lesson implementations were observed. The study implies that LLS play fundamental part in the teaching and learning of English and should be directly nurtured and embedded into English language classrooms to ensure more effective implementations.