224 © 2020 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. THE VOYAGE OF ESL LEARNERS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN THE ERA OF POST-COLONIALISM: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS Humanities and Social Sciences Letters 2020 Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 224-229. ISSN(e): 2312-4318 ISSN(p): 2312-5659 DOI: 10.18488/journal.73.2020.82.224.229 © 2020 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Melor Md Yunus 1 Haida Umiera Hashim 2+ Rosmizal Makhtar 3 Helmi Norman 4 Harwati Hashim 5 1,2,3,4,5 Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 23 March 2020 Revised: 27 April 2020 Accepted: 29 May 2020 Published: 18 June 2020 Keywords English as secondary language English language acquisition ESL learning ESL learners Language learning Post-colonialism. The journey of learning English language could be quite challenging for some people due to various factors and reasonings. Previously in the era of British colonisation, English language is to be considered as the official language. It is needless to say that the generation before independence is more exposed to English language better with the existence of English schools as the main platform for social status upgrade and windows for job opportunities. After independence, we are no longer tied to the colonisation of British and the must to at least acknowledge English language. However, being free from colonisation does not make us to totally ignore the importance of English language especially in today’s era with the rise of globalisation and technology. Hence, this study, which is in give to the suggestions and sharing experiences aforementioned, sets out to discover the journey and experiences of English language learning among ESL learners in the era of post-colonialism. The findings have figured that; a. Family Influence, b. Mass Media Influence, c. Peer Pressure and Teachers Influence, d. Technology Invasion, and e. The external Force has become the factors for the ESL learners to learn English language in the era of post-colonialism. Contribution/Originality: This study is one of very few studies which have investigated the journey of ESL learners’ English language learning in the era of post colonialism since they were little. This study has shown the crucial role of English language even after British colonialism in the context of Malaysia. 1. INTRODUCTION According to Gill (2002) English is placed as a second language in Malaysia and in line with education policy; English is taught as a second language. Research has shown that Malaysian students in today’s world have realised the importance of English for their future efforts (Hashim, Yunus, & Hashim, 2018) and students are motivated by various factors such as the desire to get good grades, opportunities to continue their studies and career advancement to improve their English. Learning a language is a complex process and it takes thorough steps in learning a language especially English language. Strategies and methods are crucial to be taken into consideration when it comes to language learning. Different learners have different preferences in their learning styles and strategies of learning English language. Learning strategies employed can affect the quality of learning in the language. It was found that the participants used most of the learning strategies outlined by Oxford (1990) and there were also strategies which were not used such as memory strategies. Nevertheless, there were new strategies employed that was called, “Program Use Strategies” in Vincent and Hah (1996) which were either modifications or expansions of the learning strategies as outlined by Oxford (1990) for instance “Using resources for learning” and “Use of the hand cursor to trace words”. As mentioned by O’ Malley and Chamot (1990) “The literature on learning strategies in second language acquisition emerged from a concern for identifying the characteristics of effective learners”.