The “Permission/Possibility/Ability” Modals in Malaysian English Textbooks: A Corpus-Based Analysis

In Malaysia, one of the most fundamental language inputs received in the
classroom by learners is a textbook (Nooreen, Arshad 2005). However, the
prescribed Malaysian English language textbooks used in schools are often
reported as being prepared through a process of material development involving
intuition and assumption (Mukundan 2004; Mukundan, Roslim 2009; Mukundan,
Khojasteh 2011). As a result of using intuition, one argument is that the existing
textbooks lack a broad empirical basis. Ultimately, the manner through which
materials are presented by the textbooks and learnt by the students is of prime
importance.