Abstract
This study is designed to investigate how Cambodian primary school pupils perceive the importance of English in comparison to that of French, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. The results of survey questionnaires conducted with 551 pupils from grades five and six show that English is perceived to significant degree as the most important language in Cambodia. This study further reveals that pursuing higher education, having access to information technology and having access to employment are some of the highly prioritized benefits of English perceived by the pupils. The findings imply that the English language plays a leading role in personal development and is a key to survival in this developing nation. Therefore, a greater effort should be made to actually implement English Language Education in Cambodian primary schools.
