It was found that problems include over-using a limited number of well-known phrases, while lacking a diverse enough phrasal repertoire to employ lexical bundles in a more mature manner. In light of this, several implications for ELT in Malaysia are discussed. This includes a method- ological review of the curriculum, one that should not be too heavily depen- dent on prompted essays or limiting the scaffolding in English language writing classrooms that could result in mimicking or rote-memorizing of essay prompts – rather, it should promote the use of corpus-assisted methods to delineate between often recurring words/phrases in samples of more experienced writers. In addi- tion, English instructors should be (made) aware of other typical nuances of Malaysian learner writing such as the use of high-frequency common words and similarly used phraseological expressions in the first language.