Educational Research AY2015/2016

Based on the 2010 report by Mother Tongue Languages Review Committee (MTLRC) which was carried out by the Ministry of Education (Singapore), the trend in the number of Malay language students using English as the dominant spoken language at home is on the rise. Furthermore, it was found that home language has a great impact on students’ attitudes and proficiency in Mother Tongue Language. Coupled with the bilingual learning environment and the lack of usage of Malay language in school, errors in students’ Malay language written work is inevitable. This research focuses on the Contrastive Analysis (CA) and Error Analysis (EA) which aim at identifying error of morpho-syntax and explaining the reasons for this error. Scripts from 36 Primary 2 and 3 students from English speaking homes were collected as the research data from two different schools. Samples were analysed by means of a mixed method both quantitatively and qualitatively. In general, the highest percentage of error analysis is evident in graphology with 44.6%. Morphology recorded the second highest with (32.2%), followed by syntax (20.4%) and lexical (2.8%) respectively. Hence, this research will aid teachers in teaching and learning of second language acquisition especially in a bilingual education system like Singapore. It is also crucial to scaffold student’s learning interest which could reduce percentage of errors generated.