Roksana Bibi Abdullah

Language and education policy in Singapore focuses on the inculcation of moral values and culture along with the so-called ‘mother tongue’ instruction. Efforts to inculcate appreciation of culture and values through Malay language instruction are based on the concept of Arif Budiman: the learned person who contributes to society or the goal of becoming a righteous and knowledgeable person. Efforts are made to produce students who are proficient in the Malay language and are appreciative of its culture. However, there is little, if any, research on how values and culture are treated in Malay language classes. Therefore, this chapter examines how and to what extent culture and moral values are incorporated into language instruction in lower primary Malay language lessons.