Roksana Bibi Abdullah

The formulation of terms and the creation of words for any concept or thing and event in the Malay language is based on the efforts of organisations given autonomy by the government in countries that promote the Malay language as the national language and official language. The term created is required to support one concept only and one concept must also have only one term to refer it. The accuracy of terms, as such, facilitates knowledge sharing and dissemination of information. For general words, the control in terms of word creation and the mastery of word meaning is more difficult to implement because of differences in the experiences and way of life of the language users in the different areas. The issue of diversity of words and terms is examined in this study.

Bahasa Melayu di Singapura menghadapi pelbagai cabaran bagi pelestariannya. Walaupun statusnya telah diangkat sebagai bahasa kebangsaan dan salah satu daripada bahasa rasmi, namun dari segi realitinya, penggunaannya amat terbatas dan keupayaan bahasa dalam kalangan penutur natifnya juga kian merosot. Perkara ini disorot dengan meninjau sebab musabab serta impaknya terhadap masa depan bahasa Melayu di Singapura.

This chapter presents data from a study of primary grade 1 and grade 2 (P1 and P2) lessons for Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. There are few, if any, comparative studies which examine pedagogy in all four official languages in Singapore; therefore, our primary purpose is to investigate how classroom teaching is similar or different for the four languages. For this investigation, data are drawn from 62 lessons observed in 2009 after new language syllabi were introduced. Despite a continuing policy of maintaining separate teaching teams, materials, syllabi/curricula and teacher training for each language, many of the policies for language and education apply across all four languages. These include recent emphases on oral skill development, recommendations that schools develop more engaging pedagogies for young learners and common policies on assessment. Our data show that teaching across the four languages is remarkably similar, which we take to be evidence of the impact of the common policies and cultural beliefs about language education in Singapore primary schools.

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.

Kertas kerja yang telah dijadikan bab dalam buku ini membicarakan kepelbagaian istilah dan kata dalam bahasa Melayu di peringkat serantau. Penggunaan bahasa Melayu di peringkat serantau semakin menyimpang di mana masing-masing kawasan yang digarisi sempadan politik khususnya mempunyai penggubalan kata atau istilah yang tersendiri. Usaha menyeragamkan di peringkat serantau juga banyak mengalami hambatan dan cabaran. Senarai kata/istilah yang mempunyai kerencaman bentuk di rantau ini telah disenaraikan serta dipadankan dengan alternatif-alternatif yang wujud dengan berdasarkan komponen makna yang didukung. Penyimpangan sedemikian boleh melebarkan lagi jurang perbezaan bahasa Melayu di peringkat serantau dan jika tiada usaha penyeragaman yang bersungguh-sungguh, maka, penutur-penutur bahasa Melayu di negara-negara yang berbeza di rantau ini akan menghadapi masalah dalam komunikasi kerana ketiadaan unsur saling faham memahami bagi bahasa yang satu.

This article delves into the exploration of Evaluative Language Theory within the discourse of Malay newspapers. The study draws upon two primary news sources: "Berita Harian/Minggu Singapura" (BH S'pura) and "Berita Harian/Ahad Malaysia" (BH M'sia). Specifically, the analysis focuses on comment articles related to the tragic events of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. By selecting articles with similar thematic contexts, the analysis aims to unveil the strategies employed by these news sources through the commentators' voices aimed at influencing their readership. The study employs Systemic Functional Linguistics to scrutinize Evaluative Language, encompassing Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation, within the Malay newspaper discourse. Attitude types such as effect, judgment, and appreciation, engagement modes including monogloss and heterogloss, and graduation aspects like force and focus are crucial elements examined in this research. Through this lens, the article aims to elucidate the nuances of Evaluative Language Concepts in Malay newspaper discourse, offering insights into how these linguistic elements shape reader perception and understanding.

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.