ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY CHINESE TEACHERS IN TEACHING THE MALAY LANGUAGE AT SEKOLAH JENIS KEBANGSAAN CINA

This concept paper discusses the issues and challenges faced by Chinese teachers in teaching the Malay language at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC). In accordance with the functionality of the Malay language as the national language, the Malay language should not only be mastered by the Malays but for all races in Malaysia. Good command of the Malay language can foster the self-esteem of every citizen in this country. The Malay language is also a compulsory subject that should be studied by every student, including students at SJKC. Teaching the Malay Language by Chinese teachers in SJKC is not an easy job because Chinese students are not native speakers of the Malay language. It is much different from their native language, the Malay language is only used by Chinese students during lessons and they seldom use it in their daily life. Chinese students are lack interest in learning the Malay language because it seems that learning the Malay language is very difficult for them. Therefore, the Chinese students’ achievement in the Malay language is still not satisfactory. Thus, the main focus of this concept paper is to analyse the issues and challenges faced by Chinese teachers in teaching the Malay language. These challenges make it difficult for teachers in ensuring satisfactory achievement among pupils. Various methods should be taken to improve the quality of teaching the Malays language in SJKC and thus to produce Chinese students who are fluent in speaking the Malay language. Therefore, the Chinese teachers who teach the Malay language in SJKC have to bear this responsibility by taking various initiatives to enhance the achievement of Chinese students in Malay language learning. Through this concept paper, it is hoped to reveal the issue of teaching the Malay language by Chinese teachers in SJKC to various parties.

INCORPORATING CHINESE TRADITIONAL CULTURE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHINESE TEXTBOOKS

"Where there are Chinese people, there is Chinese education". The Malaysian Chinese ancestors practised Chinese education in Malaysia since their arrival and with their efforts, Malaysia has the most comprehensive and systematic Chinese education in Southeast Asia. It is also considered the country that has preserved Chinese culture the best (Qian, 2017). Since 2011, the Chinese language has been offered as an elective subject in the standards-based curriculum for primary school (KSSR) syllabus. Since introducing Chinese into classrooms, there have been two versions of Chinese textbooks for the national primary schools: (KSSR) National Primary School Chinese Textbook from grade 1 until grade 6. Its subsequent revision in 2017 KSSR (Semakan 2017) National Primary School Chinese Textbook has been applied up to grade 5. By studying these two versions of the textbooks, this paper will discuss how Chinese culture is depicted in Malaysian national primary school Chinese textbooks. It will also analyse the elements of Chinese culture and subsequently investigate whether cultural content is necessary to be reinforced in national primary school Chinese textbooks for its text to be enriched. The research objective is determined using integrated studies done within and beyond Malaysia and includes relevant materials, research reports, literature, and dissertation papers. Through literature review, this paper summarises, categories, and analyses content about traditional Chinese cultural elements that can be found in both versions of the Chinese textbooks in national primary school. The traditional Chinese cultures found in both versions of textbooks are listed under seven elements which are: Traditional Chinese Festivities, Traditional Chinese Folk Games, Traditional Chinese Family Appellations, Traditional Chinese Food Culture, Traditional Chinese Arts, Traditional Chinese Customs, Chinese Literature. The collected content is then categorised, arranged, and analysed. A deduction can then be made to provide conclusive recommendations. It can be deduced that the textbooks are pretty packed with relevant and related Chinese cultural elements, but primarily, it is apparent that the Chinese culture is mainly influenced by local cultural elements, which are very close to our daily life. National primary school Chinese language education plays a role in cultural dissemination. It enables pupils of different ethnic backgrounds to learn Chinese and gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. As well as can help prevent misunderstandings caused by cultural differences.

THE CHALLENGES AND IMPACTS OF ONLINE LEARNING ON MALAY LANGUAGE READING AND WRITING LITERACY FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Online teaching and learning (T&L) is a new norm in the education system. This study was conducted to identify the challenges and impacts of online learning on the reading and writing literacy of primary school students. The research approach used was quantitative. The study sample consisted of 109 Level 2 students who were randomly selected in Pekan and Muadzam Shah Districts, Pahang. The research instrument was a questionnaire. Questionnaire data were analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 software. The findings of the study showed that the challenges of online learning and the impacts of online learning on reading skills were at a moderate level with mean = 3.07 and mean = 2.46 respectively. The impact of online learning on writing skills was at a low level with a mean = 2.21. T-test inferential analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the impacts of online learning by gender on reading and writing skills. The correlation analysis showed a significant relationship between internet access and the impacts of online learning on reading and writing skills. These findings indicated that stable internet access improves students’ online reading and writing skills. Therefore, the study found that the reading and writing skills of Level 2 students were at a moderately satisfactory level even though the learning was implemented online. Therefore, this study implies that the problem of mastering reading and writing skills among primary school students can be overcome throughout online learning.

THE SOCIAL REALITY OF THE WOMAN CHARACTER IN THE SHORT STORY “KA-MANAKAH TERBANGNYA SI BURONG SENJA” FROM THE LENS OF TAKLIF

This paper will highlight the creative work ‘Ka-mana Terbangnya Si Burong Senja’ by A. Samad Said which features the issue of moral collapse. The short story of the study is seen as a human rights discourse that can provide awareness to society regarding human rights in the formation of social and cultural dynamics through the display of character and characterization of a fully significant immoral society. The work of A. Samad Said needs to be appreciated in terms of its inner meaning. The Taklif framework will be used to discuss the findings of the study because, in the Islamic view, in principle, the universe belongs to the One True God. By using a text analysis approach, the study will turn inward and bring the reader to be more open-minded in reading the author's message from the lens of Islam, which is back to the creator in the process of personality formation.

THE ATTITUDE OF MOTHERS IN REVITALIZING PUNJABI LANGUAGE: A CASE STUDY OF THE PUNJABI COMMUNITY IN MANJUNG DISTRICT, PERAK

Punjabi is a small minority community in Malaysia among the approximately two million Indians in Malaysia. Punjabi people remain distinct from other people of Indian origins because of their religious beliefs and a strong sense of community. In the context of Malaysia, studies about the Punjabi community have not been encouraging and very minimal. As the Punjabi in Malaysia becomes more educated, the Punjabi community, which has long been undergoing a gradual shift into modern Malaysian society, and less emphasis is being placed on the ability to read and write Punjabi. The aim of this study is to obtain an overview of the language use patterns and language attitudes of Malaysian Punjabi mothers with the presence of their children. Specifically, the objective is to shed light on the importance of promoting Punjabi in the home domain by investigating whether the education and attitude of the mothers bring on the value of speaking the Punjabi language to their children in the home domain. A total of 11 respondents aged between 25 and 44 with children at or within the age of 6 were interviewed. One of the most significant findings of this study is the mismatch between language attitudes and actual language use by mothers with their children. The awareness exists in the mothers that Punjabi is important to their children to communicate with old age people and the Punjabi language is being used to do their prayers and to read their holy book. However, this positive attitude towards the language is not reflected in their language use and choice regardless of their education level. English dominated in most instances and most of the mothers claimed to be more comfortable speaking to their children in English.

A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON ENGLISH GRAMMAR PROFICIENCY KNOWLEDGE OF DIPLOMA STUDENTS

The aims of the study were to determine the most frequent grammatical errors made by students and their performance in a grammar test. Hence,183 diploma students from a local university were chosen to assist in this study. The instrument of the study was a final test consisting of two reading comprehension passages and a grammar section. For the purpose of the study, the students’ answers of the grammar section were analysed. The grammar section consists of 10 questions covering different parts of speech and tenses which were randomly chosen. It was found that the majority of the students’ performance in a grammar test is in the middle range. Most of them did not perform badly but neither did most of them excel at English grammar. Based on the findings there seemed to be a need for a more enhanced focus on the teaching and learning of English grammar for Malaysian ESL students. However, because this is a small study that examined only one batch of students, the results of this study may not be too significant for a more generalised conclusion. Thus, continuous study should be done with regard to aspects of grammar knowledge and its teaching and learning in Malaysia.

THE PHILOSOPHICAL EXAMINATION ON INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND WAYS FORWARD

The crisis of error and confusion of knowledge in cumulative today is inevitable as it has given birth to the false leaders who are incapable of making correct decision in their scope of responsibilities. Secularism as the poisoning ideology had inflicted chaos to the proper metaphysical realm of God with the subordination of existents in ranks through their corpus of so-called modern knowledge that have been rendered dominantly yet arguably as mainstream intellectualism. The nature of unified and hierarchical knowledge is mistreated and broken into fragmentation because the supreme, first principle of Tawhid as the soul of Islamic thought is suspended in knowledge production of modern science. As an antidote to this issue fast forward after the Islamization of knowledge was introduced, the idea of integration of knowledge was also brought into the picture to resolve the same brand crisis. However, the initiative of integration of knowledge as one of those has been grappling to present its philosophical underpinnings as in tandem with Islamic worldview as the valid solution to the knowledge crisis concerned. Therefore, this conceptual paper is esteemed to examine the philosophical structure of integration of knowledge idea as seen from Islamic mega scheme of knowledge. The data collection method involved in this writing was purely library search with the selection of literature from the advocates of integration of knowledge and some referenced from Islamic epistemology. The facts gathered were analyzed through content analysis technique with the approach of philosophical argumentation. The main findings of this writing were two-folded: i) The presentation of ontological, epistemological, axiological and methodological examination of integration of knowledge idea and its limitations. ii) The proposed integration of knowledge framework as a one of the methodologies of Islamic source in knowledge production and preservation. We contend that the contribution of this writing would further reframe the implementation of integration of knowledge in academic research endeavor in the institution advocating this epistemological idea.

THE SEMANTIC DEFINITION ASPECT OF KELANTANESE DIALECT GASOR ENTRY

This study aims to observe the semantic aspect of Kelantanese dialect (KD) gasor entry in the Kamus Dewan Edisi Keempat (KD4). The objective of the study is to identify the problem of the entry definition form KD in KD4, describe the definition of KD gasor entry in KD4, and formulate a new definition of KD gasor entry. 30 informants who are KD native speakers were randomly selected for the purpose of this study. The result shows that the KD gasor entry definition is not accurate and has caused confusion to the dictionary users due to the ambiguity of meaning, inaccuracy of meaning, and overlap of meaning for the definition of an entry, subentry, and phrase. In addition, the Componential Analysis of Meaning Theory (1975) which is used in this study seemed to be able to overcome the initial problems appropriately.

EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LEARNING MODULE FOR THE BALAGHAH SUBJECT AT HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTES IN MALAYSIA

Balaghah is one of the main components in Arabic literature and it is mandatory for every student of the Arabic language at any learning institution to learn it either as a major or minor subject, compulsory or elective. In addition, learning Balaghah is also a crucial element in the process of mastering the Arabic language. However, students’ inability to master this subject has become an issue due to the absence of a specific Balaghah module prepared for them. Therefore, this study aims to identify the features of a learning module for the Balaghah subject at the Institutes of Higher Learning in Malaysia, evaluate the effectiveness of the learning module, and propose features and framework of the module based on the research findings. The findings of the study show that students’ ability to master the knowledge of Balaghah is at a low level and this is due to the approach, strategy, and teaching method that is not so effective and suitable for students of Public Higher Learning Institutions. In line with that, a Balaghah module has to be developed and introduced in order to create coordination for this subject among the Institute of Higher Learning in Malaysia. This is because there are many Institutes of Higher Learning that do not have a specific module for the Balaghah subject. This directly creates a vacuum in the teaching of Balaghah itself. Besides that, an effective teaching approach has to be planned and reorganized so that the teaching and learning objective of Balaghah can be achieved.

COMPARATIVE SEMANTICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO CONCEPTUAL BLENDING THEORY

Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002) aims to provide a general cognitive model related to meaning construction. This theory was created based on the fundamental question raised by contemporary linguists about how a new concept is formed based on the human cognition system. According to Fauconnier, the theory encompasses all domains of meaning creation, whether involving language domains (metaphors, advertisements, and satire) or the use of gestures to convey non -linguistic meaning, such as the way people line up to get tickets at the cinema or certain symbolism in communication. If we can see at the current scenario in linguistic research, this theory has attracted wide attention in various fields of research, from the study of discourse analysis by Oakley (2008), the study of Haiku by Hiraga (1999) to the study of ritual by Sweetser (2000). Due to its holistic nature, it is not surprising that this theory has been heavily criticized by some linguists from the structural school (Broccias, 2004; Gibbs, 2000), and not least there are some Vygotsky scholars (scholars that influenced by Vygotsky thought) who doubted the ability of this theory. Therefore, this paper is written to (i) provide an overview of the proposed theory; (ii) display some analysis of non-linguistic domains based on conceptual blending perspective; and lastly (iii) some counter respond to a previous criticism about this theory.