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THE CURRENT NATION-BUILDING PROCESS IN MALAYSIA : A Critical Look at the English-medium of Instruction Policy

Islar, Mine (2007)
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
This study focuses on the dominant political discourses concerning the controversial Malaysian language policy that suggests English as the medium of instruction in mathematics and science courses at the primary level of education. On one hand, the Malaysian government perceives the policy as needed to strengthen its developmental path, on the other hand, the Chinese educationalist community argues that the policy aims to undermine the multicultural structure of Malaysia. In this study, I analyze selected speeches from former and current prime ministers of Malaysia and texts from the Ministry of Education's Official Portal by using the Critical Discourse Analysis. I will argue that the discourses which dominate the public sphere show that... (More)
This study focuses on the dominant political discourses concerning the controversial Malaysian language policy that suggests English as the medium of instruction in mathematics and science courses at the primary level of education. On one hand, the Malaysian government perceives the policy as needed to strengthen its developmental path, on the other hand, the Chinese educationalist community argues that the policy aims to undermine the multicultural structure of Malaysia. In this study, I analyze selected speeches from former and current prime ministers of Malaysia and texts from the Ministry of Education's Official Portal by using the Critical Discourse Analysis. I will argue that the discourses which dominate the public sphere show that language policy serves for the Malaysian nationbuilding project in the name of the development. The Critical Discourse Analysis is a type of discourse analysis which studies the way dominance or social inequality reproduced by texts and talks in the political context. (Less)
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author
Islar, Mine
supervisor
organization
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Malaysia, Nation-building, medium of instruction policy, CDA, dominance, Social sciences, Samhällsvetenskaper
language
English
id
1320256
date added to LUP
2008-04-21 00:00:00
date last changed
2008-04-21 00:00:00
@misc{1320256,
  abstract     = {{This study focuses on the dominant political discourses concerning the controversial Malaysian language policy that suggests English as the medium of instruction in mathematics and science courses at the primary level of education. On one hand, the Malaysian government perceives the policy as needed to strengthen its developmental path, on the other hand, the Chinese educationalist community argues that the policy aims to undermine the multicultural structure of Malaysia. In this study, I analyze selected speeches from former and current prime ministers of Malaysia and texts from the Ministry of Education's Official Portal by using the Critical Discourse Analysis. I will argue that the discourses which dominate the public sphere show that language policy serves for the Malaysian nationbuilding project in the name of the development. The Critical Discourse Analysis is a type of discourse analysis which studies the way dominance or social inequality reproduced by texts and talks in the political context.}},
  author       = {{Islar, Mine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{THE CURRENT NATION-BUILDING PROCESS IN MALAYSIA : A Critical Look at the English-medium of Instruction Policy}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}