The usage of Bahasa Malaysia in teaching English in the national primary schools : a survey of the English Teachers' beliefs and practices in Kota Bharu

• Main Author: Ali Kutty Mohamed,
• Format: Thesis
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: LB1501 Primary Education; PE English
• Online Access: http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/661/1/usage_ali_i-repo_.pdf; http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/661/

Knowledge of teachers' beliefs and practices are important for understanding and improving the overall educational processes. The present study seeks to fill the knowledge gap in this area of research. More specifically, this study investigates several Kota Bharu national primary school English teachers' beliefs and practices regarding the usage of Bahasa Malaysia in their teaching and whether there are differences in beliefs and practices according to their race and gender. Multiple methods were used in the investigation including a survey questionnaire, interviews and classroom observations. The questionnaire, observations and interviews were categorized for common themes and the data were analysed using descriptive analyses, a Pearson Correlation Coefficiency test, a scatter plot diagram and t tests. The analyses showed that 95% of the teachers believed and used Bahasa Malaysia in their teaching. However, there were some inconsistencies between their held beliefs and their practices. The findings revealed that not all the beliefs were translated into practices. The study also revealed that this is partly due to the social- cultural background of the teachers. The concluding discussion addresses the importance of researching our teachers' beliefs and their practices in the context of their social cultural background. It also addresses the need for evaluating the English teachers' proficiency, aptitude and attitude and retraining these teachers according to their levels of proficiency. (Abstract by author)