Language Maintenance and Shift Among the Semai in Malaysia


Book Description

This study investigates the reported language use of one bilingual Semai community, a linguistic minority in Peninsular Malaysia. The Semai is the largest indigenous group in the peninsular and the language, Semai, is generally an oral language. Semai bilingual speakers are faced with choices in language behavior that will determine whether or not the Semai language will be maintained. Given the fact that the future of the Semai language depends on its actual use, this study was undertaken to examine the reported language use patterns and the factors that contribute to maintenance or shift in one Semai community. The reported language use patterns in the sample population appear to suggest a trend towards maintenance.This study concludes by positing that demographic factors, the values and attitudes of the people and religious homogeneity found in the community play an important role in the maintenance of the Semai language.













Code Switching in Malaysia


Book Description

Code switching seems to be natural for most multilingual speakers because they can switch from different languages freely depending on what is available in their linguistic repertoire. This collection of studies aims to bring current Malaysian code switching and language alternation research to the attention of a worldwide readership. In so doing we attempt to follow the path taken by our late friend, colleague and mentor, Professor Rodolfo Jacobson. The approach and conceptual framework adopted by the contributors in this volume tends to focus more towards the functional rather than the purely linguistic or grammatical. Research into Malaysian code switching demonstrates the need to seek out ways of merging these approaches, rather than keeping them separate, and several of the chapters in this volume attempt such a merger of approaches and methods.







Researching Agency in Language Policy and Planning


Book Description

This concise collection features seven studies on agency in language policy and planning across five different national contexts. Building on themes explored in Agency in Language Policy and Planning, this volume highlights the complex relationship between agency and broader ideological discourses, integrating social theory toward contributing to and enhancing growing scholarship on language policy and planning. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in language policy and planning, language and education, critical sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.




Teacher Agency and Policy Response in English Language Teaching


Book Description

The role of English in the global arena has prompted official language-in-education policy makers to adopt language education policies to enable its citizens to be proficient in English and to access knowledge. Local educational contexts in different countries have implemented English education in their own ways with different pedagogical goals, motivations, features and pedagogies. While much of the research cited in English language planning policy has focused on macro level language policy and planning, there is an increasing interest in micro planning, in particular teacher agency in policy response. Individual teacher agency is a multifaceted amalgam, not only of teachers’ individual histories, professional training, personal values and instructional beliefs, but also of how these interact with local interpretations and appropriations of policy. Teacher Agency and Policy Response in English Language Teaching examines the agency of the teacher in negotiating educational reforms and policy changes at the local and national levels. Chapters in the book include: English language teaching in China: teacher agency in response to curricular innovations Incorporating academic skills into EFL curriculum: teacher agency in response to global mobility challenge Teacher agency, the native/nonnative dichotomy, and "English Classes in English" in Japanese high Schools Teacher-designed high stakes English language testing: washback and impact This book will appeal to researcher across all sectors of education, in particular key stakeholders in curriculum and language planning. Those interested in the latest development of English language teaching will also find this book a valuable resource.




The Sindhis of Malaysia


Book Description