立教大学

Malaysia is globally known as a bilingual country, with Malay as its national language and English as its official second language. This language policy would assume that all Malaysians are more likely to be bilinguals rather than monolinguals. There are more than meets the eye to this ‘bilingual status’ that Malaysia holds though; the multicultural nature of the nation enriches the different ways issues on bilingualism should be addressed. This public lecture, hence, aims to share with audience the story beneath the tip of the iceberg on bilingualism in Malaysia. It will bring audience through a journey of how a monolingual nation, then known as Tanah Melayu (i.e., the Land of the Malays) transformed into a bilingual nation, and how the notion of Malay-English bilingualism is translated in the Malaysian education system, including how it transpires in some classroom settings. This public lecture will also illustrate the complexity in profiling Malay-English bilinguals in Malaysia; they acquire the two languages at different stages in their lives, and their age of acquisition cannot determine their language dominance. To explain the intricate nature of Malay-English bilingualism, this public lecture will share with the audience the language practices of parents and caregivers of 1- to 6-year-old children who intend to raise their children as Malay-English bilinguals. Data from a community-based survey collected from 1296 parents and caregivers via the ME-BiPLP© questionnaire shows that the language practices are in line with Bandura's social learning theory, Skinner's theory of learning, Vygotsky's social development theory, and Krashen's comprehensible input theory. This public lecture will also demonstrate the language development of 1-to 6-year-old Malay-English bilinguals reported by the 1296 parents and caregivers via the ME-BiLAD© questionnaire and how findings from this survey were used to develop the Malay-English Early Language Milestone Scale (ME-ELMS), a tool that can be used by parents and caregivers from the comfort of their own homes, for an early detection of delays in the language development of 1- to 6-year-olds whom they wish to raise as Malay-English bilinguals. The development of ME-ELMS is important due to the intricate nature of bilingualism in Malaysia which is not the same as other bilingual countries. The story of bilingualism in Malaysia that lies beneath the tip of the iceberg is uniquely Malaysian. These unique experiences, however, can hopefully be used to help different nations shape their bilinguals in the manner that is best for their nations.