CLASSROOM DISCOURSE OF MALAY LANGUAGE LESSON: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Research on the teaching and learning process of the Malay language in theclassroom usually focuses on the method, content, strategy and teaching aids.Moving away from this norm, this research article examines the process from thediscourse analysis perspective called pedagogic discourse analysis, with anadaptation of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis Framework (1992; 1995).The discussion is based on several hours of teaching-learning case studyconducted in a secondary school classroom, which emphasizes integratedcurriculum in an attempt to understand the unseen social processes, i.e. teacherdominance in discourse. The research findings indicate that teacher dominance isconcealed in turn-taking system, types of questions posed by the teacher,discourse control and the overall structure of the discourse, which have theirimplications on the implementation of the National Education Philosophy.Contrary to the emphasis on student centredness and thinking skills as laid out bythe Integrated Curriculum for Secondary School, it is found that the nature of thelearning process in the classroom hardly focused on students’ thinking skills. Thisarticle argues that students should be given the opportunity to exercise theircritical and creative potentials.