Abstract
As a multi ethnic country, Malaysia consists of three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese, and Indians with unity as its building block. Although education is seen as the best medium for the three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research shows that there is lack of intercultural understanding among these three ethnic groups. Therefore, this study focused on a classroom intervention to investigate how Malaysian based English literature can be utilized to promote intercultural understanding among Form Four secondary school students via reading. This qualitative research design study collected data through focus group interviews and journal entry. This research explored intercultural knowledge among Form Four students through the Intercultural Reading Program (IRP). Findings indicate that the IRP intervention improved Form Four students’ level of intercultural knowledge. This research puts forward suggestions to the Ministry of Education such as integrating IRP in its secondary schools’ English Literature curriculum.
Highlights
IntroductionThe essence of Malaysia’s cultural diversity is the unity among its people (Najeemah, 2008)
As a multicultural country, the essence of Malaysia’s cultural diversity is the unity among its people (Najeemah, 2008)
The exploration of the intercultural knowledge among Form Four secondary school students was conducted through an intervention, The Intercultural Reading Program during the English Literature lessons
Summary
The essence of Malaysia’s cultural diversity is the unity among its people (Najeemah, 2008). As a matter of fact, national unity and integration of different ethnic groups are the foundation of the national education policy of Malaysia (Najeemah, 2008). According to the local history, ethnic segregation started to progress in Tanah Melayu during British’s colonization in 1726, with their “divide and conquer” policy laid the basis for communal division in the country. Between 1874 until 1957 under British colonial rule, ethnic segregation has changed the nature of the demographic distribution of Tanah Melayu from ethnically homogeneous to a more pluralistic society (Santhiram, 1990). Tolerance entails that members of diverse ethnic groups are allowed to maintain and preserve many of their cultural practices, provided that those practices are necessary for the survival of the society as a whole
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