Abstract
This qualitative study investigated 13 secondary school teachers’ feedback on the intervention of Intercultural Reading Programme (IRP) among 292 Malaysian Form Four secondary school students by using a Malaysian English reader titled Ripples by Shih Li Kow. The intervention among the students was conducted to identify their level of intercultural knowledge and intercultural behaviour before and after the intervention. In order to gain teachers’ perspective on the benefit of the intervention, qualitative data was collected through one-to-one interview involving 13 teachers at the end of the intervention. The data was analysed using Atlas. Ti 7.0 software. Teachers’ feedback in this research is segmented into eight main themes indicating the use of Malaysian based English literature infused with the elements of local cultures such as the Malays, Chinese, and Indians that is very important towards strengthening national unity. These findings contributed to the design of Intercultural Reading Framework which is an output of the intervention. The newly created framework will focus on improving intercultural knowledge and intercultural behaviour among Malaysian secondary school’s students in enhancing intercultural competence. The framework will support nation building agenda for a united Malaysia. It is also timely that the curriculum planners and material selectors consider the use of Malaysian based English literature written by local writers and that focuses on local cultural themes embedded in their work.
Highlights
The measures taken by the Malaysian government to nurture unity among Malaysians has started as early as before Independence in 1957
According to T7, even though students were well aware about certain practices and traditions of other cultures, Intercultural Reading Programme (IRP) helped to create greater realisation of their intercultural knowledge by reviewing and providing awareness about the practices
This study suggests that the intervention of the IRP among Malaysian secondary school students witnessed the improvement of other skills such as critical thinking skills among students
Summary
The measures taken by the Malaysian government to nurture unity among Malaysians has started as early as before Independence in 1957. Previous efforts taken by the government in improving knowledge via reading and in creating a literate society was through extensive reading outside classroom hours (Kaur, 2000) such as BUKTI (Baca Untuk Tingkat Ilmu) and DEAR (Drop Everything and Read). Such reading activities were implemented with the objective to only develop independent and autonomous reader in learning (Kaur, 2000). Unity has become one of Malaysia’s major objectives since independence (Federation of Malaya, 1958;1960), it is crucial to build intercultural competence among the school students as intercultural competence is a set of skills that enable the students to function effectively according to different cultural
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