Abstract
English Language Teaching (ELT) materials are significant as tools in facilitating a second language teaching and learning including for preschool level. Also, it is necessary for teachers to opt for appropriate ELT materials which encompass cultural and local identity to generate a meaningful and relatable context of teaching and learning. Nonetheless, most of the materials currently available for preschool education in the publishing market are foreign and therefore little focus on local context. It is more evident in Islamic preschools, as the ELT materials need to be infused with Islamic values to align with the philosophy of Islamic preschools. Hence, this paper presents and discusses a part of a study on Islamic preschool teachers’ perception of the Soleh English (SE) teaching materials developed in the attempt to integrate Malay culture and Islamic values with ELT. The study employed a Case Study design involving five female Islamic preschool teachers in the Klang Valley Region. They were purposely chosen based on their experiences using the SE teaching materials. The data was obtained through semi-structured interviews and triangulated with a questionnaire and document analysis. The interview data reported in this article were thematically analysed. Findings illuminated four key themes for each research question which indicated that there is an integration of cultural and Islamic values in the SE teaching materials as well as in ESL teaching. This enabled the teachers to instil Islamic and cultural values in their English language teaching in contribution to generate noble citizens.
 Keywords: materials, ESL teaching, integrated values, islamic preschool, cultural.
Highlights
English Language is officially regarded as a second language in Malaysia
The findings of the study were being identified to answer the following research questions which are (1) How are the cultural and Islamic values integrated in Soleh English (SE) teaching materials as perceived by the Islamic preschool teachers? and (2) How do SE teaching materials assist the Islamic preschool teachers in inculcating cultural and Islamic values through their English Language Teaching?
RQ1: How are the cultural and Islamic Values integrated in SE teaching materials perceived by the Islamic preschool teachers?
Summary
English Language is officially regarded as a second language in Malaysia. Due to the importance of the language in Malaysia and worldwide, the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) was officially introduced by The English Language Standard and Quality Council (ELSQC, 2015) as the new scale of worldwide evaluation for English Language education in Malaysia. The mutual agreement achieved by both CEFR scale and NSPC (Ministry of Education, 2016) in English subject is learning English by using meaningful activities among the preschoolers (ELSQC, 2015). English language teaching (ELT) materials are found as one of the significant elements needed as a tool in facilitating meaningful activities to the students in the teaching and learning process of a second language (Tomlinson 2011).
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