The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 85: Urang versus Orang: The frequency of Bruneian students’ use of Standard and Brunei Malay by Ili Arina Zainal.
Please see below for details.
Abstract: Despite the various research done about the languages and many linguistic aspects in Brunei Darussalam, little is known regarding the current frequency and perception towards the official language, Standard Malay, as the majority of Bruneians prefer to speak in English and Brunei Malay. This paper investigates how frequent students use Standard Malay within their everyday life and whether it varies between different districts in Brunei Darussalam. Malay students from local sixth form institutions in Brunei Muara, Tutong and Kuala Belait participated in this study (N = 60). Three separate online surveys for each district were conducted. The research calculates the frequency of Standard Malay tokens in their output of two writing tasks as well as quantify their language preferences when speaking to familiar people and strangers. It was found that students from all three districts have low frequency of Standard Malay in comparison to Brunei Malay especially when speaking to their parents, friends, Malay tutors and Malay strangers from different age groups. However, English is dominant when speaking to friends, tutors and strangers from non-Malay ethnicities.
Author
Ili Arina Zainul completed Bachelor of Arts in English Studies from Universiti Brunei Darussalam where she graduated with First Class Honors and earned a place on the Dean’s List. She is currently pursuing a Master of Teaching in Primary Education at the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. She is investigating the impact of kinesthetic activities on enhancing phonemic awareness of lower primary students. In addition to her academic pursuits, she has gained practical teaching experience having taught English, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies and Bahasa Melayu at two Brunei government primary schools for over a year.
Contact: ili_arina@outlook.com
To see more IAS Working Papers, please visit the IAS Working Papers web page.
