Level of Attachment of Malaysian TESL Students Towards Their Cultural Identity

Abstract

Although it is encouraged for students to explore other cultures and be equipped with world knowledge, the basis of patriotism and love for the country must be embedded to ensure the nation has a sense of pride and belonging. This paper attempts to provide a preliminary investigation for the components of the cultural identity from a Malaysian standpoint, the level of attachment of Malaysian Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) students to their cultural identity as well as factors affecting this relationship. Thus, quantitative method was adopted for this study to identify the level of attachment of Malaysian TESL students to their cultural identity. A questionnaire was distributed online to the participants from all three main races in Malaysia with TESL background and the data was analysed using SPSS. The findings of this study have shown that despite the extensive exposure to and involvement with the English language and culture, the level of attachment of Malaysian TESL students towards their cultural identity is high with regards to all three major components: national language, food and cultural spaces.

Exploring Two Cases of Amazigh Maintenance and Shift in a Moroccan Higher Education Institution

“…The data revealed that the language choice patterns of the first case study were affected by three main factors: the place of settlement (the neighborhood), the social networks at school, and the desire to identify oneself with a particular group to which one belongs or wants to belong to. Another possible factor is the individual's attatchment to his own language and cultural identity (Al-Saggaf,, Kader, Alias, & Abdul Raof, 2020) As for the second case, the main determinants of AM maintenance and shift seemed to be the family language policy and the frequent contact with AM family relatives networks. Further, the interlocutor's generation seems to be another inducer of the shift towards MA; R tended to shift to MA when she interacted with her younger sister, who did not seem proficient AM.…”