A Study on Diglossia: English Language Variety Choice by English Language Course Students in Public Universities and Its Factors
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A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA: ENGLISH LANGUAGE VARIETY CHOICE BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSE STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND ITS FACTORS BY CHE WAN NURUL IFFAH BINTI CHE WAN ROSLAN INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA 2020 A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA: ENGLISH LANGUAGE VARIETY CHOICE BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSE STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND ITS FACTORS BY CHE WAN NURUL IFFAH BINTI CHE WAN ROSLAN A Final Year Project submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of English for International Communication JANUARY, 2020 ABSTRACT This paper reports a study on students' language variety choice by analyzing the answers from a set of questionnaire by the English language undergraduate students from different public universities in Malaysia. Specifically, this study is attempted to identify the university students' language choice and its factors. A set of survey questions was used and spreaded in different Whatsapps’ group in order to get data from university students in five different public universities in Malaysia, including International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, University of Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and also Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin. The survey asked the students who are pursuing their degree in different English courses such as communication, language studies, literature, and also teaching English as second language on their language choice. Other than that, they were also asked about factors regarding environmental and status of the speakers that influenced their choice of language varieties. KEY WORD: diglossia, the usage of English language in Malaysia, the language variety choice and factors that influenced i DECLARATION I hereby declare that this final year project is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions. (Che Wan Nurul Iffah binti Che Wan Roslan) Signature ………………………… Date ………………….. iii COPYRIGHT PAGE INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH A STUDY ON DIGLOSSIA: ENGLISH LANGUAGE VARIETY CHOICE BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSE STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AND ITS FACTOR I declare that the copyright holder of this final year project is jointly owned by the student and IIUM. Copyright © 2019 (Che Wan Nurul Iffah binti Che Wan Roslan) and International Islamic University Malaysia. All rights reserved. No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below 1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement. 2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print or electronic) for institutional and academic purpose. 3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieval system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other universities and research libraries. By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy. Affirmed by Che Wan Nurul Iffah binti Che Wan Roslan ________________________ ________________ Signature Date iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah.” (16:53) Alhamdulillah, through all these times, the Almighty Allah have been with me and with His blessings and strength He gave me, I finally managed to finish this final year project. My dearest patron, Dr. Nor Zainiyah Norita Mokhtar. Infinite thanks to you for your endless support and guidance towards me throughout my time in finishing this thesis. I do believe that you have more believe in myself than my own self. For that, only Allah can repay you for that kind of believe you have in me. I revere the patronage and moral support extended with love especially from my parents, Mazni binti Mustafa@Mamat and Che Wan Roslan bin Che Wan Ngah. Your prayers and love really helped me to get through my hardships in completing this paper and I hope it would still help me in my future endeavour. My brothers and my sisters, you guys too did assist me a lot whether you realised it or not. My joy knows no bound in expressing my cordial gratitude to my best friends. All of your interests and encouragements were extremely helpful and I submit my heartiest gratitude for that. Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to all concerned individuals who co- operated with me in this regard directly or indirectly. As for that, I humbly extend my honest thanks to all of you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................i Approval Page ........................................................................................................... ii Declaration ............................................................................................................... iii Copyright Page .......................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ................................................................................................ vi-vii List of Tables .......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of Study ................................................................................. 1 1.2 Statement of Problem ................................................................................. 2 1.3 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................. 3 1.4 Research Objectives ................................................................................... 3 1.5 Research Questions .................................................................................... 4 1.6 Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 4 1.7 Definition of Term - Diglossia ................................................................... 5 1.8 Definition of Term – H and L Variety ........................................................ 5 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Diglossia .................................................................................................... 7 2.2 The Usage of English in Malaysia .............................................................. 9 2.3 Language Variety Choice and Factors ...................................................... 11 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 14 Introduction ................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Research Design ...................................................................................... 14 3.2 Sample and Population ............................................................................. 15 3.3 Instrumentation ........................................................................................ 15 3.4 Data Collection ........................................................................................ 17 3.5 Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION............................................ 19 Introduction ................................................................................................... 19 4.1 Demographic Background ........................................................................ 19 4.2 Gender ..................................................................................................... 20 4.3 Age .......................................................................................................... 20 4.4 University ................................................................................................ 21 4.5 Course of Study ....................................................................................... 22 4.6 Year of Study ........................................................................................... 23 4.7 Reliability Test ........................................................................................ 23 4.8 Correlations ............................................................................................. 25 4.9 Research Question 1 ................................................................................ 30 4.10 Research Question 2............................................................................... 35 vi 4.11 Qualitative Analysis ............................................................................... 37 4.11.1 Environment ...............................................................................