Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sociolinguistics
ENCO 2102
SEM 1, 2014/2015
Sociolinguistics Research
Migration is one of the factors that influence the language maintenance of a speech community.
Even though many researchers have studied on the language maintenance among the immigrants
in Malaysia, only a few studies can be found on the Indonesian community (Cheng, 2003; David
& Faridah, 1999; Khemlani-David, 1991; Mukherjee, 2003). Hence, this current study focused
on language maintenance among the Indonesians who are currently living in Malaysia. A set of
questionnaire was used by the researcher to collect the data regarding the role played by
language attitude and practices on language maintenance from 28 Indonesians respondents living
in Malaysia. The result of this study showed that language attitude and practices have positive
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 1
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 4
References ..................................................................................................................................... 38
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 43
Appendix 1: Gantt chart of research activities .......................................................................... 43
Appendix 2: Questionnaire........................................................................................................ 44
Appendix 3: Charts for demographic data ................................................................................ 51
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
This chapter examines and discusses selected core problem and potential contributions of
this study on the examination of language usage among the Indonesians living in Malaysia. It
elaborates the background to the problem and context of the research, outlines the focus and
scope of the research, and explains the motivation for conducting this study. The issue discussed
addressed. The chapter then summarizes the contributions of the study and discusses the
Language is one of the main aspects in culture and it plays an important role in portraying
ones identity (Ochs, 1993). Language is one of the major determinants in indicating ones
background as well as origin. It has also been considered as a vital tool for communicating and
socializing with people (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). It is used by people regardless of age, gender
and races. Even the disable people who are mute and deaf possessed their own language which is
known as the sign language. Language can be acquired, shifted and also loss due to many
Most people acquired, shifted or loss their native languages when they moved to a new
place as they tried to adapt with the new environment and connect with the local people (Tseng
& Fuligni, 2000). In order to be accepted by the major population in a society, some tend to
perceive their native language negatively and neglect the importance of preserving the origin
language inherited from their ancestors. Hence, it can be seen that ones language may shift to
other language as a result of migration to a new surrounding that is different from the ordinary
environment.
According to Fishman (1972), the language used in the communities that apply more than
one language depends greatly on two main indicators which are change or stability in the actual
language usage. Nevertheless, the speech communities that employ more than one language
normally categorized the various languages under low or high variety language (Ferguson,
1959). The high variety languages are the languages used by majority of the population whereas
the low variety languages will be the ones used by the minority groups. Based on Giles (1977)
and Kibrik (1991), the high variety language typically possessed a greater opportunity to be the
Besides that, individuals who married with partners from the same language community
will be likely to preserve the low status language compared to those who involved in mixed
marriages (Giles, 1977; Kibrik, 1991). For instance, Malaysia comprises of various people from
different ethnic groups and some of them can even trace their origin to the neighbors countries
like Indonesia. This has occurred due to the migration of the Indonesians to Malaysia and some
of them have married with the local people and successfully built a family. Notwithstanding,
there are some of the Indonesian communities who still practiced their language and culture
mostly due to localization of the community in particular areas in Malaysia (Yusuf, Pillai &
Mohd Ali, 2013). Thus, it clearly shows that language may be shifted or maintained due to
among the immigrants in Malaysia (Chinese, Bengali, Sindhis, Portuguese), the Indonesian
community has received little attention in the literature related to this issue (Cheng, 2003; David,
1991; David & Faridah, 1999; Mukherjee, 2003). Hence, the researcher has considered it
necessary to perform a research on the topic of language maintenance among the Indonesians
This present study will have both theoretical and practical significances to the previous
scholars as well as the practitioners, which is specifically focusing on the Indonesian community
living in Malaysia. First and foremost, this study will contribute to the Ethnolinguistic Identity
Theory by Giles and Johnson (1987) as it will discover the language usage of the Indonesian
Secondly, this research will provide an important understanding on the role of language
practices as well as attitudes in preserving the native language among the minority groups.
Specifically, this study will complement the research done by Pillai, Soh and Kajita (2014) on
the relationship between language maintenance and the language practice among the minority
group of Malacca Portuguese in Malaysia. While the past study has investigated the language
practices and maintenance among the Malacca Portuguese, this study will explore the language
maintenance among the Indonesian community presently living in Malaysia. Therefore, this
research is crucial as it will be conducted to fill the gap of the previous research.
Thirdly, from the practitioners standpoint, this research is very important to enlighten the
Indonesians regarding the importance of practicing and preserving the native language. It is
undeniable that Indonesian language is categorized under the low variety language in Malaysia
due to the usage that has been limited to only the minority group. However, the Indonesians need
to maintain their origin language and be aware of the importance of preserving it as language
played a significant role in portraying ones social identity (Ochs, 1993; Reyhner & Tennant,
1995). Hence, this research will be of great importance to the Indonesians communities who are
staying in Malaysia as it assists in increasing their awareness to preserve their native language.
Finally, this research will also assist the Indonesians to realize that in order to preserve
their native language, they need to possess positive attitudes towards the language. This is
essential to maintain and preserve the language which is needed by the speakers in order to learn
and know their historical background (Schleppegrell & Achugar, 2003). The lack of the native
language will make it difficult for the elders to teach the young generations regarding their
history, beliefs, values as well as the cultural norms of their communities. As a consequence, this
may lead to a cultural gap for all future generations. Thus, this study will aid the immigrants
specifically the Indonesians to maintain and preserve the existence of their cultural values and
beliefs through language maintenance by enhancing their attitude towards their native language.
1.5 Research question
1. What is the role played by language attitude in maintaining the native language of the
2. What are the language practices that facilitate the maintenance of native language
The first objective of this research is to explore the role of language attitude in
influencing language maintenance among the Indonesians currently staying in Malaysia while
the second objective is to investigate language practices that assist in maintaining the native
It is worth noting that with the aim to achieve clarity and focus, a few aspects have to be
excluded in this study. In this research paper, the researcher will examine the language usage
among the Indonesians living in Malaysia. It is important to note that the population will be
selected from the states in Peninsula Malaysia and not from the states of Sabah and Sarawak. As
such, it may not be appropriate to generalize the result of this study to the whole Indonesians
Indonesians in influencing the maintenance of the native language. Hence, this study would not
take other factors into consideration such as the age, gender and educational level of the
individuals when selecting the samplings. The findings of the study should be interpreted within
In this current study, several important terms will be defined operationally by the
researcher and one of the terms is language maintenance. According to Habtoor (2012), language
maintenance can be described as the situation in which the speech communities continue to apply
their native language despite of living in the conditions that might influence them to shift to the
host language of the new place. Then, the second term which is language attitude can be
understood as the speakers disposition whether favorable or unfavorable towards the language
that they possessed (Bartley, 1969). The next term that the researcher deems to highlight in this
research is language practices, which can be referred to as the usage of heritage language during
the existed opportunities and activities which required them to apply their heritage language
(Yoshida, 2007). These three terms that have been defined will be used frequently throughout
this study.
1.9 Theoretical framework
This current study will be conducted by the researcher based on Ethnolinguistic Identity
Theory (ELIT) (Giles & Johnson, 1987). This theory will address the relationship between
socially ethnic groups and their usage of language in social contexts. Giles and Johnson (1987)
mentioned that it was necessary for the speakers to make up their minds whether to maintain or
loss their origin language. Hence, it can be understood that speakers played a major role in
personally deciding the maintenance of the traditional language. The researcher aims to examine
the language attitude and practices of the Indonesians in influencing the maintenance of the
Indonesian language. This present research will be using this theory in guiding the development
of the questionnaire as well as the collection of data in answering the two research objectives that
Through the variety of studies that have been conducted by past researchers, it can be seen that
language may be maintained or shifted due to many reasons and some of them are due to
language attitude and language practices. Hence, this study has been made to examine the
language usage among the Indonesians living in Malaysia. The findings of this study will be
significant to both the researchers and practitioners in the future. The next chapter of this
research will discuss in detail about the theory used in this research as well as the previous
researches on the role of language attitude and practices in maintaining the native language.
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
The previous chapter provided an overview of this study motivation for investigating the
language maintenance and highlighted the importance of addressing this issue from the aspects
of research, theory, and practice. This chapter continues with a review of the literature that
summarises and synthesises the existing evidences on the issues of language maintenance among
the immigrants around the world. This literature review aims towards exposing the current state
of the mentioned issue and identifying the key gaps in the field of language maintenance that
The first section of this chapter describes the theory used in this research (Section 2.2)
while the next section develops the construct for this study regarding the language maintenance
of the immigrants (Section 2.3). Then, Section 2.4 discusses the gaps identified in the literature
of other past scholars regarding this issue. An outline of the previous studies done by the
scholars is necessary to provide a basis for further development of the concept. In the
meanwhile, Section 2.5 includes the proposed conceptual framework developed for the current
study and the formulation of the hypotheses. Finally, the researcher concludes with the summary
of this chapter and a brief introduction of the next chapter (Section 2.6).
2.2 Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory (ELIT)
Based on Giles and Johnson (1987), Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory (ELIT) focuses on
the relationship between ethnic groups and their language usage in social contexts. They stated
that the speakers need to set their minds whether to maintain or loss their heritage language.
Therefore, it can be seen that speakers play an important part in determining the maintenance of
Originally, ELIT was formulated to address the issues of the speakers in the ethnic group
who employed certain language strategy, at a certain time for a particular reason during the
encounter with the members from different groups (Giles & Johnson, 1987). In the context of
language maintenance, the speech community from the minority group may learn the dominant
language along with the heritage language or may face conflict with the dominant groups
language, identity as well as attitude formation towards the language. Thus, this theory provides
the understanding of the crucial variables included in maintaining the heritage language in social
settings.
One of the matters discussed by Giles and Johnson (1987) under this theory was finding
the reasons why some languages possessed by the minority groups managed to survive while
others experienced language loss when facing demographic changes. Besides that, the scholars
also addressed on the reasons for language erosion related with situations, language strategies as
well as attitudes towards the language (Hildebrandt & Giles, 1983). Hence, it shows that this
theory outlines the suitable concept for identifying the role of language attitude and language
The previous scholars have identified many factors contributed to the maintenance of low
variety languages such as a large population of the minority groups within the areas, sense of
loyalty and pride in the heritage languages, high status given to the languages as well as positive
attitude towards the languages (Fishman, 2001; Hinton & Hale, 2001). Hence, it can be seen that
there are many variables that can contribute to the maintenance of low variety languages.
The previous study conducted by Spolsky (2004) revealed that it is possible to receive a
result on the differences in the speakers views towards their heritage language. The scholar also
reported that the speakers views as well as attitudes on the language may be to the extent of
extreme opposites. The finding of his study has been supported by King and Fogle (2006) when
they discussed that some of the speakers may perceive their traditional language as a valuable
In addition, their research also discovered that the old generation passed their traditional
language to the offspring in order to preserve their identity and to maintain their cultural
heritage. Other than that, they also disclosed that the old generation viewed the traditional
language as a contributor for the youth in receiving better job in the future.
Nevertheless, there are some groups from the speech communities who viewed the
traditional language negatively. Some of them perceived that language was not related with the
transmission of the cultural heritage (Schpbach, 2009). Therefore, they did not see the relevance
Besides that, they even perceived the language as a useless thing as a consequence from
the geographical and social restriction (Schpbach, 2009). From the past findings, it can be seen
that even though the speakers realized that they are different from the dominant groups in the
community, it did not necessarily lead to the transmission of the heritage language to the young
generation and maintenance of the language within the speech communities of the minority
group.
In the meanwhile, King, Fogle and Logan-Terry (2008) highlighted three types of
attitudes among the parents that affect the language maintenance. They are the designation of
particular languages for particular purposes, attitudes about language learning and attitudes about
the usage of heritage language. From the result revealed by King et al. (2008), the researcher can
concluded that attitude towards the heritage language played a major role in maintaining the
traditional language.
According to Spolsky (2004), language practices can be understood as the language used
within the family and it may include much more than what the speakers realized. Some of the
areas covered are sounds, grammar, words, speech formality as well as the prescribed rules on
the usage of language that is appropriate for particular context. In the context of this study, the
researcher applied the definition of language practices given by Yoshida (2007) which can be
understood as the heritage language usage in the activities done during the speakers everyday
activities.
Past researchers have disclosed one of the major factors that assist the effort of
maintaining the heritage language is by using it with the family members (Fishman, 1991;
Spolsky, 2004; Schwartz, 2008). Fishman (1970) has obtained the similar result in the past years
as he reported the failure in transmitting the heritage language from the first generation to the
second and third generation may result in language loss. Thus, the decision regarding the
language usage within the family domain may affect the survival of the heritage language
possessed by the immigrants when they are living with the dominant group who employed
In the meanwhile, Edwards and Newcombe (2005) have investigated on the same issue
and suggested that the speakers who used the heritage language with their parents at home were
tend to repeat the similar process with their children later. Therefore, it shows that the decision in
using the native language at home will affect the current as well as the future generations.
Apart from that, the existence of opportunities and activities that enable the speakers
from the minority group to apply their language also aided in preserving the native language. For
instance, Yoshida (2007) mentioned that activities like singing and watching films have assisted
the Japanese communities to maintain their language. Hence, the practices of the heritage
language in daily activities may influence the survival of the language among the immigrants
who are living in the areas which employed different dominant language.
2.4 The gap of the study: language maintenance among the immigrants
The past literature offered numerous examples on the studies of language maintenance
among the immigrants that are living with the dominant group who used different languages
(Cheng, 2003; David, 1991; David & Faridah, 1999; Mukherjee, 2003). Nevertheless, only a few
studies have discovered the language maintenance among the Indonesian immigrants who are
Heritage language is one of the important aspects in preserving ones social identity
(Ochs, 1993; Reyhner & Tennant, 1995). Hence, the speakers from the minority groups need to
be aware and concerned about this matter. The loss of the heritage language may result in the
difficulty for the young generation to learn about their historical background, beliefs as well as
values. Therefore, it is crucial for this research to be conducted to increase the Indonesian
communities awareness regarding this issue and to fill the gap of the past researchers.
Based on the research made by King et al. (2008), language attitude played a major role
in determining the maintenance of heritage language among the immigrants. Hence, to further
test the relationship between language attitude and the effect on language maintenance, the
H1: Positive attitude towards the heritage language will assist in maintaining the language.
In addition, previous studies have investigated that language practices may aid in
maintaining the heritage language. This has been discussed by Yoshida (2007) in his paper when
he stated that the activities like singing and watching drama have assisted the Japanese
immigrants to preserve their traditional language despite of living with the community who
applied English as the dominant language. Therefore, in this present study, the researcher
attempts to discover the language practices that facilitate in maintaining the heritage language
among the Indonesian immigrants living in Malaysia. Thus, the following hypothesis is
proposed:
Based on these hypotheses, the researcher develops a new model that shows the
relationship between the role played by language attitude and practices in maintaining the low
variety language.
Positive
Language relationship
attitude
Language
maintenance
Language
practices
Positive
relatonship
In a nutshell, it shows that the language attitude as well as practices can influence the
language maintenance of the immigrants categorized under the minority group. This current
study is made to fill the gaps of the previous researches regarding this issue on the Indonesian
immigrants who are living in Malaysia. Ethnolinguistics Identity Theory (ELIT) has been
selected as the theory to guide this research. In the next chapter, the researcher will discuss the
research design, the scale development as well as the selection of the sampling for this study.
The following chapter will also outline, explain and justify the measures used and the data
This chapter presents the methodology used to investigate the research question and
hypotheses discussed in Chapter 2. The research design is first discussed in Section 3.2. Then,
the scale development is discussed in the next section which explains in detail about the scale
selected for the measurement questions of this research (Section 3.3). This is followed by an
(Section 3.4). The sampling issues that describe the sampling frame, type, and strategy as well as
data collection procedures are then presented in Section 3.5. Next, the data analyses are
presented in Section 3.6. Essentially, the data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) programme. The chapter ends with the ethical considerations and summary of
This study is conducted to test the hypotheses and to answer the research questions
regarding the role of language attitude and practices on language maintenance of the Indonesians
in Malaysia. The Gantt chart is constructed by the researcher (refer to Appendix 1) and the
The researcher started with writing the introduction in Phase 1. The problem statements,
research question and objectives as well as the significances of this study were explained in this
part. Besides that, the theoretical framework and the important terms used in this research are
also discussed by the researcher in this phase. In the meanwhile, phase 2 discussed on the works
of previous scholars regarding the topic of this research. This research used secondary level of
information in the literature review chapter. The researcher also formulated hypotheses for the
research question based on the findings of previous scholars and the hypotheses were tested by
Then, in phase 3, the method of data collection and data analysis that were used for this
research were explained by the researcher. The type of this current study is a communication
study as the researcher gave questions to the subjects and collected the responses from them.
Furthermore, this research applied quantitative methods to collect the relevant data in achieving
the objective of this study. This helped to ensure the validity and the reliability of the findings at
A set of questionnaire was used to collect the data in answering the research question of
this study. The part for measurement questions in the questionnaire was modified by the
researcher to suit the current sample for this study. This current research applied the cross-
sectional study on the actual environment conditions of the university students. The researcher
analyzed the data collected from the questionnaire by using the SPSS software.
In phase 4, the researcher presented the findings of the research in answering the two
research question for this study. The researcher compared the result obtained by the past
researchers on this issue and discussed the result in the fourth phase. Lastly, in phase 5, the
conclusion was drawn for this study. The researcher also included the limitation and the
implication of this current research. This phase was ended with the recommendation suggested
The researcher has selected quantitative method for this study and the data was collected
by using survey method. The approach that has been chosen by the researcher is personal
interview survey. This study applied multidimensional questions and the researcher has chosen
the nominal and interval scales for the measurement questions. The first part of the measurement
question is multiple choice- multiple response scale, hence the researcher applied nominal scale
for that set of questions. Next, the second part of the measurement question is in the form of
Likert-scale, thus the researcher selected to use the interval scale. Lastly, the demographic
questions at the end of the questionnaire applied the nominal scale as the researcher deems to
classify the respondents into some classifications based on some characteristics such as gender
and age.
3.4 Operationalization of the instruments
The survey consists of 3 aspects. The first and second aspects consist of 22 target
questions in measuring the effect of language attitude and practices on language maintenance.
Then, the third aspect consists of characteristics questions in collecting the socio-demographic
information of the respondents. The 10 demographic questions contain the questions such as
gender, age as well as educational level of the participants for this current study.
The survey comprised of 32 questions altogether and it was modified by the researcher to
suit the current sample for this study which is the Indonesians living in Malaysia. For ensuring
the participants were fully understand the questionnaire, the set of question was given in the form
of bilingual with the usage of Malay language followed by the English language.
The first 11 target questions attempt to identify the practices involved by the Indonesians
in maintaining their native language. The second part of the target questions comprises of 11
items aim to explore the respondents attitude towards their heritage language.
3.5 Sampling
When discussing about the sampling, it is deemed necessary to first determine the
sampling frame and specify the target population for this study. This is crucial as it will affect the
aim of this research, the design of the study as well as the accessibility of the respondents to
answer the measurement questions for this research (Coolican, 2004). To explore the role of
language attitude and practices on the language maintenance, the researcher has selected a study
The researcher has decided to conduct this study on the Indonesians sample as there were
only few researchers (to the best of the researchers knowledge) investigating the language
Portuguese and Sindhis (Cheng, 2003; David, 1991; David & Faridah, 1999; Mukherjee, 2003;
Yusuf et al., 2013). Hence, this study has been designed to explore the language maintenance
The researcher attempts to study the role played by language attitude and practices on
language maintenance among the Indonesians living in Malaysia. Therefore, the researcher has
chosen to use purposive sampling for this research. The data for this current research will be
collected from only the Indonesians immigrants who have been staying in Malaysia.
Prior to the data collection, a pilot study was conducted before the researcher collects the
exact data for this research. This study which is also known as pre-study can be understood as a
small-scale study carried out to evaluate the time, cost as well as the condition for the large-scale
data collection. It is also necessary to predict the appropriate sample size and improve the design
of the study before conducting the real data collection. One of the main aims of conducting pilot
study is to increase the practicability of the research as well as to clarify the items and layouts of
The quantitative data for this research was collected by conducting an interview survey to
the Indonesians who are living in Peninsula Malaysia. The survey was conducted to 28
Indonesians from both genders. When conducting the interview survey, the researcher briefed
the respondents about the aim of the study and the identity of the researcher. The respondents
were informed that the data collected will be treated with strict confidentiality and will be
reported anonymously. Moreover, the potential respondents were asked to provide basic
demographic information such as age and gender and not personal information like name and
identification number. The participants were also informed that their participation is voluntary
and they may refuse if they do not feel like to answer the questionnaire.
During the data collection process, the respondents ticked the boxes for the 11 items on
language practices that they have involved in maintaining their native language. In the next part,
they decided whether they agree or not with the items on language attitude towards their heritage
language by indicating their level of agreement with each statement on a 5-point Likert scale,
ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). Finally, they were needed to answer the
demographic question by selecting the answers given and filling in the answers that suit their
particular information.
All ethical considerations were observed during the process of data collection. The
confidentiality of the data was assured and the private information like the age and educational
level will not be disclosed to the public. The findings of this study only showed the descriptive
statistics of the demographic information and they will be presented in a form of a summary
The data collected by the researcher was keyed in into Statistical Package for Social
Science (SPSS) and was analyzed by the software. The researcher analyzed the questions by
Descriptive statistics
The researcher will find out the frequencies and percentages of the demographic
information such as gender, age, educational level and occupation of the respondents for this
study. This will clearly show the summary of the characteristics of the respondents in the form of
pie and bar charts. The researcher also will note the frequency, percentage and mean for each
item in the demographic questions. Hence, this statistics will disclose and categorize all the
The target questions in the study will be analyzed by using reliability analysis. This is
necessary to measure the reliability of the measurement questions for this research. The
reliability results for both questions on language attitude as well as practices will be presented in
The chapter highlighted the methodology of collecting and analyzing the data for this
research. It included the research design, sampling, data collection as well as data analysis. In
addition, the procedures taken to ensure the ethical issues were also discussed in this chapter.
The next chapter continues to report the findings and discussion for this current study on
The results of this study obtained by using quantitative method is disclosed and explained
in this section. The researcher presents the result for descriptive statistics in the first section
which is Section 4.2 followed by the result for reliability analysis in the next section (Section
4.3). This chapter also discusses the findings obtained by the researcher and the analyzed results
by comparing them with the previous studies conducted by the scholars (Section 4.4). The
researcher ends this chapter with a brief summary on the findings of this study (Section 4.5).
The researcher analyzed and presented the demographic data of the respondents on the
gender, age, occupation, educational level as well as language used by the respondents in the
charts (refer Appendix 3) and table (Table 1). From the table below, it can be seen that majority
of the respondents were female (n=19). In addition, it can also be seen that most of the
respondents age were 46 years old and above (n=13). The number of respondents who are still
studying has been the highest (n=9) and the level of education obtained by most of the
participants was SMA or SPM (n=11). The table also revealed that most of the respondents
Gender 1.32
Female 19 67.9
Male 9 32.1
Age 2.14
18-25 9 32.1
26-45 6 21.4
46 and above 13 46.4
Occupation 3.89
Student 9 32.1
Cleaner 2 7.1
Cafs worker 4 14.3
Businessman 2 7.1
Housewife 3 10.7
Rubber tapper 2 7.1
Teacher 2 7.1
Government 1 3.6
Not working/retired 3 10.7
Total 28 100%
attitude and practices. The result obtained was presented in the table below (Table 2 & 3). From
the table, it can be seen that the 11 items measuring language practices are reasonably reliable
(p-value = .691) while the 11 items measuring the language attitude are strongly reliable (p-value
= .932).
Reliability Statistics
.691 11
Reliability Statistics
.932 11
The analysis of the data showed that most respondents portrayed positive attitude towards
the Indonesian language as most respondents answered agree for all the 11 items. This explained
the reason why most of the participants are still using the Indonesian language even though they
are currently living in Malaysia which possessed Malay as the dominant language of the
communities (n=17).
The finding of this study regarding language attitude is similar with the result obtained by
King and Fogle (2006). They proposed that the attitude and perception possessed by the speakers
may influence the transmission of the heritage language to their offspring. As a result, the
The finding of this study also revealed that majority of the speakers involved in the
activities to maintain their heritage language and the most popular activity among the speakers is
communicating with others who shared the similar native language. The result is parallel with
the findings of the study conducted by Spolsky (2004) and Yoshida (2007). They suggested that
the usage of heritage language within the speech community as well as in daily activities like
watching drama and listening to music can assist the maintenance of the language.
4.5 Chapter summary and conclusion
The chapter highlighted the findings and discussion for this current study. It includd the
descriptive and inferential statistics as well as discussion for the findings obtained by this present
research and other studies conducted by the past scholars. The next chapter continues to report
the conclusion for this study, the implications as well as the recommendations for future
research.
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION
This chapter highlights the general discussion and implications of the findings as well as
the suggestion for future research. This chapter starts with summarizing the research findings
followed by the implications of those findings on the theory and practical aspects (Section 4.2).
It proceeds by discussing the limitation for this current research and concludes with
recommendation for the future research in different areas of social anxiety disorder (Section 4.3
As mentioned earlier in the introduction, the aims of this study were to investigate the
role played by language attitude and practices on language maintenance. The result of this study
showed that both variables have positive relationship with language maintenance. Hence, the
hypotheses that have been formulated earlier can be accepted. According to Hinton and Hale
(2001), languages that are seen as symbols of a people are more likely to be transmitted from
generation to generation. Their study on the revitalization of the national indigenous languages,
Welsh and Maori, was the evidence that has supported their statement. Thus, it can be concluded
that the perception possessed by the people who are using a language played a significant factor
This current study has some implications on the theory aspect and the first one is the
implication towards Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory (Giles & Johnson, 1987). This can be seen
as this study suggests that language attitude and practices can influence the language
maintenance of the Indonesians living in Malaysia. Then, this study also provides further
understanding on the role played by language attitude and practices in maintaining the native
language of the minority group as this study will complement the study done by Pillai et al.
This study has some implications towards the practitioners and one of them is
enlightening the Indonesians on the importance of practicing the heritage language. This can
assist in the effort of maintaining the heritage language of the minority group. In addition, this
research will also increase the awareness of the Indonesians on the importance of possessing
positive attitude towards their heritage language as this can also aid in the survival of the
language.
4.3 Limitations
There are some limitations that need to be highlighted in this research. One of them is the
time limitation as the period to conduct this research is quite short for this kind of study. A
longer time is needed to find a larger number of respondents to answer the questionnaires and to
gather the data from all states in Malaysia. Therefore, the current result is not completely suitable
to depict all of the Indonesians living in Malaysia as an assumption cannot be made from the
results obtained from just merely 28 respondents. However, despite these drawbacks, the
findings revealed that language attitude and practices have positive relationship with language
maintenance.
All in all, this study suggested that language attitude and practices influenced language
between the language attitude and practices on the language maintenance specifically within
different genders or age groups should be considered in the future. It can be that differences in
genders will result in different language maintenance among the Indonesians in Malaysia. Other
than that, researcher also suggested for an investigation on the language maintenance between
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Appendix
No Research Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week
Activities 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Research
title decided
2 Introduction
developed
3 Literature
review
developed
4 Methodolog
y completed
5 Findings and
discussion
completed
6 Conclusion
completed
7 Appendices
completed
8 Research
submitted
Appendix 2: Questionnaire
Language Maintenance:
An Examination of Language Usage among the Indonesians living in
Malaysia
farhanahzainal131@gmail.com
017-6611203
Dear Sir/Madam,
This study is dealing with the language maintenance of the Indonesians who are living in
Malaysia. The aim of this study is to explore the role of language attitude in influencing
language maintenance among the Indonesians currently staying in as well as to investigate
language practices that assist in maintaining the native language among the Indonesians living in
Malaysia.
farhanahzainal131@gmail.com
Arahan:
Terima kasih atas kesudian anda melapangkan masa untuk menjawab soal selidik
ini. Saya sedang melakukan kajian untuk mengkaji pengekalan bahasa Indonesia
dalam kalangan warga Indonesia yang bermaustatin di Malaysia. Sila jawab setiap
soalan dalam soal selidik ini dengan membulatkan jawapan yang paling tepat. Tidak
terdapat jawapan yang dianggap betul atau salah. Anda tidak perlu mencatit nama
anda di dalam soal selidik ini. Segala data atau maklumat yang diberikan adalah
dianggap sulit dan akan digunakan bagi tujuan penyelidikan ini sahaja. Sila baca
arahan dan soalan dengan teliti. Segala kerjasama dari pihak tuan/puan dalam
menjawab soal selidik ini didahului dengan ucapan jutaan terima kasih.
Instruction:
Thank you for taking your time to answer the questions in this survey. Please give
the best answers that best describe your thoughts or feelings towards the given
statements. In this aspect, there is no right and wrong answer. Please do not write
your name on this questionnaire. Your answer will be used only for research
purpose and will remain strictly confidential. Your cooperation is highly
appreciated.
Aktiviti yang membantu mengekalkan bahasa utama.
Bahagian 1
(Practices that assist in maintaining the heritage language)
Please tick the language practices that help you to maintain your heritage language. You CAN
tick MORE than ONE.
Senarai di bawah adalah kaji selidik mewakili pandangan dan pendapat anda terhadap
pandangan/sikap terhadap bahasa utama. Sila nyatakan tahap persetujuan anda untuk
setiap sifat dengan membulatkan SATU dari lima alternatif.
Listed below are a series of items that represent your opinion on the attitude towards the
heritage language. Please indicate the degree of your agreement or disagreement with each
characteristic by circling ONE of the five alternatives.
1 2 3 4 5
Sangat setuju Setuju Neutral Tidak Sangat tidak
Strongly agree Agree Neutral setuju setuju
Disagree Strongly
disagree
30. Tahap tertinggi pendidikan formal (The highest level of education): ..................................
Terima kasih di atas penyertaan anda dan kerjasama yang telah diberikan kepada saya uuntuk
soal selidik ini.
Thank you very much for your time and cooperation in answering this survey.
Appendix 3: Charts for demographic data
Male
Female
Other
languages
Indonesian
INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
Sociolinguistics
ENCO 2102
SEM 1, 2014/2015
Sociolinguistics Research