Moulding articulate Malaysian citizenry: A study of the relationship between communicative knowledge and communicative practice amongst Malay language teachers

One important role of Malay education is to produce Malaysian citizens who are articulate and efficient daily communicators.This study examined the relationship between knowledge in communicative processes and application of communicative strategies in the teaching of Malay language in primary schools in the state of Terengganu. The study sample consisted of 226 Malay language teachers undergoing graduating process at the Malaysian Institute of Teacher Education (IPGM) and the Institute of Higher Learning (IPTA and IPTS). Questionnaire items were designed using Likert Scale for each variable and the data processed with the Amos 16.0. Analytical results revealed that the level of knowledge and practice of communicative strategies by Malay language teachers in primary schools was moderate at 3.04 min and 2.95 min. Following Guilfold, the was a simple correlation between knowledge on communicative processes with communicative practice amongst Malay language teachers in primary schools with r = 0.61 showing a moderate correlation between the two variables. This meant that the level of knowledge on communicative process had a moderate correlation with the level of implementation of communicative practice amongst Malay language teachers in primary schools. This also meant that the communicative practices did depend on the level of communicative knowledge amongst Malay language teachers.