AN ANALYSIS OF IDENTIFICATION IN MALAYSIAN PARLIAMENTARY DISCOURSE ON LANGUAGE POLICY

Abstract

Language policy is important in mobilizing citizens for a certain language requirement. As the field is very contentious in nature, a language policy in any country is not free from debates and critiques. It is often associated with many intermediating factors like hegemony, language rights, mother-tongue education, imperialism, globalization, etc. In fact, it is very political. This study examined the Malaysian Parliamentarians’ (MPs) discursive statements on a debatable language issue: the use of English in the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics. 10-year debate transcripts (hansards) that consist of speeches of the government-alliance MPs were analysed to see how they positioned themselves and the policy at the parliamentary level. Adopting a sign-based approach, this research investigates the use of linguistic features of identification in a large pool of data collected from verbatim written transcripts of the Malaysian parliament Dewan Rakyat, which were available online. Results of the study indicated that throughout the debate, whether at the point of supporting or rejecting the implementation of the policy, the MPs used selected identification features to maintain power, clarity, and confidence level, which indirectly gave the picture that they were responsible, credible, and concerned with the citizens’ needs, especially when at the end the government reverted to using mother tongue as the medium of instruction for the two subjects in Malaysian schools. The study is theoretically significant in revealing a critical approach towards language policy in a multilingual country.