Mohamed Salleh, Rabiah Tul Adawiyah and Di Biase, Bruno and Kawaguchi, Satomi
(2022)
The onset of English lexical acquisition among
Malaysian preschoolers.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.
ISSN 0143-4632
(In Press)
Abstract
English is undoubtedly an important language for educational and socioeconomic mobility in numerous countries including Malaysia. Regardless of its importance, studies to document English language acquisition among Malaysian children acquiring English in the local context remain scarce. This normative data is imperative for syllabus-designers, policymakers, teachers and linguists to understand and to develop materials that are developmentally sensitive and contextualised to the local setting. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present the onset of English lexical acquisition among 99 Malaysian preschoolers at the beginning of formal instruction. The 99 children were pupils in 3 public
preschools in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The children’s language production was elicited in individual communicative tasks. Their lexical output, both in English and Malay were analysed based on the children’s language choice during the session as well as the frequencies of types and tokens. The results indicate that Malaysian preschoolers displayed a limited range of productive abilities and age-sensitive vocabulary in
English at the beginning of formal instruction. However, at that point, the children already possess receptive skills greater than their productive skills. Based on the findings, implications for pedagogy are also discussed.
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Download Statistics
Download Statistics