NARRATIVES OF FOREIGNER’S EXPERIENCES TOWARDS MALAY LANGUAGE IN FRIDAY SERMON: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS

Abstrak

This research aims to examine the narrative of experiences and how the period of residency influences the attitudes of foreign congregations towards the use of Malay in Friday sermons based on their time working in Malaysia. This study focuses on Bangladeshi workers as the main group, to understand the development of their Malay language experience, including aspects of mastery, understanding and emotional response to the language of the sermon. A qualitative approach was used with an exploratory case study design through semi-structured interviews involving 5 informants who were selected through purposive sampling based on the timeline of their working time in Malaysia. The data was recorded, transcribed and analyzed thematically based on the Multicomponent Model of Language Attitude by Colin Baker (1992) which includes cognitive, affective and conative components as an analytical framework. The study findings show that experience and attitudes towards the Malay language develop gradually in line with the length of time they have worked in Malaysia. Informants at the early stages of employment showed limited levels of understanding, vocabulary constraints, difficulty following the speed and formal rhythm of the sermon, and emotional responses that were mixed between confusion, stress and awkwardness. In contrast, informants who had worked for longer showed increased understanding of the main message of the sermon, confidence in interacting in the Malay language and a more positive attitude towards the language as a medium of social and religious integration. In addition to the factors of length of employment, the findings also identified the role of language ecology in the workplace and local community, social support from fellow countrymen, guidance from imams and ustaz, and the instrumental need for the Malay language in work and daily life as important factors that shape and strengthen attitudes. Overall, attitudes towards the Malay language in Friday sermons are not built statically, but rather develop through the interaction between language exposure, social networks in daily life. This study contributes to the field of sociolinguistics on the dynamics of the national language in Friday sermons and the implications for more responsive and inclusive strategies in the context of the foreign worker community in Malaysia.