An Analysis of Malaysian Civic Textbook through a Multicultural Curriculum Framework Tan Sing Yee
Graduate Institute of Curriculum and Instruction,
National Taiwan Normal University
No. 162, Section 1, Heping East Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106
Abstract
This article aims to look at the Malaysian civic education textbook through the multicultural curriculum framework, by using content analysis method. The article analyzes the civic textbook for secondary one to five, focusing on the theme of Warisan Kepelbagaian Budaya Malaysia. The major goal of multicultural education is to bridge the gap so as students from diverse background will experience educational equality. Extending from the multicultural education concept, Santora (1995) presented a multicultural curriculum framework that can empower students in the knowledge and skill dimension so that they can participate in a pluralistic society as a citizen. While Malaysia is a multicultural society by nature and by discourse, the question arise as what kind of multicultural concept is presented in the textbook and if the concept is aligned or shaping the multiculturalism concept in the society. The preliminary findings show that the concept of multicultural presented in the textbook is very much highlighted to the differences of the different ethnicities, without the element of empowering students’ participatory skills in a pluralistic society. In light of the findings, the multicultural concept is reflecting the national discourse of multiculturalism, acting as an agent to bring stabilization to the country.
