A3 Najeemah 2012 Study of Social Interaction PDF

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Study of social interaction among

students of Vision Schools in Malaysia
a
Najeemah Mohd Yusof
a
School of Educational Studies, University Science of Malaysia
(USM), Penang, Malaysia
Version of record first published: 24 Jan 2012.
To cite this article: Najeemah Mohd Yusof (2012): Study of social interaction among students of
Vision Schools in Malaysia, Asian Ethnicity, 13:1, 47-73
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Asian Ethnicity
Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2012, 47–73
Study of social interaction among students of Vision Schools in Malaysia

Najeemah Mohd Yusof*
School of Educational Studies, University Science of Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia

Downloaded by [Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris] at 06:08 23 October 2012
The purpose of this study is to examine the social interaction among students of
various ethnic groups at Vision Schools in Malaysia. The focus is mainly on Malays,
Chinese and Indians with a sample size of 642 students. This research applies the
quantitative and qualitative approach. For the qualitative approach, the researcher
used focus group interviews and observations to examine social interaction among
students of various ethnic groups. In this research there is one independent variable
to explain and predict eleven independent variables. Hypotheses were analysed using
post-hoc and multivariate analysis at a p 5 0.05 significance level. Findings of the
study indicated there were significant difference in the mean score levels for all the
independent variables. Study showed high social distance scale for Malay and
Chinese students. All the dependent variables effected social interaction among
students. Based on the results various suggestions have been recommended and it is
hoped that these suggestions will help those involved in teaching and learning to
have a better understanding concerning social interaction among Malay, Chinese
and Indian students at Vision Schools in Malaysia.
Keywords: Vision Schools; multiethnic; Malays; Chinese; Indians; social
interaction
Introduction
The establishment of a country which contains various ethnic groups very much
depends on its stability of politics, economy and society. Ethnic’s harmony would
only be achieved through social interaction. Closer social interaction that developed
between ethnics causes stronger unity amongst people of the country. Social
interaction of the people will determine the stability of the politics, society, economy
and the entire citizen’s well-being. Social Interaction between various ethnic groups
can be nurtured through the national curriculum which orientates harmony.1
Socialization should be sown to children at an earlier age and schools are the perfect
place to cultivate this skill.
Malaysia is one of the examples of multiethnic (multiracial) countries around the
world. In fact Malaysia represents the true meaning of a diverse society in many
ways such as; race, language and religion. Population wise, Malaysian society is
consisted of Malays 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, Indigenous 11%, Indians 7.1% and
others 7.8%. In term of language we witness a huge variety such as; Bahasa Malaysia
(official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan and
*Email: najineen@usm.my
1
Vander Zanden, American Minority Relations.
ISSN 1463-1369 print/ISSN 1469-2953 online

Ó 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2012.625697
http://www.tandfonline.com
48 N.M. Yusof
Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai and several indigenous

languages which most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan. The same goes to
religion as Malaysian society practices many different religions like; Islam,
Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Bahaism and also Shamanism
in East Malaysia. Looking at this scenario shows us how difficult it can be to keep
such diverse texture of society in harmony and provide a fair and equal system of
education for it based on understanding and respect. In such a diverse society, the
education system should be able of adopting a guideline to address the cultural and
ethnical needs of each group and at the same time keep the society in the frame of
national community.
The Malaysian education system is consisted of three different forms of schools;
firstly the government-sponsored schools (National Schools), secondly, private

schools and thirdly, home- schooling. As the matter of fact, the Malaysian system
of education is extremely centralized especially when it comes to primary and
secondary schools. Based on the Malaysian constitution, the Malaysian Ministry of
Education is responsible of providing the National Education Policy based on the
National Ideology or as it called ‘Rukunegara’ in Malay language. The principles
of the National Ideology are; Believing in God, Loyalty to the King and the
country, Upholding the constitution, Rule of law and Good behaviour and
morality.
The main aims of the Government Educational Policy are to: (1) Equip students
with the essential skills in a holistic and integrated manner, in order to produce
individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced;
as well as functionally literate; (2) Inculcate and nurture national consciousness by
promoting common ideals, values, aspirations and loyalties to foster national unity
and national identity; (3) Produce skilled manpower for economic and national
development; and (4) Instil desired moral values in students so that they can
contribute effectively towards nation building.
Statements of problem
Education system practised in Malaysia in primary level shows students being
segregated according to all different ethnic school, which is Malay students will go
to National Schools, Chinese students go to National Chinese Schools and Indian
students go to National Tamil Schools. Nungsari Ahmad Radhi2 states that during
the past three decades, clearly there has been a compartmentalization of race and
type of schools. Hence, an environment for all ethnics will speed up the process of
national integration. In order to tackle these issues, the Malaysian government
decided to introduce a new type of primary schools in 2004 under the name of
Vision Schools. Vision schools are primary schools with the concept of children
learning together within an area without regard for race or religion. Under this
concept, two or three primary schools of different streams are placed in the same
area. Each school will have its own building which can be joined to the other
schools by a link-way. This system is at its testing period and there are just five of
them throughout Malaysia. In this system, as it has mentioned before, three main
types of schools (National, National Chinese and National Tamil) gather together
2
Nungsari Ahmad Radhi, ‘Is Malaysia Going Supply Side?’.
Asian Ethnicity 49
at a same place under the name of Vision School Complex. Each school is
separated from the other one and acts independently from its administrative system
to its curriculum. Each school follows its national curriculum without interfering
with the other one.
The most important factor which makes this type of school different from the
ordinary schools is the notion of making students from different ethnic backgrounds
enable of interacting with each other during the break times and also some other
joint co-curriculum activities. This plan is being considered as an innovative option
to address the main issues of preserving ethnic cultures and supporting inter-racial
integration to sustain the national unity of the country.
Some of the main objectives of this system of schooling have been demonstrated
by the Malaysian Ministry of Education as: fostering solidarity among the pupils of
different races and backgrounds, instilling the spirit of integration among pupils of
different streams, producing a generation that is tolerant and understanding so as to
realize a united nation and encouraging maximum interaction among the pupils
through the sharing of school facilities and implementation of other activities at
school.
Objectives of the study

(1) To identify the difference of social interaction between same ethnics or
different ethnic groups among students in Vision School.
(2) To identify the variables of factors that motivates and restricts socialization
among students in Vision School.
(3) To identify the role of teachers and administrators in developing social
interaction among students of different ethnic in Vision School.
Matters of the study

There are several questions below that emerge from this study:
(1) Is there any difference between the factors of the motivation and restriction in
the social interaction among students in Vision School?
(2) Are teachers and administrators responsible of promoting social interaction
among students in Vision School?
Conceptual frameworks of the study

Based on the factors explained above, a conceptual framework is drawn to explain
the study. Figure 1 shows the conceptual frameworks of the study.
Importance of the study

Information from this study can be applied by various parties such as Ministry
of Education Malaysia, State Education Department or District Education Office
in implementing any programme in multi-ethnic schools. This study is relied
to help the ministry to examine characteristics of surroundings that need to
be given attention especially those that can affect the socialisation among
children.
50 N.M. Yusof
Figure 1. Conceptual framework.
Figure 2. Model 1: limited interaction pattern among ethnics.
Review of related studies

Social interaction pattern
Social interaction pattern can be categorized to a few models.3 Model 1 as shown in
Figure 2 shows the interaction pattern that develops when two or more ethnic group
socially interact using the same language
According to the Figure 2 above, x is the Malay language used to socially interact
and the social interaction pattern between the ethnic groups of Malay, Chinese and
Indian is limited.4 The situation mentioned above can happen during the early stage
of going to a Vision School where students have not know their classmates who are
from different ethnic groups.
3
Miller, The Analysis Of Subjective Culture.
4
Ibid.
Asian Ethnicity 51
Figure 3. Model 2: minimum interaction pattern among ethnics.

Figure 4. Model 3: maximum interaction pattern among ethnics.
Figure 5. Profile of students according to type of schools.
Figure 6. Profile of students according to gender.
Figure 7. Profile of students according to race.

52 N.M. Yusof
Figure 8. Mother’s primary education.

Figure 9. Mother’s secondary education.
Figure 10. Mother’s tertiary education.
Figure 11. Father’s primary education.
Figure 12. Father’s secondary education.
Figure 13. Father’s tertiary education.

Asian Ethnicity 53
Model 2 as shown in Figure 3 shows the social interaction pattern is at a

minimum level.5 At this level, students start to know their classmates of other ethnic
groups.
Model 3 as shown in Figure 4 shows a better social interaction pattern has been
developed. At this level, students can interact well because they understand and
respect the differences among various ethnic groups.
Based on Figure 4, the black spot shows the interaction is maximum. At this
level, students can interact better in a multi-ethnic cultured environment.
School environment
This study will focus on identifying the environment which can increase the social
interaction between students of different ethnic groups in a Vision School.
Role of teachers
Brophy6 states teachers provide environment for students to learn. According to
Levine & Levine (1996), an effective teacher is able to give time and space for
students to learn, communicate well, give orders at a level which students can
understand so that they can success eventually.
Role of administrators
In a school management system, the cooperation between administrator, teacher
and support staff is very essential to achieve education goals.7 Many
administrators only give emphasis to academic aspect and neglect social
interaction problem between various ethnics of students.8 They play an important
role not only ensuring students can get the best academic achievements but also
ensuring students from different ethnic groups can socially interact well.
Factors which influence the social interaction pattern

There are many factors that influence social interaction. In this study factors that
are considered are language, ethnic boundary, ethnic identity, social distance,
friendship pattern, prejudice, stereotype and family background. According to9
language is a device to speak and communicate.10 views language as a symbol that
shows the society social integration pattern. Ethnic boundary is a nature of social
interaction pattern which reinforces an internal group’s identification. A thick or
thin ethnic boundary is determined by the ethnic identity and the social distance
among various ethnic groups. If the ethnic boundary is thick, the social interaction
is less; and if it is thin, the social interaction is good.
One of the factors which affects ethnic boundary is ethnic identity. The
development of ethnic identity among multi racial students is one very important
5
Miller, The Analysis Of Subjective Culture.
6
Brophy, ‘Teacher behavior and its effects’.
7
Fitz, The School in the Multicultural Society.
8
Ibid.
9
Asmah, ‘Patterns of Language Communication in Malaysia’.
10
De Vos, ‘Back In Black’.
54 N.M. Yusof
assignment which is to be carried out in schools. Ethnic identity includes ethnic

consciousness, ethnic identification, ethnic attitude, ethnic behaviour which will all
affect the ethnic boundary. Social distance is a separation or social dissociation
which really exists among individuals, or groups. Social distance scale designed by
Borgardus is applied by many researchers in measuring the majority group’s
perception over the minority group.11 Willmont12 describes friendship as a voluntary
and close relationship. Friendship provides one the opportunity to socialize. Allport
(1978) states prejudice is one kind of antipathy based on wrong and stilted
generalization. Prejudice can be felt or stated.
On the other hand, Vander Zander13 defines stereotype as less scientific and less
trusted generalization about what others do to others whether as individual or
group. Stereotype is closely related to category, where a group of individuals is put

together as if they all have the same characteristics. Prejudice is the attitude or
subjective feelings whereas discrimination is an obvious behaviour. Discrimination
means different treatment to those who belong to some particular category.
According to Berry14, even though prejudice and discrimination often closely
related to each other, we cannot tell which is the cause and which is the effect.
Sometimes, prejudice can exist without discrimination and discrimination can
exist without prejudice. The context of family background in this study is
socialization, accommodation, and family socio-economic status. The focus of the
study is on the social interaction of parents with various ethnics. According to
Coombs15, the style of rearing children influences how children interact at
schools. Children who are seldom taught about his or her surrounding
environment (neighbour) do not often mix around with other children of
different ethnics.
From the survey of Najeemah Mohd Yusof in several primary schools at Sungai
Petani, Kedah, result shows many students are from the same environment or having
neighbours of the same ethnic (95%). Thus, the opportunity to socially interact with
other ethnics is minimal. Hence, the multi-ethnic environment in National
Secondary Schools is hoped to create interaction opportunity. As such, the focus
of this study is related to the study of Coombs.16
Methods of research
Designs of quantitave and qualitative Study
This study will apply the qualitative and quantitative methods in the collection and
analysis of data. A combined model named Model Quan-Qual is applied in this
study. Discussion will focus on the strategies and approaches of quantitative and
qualitative research. This research uses questionnaire instrument. There are a total of
116 questions in the questionnaire which is divided into three dimensions: Structure
Dimension, Behaviour Dimension and Process Dimension. The structure of the
research questions’ formation is based on the model of Bloom and Dahloff in
Wright.
11
Bois, Racism and Education.
12
Willmont, ‘Polarisation and Social Housing’.
13
Vander Zander, American Minority Relations.
14
Berry, Acculturation As Varieties of Adaption.
15
Coombs, ‘Race Differences in Childrens’ Friendsip’.
16
Ibid.
Asian Ethnicity 55
The questionnaire has been rearranged and divided into three main parts:
(1) Family Background Inventory
(2) Language, Ethnic Boundary, and, Prejudice and Stereotype.
(3) Outdoor Interaction, Teacher’s Role, and School Administrator’s Role
Inventory
All information obtained in the questionnaire will be analyzed using Statistical

Packages For Social Science programme (SPSS). Overall information will be
presented in descriptive form which shows the percentage and mean. At the same
time, differential test also will be conducted to further strengthen this study by using
Anova Post-Hoc as a measurement.
Findings of study
In this section testing of the hypothesis will be discussed
All examination has been done using the ANOVA test. If the result shows the
probability value is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis (Ho) will be rejected.
Examination of hypothesis No. 1

Ho1: There is no significant difference among students of different schools with the
language factors.
Ha1: There is a significant different among students of different schools with the
language factors.
The probability value shows 0.000. Hence, examination proves that there is
a significant difference among students of different schools with the language
factors.

ethnic or cultural boundary factors.
Ha2: There is a significant difference among students of different schools with the ethnic
or cultural boundary factors.
The probability value shows 0.000. Hence, examination proves that there is a
significant difference among students of different schools with the ethnic or cultural
boundary factors.

ethnic identity factors.
Ha3: There is a significant difference among students of different schools with the ethnic
identity factors.
significant difference among students of different schools with the ethnic identity
factors.
56 N.M. Yusof

prejudice factors.
Ha4: There is a significant difference among students of different schools with the
prejudice factors.
Table 1. Significant difference in the language factor.
School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Significance

SK 254 2.77 0.30 222.862 0.000

SRJKC 248 2.11 0.39
SRJKT 140 2.32 0.37
Total 642 2.42 0.46
Table 2. Significant difference in the ethnic or cultural boundary factor.

SK 254 1.84 0.35 86.111 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.11 0.41
SRJKT 140 2.36 0.39
Total 642 2.06 0.43
Table 3. Significant difference in the ethnic identity factor.

SK 254 2.06 0.26 81.934 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.25 0.25
SRJKT 140 2.41 0.30
Total 642 2.21 0.30
Table 4. Significant difference in the prejudice factor.

SK 254 2.19 0.26 78.020 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.45 0.25
SRJKT 140 2.55 0.30
Total 642 2.37 0.34
Table 5. Significant difference in the sterotype factor.

SK 254 2.58 0.38 8.843 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.70 0.34
SRJKT 140 2.54 0.54
Total 642 2.62 0.41
Asian Ethnicity 57
significant difference among students of different schools with the prejudice factors.

stereotype factors.
stereotype factors.
significant difference among students of different schools with the stereotype factors.

outdoor factors.
outdoor factors.
significant difference among students of different schools with the outdoor factors.

teacher’s role factors.
teacher’s role factors.
significant difference among students of different schools with the teacher’s role
factors.
Table 6. Significant difference in the outdoor factor.

SK 254 1.67 0.42 91.036 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.03 0.44
SRJKT 140 2.27 0.48
Total 642 1.94 0.50
Table 7. Significant difference in the teachers’ role.

SK 254 2.47 0.37 12.409 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.61 0.33
SRJKT 140 2.48 0.33
Total 642 2.53 0.35
58 N.M. Yusof
school administration factors.
Ha8: There is a significant difference among students of different schools with the school
administration factors.
significant difference among students of different schools with the school
administration factors.
Observation
The observation is on every Thursday and Friday from 8.00am to 2.30pm in Kedah,
Penang and Northern Perak as well as on Saturday during the co-curriculum activities.
Summary of the observation is as in Table 9:
Problems or conflicts
Language is the problem in interaction. Chinese and Indian students from SRJKC and
SRJKT seldom speak Malay. They only mix with their own race. They also seldom
speak to their teachers except those who are prefects. Class teacher, Male.
Problems do happen because of stereotype, but, not very often. They fight because
Malay students call Indian students ‘pariah’ and Indian students call Malay students
‘babi’. These problems cannot be avoided. We punish them, but, it happens again with
other students. Administrator, Male.
Table 8. Significant difference in the school administrator’s role.

SK 254 2.19 0.40 69.703 0.000
SRJKC 248 2.56 0.43
SRJKT 140 2.64 0.44
Total 642 2.43 0.46
Table 9. Observation check list.
Venue Results of observation

School canteen - Generally, students eat with friends of their own race.
- Only a few students is friendly and sometimes sit with friends of
other races.
School field - Generally, students only play with friends of their own race.
Assembly hall - Generally, students line up with friends of their own race.
- Some do talk with friends of other races.
Co-curriculum places - Generally, students have the activities with friends of their own
race.
- They will only mix with other races when forced by teachers.
- Sometimes, they even go back to their own group after a while.
Gathering places - Generally, students wait for their transportation with friends of
after schools their own race.
Asian Ethnicity 59
Table 10. Race of neighbour’s parents.
Race of neighbour’s parents Number Percentage (%)

Unknown 5 0.80
Malay 97 15.10
Chinese 40 6.20
Indian 58 9.00
Others 4 0.60
Malay and Chinese 95 14.80
Malay and Indian 19 3.00
Chinese and Indian 8 1.20
Chinese and others 9 1.40
Malay, Chinese and Indian 187 29.10
Malay, Chinese and others 16 2.50

Malay, Indian and others 3 0.50
Chinese, Indian and others 2 0.30
Malay, Chinese, Indian and others 99 15.40
Total 642 100.00
Table 11. Parents’ encouragement in making friends according to race.
Race type which parents encourage to befriend with Number Percentage (%)
Unknown 15 2.4
Malay 152 23.7
Chinese 112 17.4
Indian 57 8.9
Others 15 2.3
Malay and Chinese 52 8.1
Malay and Indian 9 1.4
Chinese and Indian 5 0.8
Chinese and others 7 1.1
Malay, Chinese and Indian 1 0.2
Malay, Chinese and others 123 19.2
Malay, Indian and others 4 0.6
Chinese, Indian and others 1 0.2
Malay, Chinese, Indian and others 89 13.9
Total 642 100.00
Female students always come to see me to complain that Malay male students who pull
their coifs. They also tease them with words like ‘achi’, ‘lembek’, ‘seksi’, ‘ada parut’,
‘gemuk’ to Chinese and Indian girls. So, I always report to discipline teachers for afraid
a fight may occur. Chinese and Indian students seldom tease at Malay female students.
Counsellor, Female.
Fights and misunderstandings are common between students of different ethnic and
mostly among students of Standard 6. Sometimes, misunderstandings can happen
simply because of touching shoulders only. This can lead a fight and spread to other
groups of ethnic. Other students will just support their own ethnic group without even
care who is at fault. Discipline teacher, Male.
Social interaction phenomenon among students of multi-ethnic in school is not too bad.
Female students can interact well. I always stress about good relationship in the
assembly. I ask teachers to involve their students from different ethnic groups in school
activities. There is no problem in this Vision School. Administrator, Female.
60 N.M. Yusof
I think students from Vision School can interact better. They already know students of
other ethnic groups. In this school, there are many students from SRK. I see them
discussing their study together. In the canteen, they can interact well. Sit and eat
together and also at the same time chatting. Administrator, Male.
Opinions
Some suggestions have been provided by teachers and administrators regarding the
factors which affect the social interaction among the multi-ethnic students as below:
Although students are from city or rural area, they do possess some similarities from the
language and cultural aspect. Administrator, Male.
Students should respect the culture and religion of others. Teachers have to stress this
point in classroom. Discipline Teacher, Male.

Students have problem to adapt themselves between home and school. At home, they
speak different language, free, no need to interact with other race, eat and wear
differently as well. This makes them more easily to interact with their own race.
Counsellor, Male.
Teachers play an important role in exhibiting healthy way of social interaction in

school. In school, there are always teachers who sit with teachers of the same
ethnic group in the office. During assembly as well, teachers sit with their own
race. This situation often is watched by students and they too follow this negative
behaviour.
As for me, if we want to produce harmony in school, principal and teachers should play
their own part. They have to interact with students regardless of race and also fair and
square. Administrator, Male.
Findings, implications, conclusions and suggestions

Findings and discussions
Student’s residence environment and social interaction pattern
Based on the analysis of the questionnaires, majority of the parents went to mono-
ethnic primary schools namely National Schools, National Chinese Schools and
National Tamil Schools. According to the research of Lemore and Romo, parents in
multi-racial society often send their children to mono-ethnic schools because parents
do not have the chance to fully assimilate. Parents feel more comfortable by sending
their children to mono-ethnic schools.
As many as 642 schoolchildren were taken randomly from schools selected as
sample for this research. From the total, as much as 39.60% is from National
Schools (SK), 38.60% of National Chinese Schools (SRJKC) and 21.80% of
National Tamil Schools (SRJKT)
The number of male students is 251 (39.10%), wheeras the number of female
students is 391 (60.90%).
From the aspect of race, there are 269 (41.90%) Malay students, followed by 233
(36.30%) of Chinese students and 140 (21.80%) Indian students.
It is imperative that family background of students is highlighted because the quality
of children’s social interactions increases as their parents’ education levels decreases.
70% of students whose parents’ are from National Secondary Schools (SMK) had
Asian Ethnicity 61
Table 12. Malay language as students’ communication language.
Never Seldom Always

Items of language factors No. % No. % No. %
Speak Malay in classroom 37 5.80 292 45.50 313 48.80
Speak Malay during 117 18.20 235 36.60 290 45.20
co-curriculum activities.
Read books or other 23 3.60 260 40.50 359 55.90
materials in Malay.
Malay as the main 133 20.70 221 34.40 288 44.90
communication language
used in school
Malay language is the 465 72.40 107 16.70 70 10.90

restraint of communicating
with other races.
positive social interactions with their peers often or very often, compared with more
than 80 percent of those whose mothers possessed a diploma or college degree. In this
study most of the parents’ are from the National Secondary Schools (SMK).
The background of neighbours is vital because individuals who regularly talk
with their neighbours are less influenced by the racial and ethnic character of their
surroundings than people who lack such social interaction. Racial composition of
neighbours in this study is more multi-ethnic which shows that social interaction is
more multi-ethnic.
Language and social interaction pattern

Based on the quantitative data in Table 12, Malay language is always used in speaking
among students of various ethnics in the classrooms, co-curriculum activities and also
a communication language in Vision Schools. However, many Chinese and Indian
students state that they are afraid being teased when mispronounce or use the
intonation and sentence wrongly in Malay language because they are used to speak in
their own mother tongue. According to Jacob and Beer17, language is a tool to convey
ideas, values, skills and aspirations among people and strengthen relationship among
people. Based on the qualitative analysis, Malay language is seldom used as a tool as
mentioned above because the usage is less comprehensive.
Ethnic boundary and social interaction pattern

Entailed in ethnic or cultural boundaries of students are situations of social contact
between persons of different cultures: ethnic groups only persist as significant units if
they imply marked difference in behaviour, i.e. persisting cultural differences. Yet
where persons of different culture interact, one would expect these differences to he
reduced, since interaction both requires and generates a congruence of codes and
values - in other words, a similarity or community of culture. Thus the persistence of
ethnic groups in contact implies not only criteria and signals for identification, but
also a structuring of interaction which allows the persistence of cultural differences.
The profile of students towards factors of ethnic or cultural boundary must be
17
Jacob and Beer. ‘Interventions Against ‘‘Racial’’ Disadvantage’.
62 N.M. Yusof
general for all inter-ethnic relations is a systematic set of rules governing interethnic
social encounters. In all organized social life, what can be made relevant to
interaction in any particular social situation is prescribed. If people agree about these
prescriptions, their agreement on codes and values need not extend beyond that
which is relevant to the social situations in which they interact. Stable interethnic
relations presuppose such a structuring of interaction: a set of prescriptions
governing situations of contact, and allowing for articulation in activities as shown
in Tables 13 and 14.
The result of the quantitative analysis proves that the ethnic boundary of
students in Form 2 and Form 4 is significant and ‘less’ on the whole. When is ‘less’,
then the ethnic boundary is thick. This also proves that although students are in a
multi-ethnic environment, they do not try to understand the culture of other ethnics.
If the ethnic boundary is thick among students of various ethnic, the country’s aim
to achieve unity through ‘Dasar Pendidikan Malaysia’ may be difficult.
Prejudice and social interaction pattern

According to Allport18, individual who has think ethnic boundary often has high
prejudices. These two factors are said to be closely related. The attitude that has been
developed after six years in one environment in Vision School is negative which
cause prejudice to develop.
Stereotype and social interaction pattern

Based on the findings, Malay and Indian students are having the most stereotypes on
them compared to Chinese students. In a plural society, emotions and feelings are too
flexible.19 Hence, any differences will cause anathematization. According to Katz20,
obvious prods such as lazy, dirty, and noisy produce stereotypes between different
ethnic groups. Also, Katz21 mentions that if a student who has more friends of out-
groups, and then there will be fewer stereotypes because the difference between them
have been identified and understood. Findings prove Katz’s statement where students
from mono-ethnic environment only befriend with in-groups.
Outdoor interaction and social interaction pattern

Result from the analysis in Table 17 shows that students seldom socially interact
with other ethnics when they are already out of the classroom. Only during camping
activities, students of different ethnics often socially interact with each other.
According to Theory of Group Relationship, there are four processes which closely
related during a relationship: learning of out-groups, exchange of behaviour,
creating objective ties, and re-evaluation of in-groups. This theory can be applied
during camping activities.
A set of questions was given to students to gauge their social interaction outside
the classroom. Table 17 shows the items with the students input.
18
Allport, The Nature of Prejudice.
19
Katz, The Acquisition Of Racial Attitudes.
20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
Asian Ethnicity 63
Table 13. Profile of students towards factors of ethnic or cultural boundary.
Never Seldom Always

Items of ethnic or cultural boundary factors No. % No. % No. %
Follow friend’s normal customs when visiting 223 34.70 148 23.10 271 42.20
to their house.
Parents scold their children if they bring 506 78.80 100 15.60 36 5.60
friends of other races to their house.
Celebrate Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and 246 38.30 209 32.60 187 29.10
Deepavali together with friends, share
snacks in class.
Send greeting cards and birthday cards to 254 39.60 234 36.40 154 24.00
friends of other races.

Eat other race’s food. 180 28.00 249 38.80 213 33.20
Listen songs and see pictures of other races. 78 12.10 261 40.70 303 47.20
Same hobby with friends of other races 165 25.70 267 41.60 210 32.70
provides opportunity to interact.
Exchange food, drink, clothes, books and 429 66.80 151 23.50 62 9.70
notes with friends of other races.
Table 14. Profile of students towards factors of ethnic identity.
Never Seldom Always

Items of ethnic identity factors No. % No. % No. %
Only interact with friends of same race 221 34.40 143 22.30 278 43.30
Only interact with friends of other races. 344 53.60 252 39.30 46 7.20
Will be derided by friends of own race if seen 469 73.10 131 20.40 42 6.50
eating with friends of other races.
helping friends of other races.
going out with friends of other races.
Feel comfortable with friends of other races. 104 16.20 286 44.50 252 39.30
Feel pleasant seeing friends of own race with 72 11.20 242 37.70 328 51.10
Buy things at shop owned by people of own 114 17.80 211 32.90 317 49.40
race.
Talk about the good of own race to friends of 198 30.80 263 41.00 181 28.20
other races.
Invite friends of other races to join my race’s 449 69.90 142 22.10 51 7.90
religion activity.
Sing songs of Malay, Chinese and Indian with 252 39.30 256 39.90 134 20.90
friends in the class.
Feel angry when my friends do not respect the 100 15.60 146 22.70 396 61.70
national anthem
Teacher’s role and social interaction pattern

According to the research, students state that teachers do not play their part
responsibly in developing social interaction among students of various ethnic.
Teachers should not have prejudices on ethnics because in a Vision School, students
are of different ethnics. Throughout the observation, teachers only teach and seldom
64 N.M. Yusof
Table 15. Profile of students towards prejudice factors.
Never Seldom Always

Items of prejudice factors No. % No. % No. %
Think of friends of other races as not as clever 493 76.80 129 20.10 20 3.10
as his or her own race
My own religion is higher than other race’s 339 52.80 121 18.80 182 28.30
religion.
Feels pointless in befriending people of other 503 78.30 105 16.40 34 5.30
races.
My own race is the most successful compare to 321 50.00 239 37.20 82 12.80
others.
Feel uncomfortable going to other race’s house 384 59.80 213 33.20 45 7.00
to celebrate birthday or any other
celebration.
Feel disgusted with the food of other races. 384 59.80 199 31.00 59 9.20
Feel uncomfortable to eat at a friend’s house of 380 59.20 167 26.00 95 14.80
other races.
Lend money to friends of other races. 314 48.90 227 35.40 101 15.70
Trust friends of other races to keep my money 301 46.90 206 32.10 35 21.00
or things.
My race is given better hospitality in school. 92 14.30 172 26.80 378 58.90
The school management favours to a 460 71.10 124 19.30 58 9.00
particular race.
Table 16. Profile of students towards stereotype factors.
Never Seldom Always

Items of stereotype factors No. % No. % No. %
My race is being mocked at with particular 372 57.90 179 27.90 91 14.20
appellation.
Students of other races cannot be close friends 348 64.20 225 35.00 69 10.70
of mine.
My religion is being ridiculed. 512 79.80 73 11.40 57 8.90
Must speak rudely with friends of other 540 84.10 76 11.80 26 4.00
ethnics.
My race is being humiliated in school. 499 77.70 107 16.70 36 5.60
pay attention to the social interaction pattern among students of various ethnic.
Herrington and Curtis22 states that teachers should prepare material, information
and visual teaching aids about multi ethnic so that students have the exposure of
multi-ethnic society. Teachers and administrators can play an extremely valuable
role in creating a truly multicultural environment in their school by giving a
prominent place to students’ culture in everyday school life. This means going
beyond the annual multicultural food festival, or the occasional lesson. Creating a
truly multicultural school milieu implies viewing every aspect of the curriculum from
the perspective of other cultures. By doing so, students, who are typically perceived
as being in need of remediation, gain significant status as valuable resources.
Students perceptive of teachers and administrators are shown in Table 18.
22
Herrington and Curtis, ‘Education And Multiethnic Integration’.
Asian Ethnicity 65
Table 17. Profile of students towards outdoor interaction factors.
Never Seldom Always

Items of outdoor interaction No. % No. % No. %
I go to canteen with friends of other races 294 45.80 224 34.90 154 19.30
I talk with friends of other races while waiting 196 30.50 258 40.20 188 29.30
for parents.
I choose association which has most of the 125 19.50 219 34.10 298 46.40
members of my race.
I interact with friends of other races in some 186 29.00 264 41.10 192 29.90
activities.
I help friends of other races during co- 178 27.70 263 41.00 201 31.30
curriculum activities.
I involve in activities of association with 199 31.00 229 35.70 214 33.30
I have the chance to interact with friends of 199 31.00 278 43.30 165 25.70
other races during co-curriculum activities.
I choose association which has members of 264 41.10 252 39.30 126 19.60
other races.
I have interest in activities which has multi 118 18.40 324 50.50 200 31.20
races.
I support friends of my own race in a 227 35.40 218 34.00 197 30.70
competition.
Administrator’s role and social interaction pattern

The analysis of the hypothesis examination shows that administrators do not play
their role in developing social interaction among students of different ethnics.
Students state that teachers and administrators only emphasize on academic
achievements.
Although ‘Wawasan Pendidikan’ has planned an education programme to
achieve the ‘zero defect’ target in all aspects of education, this vision is less effective
in exhibiting the role of administrators in increasing the social interaction pattern
among students of various ethnicities. This statement is proven by the observation
done in Vision School during the assembly every Sunday and Monday morning
where harmony of various ethnic is very seldom being mentioned by administrator.
Principal also seldom reproach teachers who always like to sit together according to
their own ethnic group in the office and even during assembly. The administrator has
to be free of racial prejudices and ethnocentrism when dealing with students of
different religion and ethnic. This is very important because Malaysia has population
of multi-ethnic. Role of administrators is shown in Table 19 below
Implications
Theory/model implications
According to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecology Development Theory, the children’s
residence environment, family and everything else which has contact with them
will affect the interaction. This theory proves students in Malaysia of multi ethnic
can socially interact if there is frequent contact among them. Findings on the study
show that students’ environmental factors are very important in developing social
66 N.M. Yusof
interaction. Thus, the combination of Structure Dimension, Behaviour Dimension,

and Process Dimension will make a comprehensive explanation on the social
interaction phenomenon.
Research implications
This research will help local researchers who wish to replicate with the measuring
tools used for this study to investigate other phenomenon related with social
interaction pattern in the future. Apart from that, this study will also contribute to
the improvement of the quality for the effects of variable on the social interaction
Table 18. Profile of students towards teacher’s role factors.
Never Seldom Always

Items of role of teachers No. % No. % No. %
Teacher gives equal chances to all races 40 6.20 120 18.70 482 75.10
Teacher favours over one particular race only. 506 78.80 72 11.20 64 10.00
Teacher assigns seats so that everyone sits with 343 53.40 199 31.00 100 15.60
Teacher cares about all races in classroom. 67 10.40 104 16.20 471 73.40
Teacher explains the importance of respecting the 30 4.70 116 18.10 496 77.30
culture and religion of all races.
In all group activities, teacher assigns student to 105 16.40 188 29.30 349 54.40
mix with students of other races.
Teacher encourages harmony. 44 6.90 132 20.60 466 72.60
Teacher’s interaction with students of all races is 30 4.70 132 20.60 480 74.80
good.
Teacher creates opportunity for all races to 102 15.90 151 23.50 389 60.60
interact in class.
Teacher gives equal chances for all to participate 52 8.10 175 27.70 415 64.60
in every activity.
Teacher derogates students because of their races. 508 79.10 65 10.10 69 10.70
Table 19. Profile of students towards school’s administration factors.
Never Seldom Always

Items of prejudice factors No. % No. % No. %
There are activities which create interaction 54 8.40 189 29.40 399 62.10
among all races
During assembly, administrator always reinforces 44 6.90 153 23.80 445 69.30
the importance of interaction among multi
races.
Interaction between administrator and students of 48 7.50 145 22.60 449 69.90
all races is good.
When there is conflict between students of other 51 7.90 194 30.20 39.4 61.80
races with administrators, problem is always
solved.
Canteen sells all races’ foods. 224 34.90 191 29.80 22.7 35.40
Celebration of every races is celebrated together. 125 19.50 222 34.60 295 46.00
Asian Ethnicity 67
pattern if the measurement scale for the variables of this study can be taken in as the
norm together with other measuring methods.
Suggestions
The ministry of Education and schools should plan some programmes which can
raise awareness about ethnocentrism behaviour and at the same time encourage
Malay, Chinese and Indian students to participate in various physical and academic
activities. The National Service programme should also be participated by every
students to strengthen personal and family relationships. To reduce the ethnic
boundary, Multi Cultural Education (Pendidikan Pelbagai Budaya) has to be
implemented in schools. Ministry of Education should continue launching

programmes or trainings in service so that teachers have the attitude and belief to
prioritise harmony. Schools should also organize programmes and activities which
encourage participation of students of different ethnics. One of the program which
can be organized is the orientation activity to help new students in adapting to new
environment.
The first important principle in this issue is that the Ethnic and cultural diversity
should be advocated in whole school environment. The sense of celebrating,
accepting, understanding and respecting different cultures and ethnics should be well
portrait not only in the subjects and the official curriculum of the school but the
setting, atmosphere and the climate of the school as well. The unofficial curriculum
of the school is as important as the official one in recognizing the ethnic diversity of
the society and trying to address everyone equally.
To promote the understanding of ethnic diversity in whole school environment,
the students should be able of accessing to first hand updated materials such as
books, notes, audio-video resources, magazines, newspapers and internet which
provide correct reliable information on different racial groups of their society, their
beliefs, their traditions, etc. this can be achieved through at-school libraries or media
centres. This issue has been well understood in the concept of Vision Schools in
Malaysia and all the Vision Schools throughout Malaysia are equipped with libraries
which provide such information for the students in order to increase their level of
understanding about different ethnic groups at their school and society. These
libraries contain an acceptable range of materials like literature, music, history, etc
on different racial groups of the society.
The setting of the classes, gathering halls, corridors, cafeterias and offices of the
schools should also reflect the notion of multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism. The
decorations of the spaces at school play a very important role to make students
from different ethnic backgrounds aware and familiar with each others’ traditions
and cultures. In term of Vision Schools, although the administrative offices and
classes of each school are separated, however, all the students share many common
spaces such as the cafeteria, school yard and gathering halls. Based on the notion
has been mentioned above, all these common areas are decorated by cultural signs
of each different main cultures namely Malay, Chinese and Indian. In one of the
Vision Schools which is located in eastern part of Malaysia, we can see more
cultural signs of the indigenous cultures of that are in compare with mainstream
cultures.
Co-curriculum activities occupy a very important position in term of advocating
and making students aware of the cultural diversity of their society. Participation of
68 N.M. Yusof
students from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds should be promoted.
Such activities can provide priceless opportunities not only for the development of
self-esteem, but for students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds to learn
to work and play together, and to recognise that all individuals, whatever their
ethnic identities, have worth and are capable of achieving. In Vision Schools as the
official curriculum of the school is the same as the national one, co-curriculum
activities are the most important ways of encouraging students to mix together and
work for a common goal. As a multicultural society, Malaysia celebrates many
different cultural events of different races and cultures. These celebrations provide a
unique opportunity for the students to experience the cultural diversity of their
society in a first hand way.
Vision Schools celebrate some national cultural festivals such as Hari Raya
(Islamic festival of ending the fasting month), Deepavali and Thaipusam (Hindu
festivals), Chinese New Year and Malaysian National Day with participation of all
students from different racial background to make the sense of national unity and
promote the understanding and respect for other cultures. The students participate
in different activities such as drawing competitions, singing competitions, etc in order
to celebrate these events together. Some other activities such as visiting mosques,
temples or churches are provided by the school officials to make students familiar
with each others’ cultural and traditional backgrounds.
The second important factor or principle in multiethnic system of education is
the issue of school rules, regulations and policies. These rules and regulations should
serve the process of cultural understanding among different racial groups of students
with respecting to each individual cultural and religious belief. In order to keep the
school in order, we need some rules and regulations and implementing these rules
and regulations can be challenging at some schools especially with a diverse racial
and religious background of their students. This is a challenge most multiethnic
schools face everyday. This issue will lead us to a very important fact which is the
issue of equality for everyone in a multiethnic society and how to maintain this
equality without disturbing the harmony and sustainability of the diverse racial
texture of the school.
The issue of being fair in a multiethnic school is too different form a school with
homogenous texture. In a multiethnic school we have to be aware that the definition
of being fair is too different. We cannot use the same rule and logic to treat everyone
with it. Something which looks fair to one special racial or religious group may seem
unjust to the other. That is why the school administration in a multiethnic school has
to adopt a policy to attend each ethnic group individually based on respect for their
cultural identity and beliefs.
This concept can be translated into everyday rules and regulations of the school.
For example in case of Malaysian Vision Schools, there are some certain concerns
about the food which should be served at the school cafeterias. As each school has
many Muslim students, the food in cafeteria should be Halal (prepared based on
Islamic regulations) and at the same time to respect the Hindu students, beef should
be eliminated from the menu. The same policy should be taken during the Muslims’
fasting month of Ramadhan to ensure the equality for Muslim students.
On the other hand, any kind of discriminatory policies or regulations based on
racial, religious or cultural stereotyping should be removed from the schools and
classrooms. It has been cases that the academic achievements of the students have
been tied to a stereotypical interpretation of their races and this matter has to be
Asian Ethnicity 69
carefully monitored in multiethnic schools to prevent any kind of tension or

discrimination. The third important principle that has to be addressed is the ethnic
texture of the academic and non-academic staffs of the school. It is a vital fact for a
multiethnic school to have teachers, administrators and other staffs from different
racial and cultural background. We have to keep it in mind that especially in primary
schools; students view their teachers and school staffs as their patterns. At this stage,
teachers and officials of schools have a great impact on shaping the personality and
character of each student and this process should be carefully observed. A
multiethnic texture of teachers and officials will help the student to practically
experience a constructive interaction among different members of their society with
different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
So as to reduce such difficulties and problems at Vision Schools, the attempt has
been made to choose the students and the administrators with different racial and
cultural backgrounds in order to sustain the stability and secure the maximum
interaction among different races at schools. There are teachers from different races
who teach different courses at Vision Schools. This policy provides a trustful positive
environment for the students to enjoy the interracial interactions. The role of
teachers to navigate these interracial interactions to the proper channel is central on
this issue.
The fourth imperative principle that has to be paid attention in a multiethnic
education system is the concept of making students aware of their unique racial
identity in the frame work of respecting the ethnic and cultural pluralism of their
society. The curriculum and co-curriculum activities of schools should be designed in
the way to help students to discover their ethnic identity and feel positive and proud
about it.
The school activities should be planed to enable each student from different
ethnic backgrounds to learn more about his/her ethnic history in a positive way.
Students should be celebrated and positively encouraged for who they are.
Establishing a consciously positive ethnic identity can help the students to form a
solid personality for themselves in future life. Students should feel safe and proud of
expressing their ethnic identity and history. They have to be assured that in a
pluralist society; every one would be treated equally regardless of his/her ethnicity.
At the same time, the multiethnic education system has to be aware that this
sense of self identity has to be defined in the frame work of the pluralist society.
Students should be taught that pluralism is against polarization. Students should be
guaranteed that having a unique identity or ethnic background does not cause any
kind of superiority or inferiority in their social life. At the same time, students should
be informed about the realities of the situation. They have to know that there can be
conflicts in their society over the ethnic issues; however, many of these conflicts can
be avoided by understanding and respecting other cultures and ethnicities. They have
to feel that the example of harmony at their school as a sample of their multiethnic
society can be expanded to their society in larger scale.
In order to fulfil these concepts, Vision Schools teach the mother tongues of
students from different ethnic backgrounds as a tool to make students aware of their
roots and ethnic backgrounds. Language can be used as a very powerful mean to
make students aware of their cultural identity. Apart from this, there are many co-
curriculum activities provided by the Vision Schools for each ethnicity to celebrate
their identity like art and cultural classes. At the same times, all the students from
different ethnic background are obliged to learn Bahasa Malaysia the official and
70 N.M. Yusof
national language of the country in order to be able of communication with other

ethnicities and also to comprehend the notion of national unity. During the
curriculum materials and also co-curriculum activities, students are being informed
of their ethnical and at the same time national heroes and heroines to make a balance
of their self and national identities. Attitudes and values of living in a multiethnic
society are always promoted by the curriculum materials and also co-curriculum
activities at Vision Schools.
The fifth main element which has to be considered in a multiethnic education
system is the subject of promoting personal cross-ethnical communication among
students. This is one of the vital elements in order of having a sustainable multiethnic
society in future. The students from different ethnic backgrounds should learn how
to communicate with each other without any sort of religious or racial prejudices.
Personal interactions between students should be promoted constantly by the
education system.
These kinds of close interactions will bring a greater scale of understanding for
students from different ethnic backgrounds and it will prevent any kind of cultural
and racial stereotyping or misunderstandings in future. These kinds of cross-ethnic
personal interaction should be endorsed from early ages at primary schools where
the basis of social identity and personality of each student is under construction.
Students should be well educated to realize that ethnicity is just one of the aspects of
each human life and there are so many other aspects of human being which are
common among all of us. Promoting the common aspects of social and personal life
of human being can prevent many ethnical disputes and clashes in future.
In fact to achieve such goal, Vision Schools encourage students to mix up
together during class time and especially the break time. Students from different
ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to play together, eat together at school
cafeteria, participate in group games and also in the process of decision making at
school like student committee elections. These active participations will help
students to have a better understanding of each others’ culture, traditions, beliefs
and way of thinking.
The above principles are some of the key factors which have to be considered in
every multiethnic education system. In term of Malaysian Vision Schools, as it can
be seen, there has been a tremendous effort to make a fair and efficient education
pattern (from designing those schools to running them) to address the needs of
each student group based on the main principles of the multiethnic education
system.
Deficiencies
However, as it has been mentioned before, Vision Schools are new to Malaysian
education system (established in 2004) and therefore they have still a long way ahead
of themselves to reach the ideal point. However, it seems there are some urgent
deficiencies which have to be addressed sooner than others to maintain the
sustainable multiethnic education system at these schools. The first important
deficiency in this case is the lack of cooperative teaching. Co-teaching is a service
delivery model in which two (or more) educators or other certified staff, contract to
share instructional responsibility, for a single group of students, primarily in a single
classroom workspace, for specific content (objectives), with mutual ownership,
Asian Ethnicity 71
pooled resources, and joint accountability. This style of teaching will give the
students this opportunity to learn the subjects from different points of view (in this
case different ethnic pints of view) and it will enable them to have a better
comprehension of issues regarding to social and ethnical issues.
The second important deficiency which has to be considered seriously is the
lack of special trainings for Vision School teachers. Although all the Vision
School teachers are trained in Teacher Training Centres or universities; but all of
these trainings were mostly focused on the academic parts of their career. The
teachers of such schools should be specially trained on some vital issues such as
intercultural communication skills, history of different racial groups of the society,
cultural sensitivities, etc. A well-trained teacher on these issues can be very helpful
in maintaining the harmony among different ethnics at school. The trainings can
be easily obtained in short term courses, programs or workshops by the Ministry
of Education with the help from different ethnic societies or associations. The
third vital issue which should be taken more seriously by the Vision Schools is the
social background of the teachers. It is extremely important to make a balance
between the social background of the students and the teachers in order to make
them enable of understanding each other. It is proven that students from lower-
income levels of the society are having more loyalty and sensitivity to religious
and racial values and attitudes than those from upper classes of the society. These
students may find the regulation and value system of their multiethnic school
more difficult for them to adapt. It is caused because of their stronger belonging
to their racial and religious values. Here, teachers who are familiar with such ideas
and thinking can be a great aid to keep the school in harmony and manage the
conflicts.
Challenges
Apart from all the positive aspects and also the deficiencies of this plan, Vision
Schools face some challenges from the public sectors and communities. There are
Chinese Schools that refused to join the Vision School plan and they said that
joining such complex will end up Chinese students to lose their culture and identity.
They argue that having different races at one school can damage the sense of racial
nationalism and in long term will make students to forget their roots and culture. In
another incident, there has been a number of complains from some of the parents of
Muslim students at Vision Schools who were not agree with some of the cross-
cultural activities at schools. They were arguing that some of these intercultural
activities such as visiting Hindu or Chinese temples or introducing other religions
and traditions to Muslim student can be considered as an act to convince Muslim
students to convert to other religions.
Conclusion
The idea of Vision Schools has been introduced to the Malaysian Education System
in order to increase and promote the sense of understanding and respect among the
students from different racial and cultural backgrounds of the Malaysian diverse
society. The long term goal of this plan is to educate students with a deeper degree of
respect towards other members of the society who are racially and culturally
72 N.M. Yusof
different from them. The Vision Schools follow the National Curriculum of studying
however, what makes them different from other schools is the multiethnic
environment of them. This environment gives the students this unique opportunity
to foster their sense of solidarity with other races through some special co-
curriculum activities. As the matter of fact, there are always deficiencies and
challenges ahead of them; however, most of them can be solved by time and also fair
careful planning and evaluations. Generally, national integration can be achieved by
education integration through national education system to create knowledgeable
and virtuous citizens. The success in increasing the social interaction among students
of various ethnic depends on the scope of programmes and plans introduced and the
success of launching by various level of government agencies. If there is no social
interaction among various ethnic, then ‘One Country One Nation’ will only be a
slogan without appreciation from citizens of Malaysia.
Note on contributor
The author is a senior lecturer at University Sains Malaysia, Penang, currently teaching
undergraduates and postgraduates. He has done research pertaining to social integration
among various ethnicities in Malaysia.
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Study of social interaction among students of Vision Schools in Malaysia

School of Educational Studies, University Science of Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia

ISSN 1463-1369 print/ISSN 1469-2953 online

Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai and several indigenous

ﬁrstly the government-sponsored schools (National Schools), secondly, private

Objectives of the study

Matters of the study

Conceptual frameworks of the study

Importance of the study

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

Figure 2. Model 1: limited interaction pattern among ethnics.

Review of related studies

Figure 3. Model 2: minimum interaction pattern among ethnics.

Figure 4. Model 3: maximum interaction pattern among ethnics.

Figure 5. Proﬁle of students according to type of schools.

Figure 6. Proﬁle of students according to gender.

Figure 7. Proﬁle of students according to race.

Figure 8. Mother’s primary education.

Figure 9. Mother’s secondary education.

Figure 10. Mother’s tertiary education.

Figure 11. Father’s primary education.

Figure 12. Father’s secondary education.

Figure 13. Father’s tertiary education.

Model 2 as shown in Figure 3 shows the social interaction pattern is at a

Factors which inﬂuence the social interaction pattern

assignment which is to be carried out in schools. Ethnic identity includes ethnic

group. Stereotype is closely related to category, where a group of individuals is put

All information obtained in the questionnaire will be analyzed using Statistical

Examination of hypothesis No. 1

Examination of hypothesis No. 2

Examination of hypothesis No. 3

Examination of hypothesis No. 4

Table 1. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the language factor.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

SK 254 2.77 0.30 222.862 0.000

Table 2. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the ethnic or cultural boundary factor.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Table 3. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the ethnic identity factor.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Table 4. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the prejudice factor.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Table 5. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the sterotype factor.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Examination of hypothesis No. 5

Examination of hypothesis No. 6

Examination of hypothesis No. 7

Table 6. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the outdoor factor.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Table 7. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the teachers’ role.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Examination of hypothesis No. 8

Table 8. Signiﬁcant diﬀerence in the school administrator’s role.

School N Mean Standard deviation F-value Signiﬁcance

Table 9. Observation check list.

Venue Results of observation

Table 10. Race of neighbour’s parents.