Effectiveness of onomatopoeic approach in foreign language teaching

Abstract

This paper adds to the literature on non-arbitrary sound meanings as an integral part of Malay language. In contrast to the Saussurean notion of arbitrariness in language, research on iconicity, mimetics, onomatopoeia, and sound symbolism in Malay has remained robust (see the researchers identified below). As an integral part of verbal interaction, Malay language becomes a resourceful medium that is tasked to describe and record events related to sounds, actions and experiences perceivable to the Malay communicators. As such, imitative and recurring structures in Malay are commonplace as observed in the studies conducted by C. N. Maxwell, R. J. Wilkinson, James T. Collins, Tham Seong Chee, among others. Their collective work forms the basis to explore further the role of onomatopoeia in Malay language learning. This paper traced the imitative nature of language exploited as a learning strategy with a brief review. Interestingly, the review included the significance of reading aloud as a way of appreciation for creative works. Arising from the review, we examined the pedagogy of onomatopoeia with a Malay novel written by a Singaporean Malay author. In turn, a Malay lesson incorporating ten onomatopoeic words, identified from three pages of the novel, has been developed to exemplify the unique stylistics of a Malay creative work. Other onomatopoeic data from Chinese, Japanese and English have been incorporated into this study of Malay onomatopoeia as a pedagogical tool. By doing so in teaching Malay, the lesson has expanded the matrix of mono-lingual conception to a multilingual comprehension. A pedagogy standpoint that the interlanguage learning experience could curb the monotony of learning arising from the point-and-tell technique has been put in place. Furthermore, a video clip showing two learners revisiting the meanings of Japanese onomatopoeia provided a comparative dimension to the ubiquity of Malay language pedagogy. Reconfiguring the learning of Malay onomatopoeia with the Japanese counterparts, the pedagogy has motivated the Malay learners, who were intrigued by onomatopoeia, to correlate sound symbolic examples in Malay with Japanese. The varied mimetic data seemed to be suggesting that the imitative components developed from communicative needs have become a typical phenomenon across languages. We hope that this discussion would continue to impress upon readers that imitative structures, such as onomatopoeia and mimetics, are a versatile locus of comprehension relevant to the learning of a language.