THE USE OF STANDARD MALAY LANGUAGE IN WRITING BY THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF YALA RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This paper explores the use of standard Malay language in Writing by Yala Rajabhat University Students First year. It focuses on the problems commonly appear on students’ written text, spelling, diction, and affixation. The design of the study is descriptive qualitative. Forty students majoring in Malay participated in this study. Written assignments and interviews were conducted to obtain the data. The results of this study indicated that there were various mistakes in the use of standard Malay language in writing by Yala Rajabhat University Students First year Major of Malay including spelling, diction, and affixation and these all were associated with students’ language background, in that Malay is used as the mother tongue of three provinces (i.e. Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat) in South Thailand .