A critical discourse analysis of inclusive education policies in

Research Objectives Malaysia Critical Realism

The purpose of this study is to critically  3 levels of reality
examine current inclusive education  Level of real – “causal mechanisms”/
policies in Malaysia through critical The ideas are still here and there but “structures” and agency
discourse analysis by gaining insights I thought of starting from tweaking my current
into: research direction Why critical realism?
i) how key stakeholders conceptualise What I currently have in mind is  Capture complexity
IE;  Culturally appropriate
ii) how key stakeholders make sense of  Provides an analytical tool
IE and proceed to practices under
the Zero Reject policy; and
Critical Discourse Analysis
iii) how the power of material, Take home  Discourse Analysis
embodied, and institutional message  Texts do not neutrally reflect our
elements impact possibilities world, identities, social relations
regarding inclusion for students with
SEN. I thought that I had to start from scratch
and I realized that my previous readings
from the meeting minutes that I had to
discard has been proven to be useful.
Since my analysis would be mainly
focused on text instead of talk, I think
Research Questions
that
 Fairclough’s 3-Dimensional Model:
The overarching question of this study
 Linguistic level
is:
The type of language used
 Discursive level
How is the inclusive education policy
Why is it written in such a way?
constructed in Malaysia?
 Social level
What influenced it
i) How do policy documents construct
However, I will need to read further into
inclusive education in Malaysia? The need to look into how current critical policy discourse analysis
ii) What wider discourses are used in international inclusive education framework that will be able to guide me
the policy documents to construct policy landscape is translated in by giving me an entry point and also
inclusive education in Malaysia? the Malaysian context. certain angles that I can consider when I
iii) What are the contextual/social look at documents.
factors that influence the
construction of the inclusive
education policy in Malaysia? Methods
 Documents Research
So what? To identify:
Significance of the Study
 Theoretical implication – knowledge  hidden assumptions, ideologies and the power  Key documents that shapes IE policy
gaps relations from Malaysia’s contextual/social factors landscape in Malaysia
that shape the current IE policy landscape  Related documents (press
 Methodological implication –
Fairclough’s CDA framework  contradictions that emerged from this change conference, parliament debates
 Open up a space for conversation  efforts made to either reproduce or challenge (statements), news articles and
that may contribute to the status quo/hegemonic powers others