Keupayaan bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa ilmu telah terbukti sejak sekian lama dan tidak perlu diragui lagi. Makalah ini meneliti peranan dan kedudukan bahasa Melayu dalam bidang pendidikan, pada ketika Malaysia melaksanakan dasar bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa pengantar untuk mata pelajaran Sains dan Matematik. Kajian dijalankan secara kualitatif di dua buah sekolah menengah di negeri Melaka, melibatkan kaedah rakaman video dalam kelas, temu bual separa berstruktur dengan guru dan kumpulan pelajar terpilih, serta pemerhatian dalam kelas. Data dianalisis menggunakan perisian penganalisis kualitatif data Transana, melalui prosedur pengekodan. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa bahasa Melayu digunakan dalam majoriti aktiviti pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang dirakam, melibatkan interaksi formal dan tidak formal guru dan pelajar. Bahasa Inggeris pula, hanya digunakan dalam perbualan formal, apabila disertai oleh bahan-bahan sokongan seperti buku teks, video, dan nota di papan putih sahaja. Keterhadan penggunaan bahasa Inggeris menggambarkan bahawa bahasa tersebut tidak sesuai dijadikan bahasa pengantar dalam konteks pendidikan di sekolah di Malaysia. Dalam masa yang sama, bahasa Melayu dilihat berwibawa dan berkebolehan untuk mengungkapkan ilmu sains dan matematik, sama ada secara formal mahupun tidak formal.

This quantitative study aims to identify the mastery level of Arabic academic vocabulary (AAV) as well as to identify differences in AAV mastery among students between six public universities in Malaysia using receptive and productive AAV test instruments. Researchers constructed AAV test questions based on the test format introduced by Schmitt (2000) with some modifications. A total number of 50 academic vocabularies were filtered from the Academic Word List (AWL) proposed by Davies and Gardner (2013) and was tested on 126 samples through purposive sampling. The data from the test were analysed descriptively using Microsoft Excel 2016 software and SPSS V25.0. The results of the study found that the overall mastery of AAV among Malaysian Public Universities (MPU) students is at a moderate level with a mean score of 66%. In addition, there is a significant gap in the mean percentage in AAV mastery, namely IIUM which recorded the highest level (mean = 88%), while UiTM has the lowest value (mean = 54%). The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was a significant difference in AAV mastery among students between the public universities. The post-hoc Bonferroni test also recorded the same which the value of p = <0.05.

This study falls under discourse analysis studies, focusing on using the academic register in Arabic research articles. Language register refers to using a form of language in a specific context. The use of language register varies according to the structure of discourse and field. For example, language register is used in scientific discourse, entertainment, politics, and health. Using accurate and appropriate scientific language in terms of vocabulary can demonstrate the strength of an article in reporting research results. The current study was conducted to identify the use of the academic register in Arabic via research articles focusing on academic vocabulary. This study was prompted by several issues, such as the weakness of students and researchers in producing quality research reports from the aspect of scientific writing, in addition to the limited number of studies about the academic language register in Arabic. This study was descriptive, using a qualitative approach and content analysis techniques. The unit analyzed was academic vocabulary words taken from six journal articles on Arabic language issues. All articles were written by native Arabic speakers and published by the Arabic journal “al-Majallah al-Urduniyyah fi al-Ulum al-Tarbawiyyah” in Jordan. The academic language register was analyzed using the approach of Ure and Ellis (1977). It was based on the 100 academic vocabulary words (Academic Vocabulary List or AVL) generated by Gardner and Davies (2014). The study's results found that all the suggested words from the AVL were used by Arabic-language researchers in writing their articles with various frequencies. Out of the 100 words selected from the AVL, 71 to 90 vocabulary words were used in each article. The most used word was the word دِرَاسَة which appeared 464 times, but the word شَجَّعَ appeared only 3 times, the lowest frequency.

The issue of learning Arabic among university students is closely related to the mastery of Arabic academic vocabulary (AAV). This study aimed to investigate the mastery of the receptive and productive Arabic academic vocabulary amongst Malaysian Public Universities students. 126 Arabic students from 6 public universities have been selected via purposive sampling method. In order to collect the data, researchers used a set of receptive and productive academic vocabulary tests. 50 academic vocabularies have been used from a list of academic vocabulary provided by Davies and Gardner (2013). The research data were analysed using SPSS v25 (Shapiro-Wilk Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Post-Hoc Bonferroni Test). The results shows that the productive test scored higher compared to the results of the receptive test. The findings showed that there are significant differences as compared to the findings of previous vocabulary studies where almost all earlier research indicates that receptive test achievement is usually better than productive test achievement. Researchers argue that this is probably due to the more difficult academic vocabulary features, the number of words used in receptive questions is more than productive tests as well as a less effective test formats to be applied to Arabic language learners as foreign languages. Contribution/ Originality:The main finding of this study is that the achievement of productive academic vocabulary is higher than the achievement of receptive vocabulary among students who are learning Arabic as a foreign language. This finding is slightly different from the previous studies conducted among native speaker students. Since academic vocabulary is more technical in nature, it is possible that appropriate test should be used for foreign languages.