The Relationship Between Islamic Education Teachers’ Jawi Skills and Literacy and Primary Pupils’ Jawi Mastery in Sabah

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between Islamic Education teachers’ Jawi skills and literacy as factors influencing primary school pupils’ Jawi mastery in Sabah. Mastery of Jawi script is a critical element in Islamic education, and teacher competence is highly consequential for instructional effectiveness. Adopting a quantitative survey design, the study involved 343 primary Islamic Education teachers in Sabah as respondents. The research instrument comprised a questionnaire measuring teachers’ levels of Jawi skills and literacy. Descriptive analysis indicated that teachers’ skills were at a moderately high level (M = 3.93, SD = 0.529), while teachers’ Jawi literacy showed considerable variation (M = 0.735, SD = 0.981). However, Pearson correlation analysis revealed no statistically significant relationship between Jawi skills and literacy among teachers (r = .058, p > .05). These findings imply that pedagogical skills and Jawi literacy are distinct competence domains that should be developed in balanced, dedicated professional training streams. This study is expected to inform stakeholders in designing more focused interventions to strengthen the teaching and learning of Jawi at the primary level in Sabah. It contributes a Sabah-specific evidence base, addressing a regional gap that is seldom explored in primary Jawi literacy. Our results inform targeted enhancements to j-QAF implementation and teacher professional development grounded in PCK/TPACK in Sabah, including attention to challenging item-level content (hamzah, loanwords, diphthongs). Policy recommendations include developing context-sensitive micro-modules for Jawi and establishing diagnostic monitoring mechanisms aligned with Sabah’s school ecosystem.