Ethno Malayan Religious Practices and Imaginary Transaction for the Departed: Curriculum Consequences for Pre-Service Teachers

ABSTRACT: This study aims to dissect and analyze the rituals and practices of prayers for the dead commonamong the Ethno Malayan culture and makes use of the results in the formulation of the pre-service teachereducation curriculum. Data had been collected through data mining and in depth interview of the participantsintegrating the written prayer using qualitative method. The findings revealed that; 1.) participants have thesame imaginary transaction that is related to the written prayer but differ on their imaginary transaction based ontheir experiences; 2.) chanting and repetition of prayers are the most common among the Ethno Malayanculture. Chanting and repetition however, encourages rote memory learning; 3.) imaginary transaction happenswhen there is inconsistency in the practices against beliefs and value system; 4.) study suggests that the mainreason for the presence of imaginary transaction is the inconsistency between practice and belief system. It isconcluded that when applied to teacher education curriculum, that inquiry based learning will have moremeaningful and lasting impact on the students. Therefore, it is recommended that the curriculum should leantowards inquiry-based learning that will develop critical thinkers among learners.

Key words: imaginary transaction, Ethno Malayan, practices, prayers for the dead