156 research outputs found
Multislicing Semiotic Analysis (MSA): Engaging with the Meanings of Creative-Visual-Arts Data
Pudu Jail\u27s Graffiti: Beyond the Prison Cells
The aim of this thesis is to examine and analyse the images of graffiti contained within the portfolio of âPudu Jailâs Graffiti (PJG)â, documented work from the abandoned prison facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between 2002 and 2003. The objective has been to discover whether the âPudu Jailâs Graffitiâ, has a distinct visual narrative(s) compared with other prison graffiti research, concluding that its qualities lies in the complexity of visual cultures brought within the space of the prison cells. The prison graffiti retrieved from this portfolio has been analysed through a process of qualitative review; in order to find its thematic alignments based on comparative categorical contexts. This research will assess the concepts of the proposed themes of the PJG (there are ten themes such as Names, Time, Food, Religious gates, God(s), etc.) noting that the graffitiâs visual and textual narrative context was based on the local, vernacular culture, and social influences, which remained as part of the inmatesâ or the cellsâ previous occupants memories and the cultural embodiment that they had reflected onto the cell walls. It will look into the PJGâs significance and function, which contained a mixture of memories, events, places, professions of love, religious commitments and various tell-tale signs of messages that seemed to have been made exclusively for the inmates themselves. These personalised marks would throw light on the relationship between the inmates and the prison cellsâ embodiment of their narratives. Thus, this research represents a continued effort to obtain an updated description of prison graffiti by finding an alternative approach within prison graffiti research. Combining both elements of the research, namely the meaning of the images and the acknowledgment of the space in which they reside, may lend greater argument to prison graffiti research and reveal the deeper connections that graffiti may have towards its cultural surroundings
Coolie cartography: crossing frontiers through coolitude
Following the abolition of Transatlantic slavery, the British introduced a new scheme of labour to replace the former. 'Indian indentureship', as it was referred to, affected nearly 2 million Indian coolies who defied the traditional ban against crossing the kala pani (dark waters) in order to work on plantations in countries such as British Guiana, Trinidad, Malaya, South Africa and Fiji. In effect, the Indian labour: diaspora emerged and established itself across the globe. Despite over 100 years of labouring and contributing to the development of their new homes, the coolies and their descendents still face political, social and cultural marginalization. The aim of this thesis is to explore the consequences of indentureship in various societies through a parallelization of inter-national coolie conditions as represented by writers of the diaspora. The three areas selected for this study are Guyana, Malaysia and Fiji. David Dabydeen (Guyana), K.S.Maniam (Malaysia) and Satendra Nandan (Fiji) all share the impetus to disclose the past as a portal into the present, thereby dismpting normative time, and by implication, a fixed sense of history. However; the most striking similarity between these writers, despite their geographical and social distance, is their literary method which centres on the theory of coolitude. Coolitude was coined by Khal Torabully as a means of recuperating the voiceless coolie, firstly, by re-membering the sea voyage across the kizla pani and secondly, by highlighting the coolie's place in the mosaic of multicultural societies. Chapter 1 details the historical, theoretical and methodical foundations of the thesis. Chapter 2 explores Dabydeen's novels The Counting House and Our Lady of Demerara while Chapter 3 is a detailed study of Maniam's novels The Return and In A Far Country. The final chapter considers Nandan's novel The Wounded Sea and collection of poetry Lines Across Black Waters. Each literary analysis seeks to understand how coolitude, as a means to historically and politically place the coolie in the current world,: links spaces between countries both through a shared colonial history and a common postcolonial condition
Employability and Communication Skills : Triangulating Views of Employers, Lecturers and Undergraduates
Employability skills are known as soft skills and transferrable skills. Employability refers to skills, understandings, and personal attributes that increase graduatesâ chances of employment and success in their chosen occupations (Yorke, 2004). Some of the skills listed under employability skills are resourcefulness, adaptability, and flexibility which are not only needed for adapting to work situations (Curtis & McKenzie, 2002). In a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) environment, there is a limit to what universities can equip graduates with, and they need to be able to continue learning to adjust to new situations and demands. According to the Secretaryâs Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) in the USA (1992), employability skills can be divided into four clusters of basic skills, thinking skills, personal qualities, and workplace competence. These skills would give them an edge during interviews and increase their chances of getting employed.
Malaysia has been experiencing graduate unemployability. Approximately 60% of graduates remain unemployed for minimum of a year after graduation (âGraduate Employabilityâ, 2020). There are many factors that contribute to graduate unemployability such as lack of experience, language proficiency, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking skills (Hanapi & Nordin, 2014; Lim et al., 2016; Nooriah & Zakiah, 2017; Ooi & Ting, 2017). Employers often specify good communication skills and interpersonal skills as top requirements in job advertisements (Bakar et al., 2007; Ooi & Ting, 2017). However, graduates lack problem solving skills, communication skills (Hanapi & Nordin, 2014) and technical knowledge (Lim et al., 2016). In a knowledge-based economy, employees need to be independent and self-motivated (Menand, 2014) to acquire the necessary knowledge, information and high skill levels to cope with the fast pace of technological change. There is currently scarcity of findings on whether universities and students are preparing themselves appropriately to meet the expectations of employers.
The study investigated importance of employability and communication skills based on the views of employers, lecturers and students. The research questions were: (1) how good are university students in their employability and communication skills? and (2) do employers and lecturers agree on the most important skills an effective employee should have?
The descriptive study involved the use of a questionnaire on employability skills and language skills (listening and speaking, reading and writing). The items were formulated using a five-point rating scale of (1) not at all, (2) to some extent, (3) just enough, (4) to a reasonable extent, and (5) to a great extent. In addition, the questionnaire required lecturers and employers to select the top 10 skills out of the 25 skills listed.
The data were collected from 123 students, 26 lecturers from a public university, and 26 employers in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The students were mostly female (74.80% female, 25.20% male) and had weak to moderate language proficiency, measured using the Malaysian University English Test (MUET). There were slightly more males among lecturers (12 female, 14 male) and employers (11 female, 15 male). The average years of work experience for lecturers was 8.7 (range: 1-25) and for employers, the average was 5.6 (range: 1-15). For the analysis, means and frequencies were calculated for comparison of the three perspectives on the importance of communication and employability skills.
The results showed that there was a difference among employers, lecturers, and students in their ratings of how good university students are in their employability and communication skills. The students overrated themselves in all three set of skills. Based on the mean scores, the students rated themselves as having a moderate level of employability (M=3.74), reading and writing skills (M=3.75), and listening and speaking skills (M=3.61). The lecturers rated the university students as having a moderate level of skills as well, but the mean scores were slightly lower than the studentsâ (employability, M= 3.54; reading and writing skills, M=3.49; listening and speaking skills, M=3.29). To the employers, only the fresh graduatesâ listening and speaking skills were moderate but on the weak side (M=3.15). The employers found the fresh graduatesâ reading and writing skills (M=2.97) and listening and speaking skills (M=2.92) to be slightly weak. Interestingly, the students and lecturers rated the graduatesâ employability skills to be moderate but the employers considered them to be weak. Another contrast was the studentsâ listening and speaking skills, which the students and lecturers considered to be the lowest level, compared to employability and reading and writing skills. However, the employers considered the fresh graduatesâ listening and speaking skills to be better than the other two skills. This comparison shows that there is a mismatch in the ratings of university studentsâ employability and communication skills given by employers, lecturers, and students.
The employersâ expectation was higher than the lecturersâ. In other words, most employers expect students to be ready to handle the demands of the workforce upon graduation but sadly, most graduates fell short of their expectations. The employers may feel that they have to spoon feed the graduates on various matters upon graduation and they prefer employees who have a strong set of communication and employability skills.
Next, the results on the ranking of the important skills an effective employee should have also showed a mismatch in the perspectives of employers and lecturers. To the employers, the top two skills were time management and problem-solving aptitude, both of which were employability skills. To the lecturers, the top two skills were leadership qualities and teamwork spirit, which were also employability skills. The employers prioritised skills for efficient handling of work situations to meet deadlines but the lecturers focussed on skills for the completion of group work. The mismatch shows that lecturers and universities may have overlooked the need to train students to be versatile to solve problems and complete projects on time. Indeed, students often submit work late and are not independent enough to resolve questions concerning their projects on their own, and constantly have to consult lecturers.
To increase graduate employability, universities need to collaborate strategically with the industry to resolve the mismatch of expectations, as other Malaysian studies have also found a mismatch (Nadarajah, 2021; Nesaratnam et al., 2020). However, because of the fast-changing work environment, students need to develop lifelong learning skills so that they can develop their expertise, knowledge base, and a lifelong learning mindset to stay relevant.
References
Bakar, A. R., Mohamed, S., & Hanafi, I. (2007). Employability skills: Malaysian employers perspectives. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2(1), 263-274.
Curtis, D. D., & McKenzie, P. (2002). Employability skills for Australian industry: Literature review and framework development. http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv33428
Graduate employability: A priority of the Education Ministry. (2020, February 18). News Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/02/566731/graduate-employability-priority-education-ministry
Hanapi, Z., & Nordin, M. S. (2014). Unemployment among Malaysia graduates: Graduatesâ attributes, lecturersâ competency and quality of education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 112, 1056-1063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1269
Lim, Y. M, Teck, H. L., Ching, S. Y., & Chui, C. L. (2016). Employability skills, personal qualities, and early employment problems of entry-level auditors: Perspectives from employers, lecturers, auditors, and students. Journal of Education for Business, 91(4), 185-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2016.1153998
Menand, H. (2014). Critical instruction, student achievement, and nurturing of global citizens: Global and comparative education in context. In S. A. Lawrence (Ed.), Critical practice in P-12 education (pp. 1-23). Hershey: Information Science Reference.
Nadarajah, J. (2021). Measuring the gap in employability skills among Malaysian graduates. International Journal of Modern Trends in Social Sciences, 4(15), 81-87. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMTSS.415007
Nesaratnam, S., Salleh, W. H. W., Foo, Y. V., Hisham, W. M. W. S. W. (2020). Enhancing English proficiency and communication skills among Malaysian graduates through training and coaching. International Journal of Learning and Development, 10(4), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijld.v10i4.17875
Nooriah, Y., & Zakiah, J. (2017). Development of graduates employability: The role of university and challenges. Jurnal Personalia Pelajar, 20, 15-32.
Ooi, K. B., & Ting, S. H. (2015). Employersâ emphasis on technical skills and soft skills in job advertisements. The English Teacher, 44(1), 1-12.
Secretaryâs Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) (1992). Learning a living: a blueprint for high performance. A SCANS report for America 2000. Washington: U.S. Department of Labour.
Yorke, M. (2004). Employability in higher education: what it is â what it is not. York: The Higher Education Academy/ESECT
The âNo Choiceâ option: A contextual analysis of the role of entrepreneurship in reinforcing the oppression of women in patriarchal societies
A Pre-history of Grief: Conceptualising Emotional Responses to Death in Victorian Britain.
PhD ThesesNO ABSTRAC
Building interdisciplinary and intercultural bridges : where practice meets research and theory
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