The appropriateness of video materials for teaching of English as an international language : Saran Kaur Gill.

Researching on the appropriateness of video materials for\ud learners of, EIL, has required in-depth discussion of the\ud role of the medium of" video in the' field of'crosscultural\ud communication in an EIL context - the ASEAN\ud countries generally and Malaysia specifically.\ud This has drawn into the picture two perspectives. The\ud first is sociocultural; the consideration of the role of\ud English as an International language in Malaysia and the\ud other ASEAN countries, the recommendation of a suitable\ud pedagogical model of speech for audio-visual materials in\ud Malaysia, the components of cross-cultural communication\ud that are essential for any language learner who aspires to\ud communicate in English with persons who come from varying\ud sociocultural backgrounds.\ud The second perspective is that of the role of video for\ud the teaching of intercultural language teaching. What is\ud it in the medium that enables it to play a pivotal role in\ud delivering the message - aspects of cross-cultural\ud communication?\ud These perspectives provide the background to the main\ud research question at hand, which is, how appropriate in\ud 2\ud sociocultural content and design are ELT video materials\ud for language learners in Malaysia?\ud ELT video materials have been commercially produced since\ud the mid-70's. The majority of these materials are based\ud in Western sociocultural settings, portraying native\ud speakers interacting with-each other.. Given the dominant\ud role of English as an, International language, linking\ud countries communicatively that otherwise would have great\ud difficulty doing so, yet there has been minimal change in\ud the sociocultural nature of the materials.\ud Therefore, this research aims to investigate via critical\ud analysis and questionnaires, the appropriateness of the\ud sociocultural and design features of existing and\ud potential ELT video materials for EIL language learners. ,\ud The information from the two sources will, it is hoped,\ud provide useful recommendations for the future-production\ud of appropriate ELT video materials for EIL- language\ud learners in- Malaysia specifically and the ASEAN countries\ud generally

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Language policy and planning: understanding UKM’s past, present and future concerns and responses

Sila rujuk teks penuh/ Please refer to full tex

Ideology in news report Of Malaysia’s english medium of instruction change

News reports are part and parcel of the human communication system; however they cannot be taken at face value, because reporters determine the context of a piece of news by making choices in the subjects, the point of view from which they describe the issue and through the style of their reporting. This allows media to propagate ideology through their texts. As such a comparative analysis of four newspaper articles; from The Star (Malaysia), the International Herald Malaysia (international newspaper with a Malaysian edition), The Jakarta Post (Indonesia), and The Guardian (United Kingdom), reporting on the same story using Fairclough’s (1989, 1995) framework of Critical Discourse Analysis to determine the ideological meanings associated to the papers was conducted. The focus of the articles is the July 2009 announcement on the change in medium of instruction from English to Bahasa Malaysia for the teaching of Mathematics and Science in Malaysia. Even though the news agencies have access to the same information and / or facts, the analysed reports are ideologically different and shed a different light on the issue presented. The study reveals the complexity of our human communication system and it becomes visible that newspapers from different socio-cultural and political contexts interpret and report an ideologically contested issue in different ways and in so doing influence their readers’ thinking and opinion about the issue

Gender differences and culture in english short message service language among malay university students

This paper examined the sociolinguistic aspect of Short Message Service (SMS) language, particularly in identifying gender differences and in revealing how Malay culture could be represented in SMS texts. The research applied both qualitative and quantitative approaches on 20 Malay postgraduate students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia: 10 male texters and 10 female texters aged between 24-30 years old. Data collection involved 40 SMSes; 20 text messages from each gender and interviews with four participants. The predetermined categories namely abbreviation, emotion, onomatopoeic and word length were selected to fulfill the aims and scope of the study. Hence, Shafie et al (2011) and Balakrishnan & Batat’s (2010) framework of abbreviation, emotion and onomatopoeic, and word length was used. Based on the analysis, it was revealed that there were no gender differences in the use of abbreviations. However, females showed more use of emotions, onomatopoeic and their text messages were longer than males. These findings were confirmed by all the interviewees. The findings also revealed some culture aspects; both the Malay word “lah” and the translation of Malay proverbs into English which are used among Malays in their language were detected

The Role of Education in Shaping Youth's National Identity

AbstractEducation develops a country's economy and society; therefore, it is the milestone of a nation's development. Education provides knowledge and skills to the population, as well as shaping the personality of the youth of a nation. Nevertheless, can education shape the youth's national identity? Can education cultivate the person's identity or sense of belonging to the nation? In line with that, this paper which is part of a larger scale study on Language and Social Cohesion in the Formation of National Identity funded by University Kebangsaan Malaysia would try to examine the relationship between education and national identity. A sample of 375 respondents participated in this study through responding to a set of self-administered questionnaire. Findings of the study show that education contributes to the formation of national identity. Further analyses on the influence of education among ethnic groups will be discussed

Linguistic landscape and metalinguistic talk about societal multilingualism

Theoretical and Experimental Linguistic