Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study

It is widely claimed that many university students were found to be unprepared for the reading demands placed upon them. To provide students with an understanding of the features of the discourses they may encounter, this study investigates lexical bundles (LBs) used in the reading passages of Malaysian University English Test (MUET), a compulsory entrance examination for tertiary education. More specifically it aims to compare and contrast the functional types of LBs found in arts and science-based reading passages. A specialised corpus of MUET test papers made up of only the reading passages categorised into two main traditional disciplines; arts and science was built using WordSmith Tools Version 5. The lists of LBs of the identified disciplines were generated using WordSmith Tools Version 5. The generated data was then analysed qualitatively based on Hyland’s (2008) Functional Taxonomy. Findings revealed that although the number of LBs in both disciplines shows significant difference, many similar LBs are found. Science-based passages employ more research-based LBs whereas arts-based texts employ more participant-oriented LBs. These findings seemed to confirm that the functions of LBs are specific to particular disciplines. Hence, explicit teaching of LBs should be considered in schools and two separate sets of MUET reading tests where the first comprises of texts adopted from the scientific and technological context while the other made up of texts from the social sciences should be designed to accommodate both arts and science stream pre-university students

Verbs and gender: the hidden agenda of a multicultural society

This study explores the issue of gender inequality displayed in action verbs found in English language secondary school textbooks using the Hidden Curriculum Theory. The two aspects of hidden curriculum are the frequency imbalance, i.e., male occurrences are more than female, and gender stereotyping based on roles, i.e., masculine against feminine activities. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting data. Wordsmith Tools 4.0 (WST) was used to analyse five categories of action verbs: activity verbs, process verbs, verbs of bodily sensation, transitional event verbs, and momentary verbs. The concordance tool from the WST was used to tabulate occurrences based on gender portrayals. School teachers who taught English at secondary schools were also interviewed to validate the findings and link them to the theoretical framework used. The findings reveal gender inequality is evident in these textbooks

The use of referential cohesion in academic texts by Persian EFL learners

Writing cohesively remains a challenging task for many ESL and EFL learners and users of English, even at advanced levels. Despite its importance in academic writing, elements of cohesion have rarely been researched especially among Persian EFL writers. This study is aimed at filling the gap in the literature through an investigation of referential ties as one of the most explicit cohesion markers (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004). Papers by Persian scholars in the engineering field who attended a Nanotech conference in Malaysia, were reviewed for referential ties based on Systemic Functional Grammar (Halliday 1994; Halliday and Matthiessen 2004). The distribution and categorization of such ties were described using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Subsequently the reference usage by Persians who performed research in Malaysian and Iranian universities were compared. A discussion is presented to examine any improvements due to the environment for the group of Persians studying in Malaysian universities using English language as the medium of instruction. The results confirm that Persians studying in Malaysian universities produce and repeat some components of referential ties more frequently in their academic writing when compared with their peers studying in Iranian universities. In addition, the results of this study are compared with the findings of some other studies among ESL/EFL learners of different nationalities to explain the cases of overuse, underuse, and misuse of referential cohesion which has implications for pedagogical objectives

The refugee swap deal in Malaysian Online News Reports: ideology and representation

Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this study attempts to examine the representation of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants (henceforth RASIM) in news reports from three selected English online newspapers in Malaysia: The Star, The New Straits Times (NST) and Malaysiakini. This research aims to reveal the representations of RASIM and attempts to unravel the ways in which ideology and context shape the discourse surrounding RASIM. The focus of the article is the Refugee Swap Deal between Australia and Malaysia that was announced in 2011. Although the Refugee Swap deal did not take place, the media discourse provided distinctive information about discursive strategies that media draw upon to represent RASIM. The general characteristics of the news reports disclose that there are ideological differences at play and that three main themes are frequently utilised to attribute certain characteristics to RASIM: refugee protection, people smuggling and human trafficking, and policy and national security. In Malaysian media, the reporting on RASIM has been framed according to the political stance of newspapers: in a positive supportive way by the government linked media, The NST and The Star, and in a more balanced way in the alternative, or non-government linked media, Malaysiakini. These reporting styles show differences in situational context and ideology that shaped the discourse of the newspapers, contributing significantly to the portrayal of RASIM in particular wa

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

A corpus study of structural types of lexical bundles in MUET reading texts

In view of the recurrent issues concerning university students’ inability to comprehend reading passages in their studies, texts used in a Malaysian examination for tertiary education were analysed. This study investigates the use of lexical bundles (LBs) in the reading passages of Malaysian University English Test (MUET). A specialised corpus of MUET test papers comprised of only the reading passages grouped into two main disciplines namely arts and science was built. Besides identifying commonly used LBs, this study aims to compare and contrast structural types of LBs found in arts and science-based texts. Using WordSmith Tools version 5, the lists of LBs of the identified disciplines were generated. They were analysed qualitatively based on Biber, Conrad & Cortes’ (2004) Structural Taxonomy. Findings revealed that the number of LBs in both disciplines differs significantly but many similar LBs are employed. It was also evident that science-based texts tend to employ more NP-based and VP-based LBs while the most commonly used structure in arts-based texts is dependent clause. In general, PP-based LBs are very significant in both science and arts-based texts. The extent to which LBs are specific to particular disciplines is therefore confirmed and an overview of how LBs in texts construct information is also obtained. Pedagogically, teachers should consider incorporating corpora-based material, to exploit consciousness raising tasks and not to emphasise too much on grammatical items so that LBs do not go unnoticed

Peminjaman leksikal dalam blog bahasa Inggeris remaja Malaysia

Seiring dengan kemajuan teknologi maklumat, bidang linguistik juga turut mengalami transformasi dan situasi ini boleh dilihat melalui penglibatan remaja Malaysia hari ini yang gemar menulis blog di internet. Dengan menganalisis blog yang ditulis oleh remaja Malaysia yang mempelajari Bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa kedua dan fasih dalam beberapa bahasa, kewujudan ciri dan aspek tertentu dalam Bahasa Inggeris yang digunakan oleh masyarakat Malaysia boleh dikenalpasti. Kaedah kuantitatif dan kualitatif telah digunakan untuk menganalisis dan mengintepretasi data. Sejumlah 40 blog telah dipilih. Berpandukan perisian WordSmith Tools 5, sebanyak 10 perkataan dipilih yang mencatat nilai penggunaan tertinggi dari blog terpilih telah dianalisis berdasarkan rangka kerja Baskaran. Untuk tujuan memurnikan data, soal selidik dan temu bual telah digunakan untuk mengumpul data melalui mel elektronik. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa bentuk bahasa tempatan sering digunakan dalam blog dan 10 perkataan yang terpilih menepati rangka kerja Baskaran. Walaupun ciri blog tersebut agak unik kerana menggabungkan elemen pertuturan lisan ke dalam bentuk penulisan (blog), namun blog ini tetap mendapat sambutan dalam kalangan golongan remaja di Malaysia

Literacy brokering among the international students of a public university

The influx of international students to Malaysia in pursuance of tertiary education has created the urgency to ascertain the English literacy struggles faced by these students in the Malaysian classrooms as well as the suitability of the current pedagogical practices in addressing their existing literacy practices. Insights on the aforementioned aspects could be gained by examining the students’ literacy brokering engagements. Literacy brokering refers to an act of seeking informal help in various forms from fellow language users when facing unfamiliar texts or text-oriented practices and events. This case study therefore examined the literacy brokering phenomenon occurring within a Malaysian university’s intensive English Language class. The research participants consisted of 15 international students from five different countries. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) identify the themes involved in literacy brokering interactions occurring in the Malaysian university English language classroom context; and (ii) describe the literacy practices of the international students in their English class. Through the methods of audio and video recording, 98433 words of transcribed data were collected. An in-depth analysis of the data revealed the primary brokering theme to be the English language system, specifically aspects of grammar and semantics. However culture and genre-based themes were also apparent. The brokerage of culture and genre stemmed from the mismatch between the participants’ existing literacy knowledge with those in their current context of living. The findings create an andragogic importance to include learners’ socio-cultural schemata in designing and carrying out non-native language pedagogy. In the spirit of contextualising learning experience, future works could focus on analysing the literacy brokering occurrences in other non-native English Language classrooms such as Singapore and Hong Kong