Exploring global decolonising projects and English studies in the 21st century : a thematic analysis

Decolonisation projects have proliferated with the increasing awareness of the hegemony that comes with globalisation. Decolonising English studies (both language and literature) is nothing new and often manifested at the implementation levels with the use of local literary texts and localised Englishes in the classroom. What collective voice has decolonising English studies achieved in relation to other decolonising projects, however, has not been fully scrutinised. The aim of this paper is to review past studies on some areas affected by the decolonising project and to try establishing its relationship to English studies itself. The overarching concern is expressed by these research questions: 1) What are some examples of decolonisation projects that can be found?; 2) What are the common themes of past studies on decolonisation projects?; And 3) How are these past studies contributing to the decolonisation of English studies? To achieve this, the review of literature is organised thematically to create links and synthesis. This paper adopts the definitions of decolonisation by Meera Ashar (2015) and Shahjahan et al. (2022). The thematic analysis reveals three main themes which are privileging indigenous knowledge, a re-evaluation of the curriculum, and the questioning of the epistemology of knowledge itself, with the first two themes bookending the last theme. We conclude that English studies should be coded as a tool of cultural-political literacy that is useful in helping us make sense of how inequalities are being reproduced via literary texts and the English language. This finding contributes toward an alternative understanding of the evolution in pedagogy and the innovative approaches in English studies so that its cultural imperialism is eliminated while providing a vanguard of possible retheorisation

Linguistic features of Malaysian students’ online communicative language in an academic setting: the case of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Social media have gained astounding worldwide growth and popularity and have become prominent in the life of many young people today. According to various research studies in the field of online social networks, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp are greatly impacting the lives of youths. These sites have provided a platform whereby the young can create groups based on their common interests and build connections by updating various topics to discuss. However, with social media taking up such a large space in our lives, there is a concern as to whether it is impacting our communicative language; more importantly, our youth’s communicative language. In view of this phenomenon, this article is an attempt to add to the understanding of online communicative language used by youths in social media. Specifically, it reports on the linguistic features of online communicative language used by youths in an academic setting in Facebook. This study employed two research tools, namely Virtual Ethnography and Content Analysis. Data collected was in the form of screen captures and snippets of conversations. Content Analysis was employed to look into the occurrences of languages in contact in phenomena such as code-mixing, code-switching and borrowings of certain words from the first language-second language and vice versa. The findings of the study indicate that the language used by the participants on Facebook consists of a mixture of code-switching, code-mixing, fillers, emoticons, spelling modifications, foreign language words and colloquial Malaysian English

Analisis Appraisal Mengenai Keterlibatan Generasi Muda FELDA dalam Industri Kelapa Sawit

Sebagai penyumbang keempat terbesar kepada ekonomi negara Malaysia, industri kelapa sawit telah menunjukkan kemajuan yang ketara dan perkembangan yang pesat sejak beberapa dekad yang lalu. Walaupun terdapat usaha yang bersepadu untuk mempromosikan dan mewujudkan kesedaran di kalangan belia sektor ini, kebanyakan golongan muda tidak berminat untuk berkhidmat dalam industri ini, malah memilih untuk bekerja di sektor perkilangan dan runcit. Mengguna pakai Teori Systemic Functional Linguistics Appraisal khususnya sistem Attitude, artikel ini membentangkan analisis linguistik makna interpersonal yang diungkapkan oleh 5 orang belia FELDA ke arah penglibatan industri minyak sawit. Kajian ini meneliti keterlibatan dan minat golongan belia dan bagaimana kekuatan dan kelemahan industri ini ditonjolkan melalui analisis wacana. 5 wawancara dianalisis dan dikodkan dari segi Affect, Judgement dan Appreciation. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bagaimana setiap responden menyampaikan penilaian positif dan negatif terhadap industri dan tingkah laku masyarakat FELDA. Dapatan ini juga memaparkan tiga bidang kekuatan dan kelemahan yang melibatkan kemapanan industri dan sumbangan sosio-ekonomi yang penting kepada komuniti FELDA. Walaupun penilaian cenderung kepada nilai positif, kebanyakan responden merasa tidak puas hati terhadap sektor ini.  Mereka menyarankan kaedah baru melalui teknologi dan media sosial untuk menarik minat golongan belia terhadap industri kelapa sawit

Bahasa komunikasi atas talian dalam suasana akademik

Laman-laman di media sosial seperti Facebook, Whatsapp dan Twitter telah menyediakan satu platform di mana golongan belia boleh melibatkan diri dalam kumpulan yang mempunyai minat yang sama, dari segi disiplin atau bidang dengan mengemaskini pelbagai topik untuk perbincangan atas talian. Namun begitu, disebabkan media sosial telah mengambil ruang yang besar dalam kehidupan masyarakat, timbul kebimbangan mengenai impaknya terhadap bahasa komunikasi kita; terutamanya bahasa komunikasi para belia. Berdasarkan kepada fenomena ini, kajian ini merupakan satu usaha untuk menambahkan pemahaman bahasa komunikasi atas talian yang digunakan oleh belia di media sosial. Ia juga untuk mengisi jurang penyelidikan yang terdapat dalam bidang kajian mengenai pola bahasa yang digunakan dalam suasana akademik di kalangan belia di rangkaian komunikasi atas talian. Secara khusus, artikel ini akan melaporkan tentang ciriciri linguistik bahasa komunikasi atas talian yang digunakan oleh pelajar universiti dalam suasana akademik di Facebook dan menentukan samada corak bahasa yang digunakan adalah berkesan dalam menyampaikan maklumat yang diperlukan. Kajian ini menggunakan dua kaedah penyelidikan, iaitu Etnografi Maya dan Analisis Kandungan. Data yang dikumpul adalah dalam bentuk tangkapan skrin dan coretan dalam perbualan. Analisis Kandungan digunakan untuk meneliti penggunaan bahasa dalam fenomena percampuran kod, penukaran kod dan pinjaman kata-kata tertentu daripada bahasa pertama kepada bahasa kedua dan sebaliknya. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa bahasa yang digunakan oleh para peserta di Facebook terdiri daripada campuran daripada penukaran kod, percampuran kod, kata-kata pengisi, emotikon, pengubahsuaian ejaan, perkataan bahasa asing dan bahasa pasar Bahasa Inggeris

Promoting political engagement among youth: analysis of speech act patterns in Syed Saddiq's speech

It has been observed that speech act theory studies have mainly focused on Western orators and societies, whereas studies conducted on Eastern orators are still limited and insufficient, especially on youth speakers and youth political representatives in Malaysia. This paper will report on illocutionary type features of Speech Acts used in Syed Saddiq’s (a young member of Parliament for Muar) ‘A Lost in Generation: Youth in Politics’ speech and explain how the identified illocutionary type features project the messages in the speech. His speech has inspired the thoughts and beliefs of young minds through the power of his passionate words and a variety of language resources. The research used a descriptive qualitative research design and investigated the types of illocutionary acts based on the Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts by John Searle (1975). The qualitative analysis of the data revealed that Syed Saddiq’s speech mainly employed representative and directive acts. Further analysis of the data also suggested that Syed Saddiq tended to implore the audience in his speech to persuade and motivate them to act and create a change in the political scene as Malaysian youths. The results of this study propose that political figures and speech writers may employ a specific speech act or illocutionary type to deliver a persuasive political speech to successfully persuade the target audience, i.e., youth or university students, to accept suggestions and opinions in order to break the cycle of political apathy and foster political interest in the younger generation

“Are we shootin’ people or what?”: critical reflections of war in popular films / Jamaluddin Aziz, Mohd Nor Shahizan Ali and Fuzirah Hashim

One important and influential popular culture product is fiction film. Arguably, even though fiction film is often seen as a mere entertainment outlet, its undeniable status as a socio-cultural commentator allows fiction films to impart values as well as capture popular imagination and consciousness. Fiction films, needless to say, can move or provoke the audience with their depiction of and focus on real-life events such as personal angst, the World Wars, the cold war, political struggles, economic downturns and natural disaster. One prevailing trend with regards to fiction film is that after the event of September 11, 2001, the interest in the war film genre gains its momentum. Speculations about the post-September 11war that ensued, such as that in Iraq, have allowed variegated representations of war to be made on silver screen, either reaffirming or challenging the audience’s perception of war. Employing close textual analysis, the main aim of this paper is to reveal the prevalent themes of some war films. This is done by focussing on the characters. This approach to film as signifying practices will help illuminate the themes of the films, hence, prompting critical reflections of the film’s commentary of the war that it alludes to

Sikap dan motivasi generasi muda terhadap industri minyak kelapa sawit

Malaysia merupakan salah satu pengeluar dan pengeksport minyak sawit terbesar di dunia. Walaupun industri kelapa sawit berpotensi besar, namun usaha melibatkan golongan belia dalam industri ini adalah sesuatu yang mencabar. Cabaran yang dihadapi adalah untuk menarik minat belia menceburi industri ini. Kebanyakan belia beranggapan bahawa industri ini tidak menarik sebagai kerjaya. Mereka lebih cenderung untuk melibatkan diri dalam sektor seperti e-dagang, teknologi digital dan hartanah. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengkaji sikap dan motivasi generasi muda FELDA terhadap industri minyak kelapa sawit. Teknik pensampelan rawak digunakan untuk memilih 50 responden dari umur 22-40 tahun di 4 penempatan FELDA. Soal selidik diedarkan untuk pengumpulan data primer, di mana skala empat mata Likert digunakan untuk mengkaji perbezaan sikap dan motivasi terhadap 64 pernyataan mengenai aspek-aspek dari keadaan tempat kerja kepada peluang promosi. Dapatan kajian ini telah menunjukkan sikap positif secara keseluruhan terhadap semua aspek industri. Secara umum, majoriti responden memaparkan sikap dan motivasi positif terhadap industri minyak sawit. Peratus tertinggi adalah di bidang status sosial, dengan majoriti merasa dihormati dan bangga menjadi sebahagian masyarakat komuniti kelapa sawit. Berdasarkan penemuan kajian ini, cadangan diberi untuk memperkasakan belia FELDA agar mereka dapat mengambil peluang di dalam industri yang sedang berkembang ini

Can we not just talk about men? the bechdel test, narrative salience and female voices in two selected Malay films

Western feminist film scholars’ claim that female characters are often defined in relation to their male counterparts resonates well in contemporary film and gender studies. This claim highlights the representational biases towards male privilege and primacy as visible signifiers; the ramification of this biasness is the invisibility of female subjectivity that renders them voiceless. Therefore, inquiries into female subjectivity in films outside of Hollywood context are crucial. This paper aims at identifying and comparing the representation of female characters in two Malaysian films of two genres - romance and horror - to highlight the consonance between female voice with feminine consciousness and empowerment. This study administers the Bechdel Test on two films selected using criterion sampling - 3 Temujanji and Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam - and suggests a novel approach by adding the analysis of the film using the concept of narrative salience. The analyses using both methods revealed contradictory results. 3 Temujanji, although failed most of the test, is revealed through narrative salience as assiduous towards feminine consciousness and empowerment. Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam, which passed the test, ironically and ideologically contained female voices within the patriarchal value system. The finding contributes towards the theorisation that women's voices in Malaysian films can be considered as an integral part of the acoustic register of films that enhances film analysis technique. Scriptwriters and filmmakers can utilise the test as a reference in which women can define themselves 'not in relation to men', while creating female characters who progressively think beyond patriarchy and androcentrism

Gambaran gender dalam buku teks bahasa Inggeris Malaysia

Imej sebenarnya merupakan pernyataan realiti dan berperanan dalam mewujudkan hubungan khayalan antara peserta dalam imej dan pembaca. Buku teks sekolah dipenuhi dengan imej visual yang kadang-kadang dapat mengartikulasikan makna sosial dan budaya yang lebih kuat dan jelas berbanding teks bertulis. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengkaji dan menggambarkan corak makna representasi yang berkaitan dengan gender dalam imej buku teks bahasa Inggeris Malaysia yang terpilih. Selain itu, kajian bertujuan mengkritik corak imej yang berkaitan dengan stereotaip gender dalam buku teks bahasa Inggeris Malaysia. Analisis data telah mengenal pasti dan membincangkan perwakilan gender melalui ciri-ciri penulisan naratif, budaya dan kategori biologi serta suasana persekitaran. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan terdapat ketidakseimbangan gender yang jelas, iaitu keutamaan diberikan kepada lelaki. Domain yang diletakkan kepada peserta wanita biasanya di ruangan persendirian sedangkan peserta lelaki kebanyakannya diwakili di domain awam. Wanita lebih kerap dikaitkan dengan aktiviti di dalam rumah manakala lelaki digambarkan terlibat dalam pelbagai aktiviti di luar rumah. Wanita turut digambarkan sebagai beremosi, sebaliknya lelaki dicerminkan sebagai bersifat tenang, tegas dan berdaya saing. Oleh kerana sekolah dan buku teks merupakan salah satu kaedah keterlibatan kanak-kanak dalam bidang sosial, adalah penting untuk memastikan bahan pengajaran adalah adil dan tidak berat sebelah terhadap kedua-dua gender. Oleh itu, disarankan agar pihak yang terlibat dalam pengeluaran buku teks sekolah mengkaji semula gambaran lelaki dan wanita yang digambarkan dalam imej. Pihak ini juga perlu menyediakan senario dunia nyata dalam mendidik generasi muda supaya mempunyai minda yang tidak stereotaip berkenaan dengan perwakilan gender dalam konteks Malaysia untuk membantu dalam pembangunan bangsa dan negara