Interdiscursivity functions of incident reports

Professional communication ensures efficient work procedures in the professional world. In understanding the professional world, discursive realities such as the use of professional genres, professional cultures and professional practices need to be highlighted. This will help to prepare learners for the real world as calls have been made to bridge the gap between what the academic programmes offer and what the professional world requires. One approach that will be able to bridge the gap is Interdiscursivity approach. This is especially true as research in the area have shown that Interdiscursivity was still under researched. This gap is apparent in the oil and gas industry as it is an important industry which fuels other industries. In this qualitative research, a study was carried out in order to identify Interdiscursivity functions of incident reports obtained from an oil and gas company. Interdiscursivity refers the relation that a discourse has to other discourses in realizing the meaning of professional genres. Data collection method involved the analysis of fifteen incident reports obtained from an oil and gas company. Findings from the incident reports suggested that the reports contained three main functions: descriptive, informative and instructional

PEDAGOGIC GENRE ANALYSIS: A MODULE FOR COPY-WRITING PEDAGOGIC GENRE ANALYSIS: A MODULE FOR COPY-WRITING

ABSTRACT Genre analysis has established its place in linguistic research on academic and professional genres but applications of the findings have not been maximised in language pedagogy. This paper attempts to establish pedagogic genre analysis with the main objective of demonstrating how the results of genre analysis can be successfully employed in language instruction. The analysis is based on Bhatia's framework for identifying generic moves followed by a grammatical analysis on a corpus created from 20 print brochures from Malaysian universities. The results were presented in a detailed module specifically developed for teaching copy-writing for corporate brochures, a genre-based instruction (GBI) in ESP. The module was pilot-tested, improved and used with groups of students in the faculty of communication studies in a Malaysian public university. Findings of the pilot study and the actual study reveal the success of the module and hence GBI in improving students' writing skills thus creating interest in the ESL/ESP classrooms. The main contributing factor to the success is the genre knowledge that the teacher possesses

Future direction of language education in Malaysia

The study was an investigation of how tertiary level language education evolved in Malaysian universities since 1966. In line with the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (2007), the study seeks to profile the range of languages, linguistics, and literature courses and their strengths and unique features across all language departments of different universities in Malaysia. The study compiled a comprehensive database of language-based programmes which fall into either of the three categories namely language proficiency courses, language programmes, and programmes for the teaching of languages. Data examining students' rate of employment after graduating from languages, linguistics and/or literature undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in Malaysia revealed that English and Arabic language majors were the most easily employed while graduates majoring in other languages still face issues with gaining employment in the relevant work sectors in Malaysia. This was ascertained from the various published market survey results and tracer studies across time by the Ministry of Higher Education. The study also highlights Malaysia's lack of experts in areas of language studies, linguistics and literature and how languages, linguistics and literature education need to be further improved and aligned with the current needs of the country so as to contribute to nation building and the further development of the Malaysian economy. The study concludes by highlighting the need for a better recognition of the value of language education and the identification of avenues for further development of language education in Malaysia

Future direction of language education in Malaysia.

language labs, and language specialists. This report is presented into three parts. The first part describes the evolution of language instruction in tertiary institutions (Chapter 1-2). The second part offers more analytical details on the range of approaches and practices that are observable in these institutions as well as the employment opportunities for the graduates (Chapter 3-5). In the third part, capsule summary of the findings and the implications are discussed (Chapter 6-7)