Functions of language in forest resource report genre from a systemic functional linguistics perspective

Despite previous genre studies investigating various professional report genres in different contexts, disciplines and languages, professional report genre in forestry discipline remains the least explored, particularly from a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) perspective. To date, limited findings were reported on how Malay language is used in forestry professional context. This study explored the elements that constitute the generic structure potential (GSP) for forest resource reports (FRR) in forestry discipline, how language is used to represent experiential and textual functions and the role of FRR genre. Six FRR written in Malay and three interviews with forestry officers were used as research data in this study. This qualitative genre analysis study utilised SFL analytical frameworks and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that FRR is a hybrid genre which constitutes 10 obligatory main elements and 17 sub-elements explicating typical letter and forestry-related genre elements whereby the GSP for FRR takes a linear representation. Besides, the experiential function of FRR genre was used mainly to represent activities performed by forestry officers through the dominant use of Action processes whereby forest areas are seen as the entity most affected by activities taking place. On the other hand, descriptions of forest areas were supplemented mainly through circumstance of Location. Findings on the textual function revealed that FRR genre maintains topic on forest areas as the theme selection, and the overall organisation was established through a derived Theme progression pattern to position specific details of forest areas and its resources. Meanwhile, findings on the role of FRR genre indicated that FRR provides a preliminary observation and information to assist forestry department in deciding future directions and planning of forestry-related matters. The implication of this study centres on how exploration of genre elements, representation of experiential and textual functions and roles can be explored from SFL genre and metafunctional perspective in studying the use of Malay language

A review of genre approaches within linguistic traditions

This paper reviews three major approaches to genre analysis; Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Based on the review, it is noted that RGS is an approach which regards genre as a form of social action involving analysis of genre through detailed accounts of the social and cultural contexts with an emphasis on how a genre fulfills its social purpose and actions. On the other hand, ESP is an approach which views genre as a communicative event characterised by their communicative purposes as well as rhetorical features where the discourse community acts as those which recognises and sanctions the acceptance of a genre. The final genre approach, which is SFL, perceives genre as the cultural purpose of texts, achieved through a genre's structural and realisational patterns where meanings are made within the genre. Overall, the ESP and SFL approaches share fundamental view that linguistic features of texts are connected to social context and function. Thus both of the approaches take on a linguistic approach in describing genres. RGS, in contrast, investigates genres through the study of society in which genre is being used thus taking an ethnographic approach to analysis of genres. This paper concludes with a discussion on the concept of genre presented in the various approaches and the possible emergence of other approaches in the study of genre

Students’ learning status and expectations with online distance learning

The Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, from the first wave in March 2020 till to-date the third wave has disrupted all formal face-to-face learning at all levels of education. A shift in the teaching mode was necessary from face-to-face to any accessible and feasible online distance learning (ODL) platform. However, due to lack of necessary technological equipment and an unsupportive environment, students are still reluctant to adopt online distance learning, particularly in rural areas. Furthermore, little was known about the readiness of engineering students at Diploma level to experience this new mode of learning. This study looked into students' ODL learning status and their expectations for ODL educational decisions. Data was collected for three weeks in a university in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia using online Google Forms. Data was analysed descriptively and direct quotes from the open-ended section of the questionnaire were presented to support the descriptive analysis. The data highlights the need to involve many stakeholders and properly plan the ODL instructions for effective technology-based education. The outcomes of this research will help the educators, students and the government to redesign and restructure ODL post-Covid-19 for successful teaching and learning

Using English vlog within YouTube as a tool to enhance speaking skills

The objective of this study is to explore students’ perceptions of English vlog within YouTube as a tool to improve speaking skills. Participants of this study are 59 fourth-year undergraduate students from a university in Malaysia. The descriptive quantitative research design was employed in this study. Students' perceptions of using English vlog within YouTube to help improve speaking skills were revealed through a questionnaire. There were 4 sections and 30 survey questions. Findings reveal that English Vlog within YouTube offers many positive changes towards students’ speaking skills in the aspects of language learning and motivation. Students learn many new vocabularies, proper pronunciation, contextual words, and different slangs besides the increase in motivation to speak in English. Thus, it is encouraged that teachers use English Vlog with YouTube more frequently to enhance students’ speaking skills. Furthermore, language programme developers and institutions of higher learning may consider using this technology to improve English speaking skills

Managing harvesting for forest sustainability in Malaysia : an SFL perspective

Forest management practices have been addressed widely in the forestry discipline but are rarely considered from a linguistic perspective. Linguistic exploration of the construction of meaning in forest discourses helps provide greater detail on how forest resources are governed through the forest management practices carried out by forestry professionals. This study adopted the approach from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar to examine how lexicogrammatical resources are used by forestry professionals to institutionalise their narrative on sustainable forest management practices. Six field inspection reports issued by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia were selected as data for analysis. The reports were examined as a genre to ascertain their generic structure and the elements they contained. The findings show that the reports provide essential information concerning various aspects of forest management best practices, including technical information of the forest areas, their geographical and topographical conditions within and around the areas, the distribution of tree stands and other equally important aspects including their environmental, socio-economic and economic values. This paper suggests that a linguistic orientation employed in uncovering forestry matters such as the field inspection report allows concrete evidence of how forest managementpractices are communicated, especially in written reports and whether these practices are aptly represented through their language use

Enriching student knowledge on sustainable forest management practices by forestry professionals: a look into the generic structure potential of Malaysian forestry annual reports

Despite the establishment of numerous goals related to sustainable forest management (SFM), including the setting of Goal 15 in the 2015 United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to date, its implementation is seen to be problematic. Its poor implementation is often associated with ineffective management of forests areas, which poses some challenges for students to understand better the nature of forestry professions and the expectations that come with the responsibility of sustainably managing forest reserves and lands. Analysing the practices and agendas conveyed in the forestry annual report (FAR) is indispensable, especially for forestry students who wish better to understand the forestry profession upon their study completion. This study sets out to identify the generic structure potential for the Year under the Review section of the forestry annual report and its functions in portraying forestry professionals throughout ten years (2009–2018). Document analysis following a Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective on generic structure potential is adopted in this study to identify the obligatory and optional elements included in the forestry annual report as well as the functions of each element observed in the Year under Review section of FAR. The results of the study show that eleven obligatory elements constitute the generic structure of the Year under Review section of the forestry annual report, which is directly related to the ideal SFM practices that contribute to SDG Goal 15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss). The establishment of the generic structure potential for the Year under Review section of the Malaysian forestry annual report will help undergraduate forestry students understand the forestry profession's actual practices to equip them with knowledge in real-life settings

Narrative experiential meaning-making in Malay short stories

The experiential meaning-making in narrative can be studied by applying the Ideational Metafunction theoretical framework as introduced by Halliday. According to Halliday, the meaning-making can be realized by means of three Transitivity main elements found in clauses which are process, participants and circumstances. A study was conducted on three Malay short stories entitled ‘Catatan di Meja Makan’, ‘Anita’ and ‘Meneruskan Perjalanan’ by Zurinah Hassan to analyse the experiential meaning-making of narrative using Transitivity analysis from Systemic Functional Linguistics as the analytical framework. The findings of the Transitivity analysis on Malay short stories show that material process types are mostly found and followed by mental processes. This results in the most found participants are actors for material process types, whilst participants for mental processes are sensors. The findings also show that the participants for material processes can be living or non-living entities. The writer usually conveys the meaning of short stories in active forms, by which means active processes are used to illustrate the actions of participants in Malay short stories. The findings of this study are a contribution to the field of Malay language studies using the theoretical framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics, of which studies on Malay language using this theory are still lacking

Modeling physical interaction and understanding peer group learning dynamics: Graph analytics approach perspective

Physical interaction in peer learning has been proven to improve students’ learning processes, which is pertinent in facilitating a fulfilling learning experience in learning theory. However,observation and interviews are often used to investigate peer group learning dynamics from a qualitative perspective. Hence, more data-driven analysis needs to be performed to investigate the physicalinteraction in peer learning. This paper complements existing works by proposing a frameworkfor exploring students’ physical interaction in peer learning based on the graph analytics modeling approach focusing on both centrality and community detection, as well as visualization of the grap model for more than 50 students taking part in group discussions. The experiment was conducted during a mathematics tutorial class. The physical interactions among students were captured through an online Google form and represented in a graph model. Once the model and graph visualization were developed, findings from centrality analysis and community detection were conducted to identify peer leaders who can facilitate and teach their peers. Based on the results, it was found that five groups were formed during the physical interaction throughout the peer learning process, with at least one student showing the potential to become a peer leader in each group. This paper also highlights the potential of the graph analytics approach to explore peer learning group dynamics and interaction patterns among students to maximize their teaching and learning experience

Putting knowledge gained into practice in civil engineering lab reports

A large number of studies have established that learning to write in the second language and in particular, learning to write in the second language academic context require the development of advanced foundation. Without such foundation, writers simply do not have the range of lexical and grammar skills required in academic writing (Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1995; Chang & Swales, 1999; Hinkel, 2004; Paltridge, 2001). In the case of writing in the civil engineering lab reports, students are required to show their critical evaluation of a particular concept being discussed by providing relevant discussions and justifications from the experiments conducted with findings of literature and results obtained by others. Therefore, students not only have to be equipped with sound technical knowledge but also the linguistic knowledge to enable them to successfully realise such demands. Since civil engineering students are constantly expected to communicate with people from various fields both in oral and written forms by various means of communication, it is essential that students be explicitly taught on the linguistic features that are expected in the lab report writing. Seven good samples of civil engineering studen gathered and analysed from two fields of the civil engineering (soil and geotechnical lab and structure lab) in an attempt to investigate the prominent linguistic features of the civil engineering lab reports. Additionally, interviews with the experienced content lecturers were conducted to obtain better insights on their views on the nature and the writing process of civil engineering lab reports. Findings of the study will be useful in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the discursive practices of the civil engineering community to allow opportunities for effective teaching strategies for academic and professional purposes. Implications drawn could provide students, teachers and the discourse community with essential and relevant information for more effective and better use of the language in the discipline