Ain Nadzimah Abdullah

Malaysian journalists’ perceptions on the role of the media

Abstract In this study, the authors examined the perception of Malaysian journalists with regard to the role of the media in Malaysian civil society. A total of 182 journalists participated in the study via self-administered survey questionnaires. Results revealed that Malaysian journalists have mixed views on the role of the media in the Malaysian media environment, which is highly regulated by the government. They are highly supportive of the role of the media as “interpreter”, “disseminator”, “analytical-objective”, “mobilizer” compared to the role of media as “watchdog”, in support of the argument that the countrys socio-political environment shapes media environment, which in turn influences how journalists conceive their roles. Education and training background and years in journalism have no significant influence on their views concerning the importance of the role of the media. Implications of these findings are discussed in this study.

Arab ESL Secondary School Students’ Attitude Toward English Spelling and Writing

Learners’ attitude is considered a key motivational component and an important nonlinguistic factor that influences second-language learning. The primary aim of the current study is to explore Arab secondary school students’ attitudes toward English spelling and writing. To collect the data, a 52-item attitude questionnaire was administered to 70 Arab students studying English as a second language (ESL) in the Saudi School in Malaysia. The questionnaire comprises two scales: (a) attitudes toward English spelling and (b) attitudes toward writing in English that includes four writing purposes: (a) School Use, (b) Social Use, (c) Official Use, and (d) Creativity. The findings of the study revealed that the Arab ESL secondary school students have a high positive attitude toward English spelling and writing. The findings also indicated that the students’ attitude toward the Social Use of English is the highest, whereas their Creativity in writing is the least mean among the four purposes. In addition, the study revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between the students’ attitude toward spelling and writing. The findings suggest that English literature, that is, stories and literary activities, should be integrated in the curriculum to develop the students’ creativity in ESL writing. The study also recommends that other studies may investigate Arab students’ spelling error analysis as well as address other important aspects of writing such as brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing.

Management of turn distribution in academic discourse among undergraduate science students in a Nigerian public university

The purpose of this study is to analyze the management of turn distribution in academic discourse based on three turn taking systems of taking the turn, holding the turn, and yielding the turn by some undergraduate science students of a public university in Nigeria. The participants engaged in a discussion based on a chart presented by Global Peace Index on relative peace around the world from 2015 to 2016. The discussion which was video recorded, lasted 15 minutes. The study was underpinned by Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974) Turn-taking theory. Conversation analysis, using Drew and Heritage (1992) transcription notations, was used to transcribe the data. The result indicated that ‘pleading’ was among the strategies used by some participants of this study to take a turn. Also, gaze was used by some participants of this study as a strategy for seeking information not as a sign of nominating the next speaker. Keywords: Academic discourse, conversation analysis, Turn distribution, turn taking

The discourse connector list: a multi-genre cross-cultural corpus analysis

Abstract This study examines the linguistic feature known as discourse connector using a corpus-informed approach. The study applies a taxonomy which classifies and describes 632 discourse connectors in eight broad classes with 17 categories. The frequency of use of each discourse connector listed was analyzed in the three different registers of spoken, non-academic and academic English in the two different cultural contexts of British and American English. The resulting data on discourse connector frequency were compiled in a database and processed with various statistical formulae to highlight multi-register and cross-cultural differences and similarities of use of each discourse connector. An interpretation of the use of this database, which is free to download and use, is included in the study as well as a discussion of the results and the potential for use as a research and pedagogical tool.