Kamila Ghazali

The first keynote address of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the UMNO general assembly

Abstract The interest of this paper is the discourse generated by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his first keynote address as party president at the 55th UMNO General Assembly, 2004. The nation stood back in anticipation as he took over as Malaysias fifth prime minister and party president from his predecessor, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who held power for 22 years. After almost a year in office, Abdullah has succeeded in emanating a ‘feel good’ social environment as reported in the media. This paper looks at the discourse mobilized to introduce a new concept, Islam Hadhari, by the new leadership. Its interest lies in the construction of discourse and ideology that manifests. The theoretical framework adopted is ideological discourse analysis as proposed by van Dijk (2004). Some comparison will also be made with the discourse produced by the previous UMNO president.

Language and Islam in Malaysian political speeches

Abstract This article compares the discourses on Islam generated by the current and two previous Prime Ministers of Malaysia. As Prime Minister, each of them concurrently held the post of party president of UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) which is the main political party in the coalition government of the country. Political parties in multi-ethnic Malaysia are largely race based parties and members of UMNO are predominantly Muslim Malays. The data are the keynote addresses delivered by the party president at the UMNO General Assembly held annually. As the party president speaks, he expresses the attitudes and ideologies of his own group – Malays, Muslims, political entity, presupposing common values and knowledge of history. The article presents findings on how each speaker makes references to Islam in terms of rhetorical structures of texts, representation of “us” and “them”, and the socio-political changes which result in the production and/or reproduction of discourse and social actions therein. In sum, analysis reveals similarities and differences among the speakers in their references to Islam. As discourse is ideologically motivated and socially produced, structures and references change as the socio-political environment of the nation evolves.

Vitality of the Orang Asli Languages in Gerik, Perak

Language vitality can be defined as the power of a language to live or grow as a means of communication among members of the group who speak it. This paper evaluates the vitality of the Orang Asli languages in Gerik, Perak, Malaysia, based on the Major Evaluative Factors of Language Vitality outlined by the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages in March 2003. The factors identified are: (1) intergenerational language transmission; (2) absolute number of speakers; (3) proportion of speakers within the total population; (4) trends in existing language domains; (5) response to new domains and media; (6) materials for language education and literacy; (7) governmental and institutional attitudes and policies; (8) community members’ attitudes toward their own language; and (9) amount and quality of documentation. The Orang Asli languages involved in this study are Temiar, Jahai, Kintaq, Kensiu, and Lanoh. Eighty-two questionnaires were administered, while observations and interviews were conducted with respondents from these communities. The results show that the Temiar language has higher vitality than any of the other languages. A number of reasons may be suggested to explain this, among them being the higher population of Temiar compared with other communities in the area. The lifestyle of the Temiar may be another reason, as is the function of Temiar as the lingua franca among the Orang Asli in the area.

Engaging postgraduates in a peer research group at the research proposal stage in a Malaysian university: support and challenges

ABSTRACT Due to the increasing workloads for supervisors and the challenges in research proposals for postgraduates, the study focused on engaging 15 postgraduates in a Malaysian public university in a peer research group. The data was collected from observations of the group meetings, video-recorded peer feedback and follow-up interviews. The qualitative analysis of the data indicates that the research group supported the postgraduates through peer feedback practices, learning how to present proposals and defend themselves and finding directions in research proposals. Although their engagement was challenged by initial reservations of some postgraduates to present their proposals and provide feedback and issues related to provision, reception and reliability of peer feedback, these challenges were minimized through mentoring and instructional strategies. While peer research groups represent a valuable pedagogical support that complement supervisors’ support to postgraduates in developing their research proposals, the value should be maximized by integrating supervisors in research groups.

A review of previous studies on ESL/EFL learners’ interactional feedback exchanges in face-to-face and computer-assisted peer review of writing

This paper is a review of previous studies on learners’ interactional feedback exchanges in face-to-face peer review (FFPR) and computer-assisted peer review (CAPR) of English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) writing. The review attempted to (1) identify the patterns of interactional feedback, (2) search an empirical evidence of learners’ incorporation of peer interactional feedback in their text revisions and (3) identify the factors affecting learners’ interactional feedback as reported in these previous studies. To achieve this, a search of previous studies on peer review in writing from 1990 to 2016 was conducted. However, only 37 out of 58 peer reviewed studies were extensively reviewed and systematically analyzed by two independent coders. The findings showed that in terms of the language functions, learners’ interactional feedback exchanges are categorized as (1) exploratory (showing learners’ reflection and interpretation of the task), (2) procedural (showing how learners handle the task of revising their texts) and (3) social (showing how learners maintain good relationships). In relation to the nature and focus areas, learners’ interactional feedback exchanges are revision-oriented (targeting problems or errors in written texts) and non-revision-oriented (do not target any problems). Results of some previous reviewed studies also provided evidence of learners’ integration of peer feedback into their text revisions. However, peer interactional feedback is affected by several factors: training learners on feedback, mode of peer review, type of written tasks, learners’ roles in peer review activties, learners’ proficiency in English and other factors, including learners’ gender differences and configuration of peer review dyads as well as context of peer review. Synthesizing the findings of the reviewed studies, we proposed a dual space-interactional feedback model that comprises the learning space and the social space of interactional feedback in peer review. Several pedagogical, research and technological implications were also drawn from the major findings. Future researchers should pay attention to both spaces of interactional feedback and identify further factors affecting interactional feedback in peer review.

Where to from Here

We believe our readers will concur that one effect of working through these chapters is the realization of the significant number and varying dimensions along which this subject of emerging work and learning skills may be tracked. It is almost simple-minded, but perhaps prudent, to remind ourselves that it could hardly be otherwise. It is a basic exercise, but often awkward, to merely reflect on what a different phenomenon higher education is across the world, after five to six decades of expansion, de-regulation, and massification,1 simply in terms of the numbers of students involved.2 Alternatively, to reflect (if one even has the capacity) on the range, dimensions, and density of technological change that has taken place over the last three to four decades.3