An Ethnographic Study on the Use of English among Students at Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia

Authors

  • Hazleena Baharun Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia, Malaysia
  • Tun Nur Afizah Zainal Ariff Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32890/mjli2005.2.4

Abstract

This article is based on a four-week ethnographic study of a discourse community i.e. first and second year students of Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia (KUZM). The researchers believe that the ethnographic approach could help provide valuable insights that would indirectly help them t o understand the use of the English Language by the discourse community. Tools of inquiry such as non-participant observations, specialist informants, interviews, and questionnaire as well as a re-examination of relevant documents were employed for data gathering purposes. The findings of this study indicate that English Language use at KUIM is not only dependent on the conventions laid down by the university but also by the discourse community. The paper discusses the implications of the findings on producing and designing meaningful teaching-learning material for the discourse community.

 

References

Ainol Haryati Ibrahim. (1993). Ethnography in ESP: The quest for a “thick” description. ESP Malaysia, 1(2), 102 -117.

Bell, T. (1999, October). Do EAP teachers require knowledge of their students’ specialist academic subjects? TESL Journal, Vol. V(10). Retrieved January 19, 2003, from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Bell-EAPRequireKnowledge.html.

Bhatia, V.K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.

Bhatia, V.K. (1994). ESP and the world of professions: Bridging the gap or making inroads? ESP Malaysia, 2(1), 19-31.

Crystal, D. (1987). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Frey, L., Botan. C., Friedman, P., & Kreps, G. (1991). Investigating communication: An introduction to research methods. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Kasper, L.F, (1997). The impact of content-based instructional programs on the academic progress of ESL students. English For Specific Purposes, 16(4).

Krashen, S.D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. New York: Pergamon Press.

Lee, K. S., (1994). Problems of Malay students reading academic texts in English. Unpublished master’s thesis, Pusat Bahasa, University of Malaya.

Leong, Y. K. (1998). The communication needs of sales personnel: An ethnographic analyses. Unpublished master’s thesis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Lilley, A. (1987). Banking on business. Language Training, 8(4).

Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills CA: Sage.

Mazli Shahurain. (2000). Writing project proposals: An ethnographic inquiry. Unpublished master’s thesis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

MYJLI VOL. 2, 1-16(2005) www.mjli.uum.edu.my MJLI VOL: 2, 1-16 (2005) Jaane

Morais, E. (1995). Code switching in Malaysian business and its role in the management of conflict. Jurnal Bahasa Moden, 9, 77-88.

Noraini Ibrahim. (1997). Reading legal cases: An ethnographic enquiry. Unpublished master’s thesis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Ramani, E., Chacko, T., Singh, S. J. & Glendenning, E. (1988). An ethnographic approach to syllabus design: A case study of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. English for Specific Purposes, 7, 81—90.

Robinson, P.C. (1991). ESP today: a practitioner's guide. New York: Prentice Hall.

Roe, P. J. (1993). The anatomy of ESP. ESP Malaysia, 1(1), 1-6.

Selinker, L. (1979). On the use of informants in discourse analysis and language for specialized purposes. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 17(3),189-215.

Strevens, P. (1988). The learner and teacher of ESP. Chamberlain and Baumgardner, 6, 39-44.

Swales, J.M. (1985). ESP - The heart of the matter or the end of the affair? In R. Quirk & H.G. Widdowson(eds.). English in the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M. (1994). Human resource development in and for ESP. ESP Malaysia, 2(1), 1-7.

Downloads

Published

31-01-2005

How to Cite

Baharun, H., & Zainal Ariff, T. N. A. (2005). An Ethnographic Study on the Use of English among Students at Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction, 2, 61-78. https://doi.org/10.32890/mjli2005.2.4

Research impact

Harvested 2026-09-21
0 citations recorded so far

Counts differ between services because each indexes a different body of literature. None of them is the whole picture.

Identifiers DOI 10.32890/mjli2005.2.4 OpenAlex W41522813 Semantic Scholar CorpusID 67884911