English proficiency is necessary for workplace communication. Working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic means employees require more than good technical skills. They also require language skills for effective communication. The level of English proficiency may not meet the benchmarks established by the employers to be considered sufficient for effective workplace communication, thus, the objective of this paper is to explore English language needs among employees working in the services sector in Malaysia. To obtain this data, participants working in 12 areas of the services sector filled in a needs analysis questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (SPSS version 26) analysed the language skills that were most important to employees which were categorized under three main constructs namely, 'necessities', 'lacks' and 'wants.' Overall findings revealed that the two major language skills employees perceived they needed to improve on the most were speaking and reading. From the results, it is proposed that future researches sample a larger number of participants and apply a mixed method approach for a more in-depth study. Furthermore, the findings have implications for curriculum developers, subject specialists, educators and the services sector.
This paper sought to explore the Aristotelian appeal of emotions (Pathos) based on the writers' emotive discursivity of writing through their rhetorical use of move structures in organising the content of their research abstract. It is referred to as the TPS move structure which represents the Territory (T), Problem (P), and Solution (S) moves. A total of 480 academic research abstracts (ARAs) of indexed journals from the outer circle of Malaysian Non-native English writers (MNNEWs) and the inner circle of Native English writers (MNNEWs). An NVivo12 software application was used in this study to analyse the frequency of the writers' different types of TPS move structures. It was found that both groups would prefer the non-linear TPS type (non-TPS) of move structures by organising their research ideas through PTS or TPTS structures. These non-TPS structures were discursive, non-linear, and repetitive which reflect the oriental way of writing in trying to appeal to the readers' emotional minds. Despite all writers' less usage of TPS structure in showing their linearity and directness, further analysis showed the Malaysian English writers would be more linear and direct than the native English writers. In doing so, Malaysian English writers would be more likely to omit the move related to the problem statement, demonstrating their less emphasis on the research gap. Further research could be conducted to explore the reasons for the writers' lack of Anglo-European direct writing style in academic research abstracts.
The rapid adoption of online learning is due to its several advantages over traditional classroom training. However, the remote nature of online learning can pose challenges for both students and instructors. Instructors were thrust into a big transition to online instruction with no preparation time or resources. Whether or not the quality of education has improved as a result of the shift from the more traditional face-to-face format to the more modern e-learning approach is the subject of some discussion. This study aims to address the relationship between teaching, cognitive presence and social presence in online learning. A quantitative study is done to explore online presence among learners who attend online classes. A purposive sample of 100 participants responded to the survey. The instrument used is a survey and is replicated from (Arbaugh et al., 2008). There are 4 sections altogether (refer to table 1). Section A has items on demographic profile. Section B has 13 items on teaching presence. Section C has 9 items on social presence and section D has 12 items on cognitive presence. The findings of this study suggest that online learning environments require a balance of teaching, cognitive presence, and social presence to facilitate effective learning. The exploration of the relationship between teaching, cognitive presence, and social presence in online learning has important implications for the design and delivery of online courses.
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